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How to Send Your First Logs to LogCentral

Overview

Section titled “Overview”

Welcome to LogCentral! This guide will help you get started with sending syslog data to the platform. LogCentral provides a centralized location for collecting, monitoring, and analyzing logs from your infrastructure.

Prerequisites

Section titled “Prerequisites”

Before you begin sending logs, you’ll need:

  • An active LogCentral account
  • Access to an organization and location within LogCentral
  • Network connectivity from your log sources to LogCentral
  • Appropriate permissions to configure log forwarding on your systems

Understanding Locations

Section titled “Understanding Locations”

In LogCentral, logs are sent to specific locations within your organization. Each location acts as a collection point for logs from related systems or environments. Think of locations as logical groupings—you might have separate locations for production, staging, or different data centers.

Security Considerations

Section titled “Security Considerations”

IP Whitelisting (Optional)

Section titled “IP Whitelisting (Optional)”

LogCentral offers IP filtering to control which sources can send logs to your locations. This security feature helps prevent unauthorized log submissions and reduces noise from unknown sources.

When to use IP filtering:

  • Locking down production environments
  • Meeting security compliance requirements
  • Preventing spam or unauthorized log traffic
  • Restricting access to known, trusted sources

How IP filtering works:

  1. Navigate to your location’s IP management settings at /organizations/:orgId/locations/:locationId/ip-management
  2. Add trusted IP addresses (supports individual IPs like 192.168.1.100 or CIDR ranges like 192.168.1.0/24)
  3. Enable the IP filtering toggle
  4. Only whitelisted IPs will be able to send logs

Important: Simply adding IPs to the whitelist doesn’t activate filtering—you must enable the IP filtering toggle for restrictions to take effect.

Sending Your First Logs

Section titled “Sending Your First Logs”

Once your location is configured, you can begin sending syslog data. LogCentral accepts standard syslog formats, making it compatible with most logging systems and applications.

Testing Your Configuration

Section titled “Testing Your Configuration”

After setting up your log forwarding:

  1. Send a test log message from your system
  2. Check your LogCentral location to verify the log appears
  3. If using IP filtering, ensure your source IP is whitelisted

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Section titled “Troubleshooting Common Issues”

Logs not appearing:

  • Verify your network can reach LogCentral’s ingestion endpoints
  • If IP filtering is enabled, confirm your source IP is whitelisted
  • Check your syslog configuration for correct destination settings

IP filtering blocking logs:

  • Temporarily disable IP filtering to test connectivity
  • Verify the correct IP address is whitelisted (check your actual outbound IP)
  • For dynamic IPs, consider using CIDR ranges or disabling filtering

Configuration errors:

  • Double-check your location identifier
  • Ensure proper syslog format and protocol (UDP/TCP)
  • Review any authentication requirements for your location

Next Steps

Section titled “Next Steps”

Once you’re successfully sending logs to LogCentral:

  • Set up alerts to monitor important events
  • Explore log search and filtering capabilities
  • Configure additional locations for different environments
  • Review security settings and adjust IP filtering as needed

Need help? Contact your LogCentral administrator or refer to additional documentation for advanced configuration options.