le_rsyslog

le_rsyslog is a Python tool which quickly allows you to configure your Rsyslog without needing to edit any configuration files

Where command is one of:
    register                           Register this host
    follow {file1, file2, ... ,fileN}  Follow given files
    import                             Import a JSON file to use to configure Rsyslog
    help                               Show this message and exit

Where parameters are:
    --version          Show version number
    --host-key=        Set host key and exit
    --account-key=     Set account key and exit
    --use-ca-provided  Use internal bundled certificate
    --force            Force given operation
    --debug            Switch on debug messages

Register le_rsyslog

To use le_rsyslog you will be first required to registered it. This can be done by running the command below and following the instructions. Note you will need a Logentries Account to register.

sudo python lersyslog register

You can automate this step by providing your Account Key as a parameter instead.

sudo python lersyslog register --account-key=MY_ACCOUNT_KEY

Once run this will automatically create a new Host inside of your Logentries Account. If you wish to use an existing Host then you can specify a Host Key by usering the host-key= parameter while registering.

Following a file

After registering the application you can follow a file by running the following command.

sudo python lersyslog follow myfile

Where myfile is some logical file in your File System. le_rsyslog will then automatically create a Token TCP log in your Logentries Account which will be used to send the log data from your followed file to.

Importing a JSON Configuration file

le_rsyslog has the ability to import a json configuration file which allows the it to configure Rsyslog to follow certain log files and send to a particular token. This system is useful for elastic enviroments where you want a single configuration file to be across all servers when they are brought up.

The JSON configuration file requires the following format to be present

{
    "logs": [
        {
            "path": "/home/stephen/log1.log",
            "name": "test.log",
            "token": "LOG_TOKEN_ONE"
        },
        {
            "path": "/home/stephen/log2.log",
            "name": "test.log",
            "token": "LOG_TOKEN_TWO"
        }
    ]
}

Where LOG_TOKEN_ONE and LOG_TOKEN_TWO are Log Tokens that were created in Logentries.

Using this configuration file your Rsyslog will be configured to follow each file and use the associated Token when sending to Logentries.

Now you can run

sudo python lersyslog import FILE_PATH

Running le_rsyslog on Python2.6

On Python2.6, le_rsyslog requires ordereddict:

sudo pip install ordereddict