The Stackdriver output plugin lets you ingest your records into the Google Cloud Stackdriver Logging service.
Before getting started with the plugin configuration, be sure to obtain the proper credentials to get access to the service. For best results, use a common JSON credentials file that can be referenced by the Stackdriver plugin.
This plugin uses the following configuration parameters. For more details about Stackdriver-specific parameters, see the Google Cloud LogEntry API documentation.
| Key | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
autoformat_stackdriver_trace |
Rewrite the trace field to include the projectID and format it for use with Cloud Trace. When this flag is enabled, the user can get the correct result by printing only the traceID (usually 32 characters). |
false |
cloud_logging_base_url |
Set the base Cloud Logging API URL to use for the /v2/entries:write API request. |
https://logging.googleapis.com |
compress |
Set payload compression mechanism. The only available option is gzip. If no value is specified, no compression is applied. |
none |
custom_k8s_regex |
Set a custom regular expression to extract fields like pod_name, namespace_name, container_name, and docker_id from the local_resource_id in logs. This is helpful if the value of pod or node name contains dots. |
(?<pod_name>[a-z0-9](?:[-a-z0-9]*[a-z0-9])?(?:\.[a-z0-9]([-a-z0-9]*[a-z0-9])?)*)_(?<namespace_name>[^_]+)_(?<container_name>.+)-(?<docker_id>[a-z0-9]{64})\.log$ |
export_to_project_id |
The GCP project that should receive these logs. | The project_id in the google_service_credentials file, or the project_id from Google's metadata.google.internal server. |
google_service_credentials |
Absolute path to a Google Cloud credentials JSON file. | Value of environment variable $GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS |
http_request_key |
The name of the key from the original record that contains the LogEntry's httpRequest. The default matches records that use logging.googleapis.com/http_request (underscore form). Set this to logging.googleapis.com/httpRequest when the record uses the httpRequest key form expected by the Logging API. |
logging.googleapis.com/http_request |
job |
An identifier for a grouping of related tasks, such as the name of a microservice or distributed batch. If the resource type is generic_task, this field is required. |
none |
k8s_cluster_location |
The physical location of the cluster that contains (node or pod based on the resource type) the container. If the resource type is k8s_container, k8s_node, or k8s_pod, this field is required. |
none |
k8s_cluster_name |
The name of the cluster that the container (node or pod based on the resource type) is running in. If the resource type is k8s_container, k8s_node, or k8s_pod, this field is required. |
none |
labels |
Optional list of comma-separated strings specifying key=value pairs. The resulting labels will be combined with the elements obtained from labels_key to set the LogEntry Labels. Elements from labels will override duplicate values from labels_key. |
none |
labels_key |
The name of the key from the original record that contains the LogEntry's labels. |
logging.googleapis.com/labels |
location |
The GCP or AWS region in which to store data about the resource. If the resource type is either generic_node or generic_task, this field is required. |
none |
log_name_key |
The name of the key from the original record that contains the logName value. |
logging.googleapis.com/logName |
metadata_server |
Prefix for a metadata server. | Value of environment variable $METADATA_SERVER, or http://metadata.google.internal if unset. |
namespace |
A namespace identifier, such as a cluster name or environment. If the resource type is either generic_node or generic_task, this field is required. |
none |
node_id |
A unique identifier for the node within the namespace, such as a hostname or IP address. If the resource type is generic_node, this field is required. |
none |
project_id_key |
The value of this field is used by the Stackdriver output plugin to find the GCP projectID from jsonPayload and then extract the value of it to set the PROJECT_ID within LogEntry logName, which controls the GCP project that should receive these logs. |
logging.googleapis.com/projectId. See Stackdriver Special Fields for more info. |
resource |
Set resource type of data. Supported resource types: k8s_container, k8s_node, k8s_pod, global, generic_node, generic_task, and gce_instance. |
global |
resource_labels |
An optional list of comma-separated strings specifying resource label plain text assignments (new=value) and mappings from an original field in the log entry to a destination field (destination=$original). Nested fields and environment variables are also supported using the record accessor syntax. If configured, all resource labels will be assigned using this API only, with the exception of project_id. See Resource Labels for more details. |
none |
