--- title: Telegraf Documentation description: Telegraf plugin for collecting metrics from Syslog url: https://docs.influxdata.com/telegraf/v1/input-plugins/syslog/ estimated_tokens: 6034 product: Telegraf version: v1 --- - Telegraf v1.7.0+ # Syslog Input Plugin This service plugin listens for [syslog](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syslog) messages transmitted over a Unix Domain socket, [UDP](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5426), [TCP](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6587) or [TLS](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5425) with or without the octet counting framing. Syslog messages should be formatted according to the [syslog protocol](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5424) or the [BSD syslog protocol](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3164). **Introduced in:** Telegraf v1.7.0 **Tags:** logging **OS support:** all ## Service Input This plugin is a service input. Normal plugins gather metrics determined by the interval setting. Service plugins start a service to listen and wait for metrics or events to occur. Service plugins have two key differences from normal plugins: 1. The global or plugin specific `interval` setting may not apply 2. The CLI options of `--test`, `--test-wait`, and `--once` may not produce output for this plugin ## Global configuration options Plugins support additional global and plugin configuration settings for tasks such as modifying metrics, tags, and fields, creating aliases, and configuring plugin ordering. See [CONFIGURATION.md](/telegraf/v1/configuration/#plugins) for more details. ## Configuration ```toml [[inputs.syslog]] ## Protocol, address and port to host the syslog receiver. ## If no host is specified, then localhost is used. ## If no port is specified, 6514 is used (RFC5425#section-4.1). ## ex: server = "tcp://localhost:6514" ## server = "udp://:6514" ## server = "unix:///var/run/telegraf-syslog.sock" ## When using tcp, consider using 'tcp4' or 'tcp6' to force the usage of IPv4 ## or IPV6 respectively. There are cases, where when not specified, a system ## may force an IPv4 mapped IPv6 address. server = "tcp://127.0.0.1:6514" ## Permission for unix sockets (only available on unix sockets) ## This setting may not be respected by some platforms. To safely restrict ## permissions it is recommended to place the socket into a previously ## created directory with the desired permissions. ## ex: socket_mode = "777" # socket_mode = "" ## Maximum number of concurrent connections (only available on stream sockets like TCP) ## Zero means unlimited. # max_connections = 0 ## Read timeout (only available on stream sockets like TCP) ## Zero means unlimited. # read_timeout = "0s" ## Optional TLS configuration (only available on stream sockets like TCP) # tls_cert = "/etc/telegraf/cert.pem" # tls_key = "/etc/telegraf/key.pem" ## Enables client authentication if set. # tls_allowed_cacerts = ["/etc/telegraf/clientca.pem"] ## Maximum socket buffer size (in bytes when no unit specified) ## For stream sockets, once the buffer fills up, the sender will start ## backing up. For datagram sockets, once the buffer fills up, metrics will ## start dropping. Defaults to the OS default. # read_buffer_size = "64KiB" ## Period between keep alive probes (only applies to TCP sockets) ## Zero disables keep alive probes. Defaults to the OS configuration. # keep_alive_period = "5m" ## Content encoding for message payloads ## Can be set to "gzip" for compressed payloads or "identity" for no encoding. # content_encoding = "identity" ## Maximum size of decoded packet (in bytes when no unit specified) # max_decompression_size = "500MB" ## List of allowed source IP addresses for incoming packets/messages. ## If not specified or empty, all sources are allowed. # allowed_sources = [] ## Framing technique used for messages transport ## Available settings are: ## octet-counting -- see RFC5425#section-4.3.1 and RFC6587#section-3.4.1 ## non-transparent -- see RFC6587#section-3.4.2 # framing = "octet-counting" ## The trailer to be expected in case of non-transparent framing (default = "LF"). ## Must be one of "LF", or "NUL". # trailer = "LF" ## Whether to parse in best effort mode or not (default = false). ## By default best effort parsing is off. # best_effort = false ## The RFC standard to use for message parsing ## By default RFC5424 is used. RFC3164 only supports UDP transport (no streaming support) ## Must be one of "RFC5424", or "RFC3164". # syslog_standard = "RFC5424" ## Character to prepend to SD-PARAMs (default = "_"). ## A syslog message can contain multiple parameters and multiple identifiers within structured data section. ## Eg., [id1 name1="val1" name2="val2"]() ## For each combination a field is created. ## Its name is created concatenating identifier, sdparam_separator, and parameter name. # sdparam_separator = "_" ## Maximum length allowed for a single message (in bytes when no unit specified) ## Only applies to octet-counting framing. # max_message_length = "8KiB" ``` ### Message transport The `framing` option only applies to streams. It governs the way we expect to receive messages within the stream. Namely, with the [`"octet counting"`](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5425#section-4.3) technique (default) or with the [`"non-transparent"`](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6587#section-3.4.2) framing. The `trailer` option only applies when `framing` option is `"non-transparent"`. It must have one of the following values: `"LF"` (default), or `"NUL"`. ### Best effort The [`best_effort`](https://github.com/influxdata/go-syslog#best-effort-mode) option instructs the parser to extract partial but valid info from syslog messages. If unset only full messages will be collected. ### Rsyslog Integration Rsyslog can be configured to forward logging messages to Telegraf by configuring [remote logging](https://www.rsyslog.com/doc/v8-stable/configuration/actions.html#remote-machine). Most system are setup with a configuration split between `/etc/rsyslog.conf` and the files in the `/etc/rsyslog.d/` directory, it is recommended to add the new configuration into the config directory to simplify updates to the main config file. Add the following lines to `/etc/rsyslog.d/50-telegraf.conf` making adjustments to the target address as needed: ```shell $ActionQueueType LinkedList # use asynchronous processing $ActionQueueFileName srvrfwd # set file name, also enables disk mode $ActionResumeRetryCount -1 # infinite retries on insert failure $ActionQueueSaveOnShutdown on # save in-memory data if rsyslog shuts down # forward over tcp with octet framing according to RFC 5425 *.* @@(o)127.0.0.1:6514;RSYSLOG_SyslogProtocol23Format # uncomment to use udp according to RFC 5424 #*.* @127.0.0.1:6514;RSYSLOG_SyslogProtocol23Format ``` You can alternately use `advanced` format (aka RainerScript): ```bash # forward over tcp with octet framing according to RFC 5425 action(type="omfwd" Protocol="tcp" TCP_Framing="octet-counted" Target="127.0.0.1" Port="6514" Template="RSYSLOG_SyslogProtocol23Format") # uncomment to use udp according to RFC 5424 #action(type="omfwd" Protocol="udp" Target="127.0.0.1" Port="6514" Template="RSYSLOG_SyslogProtocol23Format") ``` To complete TLS setup please refer to [rsyslog docs](https://www.rsyslog.com/doc/v8-stable/tutorials/tls.html). ## Troubleshooting ```sh # TCP with octet framing echo "57 <13>1 2018-10-01T12:00:00.0Z example.org root - - - test" | nc 127.0.0.1 6514 # UDP echo "<13>1 2018-10-01T12:00:00.0Z example.org root - - - test" | nc -u 127.0.0.1 6514 ``` ### Resolving Source IPs The `source` tag stores the remote IP address of the syslog sender. To resolve these IPs to DNS names, use the [`reverse_dns` processor](/telegraf/v1/plugins/#processor-reverse_dns) You can send debugging messages directly to the input plugin using netcat: ### RFC3164 RFC3164 encoded messages are supported for UDP only, but not all vendors output valid RFC3164 messages by default - E.g. Cisco IOS If you see the following error, it is due to a message encoded in this format: ```shell E! Error in plugin [inputs.syslog]: expecting a version value in the range 1-999 [col 5] ``` Users can use rsyslog to translate RFC3164 syslog messages into RFC5424 format. Add the following lines to the rsyslog configuration file (e.g. `/etc/rsyslog.d/50-telegraf.conf`): ```s # This makes rsyslog listen on 127.0.0.1:514 to receive RFC3164 udp # messages which can them be forwarded to telegraf as RFC5424 $ModLoad imudp #loads the udp module $UDPServerAddress 127.0.0.1 $UDPServerRun 514 ``` Make adjustments to the target address as needed and sent your RFC3164 messages to port 514. ## Metrics - syslog - tags - severity (string) - facility (string) - hostname (string) - appname (string) - source (string) - fields - version (integer) - severity\_code (integer) - facility\_code (integer) - timestamp (integer): the time recorded in the syslog message - procid (string) - msgid (string) - sdid (bool) - *Structured Data* (string) - timestamp: the time the messages was received *Structured data* produces field keys by combining the `SD_ID` with the `PARAM_NAME` combined using the `sdparam_separator` as in the following example: ```shell 170 <165>1 2018-10-01:14:15.000Z mymachine.example.com evntslog - ID47 [exampleSDID@32473 iut="3" eventSource="Application" eventID="1011"] An application event log entry... ``` ```shell syslog,appname=evntslog,facility=local4,hostname=mymachine.example.com,severity=notice exampleSDID@32473_eventID="1011",exampleSDID@32473_eventSource="Application",exampleSDID@32473_iut="3",facility_code=20i,message="An application event log entry...",msgid="ID47",severity_code=5i,timestamp=1065910455003000000i,version=1i 1538421339749472344 ``` ## Example Output Here is example output of this plugin: ```text syslog,appname=docker-compose,facility=daemon,host=bb8,hostname=droplet,location=home,severity=info,source=10.0.0.12 facility_code=3i,message="",severity_code=6i,timestamp=1624643706396113000i,version=1i 1624643706400667198 syslog,appname=tailscaled,facility=daemon,host=bb8,hostname=dev,location=home,severity=info,source=10.0.0.15 facility_code=3i,message="",severity_code=6i,timestamp=1624643706403394000i,version=1i 1624643706407850408 syslog,appname=docker-compose,facility=daemon,host=bb8,hostname=droplet,location=home,severity=info,source=10.0.0.12 facility_code=3i,message="",severity_code=6i,timestamp=1624643706675853000i,version=1i 1624643706679251683 syslog,appname=telegraf,facility=daemon,host=bb8,hostname=droplet,location=home,severity=info,source=10.0.0.12 facility_code=3i,message="",severity_code=6i,timestamp=1624643710005006000i,version=1i 1624643710008285426 syslog,appname=telegraf,facility=daemon,host=bb8,hostname=droplet,location=home,severity=info,source=10.0.0.12 facility_code=3i,message="",severity_code=6i,timestamp=1624643710005696000i,version=1i 1624643710010754050 syslog,appname=docker-compose,facility=daemon,host=bb8,hostname=droplet,location=home,severity=info,source=10.0.0.12 facility_code=3i,message="",severity_code=6i,timestamp=1624643715777813000i,version=1i 1624643715782158154 syslog,appname=docker-compose,facility=daemon,host=bb8,hostname=droplet,location=home,severity=info,source=10.0.0.12 facility_code=3i,message="",severity_code=6i,timestamp=1624643716396547000i,version=1i 1624643716400395788 syslog,appname=tailscaled,facility=daemon,host=bb8,hostname=dev,location=home,severity=info,source=10.0.0.15 facility_code=3i,message="",severity_code=6i,timestamp=1624643716404931000i,version=1i 1624643716416947058 syslog,appname=docker-compose,facility=daemon,host=bb8,hostname=droplet,location=home,severity=info,source=10.0.0.12 facility_code=3i,message="",severity_code=6i,timestamp=1624643716676633000i,version=1i 1624643716680157558 ``` #### Related - [Configure plugins](/telegraf/v1/configure_plugins/) - [Syslog Plugin Source](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/tree/v1.38.4/plugins/inputs/syslog/README.md)