Windows

Fluent Bit is distributed as the fluent-bit package for Windows and as a Windows container on Docker Hub. Fluent Bit provides two Windows installers: a ZIP archive and an EXE installer.

Not all plugins are supported on Windows. The CMake configuration shows the default set of supported plugins.

Configuration

Provide a valid Windows configuration with the installation.

The following configuration is an example:

service:
  flush: 5
  daemon: off
  log_level: info
  parsers_file: parsers.yaml
  plugins_file: plugins.yaml
  http_server: off
  http_listen: 0.0.0.0
  http_port: 2020
  storage.metrics: on

pipeline:
  inputs:
    - name: winlog
      channels: Setup,Windows Powershell
      interval_sec: 1

  outputs:
    - name: stdout
      match: '*'

[SERVICE]
  # Flush
  # =====
  # set an interval of seconds before to flush records to a destination
  flush        5

  # Daemon
  # ======
  # instruct Fluent Bit to run in foreground or background mode.
  daemon       Off

  # Log_Level
  # =========
  # Set the verbosity level of the service, values can be:
  #
  # - error
  # - warning
  # - info
  # - debug
  # - trace
  #
  # by default 'info' is set, that means it includes 'error' and 'warning'.
  log_level    info

  # Parsers File
  # ============
  # specify an optional 'Parsers' configuration file
  parsers_file parsers.conf

  # Plugins File
  # ============
  # specify an optional 'Plugins' configuration file to load external plugins.
  plugins_file plugins.conf

  # HTTP Server
  # ===========
  # Enable/Disable the built-in HTTP Server for metrics
  http_server  Off
  http_listen  0.0.0.0
  http_port    2020

  # Storage
  # =======
  # Fluent Bit can use memory and filesystem buffering based mechanisms
  #
  # - https://docs.fluentbit.io/manual/administration/buffering-and-storage
  #
  # storage metrics
  # ---------------
  # publish storage pipeline metrics in '/api/v1/storage'. The metrics are
  # exported only if the 'http_server' option is enabled.
  #
  storage.metrics on

[INPUT]
  Name         winlog
  Channels     Setup,Windows PowerShell
  Interval_Sec 1

[OUTPUT]
  name  stdout
  match *

Migration to Fluent Bit

For version 1.9 and later, td-agent-bit is a deprecated package and was removed after 1.9.9. The correct package name to use now is fluent-bit.

Installation packages

The latest stable version is 4.0.5. Each version is available from the following download URLs.

INSTALLERS

SHA256 CHECKSUMS

fluent-bit-4.0.5-win32.exe

31d1d98f3c9a8cb829abc448de93ef859b63d02852c8529482fe284ed1176356

fluent-bit-4.0.5-win32.zip

98463c4a2d49392a2a01a8942f9ec6096328845c71476b5fd8a6055487101772

fluent-bit-4.0.5-win64.exe

935bc64cd81140e37c3e59aeed65e96a5e2c1e255252d2084754f2e829f04301

fluent-bit-4.0.5-win64.zip

f0c101bfd889c6f327dc74914e6084b77dbad9c9d64fe58a63fddd836aa29fec

fluent-bit-4.0.5-winarm64.exe

be71a4c9ce51d69ea7ae18b32670c377e21039d4543a362ee06cee519e6c5308

fluent-bit-4.0.5-winarm64.zip

b39bfc3901b6da135acdc5fd16ce36ba7c6195efa7c68635815991816c35882e

These are now using the Github Actions built versions. Legacy AppVeyor builds are still available (AMD 32/64 only) at releases.fluentbit.io but are deprecated.

MSI installers are also available:

To check the integrity, use the Get-FileHash cmdlet for PowerShell.

Get-FileHash fluent-bit-4.0.5-win32.exe

Installing from a ZIP archive

Download a ZIP archive. Choose the suitable installers for your 32-bit or 64-bit environments.

Expand the ZIP archive. You can do this by clicking Extract All in Explorer or Expand-Archive in PowerShell.

Expand-Archive fluent-bit-4.0.5-win64.zip

The ZIP package contains the following set of files.

fluent-bit
├── bin
│   ├── fluent-bit.dll
│   └── fluent-bit.exe
│   └── fluent-bit.pdb
├── conf
│   ├── fluent-bit.conf
│   ├── parsers.conf
│   └── plugins.conf
└── include
    │   ├── flb_api.h
    │   ├── ...
    │   └── flb_worker.h
    └── fluent-bit.h

Launch cmd.exe or PowerShell on your machine, and execute fluent-bit.exe:
```
fluent-bit.exe -i dummy -o stdout
```

The following output indicates Fluent Bit is running:

fluent-bit.exe  -i dummy -o stdout

...
[0] dummy.0: [1561684385.443823800, {"message"=>"dummy"}]
[1] dummy.0: [1561684386.428399000, {"message"=>"dummy"}]
[2] dummy.0: [1561684387.443641900, {"message"=>"dummy"}]
[3] dummy.0: [1561684388.441405800, {"message"=>"dummy"}]

To halt the process, press Control+C in the terminal.

