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syslog-ng Open Source Edition 3.22 - Administration Guide

Preface Introduction to syslog-ng The concepts of syslog-ng Installing syslog-ng The syslog-ng OSE quick-start guide The syslog-ng OSE configuration file source: Read, receive, and collect log messages
How sources work default-network-drivers: Receive and parse common syslog messages internal: Collecting internal messages file: Collecting messages from text files wildcard-file: Collecting messages from multiple text files linux-audit: Collecting messages from Linux audit logs network: Collecting messages using the RFC3164 protocol (network() driver) nodejs: Receiving JSON messages from nodejs applications mbox: Converting local e-mail messages to log messages osquery: Collect and parse osquery result logs pipe: Collecting messages from named pipes pacct: Collecting process accounting logs on Linux program: Receiving messages from external applications python: writing server-style Python sources python-fetcher: writing fetcher-style Python sources snmptrap: Read Net-SNMP traps sun-streams: Collecting messages on Sun Solaris syslog: Collecting messages using the IETF syslog protocol (syslog() driver) system: Collecting the system-specific log messages of a platform systemd-journal: Collecting messages from the systemd-journal system log storage systemd-syslog: Collecting systemd messages using a socket tcp, tcp6, udp, udp6: Collecting messages from remote hosts using the BSD syslog protocol— OBSOLETE unix-stream, unix-dgram: Collecting messages from UNIX domain sockets stdin: Collecting messages from the standard input stream
destination: Forward, send, and store log messages
amqp: Publishing messages using AMQP collectd: sending metrics to collectd elasticsearch2: Sending messages directly to Elasticsearch version 2.0 or higher (DEPRECATED) elasticsearch-http: Sending messages to Elasticsearch HTTP Bulk API file: Storing messages in plain-text files graphite: Sending metrics to Graphite Sending logs to Graylog hdfs: Storing messages on the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) Posting messages over HTTP http: Posting messages over HTTP without Java kafka: Publishing messages to Apache Kafka (Java implementation) kafka: Publishing messages to Apache Kafka (C implementation, using the librdkafka client) loggly: Using Loggly logmatic: Using Logmatic.io mongodb: Storing messages in a MongoDB database network: Sending messages to a remote log server using the RFC3164 protocol (network() driver) osquery: Sending log messages to osquery's syslog table pipe: Sending messages to named pipes program: Sending messages to external applications pseudofile() python: writing custom Python destinations redis: Storing name-value pairs in Redis riemann: Monitoring your data with Riemann slack: Sending alerts and notifications to a Slack channel smtp: Generating SMTP messages (e-mail) from logs snmp: Sending SNMP traps Splunk: Sending log messages to Splunk sql: Storing messages in an SQL database stomp: Publishing messages using STOMP syslog: Sending messages to a remote logserver using the IETF-syslog protocol syslog-ng: Forwarding messages and tags to another syslog-ng node tcp, tcp6, udp, udp6: Sending messages to a remote log server using the legacy BSD-syslog protocol (tcp(), udp() drivers) Telegram: Sending messages to Telegram unix-stream, unix-dgram: Sending messages to UNIX domain sockets usertty: Sending messages to a user terminal: usertty() destination Write your own custom destination in Java or Python Client-side failover
log: Filter and route log messages using log paths, flags, and filters Global options of syslog-ng OSE TLS-encrypted message transfer template and rewrite: Format, modify, and manipulate log messages parser: Parse and segment structured messages db-parser: Process message content with a pattern database (patterndb) Correlating log messages Enriching log messages with external data Statistics of syslog-ng Multithreading and scaling in syslog-ng OSE Troubleshooting syslog-ng Best practices and examples The syslog-ng manual pages Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd) License

Flow-control and multiple destinations

Using flow-control on a source has an important side-effect if the messages of the source are sent to multiple destinations. If flow-control is in use and one of the destinations cannot accept the messages, the other destinations do not receive any messages either, because syslog-ng stops reading the source. For example, if messages from a source are sent to a remote server and also stored locally in a file, and the network connection to the server becomes unavailable, neither the remote server nor the local file will receive any messages.

