Inspecting the Logs: Tips & Tricks

On this page, we have compiled some helpful tips & tricks that may help you when working with the Scheer PAS Log Analyzer.

Tips for Filtering

To create your own filters, click + Add filter on top of the Discover page. In Field enter the name of the field you want to filter for. Field is supported by autocomplete:

You need then to select an Operator and enter the filter Value:

Here is a helpful trick: Instead of using workload.name (Kubernetes) or service.name (Docker) use the options workload.name.keyword (Kubernetes) or service.name.keyword (Docker) because these options are also supported by autocomplete:

Instead of using the option Add filter and going through all configuration options in the corresponding pop-up, there is a faster way to filter for valules.

In the list of Available fields click on the name of the field you want to filter. This opens a pop-up showing the Top 5 Values:

Here you can add a filter value by simply clicking on +:

Tips for Search Queries

Searching for Terms

To search for a phrase (an ordered sequence of words), surround your text with quotation marks:

"dev stack timeout reached"

If you only want to find log entries if all search terms match, place an AND between the terms:

Ticketcreation AND calling AND onUnhandledError

Searching in Fields

You can search for text in a particular field. Specify the field name before the colon to do so:

log.domain: RESTLM

Also possible:

log.domain:RESTLM

The field prefix refers only to the term that follows the colon:

message:Ticketcreation OR OrderApproval

This query returns results where the content in field message contains the term Ticketcreation and results where the content in any field contains the term OrderApproval.

If you want to get results in which one field contains either one search term or the other, group the terms in parentheses:

message:(Ticketcreation OR OrderApproval)

This query returns results where the content in field message contains the term Ticketcreation or the term OrderApproval. You can also write:

message:Ticketcreation OR message:OrderApproval

Boolean Operators

The Boolean operators and, or and not are supported by DQL:

error OR onUnhandledError

Multiple grouping levels are possible:

message:((error OR onUnhandledError) AND NOT arrow_Relation)

You can search for “not equal” by using not and the field name:

not service:ticketsystem

This query returns results where the content in field service is not ticketsystem, but also results where field service is empty or not present.

service:* and not service:ticketsystem

This query returns results where the content in field service does not contain the term ticketsystem.

Wildcards

DQL supports wildcards (only * is supported) in search terms and field names:

message:create*
m*ss*:cre*

Search Languages: DQL vs. Lucene

By default, the Dashboard Query Language (DQL), a text-based query language is used to search for log documents. Expand below for how to switch to Lucene.

How to use Lucene instead of DQL (show | hide)

By default, the Dashboard Query Language (DQL) is used:

Reserved Characters in DQL

The following characters are reserved in DQL:

\ ( ) : < > “ *

To escape reserved characters, use a backslash: \

DQL searches the field(s) set as the default field(s) on the index. If no default field is set, DQL searches all fields.
Refer to Working With the Log Analyzer for details on how to change the default fields.

There is a second language available. When you click DQL and disable option OpenSearch Dashboards Query Language, you can switch to Lucene:

Reserved Characters in Lucene

In Lucene, hyphens are reserved characters.
If your search term contains hyphens, DQL prompts you to switch to Lucene syntax. To avoid this, surround your search term with quotation marks in a phrase search or omit the hyphen in a regular search.

The following table illustrates the differences between DQL and Lucene:

DQL and Lucene	DQL	Lucene
Wildcard expressions (DQL: only * is supported) Ranges Boolean operations	Querying nested fields	Regular expressions Fuzziness Proximity queries Boosting

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