Dummy

The Dummy input plugin generates dummy events. Use this plugin for testing, debugging, benchmarking and getting started with Fluent Bit.

Configuration parameters

The plugin supports the following configuration parameters:

Key	Description	Default
copies	Number of messages to generate each time messages are generated.	1
dummy	Dummy JSON record.	{"message":"dummy"}
fixed_timestamp	If enabled, use a fixed timestamp. This allows the message to be pre-generated once.	false
flush_on_startup	If set to true, the first dummy event is generated at startup.	false
interval_nsec	Set time interval, in nanoseconds, at which every message is generated. If set, rate configuration is ignored.	0
interval_sec	Set time interval, in seconds, at which every message is generated. If set, rate configuration is ignored.	0
metadata	Dummy JSON metadata.	{}
rate	Rate at which messages are generated, expressed in how many times per second.	1
samples	Limit the number of events generated. For example, if samples=3, the plugin generates only three events and stops. 0 means no limit.	0
start_time_nsec	Set a dummy base timestamp, in nanoseconds. If set to -1, the current time is used.	-1
start_time_sec	Set a dummy base timestamp, in seconds. If set to -1, the current time is used.	-1
threaded	Indicates whether to run this input in its own thread.	false

Get started

You can run the plugin from the command line or through the configuration file:

Command line

Run the plugin from the command line using the following command:

fluent-bit -i dummy -o stdout

which returns results like the following:

...
[0] dummy.0: [[1686451466.659962491, {}], {"message"=>"dummy"}]
[0] dummy.0: [[1686451467.659679509, {}], {"message"=>"dummy"}]
...

Configuration file

In your main configuration file append the following:

fluent-bit.yaml

pipeline:
  inputs:
    - name: dummy
      dummy: '{"message": "custom dummy"}'

  outputs:
    - name: stdout
      match: '*'

fluent-bit.conf