When Alibaba Cloud CDN is used to retrieve resources such as images, text, and videos, Alibaba Cloud CDN generates a large amount of log data. The log data is collected in real time. Alibaba Cloud CDN is integrated with Simple Log Service to deliver log data to Simple Log Service in real time for further analysis. Then, you can use the analysis results to troubleshoot issues and make business decisions at the earliest opportunity.
Feature overview
When you use Alibaba Cloud CDN, a large amount of network log data is generated. The real-time log delivery feature allows you to collect the logs that are generated by points of presence (POPs) in real time and deliver the logs to Simple Log Service. Then, you can consume the logs in Simple Log Service to monitor your business and identify business issues in an efficient manner. After you enable the real-time log delivery feature, you are charged for log entries that are delivered to Simple Log Service.
For more information, see What is Simple Log Service?
Usage notes
The actual traffic amount that you query by using the monitoring and usage analytics feature or the usage statistics feature in the Alibaba Cloud CDN console or Dynamic Route for CDN (DCDN) console or by calling API operations is different from the traffic amount that is logged. In most cases, the actual traffic amount that you query is 1.1 times the traffic amount that is logged. For more information, see Why is the traffic amount found by using the monitoring and usage analytics feature or the usage statistics feature different from the traffic amount that is logged?
Differences between real-time log shipping and the offline log feature
Log latency
The real-time log delivery feature collects log data in real time, and logs are generated within 3 minutes after an event occurs. Offline log data is generated within 24 hours.
Log analysis
The real-time log delivery feature integrates the log storage and log analysis capabilities of Simple Log Service. The feature provides four preset analysis report templates, including templates for basic data, error analysis, frequently requested resources, and user analysis. The feature also supports custom log analysis policies. In comparison, the offline log feature only allows you to ship logs to Object Storage Service (OSS), and does not integrate log analysis capabilities.
Benefits
Low latency
Log data is generated in 3 minutes after an event occurs. This allows you to analyze access logs, identify issues, and resolve them in a timely manner.
End-to-end
Traditional offline log analysis solutions typically require you to first download logs, upload them to a data warehouse, and subsequently clean the data and provide a definition for the data model. Only then will you be able to perform data analysis. This results in high labor costs and extends the time that is required for analysis. The real-time log delivery feature integrates log storage and log analysis capabilities of Simple Log Service to eliminate the tedious process of the traditional offline log analysis.
Billing rules
You are charged for real-time log delivery based on the number of log entries that are delivered to a specific service. Log delivery fees do not include storage fees or data analysis fees.
Billable item | Billing rule | Billing method | Billing cycle |
Log entries | After you enable real-time log delivery, you are charged for log entries that are delivered to a specific service. | Pay-as-you-go | You are charged on an hourly basis. Bills are issued approximately 3 to 4 hours after the end of each billing cycle. |
Scenarios
You can use real-time log delivery to troubleshoot issues that may occur when the delivery of your content is accelerated. You can also use the collected log data to analyze user access statistics. Alibaba Cloud CDN provides the following types of reports:
Log analysis report | Description |
Basic data | This report provides information about the overall performance of Alibaba Cloud CDN and the user access efficiency, such as hit ratio, access latency, and download speed. It also allows you to quickly identify and handle service quality issues. |
Access errors | This report helps you quickly locate issues when application access exceptions occur, such as URI issues, origin server failures, unavailable POPs, regional network issues, and Internet service provider (ISP) network issues. |
Frequently requested resources | This report provides information about frequently requested resources and helps you gain insight into popular domain names and URIs, as well as the provinces where most of your customers are located, and the ISPs of the customers. The data is also useful in helping you gain a better understanding of your business, such as whether operational activities attract the expected traffic volume, and whether the traffic during peak hours is higher or lower than expected. The information can help you make adjustments to the overall operations of your business. |
User composition | This report provides information about the user composition of your website, including the client or device, general location, and ISPs of the users. You can analyze top users with most visits or most downloads. |
For information about real-time log delivery, see Configure real-time log delivery.
For information about the log analysis module of the real-time log delivery feature and typical scenarios of access data analysis, see Best practices for shipping and analyzing Alibaba Cloud CDN real-time logs in Simple Log Service.