My advice: Don't go another day without setting up a centralized logging server with syslog. Nearly all routers and switches can send log traffic on UDP port 514 in a syslog format. It's just a matter of providing a secure platform to collect that information. I recommend setting up a Linux box to handle this syslog task. It's simple and inexpensive, and it provides data security to some of the most valuable information about your network. . . .

Every network device on your network has some type of logging capability. Switches and routers are extremely proficient in logging network events. Your organization's security policy should specify some level of logging for all network devices.

It's important to deny traffic you don't want in your networks, but you also need to know who's sending that traffic. Some resourceful hacker could be hammering away at your outside interface and eating up bandwidth and processes. You need to know where that traffic is coming from. Your access lists should be logging all denied ports and protocols.

But the truth is that admins typically don't log routers and switches. When a problem occurs, we just reboot them or restart an interface, and then chalk it up to a hardware glitch.

My advice: Don't go another day without setting up a centralized logging server with syslog. Nearly all routers and switches can send log traffic on UDP port 514 in a syslog format. It's just a matter of providing a secure platform to collect that information. I recommend setting up a Linux box to handle this syslog task. It's simple and inexpensive, and it provides data security to some of the most valuable information about your network.

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