Introduction In a HomeLab setup with Docker, Podman, and Proxmox, log files accumulate from various sources—container logs, hypervisor system logs, and services running inside VMs. Without centralized log monitoring, identifying errors and debugging issues can be a tedious task. Open-source log monitoring systems help by collecting logs in one place, automatically analyzing them for errors, and highlighting potential issues, allowing for faster troubleshooting.
For HomeLab use, the key considerations include ease of setup, suitability for small-scale environments (not just enterprise-focused solutions), and optional notification features. Below, we introduce five of the best open-source log monitoring solutions, outlining their features, advantages, and limitations, followed by a comparison table.
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