The add-contextual-data() has the following options.
Required options
The following options are required: selector(), database().
database()
| Type: |
<path-to-file>.csv |
| Default: |
|
Description: Specifies the path to the CSV file, for example, /opt/syslog-ng/my-csv-database.csv. The extension of the file must be .csv, and can include Windows-style (CRLF) or UNIX-style (LF) linebreaks. You can use absolute path, or relative to the syslog-ng PE binary.
default-selector()
| Synopsis: |
default-selector() |
Description: Specifies the ID of the entry (line) that is corresponds to log messages that do not have a selector that matches an entry in the database. For example, if you add name-value pairs from the database based on the hostname from the log message (selector("${HOST}")), then you can include a line for unknown hosts in the database, and set default-selector() to the ID of the line for unknown hosts. In the CSV file:
unknown-hostname,host-role,unknown
In the syslog-ng PE configuration file:
add-contextual-data(
selector("$HOST")
database("context-info-db.csv")
default-selector("unknown-hostname")
);
prefix()
Description: Insert a prefix before the name part of the added name-value pairs (including the pairs added by the default-selector()) to help further processing.
selector()
Description: Specifies the string or macro that syslog-ng PE evaluates for each message, and if its value matches the ID of an entry in the database, syslog-ng PE adds the name-value pair of every matching database entry to the log message. Currently, you can use strings and a single macro (for example, ${HOST}) in the selector() option, templates are not supported. To use filters as selectors, see Using filters as selector.
The syslog-ng PE application can lookup IP addresses from an offline GeoIP2 database, and make the retrieved data available in name-value pairs. Depending on the database used, you can access country code, longitude, and latitude information and so on.
The syslog-ng PE application works with the Country and the City version of the GeoIP2 database, both free and the commercial editions. The syslog-ng PE application works with the mmdb (GeoIP2) format of these databases. Other formats, like csv are not supported.
NOTE: To access longitude and latitude information, download the City version of the GeoIP2 database.
There are two types of GeoIP2 databases available.
-
GeoLite2 City:
-
free of charge
-
less accurate
-
GeoIP2 City:
-
has to be purchased
-
more accurate
Unzip the downloaded database (for example, to the /usr/share/GeoIP2/GeoIP2City.mmdb file). This path will be used later in the configuration.
Starting with version 7.0.17, syslog-ng PE tries to automatically detect the location of the database. If that is successful, the database() option is not mandatory.
The geoip2 parser has the following options.
prefix()
Description: Insert a prefix before the name part of the parsed name-value pairs to help further processing. For example:
-
To insert the my-parsed-data. prefix, use the prefix(my-parsed-data.) option.
-
To refer to a particular data that has a prefix, use the prefix in the name of the macro, for example, ${my-parsed-data.name} .
-
If you forward the parsed messages using the IETF-syslog protocol, you can insert all the parsed data into the SDATA part of the message using the prefix(.SDATA.my-parsed-data.) option.
Names starting with a dot (for example,
.example) are reserved for use by syslog-ng PE. If you use such a macro name as the name of a parsed value, it will attempt to replace the original value of the macro (note that only soft macros can be overwritten, see
Hard versus soft macros for details). To avoid such problems, use a prefix when naming the parsed values, for example,
prefix(my-parsed-data.)
For example, to insert the .geoip2 prefix, use the prefix(.geoip2) option. To refer to a particular data when using a prefix, use the prefix in the name of the macro, for example, ${geoip2.country_code}.
database()
| Synopsis: |
database() |
| Default: |
|
Description: Path to the GeoIP2 database to use. This works with absolute and relative paths as well. Note that syslog-ng PE must have the required privileges to read this file. Do not modify or delete this file while syslog-ng PE is running, it can crash syslog-ng PE.
Starting with version 7.0.17, syslog-ng PE tries to automatically detect the location of the database. If that is successful, the database() option is not mandatory.
Monitoring statistics and metrics of syslog-ng
The syslog-ng PE application collects various statistics and measures different metrics about the messages it receives and delivers. These metrics are collected into different counters, depending on the configuration of syslog-ng PE. The stats-level() global option determines exactly which statistics syslog-ng PE collects. You can access these statistics and metrics using the following methods.
Recommended: Structured, selective methods:
Legacy: Unstructured, bulk methods:
-
Using the internal() source.
-
Using the syslog-ng-ctl stats command.
For further information about using syslog-ng-ctl commands, see The syslog-ng control tool manual page.
-
Use the socat application: echo STATS | socat -vv UNIX-CONNECT:/opt/syslog-ng/var/run/syslog-ng.ctl -.
-
If you have an OpenBSD-style netcat application installed, use the echo STATS | nc -U /opt/syslog-ng/var/run/syslog-ng.ctl command. Note that the netcat included in most Linux distributions is a GNU-style version that is not suitable to query the statistics of syslog-ng.
