# A commented sample configuration. More a man page than a real # sample ;) # # We try to keep things as consistent with existing syslog implementation # as possible. We use "$" to start lines that contain new directives. # Set syslogd options # Templates are a key feature of rsyslog. They allow to specify any # format a user might want. Every output in rsyslog uses templates - this # holds true for files, user messages and so on. The database writer # expects its template to be a proper SQL statement - so this is highly # customizable too. You might ask how does all of this work when no templates # at all are specified. Good question ;) The answer is simple, though. Templates # compatible with the stock syslogd formats are hardcoded into rsyslog. So if # no template is specified, we use one of these hardcoded templates. Search for # "template_" in syslogd.c and you will find the hardcoded ones. # # A template consists of a template directive, a name, the actual template text # and optional options. A sample is: # # $template MyTemplateName,"\7Text %property% some more text\n", # # The "$template" is the template directive. It tells rsyslog that this # line contains a template. # # "MyTemplateName" is the template name. All other config lines refer to # this name. # # The text within quotes is the actual template text. The backslash is # a escape character, much as in C. It does all these "cool" things. For # example, \7 rings the bell (this is an ASCII value), \n is a new line. # C programmers and perl coders have the advantage of knowing this, but the # set in rsyslog is a bit restricted currently. All text in the template # is used literally, except for things within percent signs. These are # properties and allow you access to the contents of the syslog message. # Properties are accessed via the property replacer (nice name, huh) and # it can do cool things, too. For example, it can pick a substring or # do date-specific formatting. More on this is below, on some lines of the # property replacer. # # The part is optional. It carries options that influence the # template as whole. Details are below. Be sure NOT to mistake template # options with property options - the later ones are processed by the # property replacer and apply to a SINGLE property, only (and not the # whole template). # # Template options are case-insensitive. Currently defined are: # sql - format the string suitable for a SQL statement. This will replace single # quotes ("'") by two single quotes ("''") inside each field. This option MUST # be specified when a template is used for writing to a database, otherwise SQL # injection might occur. # # Please note that the database writer *checks* that the sql option is # present in the template. If it is not present, the write database action # is disabled. This is to guard you against accidential forgetting it and # then becoming vulnerable for SQL injection. # The sql option can also be useful with files - especially if you want # to run them on another machine for performance reasons. However, do NOT # use it if you do not have a real need for it - among others, it takes # some toll on the processing time. Not much, but on a really busy system # you might notice it ;) # # To escape: # % = \% # \ = \\ # --> '\' is used to escape (as in C) #$template TraditionalFormat,%timegenerated% %HOSTNAME% %syslogtag%%msg%\n" # # Properties can be accessed by the property replacer. They are accessed # inside the template by putting them between percent signs. Properties # can be modifed by the property replacer. The full syntax is as follows: # # %propname:fromChar:toChar:options% # # propname is the name of the property to access. This IS case-sensitive! # Currently supported are: # msg the MSG part of the message (aka "the message" ;)) # rawmsg the message excactly as it was received from the # socket. Should be useful for debugging. # UxTradMsg will disappear soon - do NOT use! # HOSTNAME hostname from the message # source alias for HOSTNAME # syslogtag TAG from the message # PRI PRI part of the message - undecoded (single value) # IUT the monitorware InfoUnitType - used when talking to a # MonitorWare backend (also for phpLogCon) # syslogfacility the facility from the message - in numerical form # syslogpriority the priority (actully severity!) from the # message - in numerical form # timegenerated timestamp when the message was RECEIVED. Always in high # resolution # timereported timestamp from the message. Resolution depends on what # was provided in the message (in most cases, only seconds) # TIMESTAMP alias