syslog-ng Open Source Edition 3.36 - Administration Guide

The smtp() sends email messages using SMTP, without needing external applications. The smtp() destination has the following options:

body()

Description: The BODY field of the email. You can also use macros in the string. Use \n to start a new line. For example:

body("syslog-ng OSE received the following alert from $HOST:\n$MSG")

bcc()

Description: The BCC recipient of the email (contents of the BCC field). You can specify the email address, or the name and the email address. Set the bcc() option multiple times to send the email to multiple recipients. For example: bcc("admin@example.com") or bcc("Admin" "admin@example.com") or bcc("Admin" "admin@example.com") bcc("Admin2" "admin2@example.com")

You can also use macros to set the value of this parameter.

cc()

Description: The CC recipient of the email (contents of the CC field). You can specify the email address, or the name and the email address. Set the cc() option multiple times to send the email to multiple recipients. For example: cc("admin@example.com") or cc("Admin" "admin@example.com") or cc("Admin" "admin@example.com") cc("Admin2" "admin2@example.com")

You can also use macros to set the value of this parameter.

disk-buffer()

Description: This option enables putting outgoing messages into the disk buffer of the destination to avoid message loss in case of a system failure on the destination side. It has the following options:

destination d_demo {
    network(
        "127.0.0.1"
        port(3333)
        disk-buffer(
            mem-buf-size(10000)
            disk-buf-size(2000000)
            reliable(yes)
            dir("/tmp/disk-buffer")
        )
    );
};

destination d_demo {
    network(
        "127.0.0.1"
        port(3333)
           disk-buffer(
            mem-buf-length(10000)
            disk-buf-size(2000000)
            reliable(no)
            dir("/tmp/disk-buffer")
        )
    );
};

batch-lines()

Description: Specifies how many lines are flushed to a destination in one batch. The syslog-ng OSE application waits for this number of lines to accumulate and sends them off in a single batch. Increasing this number increases throughput as more messages are sent in a single batch, but also increases message latency.

For example, if you set batch-lines() to 100, syslog-ng OSE waits for 100 messages.

If the batch-timeout() option is disabled, the syslog-ng OSE application flushes the messages if it has sent batch-lines() number of messages, or the queue became empty. If you stop or reload syslog-ng OSE or in case of network sources, the connection with the client is closed, syslog-ng OSE automatically sends the unsent messages to the destination.

Note that if the batch-timeout() option is enabled and the queue becomes empty, syslog-ng OSE flushes the messages only if batch-timeout() expires, or the batch reaches the limit set in batch-lines().

For optimal performance, make sure that the syslog-ng OSE source that feeds messages to this destination is configured properly: the value of the log-iw-size() option of the source must be higher than the batch-lines()*workers() of the destination. Otherwise, the size of the batches cannot reach the batch-lines() limit.

batch-timeout()

Description: Specifies the time syslog-ng OSE waits for lines to accumulate in the output buffer. The syslog-ng OSE application sends batches to the destinations evenly. The timer starts when the first message arrives to the buffer, so if only few messages arrive, syslog-ng OSE sends messages to the destination at most once every batch-timeout() milliseconds.

from()

Description: The sender of the email (contents of the FROM field). You can specify the email address, or the name and the email address. For example:

from("admin@example.com")

or

from("Admin" "admin@example.com")

If you specify the from() option multiple times, the last value will be used. Instead of the from() option, you can also use sender(), which is just an alias of the from() option.

You can also use macros to set the value of this parameter.

header()

Description: Adds an extra header to the email with the specified name and content. The first parameter sets the name of the header, the second one its value. The value of the header can contain macros. Set the header() option multiple times to add multiple headers. For example:

header("X-Program", "$PROGRAM")

When using the header option, note the following points:

• Do not use the header() option to set the values of headers that have dedicated options. Use it only to add extra headers.

• If you set the same custom header multiple times, only the first will be added to the email, other occurrences will be ignored.

• It is not possible to set the DATE, Return-Path, Original-Recipient, Content-*, MIME-*, Resent-*, Received headers.

hook-commands()

Description: This option makes it possible to execute external programs when the relevant driver is initialized or torn down. The hook-commands() can be used with all source and destination drivers with the exception of the usertty() and internal() drivers.

Using the hook-commands() when syslog-ng OSE starts or stops

To execute an external program when syslog-ng OSE starts or stops, use the following options:

Using the hook-commands() when syslog-ng OSE reloads

To execute an external program when the syslog-ng OSE configuration is initiated or torn down, for example, on startup/shutdown or during a syslog-ng OSE reload, use the following options:

source {
   network(transport(udp)
	hook-commands(
          startup("iptables -I LOGCHAIN 1 -p udp --dport 514 -j ACCEPT")
          shutdown("iptables -D LOGCHAIN 1")
        )
     );
};

host()

Description: Hostname or IP address of the SMTP server.

log-fifo-size()

Description: The number of messages that the output queue can store.

port()

Description: The port number of the SMTP server.

reply-to()

Description: Replies of the recipient will be sent to this address (contents of the REPLY-TO field). You can specify the email address, or the name and the email address. Set the reply-to() option multiple times to send the email to multiple recipients. For example: reply-to("admin@example.com") or reply-to("Admin" "admin@example.com") or reply-to("Admin" "admin@example.com") reply-to("Admin2" "admin2@example.com")

You can also use macros to set the value of this parameter.

retries()

Description: If syslog-ng OSE cannot send a message, it will try again until the number of attempts reaches retries().

If the number of attempts reaches retries(), syslog-ng OSE will wait for time-reopen() time, then tries sending the message again.

subject()

Description: The SUBJECT field of the email. You can also use macros. For example:

subject("[SYSLOG ALERT]: Critical error message received from $HOST")

If you specify the subject() option multiple times, the last value will be used.

throttle()

Description: Sets the maximum number of messages sent to the destination per second. Use this output-rate-limiting functionality only when using disk-buffer as well to avoid the risk of losing messages. Specifying 0 or a lower value sets the output limit to unlimited.

time-reopen()

Description: The time to wait in seconds before a dead connection is reestablished.

to()

Description: The recipient of the email (contents of the TO field). You can specify the email address, or the name and the email address. Set the to() option multiple times to send the email to multiple recipients. For example: to("admin@example.com") or to("Admin" "admin@example.com") or to("Admin" "admin@example.com") to("Admin2" "admin2@example.com")

You can also use macros to set the value of this parameter.