System Requirements

Seq runs on most modern Windows configurations. Your requirements will depend on the volume of log events you intend to process.

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Log processing from busy applications can be an extremely resource-intensive process. Careful consideration of what data your application needs to log at each level can make a big impact on the hardware needed to collect and view events.

Operating System

The Seq server runs on the .NET Framework 4.6 and better; it is supported on Windows 8.1+ and Windows Server 2012 R2+.

When selecting an operating system, the most recent possible standard Windows Server SKU, currently Windows Server 2016, is recommended and can provide significantly better performance than earlier versions.

Hardware

Seq requires a 64-bit physical or virtual machine. If you're hosting on Microsoft Azure you'll need a full VM (not a Cloud Service or Web App).

For most light workloads - a few events per second, retained 30 days, - a basic machine with a minimum of the following specifications will provide very good performance:

• 2 CPU cores
• 3 GB RAM
• 50 GB storage

(On Microsoft Azure this indicates the A2 tier.)

For busier servers, or where many developers use Seq concurrently, additional CPU, RAM and storage will be required. As a rule of thumb, 1 GB RAM per 1.5 million retained events is a good starting point. CPU and IO requirements are highly dependent on the nature of the events being logged, so measuring and tuning based on usage will be necessary.

A starting configuration for a loaded production server is:

• 4 CPU cores
• 16 GB RAM
• 256 GB SSD storage

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Seq performs best with SSD storage. On cloud VMs with poor I/O performance (e.g. HDDs) ticking Allow buffered writes under Settings > System is recommended.

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NTFS Cluster Size

While Seq works with the default 4096-byte cluster size, it is recommended that NTFS data volumes be formatted with 64 kB cluster size when used for Seq log storage. This can be specified by passing /A:64K to the Windows format command.

Seq runs in a single-node configuration, so scaling up or down requires adjustment of these numbers, rather than the addition of machines.

Network

Seq accepts events and serves its web interface via HTTP or HTTPS.

The default installation uses HTTP on port 5341. For production work, opening port 80 or 443 as appropriate is recommended.

Supported Browsers

Seq is designed for use with modern web browsers. The Seq user interface is supported in Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari and Internet Explorer 11.

We retain compatibility with multiple versions of "evergreen" browsers such as Chrome and Firefox, but test on and target the most recent released browser version at the time of each Seq release.

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Internet Explorer 10 Support

The Seq UI partially supports Internet Explorer 10 to simplify administration of older servers that may not have another local web browser installed.