Professional Profile

Rainer Gerhards is a German computer scientist, software engineer, and author of Internet standards. He is best known as the creator and lead developer of rsyslog, the standard logging daemon used in many Linux distributions.

He serves as the Founder, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and Chief Software Architect of Adiscon GmbH, a software company specializing in logging and security solutions. Gerhards is a Senior Member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and an active contributor to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), where he has authored key standards for the Syslog protocol.

(For a more personal narrative of my journey from mainframes to open source, please read my Narrative Biography.)

Professional Experience

Adiscon GmbH | Großrinderfeld, Germany

  • Founder, CEO & Chief Software Architect (1997 – Present)
    • Leads the development of open-source and proprietary logging, auditing, and IT security tools.
    • Architect of the rsyslog ecosystem, including liblognorm, librelp, and the Reliable Event Logging Protocol (RELP).
    • Created EventReporter, the original Windows-to-Unix event forwarder that defined the Windows syslog integration market.

FernUniversität in Hagen | Hagen, Germany

  • Investigator / Research Associate (Feb 2017 – Dec 2017)
    • Conducted research on multi-goal optimization for task graph schedules, focusing on power consumption and renewable energy usage in high-performance computing.

Guardtime

  • Technical Advisor (2012 – 2015)
    • Advised on data integrity and blockchain-based security architectures.

MITRE Corporation

  • Advisor, CEE Board (2010 – 2013)
    • Served as a member of the Common Event Expression (CEE) Working Group, driving standardization for network event expression and log interoperability.

Anica Online GmbH | Düren, Germany

  • Founder & CEO (1996 – 1998)
    • Established and managed a regional Internet Service Provider (ISP).
    • Supervised the software development team for custom client solutions.

KLV NetS GmbH

RG Information Systems

  • Founder (1988 – 1996)
    • Developed low-level system software and embedded solutions for PC and Bull GCOS6 platforms.
    • Precursor entity to Adiscon GmbH.

Voith Group (Dörries GmbH) | Düren, Germany

  • Head of Data Center (1990 – 1993)
  • System Programmer (1988 – 1990)
  • Application Developer (1986 – 1988)
  • Apprentice (Auszubildender) (Sep 1983 – Jul 1986)
  • Verified by: NetWorld+Interop 1994 Program Guide (PDF)

Selected Publications & Standards

Internet Standards (IETF RFCs) Rainer Gerhards has authored or co-authored foundational Request for Comments (RFCs) that define modern network logging:

  • RFC 5424: The Syslog Protocol (Proposed Standard). 2009.
  • RFC 5674: Alarms in Syslog (with S. Chisholm). 2009.
  • RFC 6587: Transmission of Syslog Messages over TCP (with C. Lonvick). 2012.
  • RFC 6012: Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) Transport Mapping for Syslog (with J. Salowey, T. Petch, H. Feng). 2010.

Academic Papers & Proceedings

  • Buldas, A., Truu, A., Laanoja, R., Gerhards, R. (2014). Efficient Record-Level Keyless Signatures for Audit Logs. In: Proceedings of the 19th Nordic Conference on Secure IT Systems (NordSec 2014), Tromsø, Norway. Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS), vol 8788.
  • Keller, J., Gerhards, R. (2011). PeelSched: A Simple and Parallel Scheduling Algorithm for Static Taskgraphs. In: PARS-Mitteilungen 28(1), Gesellschaft für Informatik (GI).
  • Gerhards, R. (2010). rsyslog: going up from 40K messages per second to 250K. In: Proceedings of the 17th International Linux System Technology Conference (Linux-Kongress 2010), Nuremberg, Germany.
  • Gerhards, R. (2009). Neuere Entwicklungen in der Syslog-Protokollierung. In: DuD – Datenschutz und Datensicherheit, 33(12), Vieweg Verlag.

Technical Articles

  • Gerhards, R. (1990). Using Header Files To Enhance Portability. C User’s Journal, January 1990. [Verify Citation]
  • Gerhards, R. (1993). Verwaltung heterogener Netze überfordert Netz und Anwender. Computerwoche, Jan 1993.

Select Engineering Projects

Rainer Gerhards has been building system-level software for over three decades. Notable early projects include:

  • Integrated Data Transfer System (IDTS) (1990): Designed a corporate store-and-forward messaging system for SNA long-distance networks, supporting IBM Mainframes and Unisys OS1100.
  • Portable Graphics Library (1988): Author of an early open-source (“public domain”) cross-platform graphics library, distributed as CUG227 by the C User’s Group. [View Archive Scan]
  • Subway Communication System (1987): Developed the core cooperative real-time operating system (RTOS) and serial communications hub for a passenger emergency call system used in major global metro networks.
  • PC6 (1986): Created a market-leading VIP/SDP terminal emulator for Bull GCOS6 systems.

Education

  • M.Sc. Computer Science (2016) | FernUniversität in Hagen
  • B.Sc. Computer Science (2011) | FernUniversität in Hagen
  • Staatlich geprüfter Betriebswirt (1994) | Deutsche Angestellten-Akademie (DAA)
    • Focus: Business Informatics (Wirtschaftsinformatik)
  • Datenverarbeitungskaufmann (1986) | Voith Group / Berufskolleg an der Lindenstraße, Cologne

Certifications

  • Master CNE (Certified NetWare Engineer): One of the first professionals in Germany to achieve Novell’s highest technical certification level (Original CNE earned 1992).
  • Microsoft Terminal Server Specialist: (Issued 1999)
  • Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP): Early adopter of Windows NT enterprise technologies (Credential ID NV1009129, Issued 1994).

Memberships & Volunteering

  • Association for Computing Machinery (ACM): Senior Member (Awarded 2013)
  • Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF): Standards Author
  • Gesellschaft für Informatik (GI): Member
  • NetWorld+Interop Program Committee (1994): Served on the European Programme Committee and chaired sessions on Multiprotocol Backbones. [View Program Guide]
  • German Red Cross (1987–1996): Served in the Radio Division handling state-wide emergency communications, including operations during the German reunification.

Civic Engagement

Rainer Gerhards serves as Deputy Mayor (since 2024) and Municipal Councilor (since 2019) for the municipality of Großrinderfeld, focusing on digital infrastructure and transparent governance.

Note: I keep an archive of scanned historical material for persistency.

Connect