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diff --git a/doc/professional_support.html b/doc/professional_support.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..3cc8308d --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/professional_support.html @@ -0,0 +1,129 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html><head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en"><title>Text File Input Monitor</title> + +</head> + +<body> +<h1>Text File Input Module</h1> +<p><b>Module Name: imfile</b></p> +<p><b>Author: </b>Rainer Gerhards +<rgerhards@adiscon.com></p> +<p><b>Description</b>:</p> +<p>Provides the ability to convert any standard text file into +a syslog message. A standard +text file is a file consisting of printable characters with lines +being delimited by LF.</p> +<p>The file is read line-by-line and any line read is passed to +rsyslog's rule engine. The rule engine applies filter conditons and +selects which actions needs to be carried out.</p> +<p>As new lines are written they are taken from the file and +processed. Please note that this happens based on a polling interval +and not immediately. The file monitor support file rotation. To fully +work, rsyslogd must run while the file is rotated. Then, any remaining +lines from the old file are read and processed and when done with that, +the new file is being processed from the beginning. If rsyslogd is +stopped during rotation, the new file is read, but any not-yet-reported +lines from the previous file can no longer be obtained.</p> +<p>When rsyslogd is stopped while monitoring a text file, it +records the last processed location and continues to work from there +upon restart. So no data is lost during a restart (except, as noted +above, if the file is rotated just in this very moment).</p> +<p>Currently, the file must have a fixed name and location +(directory). It is planned to add support for dynamically generating +file names in the future.</p> +<p>Multiple files may be monitored by specifying +$InputRunFileMonitor multiple times. +</p> +<p><b>Configuration Directives</b>:</p> +<ul> +<li><strong>$InputFileName /path/to/file</strong><br> +The file being monitored. So far, this must be an absolute name (no +macros or templates)</li> +<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">$InputFileTag +tag:</span><br> +The tag to be used for messages that originate from this file. If you +would like to see the colon after the tag, you need to specify it here +(as shown above).</li> +<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">$InputFileStateFile +<name-of-state-file></span><br> +Rsyslog must keep track of which parts of the to be monitored file it +already processed. This is done in the state file. This file always is +created in the rsyslog working directory (configurable via +$WorkDirectory). Be careful to use unique names for different files +being monitored. If there are duplicates, all sorts of "interesting" +things may happen. Rsyslog currently does not check if a name is +specified multiple times.</li> +<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">$InputFileFacility +facility</span><br> +The syslog facility to be assigned to lines read. Can be specified in +textual form (e.g. "local0", "local1", ...) or as numbers (e.g. 128 for +"local0"). Textual form is suggested. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Default</span> is "local0".<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></li> +<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">$InputFileSeverity</span><br> +The +syslog severity to be assigned to lines read. Can be specified in +textual form (e.g. "info", "warning", ...) or as numbers (e.g. 4 for +"info"). Textual form is suggested. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Default</span> is "notice".</li> +<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">$InputRunFileMonitor</span><br> +This <span style="font-weight: bold;">activates</span> +the current monitor. It has no parameters. If you forget this +directive, no file monitoring will take place.</li> +<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">$InputFilePollInterval +seconds</span><br> +This is a global setting. It specifies how often files are to be polled +for new data. The time specified is in seconds. The <span style="font-weight: bold;">default value</span> is 10 +seconds. Please note that future +releases of imfile may support per-file polling intervals, but +currently this is not the case. If multiple $InputFilePollInterval +statements are present in rsyslog.conf, only the last one is used.<br> +A short poll interval provides more rapid message forwarding, but +requires more system ressources. While it is possible, we stongly +recommend not to set the polling interval to 0 seconds. That will make +rsyslogd become a CPU hog, taking up considerable ressources. It is +supported, however, for the few very unusual situations where this +level may be needed. Even if you need quick response, 1 seconds should +be well enough. Please note that imfile keeps reading files as long as +there is any data in them. So a "polling sleep" will only happen when +nothing is left to be processed.</li> +</ul> +<b>Caveats/Known Bugs:</b> +<p>So far, only 100 files can be monitored. If more are needed, +the source needs to be patched. See define MAX_INPUT_FILES in imfile.c +</p> +<p><b>Sample:</b></p> +<p>The following sample monitors two files. If you need just one, +remove the second one. If you need more, add them according to the +sample ;). This code must be placed in /etc/rsyslog.conf (or wherever +your distro puts rsyslog's config files). Note that only commands +actually needed need to be specified. The second file uses less +commands and uses defaults instead.<br> +</p> +<textarea rows="15" cols="60">$ModLoad imfile.so # +needs to be done just once +# File 1 +$InputFileName /path/to/file1 +$InputFileTag tag1: +$InputFileStateFile stat-file1 +$InputFileSeverity error +$InputFileFacility local7 +$InputRunFileMonitor +# File 2 +$InputFileName /path/to/file2 +$InputFileTag tag2: +$InputFileStateFile stat-file2 +$InputRunFileMonitor +# ... and so on ... +# +# check for new lines every 10 seconds +$InputFilePollingInterval 10 +</textarea> +<p>[<a href="rsyslog_conf.html">rsyslog.conf overview</a>] +[<a href="manual.html">manual index</a>] [<a href="http://www.rsyslog.com/">rsyslog site</a>]</p> +<p><font size="2">This documentation is part of the +<a href="http://www.rsyslog.com/">rsyslog</a> +project.<br> +Copyright © 2008 by <a href="http://www.gerhards.net/rainer">Rainer +Gerhards</a> and +<a href="http://www.adiscon.com/">Adiscon</a>. +Released under the GNU GPL version 3 or higher.</font></p> +</body></html>
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