Syslog and InfluxDB Integration
Powerful performance with an easy integration, powered by Telegraf, the open source data connector built by InfluxData.
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Table of Contents
Powerful Performance, Limitless Scale
Collect, organize, and act on massive volumes of high-velocity data. Any data is more valuable when you think of it as time series data. with InfluxDB, the #1 time series platform built to scale with Telegraf.
See Ways to Get Started
Input and output integration overview
The Syslog plugin enables the collection of syslog messages from various sources using standard networking protocols. This functionality is critical for environments where systems need to be monitored and logged efficiently.
The InfluxDB plugin writes metrics to the InfluxDB HTTP service, allowing for efficient storage and retrieval of time series data.
Integration details
Syslog
The Syslog plugin for Telegraf captures syslog messages transmitted over various protocols such as TCP, UDP, and TLS. It supports both RFC 5424 (the newer syslog protocol) and the older RFC 3164 (BSD syslog protocol). This plugin operates as a service input, effectively starting a service that listens for incoming syslog messages. Unlike traditional plugins, service inputs may not function with standard interval settings or CLI options like --once
. It includes options for setting network configurations, socket permissions, message handling, and connection handling. Furthermore, the integration with Rsyslog allows forwarding of logging messages, making it a powerful tool for collecting and relaying system logs in real-time, thus seamlessly integrating into monitoring and logging systems.
InfluxDB
The InfluxDB Telegraf plugin serves to send metrics to the InfluxDB HTTP API, facilitating the storage and query of time series data in a structured manner. Integrating seamlessly with InfluxDB, this plugin provides essential features such as token-based authentication and support for multiple InfluxDB cluster nodes, ensuring reliable and scalable data ingestion. Through its configurability, users can specify options like organization, destination buckets, and HTTP-specific settings, providing flexibility to tailor how data is sent and stored. The plugin also supports secret management for sensitive data, which enhances security in production environments. This plugin is particularly beneficial in modern observability stacks where real-time analytics and storage of time series data are crucial.
Configuration
Syslog
[[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"
## 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"][id2 name1="val1" nameA="valA"]
## For each combination a field is created.
## Its name is created concatenating identifier, sdparam_separator, and parameter name.
# sdparam_separator = "_"
InfluxDB
[[outputs.influxdb]]
