Log Processing: What Happens to a Log Line Before You Can Search It
A log line arrives as plain text and leaves as a record you can query. Six steps sit between those two states. Each one adds something useful, and each one costs you time, CPU, or storage. Most teams never look at that chain until a search comes back empty. Here is what log processing does to an event, step by step: By the end you can look at your own chain. You will know what each step buys you. Six steps turn a raw log line into a searchable record.