syslog-ng Open Source Edition 3.20 - 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 logs directly to Elasticsearch and Kibana 2.0 or higher 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 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 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 Third-party contributions Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd) License About us

python-fetcher: writing fetcher-style Python sources

The Python source allows you to write your own source in Python. You can import external Python modules to receive or fetch the messages. Since many services have a Python library, the Python source makes integrating syslog-ng OSE very easy and quick.

You can write two different type of sources in Python:

  • Server-style sources that receives messages. Write server-style sources if you want to use an event-loop based, nonblocking server framework in Python, or if you want to implement a custom loop.

  • Fetcher-style sources that actively fetch messages. In general, write fetcher-style sources (for example, when using simple blocking APIs), unless you explicitly need a server-style source.

This section describes fetcher-style sources. For details on server-style sources, see python: writing server-style Python sources.

    The following points apply to using Python blocks in syslog-ng OSE in general.

  • Python parsers and template functions are available in syslog-ng OSE version 3.10 and later.

    Python destinations and sources are available in syslog-ng OSE version 3.18 and later.

  • Supported Python versions: 2.7 and 3.4+ (if you are using pre-built binaries, check the dependencies of the package to find out which Python version it was compiled with)

  • The Python block must be a top-level block in the syslog-ng OSE configuration file.

  • If you store the Python code in a separate Python file and only include it in the syslog-ng OSE configuration file, make sure that the PYTHON_PATH environment variable includes the path to the Python file, and export the PYTHON_PATH environment variable. For example, if you start syslog-ng OSE manually from a terminal and you store your Python files in the /opt/syslog-ng/etc directory, use the following command: export PYTHONPATH=/opt/syslog-ng/etc

    In production, when syslog-ng OSE starts on boot, you must configure your startup script to include the Python path. The exact method depends on your operating system. For recent Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Fedora, and CentOS distributions that use systemd, the systemctl command sources the /etc/sysconfig/syslog-ng file before starting syslog-ng OSE. (On openSUSE and SLES, /etc/sysconfig/syslog file.) Append the following line to the end of this file: PYTHONPATH="<path-to-your-python-file>", for example, PYTHONPATH="/opt/syslog-ng/etc"

  • The Python object is initiated every time when syslog-ng OSE is started or reloaded.

    Caution:

    If you reload syslog-ng OSE, existing Python objects are destroyed, therefore the context and state information of Python blocks is lost. Log rotation and updating the configuration of syslog-ng OSE typically involves a reload.

  • The Python block can contain multiple Python functions.

  • Using Python code in syslog-ng OSE can significantly decrease the performance of syslog-ng OSE, especially if the Python code is slow. In general, the features of syslog-ng OSE are implemented in C, and are faster than implementations of the same or similar features in Python.

  • Validate and lint the Python code before using it. The syslog-ng OSE application does not do any of this.

  • Python error messages are available in the internal() source of syslog-ng OSE.

  • You can access the name-value pairs of syslog-ng OSE directly through a message object or a dict.

Declaration:

Python sources consist of two parts. The first is a syslog-ng OSE source object that you define in your syslog-ng OSE configuration and use in the log path. This object references a Python class, which is the second part of the Python source. The Python class receives or fetches the log messages, and can do virtually anything that you can code in Python. You can either embed the Python class into your syslog-ng OSE configuration file, or store it in an external Python file.

source <name_of_the_python_source>{
    python-fetcher(
        class("<name_of_the_python_class_executed_by_the_source>")
    );
};

python {
from syslogng import LogFetcher
from syslogng import LogMessage

class <name_of_the_python_class_executed_by_the_source>(LogFetcher):
    def init(self, options): # optional
        print("init")
        print(options)
        return True

    def deinit(self): # optional
        print("deinit")

    def open(self): # optional
        print("open")
        return True

    def fetch(self): # mandatory
        print("fetch")
        # return LogFetcher.FETCH_ERROR,
        # return LogFetcher.FETCH_NOT_CONNECTED,
        return LogFetcher.FETCH_SUCCESS, msg

    def request_exit(self):
        print("request_exit")
        # If your fetching method is blocking, do something to break it
        # For example, if it reads a socket: socket.shutdown()

    def close(self): # optional
        print("close")
};

Methods of the python-fetcher() source

Fetcher-style Python sources must be inherited from the syslogng.LogFetcher class, and must implement at least the fetch method. Multiple inheritance is allowed, but only for pure Python super classes.

