Collect logs in delimiter mode

Procedure

1. Log on to the Log Service console.
2. In the Import Data section, click Delimiter Mode - Text Log.
3. Select the project and Logstore. Then, click Next.
4. Create a machine group.
   • If a machine group is available, click Using Existing Machine Groups.
   • If no machine groups are available, perform the following steps to create a machine group. In this example, an Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance is used.
     1. On the ECS Instances tab, select Manually Select Instances. Then, select the ECS instance that you want to use and click Execute Now.

        For more information, see Install Logtail on ECS instances.

        Note If you want to collect logs from self-managed clusters or servers from third-party cloud service providers, you must manually install Logtail. For more information, see Install Logtail on a Linux server or Install Logtail on a Windows server.
     2. After Logtail is installed, click Complete Installation.
     3. In the Create Machine Group step, configure Name and click Next.

        Log Service allows you to create IP address-based machine groups and custom identifier-based machine groups. For more information, see Create an IP address-based machine group and Create a custom ID-based machine group.

5. Select and move the new machine group from Source Server Groups to Applied Server Groups. Then, click Next.
   Notice If you immediately apply a machine group after it is created, the heartbeat status of the machine group may be FAIL. This issue occurs because the machine group is not connected to Log Service. In this case, you can click Automatic Retry. If the issue persists, see What do I do if no heartbeat connections are detected on Logtail?
6. Create a Logtail configuration and click Next.

