Red Hat (RHEL) System Logs
Ship system log files from Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) to Logstash
Configure Filebeat to ship logs from Red Hat Systems to Logstash and Elasticsearch.
Follow this step by step guide to get 'logs' from your system to Logit.io:
Step 1 - Install Filebeat
- Linux
To get started you will need to install filebeat. To do this you have two main options:
- Choose the AMD / Intel file (x86_64) or
- Choose the ARM file (arm64)
You can tell if you have a Linux PC with an AMD / Intel CPU (kernel) architecture by opening a terminal and running the uname -m
command. If it displays x86_64 you have AMD / Intel architecture.
If you have an x86_64 system download and extract the contents of the file using the following commands:
curl -L -O https://artifacts.elastic.co/downloads/beats/filebeat/filebeat-8.12.2-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
tar xzvf filebeat-8.12.2-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
If you have an arm64 system download and extract the contents of the file using the following commands:
curl -L -O https://artifacts.elastic.co/downloads/beats/filebeat/filebeat-8.12.2-linux-arm64.tar.gz
tar xzvf filebeat-8.12.2-linux-arm64.tar.gz
Step 2 - Enable the System module
- Linux
There are several built in filebeat modules you can use. You will need to enable the system module.
Change directory to the location where filebeat was extracted and run the following commands:
sudo filebeat modules list
sudo filebeat modules enable system
Navigate to the modules.d
folder, copy the snippet below and replace the contents of the system.yml module file:
# Module: system
# Docs: https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/8.12/filebeat-module-system.html
- module: system
# Syslog
syslog:
enabled: true
# Set custom paths for the log files. If left empty,
# Filebeat will choose the paths depending on your OS.
#var.paths:
# Authorization logs
auth:
enabled: true
# Set custom paths for the log files. If left empty,
# Filebeat will choose the paths depending on your OS.
#var.paths:
Step 3 - Update your configuration file
- Linux
The configuration file below is pre-configured to send data to your Logit.io Stack via Logstash.
Copy the configuration file below and overwrite the contents of filebeat.yml
(this file can be found in the folder where you installed Filebeat in the first step).
###################### Logit.io Filebeat Configuration ########################
# ============================== Filebeat inputs ==============================
filebeat.inputs:
- type: filestream
enabled: true
id: my_unique_id
paths:
# REQUIRED CHANGE TO YOUR LOGS PATH
- /var/log/*.log
fields:
type: logfile
# ============================== Filebeat modules ==============================
filebeat.config.modules:
path: ${path.config}/modules.d/*.yml
reload.enabled: false
#reload.period: 10s
# ================================== Outputs ===================================
# ------------------------------ Logstash Output -------------------------------
output.logstash:
hosts: ["your-logstash-host:your-ssl-port"]
loadbalance: true
ssl.enabled: true
# ================================= Processors =================================
processors:
- add_host_metadata:
when.not.contains.tags: forwarded
- add_cloud_metadata: ~
- add_docker_metadata: ~
- add_kubernetes_metadata: ~
Step 4 - Validate configuration
- Linux
sudo ./filebeat -e -c filebeat.yml --strict.perms=false
Step 5 - Start filebeat
- Linux
To start Filebeat, run:
sudo chown root filebeat.yml
sudo chown root modules.d/system.yml
sudo chown root module/system/syslog/manifest.yml
sudo chown root module/system/auth/manifest.yml
sudo ./filebeat -e
You’ll be running filebeat as root, so you need to change ownership of the configuration file and any configurations enabled in the modules.d directory, or run filebeat with --strict.perms=false as shown above. Read more about how to change ownership.
Step 6 - Check Logit.io for your logs
Data should now have been sent to your Stack.
If you don't see logs take a look at How to diagnose no data in Stack below for how to diagnose common issues.
Step 7 - how to diagnose no data in Stack
If you don't see data appearing in your Stack after following the steps, visit the Help Centre guide for steps to diagnose no data appearing in your Stack or Chat to support now.
Step 8 - (Optional) Update Logstash Pipelines
All Logit.io stacks come pre-configured with popular Logstash Pipelines. We would recommend that you add system specific filters if you don't already have them, to ensure enhanced dashboards and modules work correctly.
