Why is syslog-ng needed?
Log messages contain information about the events happening on the hosts. Monitoring system events is essential for security and system health monitoring reasons.
The original syslog protocol separates messages based on the priority of the message and the facility sending the message. These two parameters alone are often inadequate to consistently classify messages, as many applications might use the same facility, and the facility itself is not even included in the log message. To make things worse, many log messages contain unimportant information. The syslog-ng application helps you to select only the really interesting messages, and forward them to a central server.
Company policies or other regulations often require log messages to be archived. Storing the important messages in a central location greatly simplifies this process.
What is new in syslog-ng Open Source Edition version 3.33?
This section lists the most recent changes of syslog-ng Open Source Edition (syslog-ng OSE).
Version 3.31 - 3.32
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New option added to syslog-parser(): drop-invalid ()
From version 3.32, you can use the drop-invalid() option in syslog-parser().
Version 3.30 - 3.31
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New rewrite function:set-pri()
From version 3.31, the syslog-ng OSE application supports using the set-pri() rewrite function, which sets the PRI value of a syslog message by specifying a template string.
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Silent message option in telegram() destination
From version 3.31, you can use the disable_notification() option in the telegram() destination to send silent messages to Telegram.
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New pattern parser: @OPTIONALSET@
From version 3.31, you can use the @OPTIONALSET@ parser to parse any combination of the specified characters.
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New flag in syslog-parser(): no-header
From version 3.31, you can use the no-header flag in the syslog-parser() parser.
Version 3.29 - 3.30
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New template function: filter()
From version 3.30, the syslog-ng OSE application supports using the filter() template function, which runs the filter expression on each element of a given list, and returns only those list elements that meet the requirements of the filter expression.
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New option for systemd-journal() source: namespace()
From version 3.30, the syslog-ng OSE application supports using the namespace() option for the systemd-journal() source, which works exactly the same way as the respective option of the Journalctl command line tool.
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Local timezone STD format supported for %z format element in date-parser()
From version 3.30, the syslog-ng OSE application supports using the local timezone STD format for the %z format element of date-parser().
Who uses syslog-ng?
The syslog-ng application is used worldwide by companies and institutions who collect and manage the logs of several hosts, and want to store them in a centralized, organized way. Using syslog-ng is particularly advantageous for:
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Internet Service Providers
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Financial institutions and companies requiring policy compliance
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Server, web, and application hosting companies
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Datacenters
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Wide area network (WAN) operators
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Server farm administrators.
Supported platforms
The syslog-ng Open Source Edition (syslog-ng OSE) application is highly portable and is known to run on a wide range of hardware architectures (x86, x86_64, SUN Sparc, PowerPC 32 and 64, Alpha) and operating systems, including Linux, BSD, Solaris, IBM AIX, HP-UX, Mac OS X, Cygwin, and others.
