Access ULS Log Data in BCS

I found this really awesome solution that a developer or administrator should know about for SharePoint 2010. Many of us has had challenges in the past with accessing, scanning, drilling and flat wasting tons of time digging through tons of ULS logs in SharePoint 2007. Now with SharePoint 2010 there is an easy way to solve this problem many of the out of the box components and services.

The solution is to:

• Use the new SharePoint 2010 feature to store logs in SQL Server database instead of digging through ULS log files on the server.
• Use SharePoint Designer 2010 to build an External Content Type that points to the table.
• Add a BCS web part to allow users to filter through logs – for instance search for a Correlation ID.
• Use ECT list to display all data if you want.

This solution was written by Scott Hillier and can be accessed here - http://www.shillier.com/archive/2010/08/05/Using-Business-Connectivity-Services-to-Display-SharePoint-2010-ULS-Logs.aspx