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syslog-ng Premium Edition 7.0.33 - Administration Guide

Preface Introduction to syslog-ng The concepts of syslog-ng Installing syslog-ng PE The syslog-ng PE quick-start guide The syslog-ng PE configuration file Collecting log messages — sources and source drivers
How sources work default-network-drivers: Receive and parse common syslog messages internal: Collecting internal messages file: Collecting messages from text files google-pubsub: collecting messages from the Google Pub/Sub messaging service wildcard-file: Collecting messages from multiple text files linux-audit: Collecting messages from Linux audit logs mssql, oracle, sql: collecting messages from an SQL database network: Collecting messages using the RFC3164 protocol (network() driver) office365: Fetching logs from Office 365 osquery: Collect and parse osquery result logs pipe: Collecting messages from named pipes program: Receiving messages from external applications python: writing server-style Python sources python-fetcher: writing fetcher-style Python sources snmptrap: Read Net-SNMP traps 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 udp-balancer: Receiving UDP messages at very high rate unix-stream, unix-dgram: Collecting messages from UNIX domain sockets windowsevent: Collecting Windows event logs
Sending and storing log messages — destinations and destination drivers
elasticsearch2>: Sending messages directly to Elasticsearch version 2.0 or higher (DEPRECATED) elasticsearch-http: Sending messages to Elasticsearch HTTP Event Collector file: Storing messages in plain-text files google_pubsub(): Sending logs to the Google Cloud Pub/Sub messaging service google_pubsub-managedaccount(): Sending logs to the Google Cloud Pub/Sub messaging service authenticated by Google Cloud managed service account hdfs: Storing messages on the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) http: Posting messages over HTTP kafka(): Publishing messages to Apache Kafka (Java implementation) (DEPRECATED) kafka-c(): Publishing messages to Apache Kafka using the librdkafka client (C implementation) logstore: Storing messages in encrypted files mongodb: Storing messages in a MongoDB database network: Sending messages to a remote log server using the RFC3164 protocol (network() driver) pipe: Sending messages to named pipes program: Sending messages to external applications python: writing custom Python destinations sentinel(): Sending logs to the Microsoft Azure Sentinel cloud snmp: Sending SNMP traps smtp: Generating SMTP messages (email) from logs splunk-hec: Sending messages to Splunk HTTP Event Collector sql(): Storing messages in an SQL database stackdriver: Sending logs to the Google Stackdriver cloud 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) unix-stream, unix-dgram: Sending messages to UNIX domain sockets usertty: Sending messages to a user terminal — usertty() destination Client-side failover
Routing messages: log paths, flags, and filters Global options of syslog-ng PE TLS-encrypted message transfer Advanced Log Transport Protocol Reliability and minimizing the loss of log messages Manipulating messages parser: Parse and segment structured messages Processing message content with a pattern database Correlating log messages Enriching log messages with external data Monitoring statistics and metrics of syslog-ng Multithreading and scaling in syslog-ng PE Troubleshooting syslog-ng Best practices and examples The syslog-ng manual pages Glossary

Element: examples

Location

/patterndb/ruleset/rules/rule/patterns/examples

Description

OPTIONAL — A container element for sample log messages that should be recognized by the pattern. These messages can be used also to test the patterns and the parsers.

Attributes

N/A

Children
Example
<examples>
    <example>
        <test_message>Accepted password for sampleuser from 10.50.0.247 port 42156 ssh2</test_message>
        <test_values>
            <test_value name="SSH.AUTH_METHOD">password</test_value>
            <test_value name="SSH_USERNAME">sampleuser</test_value>
            <test_value name="SSH_CLIENT_ADDRESS">10.50.0.247</test_value>
            <test_value name="SSH_PORT_NUMBER">42156</test_value>
        </test_values>
    </example>
</examples>

Element: example

Location

/patterndb/ruleset/rules/rule/patterns/examples/example

Description

OPTIONAL — A container element for a sample log message.

Attributes

N/A

Children

  • test_message: OPTIONAL — A sample log message that should match this pattern. For example:

    <test_message program="myapplication">Content filter has been enabled</test_message>

    • program: The program pattern of the test message. For example:

      <test_message program="proftpd">ubuntu (::ffff:192.168.2.179[::ffff:192.168.2.179]) - FTP session closed.</test_message>

  • test_values: OPTIONAL — A container element to test the results of the parsers used in the pattern.

    • test_value: OPTIONAL — The expected value of the parser when matching the pattern to the test message. For example:

      <test_value name=".dict.ContentFilter">enabled</test_value>

      • name: The name of the parser to test.

Example
<examples>
    <example>
        <test_message>Accepted password for sampleuser from 10.50.0.247 port 42156 ssh2</test_message>
        <test_values>
            <test_value name="SSH.AUTH_METHOD">password</test_value>
            <test_value name="SSH_USERNAME">sampleuser</test_value>
            <test_value name="SSH_CLIENT_ADDRESS">10.50.0.247</test_value>
            <test_value name="SSH_PORT_NUMBER">42156</test_value>
        </test_values>
    </example>
</examples>

Element: actions

Location

/patterndb/ruleset/actions

Description

OPTIONAL — A container element for actions that are performed if a message is recognized by the pattern. For details on actions, see Triggering actions for identified messages.

