trust-logger-ba [TrustLogger]

Logger implementation for digital platforms with cloud native architecture.

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What it is

trust-logger-ba is a simple logging library built specifically for the practical part of a bachelor thesis on data sovereignty. The main idea is to use the logger on every backend component that interferes with or has access to data. A (at least) semi-trustworthy platform operator might add the logger to increase the transparency / traceability of the platforms data handling. The logs can be provided to the associated user (e.g. the data owner) who - with the information contained in the logs - might be able to make a knowledge-based assessment on the data protection the platform has to offer. The logs could also be used to hold an agent responsible in the case of violations to the SLAs.

What it is not

The TrustLogger is no production-ready library. It rather is a rough implementation used to demonstrate the implementability of the concept developed in the thesis. Please refer to winston if you are looking for a production-ready logger.

Usage

To use the TrustLogger a new TrustLogger must be created. This requires the declaration of the format of the log (see:[formats]), the transports (one or more) that should be used (see:[transports]) and the source that is generating the log.

const TrustLogger = require("trust-logger-ba");

// create a new TrustLogger
// the required parameters are:
//  - format: The format the log should be formatted to (refer to formats)
//  - transports: The transport mechanism used to transport the logs (refer to transports)
//  - source: The unique name of the source that is generating the log
const Logger = new TrustLogger({
    format: "standardFormat",
    transports: [
      {
        name: "kafkaTransport",
        meta: {
          kafkaBroker: "kafka:9092",
          kafkaClientId: "data-management",
          logTopic: "logs",
        },
      },
      {
        name: "consoleTransport",
        meta: {},
      },
    ],
    source: "data-management"
  }
);

// [...]

// the generation of a log entry
// Each call of the log method requires:
//  - category: Category of the log (defined in the format - e.g. 'debug')
//  - payload: Object containing all the further information 
//    (also based on the format - in this case standardFormat)
// ----
// The parameters are usually fetched from the request or created internally
//  this static implementation with strings is only for demonstrating purposes
var logPayload = {
  user_name: "jwatson",
  user_ip: "203.0.113.254",
  session: "YWRtaW46YWRtaW4",
  status: "success",
  data_owner: "jwatson",
  data_id: "405ophkklw5s879",
  data_name: "ExampleData.png",
  reason: "data was uploaded",
};
Logger.log("Store", logPayload);

// Depeding on the format further information might be added to the log
// in the case of the standard format this is: time, source_ip and priority

formats

The formats define the structure and content of a log entry. The format developed in the thesis can be accessed trough the name "standardFormat".

standardFormat

| Field | Example values | | ------------- | ------------------------------------------- | | source_name | FileService | | user_name | jwatson | | user_ip | 203.0.113.254 | | session | YWRtaW46YWRtaW4 | | status | success | | data_id | 405ophkklw5s879 | | data_name | ExampleData | | data_owner | jwatson | | reason | file upload | | category | create not added to payload | | source_ip | 192.0.2.10 not added to payload | | time | 2021-12-02T11:12:13Z not added to payload | | priority | 1 not added to payload |

transports

The transports are classes which can be used to transport the log to a data stream or a file etc. At the moment the logs can be sent to a kafka stream and to the console of the component using the logger. Each transport has a unique name and a meta object containing all the params. The array for transports must at least contain one of these transport objects. The content of the meta object depends on the transport mechanism.

// [...]
transports: [
  {
    name: "kafkaTransport",
    meta: {
      kafkaBroker: "kafka:9092",
      kafkaClientId: "data-management",
      logTopic: "logs",
    },
  },
  {
    name: "consoleTransport",
    meta: {},
  },
],
// [...]

It is also possible to use multiple transports.

kafkaTransport

Can be used to send the log to a kafka stream. The meta object must contain the address of the kafkaBroker, a kafkaClientId and the logTopic (kafka topic to log to).

consoleTransport

Just prints the logs to the console.

Installation

npm install trust-logger-ba