Sumo Logic - Normalize logs with Field Extractions

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1 min read

Are you looking for a way to normalize data treatment and define the least common denominator of a source/domain of interest?

In other words, somehow, normalizing the data to match a common standard, using the same field names for equivalent events from different sources/vendors.

What if I tell you, you can use the same field/alias name across multiple rules and parse expressions to normalize a specific type of data into the same field/alias name?

This is possible using Sumo Logic's Field Extraction Rules (aka. FER)

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Why normalize? Assume you receive logs with a field called user_name and some other logs with a field called usr. We can use field normalization to transform usr and user_name field name to just user, allowing the previous names user_name and usr to be correlated together behind the new user field in a search.

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This way, the fields will be normalized so that the same search/monitor can evaluate messages from multiple data log sources. These fields provide a taxonomy that can be used to tie records from multiple vendors and products together in a standard way.

Normalization allows emulating common-name forms among different sources.

Now, you know. Give it a try!

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