Docker Compose
This article explains how to collect Docker logs to EFK (Elasticsearch + Fluentd + Kibana) stack. The example uses Docker Compose for setting up multiple containers.
Elasticsearch is an open source search engine known for its ease of use. Kibana is an open source Web UI that makes Elasticsearch user friendly for marketers, engineers and data scientists alike.
By combining these three tools EFK (Elasticsearch + Fluentd + Kibana) we get a scalable, flexible, easy to use log collection and analytics pipeline. In this article, we will set up 4 containers, each includes:
All of httpd
's logs will be ingested into Elasticsearch + Kibana, via Fluentd.
Prerequisites: Docker
Please download and install Docker / Docker Compose. Well, that's it :)
Step 0: prepare docker-compose.yml
First, please prepare docker-compose.yml
for Docker Compose. Docker Compose is a tool for defining and running multi-container Docker applications.
With the YAML file below, you can create and start all the services (in this case, Apache, Fluentd, Elasticsearch, Kibana) by one command.
logging
section (check Docker Compose documentation) of web
container specifies Docker Fluentd Logging Driver as a default container logging driver. All of the logs from web
container will be automatically forwarded to host:port specified by fluentd-address
.
Step 1: Prepare Fluentd image with your Config + Plugin
Then, please prepare fluentd/Dockerfile
with the following content, to use Fluentd's official Docker image and additionally install Elasticsearch plugin.
Then, please prepare Fluentd's configuration file fluentd/conf/fluent.conf
. in_forward plugin is used for receive logs from Docker logging driver, and out_elasticsearch is for forwarding logs to Elasticsearch.
Step 2: Start Containers
Let's start all of the containers, with just one command.
You can check to see if 4 containers are running by docker ps
command.
Step 3: Generate httpd Access Logs
Let's access to httpd
to generate some access logs. curl
command is always your friend.
Step 4: Confirm Logs from Kibana
Please go to http://localhost:5601/
with your browser. Then, you need to set up the index name pattern for Kibana. Please specify fluentd-*
to Index name or pattern
and press Create
button.
Then, go to Discover
tab to seek for the logs. As you can see, logs are properly collected into Elasticsearch + Kibana, via Fluentd.
Conclusion
This article explains how to collect logs from Apache to EFK (Elasticsearch + Fluentd + Kibana). The example code is available in this repository.
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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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