October 14, 2009
Big Sky, MT (at SOSP)
FULL PAPER SUBMISSION: Monday, June 29, 2009
AUTHOR NOTIFICATION: Monday, July 27, 2009
FINAL PAPERS DUE: Monday, September 14, 2009

Sponsored by:
ACM SIGOPS
WASL focuses on novel techniques for extracting operationally useful information from existing systen logs and methods to improve the information content of future logs. Topics include but are not limited to:
  • Reports on publicly available sources of sample log data.
  • Log anonymization
  • Log feature detection and extraction
  • Prediction of malfunction or misuse based on log data
  • Statistical techniques to characterize log data
  • Applications of Natural-Language Processing (NLP) to logs
  • Scalable log compression
  • Log comparison techniques
  • Methods to enhance and standardize log semantics
  • System diagnostic techniques
  • Log visualization
  • Analysis of services (problem ticket) logs
  • Applications of log analysis to system administration

Workshop Program

Note: the best papers of the workshop are being published as part of an upcoming issue of the Operating Systems Review.
Wednesday, October 14
1:30 PM - 3:00 PM Session 1: Log Analysis Tools
3:00 PM - 3:30 PM Break
3:30 PM - 5:00 PM Session 2a: Analyzing System Logs
5:00 PM - 6:30 PM Session 2b: Group Discussion on Current State of the Art
6:30 PM - 8:00 PM Dinner
8:00 PM - 9:30 PM Session 3: Panel on Future Research Agenda

Session 1: Log Analysis Tools

Extracting Message Types from BlueGene/L's Logs
A. Makanju, A. Zincir-Heywood, and E. Milios
Presentation: PDF
Incremental Learning of System Log Formats [Best Paper]
Presentation: PDF, PowerPoint
K. Zhu, K. Fisher, and D. Walker
Visual and Algorithmic Tooling for System Trace Analysis: A Case Study [Best Paper]
Presentation: PDF, PowerPoint
W. De Pauw and S. Heisig

Session 2a: Analyzing System Logs

Mining Dependency in Distributed Systems through Unstructured Logs Analysis [Best Paper]
Presentation: PDF
J. Lou, Q. Fu, Y. Wang, and J. Li
A Bayesian Network Approach to Modeling IT Service Availability using System Logs
R. Zhang, E. Cope, L. Huesler, and F. Cheng
Endpoint Identification Using System Logs
Presentation: PDF
S. Melvin

Session 2b: Group Discussion on Current State of the Art

Questions:

  1. Tips and tricks in current use.
  2. Gaps and challenges in current techniques.
  3. Vision and steps for the future.

Session 3: Panel on Future Research Agenda

Panelists:
  • Anton Chuvakin, Qualys
  • Stephen Soltesz, Princeton University
  • Felipe Cabrera, Amazon.com
Questions:
  1. What are the most difficult problems with logging, in the real world?
  2. How to make academia-industry interactions more productive?
  3. How to extract meaningful information from logs?
  4. How to improve system management?


Workshop Char
Greg Bronevetsky, Lawrence Livermore National Lab
greg@bronevetsky.com

Program Committee
Jon Stearley, Sandia National Laboratory
Bianca Schroeder, University of Toronto
Sébastien Tricaud, INL
Sapan Bhatia, Princeton University
Risto Vaarandi, CCD CoE
Jim Jansen, Penn State University
Wei Xu, University of California, Berkeley
Anton Chuvakin, Qualys
Hugh Njemanze, ArcSight
Kara Nance, University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Raffael Marty, PixlCloud