   Parameter	Description
   Config Name	Enter a name for the Logtail configuration. The name must be unique in a project. After the Logtail configuration is created, you cannot change the name of the Logtail configuration. You can click Import Other Configuration to import a Logtail configuration from another project.
   Log Path	Specify the log file directory and log file name. You can specify an exact directory and an exact name. You can also use wildcards to specify the directory and name. For more information, see Wildcard matching. Log Service scans all levels of the specified directory to match log files. Examples: If you specify /apsara/nuwa/**/*.log, Log Service matches the files whose name is suffixed by .log in the /apsara/nuwa directory and its recursive subdirectories. If you specify /var/logs/app_*/*.log, Log Service matches the files that meet the following conditions: The file name contains .log. The file is stored in a subdirectory under /var/logs or in a recursive subdirectory of the subdirectory. The name of the subdirectory matches the app_* pattern. Note By default, logs in each log file can be collected by using one Logtail configuration. If you want to collect logs in a log file by using multiple Logtail configurations, you must create a symbolic link for the directory in which the log file is stored. For example, if you want to collect logs from the /home/log/nginx/log/log.log file by using two Logtail configurations, you must run the following command to create a symbolic link that points to the directory of the file. Then, specify the real path in one Logtail configuration and specify the symbolic link in the other Logtail configuration. ln -s /home/log/nginx/log /home/log/nginx/link_log When you configure this parameter, you can use only asterisks (*) or question marks (?) as wildcards.
   Docker File	If you want to collect logs from Docker containers, you must turn on Docker File and specify the directories and tags of the containers. Logtail monitors the containers to check whether the containers are created or destroyed. Then, Logtail filters the logs of the containers based on tags and collects the logs that meet the filter conditions. For more information about how to collect the text logs of containers, see Use the console to collect Kubernetes text logs in DaemonSet mode.
   Blacklist	If you turn on Blacklist, you must configure a blacklist to specify the directories or files that you want Log Service to skip when it collects logs. You can specify exact directories and file names. You can also use wildcards to specify directories and file names. Examples: If you select Filter by Directory from a drop-down list in the Filter Type column and enter /home/admin/dir1 for Content, all files in the /home/admin/dir1 directory are skipped. If you select Filter by Directory from a drop-down list in the Filter Type column and enter /home/admin/dir* for Content, the files in all subdirectories whose names are prefixed by dir in the /home/admin/ directory are skipped. If you select Filter by Directory from a drop-down list in the Filter Type column and enter /home/admin/*/dir for Content, all files in dir directories in each subdirectory of the /home/admin/ directory are skipped. For example, the files in the /home/admin/a/dir directory are skipped, but the files in the /home/admin/a/b/dir directory are not skipped. If you select Filter by File from a drop-down list in the Filter Type column and enter /home/admin/private*.log for Content, all files whose names are prefixed by private and suffixed by .log in the /home/admin/ directory are skipped. If you select Filter by File from a drop-down list in the Filter Type column and enter /home/admin/private*/*_inner.log for Content, all files whose names are suffixed by _inner.log in the subdirectories whose names are prefixed by private in the /home/admin/ directory are skipped. For example, the /home/admin/private/app_inner.log file is skipped, but the /home/admin/private/app.log file is not skipped. Note When you configure the blacklist, you can use only asterisks (*) or question marks (?) as wildcards. If you use wildcards to configure Log Path and want to skip some directories in the specified directory, you must configure the blacklist and enter a complete directory. For example, if you set Log Path to /home/admin/app*/log/*.log and want to skip all subdirectories in the /home/admin/app1* directory, you must configure the blacklist by selecting Filter by Directory and entering /home/admin/app1*/**. If you enter /home/admin/app1*, the blacklist cannot take effect. Computational overhead is generated when the blacklist is used. We recommend that you add a maximum of 10 entries to the blacklist.
   Mode	Select the log collection mode. By default, Delimiter Mode is displayed. You can change the mode.
   Log Sample	Enter a sample log that is collected from an actual scenario. Example: 127.0.0.1|#|-|#|13/Apr/2020:09:44:41 +0800|#|GET /1 HTTP/1.1|#|0.000|#|74|#|404|#|3650|#|-|#|curl/7.29.0 Note In delimiter mode, you can collect only single-line logs. If you want to collect multi-line logs, we recommend that you select Simple Mode - Multi-line or Full Regex Mode. For more information, see Collect logs in simple mode and Collect logs in full regex mode.
   Delimiter	Select a delimiter based on the log format. For example, you can select a vertical bar (|) as a delimiter. For more information, see Additional information: Delimiters and sample logs. Note If you select Hidden Characters for Delimiter, you must enter a character in the following format: 0xHexadecimal ASCII code of the non-printable character. For example, if you want to use the non-printable character whose hexadecimal ASCII code is 01, you must enter 0x01.
   Quote	Select a quote to enclose the log fields that contain delimiters. Log Service parses the content that is enclosed in a pair of quotes into a complete field. You can select the quote based on the log format. Note If you select Hidden Characters for Quote, you must enter a character in the following format: 0xHexadecimal ASCII code of the non-printable character. For example, if you want to use the non-printable character whose hexadecimal ASCII code is 01, you must enter 0x01.
   Extracted Content	Specify the log content that can be extracted. Log Service extracts log content based on the sample log that you enter, and then delimits the log content into values by using the specified delimiter. You must specify a key for each value.
   Incomplete Entry Upload	Specify whether to upload a log if the number of fields parsed from the log is less than the number of specified keys. If you turn on this switch, the log is uploaded. Otherwise, the log is discarded. For example, if you specify a vertical bar (|) as the delimiter, the log 11|22|33|44|55 is parsed into the following fields: 11, 22, 33, 44, and 55. You can set the keys to A, B, C, D, and E. If you turn on Incomplete Entry Upload, the log 11|22|33|55 is uploaded, and 55 is uploaded as the value of the D key. If you turn off Incomplete Entry Upload, the log 11|22|33|55 is discarded because the number of fields parsed from the log does not match the number of specified keys.
   Use System Time	Specify whether to use the system time. If you turn on Use System Time, the timestamp of a log indicates the system time when the log is collected. The system time refers to the time of the server on which Logtail runs. If you turn off Use System Time, you must configure Specified Time Key and Time Format based on the value of the time field specified in Extracted Content. For more information about the time format, see Time formats. For example, if you set Specify Time Key to time_local and Time Format to %d/%b/%Y:%H:%M:%S, the timestamp of a log is the value of the time_local field.
   Drop Failed to Parse Logs	Specify whether to drop the logs that fail to be parsed. If you turn on Drop Failed to Parse Logs, the logs that fail to be parsed are not uploaded to Log Service. If you turn off Drop Failed to Parse Logs, raw logs are uploaded to Log Service if the logs fail to be parsed.
   Maximum Directory Monitoring Depth	Specify the maximum number of levels of subdirectories that you want to monitor. The subdirectories are in the log file directory that you specify. Valid values: 0 to 1000. The value 0 indicates that only the specified log file directory is monitored.

