Send logs to Splunk HTTP Event Collector
Splunk output plugin allows to ingest your records into a Splunk Enterprise service through the HTTP Event Collector (HEC) interface.
To get more details about how to setup the HEC in Splunk please refer to the following documentation: Splunk / Use the HTTP Event Collector
Connectivity, transport and authentication configuration properties:
Key | Description | default |
---|---|---|
Content and Splunk metadata (fields) handling configuration properties:
Key | Description | default |
---|---|---|
Splunk output plugin supports TLS/SSL, for more details about the properties available and general configuration, please refer to the TLS/SSL section.
In order to insert records into a Splunk service, you can run the plugin from the command line or through the configuration file:
The splunk plugin, can read the parameters from the command line in two ways, through the -p argument (property), e.g:
In your main configuration file append the following Input & Output sections:
By default, the Splunk output plugin nests the record under the event
key in the payload sent to the HEC. It will also append the time of the record to a top level time
key.
If you would like to customize any of the Splunk event metadata, such as the host or target index, you can set Splunk_Send_Raw On
in the plugin configuration, and add the metadata as keys/values in the record. Note: with Splunk_Send_Raw
enabled, you are responsible for creating and populating the event
section of the payload.
For example, to add a custom index and hostname:
This will create a payload that looks like:
For more information on the Splunk HEC payload format and all event meatadata Splunk accepts, see here: http://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/latest/Data/AboutHEC
If the option splunk_send_raw
has been enabled, the user must take care to put all log details in the event field, and only specify fields known to Splunk in the top level event, if there is a mismatch, Splunk will return a HTTP error 400.
Consider the following example:
splunk_send_raw off
splunk_send_raw on
For up to date information about the valid keys in the top level object, refer to the Splunk documentation:
http://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/latest/Data/AboutHEC
With Splunk version 8.0> you can also use the Fluent Bit Splunk output plugin to send data to metric indices. This allows you to perform visualizations, metric queries, and analysis with other metrics you may be collecting. This is based off of Splunk 8.0 support of multi metric support via single JSON payload, more details can be found on Splunk's documentation page
Sending to a Splunk Metric index requires the use of Splunk_send_raw
option being enabled and formatting the message properly. This includes three specific operations
Nest metric events under a "fields" property
Add metric_name:
to all metrics
Add index, source, sourcetype as fields in the message
The following configuration gathers CPU metrics, nests the appropriate field, adds the required identifiers and then sends to Splunk.
With Fluent Bit 2.0, you can also send Fluent Bit's metrics type of events into Splunk via Splunk HEC. This allows you to perform visualizations, metric queries, and analysis with directly sent Fluent Bit's metrics type of events. This is based off Splunk 8.0 support of multi metric support via single concatenated JSON payload.
Sending Fluent Bit's metrics into Splunk requires the use of collecting Fluent Bit's metrics plugins. Note that whether events type of logs or metrics can be distinguished automatically. You don't need to pay attentions about the type of events. This example includes two specific operations
Collect node or Fluent Bit's internal metrics
Send metrics as single concatenated JSON payload
host
IP address or hostname of the target Splunk service.
127.0.0.1
port
TCP port of the target Splunk service.
8088
splunk_token
Specify the Authentication Token for the HTTP Event Collector interface.
http_user
Optional username for Basic Authentication on HEC
http_passwd
Password for user defined in HTTP_User
http_buffer_size
Buffer size used to receive Splunk HTTP responses
2M
compress
Set payload compression mechanism. The only available option is gzip
.
channel
Specify X-Splunk-Request-Channel Header for the HTTP Event Collector interface.
http_debug_bad_request
If the HTTP server response code is 400 (bad request) and this flag is enabled, it will print the full HTTP request and response to the stdout interface. This feature is available for debugging purposes.
Workers
Enables dedicated thread(s) for this output. Default value is set since version 1.8.13. For previous versions is 0.
2
splunk_send_raw
When enabled, the record keys and values are set in the top level of the map instead of under the event key. Refer to the Sending Raw Events section from the docs for more details to make this option work properly.
off
event_key
Specify the key name that will be used to send a single value as part of the record.
event_host
Specify the key name that contains the host value. This option allows a record accessors pattern.
event_source
Set the source value to assign to the event data.
event_sourcetype
Set the sourcetype value to assign to the event data.
event_sourcetype_key
Set a record key that will populate 'sourcetype'. If the key is found, it will have precedence over the value set in event_sourcetype
.
event_index
The name of the index by which the event data is to be indexed.
event_index_key
Set a record key that will populate the index
field. If the key is found, it will have precedence over the value set in event_index
.
event_field
Set event fields for the record. This option can be set multiple times and the format is key_name record_accessor_pattern
.