Windows 7 saves log files in Xml format

In several versions of the Windows operating system, you can save the system log as a text file, CSV file, etc., to facilitate system administrators to query. However, unlike the XP operating system version, in Windows 7, its log is saved as one more format, the Xml format. As shown in the following figure, in addition to the three formats of the XP operating system, there is an additional XML file format in Windows 7. This format is also a log format that many system administrators expect. Because of this log format, it can bring great convenience to our daily management.

Convenience 1: Easy to read and inquire.

The Xml format file is the biggest difference from other files, that is, the Xml file is a structured data. In general, when saving records, some special formatting control symbols are used to ensure that the stored data meets the needs of the structure. So how does this structured data help system administrators? The most direct help is that the system administrator can easily import the data of the XML file into the database for analysis. System administrators often need months or even years of log information analysis to find information that improves operating system performance and vulnerabilities. But for these massive amounts of data, it is difficult to draw a reasonable conclusion without resorting to specialized analytical tools such as databases. To this end, system administrators often need to import these log records into the database system, and then compare them vertically and horizontally, and finally come up with some feasible conclusions.

And now if you use the Xml format to save log information, then the system administrator can easily import these log information into the database. You can import files in XML format directly into the database system without any adjustments. Since the XML file can be opened directly by a tool such as a browser, this browser is often an application software necessary for the operating system. So its view will be very convenient.

Convenience 2: High compatibility.

Another advantage of the XML file is that its compatibility is relatively high. Now mainstream database software basically supports XML files. In other words, system administrators can not only use Microsoft SQL Server database software, but also use non-Microsoft database software such as Oracle to import log information and then analyze it. Often, most system administrators don't like to use SQL Server databases because they are relatively complex and cumbersome to install. Furthermore, statistical analysis of log records, using a large database system such as SQL Server is also a bit of a small use. For this reason, system administrators including the author prefer to use a small database system such as MySQL for analysis. Not only because it's free, it's mainly small and convenient, and it doesn't take up a lot of hard disk space. Now, in the Windows 7 operating system, files in XML format have been released to store log records, so our system administrators have more reason to adopt small databases such as MySQL. Because MySQL support for XML files is very powerful. Moreover, the database can also save the relevant statistical results in the format of an XML file.

Additional XML compatibility is also reflected in the compatibility of different operating system platforms. Like event files, this is a file format provided by the Microsoft operating system and cannot be opened on operating systems such as Linux. Another example is a text file, although it can be opened on the Linux operating system. However, there is usually a confusion in the format that affects the normal reading of the system administrator. Unless the system administrator uses some of the tools that come with the system to convert. But this is not the case with files in XML format. The XML file looks like a web page. It looks like it opens under the Windows operating system, so it looks like this on the Linux operating system. Not only will the format not be messed up, but there is no need to use other additional aids. Therefore, compatibility on this different operating system platform can improve the sharing of employee data. As far as I know, many companies may use the Windows system on the client side and the non-Microsoft operating system on the server side. This trend is now more and more obvious. Therefore, it is also necessary to improve the compatibility of this multi-operating system. Even if you save the log files in a file server on the Linux operating system, you don't have to worry about any problems.

Convenience 3: Uniform management of log files can be realized.

In the enterprise, not only the operating system will generate log files. Other application systems also generate relevant log files. Log files are also generated, such as database systems, ERP systems, financial management software, and the like. When there are many enterprise application servers, the distributed management log files are not only inefficient, but also easily lead to the omission of key information. To this end, it is a good solution to manage the log files generated by each system and service through a unified log server platform. But to achieve this goal, the biggest obstacle is that the log file format generated by each system is not compatible. If the Oracle database system, the Windows operating system, etc. all store log files in their respective formats, then different tools are needed to open these log files for query, which is very inconvenient to handle. And if these applications support log files in XML format, then it will be very convenient.

Since Microsoft Windows 7 operating system launched a log file in XML format, I am currently working on a project. It is to implement the same software to manage the Windows 7 operating system, Oracle database system and other log files of application services that support XML log files. In fact, the principle is very simple, is to automatically transfer the log files generated by these systems to a log server, and then the database will automatically import these log files into the database server. And use the database triggers and other tools to do some analysis, automatic warning and so on. This can reduce the time it takes for the system administrator to view related logs from time to time, reducing the workload of the system administrator.

So Microsoft introduced a log file in XML format, which makes it possible to implement a unified management operating system and other non-Microsoft product log files. Because the XML format is a structured data file, there are many vendors that support it. However, the XML format file has been out for a long time, and should be before the XP operating system. Why is this technology not implemented on the XP operating system? I am confused about this. However, in Windows7, I finally hoped for everyone. It’s better to be late than never.

Convenience 4: Support for WEB is better.

Sometimes a system administrator is often unable to perform an analysis of related log records. It is necessary to complete the relevant log analysis work with the database administrator or other application software owners. This is mainly caused by the continuous refinement of the division of system management personnel. There are a lot of project management software now, all based on WEB. If you combine log files with these WEB project management software, this will greatly help the system administrator's work.

And now the XML format file is a developed text-based format that can be transferred using HTTP like Html without any adjustments to the existing network structure. It can be seen that the support of the WEB service in the XML format file is very good. The system administrator only needs to save the log file as a file in XML format without any adjustment.

In addition to these features, it is not necessary to explain that the XML file compression is better. Because the content of the system log is often more, if you want to save the complete log information, you often need to occupy more hard disk space. And if you use XML format files, you can often use less hard disk space than other files. This is mainly because the compression of XML files is better. Because in the XML file, the mark describing the data structure can be reused, the hard disk space can be reduced by the high compression ratio.

However, when using XML files, you need to pay attention to a problem, that is, some IE browsers do not support XML files very well. If you use the Netscape 8 browser to view the XML file, it will be blank and you will not be able to view its specific content. This issue has been fixed in the Netscape 8.02 release.