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syslog-ng Open Source Edition 3.25 - 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 email 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 (email) 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(): Forward logs 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 Glossary

How syslog-ng OSE interacts with HDFS

The syslog-ng OSE application sends the log messages to the official HDFS client library, which forwards the data to the HDFS nodes. The way syslog-ng OSE interacts with HDFS is described in the following steps.

  1. After syslog-ng OSE is started and the first message arrives to the hdfs destination, the hdfs destination tries to connect to the HDFS NameNode. If the connection fails, syslog-ng OSE will repeatedly attempt to connect again after the period set in time-reopen() expires.

  2. syslog-ng OSE checks if the path to the logfile exists. If a directory does not exist syslog-ng OSE automatically creates it. syslog-ng OSE creates the destination file (using the filename set in the syslog-ng OSE configuration file, with a UUID suffix to make it unique, for example, /usr/hadoop/logfile.txt.3dc1c59e-ab3b-4b71-9e81-93db477ed9d9) and writes the message into the file. After the file is created, syslog-ng OSE will write all incoming messages into the hdfs destination.

    NOTE:

    When the hdfs-append-enabled() option is set to true, syslog-ng OSE will not assign a new UUID suffix to an existing file, because it is then possible to open a closed file and append data to that.

    NOTE:

    You cannot set when log messages are flushed. Hadoop performs this action automatically, depending on its configured block size, and the amount of data received. There is no way for the syslog-ng OSE application to influence when the messages are actually written to disk. This means that syslog-ng OSE cannot guarantee that a message sent to HDFS is actually written to disk. When using flow-control, syslog-ng OSE acknowledges a message as written to disk when it passes the message to the HDFS client. This method is as reliable as your HDFS environment.

  3. If the HDFS client returns an error, syslog-ng OSE attempts to close the file, then opens a new file and repeats sending the message (trying to connect to HDFS and send the message), as set in the retries() parameter. If sending the message fails for retries() times, syslog-ng OSE drops the message.

  4. The syslog-ng OSE application closes the destination file in the following cases:

    • syslog-ng OSE is reloaded

    • syslog-ng OSE is restarted

    • The HDFS client returns an error.

  5. If the file is closed and you have set an archive directory, syslog-ng OSE moves the file to this directory. If syslog-ng OSE cannot move the file for some reason (for example, syslog-ng OSE cannot connect to the HDFS NameNode), the file remains at its original location, syslog-ng OSE will not try to move it again.

Storing messages with MapR-FS

The syslog-ng OSE application is also compatible with MapR File System (MapR-FS). MapR-FS provides better performance, reliability, efficiency, maintainability, and ease of use compared to the default Hadoop Distributed Files System (HDFS). To use MapR-FS with syslog-ng OSE, complete the following steps:

  1. Install MapR libraries. Instead of the official Apache HDFS libraries, MapR uses different libraries. The supported version is MapR 4.x.

    1. Download the libraries from the Maven Repository and Artifacts for MapR or get it from an already existing MapR installation.

    2. Install MapR. If you do not know how to install MapR, follow the instructions on the MapR website.

  2. In a default MapR installation, the required libraries are installed in the following path: /opt/mapr/lib.

    Enter the path where MapR was installed in the class-path option of the hdfs destination, for example:

    class-path("/opt/mapr/lib/")

    If the libraries were downloaded from the Maven Repository, the following additional libraries will be requiered. Note that the version numbers in the filenames can be different in the various Hadoop releases:commons-collections-3.2.1.jar, commons-logging-1.1.3.jar, hadoop-auth-2.5.1.jar, log4j-1.2.15.jar, slf4j-api-1.7.5.jar, commons-configuration-1.6.jar, guava-13.0.1.jar, hadoop-common-2.5.1.jar, maprfs-4.0.2-mapr.jar, slf4j-log4j12-1.7.5.jar, commons-lang-2.5.jar, hadoop-0.20.2-dev-core.jar, json-20080701.jar, protobuf-java-2.5.0.jar, zookeeper-3.4.5-mapr-1406.jar.