   You can configure advanced settings based on your business requirements. We recommend that you do not modify the advanced settings. The following table describes the parameters in the advanced settings.

   Parameter	Description
   Enable Plug-in Processing	If you turn on Enable Plug-in Processing, you can configure Logtail plug-ins to process logs. For more information, see Overview. Note If you turn on Enable Plug-in Processing, specific parameters such as Upload Raw Log, Timezone, Drop Failed to Parse Logs, Filter Configuration, and Incomplete Entry Upload (Delimiter mode) become unavailable.
   Upload Raw Log	If you turn on Upload Raw Log, each raw log is uploaded to Log Service as a value of the __raw__ field together with the log parsed from the raw log.
   Topic Generation Mode	Select the topic generation mode. For more information, see Log topics. Null - Do not generate topic: This is the default value. In this mode, the topic field is set to an empty string. When you query logs, you do not need to specify a topic. Machine Group Topic Attributes: In this mode, topics are configured at the machine group level. This mode is used to differentiate between the logs that are generated by different servers. File Path RegEx: In this mode, you must specify a regular expression in the Custom RegEx field. The part of a log path that matches the regular expression is used as the topic. This mode is used to differentiate between the logs that are generated by different users or instances.
   Log File Encoding	Select the encoding format of log files. Valid values: utf8 and gbk.
   Timezone	Select the time zone where logs are collected. Valid values: System Timezone: This is the default value. If you select this value, the time zone to which the server belongs is used. Custom: If you select this value, you must select a time zone.
   Timeout	Select a timeout period of log files. If a log file is not updated within the specified period, Logtail considers the file to be timed out. Valid values: Never: All log files are continuously monitored and never time out. 30 Minute Timeout: If a log file is not updated within 30 minutes, Logtail considers the file to be timed out and stops monitoring the file. If you select 30 Minute Timeout, you must configure the Maximum Timeout Directory Depth parameter. Valid values: 1 to 3.
   Filter Configuration	Specify the filter conditions that are used to collect logs. Only the logs that match the specified filter conditions are collected. Examples: Collect logs that meet specified conditions: If you set Key to level and RegEx to WARNING|ERROR, only the logs whose level is WARNING or ERROR are collected. Filter out logs that do not meet specified conditions. For more information, see Regular-Expressions.info. If you set Key to level and RegEx to ^(?!.*(INFO|DEBUG)).*, the logs whose level is INFO or DEBUG are not collected. If you set Key to level and RegEx to ^(?!(INFO|DEBUG)$).*, the logs whose level is INFO or DEBUG are not collected. If you set Key to url and RegEx to .*^(?!.*(healthcheck)).*, the logs whose URL contains healthcheck are not collected. For example, if a log has the Key field of url and the Value field of /inner/healthcheck/jiankong.html, the log is not collected For more information, see regex-exclude-word and regex-exclude-pattern.

   Click Next to complete the Logtail configuration. Then, Log Service starts to collect logs.

   Note

   • A Logtail configuration requires a maximum of 3 minutes to take effect.
   • If an error occurs when you use Logtail to collect logs, see Diagnose collection errors.
7. Preview collected logs, configure indexes, and then click Next.
   By default, Log Service enables full-text indexing. You can also configure field-based indexes on collected logs in manual or automatic mode. For more information, see Configure indexes.

   Note

   • If you want to query and analyze logs, you must enable full-text indexing or configure field-based indexes. If you configure both features, the system prioritizes the settings of field-based indexes.
   • If the data type of an index is long or double, you cannot configure the Case-Sensitive or Delimiter parameter.

