> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.fluentd.org/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.fluentd.org/0.12/articles/quickstart.md).

# Quickstart

Let's get started with **Fluentd**! **Fluentd** is a fully free and fully open-source log collector that instantly enables you to have a '**Log Everything**' architecture with [600+ types of systems](http://fluentd.org/plugin/).

![](/files/-LWNPOPNQ1l9hvoJ2FIp)

Fluentd treats logs as JSON, a popular machine-readable format. It is written primarily in C with a thin-Ruby wrapper that gives users flexibility.

Fluentd's scalability has been proven in the field: its largest user currently collects logs from **500,000+ servers**.

## Step1: Installing Fluentd

Please follow the installation/quickstart guides below that matches your environment.

* [Install Fluentd by RPM package](/0.12/articles/install-by-rpm.md) (Redhat Linux)
* [Install Fluentd by Deb package](/0.12/articles/install-by-deb.md) (Ubuntu/Debian Linux)
* [Install Fluentd by DMG package](/0.12/articles/install-by-dmg.md) (Mac OS X)
* [Install Fluentd by Ruby Gem](/0.12/articles/install-by-gem.md)
* [Install Fluentd by Chef](/0.12/articles/install-by-chef.md)
* [Install Fluentd from source](/0.12/articles/install-from-source.md)

Fluentd v0.12 doesn't support Windows environment. Please see [Collecting Log Data from Windows](/0.12/use-cases/windows.md) for details. Fluentd v1.x supports Windows.

## Step2: Use Cases

The articles shown below cover the typical use cases of Fluentd. Please refer to the article(s) that suits your needs.

* Use Cases
  * [Data Search like Splunk](/0.12/articles/free-alternative-to-splunk-by-fluentd.md)
  * [Data Filtering and Alerting](/0.12/articles/splunk-like-grep-and-alert-email.md)
  * [Data Analytics with Treasure Data](/0.12/articles/http-to-td.md)
  * [Data Collection to MongoDB](/0.12/articles/apache-to-mongodb.md)
  * [Data Collection to HDFS](/0.12/articles/http-to-hdfs.md)
  * [Data Archiving to Amazon S3](/0.12/articles/apache-to-s3.md)
  * [Windows Event Collection](/0.12/use-cases/windows.md)
* Basic Configuration
  * [Config File](/0.12/configuration/config-file.md)
* Application Logs
  * [Ruby](/0.12/articles/ruby.md), [Java](/0.12/articles/java.md), [Python](/0.12/articles/python.md), [PHP](/0.12/articles/php.md),

    [Perl](/0.12/articles/perl.md), [Node.js](/0.12/articles/nodejs.md), [Scala](/0.12/articles/scala.md)
* Happy Users :)
  * [Users](https://github.com/fluent/fluentd-docs-gitbook/tree/c21f9269df12a1f728b4ec63fa20b57ff387ba2d/articles/users.md)

## Step3: Learn More

The articles shown below will provide detailed information for you to learn more about Fluentd.

* [Architecture Overview](https://www.fluentd.org/architecture)
* [Life of a Fluentd Event](/0.12/quickstart/life-of-a-fluentd-event.md)
* Plugin Overview
  * [Input Plugins](/0.12/input.md)
  * [Output Plugins](/0.12/output.md)
  * [Buffer Plugins](/0.12/buffer.md)
  * [Filter Plugins](/0.12/filter.md)
  * [Parser Plugins](/0.12/parser.md)
  * [Formatter Plugins](/0.12/formatter.md)
* [High Availability Configuration](/0.12/deployment/high-availability.md)
* [FAQ](/0.12/quickstart/faq.md)

If this article is incorrect or outdated, or omits critical information, please [let us know](https://github.com/fluent/fluentd-docs-gitbook/issues?state=open). [Fluentd](http://www.fluentd.org/) is a open source project under [Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF)](https://cncf.io/). All components are available under the Apache 2 License.