Debian

Fluent Bit is distributed as the fluent-bit package and is available for the latest stable Debian system.

The following architectures are supported

• x86_64

• aarch64

• arm64v8

The recommended secure deployment approach is to use the following instructions:

Server GPG key

The first step is to add the Fluent Bit server GPG key to your keyring to ensure you can get the correct signed packages.

Follow the official Debian wiki guidance.

sudo sh -c 'curl https://packages.fluentbit.io/fluentbit.key | gpg --dearmor > /usr/share/keyrings/fluentbit-keyring.gpg'

Update your sources lists

For Debian, you must add the Fluent Bit APT server entry to your sources lists. Ensure codename is set to your specific Debian release name. (for example: bookworm for Debian 12).

codename=$(grep -oP '(?<=VERSION_CODENAME=).*' /etc/os-release 2>/dev/null || lsb_release -cs 2>/dev/null)

Update your source's lists:

echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/fluentbit-keyring.gpg] https://packages.fluentbit.io/debian/$codename $codename main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/fluent-bit.list

Update your repositories database

Update your system's apt database:

sudo apt-get update

Fluent Bit recommends upgrading your system (sudo apt-get upgrade). This could avoid potential issues with expired certificates.

Install Fluent Bit

1. Ensure your GPG key is up to date.

2. Use the following apt-get command to install the latest Fluent Bit:

   sudo apt-get install fluent-bit

3. Instruct systemd to enable the service:

   sudo systemctl start fluent-bit

If you do a status check, you should see a similar output similar to:

$ sudo service fluent-bit status

● fluent-bit.service - Fluent Bit
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/fluent-bit.service; disabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since mié 2016-07-06 16:58:25 CST; 2h 45min ago
 Main PID: 6739 (fluent-bit)
    Tasks: 1
   Memory: 656.0K
      CPU: 1.393s
   CGroup: /system.slice/fluent-bit.service
           └─6739 /opt/fluent-bit/bin/fluent-bit -c /etc/fluent-bit/fluent-bit.conf
...

The default Fluent Bit configuration collect metrics of CPU usage and sends the records to the standard output. You can see the outgoing data in your /var/log/messages file.

Upgrade Fluent Bit

Upgrading the fluent-bit package reloads the systemd unit files and restarts the service, so the new version starts running as soon as the upgrade finishes.

The restart applies only when the service is already running on a host that uses systemd. A stopped service stays stopped, and installing the package for the first time doesn't start it.

If a restart isn't safe to take at that moment, stop the service before you upgrade the package and start it again when you're ready:

sudo systemctl stop fluent-bit
sudo apt-get install --only-upgrade fluent-bit
sudo systemctl start fluent-bit