  3. Configure the hdfs destination in syslog-ng OSE.

    Example: Storing logfiles with MapR-FS

    The following example defines an hdfs destination for MapR-FS using only the required parameters.

    @module mod-java
    @include "scl.conf"
    
    destination d_mapr {
        hdfs(
            client-lib-dir("/opt/syslog-ng/lib/syslog-ng/java-modules/:/opt/mapr/lib/")
            hdfs-uri("maprfs://10.140.32.80")
            hdfs-file("/user/log/logfile.txt")
        );
    };
    

Kerberos authentication with syslog-ng hdfs() destination

Version 3.10 and later supports Kerberos authentication to authenticate the connection to your Hadoop cluster. syslog-ng OSE assumes that you already have a Hadoop and Kerberos infrastructure.

NOTE:

If you configure Kerberos authentication for a hdfs() destination, it affects all hdfs() destinations. Kerberos and non-Kerberos hdfs() destinations cannot be mixed in a syslog-ng OSE configuration. This means that if one hdfs() destination uses Kerberos authentication, you have to configure all other hdfs() destinations to use Kerberos authentication too.

Failing to do so results in non-Kerberos hdfs() destinations being unable to authenticate to the HDFS server.

NOTE:

If you want to configure your hdfs() destination to stop using Kerberos authentication, namely, to remove Kerberos-related options from the hdfs() destination configuration, make sure to restart syslog-ng OSE for the changes to take effect.

Prerequisites:
  • You have configured your Hadoop infrastructure to use Kerberos authentication.

  • You have a keytab file and a principal for the host running syslog-ng OSE. For details, see the Kerberos documentation.

  • You have installed and configured the Kerberos client packages on the host running syslog-ng OSE. (That is, Kerberos authentication works for the host, for example, from the command line using the kinit user@REALM -k -t <keytab_file> command.)

destination d_hdfs {
    hdfs(client-lib-dir("/hdfs-libs/lib")
    hdfs-uri("hdfs://hdp-kerberos.syslog-ng.example:8020")
    kerberos-keytab-file("/opt/syslog-ng/etc/hdfs.headless.keytab")
    kerberos-principal("hdfs-hdpkerberos@MYREALM")
    hdfs-file("/var/hdfs/test.log"));
};

HDFS destination options

The hdfs destination stores the log messages in files on the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS). The hdfs destination has the following options.

The following options are required: hdfs-file(), hdfs-uri(). Note that to use hdfs, you must add the following lines to the beginning of your syslog-ng OSE configuration:

@module mod-java
@include "scl.conf"
client-lib-dir()
Type: string
Default: The syslog-ng OSE module directory: /opt/syslog-ng/lib/syslog-ng/java-modules/

Description: The list of the paths where the required Java classes are located. For example, class-path("/opt/syslog-ng/lib/syslog-ng/java-modules/:/opt/my-java-libraries/libs/"). If you set this option multiple times in your syslog-ng OSE configuration (for example, because you have multiple Java-based destinations), syslog-ng OSE will merge every available paths to a single list.

For the hdfs destination, include the path to the directory where you copied the required libraries (see Prerequisites), for example, client-lib-dir("/opt/syslog-ng/lib/syslog-ng/java-modules/:/opt/hadoop/libs/").

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:

reliable()
Type: yes|no
Default: no

Description: If set to yes, syslog-ng OSE cannot 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. If set to no, the normal disk-buffer will be used. This provides a faster, but less reliable disk-buffer option.

Caution:

Hazard of data loss! If you change the value of reliable() option when there are messages in the disk-buffer, the messages stored in the disk-buffer will be lost.

dir()
Type: string
Default: N/A

Description: Defines the folder where the disk-buffer files are stored.

