The probe
Logs are high-volume, write-once, read-rarely data. The system must ingest millions of log lines per second, store them durably, and make them searchable within seconds. The tension: write throughput (sequential append) vs search (inverted index, which requires knowing content in advance).
Step 1 — Clarify
- Ingestion rate: 1M log lines/sec (large deployment)
- Average log size: 500 bytes → 500 MB/sec ingestion bandwidth
- Search SLO: search across last 24h of logs within 5 seconds
- Retention: 30 days hot (searchable), 1 year cold (archive)
- Structured (JSON) logs or unstructured (free text)?
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