Measured event size · Windows servers
Windows Event Log log size: 2,413 bytes per event
The average Windows Event Log event is 2,413 bytes, measured from samples of its logs. A Windows server source typically produces 50 events per second per device, bursting to 300: assumes 4688 plus Sysmon. The rate is an informed estimate; the size is measured.
What that comes to
One device, raw bytes, at the typical rate for a Windows server source.
| Period | At 50 events/s | At the 300 events/s burst |
|---|---|---|
| An hour | 434 MB | 2.6 GB |
| A day | 10.4 GB | 62.5 GB |
| 90 days | 938 GB | 5.6 TB |
| A year | 3.8 TB | 22.8 TB |
A day of Windows Event Log logs from one device at the category's typical rate, 10.4 GB, is about 2 times an hour of YouTube in 4K.
Size your own
Raw bytes, before compression, indexing overhead and replication.
Measure a sample of your own
The figure above is an average; yours will differ, and for Windows Event Log what moves it most is this: assumes 4688 plus Sysmon. The profiler reads a sample from Windows Event Log in your browser, line by line, one event per line, and reports the bytes per line to set against it. Nothing is uploaded.
Other Windows server sources
- Windows DNS1,066 B
- Windows Server 2016800 B
The Windows server category: its typical rate and every source in it →
Logcaliper, free on iOS, has these sizes and rates built in and sizes a whole list of sources at retention: storage, cluster capacity, nodes.