Caution:

When creating a new dir() option for a disk buffer, or modifying an existing one, make sure you delete the persist file.

syslog-ng OSE creates disk-buffer files based on the path recorded in the persist file. Therefore, if the persist file is not deleted after modifying the dir() option, then following a restart, syslog-ng OSE will look for or create disk-buffer files in their old location. To ensure that syslog-ng OSE uses the new dir() setting, the persist file must not contain any information about the destinations which the disk-buffer file in question belongs to.

disk-buf-size()
Type: number (bytes)
Default:

Description: This is a required option. The maximum size of the disk-buffer in bytes. The minimum value is 1048576 bytes. If you set a smaller value, the minimum value will be used automatically. It replaces the old log-disk-fifo-size() option.
mem-buf-length()
Type: number (messages)
Default: 10000
Description: Use this option if the option reliable() is set to no. This option contains the number of messages stored in overflow queue. It replaces the old log-fifo-size() option. It inherits the value of the global log-fifo-size() option if provided. If it is not provided, the default value is 10000 messages. Note that this option will be ignored if the option reliable() is set to yes.
mem-buf-size()
Type: number (bytes)
Default: 163840000
Description: Use this option if the option reliable() is set to yes. This option contains the size of the messages in bytes that is used in the memory part of the disk buffer. It replaces the old log-fifo-size() option. It does not inherit the value of the global log-fifo-size() option, even if it is provided. Note that this option will be ignored if the option reliable() is set to no.
qout-size()
Type: number (messages)
Default: 64
Description: The number of messages stored in the output buffer of the destination. Note that if you change the value of this option and the disk-buffer already exists, the change will take effect when the disk-buffer becomes empty.

Options reliable() and disk-buf-size() are required options.

Example: Examples for using disk-buffer()

In the following case reliable disk-buffer() is used.

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")
        )
    );
};

In the following case normal disk-buffer() is used.

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")
        )
    );
};
frac-digits()
Type: number
Default: 0

Description: The syslog-ng application can store fractions of a second in the timestamps according to the ISO8601 format. The frac-digits() parameter specifies the number of digits stored. The digits storing the fractions are padded by zeros if the original timestamp of the message specifies only seconds. Fractions can always be stored for the time the message was received. Note that syslog-ng can add the fractions to non-ISO8601 timestamps as well.

hdfs-append-enabled()
Type: true | false
Default: false

Description: When hdfs-append-enabled is set to true, syslog-ng OSE will append new data to the end of an already existing HDFS file. Note that in this case, archiving is automatically disabled, and syslog-ng OSE will ignore the hdfs-archive-dir option.

When hdfs-append-enabled is set to false, the syslog-ng OSE application always creates a new file if the previous has been closed. In that case, appending data to existing files is not supported.

When you choose to write data into an existing file, syslog-ng OSE does not extend the filename with a UUID suffix because there is no need to open a new file (a new unique ID would mean opening a new file and writing data into that).

Caution:

Before enabling the hdfs-append-enabled option, ensure that your HDFS server supports the append operation and that it is enabled. Otherwise syslog-ng OSE will not be able to append data into an existing file, resulting in an error log.

hdfs-archive-dir()
Type: string
Default: N/A

Description: The path where syslog-ng OSE will move the closed log files. If syslog-ng OSE cannot move the file for some reason (for example, syslog-ng OSE cannot connect to the HDFS NameNode), the file remains at its original location. For example, hdfs-archive-dir("/usr/hdfs/archive/").

NOTE:

When hdfs-append-enabled is set to true, archiving is automatically disabled, and syslog-ng OSE will ignore the hdfs-archive-dir option.

hdfs-file()
Type: string
Default: N/A

Description: The path and name of the log file. For example, hdfs-file("/usr/hdfs/mylogfile.txt"). syslog-ng OSE checks if the path to the logfile exists. If a directory does not exist syslog-ng OSE automatically creates it.

hdfs-file() supports the usage of macros. This means that syslog-ng OSE can create files on HDFS dynamically, using macros in the file (or directory) name.

NOTE:

When a filename resolved from the macros contains a character that HDFS does not support, syslog-ng OSE will not be able to create the file. Make sure that you use macros that do not contain unsupported characters.