For fetcher-style Python sources, syslog-ng OSE handles the event loop and the scheduling automatically. You can use simple blocking server/client libraries to receive or fetch logs.

You can retrieve messages using the fetch() method.

init(self, options) method (optional)

The syslog-ng OSE application initializes Python objects every time when it is started or reloaded. The init method is executed as part of the initialization. You can perform any initialization steps that are necessary for your source to work.

Caution:

If you reload syslog-ng OSE, existing Python objects are destroyed, therefore the context and state information of Python blocks is lost. Log rotation and updating the configuration of syslog-ng OSE typically involves a reload.

When this method returns with False, syslog-ng OSE does not start. It can be used to check options and return False when they prevent the successful start of the source.

options: This optional argument contains the contents of the options() parameter of the syslog-ng OSE configuration object as a Python dict.

open(self) method (optional)

The open(self) method opens the resources required for the source, for example, it initiates a connection to the target service. It is called after init() when syslog-ng OSE is started or reloaded. If fetch() returns with an error, syslog-ng OSE calls the close() and open() methods before trying to fetch a new message.

If open() fails, it should return the False value. In this case, syslog-ng OSE retries it every time-reopen() seconds. By default, this is 1 second for Python sources and destinations, the value of time-reopen() is not inherited from the global option. For details, see python-fetcher: writing fetcher-style Python sources.

fetch(self) method (mandatory)

Use the fetch method to fetch messages and pass them to the log paths.

For details on parsing messages, see Python LogMessage API.

The fetch method must return one of the following values:

  • LogFetcher.FETCH_ERROR: Fetching new messages failed, syslog-ng OSE calls the close and open methods.

  • LogFetcher.FETCH_NOT_CONNECTED: Could not access the source, syslog-ng OSE calls the open method.

  • LogFetcher.FETCH_SUCCESS, msg: Post the message returned as the second argument.

request_exit(self) method (optional)

If you use blocking operations within the fetch() method, use request_exit() to interrupt those operations (for example, to shut down a socket), otherwise syslog-ng OSE is not able to stop. Note that syslog-ng OSE calls the request_exit method from a thread different from the source thread.

close(self) method (optional)

Close the connection to the target service. Usually it is called right before deinit() when stopping or reloading syslog-ng OSE. It is also called when fecth() fails.

The deinit(self) method (optional)

This method is executed when syslog-ng OSE is stopped or reloaded. This method does not return a value.

Caution:

If you reload syslog-ng OSE, existing Python objects are destroyed, therefore the context and state information of Python blocks is lost. Log rotation and updating the configuration of syslog-ng OSE typically involves a reload.

For the list of available optional parameters, see python() and python-fetcher() source options.


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snmptrap: Read Net-SNMP traps

Using the snmptrap() source, you can read and parse the SNMP traps of the Net-SNMP's snmptrapd application. syslog-ng OSE can read these traps from a log file, and extract their content into name-value pairs, making it easy to forward them as a structured log message (for example, in JSON format). The syslog-ng OSE application automatically adds the .snmp. prefix to the name of the fields the extracted from the message.

The snmptrap() source is available in syslog-ng OSE version 3.10 and later.

Limitations:
  • The snmptrap() source has only the options listed in snmptrap() source options. Other options commonly available in other source drivers are not supported.

  • In addition to traps, the log of snmptrapd may contain other messages (for example, daemon start/stop information, debug logs) as well. Currently syslog-ng OSE discards these messages.

  • The syslog-ng OSE application cannot resolve OIDs, you have to configure snmptrapd to do so. Note that because of a bug, if snmptrapd does not escape String values in the VarBindList if it can resolve an OID to a symbolic name. As a result, syslog-ng OSE cannot process traps that contain the = in the value of the string. To overcome this problem, disable resolving OIDs in snmptrapd. For details, see the documentation of snmptrapd.

