Dashboards as Code: How to Create a Syslog Dashboard Using New Relic and Terraform

Dashboards play a crucial role in visualizing performance metrics and swiftly resolving issues within a tech stack, but manual maintenance can be inefficient and insecure. To address this, engineers are increasingly adopting a "dashboards as code" approach, using tools like Terraform and New Relic's log management capabilities to automate creation and management. This method leverages the Syslog RFC-5424 format to organize logs into attribute/value pairs for enhanced observability and alerts. The process involves setting up a Terraform project, creating a Syslog dashboard using NRQL queries to visualize log data, and configuring widgets for various metrics, such as severity levels and application health, to facilitate real-time monitoring. Additionally, integrating alert systems like PagerDuty and Slack ensures timely notifications for critical issues, enhancing problem resolution efficiency. The blog post, authored by Edmo Vamerlatti from New Relic, provides a comprehensive guide to implementing these practices, with code examples available in a GitHub repository for practical application.