Installing from the executable installer

Download an EXE installer for the appropriate 32-bit or 64-bit build.
Double-click the EXE installer you've downloaded. The installation wizard starts.
Click Next and finish the installation. By default, Fluent Bit is installed in C:\Program Files\fluent-bit\.

& "C:\Program Files\fluent-bit\bin\fluent-bit.exe" -i dummy -o stdout

Installer options

The Windows installer is built by CPack using NSIS and supports the default NSIS options for silent installation and install directory.

To silently install to C:\fluent-bit directory here is an example:

<installer exe> /S /D=C:\fluent-bit

The uninstaller also supports a silent uninstall using the same /S flag. This can be used for provisioning with automation like Ansible, Puppet, and so on.

Windows service support

Windows services are equivalent to daemons in Unix (long-running background processes). For v1.5.0 and later, Fluent Bit has native support for Windows services.

For example, you have the following installation layout:

C:\fluent-bit\
├── conf
│   ├── fluent-bit.conf
│   └── parsers.conf
│   └── plugins.conf
└── bin
    ├── fluent-bit.dll
    └── fluent-bit.exe
    └── fluent-bit.pdb

To register Fluent Bit as a Windows service, execute the following command on at a command prompt. A single space is required after binpath=.

sc.exe create fluent-bit binpath= "\fluent-bit\bin\fluent-bit.exe -c \fluent-bit\conf\fluent-bit.conf"

Fluent Bit can be started and managed as a normal Windows service.

sc.exe start fluent-bit
sc.exe query fluent-bit
SERVICE_NAME: fluent-bit
    TYPE               : 10  WIN32_OWN_PROCESS
    STATE              : 4 Running
    ...

To halt the Fluent Bit service, use the stop command.

sc.exe stop fluent-bit

To start Fluent Bit automatically on boot, execute the following:

sc.exe config fluent-bit start= auto

FAQs

Can you manage Fluent Bit service using PowerShell?

Instead of sc.exe, PowerShell can be used to manage Windows services.

Create a Fluent Bit service:

New-Service fluent-bit -BinaryPathName "`"C:\Program Files\fluent-bit\bin\fluent-bit.exe`" -c `"C:\Program Files\fluent-bit\conf\fluent-bit.conf`"" -StartupType Automatic -Description "This service runs Fluent Bit, a log collector that enables real-time processing and delivery of log data to centralized logging systems."

Start the service:

Start-Service fluent-bit

Query the service status:

get-Service fluent-bit | format-list
Name                : fluent-bit
DisplayName         : fluent-bit
Status              : Running
DependentServices   : {}
ServicesDependedOn  : {}
CanPauseAndContinue : False
CanShutdown         : False
CanStop             : True
ServiceType         : Win32OwnProcess

Stop the service:

Stop-Service fluent-bit

Remove the service (requires PowerShell 6.0 or later)

Remove-Service fluent-bit

Compile from source

If you need to create a custom executable, use the following procedure to compile Fluent Bit by yourself.

Preparation

Install Microsoft Visual C++ to compile Fluent Bit. You can install the minimum toolkit using the following command:

wget -o vs.exe https://aka.ms/vs/16/release/vs_buildtools.exe
start vs.exe

Choose C++ Build Tools and C++ CMake tools for Windows and wait until the process finishes.

Install flex and bison. One way to install them on Windows is to use winflexbison.

wget -o winflexbison.zip https://github.com/lexxmark/winflexbison/releases/download/v2.5.22/win_flex_bison-2.5.22.zip
Expand-Archive winflexbison.zip -Destination C:\WinFlexBison
cp -Path C:\WinFlexBison\win_bison.exe C:\WinFlexBison\bison.exe
cp -Path C:\WinFlexBison\win_flex.exe C:\WinFlexBison\flex.exe

Add the path C:\WinFlexBison to your systems environment variable Path. Here's how to do that.
Install OpenSSL binaries, at least the library files and headers.

Install Git to pull the source code from the repository.

wget -o git.exe https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/releases/download/v2.28.0.windows.1/Git-2.28.0-64-bit.exe
start git.exe

Compilation

Open the Start menu on Windows and type command Prompt for VS. From the result list, select the one that corresponds to your target system ( x86 or x64).
Verify the installed OpenSSL library files match the selected target. You can examine the library files by using the dumpbin command with the /headers option.

Clone the source code of Fluent Bit.

git clone https://github.com/fluent/fluent-bit
cd fluent-bit/build

Compile the source code.

cmake .. -G "NMake Makefiles"
cmake --build .

Now you should be able to run Fluent Bit:

fluent-bit.exe -i dummy -o stdout

Packaging

To create a ZIP package, call cpack as follows:

cpack -G ZIP

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