service_account_email |
Account email associated with the service. Only available if no credentials file has been provided. | Value of environment variable $SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL |
service_account_secret |
Private key content associated with the service account. Only available if no credentials file has been provided. | Value of environment variable $SERVICE_ACCOUNT_SECRET |
severity_key |
The name of the key from the original record that contains the severity. | logging.googleapis.com/severity |
span_id_key |
The name of the key from the original record that contains the span ID. | logging.googleapis.com/spanId |
stackdriver_agent |
Set a custom User-Agent header value for requests sent to Cloud Logging. |
none |
tag_prefix |
Set the tag_prefix used to validate the tag of logs with Kubernetes resource type. Without this option, the tag of the log must be in format of k8s_container(pod/node).* to use the k8s_container resource type. Now the tag prefix is configurable by this option (note the ending dot). |
k8s_container., k8s_pod., k8s_node. |
task_id |
A unique identifier for the task within the namespace and job, such as a replica index identifying the task within the job. If the resource type is generic_task, this field is required. |
none |
test_log_entry_format |
Test-only option that prints the generated Cloud Logging payload without sending it. Intended for validation and debugging. | false |
text_payload_key |
Set the key from the record to use as the textPayload field in the log entry. |
none |
trace_key |
The name of the key from the original record that contains the trace value. | logging.googleapis.com/trace |
trace_sampled_key |
The name of the key from the original record that contains the trace sampled flag. | logging.googleapis.com/traceSampled |
workers |
The number of workers to perform flush operations for this output. | 1 |
If you are using a Google Cloud Credentials File, the following configuration is enough to get started:
{% tabs %} {% tab title="fluent-bit.yaml" %}
pipeline:
inputs:
- name: cpu
tag: cpu
outputs:
- name: stackdriver
match: '*'{% endtab %} {% tab title="fluent-bit.conf" %}
[INPUT]
Name cpu
Tag cpu
[OUTPUT]
Name stackdriver
Match *
{% endtab %} {% endtabs %}
The local_resource_id value is used by the Stackdriver output plugin to set the labels field for different Kubernetes resource types. Stackdriver plugin will try to find the local_resource_id field in the log entry. If there is no field logging.googleapis.com/local_resource_id in the log, the plugin will then construct it by using the tag value of the log.
The local_resource_id should be in format:
k8s_container.<namespace_name>.<pod_name>.<container_name>k8s_node.<node_name>k8s_pod.<namespace_name>.<pod_name>
This implies that if there is no local_resource_id in the log entry then the tag of logs should match this format. Be aware that there is a tag_prefix option, so it's not mandatory to use k8s_container(node/pod) as the prefix for tag.
{% tabs %} {% tab title="fluent-bit.yaml" %}
pipeline:
inputs:
- name: tail
tag_regex: 'var.log.containers.(?<pod_name>[a-z0-9](?:[-a-z0-9]*[a-z0-9])?(?:\\.[a-z0-9]([-a-z0-9]*[a-z0-9])?)*)_(?<namespace_name>[^_]+)_(?<container_name>.+)-(?<docker_id>[a-z0-9]{64})\.log$'
tag: custom_tag.<namespace_name>.<pod_name>.<container_name>
path: /var/log/containers/*.log
parser: docker
db: /var/log/fluent-bit-k8s-container.db
outputs:
- name: stackdriver
match: 'custom_tag.*'
resource: k8s_container
k8s_cluster_name: test_cluster_name
k8s_cluster_location: test_cluster_location
tag_prefix: 'custom_tag.'{% endtab %} {% tab title="fluent-bit.conf" %}
[INPUT]
Name tail
Tag_Regex var.log.containers.(?<pod_name>[a-z0-9](?:[-a-z0-9]*[a-z0-9])?(?:\\.[a-z0-9]([-a-z0-9]*[a-z0-9])?)*)_(?<namespace_name>[^_]+)_(?<container_name>.+)-(?<docker_id>[a-z0-9]{64})\.log$
Tag custom_tag.<namespace_name>.<pod_name>.<container_name>
Path /var/log/containers/*.log
Parser docker
DB /var/log/fluent-bit-k8s-container.db
[OUTPUT]
Name stackdriver
Match custom_tag.*
Resource k8s_container
K8s_Cluster_Name test_cluster_name
K8s_Cluster_Location test_cluster_location
Tag_Prefix custom_tag.
{% endtab %} {% endtabs %}
Fluent Bit uses the following methods to assign fields to the resource/labels section:
- Resource Labels API
- Monitored Resource API
- Local Resource ID
- Credentials / Config Parameters
If resource_labels is correctly configured, then Fluent Bit will attempt to populate all resource labels using the entries specified. Otherwise, Fluent Bit will attempt to use the monitored resource API. Similarly, if the monitored resource API can't be used, then Fluent Bit will attempt to populate resource/labels using configuration parameters and credentials specific to the resource type. As mentioned in the configuration file section, Fluent Bit will attempt to use or construct a local resource ID for a Kubernetes resource type that doesn't use the resource labels or monitored resource API.
