This section describes the options of the riemann() destination in syslog-ng OSE.

The riemann() destination has the following options:

attributes()

Type: parameter list of the value-pairs() option
Default:  

Description: The attributes() option adds extra metadata to the Riemann event, that can be displayed on the Riemann dashboard. To specify the metadata to add, use the syntax of the value-pairs() option. For details on using value-pairs(), see Structuring macros, metadata, and other value-pairs.

batch-bytes()

Accepted values: number [bytes]
Default: none

Description: Sets the maximum size of payload in a batch. If the size of the messages reaches this value, syslog-ng OSE sends the batch to the destination even if the number of messages is less than the value of the batch-lines() option.

Note that if the batch-timeout() option is enabled and the queue becomes empty, syslog-ng OSE flushes the messages only if batch-timeout() expires, or the batch reaches the limit set in batch-bytes().

Available in syslog-ng OSE version 3.19 and later.

batch-lines()

Type: number
Default: 1

Description: Specifies how many lines are flushed to a destination in one batch. The syslog-ng OSE application waits for this number of lines to accumulate and sends them off in a single batch. Increasing this number increases throughput as more messages are sent in a single batch, but also increases message latency.

For example, if you set batch-lines() to 100, syslog-ng OSE waits for 100 messages.

If the batch-timeout() option is disabled, the syslog-ng OSE application flushes the messages if it has sent batch-lines() number of messages, or the queue became empty. If you stop or reload syslog-ng OSE or in case of network sources, the connection with the client is closed, syslog-ng OSE automatically sends the unsent messages to the destination.

Note that if the batch-timeout() option is enabled and the queue becomes empty, syslog-ng OSE flushes the messages only if batch-timeout() expires, or the batch reaches the limit set in batch-lines().

For optimal performance, make sure that the syslog-ng OSE source that feeds messages to this destination is configured properly: the value of the log-iw-size() option of the source must be higher than the batch-lines()*workers() of the destination. Otherwise, the size of the batches cannot reach the batch-lines() limit.

batch-timeout()

Type: time in milliseconds
Default: -1 (disabled)

Description: Specifies the time syslog-ng OSE waits for lines to accumulate in the output buffer. The syslog-ng OSE application sends batches to the destinations evenly. The timer starts when the first message arrives to the buffer, so if only few messages arrive, syslog-ng OSE sends messages to the destination at most once every batch-timeout() milliseconds.

description()

Type: template, macro, or string
Default:  

Description: The value to add as the description field of the Riemann event.

disk-buffer()

Description: This option enables putting outgoing messages into the disk buffer of the destination to avoid message loss in case of a system failure on the destination side. It has the following suboptions:

capacity-bytes()

Type: number (bytes)
Default: 1 MiB

Description: This is a required option. The maximum size of the disk-buffer in bytes. The minimum value is 1048576 bytes. If you set a smaller value, the minimum value will be used automatically. It replaces the old log-disk-fifo-size() option.

In syslog-ng OSE version 4.2 and earlier, this option was called disk-buf-size().

compaction()

Type: yes/no
Default: no

Description: If set to yes, syslog-ng OSE prunes the unused space in the LogMessage representation, making the disk queue size smaller at the cost of some CPU time. Setting the compaction() argument to yes is recommended when numerous name-value pairs are unset during processing, or when the same names are set multiple times.

NOTE: Simply unsetting these name-value pairs by using the unset() rewrite operation is not enough, as due to performance reasons that help when syslog-ng OSE is CPU bound, the internal representation of a LogMessage will not release the memory associated with these name-value pairs. In some cases, however, the size of this overhead becomes significant (the raw message size can grow up to four times its original size), which unnecessarily increases the disk queue file size. For these cases, the compaction will drop unset values, making the LogMessage representation smaller at the cost of some CPU time required to perform compaction.

dir()

Type: string
Default: N/A

Description: Defines the folder where the disk-buffer files are stored.

CAUTION: When creating a new dir() option for a disk buffer, or modifying an existing one, make sure you delete the persist file.

syslog-ng OSE creates disk-buffer files based on the path recorded in the persist file. Therefore, if the persist file is not deleted after modifying the dir() option, then following a restart, syslog-ng OSE will look for or create disk-buffer files in their old location. To ensure that syslog-ng OSE uses the new dir() setting, the persist file must not contain any information about the destinations which the disk-buffer file in question belongs to.

flow-control-window-bytes()

Type: number (bytes)
Default: 163840000

Description: Use this option if the option reliable() is set to yes. This option contains the size of the messages in bytes that is used in the memory part of the disk buffer. It replaces the old log-fifo-size() option. It does not inherit the value of the global log-fifo-size() option, even if it is provided. Note that this option will be ignored if the option reliable() is set to no.

In syslog-ng OSE version 4.2 and earlier, this option was called mem-buf-size().

flow-control-window-size()

Type: number(messages)
Default: 10000

Description: Use this option if the option reliable() is set to no. This option contains the number of messages stored in overflow queue. It replaces the old log-fifo-size() option. It inherits the value of the global log-fifo-size() option if provided. If it is not provided, the default value is 10000 messages. Note that this option will be ignored if the option reliable() is set to yes.

In syslog-ng OSE version 4.2 and earlier, this option was called mem-buf-length().

front-cache-size()

Type: number(messages)
Default: 1000

Description: The number of messages stored in the output buffer of the destination. Note that if you change the value of this option and the disk-buffer already exists, the change will take effect when the disk-buffer becomes empty.

Options reliable() and capacity-bytes() are required options.

In syslog-ng OSE version 4.2 and earlier, this option was called qout-size().

prealloc()

Type: yes/no
Default: no

Description: By default, syslog-ng OSE doesn’t reserve the disk space for the disk-buffer file, since in a properly configured and sized environment the disk-buffer is practically empty, so a large preallocated disk-buffer file is just a waste of disk space. But a preallocated buffer can prevent other data from using the intended buffer space (and elicit a warning from the OS if disk space is low), preventing message loss if the buffer is actually needed. To avoid this problem, when using syslog-ng OSE 4.0 or later, you can preallocate the space for your disk-buffer files by setting prealloc(yes).

In addition to making sure that the required disk space is available when needed, preallocated disk-buffer files provide radically better (3-4x) performance as well: in case of an outage the amount of messages stored in the disk-buffer is continuously growing, and using large continuous files is faster, than constantly waiting on a file to change its size.

If you are running syslog-ng OSE on a dedicated host (always recommended for any high-volume settings), use prealloc(yes).

Available in syslog-ng OSE 4.0 and later.

reliable()

Type: yes/no
Default: no

Description: If set to yes, syslog-ng OSE cannot lose logs in case of reload/restart, unreachable destination or syslog-ng OSE crash. This solution provides a slower, but reliable disk-buffer option. It is created and initialized at startup and gradually grows as new messages arrive. If set to no, the normal disk-buffer will be used. This provides a faster, but less reliable disk-buffer option.

CAUTION: Hazard of data loss! If you change the value of reliable() option when there are messages in the disk-buffer, the messages stored in the disk-buffer will be lost.

truncate-size-ratio()

Type: number((between 0 and 1))
Default: 1 (do not truncate)

Description: Limits the truncation of the disk-buffer file. Truncating the disk-buffer file can slow down the disk IO operations, but it saves disk space. By default, syslog-ng OSE version 4.0 and later doesn’t truncate disk-buffer files by default (truncate-size-ratio(1)). Earlier versions freed the disk-space when at least 10% of the disk-buffer file could be freed (truncate-size-ratio(0.1)).

syslog-ng OSE only truncates the file if the possible disk gain is more than truncate-size-ratio() times capacity-bytes().

  • Smaller values free disk space quicker.
  • Larger ratios result in better performance.

If you want to avoid performance fluctuations:

  • use truncate-size-ratio(1) (never truncate), or
  • use prealloc(yes) to reserve the entire size of the disk-buffer on disk.

CAUTION: It is not recommended to change truncate-size-ratio(). Only change its value if you understand the performance implications of doing so.

Example: Examples for using disk-buffer()

In the following case reliable disk-buffer() is used.

   destination d_demo {
        network(
            "127.0.0.1"
            port(3333)
            disk-buffer(
                flow-control-window-bytes(10000)
                capacity-bytes(2000000)
                reliable(yes)
                dir("/tmp/disk-buffer")
            )
        );
    };

In the following case normal disk-buffer() is used.

   destination d_demo {
        network(
            "127.0.0.1"
            port(3333)
               disk-buffer(
                flow-control-window-size(10000)
                capacity-bytes(2000000)
                reliable(no)
                dir("/tmp/disk-buffer")
            )
        );
    };

event-time()

Type: template, macro, or string
Default: ${UNIXTIME}

Description: Instead of the arrival time into Riemann, syslog-ng OSE can also send its own timestamp value.

This can be useful if Riemann is inaccessible for a while, and the messages are collected in the disk buffer until Riemann is accessible again. In this case, it would be difficult to differentiate between messages based on the arrival time only, because this would mean that there would be hundreds of messages with the same arrival time. This issue can be solved by using this option.

The event-time() option takes an optional parameter specifying whether the time format is in seconds or microseconds. For example:

event-time("$(* ${UNIXTIME} 1000000)" microseconds)
event-time("12345678" microseconds)
event-time("12345678" seconds)
event-time("12345678")

In case the parameter is omitted, syslog-ng OSE defaults to the seconds version. In case the event-time() option is omitted altogether, syslog-ng OSE defaults to the seconds version with ${UNIXTIME}.

Note that the time format parameter requires:

  • riemann-c-client 1.10.0 or newer

    In older versions of riemann-c-client, the microseconds option is not available.

    In case your distribution does not contain a recent enough version of riemann-c-client and you wish to use microseconds, install a new version of the client.

    If you installed the new version in a custom location (instead of the default one), make sure that you append the directory of the pkg-config file (.pc file) to the environment variable export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=….

    After calling configure, you should see the following message in the case of successful installation:

    […] Riemann destination (module): yes, microseconds: yes […]

  • Riemann 2.13 or newer

    Older versions of Riemann cannot handle microseconds. No error will be indicated, however, the time of the event will be set to the timestamp when the message arrived to Riemann.

Example: Example event-time() option

destination d_riemann {
    riemann(
    server("127.0.0.1")
    port(5555)
    event-time("${UNIXTIME}")
    [...]
    );
};

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")
        )
      );
};

host()

Type: hostname or IP address
Default: 127.0.0.1

Description: The hostname or IP address of the Riemann server.

batch-timeout()

Type: time in milliseconds
Default: -1 (disabled)

Description: Specifies the time syslog-ng OSE waits for lines to accumulate in the output buffer. The syslog-ng OSE application sends batches to the destinations evenly. The timer starts when the first message arrives to the buffer, so if only few messages arrive, syslog-ng OSE sends messages to the destination at most once every batch-timeout() milliseconds.

host()

Type: template, macro, or string
Default: ${HOST}

Description: The value to add as the host field of the Riemann event.

log-fifo-size()

Type: number
Default: Use global setting.

Description: The number of messages that the output queue can store.

metric()

Type: template, macro, or string
Default:  

Description: The numeric value to add as the metric field of the Riemann event. If possible, include type-hinting as well, otherwise the Riemann server will interpret the value as a floating-point number. The following example specifies the ${SEQNUM} macro as an integer.

metric(int("${SEQNUM}"))

port()

Type: number
Default: 5555

Description: The port number of the Riemann server.

retries()

Type: number (of attempts)
Default: 3

Description: If syslog-ng OSE cannot send a message, it will try again until the number of attempts reaches retries().

If the number of attempts reaches retries(), syslog-ng OSE will wait for time-reopen() time, then tries sending the message again.

server()

Type: hostname or IP address
Default: 127.0.0.1

Description: The hostname or IP address of the Riemann server.

service()

Type: template, macro, or string
Default: ${PROGRAM}

Description: The value to add as the service field of the Riemann event.

state()

Type: template, macro, or string
Default:  

Description: The value to add as the state field of the Riemann event.

tags()

Type: string list
Default: the tags already assigned to the message

Description: The list of tags to add as the tags field of the Riemann event. If not specified syslog-ng OSE automatically adds the tags already assigned to the message. If you set the tags() option, only the tags you specify will be added to the event.

throttle()

Type: number
Default: 0

Description: Sets the maximum number of messages sent to the destination per second. Use this output-rate-limiting functionality only when using disk-buffer as well to avoid the risk of losing messages. Specifying 0 or a lower value sets the output limit to unlimited.

time-reopen()

Accepted values: number [seconds]
Default: 60

Description: The time to wait in seconds before a dead connection is reestablished.

timeout()

Type: number [seconds]
Default: 0

Description: The value (in seconds) to wait for an operation to complete, and attempt to reconnect the server if exceeded. By default, the timeout value is 0, meaning that there is no timeout. Available in version 3.11 and later.

ttl()

Type: template, macro, or number
Default:  

Description: The value (in seconds) to add as the ttl (time-to-live) field of the Riemann event.

type()

Type: tcp | tls | udp
Default: tcp

Description: The type of the network connection to the Riemann server: TCP, TLS, or UDP. For TLS connections, set the ca-file() option to authenticate the Riemann server, and the cert-file() and key-file() options if the Riemann server requires authentication from its clients.

Declaration 1

destination d_riemann {
        riemann(
                server("127.0.0.1")
                port(5672)
                type(
                    "tls"
                    ca-file("ca")
                    cert-file("cert") 
                    key-file("key")
                )
        );
};

An alternative way to specify TLS options is to group them into a tls() block. This allows you to separate them and ensure better readability.

Declaration 2

destination d_riemann {
        riemann(
                server("127.0.0.1")
                port(5672)
                type("tls")                tls(
                        ca-file("ca")
                        cert-file("cert") 
                        key-file("key")
                )
        );
};

Make sure that you specify TLS options either using type() or using the tls() block. Avoid mixing the two methods. In case you do specify TLS options in both ways, the one that comes later in the configuration file will take effect.

ca-file()

Type: File name
Default: empty

Description: Optional. The name of a file that contains a set of trusted CA certificates in PEM format. The syslog-ng OSE application uses the CA certificates in this file to validate the certificate of the peer.

Example format in configuration:

ca-file("/etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt")

NOTE: The ca-file() option can be used together with the ca-dir() option, and it is relevant when peer-verify() is set to other than no or optional-untrusted.

NOTE: During a TLS handshake, syslog-ng OSE automatically sets the certificate_authorities field of the certificate request based on the ca-file() and ca-dir() options.

cert-file()

Accepted values: Filename
Default: none

Description: Name of a file, that contains an X.509 certificate (or a certificate chain) in PEM format, suitable as a TLS certificate, matching the private key set in the key-file() option. The syslog-ng OSE application uses this certificate to authenticate the syslog-ng OSE client on the destination server. If the file contains a certificate chain, the file must begin with the certificate of the host, followed by the CA certificate that signed the certificate of the host, and any other signing CAs in order.

key-file()

Accepted values: Filename
Default: none

Description: The name of a file that contains an unencrypted private key in PEM format, suitable as a TLS key. If properly configured, the syslog-ng OSE application uses this private key and the matching certificate (set in the cert-file() option) to authenticate the syslog-ng OSE client on the destination server.

Updated: