Splunk and syslog-ng

I setup splunk at the office today. Well, I should say I continued to set it up. Today's task was really about incorporating a centralized syslog-ng host with splunk. I'm here to tell you it was pretty easy. Here's what I did:

1. Download syslog-ng RPM here: RPM

2. Make some syslog-ng configuration changes like so:

[root@demetri05 root]# cat /etc/syslog-ng/syslog-ng.conf
# syslog-ng configuration file.
#
# This should behave pretty much like the original syslog on RedHat. But
# it could be configured a lot smarter.
#
# See syslog-ng(8) and syslog-ng.conf(5) for more information.
#
# 20000925 gb@sysfive.com
#
# Updated by Frank Crawford () - 10 Aug 2002
# - for Red Hat 7.3
# - totally do away with klogd
# - add message "kernel:" as is done with klogd.
#
# Updated by Frank Crawford () - 22 Aug 2002
# - use the log_prefix option as per Balazs Scheidler's email
#

options { sync (0);
time_reopen (10);
log_fifo_size (1000);
long_hostnames (off);
use_dns (no);
use_fqdn (no);
create_dirs (yes);
keep_hostname (yes);
};

source s_sys { pipe ("/proc/kmsg" log_prefix("kernel: ")); unix-stream ("/dev/log"); internal(); };
source r_src { tcp(ip("0.0.0.0") port(514)); };

destination d_cons { file("/dev/console"); };
destination d_mesg { file("/var/log/messages"); };
destination d_auth { file("/var/log/secure"); };
destination d_mail { file("/var/log/maillog"); };
destination d_spol { file("/var/log/spooler"); };
destination d_boot { file("/var/log/boot.log"); };
destination d_cron { file("/var/log/cron"); };
destination d_mlal { usertty("*"); };
destination d_kernel { file("/var/log/kern"); };
destination d_remote { tcp("172.16.20.5" port(514)); };

destination dr_cons { file("/dev/console"); };
destination dr_mesg { file("/var/log/remote-syslog-ng/$HOST/messages"); };
destination dr_auth { file("/var/log/remote-syslog-ng/$HOST/secure"); };
destination dr_mail { file("/var/log/remote-syslog-ng/$HOST/maillog"); };
destination dr_spol { file("/var/log/remote-syslog-ng/$HOST/spooler"); };
destination dr_boot { file("/var/log/remote-syslog-ng/$HOST/boot.log"); };
destination dr_cron { file("/var/log/remote-syslog-ng/$HOST/cron"); };
destination dr_mlal { usertty("*"); };
destination dr_kernel { file("/var/log/remote-syslog-ng/$HOST/kern"); };

filter f_filter1 { facility(kern); };
filter f_filter2 { level(info) and
not (facility(mail)
or facility(authpriv)
or facility(cron)
or program("kernel")); };
filter f_filter3 { facility(authpriv); };
filter f_filter4 { facility(mail); };
filter f_filter5 { level(emerg); };
filter f_filter6 { facility(uucp) or
(facility(news) and level(crit)); };
filter f_filter7 { facility(local7); };
filter f_filter8 { facility(cron); };
filter f_kernel { level(info) and program("kernel"); };

#log { source(s_sys); filter(f_filter1); destination(d_cons); };
log { source(s_sys); filter(f_filter2); destination(d_mesg); };
log { source(s_sys); filter(f_filter3); destination(d_auth); };
log { source(s_sys); filter(f_filter4); destination(d_mail); };
log { source(s_sys); filter(f_filter5); destination(d_mlal); };
log { source(s_sys); filter(f_filter6); destination(d_spol); };
log { source(s_sys); filter(f_filter7); destination(d_boot); };
log { source(s_sys); filter(f_filter8); destination(d_cron); };
log { source(s_sys); filter(f_kernel); destination(d_kernel); };

#log { source(r_src); filter(f_filter1); destination(dr_cons); };
log { source(r_src); filter(f_filter2); destination(dr_mesg); };
log { source(r_src); filter(f_filter3); destination(dr_auth); };
log { source(r_src); filter(f_filter4); destination(dr_mail); };
log { source(r_src); filter(f_filter5); destination(dr_mlal); };
log { source(r_src); filter(f_filter6); destination(dr_spol); };
log { source(r_src); filter(f_filter7); destination(dr_boot); };
log { source(r_src); filter(f_filter8); destination(dr_cron); };
log { source(r_src); filter(f_kernel); destination(dr_kernel); };
log { source(s_sys); destination (d_remote); };

# vim: syntax=syslog-ng

3. Edit the Splunk Indexing Live Files (Tailing Processor) like so:
Doc

I used the segment number method for specifying my hostname. There were other options as well.

Then I pointed my browser to my splunk box and started going at it.



Pretty neat.

Sphere: Related Content