1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
|
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html><head>
<meta content="de" http-equiv="Content-Language"><title>rsyslog vs. syslog-ng - a comparison</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>rsyslog vs. syslog-ng</h1>
<p><small><i>Written by <a href="http://www.gerhards.net/rainer">Rainer Gerhards</a>
(2008-02-28)</i></small></p>
<p>We have often been asked about a comparison sheet between
rsyslog and syslog-ng. Unfortunately, I do not know much about
syslog-ng, I did not even use it once. Also, there seems to be no
comprehensive feature sheet available for syslog-ng (that recently
changed, see below). So I started this
comparison, but it probably is not complete. For sure, I miss some
syslog-ng features. This is not an attempt to let rsyslog shine more
than it should. I just used the <a href="features.html">rsyslog
feature sheet</a> as a starting point, simply because it was
available. If you would like to add anything to the chart, or correct
it, please simply <a href="mailto:rgerhards@adiscon.com">drop
me a line</a>. I would love to see a real honest and up-to-date
comparison sheet, so please don't be shy ;)</p>
<table border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top"><b>Feature</b></td>
<td valign="top"><b>rsyslog</b></td>
<td valign="top"><b>syslog-ng</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3" valign="top"><br><b>Input Sources</b><br></td>
</tr>
<td valign="top">UNIX domain socket</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes<td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">UDP</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes<td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">TCP</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes<td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">RFC 3195/BEEP</td>
<td valign="top">yes (needs separate build process)</td>
<td valign="top">no<td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">kernel log</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes<td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">file</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes<td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">mark message generator as an optional input</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">no (?)<td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Windows Event Log</td>
<td valign="top">via <a href="http://www.eventreporter.com">EventReporter</a>
or <a href="http://www.mwagent.com">MonitorWare Agent</a>
(both commercial software)</td>
<td valign="top">via separate Windows agent, paid edition only</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3" valign="top"><b><br>Network (Protocol) Support</b><br></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">support for (plain) tcp based syslog</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">support for GSS-API</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">no (?)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">ability to limit the allowed
network senders (syslog ACLs)</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes (?)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">support for syslog-transport-tls
based framing on syslog/tcp connections</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">no (?)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">udp syslog</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">on the wire (zlib) message
compression</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">no (?)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">support for receiving messages via
reliable <a href="http://www.monitorware.com/Common/en/glossary/rfc3195.php">RFC
3195</a> delivery</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">no</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">support for <a href="rsyslog_stunnel.html">ssl-protected
syslog</a> </td>
<td valign="top"><a href="rsyslog_stunnel.html">via
stunnel</a></td>
<td valign="top">via stunnel<br>
paid edition natively</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">support for IETF's new
syslog-protocol draft</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">no</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">support for IPv6</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">native ability to send SNMP traps</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">?</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">ability to preserve the original
hostname in NAT environments and relay chains</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3" valign="top"><br><b>Message Filtering</b><br></td>
</tr>
<td valign="top">Filtering for syslog facility and priority</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes<td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Filtering for hostname</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes<td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Filtering for application</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes<td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Filtering for message contents</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes<td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Filtering for sending IP address</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes<td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">ability to filter on any other message
field not mentioned above
(including substrings and the like)</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">no</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>support for complex filters, using full boolean algebra
with and/or/not operators and parenthesis</td>
<td>yes</td>
<td>yes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Support for reusable filters: specify a filter once and
use it in multiple selector lines</td>
<td>no</td>
<td>yes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>support for arbritrary complex arithmetic and string
expressions inside filters</td>
<td>yes</td>
<td>no</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">ability to use regular expressions
in filters</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">support for discarding messages
based on filters</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes<td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">powerful BSD-style hostname and
program name blocks for easy multi-host support</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">no</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3" valign="top"><br><b>Supported Database Outputs</b><br></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">MySQL</td>
<td valign="top"><a href="rsyslog_mysql.html">yes</a>
(native ommysql, <a href="omlibdbi.html">omlibdbi</a>)</td>
<td valign="top">yes (via libdibi)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">PostgreSQL</td>
<td valign="top">yes (native ompgsql, <a href="omlibdbi.html">omlibdbi</a>)</td>
<td valign="top">yes (via libdibi)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Oracle</td>
<td valign="top">yes (<a href="omlibdbi.html">omlibdbi</a>)</td>
<td valign="top">yes (via libdibi)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">SQLite</td>
<td valign="top">yes (<a href="omlibdbi.html">omlibdbi</a>)</td>
<td valign="top">yes (via libdibi)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Microsoft SQL (Open TDS)</td>
<td valign="top">yes (<a href="omlibdbi.html">omlibdbi</a>)</td>
<td valign="top">no (?)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Sybase (Open TDS)</td>
<td valign="top">yes (<a href="omlibdbi.html">omlibdbi</a>)</td>
<td valign="top">no (?)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Firebird/Interbase</td>
<td valign="top">yes (<a href="omlibdbi.html">omlibdbi</a>)</td>
<td valign="top">no (?)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Ingres</td>
