Table of Contents
- syslog-ng-ctl — Display message statistics and enable verbose, debug and trace modes in syslog-ng Open Source Edition
Name
syslog-ng-ctl — Display message statistics and enable verbose, debug and trace modes in syslog-ng Open Source Edition
Synopsis
syslog-ng-ctl [command] [options]
Description
NOTE: The syslog-ng-ctl application is distributed with the syslog-ng Open Source Edition system logging application, and is usually part of the syslog-ng package. The latest version of the syslog-ng application is available at syslog-ng page.
This manual page is only an abstract, for the complete documentation of syslog-ng, see the syslog-ng Documentation page.
The syslog-ng-ctl application is a utility that can be used to:
-
enable/disable various syslog-ng messages for troubleshooting
-
display statistics about the processed messages
-
handling password-protected private keys
-
display the currently running configuration of syslog-ng OSE
-
reload the configuration of syslog-ng OSE.
Enabling troubleshooting messages
command [options]
Use the syslog-ng-ctl <command> --set=on command to display verbose, trace, or debug messages. If you are trying to solve configuration problems, the verbose (and occasionally trace) messages are usually sufficient. Debug messages are needed mostly for finding software errors. After solving the problem, do not forget to turn these messages off using the syslog-ng-ctl <command> --set=off. Note that enabling debug messages does not enable verbose and trace messages.
Use syslog-ng-ctl <command> without any parameters to display whether the particular type of messages are enabled or not.
If you need to use a non-standard control socket to access syslog-ng, use the syslog-ng-ctl <command> --set=on --control=<socket> command to specify the socket to use.
- verbose
-
Print verbose messages. If syslog-ng was started with the
--stderror-eoption, the messages will be sent to stderr. If not specified, syslog-ng will log such messages to its internal source. - trace
-
Print trace messages of how messages are processed. If syslog-ng was started with the
--stderror-eoption, the messages will be sent to stderr. If not specified, syslog-ng will log such messages to its internal source. - debug
-
Print debug messages. If syslog-ng was started with the
--stderror-eoption, the messages will be sent to stderr. If not specified, syslog-ng will log such messages to its internal source.
Example:
syslog-ng-ctl verbose --set=on
syslog-ng-ctl query
The syslog-ng OSE application stores various data, metrics, and statistics in a hash table. Every property has a name and a value. For example:
[syslog-ng]
|
|_[destinations]-[network]-[tcp]->[stats]->{received=12;dropped=2}
|
|_[sources]-[sql]-[stats]->{received=501;dropped=0}
You can query the nodes of this tree, and also use filters to select the information you need. A query is actually a path in the tree. You can also use the ? and * wildcards. For example:
-
Select every property:
* -
Select all
droppedvalue from everystatsnode:*.stats.dropped
The nodes and properties available in the tree depend on your syslog-ng OSE configuration (that is, the sources, destinations, and other objects you have configured), and also on your stats-level() settings.
syslog-ng-ctl query list
Use the syslog-ng-ctl query list command to display the list of metrics that syslog-ng OSE collects about the processed messages. For details about the displayed metrics, see The syslog-ng Administrator Guide ???.
An example output:
center.received.stats.processed center.queued.stats.processed destination.java.d_elastic#0.java_dst(ElasticSearch,elasticsearch-syslog-ng-test,t7cde889529c034aea9ec_micek).stats.dropped destination.java.d_elastic#0.java_dst(ElasticSearch,elasticsearch-syslog-ng-test,t7cde889529c034aea9ec_micek).stats.processed destination.java.d_elastic#0.java_dst(ElasticSearch,elasticsearch-syslog-ng-test,t7cde889529c034aea9ec_micek).stats.queued destination.d_elastic.stats.processed source.s_tcp.stats.processed source.severity.7.stats.processed source.severity.0.stats.processed source.severity.1.stats.processed source.severity.2.stats.processed source.severity.3.stats.processed source.severity.4.stats.processed source.severity.5.stats.processed source.severity.6.stats.processed source.facility.7.stats.processed source.facility.16.stats.processed source.facility.8.stats.processed source.facility.17.stats.processed source.facility.9.stats.processed source.facility.18.stats.processed source.facility.19.stats.processed source.facility.20.stats.processed source.facility.0.stats.processed source.facility.21.stats.processed source.facility.1.stats.processed source.facility.10.stats.processed source.facility.22.stats.processed source.facility.2.stats.processed source.facility.11.stats.processed source.facility.23.stats.processed source.facility.3.stats.processed source.facility.12.stats.processed source.facility.4.stats.processed source.facility.13.stats.processed source.facility.5.stats.processed source.facility.14.stats.processed source.facility.6.stats.processed source.facility.15.stats.processed source.facility.other.stats.processed global.payload_reallocs.stats.processed global.msg_clones.stats.processed global.sdata_updates.stats.processed tag..source.s_tcp.stats.processed
The syslog-ng-ctl query list command has the following options:
- --reset
-
Use --reset to set the selected counters to 0 after executing the query.
syslog-ng-ctl query get [options]
The syslog-ng-ctl query get <query> command lists the nodes that match the query, and their values.
For example, the "destination*" query lists the configured destinations, and the metrics related to each destination. An example output:
destination.java.d_elastic#0.java_dst(ElasticSearch,elasticsearch-syslog-ng-test,t7cde889529c034aea9ec_micek).stats.dropped=0 destination.java.d_elastic#0.java_dst(ElasticSearch,elasticsearch-syslog-ng-test,t7cde889529c034aea9ec_micek).stats.processed=0 destination.java.d_elastic#0.java_dst(ElasticSearch,elasticsearch-syslog-ng-test,t7cde889529c034aea9ec_micek).stats.queued=0 destination.d_elastic.stats.processed=0
The syslog-ng-ctl query get command has the following options:
- --sum
-
Add up the result of each matching node and return only a single number.