NOTE:

Creating separate log paths for the destinations that use the same flow-controlled source does not avoid the problem.

If you use flow-control and reliable disk-based buffering together with multiple destinations, the flow-control starts slowing down the source only when:

  • one destination is down, and

  • the number of messages stored in the disk buffer of the destination reaches (disk-buf-size() minus mem-buf-size()).

Configuring flow-control

For details on how flow-control works, see Managing incoming and outgoing messages with flow-control. The summary of the main points is as follows:

  • The syslog-ng application normally reads a maximum of log-fetch-limit() number of messages from a source.

  • From TCP and unix-stream sources, syslog-ng reads a maximum of log-fetch-limit() from every connection of the source. The number of connections to the source is set using the max-connections() parameter.

  • Every destination has an output buffer. The size of this buffer is set automatically for log paths that use flow-control, and can be set using the log-fifo-size() option for other log paths.

  • Flow-control uses a control window to determine if there is free space in the output buffer for new messages. Every source has its own control window, the log-iw-size() option sets the size of the static control window. Optionally, you can enable a dynamic control window for the source using the dynamic-window-size() option.

  • When a source accepts multiple connections, the size of the control window is divided by the value of the max-connections() parameter and this smaller control window is applied to each connection of the source.

    The dynamic control window is automatically distributed among the active connections of the source.

  • If the control window is full, syslog-ng stops reading messages from the source until some messages are successfully sent to the destination.

  • If the output buffer becomes full, and neither disk-buffering nor flow-control is used, messages may be lost.

Caution:

If you modify the max-connections() or the log-fetch-limit() parameter, do not forget to adjust the log-iw-size() and dynamic-window-size() parameters accordingly.

Example: Sizing parameters for flow-control

Suppose that syslog-ng has a source that must accept up to 300 parallel connections. Such situation can arise when a network source receives connections from many clients, or if many applications log to the same socket.

Set the max-connections() parameter of the source to 300. However, the log-fetch-limit() (default value: 10) parameter applies to every connection of the source individually, while the log-iw-size() (default value: 1000) parameter applies to the source. In a worst-case scenario, the destination does not accept any messages, while all 300 connections send at least log-fetch-limit() number of messages to the source during every poll loop. Therefore, the control window must accommodate at least max-connections()*log-fetch-limit() messages to be able to read every incoming message of a poll loop. In the current example this means that log-iw-size() should be greater than 300*10=3000. If the control window is smaller than this value, the control window might fill up with messages from the first connections — causing syslog-ng to read only one message of the last connections in every poll loop.

The output buffer of the destination must accommodate at least log-iw-size() messages, but use a greater value: in the current example 3000*10=30000 messages. That way all incoming messages of ten poll loops fit in the output buffer. If the output buffer is full, syslog-ng does not read any messages from the source until some messages are successfully sent to the destination.

source s_localhost {
    network(
        ip(127.0.0.1)
        port(1999)
        max-connections(300)
    );
};
destination d_tcp {
    network("10.1.2.3"
        port(1999)
        localport(999)
        log-fifo-size(30000)
    );
};
log {
    source(s_localhost);
    destination(d_tcp);
    flags(flow-control);
};

If other sources send messages to this destination, then the output buffer must be further increased. For example, if a network host with maximum 100 connections also logs into the destination, then increase the log-fifo-size() by 10000.

source s_localhost {
    network(
        ip(127.0.0.1)
        port(1999)
        max-connections(300)
    );
};
source s_tcp {
    network(
        ip(192.168.1.5)
        port(1999)
        max-connections(100)
    );
};
destination d_tcp {
    network("10.1.2.3"
        port(1999)
        localport(999)
        log-fifo-size(40000)
    );
};
log {
    source(s_localhost);
    destination(d_tcp);
    flags(flow-control);
};

Using disk-based and memory buffering

The syslog-ng Open Source Edition application can store messages on the local hard disk if the destination (for example, the central log server) or the network connection to the destination becomes unavailable. The syslog-ng OSE application automatically sends the stored messages to the destination when the connection is reestablished. The disk buffer is used as a queue: when the connection to the destination is reestablished, syslog-ng OSE sends the messages to the destination in the order they were received.