Example: Using macros in filenames

In the following example, a /var/testdb_working_dir/$DAY-$HOUR.txt file will be created (with a UUID suffix):

destination d_hdfs_9bf3ff45341643c69bf46bfff940372a {
    hdfs(client-lib-dir(/hdfs-libs)
 hdfs-uri("hdfs://hdp2.syslog-ng.example:8020")
 hdfs-file("/var/testdb_working_dir/$DAY-$HOUR.txt"));
};

As an example, if it is the 31st day of the month and it is 12 o'clock, then the name of the file will be 31-12.txt.

hdfs-max-filename-length()
Type: number
Default: 255

Description: The maximum length of the filename. This filename (including the UUID that syslog-ng OSE appends to it) cannot be longer than what the file system permits. If the filename is longer than the value of hdfs-max-filename-length, syslog-ng OSE will automatically truncate the filename. For example, hdfs-max-filename-length("255").

hdfs-resources()
Type: string
Default: N/A

Description: The list of Hadoop resources to load, separated by semicolons. For example, hdfs-resources("/home/user/hadoop/core-site.xml;/home/user/hadoop/hdfs-site.xml").

hdfs-uri()
Type: string
Default: N/A

Description: The URI of the HDFS NameNode is in hdfs://IPaddress:port or hdfs://hostname:port format. When using MapR-FS, the URI of the MapR-FS NameNode is in maprfs://IPaddress or maprfs://hostname format, for example: maprfs://10.140.32.80. The IP address of the node can be IPv4 or IPv6. For example, hdfs-uri("hdfs://10.140.32.80:8020"). The IPv6 address must be enclosed in square brackets ([]) as specified by RFC 2732, for example, hdfs-uri("hdfs://[FEDC:BA98:7654:3210:FEDC:BA98:7654:3210]:8020").

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.

NOTE: The syslog-ng OSE application must be able to start and restart the external program, and have the necessary permissions to do so. For example, if your host is running AppArmor or SELinux, you might have to modify your AppArmor or SELinux configuration to enable syslog-ng OSE to execute external applications.

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:

startup()
Type: string
Default: N/A

Description: Defines the external program that is executed as syslog-ng OSE starts.

shutdown()
Type: string
Default: N/A

Description: Defines the external program that is executed as syslog-ng OSE stops.

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:

setup()
Type: string
Default: N/A

Description: Defines an external program that is executed when the syslog-ng OSE configuration is initiated, for example, on startup or during a syslog-ng OSE reload.

teardown()
Type: string
Default: N/A

Description: Defines an external program that is executed when the syslog-ng OSE configuration is stopped or torn down, for example, on shutdown or during a syslog-ng OSE reload.

Example: Using the hook-commands() with a network source

In the following example, the hook-commands() is used with the network() driver and it opens an iptables port automatically as syslog-ng OSE is started/stopped.

The assumption in this example is that the LOGCHAIN chain is part of a larger ruleset that routes traffic to it. Whenever the syslog-ng OSE created rule is there, packets can flow, otherwise the port is closed.

source {
   network(transport(udp)
	hook-commands(
          startup("iptables -I LOGCHAIN 1 -p udp --dport 514 -j ACCEPT")
          shutdown("iptables -D LOGCHAIN 1")
        )
     );
};
jvm-options()
Type: list
Default: N/A

Description: Specify the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) settings of your Java destination from the syslog-ng OSE configuration file.

For example:

jvm-options("-Xss1M -XX:+TraceClassLoading")

You can set this option only as a global option, by adding it to the options statement of the syslog-ng configuration file.

kerberos-keytab-file()
Type: string
Default: N/A

Description: The path to the Kerberos keytab file that you received from your Kerberos administrator. For example, kerberos-keytab-file("/opt/syslog-ng/etc/hdfs.headless.keytab"). This option is needed only if you want to authenticate using Kerberos in Hadoop. You also have to set the hdfs-option-kerberos-principal() option. For details on the using Kerberos authentication with the hdfs() destination, see Kerberos authentication with syslog-ng hdfs() destination.

destination d_hdfs {
    hdfs(client-lib-dir("/hdfs-libs/lib")
    hdfs-uri("hdfs://hdp-kerberos.syslog-ng.example:8020")
    kerberos-keytab-file("/opt/syslog-ng/etc/hdfs.headless.keytab")
    kerberos-principal("hdfs-hdpkerberos@MYREALM")
    hdfs-file("/var/hdfs/test.log"));
};

