Common Log Formats

This page is a glossary of common log formats that can be parsed with the Tail input plugin.

  • Apache Access Log

    Use format apache2 as shown below:

      <source>
          @type tail
          format apache2
          tag apache.access
          path /var/log/apache2/access.log
      </source>
  • Apache Error Log

    Use a regular expression. See the format field in the following sample configuration.

      <source>
          @type tail
          format /^\[[^ ]* (?<time>[^\]]*)\] \[(?<level>[^\]]*)\] \[pid (?<pid>[^\]]*)\] \[client (?<client>[^\]]*)\] (?<message>.*)$/
          tag apache.error
          path /var/log/apache2/error.log
      </source>

    Depending on your particular error log format, you may need to adjust the regular expression above. You can test your format using fluentd-ui's in_tail editor or Fluentular.

  • Maillog

    Use a regular expression. See the format field in the following sample configuration.

      <source>
          @type tail
          format /^(?<time>[^ ]+) (?<host>[^ ]+) (?<process>[^:]+): (?<message>((?<key>[^ :]+)[ :])? ?((to|from)=<(?<address>[^>]+)>)?.*)$/
          tag postfix.maillog
          path /var/log/maillog
      </source>
  • Nginx Access Log

    Use format nginx as shown below:

      <source>
          @type tail
          format nginx
          tag nginx.access
          path /var/log/nginx/access.log
      </source>
  • Nginx Error Log

    Use the format* and multiline_flush_interval fields in the following sample configuration. Applications running under Nginx can output multi-line errors including stack traces, so the multiline mode is a good fit.

      <source>
          @type tail
          tag nginx.error
          path /var/log/nginx/error.log
    
          format multiline
          format_firstline /^\d{4}/\d{2}/\d{2} \d{2}:\d{2}:\d{2} \[\w+\] (?<pid>\d+).(?<tid>\d+): /
          format1 /^(?<time>\d{4}/\d{2}/\d{2} \d{2}:\d{2}:\d{2}) \[(?<log_level>\w+)\] (?<pid>\d+).(?<tid>\d+): (?<message>.*)/
          multiline_flush_interval 3s
      </source>

    If you know your error log will only contain single lines, you can use the below simpler configuration with just a format.

      <source>
          @type tail
          format /^(?<time>\d{4}/\d{2}/\d{2} \d{2}:\d{2}:\d{2}) \[(?<log_level>\w+)\] (?<pid>\d+).(?<tid>\d+): (?<message>.*)$/
          tag nginx.error
          path /var/log/nginx/error.log
      </source>
  • GlusterFS Logs

    Use the GlusterFS input plugin.

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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.

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