syslog-ng Open Source Edition 3.16 - Administration Guide

Modifying the on-the-wire message format

Macros, templates, and template functions allow you to fully customize the format of the message. This flexibility makes it possible to use syslog-ng OSE in some unexpected way if needed, for example, to emulate simple, plain-text protocols. The following example shows you how to send LPUSH commands to a Redis server.

The following template is a valid LPUSH command in accordance with the Redis protocol, and puts the $MESSAGE into a separate list for every $PROGRAM:

template t_redis_lpush {
    template("*3\r\n$$5\r\nLPUSH\r\n$$$(length ${PROGRAM})\r\n${PROGRAM}\r\n$$$(length ${MESSAGE})\r\n${MESSAGE}\r\n");
};

If you use this template in a network() destination, syslog-ng OSE formats the message according to the template, and sends it to the Redis server.

destination d_redis_tcp {
    network("127.0.0.1" port(6379) template(t_redis_lpush));
};

Modifying messages using rewrite rules

The syslog-ng application can rewrite parts of the messages using rewrite rules. Rewrite rules are global objects similar to parsers and filters and can be used in log paths. The syslog-ng application has two methods to rewrite parts of the log messages: substituting (setting) a part of the message to a fix value, and a general search-and-replace mode.

Substitution completely replaces a specific part of the message that is referenced using a built-in or user-defined macro.

General rewriting searches for a string in the entire message (or only a part of the message specified by a macro) and replaces it with another string. Optionally, this replacement string can be a template that contains macros.

Rewriting messages is often used in conjunction with message parsing parser: Parse and segment structured messages.

Rewrite rules are similar to filters: they must be defined in the syslog-ng configuration file and used in the log statement. You can also define the rewrite rule inline in the log path.

Replacing message parts

To replace a part of the log message, you have to:

• define a string or regular expression to find the text to replace

• define a string to replace the original text (macros can be used as well)

• select the field of the message that the rewrite rule should process

Substitution rules can operate on any soft macros, for example MESSAGE, PROGRAM, or any user-defined macros created using parsers. Hard macros cannot be modified. For details on the hard and soft macros, see Hard vs. soft macros). You can also rewrite the structured-data fields of messages complying to the RFC5424 (IETF-syslog) message format. Substitution rules use the following syntax:

rewrite <name_of_the_rule> {
    subst(
        "<string or regular expression to find>",
        "<replacement string>", value(<field name>), flags()
    );
};

The type() and flags() options are optional. The type() specifies the type of regular expression to use, while the flags() are the flags of the regular expressions. For details on regular expressions, see Regular expressions.

A single substitution rule can include multiple substitutions that are applied sequentially to the message. Note that rewriting rules must be included in the log statement to have any effect.

rewrite r_rewrite_subst{
    subst("IP", "IP-Address", value("MESSAGE"));
};

rewrite r_rewrite_subst{
    subst("IP", "IP-Address", value("MESSAGE"), flags("global"));
};

rewrite r_rewrite_subst{
    subst("IP", "IP-Address", value("MESSAGE"));
    subst("Address", "Addresses", value("MESSAGE"));
};

rewrite pseudonymize_ip_addresses_in_message {subst ("((([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5])[.]){3}([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5]))", "$(sha1 $0)", value("MESSAGE"));};

Setting message fields to specific values

To set a field of the message to a specific value, you have to:

• define the string to include in the message, and

• select the field where it should be included.

You can set the value of available macros, for example HOST, MESSAGE, PROGRAM, or any user-defined macros created using parsers (for details, see parser: Parse and segment structured messages and db-parser: Process message content with a pattern database (patterndb)). Hard macros cannot be modified. For details on the hard and soft macros, see Hard vs. soft macros). Note that the rewrite operation completely replaces any previous value of that field. Use the following syntax:

rewrite <name_of_the_rule> {
    set("<string to include>", value(<field name>));
};

rewrite r_rewrite_set{
    set("myhost", value("HOST"));
};

rewrite r_rewrite_set{
    set("$MESSAGE suffix", value("MESSAGE"));
};

You can also use the following options in rewrite rules that use the set() operator.

rewrite <name_of_the_rule> {
    set("<string to include>", value(<field name>), on-error("fallback-to-string");
};

frac-digits()

Description: The syslog-ng application can store fractions of a second in the timestamps according to the ISO8601 format. The frac-digits() parameter specifies the number of digits stored. The digits storing the fractions are padded by zeros if the original timestamp of the message specifies only seconds. Fractions can always be stored for the time the message was received. Note that syslog-ng can add the fractions to non-ISO8601 timestamps as well.

local-time-zone()

Description: Sets the timezone used when expanding filename and tablename templates.

The timezone can be specified by using the name, for example, time-zone("Europe/Budapest")), or as the timezone offset in +/-HH:MM format, for example, +01:00). On Linux and UNIX platforms, the valid timezone names are listed under the /usr/share/zoneinfo directory.

on-error()

Description: Controls what happens when type-casting fails and syslog-ng OSE cannot convert some data to the specified type. By default, syslog-ng OSE drops the entire message and logs the error. Currently the value-pairs() option uses the settings of on-error().

• drop-message: Drop the entire message and log an error message to the internal() source. This is the default behavior of syslog-ng OSE.

• drop-property: Omit the affected property (macro, template, or message-field) from the log message and log an error message to the internal() source.

• fallback-to-string: Convert the property to string and log an error message to the internal() source.

• silently-drop-message: Drop the entire message silently, without logging the error.

• silently-drop-property: Omit the affected property (macro, template, or message-field) silently, without logging the error.

• silently-fallback-to-string: Convert the property to string silently, without logging the error.

send-time-zone()

Description: Specifies the time zone associated with the messages sent by syslog-ng, if not specified otherwise in the message or in the destination driver. For details, see Timezones and daylight saving.

The timezone can be specified by using the name, for example, time-zone("Europe/Budapest")), or as the timezone offset in +/-HH:MM format, for example, +01:00). On Linux and UNIX platforms, the valid timezone names are listed under the /usr/share/zoneinfo directory.

time-zone()

Description: Convert timestamps to the timezone specified by this option. If this option is not set, then the original timezone information in the message is used. Converting the timezone changes the values of all date-related macros derived from the timestamp, for example, HOUR. For the complete list of such macros, see Date-related macros.

The timezone can be specified by using the name, for example, time-zone("Europe/Budapest")), or as the timezone offset in +/-HH:MM format, for example, +01:00). On Linux and UNIX platforms, the valid timezone names are listed under the /usr/share/zoneinfo directory.

ts-format()

Description: Override the global timestamp format (set in the global ts-format() parameter) for the specific destination. For details, see ts-format().