NOTE:

Disk-based buffering can be used in conjunction with flow-control. For details on flow-control, see Managing incoming and outgoing messages with flow-control.

Every such destination uses a separate disk buffer (similarly to the output buffers controlled by log-fifo-size()). The hard disk space is not pre-allocated, so ensure that there is always enough free space to store the disk buffers even when the disk buffers are full.

If syslog-ng OSE is restarted (using the /etc/init.d/syslog-ng restart command, or another appropriate command on your platform), it automatically saves any unsent messages from the disk buffer and the output queue. After the restart, syslog-ng OSE sends the saved messages to the destination. In other words, the disk buffer is persistent. The disk buffer is also resistant to syslog-ng OSE crashes.

The syslog-ng OSE application supports two types of disk buffering: reliable and normal. For details, see Enabling reliable disk-based buffering and Enabling normal disk-based buffering, respectively.

Message handling and normal disk-based buffering

When you use disk-based buffering, and the reliable() option is set to no, syslog-ng OSE handles outgoing messages the following way:

Figure 16: Handling outgoing messages in syslog-ng OSE

  • Output queue: Messages from the output queue are sent to the destination (for example, your central log server). The syslog-ng OSE application puts the outgoing messages directly into the output queue, unless the output queue is full. By default, the output queue can hold 64 messages (you can adjust it using the quot-size() option).

  • Disk buffer: If the output queue is full, disk-buffering is enabled, and reliable() is set to no, syslog-ng OSE puts the outgoing messages into the disk buffer of the destination. (The disk buffer is enabled if the disk-buffer() option is configured.)

  • Overflow queue: If the output queue is full and the disk buffer is disabled or full, syslog-ng OSE puts the outgoing messages into the overflow queue of the destination. (The overflow queue is identical to the output buffer used by other destinations.) The log-fifo-size() parameter specifies the number of messages stored in the overflow queue. For details on sizing the log-fifo-size() parameter, see also Managing incoming and outgoing messages with flow-control.

NOTE:

Using disk buffer can significantly decrease performance.

Message handling and reliable disk-based buffering

When you use disk-based buffering, and the reliable() option is set to yes, syslog-ng OSE handles outgoing messages the following way.

The mem-buf-size() option determines when flow-control is triggered. All messages arriving to the log path that includes the destination using the disk-buffer are written into the disk-buffer, until the size of the disk-buffer reaches (disk-buf-size() minus mem-buf-size()). Above that size, messages are written into both the disk-buffer and the memory-buffer, indicating that flow-control needs to slow down the message source. These messages are not taken out from the control window (governed by log-iw-size()), causing the control window to fill up. If the control window is full, the flow-control completely stops reading incoming messages from the source.

(As a result, mem-buf-size() must be at least as large as log-iw-size().)

Enabling reliable disk-based buffering

To enable reliable disk-based buffering, use the disk-buffer(reliable(yes)) parameter in the destination. Use reliable disk-based buffering if you do not want to lose logs in case of reload/restart, unreachable destination or syslog-ng OSE crash. This solution provides a slower, but reliable disk-buffer option. It is created and initialized at startup and gradually grows as new messages arrive. The filename of the reliable disk buffer file is the following: <syslog-ng path>/var/syslog-ng-00000.rqf.

Example: Example for using reliable disk-based buffering
destination d_BSD {
    network("127.0.0.1"
        port(3333)
        disk-buffer(
            mem-buf-size(10000)
            disk-buf-size(2000000)
            reliable(yes)
        )
    );
}; 

For details on the differences between normal and reliable disk-based buffering, see also About disk queue files.

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