<td valign="top">yes (<a href="omlibdbi.html">omlibdbi</a>)</td>
<td valign="top">no (?)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">mSQL</td>
<td valign="top">yes (<a href="omlibdbi.html">omlibdbi</a>)</td>
<td valign="top">no (?)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3" valign="top"><br><b>Enterprise Features</b><br></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">support for on-demand on-disk
spooling of messages</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">paid edition only</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">ability to limit disk space used
by spool files</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">each action can use its own, independant
set of spool files</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">no</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">different sets of spool files can
be placed on different disk</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">no</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">ability to configure backup
syslog/database servers </td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">no</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Professional Support</td>
<td><a href="professional_support.html">yes</a></td>
<td>yes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3" valign="top"><br><b>Config File</b><br></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">config file format</td>
<td valign="top">compatible to legacy syslogd but
ugly</td>
<td valign="top">clean but not backwards compatible</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">ability to include config file from
within other config files</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">no</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td height="25" valign="top">ability to
include all config files
existing in a specific directory</td>
<td height="25" valign="top">yes</td>
<td height="25" valign="top">no</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3" valign="top"><br><b>Extensibility</b><br></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Functionality split in separately loadable
modules</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">no</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Support for third-party input plugins</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">no</td>
</tr>
<tr>
</tr>
<td valign="top">Support for third-party output plugins</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">no</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3" valign="top"><br><b>Other Features</b><br></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">ability to generate file names and
directories (log targets) dynamically</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">control of log output format,
including ability to present channel and priority as visible log data</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">not sure...</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">good timestamp format control; at a
minimum, ISO 8601/RFC 3339 second-resolution UTC zone</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">ability to reformat message
contents and work with substrings</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">I think yes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">support for log files larger than
2gb</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">support for log file size
limitation
and automatic rollover command execution</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">support for running multiple
syslogd instances on a single machine</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">? (but I think yes)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">ability to execute shell scripts on
received messages</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">ability to pipe messages to a
continously running program</td>
<td valign="top">no</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">massively multi-threaded for
tomorrow's multi-core machines</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">no (only multithreaded with
database destinations)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">ability to control repeated line
reduction ("last message repeated n times") on a per selector-line basis</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes (?)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">supports multiple actions per
selector/filter condition</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes<td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">web interface</td>
<td valign="top"><a href="http://www.phplogcon.org">phpLogCon</a><br>
[also works with <a href="http://freshmeat.net/projects/php-syslog-ng/">
php-syslog-ng</a>]</td>
<td valign="top"><a href="http://freshmeat.net/projects/php-syslog-ng/">
php-syslog-ng</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">using text files as input source</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">rate-limiting output actions</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">discard low-priority messages under
system stress</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">no (?)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td height="43" valign="top">flow control
(slow down message reception when system is busy)</td>
<td height="43" valign="top">limited (TCP
Window, delay on queue full)</td>
<td height="43" valign="top">yes (limited,
too? "stops accepting messages")</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">rewriting messages</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes (at least I think so...)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">output data into various formats</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">yes (looks somewhat limited to me)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">ability to control "message
repeated n times" generation</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
<td valign="top">no (?)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">license</td>
<td valign="top">GPLv3 (GPLv2 for v2 branch)</td>
<td valign="top">GPL (paid edition is closed source)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">supported platforms</td>
<td valign="top">Linux, BSD, anecdotical seen on
Solaris</td>
<td valign="top">many popular *nixes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">DNS cache</td>
<td valign="top">no</td>
<td valign="top">yes</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>While the <span style="font-weight: bold;">rsyslog</span>
project was initiated in 2004, it <span style="font-weight: bold;">is
build on the main author's (Rainer Gerhards) 12+ years of
logging experience</span>. Rainer, for example, also
wrote the first <a href="http://www.winsyslog.com/Common/en/News/WinSyslog-1996-03-31.php">Windows
syslog server</a> in early 1996 and invented the <a href="http://www.eventreporter.com/Common/en/News/EvntSLog-1997-03-23.php">eventlog-to-syslog</a>
class of applications in early 1997. He did custom logging development
and consulting even before he wrote these products. Rsyslog draws on
that vast experience and sometimes even on the code.</p>
<p>Based on a discussion I had, I also wrote about the <b>political
argument why it is good to have another strong syslogd besides syslog-ng</b>.
You may want to read it at my blog at "<a href="http://rgerhards.blogspot.com/2007/08/why-does-world-need-another-syslogd.html">Why
does the world need another syslogd?</a>".</p>
<p>Balabit, the vendor of syslog-ng, has just recently done a
feature sheet. I have not yet been able to fully work through it. In
the mean time, you may want to read it in parallel. It is available at
<a href="http://www.balabit.com/network-security/syslog-ng/features/detailed/">Balabit's
site</a>.</p>
<p>This document is current as of 2008-02-28 and definitely
incomplete (I did not yet manage to complete it!).</p>
</body></html>
|
