Life is Good Keeps the Data Flowing with Logz.io Open 360™

Life is Good Keeps the Data Flowing with Logz.io’s Observability Platform 

Achieving a single pane of glass is often the overarching goal of any IT infrastructure management method. That was certainly the observability goal of David Lemaire, IT Director at Life is Good, a retail fashion and apparel company based in Boston. 

When he took the job, he set out to find ways to reduce complexity and saw the opportunity around application logging, metrics and security—the hallmark needs for an effective observability practice, especially for an eCommerce organization predicated on quick and easy transactions for customers.

Observability Challenges for Life is Good

When David joined Life is Good, the company had multiple tools for monitoring aspects of infrastructure management, including centralized observability and SIEM. However, these solutions were fragmented, lacking a unified view and the ability to handle metrics effectively. David aimed to consolidate and simplify these tools to gain a comprehensive understanding of the health of Life is Good’s infrastructure, detect anomalies and improve overall performance.

“I’ve always been a fan of getting as close to a single pane of glass as possible,” Davis says. “It was my dream a long time ago to have logs, metrics and tracing in a single interface where you could correlate events, drill into system anomalies, find out if there’s a log being admitted for something that may have spiked or drive performance. I’ve always looked for those cohesive solutions to use.”

Why Life is Good Embraced Logz.io for Observability Needs

David discovered Logz.io through a local meetup event, and had used the Open 360™ observability platform, powered by AWS, at a previous employer before arriving at Life is Good. What attracted David to Logz.io was its simplicity of integration into their existing open source stack, making implementation effortless. Additionally, Life is Good valued Logz.io’s commitment to open source, aligning with their cultural and technical preferences.

Life is Good initially ran on self-managed hardware but eventually transitioned to a private managed cloud environment. Logz.io’s easy deployment, including the use of Winlogbeat and Telegraph to ship metrics, proved advantageous for their primarily Windows infrastructure. The consolidation of monitoring and logging tools into Logz.io eliminated the need for multiple systems and provided David with a comprehensive solution to meet their infrastructure requirements.

“[Logz.io] was such a simple drop-in to our open source stack that it made it so easy to implement,” David says. “We added the Logz.io dashboards to our existing log dashboards and we were up and running in no time.”

Over time, Logz.io’s Open 360 observability platform became the central hub for managing Life is Good’s infrastructure. With Logz.io, David gained real-time visibility into infrastructure performance, leveraging dashboards showing log volumes, metrics and system anomalies. The integration of security, metrics, and logs into a single platform streamlined the identification and resolution of potential issues, enabling Life is Good to address problems efficiently.

“It was a no-brainer to bring in this one tool that gave me everything I needed,” David says, adding that joining Life is Good and managing their Microsoft Windows infrastructure was a new experience that Logz.io helped simplify. “I had to get my head around managing the Windows environment and getting everything centralized and consolidated. I didn’t even have to think, I just knew [Logz.io’s platform] would give me the capabilities I needed.”

Utilizing Logz.io for Cloud Migration and Security Management

Logz.io’s observability and SIEM products both played a crucial role in guaranteeing the smooth functioning of Life is Good’s applications as they migrated to privately managed clouds. David used Logz.io to ensure proper application behavior, size systems adequately, and identify any anomalies or performance issues. 

The comprehensive view and ease of navigation within Logz.io’s UI facilitated efficient infrastructure management, allowing David to quickly identify potential problems and take appropriate actions.

Logz.io’s SIEM capabilities also emerged as an essential aspect of Life is Good’s infrastructure management. Consolidating logs from various systems into a single platform eliminated the inefficiencies associated with scattered logging solutions. The SIEM also helps with compliance needs around PCI and other associated audit frameworks, and identify and investigate security issues effectively.

“These frameworks require a SOC and SIEM around it,” David says. “Not just because it’s written on paper, but it’s just a good thing to do. All of those things really fit into the decision to land on Logz.io for the SIEM. Having a tool that bubbles those events up and also lets you drill into the specifics, identify the timeframe, look at the full log context to know where it came from, and create searches based on that really kind of makes it a cohesive product for me.”

Life Is Good’s Future Tracing Plans Supported by Logz.io

Life is Good evolving strategy also recognizes the importance of enlisting distributed tracing for enhanced infrastructure visibility and addressing performance issues. David plans to further expand the organization’s usage of Logz.io to incorporate tracing capabilities, enabling a more comprehensive understanding of their infrastructure.

“Tracing is definitely an area where I’m pushing to adopt because application logging with infrastructure logging gives you the ability to identify transactions where they fail and why they fail,” David says. “It helps expand your visibility into your entire infrastructure and also it helps you identify performance issues. That’s important for eCommerce. You’ve got to be able to click and check out as quickly as possible, because that’s what keeps the user and the consumer happy. So [tracing] is definitely an area where we plan to expand.”

Conclusion

Life is Good’s adoption of Logz.io’s platform significantly improved their infrastructure management capabilities. By consolidating logs, metrics, and security into a unified approach , Logz.io provided a cohesive view of the company’s infrastructure, making it easier to identify and resolve issues efficiently.

The ease of implementation, alignment with open source principles, and focus on compliance all combined to make Logz.io the ideal solution for Life is Good. As they continue to expand their usage, incorporating tracing functionalities will enhance their infrastructure visibility and further optimize their performance.

“There’s always companies that are challenging to work with, and there are companies that are great to work with,” David says. “[Logz.io] has always been a company that’s great to work with…You know what you’re going to get, you know they’re good people to work with, and that’s worth any amount of money.”