  • The colon (:) character is commonly used in SNMP traps. However, this character cannot be used in the name of syslog-ng OSE macros (name-value pairs). Therefore, the syslog-ng OSE application automatically replaces all consecutive : characters with a single underscore (_) character. For example, you can reference the value of the NET-SNMP-EXAMPLES-MIB::netSnmpExampleString key using the ${NET-SNMP-EXAMPLES-MIB_netSnmpExampleString} macro.

    Note that this affects only name-value pairs (macros). The generated message always contains the original name of the key.

Prerequisites:
  • Configure snmptrapd to log into a file.

  • If you use SMIv1 traps, include the following format string in the configuration file of snmptrapd:

    format1 %.4y-%.2m-%.2l %.2h:%.2j:%.2k %B [%b]: %N\n\t%W Trap (%q) Uptime: %#T\n%v\n
  • If you use SMIv2 traps, use the default format. The snmptrap() source of syslog-ng OSE expects this default format:

    format2 %.4y-%.2m-%.2l %.2h:%.2j:%.2k %B [%b]:\n%v\n
  • Beacause of an snmptrapd bug, if you specify the filename in the configuration file with logOption, you must also specify another output as a command line argument (-Lf, -Ls). Otherwise, snmptrapd will not apply the the trap format.

To use the snmptrap() driver, the scl.conf file must be included in your syslog-ng OSE configuration:

@include "scl.conf"
Example: Using the snmptrap() driver

A sample snmptrapd configuration:

authCommunity log,execute,net public
format1 %.4y-%.2m-%.2l %.2h:%.2j:%.2k %B [%b]: %N\n\t%W Trap (%q) Uptime: %#T\n%v\n
outputOption s

Starting snmptrapd: snmptrapd -A -Lf /var/log/snmptrapd.log

Sending a sample V2 trap message: snmptrap -v2c -c public 127.0.0.1 666 NET-SNMP-EXAMPLES-MIB::netSnmpExampleHeartbeatNotification netSnmpExampleHeartbeatRate i 60 netSnmpExampleString s "string". From this trap, syslog-ng OSE receives the following input:

2017-05-23 15:29:40 localhost [UDP: [127.0.0.1]:59993->[127.0.0.1]:162]:
SNMPv2-SMI::mib-2.1.3.0 = Timeticks: (666) 0:00:06.66   SNMPv2-SMI::snmpModules.1.1.4.1.0 = OID: NET-SNMP-EXAMPLES-MIB::netSnmpExampleHeartbeatNotification     NET-SNMP-EXAMPLES-MIB::netSnmpExampleHeartbeatRate = INTEGER: 60        NET-SNMP-EXAMPLES-MIB::netSnmpExampleString = STRING: string

The following syslog-ng OSE configuration sample uses the default settings of the driver, reading SNMP traps from the /var/log/snmptrapd.log file, and writes the log messages generated from the traps into a file.

@include "scl.conf"
log {
  source {
    snmptrap(filename("/var/log/snmptrapd.log"));
  };
  destination {
    file("/var/log/example.log");
  };
};

From the trap, syslog-ng OSE writes the following into the log file:

May 23 15:29:40 myhostname snmptrapd: hostname='localhost', transport_info='UDP: [127.0.0.1]:59993->[127.0.0.1]:162', SNMPv2-SMI::mib-2.1.3.0='(666) 0:00:06.66', SNMPv2-SMI::snmpModules.1.1.4.1.0='NET-SNMP-EXAMPLES-MIB::netSnmpExampleHeartbeatNotification', NET-SNMP-EXAMPLES-MIB::netSnmpExampleHeartbeatRate='60', NET-SNMP-EXAMPLES-MIB::netSnmpExampleString='string'

Using the same input trap, the following configuration example formats the SNMP traps as JSON messages.

