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
Dummy	Dummy JSON record.	{"message":"dummy"}
Metadata	Dummy JSON metadata.	{}
Start_time_sec	Dummy base timestamp, in seconds.	0
Start_time_nsec	Dummy base timestamp, in nanoseconds.	0
Rate	Rate at which messages are generated expressed in how many times per second.	1
Interval_sec	Set time interval, in seconds, at which every message is generated. If set, Rate configuration is ignored.	0
Interval_nsec	Set time interval, in nanoseconds, at which every message is generated. If set, Rate configuration is ignored.	0
Samples	If set, the events number will be limited. For example, if Samples=3, the plugin generates only three events and stops.	none
Copies	Number of messages to generate each time messages generate.	1
Flush_on_startup	If set to true, the first dummy event is generated at startup.	false
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:

Fluent Bit v2.x.x
* Copyright (C) 2015-2022 The Fluent Bit Authors
* Fluent Bit is a CNCF sub-project under the umbrella of Fluentd
* https://fluentbit.io

[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

[INPUT]
    Name   dummy
    Dummy {"message": "custom dummy"}

[OUTPUT]
    Name   stdout
    Match  *