Attributes

N/A

Children
Example
Example: Generating messages for pattern database matches

When inserted in a pattern database rule, the following example generates a message when a message matching the rule is received.

<actions>
    <action>
        <message>
            <values>
                <value name="MESSAGE">A log message from ${HOST} matched rule number $.classifier.rule_id</value>
            </values>
        </message>
    </action>
</actions>

To inherit the properties and values of the triggering message, set the inherit-properties attribute of the <message> element to TRUE. That way the triggering log message is cloned, including name-value pairs and tags. If you set any values for the message in the <action> element, they will override the values of the original message.

Example: Generating messages with inherited values

The following action generates a message that is identical to the original message, but its $PROGRAM field is set to overriding-original-program-name

<actions>
    <action>
        <message inherit-properties='TRUE'>
            <values>
                <value name="PROGRAM">overriding-original-program-name</value>
            </values>
        </message>
    </action>
</actions>

Element: action

Location

/patterndb/ruleset/actions/action

Description

OPTIONAL — A container element describing an action that is performed when a message matching the rule is received.

Attributes

  • condition: A syslog-ng filter expression. The action is performed only if the message matches the filter. The filter can include macros and name-value pairs extracted from the message. When using actions together with message-correlation, you can also use the $(context-length) macro, which returns the number of messages in the current context. For example, this can be used to determine if the expected number of messages has arrived to the context: condition='"$(context-length)" >= "5"'

  • rate: Specifies maximum how many messages should be generated in the specified time period in the following format: <number-of-messages>/<period-in-seconds>. For example: 1/60 allows 1 message per minute. Rates apply within the scope of the context, that is, if context-scope="host" and rate="1/60", then maximum one message is generated per minute for every host that sends a log message matching the rule. Excess messages are dropped. Note that when applying the rate to the generated messages, syslog-ng PE uses the timestamps of the log messages, similarly to calculating the context-timeout. That way rate is applied correctly even if the log messages are processed offline.

  • trigger: Specifies when the action is executed. The trigger attribute has the following possible values:

    • match: Execute the action immediately when a message matching the rule is received.

    • timeout: Execute the action when the correlation timer (context-timeout) of the pattern database rule expires. This is available only if actions are used together with correlating messages.

Children

  • create-context

  • message: A container element storing the message to be sent when the action is executed. Currently syslog-ng PE sends these messages to the internal() destination.

    • For details on the message context, see Correlating log messages using pattern databases and Actions and message correlation. For details on triggering messages, see Triggering actions for identified messages

      inherit-mode: This attribute controls which name-value pairs and tags are propagated to the newly generated message.

      • context: syslog-ng PE collects every name-value pair from each message stored in the context, and includes them in the generated message. If a name-value pair appears in multiple messages of the context, the value in the latest message will be used. Note that tags are not merged, the generated message will inherit the tags assigned to the last message of the context.

      • last-message: Only the name-value pairs appearing in the last message are copied. If the context contains only a single message, then it is the message that triggered the action.

      • none: An empty message is created, without inheriting any tags or name-value pairs.

    • inherit-properties: This attribute is deprecated. Use the inherit-mode attribute instead.

      If set to TRUE, the original message that triggered the action is cloned, including its name-value pairs and tags.

      If set to context, syslog-ng PE collects every name-value pair from each message stored in the context, and includes them in the generated message. If a name-value pair appears in multiple messages of the context, the value in the latest message will be used. Note that tags are not merged, the generated message will inherit the tags assigned to the last message of the context.

      For details on the message context, see Correlating log messages using pattern databases and Actions and message correlation. For details on triggering messages, see Triggering actions for identified messages

      This option is available in syslog-ng PE 5.3.2 and later.

  • values: A container element for values and fields that are used to create the message generated by the action.

    • value: Sets the value of the message field specified in the name attribute of the element. For example, to specify the body of the generated message, use the following syntax:

      <value name="MESSAGE">A log message matched rule number $.classifier.rule_id</value>

      Note that currently it is not possible to add DATE, FACILITY, or SEVERITY fields to the message.

      When the action is used together with message correlation, the syslog-ng PE application automatically adds fields to the message based on the context-scope parameter. For example, using context-scope="process" automatically fills the HOST, PROGRAM, and PID fields of the generated message.

    • name: Name of the message field set by the value element.

Example
Example: Generating messages for pattern database matches

When inserted in a pattern database rule, the following example generates a message when a message matching the rule is received.

<actions>
    <action>
        <message>
            <values>
                <value name="MESSAGE">A log message from ${HOST} matched rule number $.classifier.rule_id</value>
            </values>
        </message>
    </action>
</actions>

To inherit the properties and values of the triggering message, set the inherit-properties attribute of the <message> element to TRUE. That way the triggering log message is cloned, including name-value pairs and tags. If you set any values for the message in the <action> element, they will override the values of the original message.

Example: Generating messages with inherited values

The following action generates a message that is identical to the original message, but its $PROGRAM field is set to overriding-original-program-name

<actions>
    <action>
        <message inherit-properties='TRUE'>
            <values>
                <value name="PROGRAM">overriding-original-program-name</value>
            </values>
        </message>
    </action>
</actions>
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