@include "scl.conf"
log {
  source {
    snmptrap(
      filename("/var/log/snmptrapd.log")
      set-message-macro(no)
    );
  };

  destination {
    file("/var/log/example.log" template("$(format-json --scope dot-nv-pairs)\n"));
  };
};

The previous trap formatted as JSON:

{
   "_snmp":{
      "transport_info":"UDP: [127.0.0.1]:59993->[127.0.0.1]:162",
      "hostname":"localhost",
      "SNMPv2-SMI_snmpModules":{
         "1":{
            "1":{
               "4":{
                  "1":{
                     "0":"NET-SNMP-EXAMPLES-MIB::netSnmpExampleHeartbeatNotification"
                  }
               }
            }
         }
      },
      "SNMPv2-SMI_mib-2":{
         "1":{
            "3":{
               "0":"(666) 0:00:06.66"
            }
         }
      },
      "NET-SNMP-EXAMPLES-MIB_netSnmpExampleString":"string",
      "NET-SNMP-EXAMPLES-MIB_netSnmpExampleHeartbeatRate":"60"
   }
}

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snmptrap() source options

The snmptrap() driver has the following options. Only the filename() option is required, the others are optional.

filename()
Type: path
Default:

Description: The log file of snmptrapd. The syslog-ng OSE application reads the traps from this file.

In addition to traps, the log of snmptrapd may contain other messages (for example, daemon start/stop information, debug logs) as well. Currently syslog-ng OSE discards these messages.

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")
        )
     );
};
persist-name()
Type: string
Default:

Description:If you receive the following error message during syslog-ng OSE startup, set the persist-name() option of the duplicate drivers:

Error checking the uniqueness of the persist names, please override it with persist-name option. Shutting down.

This error happens if you use identical drivers in multiple sources, for example, if you configure two file sources to read from the same file. In this case, set the persist-name() of the drivers to a custom string, for example, persist-name("example-persist-name1").

prefix()
Synopsis: prefix()

Description: Insert a prefix before the name part of the parsed name-value pairs to help further processing. For example:

  • To insert the my-parsed-data. prefix, use the prefix(my-parsed-data.) option.

  • To refer to a particular data that has a prefix, use the prefix in the name of the macro, for example, ${my-parsed-data.name}.

  • If you forward the parsed messages using the IETF-syslog protocol, you can insert all the parsed data into the SDATA part of the message using the prefix(.SDATA.my-parsed-data.) option.

Names starting with a dot (for example, .example) are reserved for use by syslog-ng OSE. If you use such a macro name as the name of a parsed value, it will attempt to replace the original value of the macro (note that only soft macros can be overwritten, see Hard vs. soft macros for details). To avoid such problems, use a prefix when naming the parsed values, for example, prefix(my-parsed-data.)

Default value: .snmp. option.

set-message-macro()
Type: yes|no
Default: yes

Description: The snmptrap() source automatically parses the traps into name-value pairs, so you can handle the content of the trap as a structured message. Consequently, you might not even need the ${MESSAGE} part of the log message. If set-message-macro() is set to no, syslog-ng OSE leaves the ${MESSAGE} part empty. If set-message-macro() is set to yes, syslog-ng OSE generates a regular log message from the trap.


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sun-streams: Collecting messages on Sun Solaris

Solaris uses its STREAMS framework to send messages to the syslogd process. Solaris 2.5.1 and above uses an IPC called door in addition to STREAMS, to confirm the delivery of a message. The syslog-ng application supports the IPC mechanism via the door() option (see below).

NOTE:

The sun-streams() driver must be enabled when the syslog-ng application is compiled (see ./configure --help).

The sun-streams() driver has a single required argument specifying the STREAMS device to open, and the door() option. For the list of available optional parameters, see sun-streams() source options.

NOTE:

Starting with version 3.7, the syslog-ng OSE system() driver automatically extracts the msgid from the message (if available), and stores it in the .solaris.msgid macro. To extract the msgid from the message without using the system()driver, use the extract-solaris-msgid() parser. You can find the exact source of this parser in the syslog-ng OSE GitHub repository.

Declaration:
sun-streams(<name_of_the_streams_device> door(<filename_of_the_door>));
Example: Using the sun-streams() driver
source s_stream {
    sun-streams("/dev/log" door("/etc/.syslog_door"));
};

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