socket helper creates various types of socket instances.

Here is the code example with socket helper:

require 'fluent/plugin/output'
​
module Fluent::Plugin
  class ExampleOutput < Output
    Fluent::Plugin.register_output('example', self)
​
    # 1. load socket helper
    helpers :socket
​
    config_param :host, :string
    config_param :port, :integer
​
    # omit configure, shutdown and other plugin API
​
    def try_write(chunk)
      # 2. create socket
      socket = socket_create(:tcp, @host, @port)
      chunk.each do |time, record|
        # 3. write data to socket
        socket.write(record.to_json)
      end
    ensure
      # 4. close socket
      socket.close if socket
    end
  end
end

socket helper doesn't manage life cycle of the socket. User must close the socket when it is no longer needed.

Methods

socket_create(proto, host, port, **kwargs, &block)

This method creates socket instance with given protocol type

If block is given, it will be invoked with the socket instance as a parameter, and socket will be automatically closed when the block terminates.

• proto: protocol type. :tcp, :udp, :tls

• host: host name or IP address

• port: port number

• kwargs: extra options. for more details, see below methods.

• block: customize created socket

Code example:

# TCP
socket = socket_create(:tcp, "example.com", 12340)
socket.write(data)
socket.close
​
# UDP
socket = socket_create(:udp, "example.com", 12341)
socket.write(data)
socket.close
​
# TLS
socket = socket_create(:tls, "example.com", 12342, insecure: true)
socket.write(data)
socket.close
​
# close socket automatically
socket_create(:udp, "example.com", 12341) do |sock|
  sock.write(data)
end

socket_create_tcp(host, port, **kwargs, &block)

This method creates socket instance for TCP

If block is given, it will be invoked with the socket instance as a parameter, and socket will be automatically closed when the block terminates.

• host: hostname or IP address

• port: port number

• kwargs: extra options

  • resolve_name: if true, resolve hostname

  • nonblock: if true, use non-blocking I/O

  • linger_timeout: the timeout time in seconds used to set

    SO_LINGER

  • recv_timeout: the timeout time in seconds used to set

    SO_RECVTIMEO

  • send_timeout: the timeout time in seconds used to set

    SO_SNDTIMEO

  • send_keepalive_packet: if true, enable TCP keepalive via SO_KEEPALIVE

  • connect_timeout: the timeout time for socket connect. When the connection timed out during establishment, Errno::ETIMEDOUT is raised.

send_keepalive_packet usecase

If you set true to send_keepavlie_packet, you also need to configure keepalive related kernel parameters like below:

net.ipv4.tcp_keepalive_intvl = 75
net.ipv4.tcp_keepalive_probes = 5
net.ipv4.tcp_keepalive_time = 7200

This parameter mitigates half-open connection issue with load balancers. Check also this issue for AWS NLB case.

socket_create_udp(host, port, **kwargs, &block)

This method creates socket instance for UDP

If block is given, it will be invoked with the socket instance as a parameter, and socket will be automatically closed when the block terminates.

• host: host name or IP address

• port: port number

• kwargs: extra options

  • resolve_name: if true, resolve hostname

  • connect: if true, connect to host

  • nonblock: if true, use non-blocking I/O

  • linger_timeout: the timeout time in seconds used to set

    SO_LINGER

  • recv_timeout: the timeout time in seconds used to set

    SO_RECVTIMEO

  • send_timeout: the timeout time in seconds used to set

    SO_SNDTIMEO

socket_create_tls(host, port, **kwargs, &block)

This method creates socket instance for TLS

If block is given, it will be invoked with the socket instance as a parameter, and socket will be automatically closed when the block terminates.

• host: host name or IP address

• port: port number

• kwargs: extra options

  • version: set TLS version :'TLSv1_1' or :'TLSv1_2'.

    Default: :'TLSv1_2'

  • ciphers: set the list of available cpher suites. Default:

    "ALL:!aNULL:!eNULL:!SSLv2"

  • insecure: if true, set TLS verify mode NONE

  • verify_fqdn: if true, check the server certificate is valid

    for the hostname

  • fqdn: set FQDN

  • enable_system_cert_store: if true, enable system default cert

    store

  • allow_self_signed_cert: if true, allow self signed certificate

  • cert_paths: files contain PEM-encoded certificates

  • Support more parameters same as socket_create_tcp's kwargs

socket used plugins

• ​Forward output​

If this article is incorrect or outdated, or omits critical information, please let us know. Fluentd is a open source project under Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). All components are available under the Apache 2 License.