syslog-ng Open Source Edition 3.30 - Administration Guide

Cisco parser

The Cisco parser can parse the log messages of various Cisco devices. The messages of these devices often do not completely comply with the syslog RFCs, making them difficult to parse. The cisco-parser() of syslog-ng OSE solves this problem, and can separate these log messages to name-value pairs, extracting also the Cisco-specific values, for example, the mnemonic. For details on using value-pairs in syslog-ng OSE see Structuring macros, metadata, and other value-pairs. The parser can parse variations of the following message format:

<pri>(sequence: )?(origin-id: )?(timestamp? timezone?: )?%msg

For example:

<189>29: foo: *Apr 29 13:58:40.411: %SYS-5-CONFIG_I: Configured from console by console
<190>30: foo: *Apr 29 13:58:46.411: %SYS-6-LOGGINGHOST_STARTSTOP: Logging to host 192.168.1.239 stopped - CLI initiated
<190>31: foo: *Apr 29 13:58:46.411: %SYS-6-LOGGINGHOST_STARTSTOP: Logging to host 192.168.1.239 started - CLI initiated
<189>32: 0.0.0.0: *Apr 29 13:59:12.491: %SYS-5-CONFIG_I: Configured from console by console
<189>32: foo: *Apr 29 13:58:46.411: %SYSMGR-STANDBY-3-SHUTDOWN_START: The System Manager has started the shutdown procedure.

Note that not every Cisco log message conforms to this format. If you find a message that the cisco-parser() cannot properly parse, open a GitHub issue so we can improve the parser.

The syslog-ng OSE application normalizes the parsed log messages into the following format:

${MESSAGE}=%FAC-SEV-MNEMONIC: message
${HOST}=origin-id

By default, the Cisco-specific fields are extracted into the following name-value pairs:${.cisco.facility}, ${.cisco.severity}, ${.cisco.mnemonic}. You can change the prefix using the prefix option.

@version: 3.30
@include "scl.conf"
log {
    source { udp(flags(no-parse)); };
    parser { cisco-parser(); };
    destination { ... };
};

Note that you have to disable message parsing in the source using the flags(no-parse) option for the parser to work.

The cisco-parser() is actually a reusable configuration snippet configured to parse Cisco messages. For details on using or writing such configuration snippets, see Reusing configuration blocks. You can find the source of this configuration snippet on GitHub.

parser {
    cisco-parser(prefix("myprefix."));
};

Parsing enterprise-wide message model (EWMM) messages

The ewmm-parser() can be used to parse messages sent by another syslog-ng host using the enterprise-wide message model (EWMM) format. Available in version 3.16 and later. Note that usually you do not have to use this parser directly, because the default-network-drivers() source automatically parses such messages.

parser parser_name {
    ewmm-parser();
};

iptables parser

The iptables parser can parse the log messages of the iptables command. Available in version 3.16 and later.

@version: 3.30
@include "scl.conf"
log {
    source { system(); };
    parser { iptables-parser(); };
    destination { ... };
};

The iptables-parser() is actually a reusable configuration snippet configured to parse iptables messages. For details on using or writing such configuration snippets, see Reusing configuration blocks. You can find the source of this configuration snippet on GitHub.

parser { iptables-parser(prefix("myprefix.")); };

Netskope parser

The Netskope parser can parse Netskope log messages. These messages do not completely comply with the syslog RFCs, making them difficult to parse. The netskope-parser() of syslog-ng OSE solves this problem, and can separate these log messages to name-value pairs. For details on using value-pairs in syslog-ng OSE see Structuring macros, metadata, and other value-pairs. The parser can parse messages in the following format:

<PRI>{JSON-formatted-log-message}

For example:

<134>{"count": 1, "supporting_data": {"data_values": ["x.x.x.x", "user@domain.com"], "data_type": "user"}, "organization_unit": "domain/domain/Domain Users/Enterprise Users", "severity_level": 2, "category": null, "timestamp": 1547421943, "_insertion_epoch_timestamp": 1547421943, "ccl": "unknown", "user": "user@domain.com", "audit_log_event": "Login Successful", "ur_normalized": "user@domain.com", "_id": "936289", "type": "admin_audit_logs", "appcategory": null}

If you find a message that the netskope-parser() cannot properly parse, open a GitHub issue so we can improve the parser.

The syslog-ng OSE application sets the ${PROGRAM} field to Netskope.

By default, the Netskope-specific fields are extracted into name-value pairs prefixed with .netskope. For example, the organization_unit in the previous message becomes ${.netskope.organization_unit}. You can change the prefix using the prefix option of the parser.

@version: 3.30
@include "scl.conf"
log {
    source { network(flags(no-parse)); };
    parser { netskope-parser(); };
    destination { ... };
};

Note that you have to disable message parsing in the source using the flags(no-parse) option for the parser to work.

The netskope-parser() is actually a reusable configuration snippet configured to parse Netskope messages. For details on using or writing such configuration snippets, see Reusing configuration blocks. You can find the source of this configuration snippet on GitHub.

parser {
    netskope-parser(prefix("myprefix."));
};