Additional information: Delimiters and sample logs

Logs that are in the delimiter-separated values (DSV) format use line feeds as boundaries. Each log is placed in a separate line. Each log is parsed into multiple fields by using delimiters. Both single-character and multi-character delimiters are supported. If a field contains delimiters, you can enclose the field in a pair of quotes.

• Single-character delimiter

  The following examples show logs that use single-character delimiters:

  05/May/2016:13:30:28,10.10.*.*,"POST /PutData?Category=YunOsAccountOpLog&AccessKeyId=****************&Date=Fri%2C%2028%20Jun%202013%2006%3A53%3A30%20GMT&Topic=raw&Signature=******************************** HTTP/1.1",200,18204,aliyun-sdk-java
  05/May/2016:13:31:23,10.10.*.*,"POST /PutData?Category=YunOsAccountOpLog&AccessKeyId=****************&Date=Fri%2C%2028%20Jun%202013%2006%3A53%3A30%20GMT&Topic=raw&Signature=******************************** HTTP/1.1",401,23472,aliyun-sdk-java

  If a log uses single-character delimiters, you must specify the delimiter. You can also specify a quote.

  • Delimiter: Available single-character delimiters include the tab character (\t), vertical bar (|), space, comma (,), semicolon (;), and non-printable characters. You cannot specify a double quotation mark (") as the delimiter.

    However, a double quotation mark (") can be used as a quote. A double quotation mark (") can appear at the border of a field, or in the field. If a double quotation mark (") is included in a log field, it must be escaped as a pair of double quotation marks ("") when the log is processed. When the log is parsed, a pair of double quotation marks ("") are restored to a double quotation mark ("). For example, you can specify a comma (,) as the delimiter and a double quotation mark (") as the quote. If a log field contains the specified delimiter and quote, the field is enclosed in a pair of quotes, and the double quotation mark (") in the field is escaped as a pair of double quotation marks (""). If a processed log is in the format 1999,Chevy,"Venture ""Extended Edition, Very Large""","",5000.00, the log is parsed into five fields: 1999, Chevy, Venture "Extended Edition, Very Large", an empty field, and 5000.00.

  • Quote: If a log field contains delimiters, you must specify a quote to enclose the field. Log Service parses the content that is enclosed in a pair of quotes into a complete field.

    Available quotes include the tab character (\t), vertical bar (|), space, comma (,), semicolon (;), and non-printable characters.

    For example, if you specify a comma (,) as the delimiter and a double quotation mark (") as the quote, the log 1997,Ford,E350,"ac, abs, moon",3000.00 is parsed into five fields: 1997, Ford, E350, ac, abs, moon, and 3000.00.

• Multi-character delimiter
  The following examples show logs that use multi-character delimiters:

  05/May/2016:13:30:28&&10.200.**.**&&POST /PutData?Category=YunOsAccountOpLog&AccessKeyId=****************&Date=Fri%2C%2028%20Jun%202013%2006%3A53%3A30%20GMT&Topic=raw&Signature=pD12XYLmGxKQ%2Bmkd6x7hAgQ7b1c%3D HTTP/1.1&&200&&18204&&aliyun-sdk-java
  05/May/2016:13:31:23&&10.200.**.**&&POST /PutData?Category=YunOsAccountOpLog&AccessKeyId=****************&Date=Fri%2C%2028%20Jun%202013%2006%3A53%3A30%20GMT&Topic=raw&Signature=******************************** HTTP/1.1&&401&&23472&&aliyun-sdk-java

  A multi-character delimiter can contain two or three characters, such as ||, &&&, and ^_^. Log Service parses logs based on delimiters. You do not need to use quotes to enclose log fields.

  Note Make sure that each log field does not contain the exact delimiter. Otherwise, Log Service cannot parse the logs as expected.

  For example, if you specify && as the delimiter, the log 1997&&Ford&&E350&&ac&abs&moon&&3000.00 is parsed into five fields: 1997, Ford, E350, ac&abs&moon, and 3000.00.