decent log viewer that works with NLog

Question

What would be a the best viewer that works well with NLog when I have the following requirements:

I need to view logs offline (files) and online (live)
for offline I need to be able to select and view multiple files that are then all displayed in one view where all entries are serialized chronologically
for online I need to be able to view multiple log sources (i.e. applications) at once
for online I need to get the data through for a local network (TCP, UDP, Chainsaw maybe?) and through the internet (http, Webservice?)
the viewer should have "good" filtering and view configuration support (e.g. regexp/grep based highlighting and fitering, loglevel filtering, highlighting, list or tree of all available loggers)
the viewer should be capable of processing large amount of data
the viewer should preferably be xcopy deployable (standalone binary that can be .NET based but not java)
the license should preferably allow me to deploy without additional fees or at least these additional fees should be "reasonable" (all free of course would be the best)

As a last resort, if there isn't one that can do both offline and online viewing equally well, it would also be feasible to use separate viewers for this with separate configurations.

Correct me if I am wrong, but since NLog seems to have a lot of ways to spit out log4j/log4net comatible logs, I guess a log4j/log4net viewer might do the trick as well.

@sza, what is better there ? It is only for ASP.NET, right ? — bitbonk, Jul 14 '11 at 21:52
It lacks the filtering but if you don't find a feature-complete tool, this one seems to be a good start for an own implementation: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/vb/LogViewer.aspx — Martin Buberl, Jul 21 '11 at 18:26

score 6 · Answer 1 · edited Oct 31 '13 at 10:59

The latest developer snapshot of Chainsaw can do all of that. Available here:

http://people.apache.org/~sdeboy

I need to view logs offline (files) and online (live)
- Use a LogFilePatternReceiver (VFSLogFilePatternReceiver, which can tail files, even across application restarts, and over ssh/sftp if you need it using Commons VFS support)
for offline I need to be able to select and view multiple files that are then all displayed in one view where all entries are serialized chronologically
- Define a LogFilePatternReceiver for each log file and use the 'create tab from expression' view menu option - first clear and pause the chainsaw-log tab. Example expression: level >= TRACE
for online I need to be able to view multiple log sources (i.e. applications) at once
- Define multiple receivers (network, logfilepatternerceivers, etc - see the example configuration file available from the Welcome tab)
for online I need to get the data through for a local network (TCP, UDP, Chainsaw maybe?) and through the internet (http, Webservice?)
- Chainsaw supports a number of network receivers, and with the latest version of log4j and Chainsaw, the receivers all support zeroconf for auto-configuration and network discovery
the viewer should have "good" filtering and view configuration support
- Chainsaw has very customizable view support (all settings are remembered on a per-tab basis), very flexible filtering (including regexp support) - see the tutorial
the viewer should be capable of processing large amount of data
- Chainsaw doesn't use a cache, it pulls events in to memory, so allocate your VM more memory to handle really big files
the viewer should preferably be xcopy deployable
- The link has tarball and DMGs you can use
the license should preferably allow me to deploy without additional fees or at least these additional fees should be "reasonable" (all free of course would be the best)
- ASL 2.0

Also, you can annotate events by editing the 'marker' field, save the events off and send to someone else, define color rules and see the matching rows in the entire file at a glance (in the area to the right of the table). Lots of other features, wander through the menus and right-click in the table or tree, or check out the release notes (available from the help menu).

Thanks functionality wise this comes pretty close. It is not quite xcopy-deployable enough for our need because it requires Java to be installed. Preferably it should really a standalone binary. We could asume though that .NET will be installed on all target machines but Java for sure isn't :( I'll add that to the requirements. — bitbonk, Jul 16 '11 at 19:10
I think ReflectInsight is one of the best I've seen. You should give it a try. https://insightextensions.codeplex.com/ — code5, Sep 16 '13 at 17:31

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 14 '11 at 21:37

3

I've used BareTail.

http://www.baremetalsoft.com/baretail/

Very nice, no installer, already used with a 3GB log file, 25 bucks.

answered Jul 14 '11 at 21:37

armandomiani

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That one only has the offline (file) view mode right? No online capabilities. – bitbonk Jul 14 '11 at 21:57
Ohh sorry, I didn't pay attention. – armandomiani Jul 14 '11 at 22:06
I tried BareTail Free version but it didn't work for my NLog pipe separated text log files. – Anil Vangari Apr 15 '16 at 17:02

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 28 '11 at 20:24

2

Try Sentinel - Log Viewer

or

Log2Console

I think both of them support online and offline

answered Dec 28 '11 at 20:24

maxisam

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I think ReflectInsight will meet the requester's need. http://insightextensions.codeplex.com/ – code5 Aug 24 '13 at 03:45

decent log viewer that works with NLog

3 Answers3