The LOGG Stack: A Learning Journey from Core to Custom Solutions

The LOGG stack isn’t just about building another data analytics platform—it’s about embarking on a journey of learning and discovery. In today’s world, it’s all too common to click a button, launch a cluster, and rely on interfaces to do the heavy lifting. But in doing so, we often miss out on the deeper understanding of what’s happening behind the scenes.

This project is different. It’s designed to take you beneath the surface, to explore the core of what makes a powerful, scalable analytics system tick. It’s about learning by doing—by starting at the foundation and building something that not only works but that you truly understand.

Why Start at the Core?

At its heart, the LOGG stack treats OpenSearch as a robust data storage and querying engine. But rather than depending on pre-built interfaces to manage and visualize that data, we’re going to strip it down to its essentials and build up from there. Why? Because there’s no better way to learn than by getting your hands dirty with the core components.

When you understand how your data is stored, how it’s queried, and how it’s managed, you gain a deeper appreciation and control over your system. This project will guide you through that process, showing you how to interact with OpenSearch directly, manage indices through the command line, and eventually build your own tools to automate and streamline these tasks.

Beyond the Basics: Building Custom Solutions

As we progress, we’ll move beyond the basics of managing OpenSearch and dive into building custom solutions tailored to our needs. This isn’t just about avoiding tools like OpenSearch Dashboards—it’s about understanding why we’re building something different.

1. Learning by Building
   • Approach: We’ll start by handling index management directly from the CLI, learning the commands and understanding the architecture behind them. This hands-on experience is invaluable, providing the foundation for deeper customization later on.
   • Reasoning: When you’re familiar with the raw commands and the structure of OpenSearch, you’re not just following instructions—you’re learning how to think about data management and analytics from the ground up.
2. Creating a Multi-Threaded API with Go
   • Approach: Instead of relying on existing interfaces, we’ll develop our own multi-threaded API using Go. This will be the backbone of our custom index and cluster management system, offering both performance and flexibility.
   • Reasoning: Go’s concurrency model and efficiency make it an ideal choice for building robust backend systems. By developing this API, we’re not just creating a tool—we’re gaining the skills to manipulate and extend OpenSearch in ways that suit our exact needs.
3. Understanding What’s Happening in the Background
   • Approach: Throughout this project, the focus will be on transparency and understanding. We won’t just tell you what to do—we’ll explain why we’re doing it, what’s happening in the background, and how each piece fits into the larger puzzle.
   • Reasoning: This approach ensures that by the time you’ve built your LOGG stack, you’ll have a solid grasp of the underlying mechanics. You’ll know not just how to use the system, but how to modify, extend, and optimize it for your unique use cases.

A Learning Experience for the Long Haul

The LOGG stack isn’t just a one-time project—it’s a platform for continuous learning and growth. By the end of this journey, you’ll have built a powerful, low-cost analytics system, but more importantly, you’ll have gained the knowledge and skills to truly own it. You’ll know what’s happening under the hood and how to tweak, tune, and transform your system to meet new challenges and opportunities.

This isn’t about bashing other tools or taking shortcuts. It’s about understanding and mastery—about taking control of your technology and making it work for you, not the other way around.

If you’re ready to go beyond the surface, to dig into the core of what makes a great analytics system, then join me on this journey. Together, we’ll build something powerful, something that works, and something that you can truly understand and own.

You can see this as it evolves by following updates here: https://logg.baremetalbridge.com/books/logg-stack-the-beginning.