Starting with version 3.6, syslog-ng OSE runs in multithreaded mode by default. You can enable multithreading in syslog-ng OSE using the following methods:
Example: Enabling multithreading
To enable multithreading globally, use the threaded option:
options {
threaded(yes) ;
};
To enable multithreading only for a selected source or destination, use the flags("threaded") option:
source s_tcp_syslog {
network(
ip(127.0.0.1)
port(1999)
flags("syslog-protocol", "threaded")
);
};
Destinations that have a queue process that queue in a single thread. Multiple sources can send messages to the same queue, so the queue can scale to multiple CPUs. However, when the writer thread writes the queue contents to the destination, it will be single-threaded.
Message parsing, rewrite rules, filters, and other types of message processing is performed by the reader thread in a sequential manner. This means that such operations can scale only if reading messages from the source can be multithreaded. For example, if a tcp source can process messages from different connections (clients) in separate threads. If the source cannot use multiple threads to process the messages, the operations will not scale.
To improve the processing power of syslog-ng OSE and scale to more processors, use the following methods:
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To improve scaling on the source side, use more sources, for example, more source files, or receive the messages from more parallel connections. For network sources, you can also configure a part of your clients to send the messages to a different port of your syslog-ng server, and use separate source definitions for each port.
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On the destination side, when writing the log messages to files, use macros in the filename to split the messages to separate files (for example, using the ${HOST} macro). Files with macros in their filenames are processed in separate writer threads.
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On the destination side, when sending messages to a syslog-ng server, you can use multiple connections to the server if you configure the syslog-ng server to receive messages on multiple ports, and configure separate destinations on the clients to use both ports.
Troubleshooting syslog-ng
This chapter provides tips and guidelines about troubleshooting problems related to syslog-ng.
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As a general rule, first try to log the messages to a local file. Once this is working, you know that syslog-ng is running correctly and receiving messages, and you can proceed to forwarding the messages to the server.
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Always check the configuration files for any syntax errors on both the client and the server using the syslog-ng --syntax-only command.
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If the syslog-ng OSE server does not receive the messages, verify that the IP addresses and ports are correct in your sources and destinations. Also, check that the client and the server uses the same protocol (a common error is to send logs on UDP, but configure the server to receive logs on TCP).
If the problem persists, use tcpdump or a similar packet sniffer tool on the client to verify that the messages are sent correctly, and on the server to verify that it receives the messages.
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To find message-routing problems, run syslog-ng OSE with the following command syslog-ng -Fevd. That way syslog-ng OSE will run in the foreground, and display debug messages about the messages that are processed.
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If syslog-ng is closing the connections for no apparent reason, be sure to check the log messages of syslog-ng. You may also want to run syslog-ng with the --verbose or --debug command-line options for more-detailed log messages. You can enable these messages without restarting syslog-ng using the syslog-ng-ctl verbose --set=on command. For details, see the syslog-ng-ctl man page at The syslog-ng control tool manual page.
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Build up encrypted connections step-by-step. First create a working, unencrypted (for example, TCP) connection, then add TLS encryption, and finally, client authentication if needed.
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If you use the same driver and options in the destination of your syslog-ng OSE client and the source of your syslog-ng OSE server, everything should work as expected. Unfortunately, there are some other combinations, that may seem to work, but result in losing parts of the messages. For details on the working combinations, see Things to consider when forwarding messages between syslog-ng OSE hosts.
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In case you experience a problem that is not covered in this guide, send it to our mailing list.
To report bugs found in syslog-ng OSE, visit our GitHub issues page.
Precompiled binary packages are available for free from various third-parties. See the list of precompiled syslog-ng OSE binary packages.
During the course of a message from the sending application to the final destination of the message, there are a number of locations where a message may be lost, even though syslog-ng does its best to avoid message loss. Usually losing messages can be avoided with careful planning and proper configuration of syslog-ng and the hosts running syslog-ng. The following list shows the possible locations where messages may be lost, and provides methods to minimize the risk of losing messages:
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Between the application and the syslog-ng client: Make sure to use an appropriate source to receive the logs from the application (for example, from /dev/log). For example, use unix-stream instead of unix-dgram whenever possible.
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When syslog-ng is sending messages: If syslog-ng cannot send messages to the destination and the output buffer gets full, syslog-ng will drop messages.
Use flags (flow-control) to avoid this (for details, see Configuring flow-control). For more information about the error caused by the missing flow-control, see Destination queue full.
The number of dropped messages is displayed per destination in the log message statistics of syslog-ng (for details, see Statistics of syslog-ng).
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On the network: When transferring messages using the UDP protocol, messages may be lost without any notice or feedback — such is the nature of the UDP protocol. Always use the TCP protocol to transfer messages over the network whenever possible.
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In the socket receive buffer: When transferring messages using the UDP protocol, the UDP datagram (that is, the message) that reaches the receiving host placed in a memory area called the socket receive buffer. If the host receives more messages than it can process, this area overflows, and the kernel drops messages without letting syslog-ng know about it. Using TCP instead of UDP prevents this issue. If you must use the UDP protocol, increase the size of the receive buffer using the so-rcvbuf() option.
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When syslog-ng is receiving messages:
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The receiving syslog-ng (for example, the syslog-ng server or relay) may drop messages if the fifo of the destination file gets full. The number of dropped messages is displayed per destination in the log message statistics of syslog-ng (for details, see Statistics of syslog-ng).
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When the destination cannot handle large load: When syslog-ng is sending messages at a high rate into an SQL database, a file, or another destination, it is possible that the destination cannot handle the load, and processes the messages slowly. As a result, the buffers of syslog-ng fill up, syslog-ng cannot process the incoming messages, and starts to loose messages. For details, see the previous entry. Use the throttle parameter to avoid this problem.
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As a result of an unclean shutdown of the syslog-ng server: If the host running the syslog-ng server experiences an unclean shutdown, it takes time until the clients realize that the connection to the syslog-ng server is down. Messages that are put into the output TCP buffer of the clients during this period are not sent to the server.
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When syslog-ng OSE is writing messages into files: If syslog-ng OSE receives a signal (SIG) while writing log messages to file, the log message that is processed by the write call can be lost if the flush_lines parameter is higher than 1.
