Collecting and monitoring Rails logs with Datadog

This post demonstrates how to forward Rails application logs to Datadog and utilize its features like faceted log search, analytics, custom processing pipelines, and log-based alerting. To set up Datadog for collecting application logs, install the Datadog Agent on your host using an API key from your Datadog account. Create a new directory and YAML file in the Agent's conf.d directory to store the configuration necessary for Rails log collection. Restart the Agent and check its status with appropriate commands. Datadog enables you to explore logs, create facets, and perform searches based on attributes from individual logs. It also provides integration pipelines that capture and parse standard Ruby logs as well as enhance logs in JSON format. Custom processing pipelines allow users to create their own processing rules or modify existing ones for more control over log customization. Log-based alerting can be set up by creating a new alert based on attributes from processed logs, allowing you to get notified when specific events occur within your application. Datadog supports 650+ other integrations and provides a comprehensive monitoring solution for Rails applications, including infrastructure metrics from hosts, databases, and web servers. To start using these features, sign up for a free Datadog trial or refer to the documentation if you're already using Datadog.