Implementing real-time logging with Google Cloud Logging in Node.js

01 Oct 2023

In modern applications, real-time logging is crucial for monitoring and troubleshooting. Google Cloud Logging provides a convenient and efficient way to manage logs in the cloud. In this blog post, we will explore how to implement real-time logging with Google Cloud Logging in Node.js.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, ensure that you have the following prerequisites:

Node.js installed on your machine
A Google Cloud project setup with Cloud Logging enabled
The Google Cloud SDK installed and authenticated

Installing Dependencies

To get started, create a new Node.js project and navigate to its root directory in your terminal. Then, install the @google-cloud/logging-winston package, which is the official Google Cloud Logging Winston transport for Node.js:

npm install @google-cloud/logging-winston

Configuring Authentication

To authenticate with Google Cloud Logging, you need to provide credentials. Follow these steps:

Create a service account in your Google Cloud project.
Download the service account JSON key file.
Set the GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS environment variable to point to the JSON key file path:

export GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=/path/to/keyfile.json

Setting Up Logging

Next, create a new JavaScript file (e.g., index.js) and add the following code:

const winston = require('winston');
const { LoggingWinston } = require('@google-cloud/logging-winston');

// Create a Winston logger instance
const logger = winston.createLogger({
  level: 'info', // Set the desired log level
  transports: [
    // Add the Google Cloud Logging Winston transport
    new LoggingWinston(),
  ],
});

// Log a sample message
const logMessage = () => {
  logger.info('Hello, Cloud Logging!');
};

setInterval(logMessage, 5000); // Log a message every 5 seconds

In the code above, we import the winston and @google-cloud/logging-winston packages. We create a new Winston logger instance and add the Google Cloud Logging Winston transport. The transport will send logs to Google Cloud Logging.

In this example, we log a sample message every 5 seconds. You can customize the log message and interval according to your requirements.

Running the Application

To run the application, execute the following command in your terminal:

node index.js

You should see the logs being sent to Google Cloud Logging in real-time. To view the logs, navigate to the Google Cloud Console and select the appropriate project and log stream.

Conclusion

In this blog post, we learned how to implement real-time logging with Google Cloud Logging in Node.js. By leveraging the @google-cloud/logging-winston package, we were able to seamlessly integrate Google Cloud Logging into our Node.js application. Real-time logging allows us to monitor and troubleshoot our applications efficiently.