Ever stared at the Windows Event Viewer, waiting for errors to show up?

It shouldn’t feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. It should be smooth, effortless, and simple to use.

I can hear all the Linux boys rolling their eyes (I get it, I’d run ACE on Linux, too). However, the truth is that Windows servers are everywhere, and for many of us, EventLogMonitor is a game-changer.

Never met EventLogMonitor? You’re not alone, this post is tailor-made for you.

What it is

EventLogMonitor is like tail -f for Windows Event Logs, with no clicking, no waiting, and live entries. It’s that simple, and yes, it really tails.

EventLogMonitor isn’t a one-trick pony. It also gives you:

• Source selection: Monitor defaults (IBM Integration, WebSphere Broker, ACE) or any custom log.
• Event filtering: Drill down by source name, event ID, or keyword so you only see what matters.
• Look-back window: Load the last N entries at startup (-p N) to get instant context.
• Output formatting: format timestamps up front (-tf), set output level, …

Getting Started

Launch EventLogMonitor.exe with no flags (either from cli or via double click) and you’ll get:

• Look-back window: none
• Output: minimal
• Sources: IBM Integration, WebSphere Broker, and IBM App Connect Enterprise

Usually that’s enough to catch the basics. Here are the tweaks you’ll use most

• Putting the timestamp first:
  EventLogMonitor.exe -tf

• Expand monitoring sources and use the history (-s IBM picks up any source with “IBM” in its name, -p 10 preloads the last 10 entries.):
  EventLogMonitor.exe -s IBM -p 10

For more details, have a look at the Usage documentation

Or the readme in the GitHub repository, m-g-k has done a really extensive job describing all the options.

Download & Install

Grab what you need by downloading the desired binary (with or without .NET Framework), from  m-g-k’s EventLogMonitor releases  page, or build it directly from the source code, if you so desire.

For more integration tips and tricks, visit Integration Designers and check out our other blog posts.

Resources: