This section describes how to configure syslog-ng OSE as a relay.

To configure syslog-ng OSE as a relay, complete the following steps:

  1. Install the syslog-ng OSE application on the host. For details on installing syslog-ng OSE on specific operating systems, see Installing syslog-ng.

  2. Configure the network sources that collect the log messages sent by the clients.

  3. Create a network destination that points to the syslog-ng OSE server.

  4. Create a log statement connecting the network sources to the syslog-ng OSE server.

  5. Configure the local sources that collect the log messages of the relay host.

  6. Create a log statement connecting the local sources to the syslog-ng server.

  7. Enable the keep-hostname() and disable the chain-hostnames() options. (For details on how these options work, see chain-hostnames()

    NOTE: It is recommended to use these options on your syslog-ng OSE server as well.

  8. Set filters and options (for example, TLS encryption) as necessary.

    NOTE: By default, the syslog-ng OSE server will treat the relayed messages as if they were created by the relay host, not the host that originally sent them to the relay. In order to use the original hostname on the syslog-ng OSE server, use the keep-hostname(yes) option both on the syslog-ng OSE relay and the syslog-ng OSE server. This option can be set individually for every source if needed.

    If you are relaying log messages and want to resolve IP addresses to hostnames, configure the first relay to do the name resolution.

    Example: A simple configuration for relays

    The following is a simple configuration file that collects local and incoming log messages and forwards them to a logserver using the IETF-syslog protocol.

     @version: 3.38
 @include "scl.conf"

 options {
     time-reap(30);
     mark-freq(10);
     keep-hostname(yes);
     chain-hostnames(no);
 };

 source s_local {
     system(); internal();
 };

 source s_network {
     syslog(transport(tcp));
 };

 destination d_syslog_tcp {
     syslog("192.168.1.5" transport("tcp") port(2010));
 };

 log {
     source(s_local); source(s_network);
     destination(d_syslog_tcp);
 };

Updated: