The syslog() driver sends messages to a remote host (for example, a syslog-ng OSE server or relay) on the local intranet or internet using the new standard syslog protocol developed by IETF (for details about the new protocol, see IETF-syslog messages.) The protocol supports sending messages using the UDP, TCP, or the encrypted TLS networking protocols.

The required arguments of the driver are the address of the destination host (where messages should be sent). The transport method (networking protocol) is optional, syslog-ng OSE uses the TCP protocol by default. For the list of available optional parameters, see syslog() destination options.

Declaration

syslog(host transport [options]);

NOTE: Note that the syslog destination driver has required parameters, while the source driver defaults to the local bind address, and every parameter is optional.

The udp transport method automatically sends multicast packets if a multicast destination address is specified. The tcp and tls methods do not support multicasting.

NOTE: The default ports for the different transport protocols are as follows: UDP — 514, TCP — 601, TLS — 6514.

Example: Using the syslog() driver

destination d_tcp { syslog("10.1.2.3" transport("tcp") port(1999) localport(999)); };

If name resolution is configured, the hostname of the target server can be used as well.

destination d_tcp { syslog("target_host" transport("tcp") port(1999) localport(999)); };

Send the log messages using TLS encryption and use mutual authentication. For details on the encryption and authentication options, see TLS options.

destination d_syslog_tls {
    syslog("10.100.20.40"
        transport("tls")
        port(6514)
        tls(peer-verify(required-trusted)
            ca-dir('/opt/syslog-ng/etc/syslog-ng/keys/ca.d/')
            key-file('/opt/syslog-ng/etc/syslog-ng/keys/client_key.pem')
            cert-file('/opt/syslog-ng/etc/syslog-ng/keys/client_certificate.pem')
        )
    );
};

NOTE: If a message uses the IETF-syslog format (RFC-5424), only the text of the message can be customized (that is, the MESSAGE part of the log), the structure of the header is fixed.

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