Glossary · Automation software engineering and architecture
Structured logging
Also known as: Structured logs
German: Strukturierte Protokollierung
In software operations, structured logging is the practice of writing log entries as machine-readable records with named fields, such as timestamp, severity, component and event data, instead of free-text lines.
- Software engineering
In one sentence
Structured logging writes log entries as machine-readable records with named fields instead of free-text lines.
Example
The edge gateway logs each connection loss as a JSON record with timestamp, machine ID, endpoint and error code, so the service portal can filter and count them.
How it applies
- Engineering: Structured logs can be searched, filtered and aggregated automatically. Teams agree on field names, severities and event codes across components.
- Operation: Structured logs feed monitoring and Observability tools and make correlation across machines and services possible.
- Documentation: Event codes in logs should be documented with meaning, cause and remedy, ideally from the same source as the HMI message texts. A consistent event catalog serves logs, alarms and the troubleshooting chapter.
Structured logging vs. audit trail
Structured logging records technical events for diagnostics. An Audit trail records who did what and when for accountability; it has stricter requirements for completeness, integrity and retention.