# Observe

Observe employs the **http** output plugin, allowing you to flush your records [into Observe](https://docs.observeinc.com/en/latest/content/data-ingestion/forwarders/fluentbit.html).

For now the functionality is pretty basic and it issues a POST request with the data records in [MessagePack](http://msgpack.org) (or JSON) format.

The following are the specfic HTTP parameters to employ:

## Configuration Parameters

| Key          | Description                                                              | default                  |
| ------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------ |
| host         | IP address or hostname of Observe's data collection endpoint             | collect.observeinc.com   |
| port         | TCP port of to employ when sending to Observe                            | 443                      |
| tls          | Specify to use tls                                                       | on                       |
| http\_user   | Basic Auth Username                                                      | ${OBSERVE\_CUSTOMER}     |
| http\_passwd | Basic Auth Password. Requires http\_user to be set                       | ${OBSERVE\_TOKEN}        |
| uri          | Specify the HTTP URI for the Observe's data ingest                       | /v1/http/fluentbit       |
| format       | The data format to be used in the HTTP request body                      | msgpack                  |
| header       | The specific header to instructs Observe how to decode incoming payloads | X-Observe-Decoder fluent |
| compress     | Set payload compression mechanism. Option available is 'gzip'            | gzip                     |
| tls.ca\_file | **For use with Windows**: provide path to root cert                      |                          |

### Configuration File

In your main configuration file, append the following *Input* & *Output* sections:

```
[OUTPUT]
    name         http
    match        *
    host         collect.observeinc.com
    port         443
    tls          on

    # For Windows: provide path to root cert
    #tls.ca_file  C:\td-agent-bit\isrgrootx1.pem

    http_user    ${OBSERVE_CUSTOMER}
    http_passwd  ${OBSERVE_TOKEN}
    uri          /v1/http/fluentbit

    format       msgpack
    header       X-Observe-Decoder fluent
    compress     gzip
```