Unix input plugin

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  • Plugin version: v3.0.7
  • Released on: 2018-04-06
  • Changelog

For other versions, see the Versioned plugin docs.

Installation

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For plugins not bundled by default, it is easy to install by running bin/logstash-plugin install logstash-input-unix. See Working with plugins for more details.

Getting Help

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For questions about the plugin, open a topic in the Discuss forums. For bugs or feature requests, open an issue in Github. For the list of Elastic supported plugins, please consult the Elastic Support Matrix.

Description

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Read events over a UNIX socket.

Like stdin and file inputs, each event is assumed to be one line of text.

Can either accept connections from clients or connect to a server, depending on mode.

Unix Input Configuration Options

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This plugin supports the following configuration options plus the Common Options described later.

Setting Input type Required

data_timeout

number

No

force_unlink

boolean

No

mode

string, one of ["server", "client"]

No

path

string

Yes

socket_not_present_retry_interval_seconds

number

Yes

Also see Common Options for a list of options supported by all input plugins.

 

data_timeout

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  • Value type is number
  • Default value is -1

The read timeout in seconds. If a particular connection is idle for more than this timeout period, we will assume it is dead and close it.

If you never want to timeout, use -1.

force_unlink

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  • Value type is boolean
  • Default value is false

Remove socket file in case of EADDRINUSE failure

mode

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  • Value can be any of: server, client
  • Default value is "server"

Mode to operate in. server listens for client connections, client connects to a server.

path

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  • This is a required setting.
  • Value type is string
  • There is no default value for this setting.

When mode is server, the path to listen on. When mode is client, the path to connect to.

socket_not_present_retry_interval_seconds

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  • This is a required setting.
  • Value type is number
  • Default value is 5

Amount of time in seconds to wait if the socket file is not present, before retrying. Only positive values are allowed.

This setting is only used if mode is client.

Common Options

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The following configuration options are supported by all input plugins:

Setting Input type Required

add_field

hash

No

codec

codec

No

enable_metric

boolean

No

id

string

No

tags

array

No

type

string

No

Details

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add_field

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  • Value type is hash
  • Default value is {}

Add a field to an event

codec

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  • Value type is codec
  • Default value is "line"

The codec used for input data. Input codecs are a convenient method for decoding your data before it enters the input, without needing a separate filter in your Logstash pipeline.

enable_metric

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  • Value type is boolean
  • Default value is true

Disable or enable metric logging for this specific plugin instance by default we record all the metrics we can, but you can disable metrics collection for a specific plugin.

  • Value type is string
  • There is no default value for this setting.

Add a unique ID to the plugin configuration. If no ID is specified, Logstash will generate one. It is strongly recommended to set this ID in your configuration. This is particularly useful when you have two or more plugins of the same type, for example, if you have 2 unix inputs. Adding a named ID in this case will help in monitoring Logstash when using the monitoring APIs.

input {
  unix {
    id => "my_plugin_id"
  }
}

tags

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  • Value type is array
  • There is no default value for this setting.

Add any number of arbitrary tags to your event.

This can help with processing later.

type

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  • Value type is string
  • There is no default value for this setting.

Add a type field to all events handled by this input.

Types are used mainly for filter activation.

The type is stored as part of the event itself, so you can also use the type to search for it in Kibana.

If you try to set a type on an event that already has one (for example when you send an event from a shipper to an indexer) then a new input will not override the existing type. A type set at the shipper stays with that event for its life even when sent to another Logstash server.