17. An arrangement for a first syslog message having a plurality of message components, comprising: a plurality of network components coupled to a network, wherein each of the plurality of network components is a hardware component; a syslog server configured to receive syslog messages from said plurality of network components, including said first syslog message, said syslog server including: means for retrieving a meta regular expression, said meta regular expression being formed from a set of regular expressions with each of said regular expressions corresponding to one of said plurality of message components, said meta-regular expression representing a plurality of message component patterns, each of said message component patterns representing a different relative positioning of individual regular expressions of said set of regular expressions; and means for comparing a relative positioning of the plurality of message components in said syslog message with said meta regular expression, said syslog message being deemed valid if the relative positioning of the plurality of message components of said syslog message matches one of said plurality of message component patterns represented by said meta regular expression.
17. An arrangement for a first syslog message having a plurality of message components, comprising: a plurality of network components coupled to a network, wherein each of the plurality of network components is a hardware component; a syslog server configured to receive syslog messages from said plurality of network components, including said first syslog message, said syslog server including: means for retrieving a meta regular expression, said meta regular expression being formed from a set of regular expressions with each of said regular expressions corresponding to one of said plurality of message components, said meta-regular expression representing a plurality of message component patterns, each of said message component patterns representing a different relative positioning of individual regular expressions of said set of regular expressions; and means for comparing a relative positioning of the plurality of message components in said syslog message with said meta regular expression, said syslog message being deemed valid if the relative positioning of the plurality of message components of said syslog message matches one of said plurality of message component patterns represented by said meta regular expression. 18. The arrangement of claim 17 wherein said regular expressions are formed based on syslog message standards defined in Request for Comments (RFC) 3164.