Available in syslog-ng OSE version 3.10 and later.

kerberos-principal()
Type: string
Default: N/A

Description: The Kerberos principal you want to authenticate with. For example, kerberos-principal("hdfs-user@MYREALM"). This option is needed only if you want to authenticate using Kerberos in Hadoop. You also have to set the hdfs-option-kerberos-keytab-file() option. For details on the using Kerberos authentication with the hdfs() destination, see Kerberos authentication with syslog-ng hdfs() destination.

destination d_hdfs {
    hdfs(client-lib-dir("/hdfs-libs/lib")
    hdfs-uri("hdfs://hdp-kerberos.syslog-ng.example:8020")
    kerberos-keytab-file("/opt/syslog-ng/etc/hdfs.headless.keytab")
    kerberos-principal("hdfs-hdpkerberos@MYREALM")
    hdfs-file("/var/hdfs/test.log"));
};

Available in syslog-ng OSE version 3.10 and later.

log-fifo-size()
Type: number
Default: Use global setting.

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

on-error()
Accepted values:

drop-message|drop-property|fallback-to-string|

silently-drop-message|silently-drop-property|silently-fallback-to-string

Default: Use the global setting (which defaults to drop-message)

Description: Controls what happens when type-casting fails and syslog-ng OSE cannot convert some data to the specified type. By default, syslog-ng OSE drops the entire message and logs the error. Currently the value-pairs() option uses the settings of on-error().

  • drop-message: Drop the entire message and log an error message to the internal() source. This is the default behavior of syslog-ng OSE.

  • drop-property: Omit the affected property (macro, template, or message-field) from the log message and log an error message to the internal() source.

  • fallback-to-string: Convert the property to string and log an error message to the internal() source.

  • silently-drop-message: Drop the entire message silently, without logging the error.

  • silently-drop-property: Omit the affected property (macro, template, or message-field) silently, without logging the error.

  • silently-fallback-to-string: Convert the property to string silently, without logging the error.

retries()
Type: number (of attempts)
Default: 3

Description: The number of times syslog-ng OSE attempts to send a message to this destination. If syslog-ng OSE could not send a message, it will try again until the number of attempts reaches retries, then drops the message.

template()
Type: string
Default: A format conforming to the default logfile format.

Description: Specifies a template defining the logformat to be used in the destination. Macros are described in Macros of syslog-ng OSE. Please note that for network destinations it might not be appropriate to change the template as it changes the on-wire format of the syslog protocol which might not be tolerated by stock syslog receivers (like syslogd or syslog-ng itself). For network destinations make sure the receiver can cope with the custom format defined.

throttle()
Type: number
Default: 0

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-reap()
Accepted values: number (seconds)
Default: 0 (disabled)

Description: The time to wait in seconds before an idle destination file is closed. Note that if hdfs-archive-dir option is set and time-reap expires, archiving is triggered for the affected file.

time-zone()
Type: name of the timezone, or the timezone offset
Default: unspecified

Description: Convert timestamps to the timezone specified by this option. If this option is not set, then the original timezone information in the message is used. Converting the timezone changes the values of all date-related macros derived from the timestamp, for example, HOUR. For the complete list of such macros, see Date-related macros.

The timezone can be specified by using the name, for example, time-zone("Europe/Budapest")), or as the timezone offset in +/-HH:MM format, for example, +01:00). On Linux and UNIX platforms, the valid timezone names are listed under the /usr/share/zoneinfo directory.

ts-format()
Type: rfc3164, bsd, rfc3339, iso
Default: rfc3164

Description: Override the global timestamp format (set in the global ts-format() parameter) for the specific destination. For details, see ts-format().

NOTE:

This option applies only to file and file-like destinations. Destinations that use specific protocols (for example, network(), or syslog()) ignore this option. For protocol-like destinations, use a template locally in the destination, or use the proto-template option.

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