fluentd-demo

Getting started with Dynatrace Generic Log Ingestion with fluentd.

Generic log ingestion is currently only available for Dynatrace SaaS.

This tutorial will not work with Managed.

You will install the fluentd service on your laptop. This will read a log file and communicate to an ActiveGate.

Log lines will be pushed to the ActiveGate and then to your Dynatrace SaaS tenant.

fluentd dynatrace architecture

In this demo scenario fluentd will be installed as a service on your laptop. An environment ActiveGate will be installed.

This can either be installed on a standalone VM (eg. in the cloud) or on your local machine.

Fluentd will be configured to send it's output to the ActiveGate API endpoint.

The Fluentd service will watch the log file you specify, parse each log line as it is written and push that log line up to Dynatrace (via the ActiveGate).

Create a Dynatrace API token with Ingest Logs permissions

Install a standard environment ActiveGate either on your laptop or a cloud VM. If installing on a cloud VM, ensure that port 9999 is open on the ActiveGate. Fluentd will need to send data from your laptop to the REST API on this ActiveGate.

Check that the log monitoring module is enabled (it should be by default):

log monitoring enabled

Install fluentd on your laptop.

Download and install the windows msi
Ensure the fluentd windows service is running

fluentd service running

Open the td-agent command prompt (not standard CMD window) as administrator

td agent cmd

Install the Dynatrace fluentd plugin: td-agent-gem install fluent-plugin-dynatrace

Create an empty log file in any location you want. Make a note of the location as you'll need it later.

Open C:\opt\td-agent\etc\td-agent\td-agent.conf in a notepad as an administrator.

Place the following content at the bottom of the file.

Note: The *.log.pos file doesn't have to exist. fluentd will create it for you.

<source>
  @type tail
  path C:/path/to/your/log/file.log
  pos_file C:/path/to/your/log/file.log.pos
  tag first.*
  <parse>
    @type regexp
	  expression /^\[(?<time>[^\]]+)\] (?<loglevel>[^\s]+) (?<payload>.+)$/
  </parse>
</source>

<match first.**>
  @type              dynatrace
  active_gate_url    https://ACTIVEGATE_IP:9999/e/DT_TENANT_ID/api/v2/logs/ingest
  api_token          dt0c01.***
  ssl_verify_none    true
</match>

Restart the fluentd Windows service so it picks up your changes.

Copy and paste these lines into your log file. Saving after each line.

[2021-09-06 10:00:00 AEST] INFO This is my first log line...
[2021-09-06 10:00:01 AEST] INFO This is my second log line...
[2021-09-06 10:00:02 AEST] INFO This is my third log line...
[2021-09-06 10:00:03 AEST] INFO This is my fourth log line...
[2021-09-06 10:00:04 AEST] INFO This is my fifth log line...
[2021-09-06 10:00:05 AEST] INFO This is my sixth log line...
[2021-09-06 10:00:06 AEST] INFO This is my seventh log line...

Navigate to the Logs screen and wait a few moments. After a while, your log lines will appear.

logs in dynatrace