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syslog-ng Premium Edition 7.0.34 - 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_bigquery(): Sending logs to a Google BigQuery table google_bigquery_managedaccount(): Sending logs to a Google BigQuery table authenticated by Google Cloud managed service account 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

Upgrading syslog-ng PE

This section describes the possible upgrade paths of syslog-ng PE.

Upgrading from syslog-ng PE 7.0.x to version 7

The following describes how to upgrade to syslog-ng PE 7.

Prerequisites

  • You must have a valid software subscription to be able to download the new version of syslog-ng PE.

To upgrade fromsyslog-ng PE 7.0.x to 7 on a production machine

  1. Download the installer package for version 7 of syslog-ng PE from the [[[Undefined variable General.downloads-text]]]. Use the same package type as you used for the installation (for example, use the .run package for the upgrade if you have originally installed syslog-ng PE using a .run installer)

  2. Login to the host you want to upgrade.

  3. Install syslog-ng PE and check any warnings. Upgrade the respective parts of your configuration if needed.

  4. Restart syslog-ng PE and verify that it is running and processing logs properly. For details, see Managing and checking syslog-ng service on Linux.

  5. If you experience problems during the upgrade, contact our Support Team.

Upgrading from syslog-ng PE 6.0.x to version 7

The following describes how to upgrade to syslog-ng PE 7.

Notes and warnings about the upgrade

 Caution:

Read the entire document thoroughly before starting the upgrade.

 Caution:

Hazard of data loss!

Consider the following before upgrading from syslog-ng PE 6.0.x to version 7:

  • When upgrading a syslog-ng PE installation that is running in server or relay mode, One Identity recommends redirecting the client logs to another syslog server to avoid message loss.

  • During the upgrade, there will be periods when syslog-ng PE will not be able to receive logs. Make sure to upgrade in a dedicated maintenance window when you can disable receiving logs.

  • Versions 6.0.x and 7.0.x are significantly different, therefore direct upgrade is not possible. Read the entire document thoroughly before starting the upgrade. For a detailed list about the differences, see Differences in features between syslog-ng PE 6 LTS and 7 in the Release Notes.

  • The list of supported platforms has changed in version 7.0.x. Verify that your platform is supported on the Supported platforms page. In particular, 32-bit systems are no longer supported, so they can not be upgraded to version 7.0.x.

  • Version 7.0.x of syslog-ng PE does not support every feature of 6.0.x. For a detailed list about the differences, see Differences in features between syslog-ng PE 6 LTS and 7 in the Release Notes.

  • Features available in both 7.0.x and 6 LTS may work differently. For a detailed list about the differences, see Differences in features between syslog-ng PE 6 LTS and 7 in the Release Notes.

Prerequisites

  • You must have a valid software subscription to be able to download the new version of syslog-ng PE.

Complete the following steps before starting the actual upgrade process.

  1. Download the installer package for the latest 7.0.x version of syslog-ng PE from the [[[Undefined variable General.downloads-text]]].

  2. If you are using syslog-ng PE in server mode, download the new license from My License Assets.

  3. Install syslog-ng PE 7 on a test machine.

  4. Replace the syslog-ng PE configuration file on the test machine with your syslog-ng PE version 6.0.x configuration file.

  5. Edit the configuration file: update the version string to @version: 7.0.

  6. Update the configuration file.

    Some features and functionalities have changed between version 6 and 7 and require you to change the configuration file, for example, to delete options that have been removed from the product, or change the names of options that have been renamed. For a detailed list about the differences, see Differences in features between syslog-ng PE 6 LTS and 7 in the Release Notes.

    Perform the following steps until you have an updated configuration file that properly works with syslog-ng PE 7.

    1. Check the configuration for syntax errors using the syslog-ng --syntax-only --cfgfile <your-modified-configuration-file> command. Modify your configuration to correct any errors and warnings.

    2. Restart syslog-ng.

    3. Verify that message filtering and processing (for example, parsing and rewriting) works properly.

    4. Verify that the format and content of the output messages is correct, including the SDATA of RFC-5424-formatted messages if you are using them.

