Product Features

• Centralized Logging

This is the key feature. WinSyslog gathers all syslog messages send from different sources and stores them locally on the Windows system. Event source can be any syslog enabled device. Today, virtually all devices can use syslog. Prominent examples are Cisco routers.

• Ease of Use

Using the new WinSyslog client interface, the product is very easy to setup and customize. We also support full documentation and support for large-scale unattended installations.

• Powerful Actions

Each message received is processed by WinSyslog's powerful and extremely flexible rule engine. Each rule defines which actions to carry out (e. g. email message or store to a database) when the message matches the rule's criterias. Among others, criterias are string matches inside the message or syslog facility or priority. There is an unlimited number of rules and actions per rule available.

• Interactive Message Display

Use the WinSyslog client to interactively display messages as they arrive. Message buffer size is configurable and only limited by the amount of memory installed in the machine.

• Freeware Mode

We care for the home user! WinSyslog can operate as freeware in so-called "freeware mode" without a valid license. It supports a scrolling interactive display of the 60 most current messages for an unlimited time. This feature is most commonly requested for home environments. And: even our free copies come with Adiscon's great support!

• Reverse Host Name Resolution

See the host name instead of the IP address of the message origin with reverse host name resolution. This so-called reverse DNS-Lookup is great to include meaningful names into your logs.

• Syslog Hierarchy

WinSyslog supports cascaded configurations most commonly found in larger organizations. In a cascaded configuration, there are local WinSyslog instances running at department or site level which report important events to a central WinSyslog in the headquarter. There is no limit on the number of levels in a cascaded system.

• Store Messages Persistently

The WinSyslog server process stores all messages persistently. So later auditing and review of important system events is effortlessly. Messages can be written to flat ASCII files, ODBC data sources and the Windows event log.

• Full Logging

WinSyslog logs the received syslog message together with it's priority and facility code as well as the sender's system IP address and date. It is also able to log abnormally formatted packages (without or with invalid priority/facility), so no message will be lost.

• Full Windows 2000, XP and Server 2003 Support

We have full Windows 2000 support since Windows 2000 ships! We have also successfully tested the product under Windows XP (codenamed "Whistler") beta 1 without any problems. WinSyslog is also fully compatible to Windows Server 2003.

• Robustness

WinSyslog is written to perform robust even under unusual circumstances. It's reliability has been proven at customers sites since 1996.

• Minimal Resource Usage

WinSyslog has no noticeable impact on system resources. It was specifically written with minimal resource usage in mind. In typical scenarios, it's footprint is barely traceable. This ensures it can also be installed on heavily loaded servers.

• Firewall Support

Does your security policy enforce you to use a non-standard syslog port? WinSyslog can be configured to listen on any TCP/IP port for syslog messages.

• NT Service

The WinSyslog service is implemented as a native multithreaded Windows NT service. It can be controlled via the control panel services applet or the computer management MMC (Windows 2000).

• Runs on large Variety of NT Systems

NT 3.5(1), 4.0, 2000, XP, 2003; Workstation or Server - WinSyslog does run on all of them. We also have Compaq(Digital) ALPHA processor versions on platforms supporting this processor (service only, available on request).

• Double Byte Character Set Support (e. g. Japanese)

WinSyslog supports characters encoded in double byte character sets (DBCS). This is mostly used with Asian languages like Japanese or Chinese. All DBCS strings are correctly displayed and written to the log targets (database or flat file). However, the sending side must also be able to process DBCS correctly. As an example, Adiscon's event monitor for Windows, EventReporter, does so.

• Multi-Language Client

The WinSyslog client comes with multiple languages ready to go. Out of the box, English, German and Japanese are supported. Languages can be switched instantly. Language settings are specific to a user.

Additional languages can be easily integrated using Adiscon's brand new XML based localization technology. We ask customers interested in an additional language for a little help with the translation work (roughly 1 hour of work). Adiscon will than happily create a new version. This service is free!