{% hint style="info" %}
The project_id resource label will always be set from the service credentials or fetched from the metadata server. It can't be overridden.
{% endhint %}
The resource_labels configuration parameter offers an alternative API for assigning the resource labels. To use, input a list of comma-separated strings specifying resource labels plain text assignments (new=value), mappings from an original field in the log entry to a destination field (destination=$original) and environment variable assignments (new=${var}).
For instance, consider the following log entry:
{
"keyA": "valA",
"toplevel": {
"keyB": "valB"
}
}Combined with the following Fluent Bit Stackdriver output plugin configuration:
{% tabs %} {% tab title="fluent-bit.yaml" %}
pipeline:
outputs:
- name: stackdriver
match: '*'
resource_labels: keyC=$keyA,keyD=$toplevel['keyB'],keyE=valC{% endtab %} {% tab title="fluent-bit.conf" %}
[OUTPUT]
Name stackdriver
Match *
Resource_Labels keyC=$keyA,keyD=$toplevel['keyB'],keyE=valC
{% endtab %} {% endtabs %}
This will produce the following log:
{
"resource": {
"type": "global",
"labels": {
"project_id": "fluent-bit",
"keyC": "valA",
"keyD": "valB",
"keyE": "valC"
}
},
"entries": [
{
"jsonPayload": {
"keyA": "valA",
"toplevel": {
"keyB": "valB"
}
}
}
]
}This makes the resource_labels API the recommended choice for supporting new or existing resource types that have all resource labels known before runtime or available on the payload during runtime.
For instance, for a Kubernetes resource type, resource_labels can be used in tandem with the Kubernetes filter to pack all six resource labels. The following example shows what this could look like for a k8s_container resource:
{% tabs %} {% tab title="fluent-bit.yaml" %}
pipeline:
outputs:
- name: stackdriver
match: '*'
resource: k8s_container
resource_labels: cluster_name=my-cluster,location=us-central1-c,container_name=$kubernetes['container_name'],namespace_name=$kubernetes['namespace_name'],pod_name=$kubernetes['pod_name']{% endtab %} {% tab title="fluent-bit.conf" %}
[OUTPUT]
Name stackdriver
Match *
Resource k8s_container
Resource_Labels cluster_name=my-cluster,location=us-central1-c,container_name=$kubernetes['container_name'],namespace_name=$kubernetes['namespace_name'],pod_name=$kubernetes['pod_name']
{% endtab %} {% endtabs %}
The resource_labels parameter also supports validation for required labels based on the input resource type. This allows Fluent Bit to check if all specified labels are present for a given configuration before runtime. If validation isn't supported for a resource type that you want to use this API with, open a pull request for it. Adding validation for a new resource type involves specifying the resources associated with the type alongside the required labels.
By default, the plugin will write to the following log name:
/projects/<project ID>/logs/<log tag>
You might be in a scenario where being more specific about the log name is important (for example, integration with Log Router rules or controlling cardinality of log based metrics). You can control the log name directly on a per-log basis by using the logging.googleapis.com/logName special field. You can configure a log_name_key if you'd like to use something different from logging.googleapis.com/logName. For example, if the log_name_key is set to mylognamefield will extract the log name from mylognamefield in the log.
An upstream connection error means Fluent Bit wasn't able to reach Google services. In that case, the error message looks like this:
[2019/01/07 23:24:09] [error] [oauth2] could not get an upstream connection
This is due to a network issue in the environment where Fluent Bit is running. Make sure that the Host, Container or Pod can reach the following Google endpoints:
{% hint style="warning" %}
For more details, see GitHub reference: #761
{% endhint %}
The error looks like this:
[2020/08/04 14:43:03] [error] [output:stackdriver:stackdriver.0] fail to process local_resource_id from log entry for k8s_container
Check the following:
- If the log entry doesn't contain the
local_resource_idfield, does the tag of the log match for format? - If
tag_prefixis configured, does the prefix of tag specified in the input plugin match thetag_prefix?
Stackdriver officially supports a logging agent based on Fluentd.
Fluent Bit plans to support some special fields in structured payloads. For more information, see the documentation about Stackdriver Special Fields.