For example, the
syslog-ng-ctl query get --sum "destination*.dropped"command displays the number of messages dropped by the syslog-ng OSE instance. - --reset
-
Use --reset to set the selected counters to 0 after executing the query.
The stats command
stats [options]
Use the stats command to display statistics about the processed messages. For details about the displayed statistics, see The syslog-ng Administrator Guide ???. The stats command has the following options:
- --control=<socket> or -c
-
Specify the socket to use to access syslog-ng. Only needed when using a non-standard socket.
- --reset=<socket> or -r
-
Reset all statistics to zero, except for the
queuedcounters. (Thequeuedcounters show the number of messages in the message queue of the destination driver, waiting to be sent to the destination.)
Example:
syslog-ng-ctl stats
An example output:
src.internal;s_all#0;;a;processed;6445 src.internal;s_all#0;;a;stamp;1268989330 destination;df_auth;;a;processed;404 destination;df_news_dot_notice;;a;processed;0 destination;df_news_dot_err;;a;processed;0 destination;d_ssb;;a;processed;7128 destination;df_uucp;;a;processed;0 source;s_all;;a;processed;7128 destination;df_mail;;a;processed;0 destination;df_user;;a;processed;1 destination;df_daemon;;a;processed;1 destination;df_debug;;a;processed;15 destination;df_messages;;a;processed;54 destination;dp_xconsole;;a;processed;671 dst.tcp;d_network#0;10.50.0.111:514;a;dropped;5080 dst.tcp;d_network#0;10.50.0.111:514;a;processed;7128 dst.tcp;d_network#0;10.50.0.111:514;a;queued;2048 destination;df_syslog;;a;processed;6724 destination;df_facility_dot_warn;;a;processed;0 destination;df_news_dot_crit;;a;processed;0 destination;df_lpr;;a;processed;0 destination;du_all;;a;processed;0 destination;df_facility_dot_info;;a;processed;0 center;;received;a;processed;0 destination;df_kern;;a;processed;70 center;;queued;a;processed;0 destination;df_facility_dot_err;;a;processed;0
Handling password-protected private keys
syslog-ng-ctl credentials [options]
The syslog-ng-ctl credentials status command allows you to query the status of the private keys that syslog-ng OSE uses in the network() and syslog() drivers. You can also provide the passphrase for password-protected private keys using the syslog-ng-ctl credentials add command. For details on using password-protected keys, see The syslog-ng Administrator Guide .
syslog-ng-ctl credentials status [options]
The syslog-ng-ctl credentials status command allows you to query the status of the private keys that syslog-ng OSE uses in the network() and syslog() drivers. The command returns the list of private keys used, and their status. For example:
syslog-ng-ctl credentials status Secret store status: /home/user/ssl_test/client-1/client-encrypted.key SUCCESS
If the status of a key is PENDING, you must provide the passphrase for the key, otherwise syslog-ng OSE cannot use it. The sources and destinations that use these keys will not work until you provide the passwords. Other parts of the syslog-ng OSE configuration will be unaffected. You must provide the passphrase of the password-protected keys every time syslog-ng OSE is restarted.
The following log message also notifies you of PENDING passphrases:
Waiting for password; keyfile='private.key'
- --control=<socket> or -c
-
Specify the socket to use to access syslog-ng. Only needed when using a non-standard socket.
syslog-ng-ctl credentials add [options]
You can add the passphrase to a password-protected private key file using the following command. syslog-ng OSE will display a prompt for you to enter the passphrase. We recommend that you use this method.
syslog-ng-ctl credentials add --id=<path-to-the-key>
Alternatively, you can include the passphrase in the --secret parameter:
syslog-ng-ctl credentials add --id=<path-to-the-key> --secret=<passphrase-of-the-key>
Or you can pipe the passphrase to the syslog-ng-ctl command, for example:
echo "<passphrase-of-the-key>" | syslog-ng-ctl credentials add --id=<path-to-the-key>
- --control=<socket> or -c
-
Specify the socket to use to access syslog-ng. Only needed when using a non-standard socket.
- --id=<path-to-the-key> or -i
-
The path to the password-protected private key file. This is the same path that you use in the
key-file()option of the syslog-ng OSE configuration file. - --secret=<passphrase-of-the-key> or -s
-
The password or passphrase of the private key.
Displaying the configuration
syslog-ng-ctl config [options]
Use the syslog-ng-ctl config command to display the configuration that syslog-ng OSE is currently running. Note by default, only the content of the main configuration file are displayed, included files are not resolved. To resolve included files and display the entire configuration, use the syslog-ng-ctl config --preprocessed command.
Reloading the configuration
syslog-ng-ctl reload [options]
Use the syslog-ng-ctl reload command to reload the configuration file of syslog-ng OSE without having to restart the syslog-ng OSE application. The syslog-ng-ctl reload works like a SIGHUP.
The syslog-ng-ctl reload command returns 0 if the operation was successful, 1 otherwise.
See also
The syslog-ng Documentation page
For the detailed documentation of syslog-ng OSE see the syslog-ng Documentation page
If you experience any problems or need help with syslog-ng, visit the syslog-ng mailing list.
For news and notifications about of syslog-ng, visit the syslog-ng blogs.