for timereported # # FromChar and toChar are used to build substrings. They specify the # offset within the string that should be copied. Offset counting # starts at 1, so if you need to obtain the first 2 characters of the # message text, you can use this syntax: "%msg:1:2%". # If you do not whish to specify from and to, but you want to # specify options, you still need to include the colons. For example, # if you would like to convert the full message text to lower case # only, use "%msg:::lowercase%". # # property options are case-insensitive, currently defined are: # uppercase convert property to lowercase only # lowercase convert property text to uppercase only # drop-last-lf The last LF in the message (if any), is dropped. # Especially useful for PIX. # date-mysql format as mysql date # date-rfc3164 format as RFC 3164 date # date-rfc3339 format as RFC 3339 date # escape-cc NOT yet implemented # Below find some samples of what a template can do. Have a good # time finding out what they do [or just tun them] ;) # A template that resambles traditional syslogd file output: $template TraditionalFormat,"%timegenerated% %HOSTNAME% %syslogtag%%msg:::drop-last-lf%\n" # A template that tells you a little more about the message: $template precise,"%syslogpriority%,%syslogfacility%,%timegenerated:::fulltime%,%HOSTNAME%,%syslogtag%,%msg%\n" # A template that resembles RFC 3164 on-the-wire format: # (yes, there is NO space betwen syslogtag and msg! that's important!) $template RFC3164fmt,"<%PRI%>%TIMESTAMP% %HOSTNAME% %syslogtag%%msg%" # a template resembling traditional wallmessage format: $template wallmsg,"\r\n\7Message from syslogd@%HOSTNAME% at %timegenerated% ...\r\n %syslogtag%%msg%\n\r" # The template below emulates winsyslog format, but we need to check the time # stamps used. for now, it is good enough ;) This format works best with # other members of the MonitorWare product family. It is also a good sample # where you can see the property replacer in action. $template WinSyslogFmt,"%HOSTNAME%,%timegenerated:1:10:date-rfc3339%,%timegenerated:12:19:date-rfc3339%,%timegenerated:1:10:date-rfc3339%,%timegenerated:12:19:date-rfc3339%,%syslogfacility%,%syslogpriority%,%syslogtag%%msg%\n" # A template used for database writing (notice it *is* an actual # sql-statement): $template dbFormat,"insert into SystemEvents (Message, Facility,FromHost, Priority, DeviceReportedTime, ReceivedAt, InfoUnitID, SysLogTag) values ('%msg%', %syslogfacility%, '%HOSTNAME%',%syslogpriority%, '%timereported:::date-mysql%', '%timegenerated:::date-mysql%', %iut%, '%syslogtag%')",sql # Selector lines are somewhat different from stock syslogd. With # rsyslog, you can add a semicolon ";" after the target and then # the template name. That will assign this template to the respective # action. If no template name is given, a hardcoded template is used. # If a template name is given, but the template was not defined, the # selector line is DEACTIVATED. # # ############# # # IMPORTANT # # ############# # Templates MUST be defined BEFORE they are used! It is OK to # intermix template definitions and selector lines within the # config file, but each template MUST be defined before it is # used the first time! # # We have some very rough samples here - This sample file focusses # on the new syntax, so we do NOT describe all possible selections. # Use the syslog.conf if you are interested to see how to select # based on facility and severits (aka priority). *.* /var/log/winsyslog-like.log;WinSyslogFmt # A selector using the traditional format defined above: *.* /var/log/traditionalfile.log;TraditionalFormat # And another one using the hardcoded traditional format: *.* /var/log/anothertraditionalfile.log # Templates are also fully supportd for forwarding: *.* @172.19.2.16;RFC3164fmt # And this finally is a database action *.* >hostname,dbname,userid,password # It uses the default schema (MonitorWare format). The parameters # should be self-explanatory. # And this one uses the template defined above: *.* >hostname,dbname,userid,password;dbFormat # # A final world. rsyslog is considered a part of Adiscon's MonitorWare product line. # As such, you can find current information as well as information on the # other product line members on http://www.monitorware.com. Please be warned, there # are a number of closed-source commercial Windows applications among these products ;) # # You might want to check the GPL'ed phpLogCon (http://www.phplogcon.org) # as a web-based front-end to a syslog message database. # # I hope this work is useful. # 2004-12-08 Rainer Gerhards #