Edit your Logstash Pipelines by choosing Stack > Settings > Logstash Pipelines
if [fileset][module] == "system" {
if [fileset][name] == "auth" {
grok {
match => { "message" => ["%{SYSLOGTIMESTAMP:[system][auth][timestamp]} %{SYSLOGHOST:[system][auth][hostname]} sshd(?:\[%{POSINT:[system][auth][pid]}\])?: %{DATA:[system][auth][ssh][event]} %{DATA:[system][auth][ssh][method]} for (invalid user )?%{DATA:[system][auth][user]} from %{IPORHOST:[system][auth][ssh][ip]} port %{NUMBER:[system][auth][ssh][port]} ssh2(: %{GREEDYDATA:[system][auth][ssh][signature]})?",
"%{SYSLOGTIMESTAMP:[system][auth][timestamp]} %{SYSLOGHOST:[system][auth][hostname]} sshd(?:\[%{POSINT:[system][auth][pid]}\])?: %{DATA:[system][auth][ssh][event]} user %{DATA:[system][auth][user]} from %{IPORHOST:[system][auth][ssh][ip]}",
"%{SYSLOGTIMESTAMP:[system][auth][timestamp]} %{SYSLOGHOST:[system][auth][hostname]} sshd(?:\[%{POSINT:[system][auth][pid]}\])?: Did not receive identification string from %{IPORHOST:[system][auth][ssh][dropped_ip]}",
"%{SYSLOGTIMESTAMP:[system][auth][timestamp]} %{SYSLOGHOST:[system][auth][hostname]} sudo(?:\[%{POSINT:[system][auth][pid]}\])?: \s*%{DATA:[system][auth][user]} :( %{DATA:[system][auth][sudo][error]} ;)? TTY=%{DATA:[system][auth][sudo][tty]} ; PWD=%{DATA:[system][auth][sudo][pwd]} ; USER=%{DATA:[system][auth][sudo][user]} ; COMMAND=%{GREEDYDATA:[system][auth][sudo][command]}",
"%{SYSLOGTIMESTAMP:[system][auth][timestamp]} %{SYSLOGHOST:[system][auth][hostname]} groupadd(?:\[%{POSINT:[system][auth][pid]}\])?: new group: name=%{DATA:system.auth.groupadd.name}, GID=%{NUMBER:system.auth.groupadd.gid}",
"%{SYSLOGTIMESTAMP:[system][auth][timestamp]} %{SYSLOGHOST:[system][auth][hostname]} useradd(?:\[%{POSINT:[system][auth][pid]}\])?: new user: name=%{DATA:[system][auth][user][add][name]}, UID=%{NUMBER:[system][auth][user][add][uid]}, GID=%{NUMBER:[system][auth][user][add][gid]}, home=%{DATA:[system][auth][user][add][home]}, shell=%{DATA:[system][auth][user][add][shell]}$",
"%{SYSLOGTIMESTAMP:[system][auth][timestamp]} %{SYSLOGHOST:[system][auth][hostname]} %{DATA:[system][auth][program]}(?:\[%{POSINT:[system][auth][pid]}\])?: %{GREEDYMULTILINE:[system][auth][message]}"] }
pattern_definitions => {
"GREEDYMULTILINE"=> "(.|\n)*"
}
remove_field => "message"
}
date {
match => [ "[system][auth][timestamp]", "MMM d HH:mm:ss", "MMM dd HH:mm:ss" ]
}
geoip {
source => "[system][auth][ssh][ip]"
target => "[system][auth][ssh][geoip]"
}
}
else if [fileset][name] == "syslog" {
grok {
match => { "message" => ["%{SYSLOGTIMESTAMP:[system][syslog][timestamp]} %{SYSLOGHOST:[system][syslog][hostname]} %{DATA:[system][syslog][program]}(?:\[%{POSINT:[system][syslog][pid]}\])?: %{GREEDYMULTILINE:[system][syslog][message]}"] }
pattern_definitions => { "GREEDYMULTILINE" => "(.|\n)*" }
remove_field => "message"
}
date {
match => [ "[system][syslog][timestamp]", "MMM d HH:mm:ss", "MMM dd HH:mm:ss" ]
}
}
}
Step 9 - Red Hat Logging Overview
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is the most popular commercial Linux distribution used in public cloud environments.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is often compared to CentOS. The main difference between the two Linux distributions is that RHEL offers a much more comprehensive level of technical support to their users.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux generates a near overwhelming amount of log files under the /var/log/ directory. Just under /var/log/messages alone there are mail, cron, daemon, kern & authentication logs.
Below are some of the most notable log directories that you’ll commonly encounter.
If you are using custom-built Kernels then you’ll likely need to analyse the logs contained under /var/log/kern.log when it comes to troubleshooting your application.
The log messages found under /var/log/secure are relevant for monitoring the security of your Linux distribution as they contain authentication events, login attempts & authorisation log events.
You may also wish to consult /var/log/setroubleshoot/ to discover issues related to the security context of logs files created under this directory.
With over 25 different log directories anyone would quickly find analysing their Red Hat system overwhelming without a log file analyser as part of a centralised log management solution.
Our HA (highly available) Red Hat log file analyser can be used to completely centralise and manage your log file data across Red Hat & any additional applications, servers & programming languages for a single source of truth for monitoring across your organisation.
If you need any assistance with analysing your Red Hat logs we're here to help. Feel free to reach out by contacting the Logit.io support team via live chat & we'll be happy to help you start analysing your data.