To upgrade from syslog-ng PE 6.0.x to 7 on a production machine

  1. If you use disk buffers, empty your disk-buffer files before starting the upgrade process.

    For more information about disk-buffer files and how to get information about them, see How to get information about disk-buffer files.

    For more information about emptying your disk-buffer files, see How to empty disk-buffer files.

    		 Caution:

    Hazard of data loss!

    If you have logs in your disk-buffer files, failing to empty the disk-buffer files before starting the upgrade process may result in log loss. One Identity recommends that you empty your disk-buffer files before starting the upgrade process.

  2. Before upgrading the host to syslog-ng PE 7, upgrade it to the latest available 6.0.x version.

  3. Login to the host you want to upgrade.

  		4.  Caution:

    Hazard of data loss!

    This host will not be able to receive or send log messages until the upgrade procedure is complete. Make sure to upgrade in a dedicated maintenance window when you can disable receiving logs.

    When upgrading a syslog-ng PE installation that is running in server or relay mode, One Identity recommends redirecting the client logs to another syslog server to avoid message loss.

    Stop syslog-ng PE version 6.

  5. Verify that syslog-ng PE has stopped. The output of the following command must be empty: ps axu | grep syslog-ng

  6. Create a backup of the syslog-ng PE installation directory using the following command: cp -a /opt/syslog-ng /opt/syslog-ng-pe6-backup

  7. Uninstall syslog-ng PE version 6. For details, see Uninstalling syslog-ng PE 6.

  8. Delete the installation directory using the following command: rm -rf /opt/syslog-ng

  9. Download the new installer package from the [[[Undefined variable General.downloads-text]]].

  10. Install syslog-ng PE 7. For details, see Installing syslog-ng PE.

    NOTE: If you want to run syslog-ng PE under a non-privileged user, see this knowledgebase article for details.

  11. Stop syslog-ng PE version 7 started by the installer.

  12. Copy the syslog-ng PE version 7 configuration file that you created on your test machine into the /opt/syslog-ng/etc directory of the host you are upgrading.

  13. If the host you are upgrading is running syslog-ng PE in server mode, replace the old (version 6) license file with the new one.

    		 Caution:

    Hazard of data loss! Without the new license file, syslog-ng PE will run in relay mode, and will not store the incoming messages locally.

  14. Restart syslog-ng PE and verify that it is running and processing logs properly. For details, see Managing and checking syslog-ng service on Linux.

  15. If you experience problems during the upgrade, contact our Support Team.

Upgrading syslog-ng PE to other package versions

This scenario is not supported and will fail with the following error messages.

Upgrading from platform-specific package to .run
Upgrading from rpm package to .run package

Unsupported. Installation stops and the following error message is displayed:

Incompatible syslog-ng package already installed
Upgrading from deb package to .run package

Unsupported. Installation stops and the following error message is displayed:

Incompatible syslog-ng package already installed
Upgrading from pkg package to .run package

Unsupported. Installation stops and the following error message is displayed:

Incompatible syslog-ng package already installed to <syslog-ng path>
Upgrading from .run to a platform-specific package

This scenario is not supported and will fail with the following error messages. To replace a .run package with a platform-specific package, create a backup of your configuration and persist files, uninstall the .run package using the --purge option, then install the platform-specific package.

Upgrading from .run package to rpm package

Unsupported. Installation stops and the following error message is displayed:

Incompatible standalone (.run) installer of syslog-ng Premium Edition

 Caution:

Hazard of data loss! Installing rpm package syslog-ng PE on AIX platform is possible even if the upgrade conditions are not met, since the rpm package installs before checking the upgrade conditions and therefore no error message is displayed. This might result in overwriting the old configuration file.

Upgrading from .run package to deb package

Unsupported. Installation stops and the following error message is displayed:

Errors were encountered while processing
Upgrading from .run package to pkg package

Unsupported. Installation stops and the following error message is displayed:

Please remove the conflicting package before installing this package. Installation aborted.
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