## The full HTTP or UDP URL for your InfluxDB instance.
##
## Multiple URLs can be specified for a single cluster, only ONE of the
## urls will be written to each interval.
# urls = ["unix:///var/run/influxdb.sock"]
# urls = ["udp://127.0.0.1:8089"]
# urls = ["http://127.0.0.1:8086"]
## Local address to bind when connecting to the server
## If empty or not set, the local address is automatically chosen.
# local_address = ""
## The target database for metrics; will be created as needed.
## For UDP url endpoint database needs to be configured on server side.
# database = "telegraf"
## The value of this tag will be used to determine the database. If this
## tag is not set the 'database' option is used as the default.
# database_tag = ""
## If true, the 'database_tag' will not be included in the written metric.
# exclude_database_tag = false
## If true, no CREATE DATABASE queries will be sent. Set to true when using
## Telegraf with a user without permissions to create databases or when the
## database already exists.
# skip_database_creation = false
## Name of existing retention policy to write to. Empty string writes to
## the default retention policy. Only takes effect when using HTTP.
# retention_policy = ""
## The value of this tag will be used to determine the retention policy. If this
## tag is not set the 'retention_policy' option is used as the default.
# retention_policy_tag = ""
## If true, the 'retention_policy_tag' will not be included in the written metric.
# exclude_retention_policy_tag = false
## Write consistency (clusters only), can be: "any", "one", "quorum", "all".
## Only takes effect when using HTTP.
# write_consistency = "any"
## Timeout for HTTP messages.
# timeout = "5s"
## HTTP Basic Auth
# username = "telegraf"
# password = "metricsmetricsmetricsmetrics"
## HTTP User-Agent
# user_agent = "telegraf"
## UDP payload size is the maximum packet size to send.
# udp_payload = "512B"
## Optional TLS Config for use on HTTP connections.
# tls_ca = "/etc/telegraf/ca.pem"
# tls_cert = "/etc/telegraf/cert.pem"
# tls_key = "/etc/telegraf/key.pem"
## Use TLS but skip chain & host verification
# insecure_skip_verify = false
## HTTP Proxy override, if unset values the standard proxy environment
## variables are consulted to determine which proxy, if any, should be used.
# http_proxy = "http://corporate.proxy:3128"
## Additional HTTP headers
# http_headers = {"X-Special-Header" = "Special-Value"}
## HTTP Content-Encoding for write request body, can be set to "gzip" to
## compress body or "identity" to apply no encoding.
# content_encoding = "gzip"
## When true, Telegraf will output unsigned integers as unsigned values,
## i.e.: "42u". You will need a version of InfluxDB supporting unsigned
## integer values. Enabling this option will result in field type errors if
## existing data has been written.
# influx_uint_support = false
## When true, Telegraf will omit the timestamp on data to allow InfluxDB
## to set the timestamp of the data during ingestion. This is generally NOT
## what you want as it can lead to data points captured at different times
## getting omitted due to similar data.
# influx_omit_timestamp = false
Input and output integration examples
Syslog
-
Centralized Log Management: Use the Syslog plugin to aggregate log messages from multiple servers into a central logging system. This setup can help in monitoring overall system health, troubleshooting issues effectively, and maintaining audit trails by collecting syslog data from different sources.
-
Real-Time Alerting: Integrate the Syslog plugin with alerting tools to trigger real-time notifications when specific log patterns or errors are detected. For example, if a critical system error appears in the logs, an alert can be sent to the operations team, minimizing downtime and performing proactive maintenance.
-
Security Monitoring: Leverage the Syslog plugin for security monitoring by capturing logs from firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and other security devices. This logging capability enhances security visibility and helps in investigating potentially malicious activities by analyzing the captured syslog data.
-
Application Performance Tracking: Utilize the Syslog plugin to monitor application performance by collecting logs from various applications. This integration helps in analyzing the application’s behavior and performance trends, thus aiding in optimizing application processes and ensuring smoother operation.
InfluxDB
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Real-Time System Monitoring: Utilize the InfluxDB plugin to capture and store metrics from a range of system components, such as CPU usage, memory consumption, and disk I/O. By pushing these metrics into InfluxDB, you can create a live dashboard that visualizes system performance in real time. This setup not only helps in identifying performance bottlenecks but also assists in proactive capacity planning by analyzing trends over time.
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Performance Tracking for Web Applications: Automatically gather and push metrics related to web application performance, such as request durations, error rates, and user interactions, to InfluxDB. By employing this plugin in your monitoring stack, you can use the stored metrics to generate reports and analyses that help understand user behavior and application efficiency, thus guiding development and optimization efforts.
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IoT Data Aggregation: Leverage the InfluxDB Telegraf plugin to collect sensor data from various IoT devices and store it in a centralized InfluxDB instance. This use case enables you to analyze trends and patterns in environmental or machine data over time, facilitating smarter decisions and predictive maintenance strategies. By integrating IoT data into InfluxDB, organizations can harness the power of historical data analysis to drive innovation and operational efficiency.
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Analyzing Historical Metrics for Forecasting: Set up the InfluxDB plugin to send historical metric data into InfluxDB and use it to drive forecasting models. By analyzing past performance metrics, you can create predictive models that forecast future trends and demands. This application is particularly useful for business intelligence purposes, helping organizations prepare for fluctuations in resource needs based on historical usage patterns.
Feedback
Thank you for being part of our community! If you have any general feedback or found any bugs on these pages, we welcome and encourage your input. Please submit your feedback in the InfluxDB community Slack.
Powerful Performance, Limitless Scale
Collect, organize, and act on massive volumes of high-velocity data. Any data is more valuable when you think of it as time series data. with InfluxDB, the #1 time series platform built to scale with Telegraf.
See Ways to Get Started
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