Elasticsearch:Use configuration files to manage pipelines

Limits

• Alibaba Cloud Logstash allows you to run a maximum of 20 pipelines at the same time.
• If you specify an Alibaba Cloud Elasticsearch cluster in the output configuration of a pipeline, you must make sure that the Auto Indexing feature is enabled for the cluster or an index is created in the cluster and configured with mappings.
• If the data sources that you specify in the configurations of a pipeline belong to other Alibaba Cloud services, you must make sure that the data sources reside in the same virtual private cloud (VPC) as your Alibaba Cloud Logstash cluster. Otherwise, you must configure network and security settings for your Logstash cluster. For more information, see Configure a NAT gateway for data transmission over the Internet.
• If the file_extend parameter is configured in the output configuration of a pipeline, you must make sure that the logstash-output-file_extend plug-in is installed for the Alibaba Cloud Logstash cluster. For more information, see Install a Logstash plug-in.

Create a pipeline

1. Log on to the Elasticsearch console.
2. Navigate to the desired cluster.
   1. In the top navigation bar, select the region where the cluster resides.
   2. In the left-side navigation pane, click Logstash Clusters. On the Logstash Clusters page, find the cluster and click its ID.
3. In the left-side navigation pane of the page that appears, click Pipelines.
4. On the Pipelines page, click Create Pipeline.
5. In the Config Settings step of the Create Task wizard, configure Pipeline ID and Config Settings.
   The following code provides a configuration example:

   input {
       beats {
           port => 8000
       }
   }
   filter {
   
   }
   output {
       elasticsearch {
           hosts => ["http://es-cn-o40xxxxxxxxxx****.elasticsearch.aliyuncs.com:9200"]
           index => "logstash_test_1"
           password => "es_password"
           user => "elastic"
       }
       file_extend {
           path => "/ssd/1/ls-cn-v0h1kzca****/logstash/logs/debug/test"
       }
   }

   Parameter	Description
   input	Specifies the input data source. For more information about supported data source types, see Input plugins. Note If you want input plug-ins to listen to the port of the node where the Logstash process is running, specify a port that ranges from 8000 to 9000. If you want to define a plug-in, driver, or file in the input part, perform the following steps: Click Show Third-party Libraries. In the Third-party Libraries dialog box, click Upload. Then, upload files as prompted. For more information, see Configure third-party libraries.
   filter	Specifies the plug-in that is used to preprocess input data. For more information about supported plug-ins, see Filter plugins.
   output	Specifies the output data source. For more information about supported data source types, see Output plugins. file_extend: specifies whether the pipeline configuration debugging feature is enabled. This parameter is optional. You can use the path field to specify the path that stores debug logs. We recommend that you configure this parameter. After the parameter is configured, you can directly view the output data of the pipeline in the console. If the parameter is not configured, you need to check the output data of the pipeline in the destination. If the output data is incorrect, you need to modify the configuration of the pipeline in the console. This increases time and labor costs. For more information, see Use the pipeline configuration debugging feature. Important Before you use the file_extend parameter, you must install the logstash-output-file_extend plug-in. For more information, see Install a Logstash plug-in. By default, the path field is set to a system-specified path. We recommend that you do not change the path. You can click Start Configuration Debug to obtain the path.

   For more information about the code structure in Config Settings and the supported data types, see Structure of a Config File. The supported data types may differ in different versions.

   Important

   • For security purposes, if you use a JDBC driver to configure a pipeline, you must add allowLoadLocalInfile=false&autoDeserialize=false at the end of the jdbc_connection_string parameter, such as jdbc_connection_string => "jdbc:mysql://xxx.drds.aliyuncs.com:3306/<Database name>?allowLoadLocalInfile=false&autoDeserialize=false". Otherwise, the system displays an error message that indicates a check failure.
   • If a parameter similar to last_run_metadata_path exists in Config Settings, the file path must be provided by Logstash. A path in the /ssd/1/<Logstash cluster ID>/logstash/data/ format is provided at the backend and is available for tests, and the system does not delete the data in this path. Make sure that your disk has sufficient storage space when you use this path.
   • Alibaba Cloud Logstash clusters are deployed in VPCs. If you want to specify data sources that belong to other Alibaba Cloud services in the configurations of a pipeline, we recommend that you use data sources that are deployed in the same VPC as your Alibaba Cloud Logstash cluster. If you want to allow access to your Logstash cluster over the Internet, configure network and security settings for your Logstash cluster. For more information, see Configure a NAT gateway for data transmission over the Internet.
   • We recommend that you use file_extend to print logs for testing. Do not use stdout.
6. Click Next to configure pipeline parameters.
   

   Parameter	Description
   Pipeline Workers	The number of worker threads that run the filter and output plug-ins of the pipeline in parallel. If a backlog of events exists or some CPU resources are not used, we recommend that you increase the number of threads to maximize CPU utilization. The default value of this parameter is the number of vCPUs.
   Pipeline Batch Size	The maximum number of events that a single worker thread can collect from input plug-ins before it attempts to run filter and output plug-ins. If you set this parameter to a large value, a single worker thread can collect more events but consumes larger memory. If you want to make sure that the worker thread has sufficient memory to collect more events, specify the LS_HEAP_SIZE variable to increase the Java virtual machine (JVM) heap size. Default value: 125.
   Pipeline Batch Delay	The wait time for an event. This time occurs before you assign a small batch to a pipeline worker thread and after you create batch tasks for pipeline events. Default value: 50. Unit: milliseconds.
   Queue Type	The internal queue model for buffering events. Valid values: MEMORY: traditional memory-based queue. This is the default value. PERSISTED: disk-based ACKed queue, which is a persistent queue.
   Queue Max Bytes	The value must be less than the total capacity of your disk. Default value: 1024. Unit: MB.
   Queue Checkpoint Writes	The maximum number of events that are written before a checkpoint is enforced when persistent queues are enabled. The value 0 indicates no limit. Default value: 1024.

   Warning After you configure the parameters, you must save the settings and deploy the pipeline. This triggers a restart of the Logstash cluster. Before you can proceed, make sure that the restart does not affect your services.
7. Click Save or Save and Deploy.
   • Save: After you click this button, the system stores the pipeline settings and triggers a cluster change. However, the settings do not take effect. After you click Save, the Pipelines page appears. On the Pipelines page, find the created pipeline and click Deploy in the Actions column. Then, the system restarts the Logstash cluster to make the settings take effect.
   • Save and Deploy: After you click this button, the system restarts the Logstash cluster to make the settings take effect.
8. In the message that appears, click OK. Then, you can view the created pipeline on the Pipelines page.
   After the cluster is restarted, the pipeline creation task is complete.

Modify a pipeline

1. On the Pipelines page, find the pipeline that you want to modify and click Modify in the Actions column.
2. In the Modify wizard, modify the settings in the Config Settings and Pipeline Parameters steps. You cannot change the value of Pipeline ID.
3. Click Save or Save and Deploy. After the cluster is restarted, the pipeline modification task is complete.

Copy a pipeline

1. On the Pipelines page, find the pipeline that you want to copy and choose > Copy in the Actions column.
2. In the Copy wizard, configure Pipeline ID and retain other settings.
3. Click Save or Save and Deploy. After the cluster is restarted, the pipeline copy task is complete.

Delete a pipeline

1. On the Pipelines page, find the pipeline that you want to delete and choose > Delete in the Actions column.
2. In the Delete Pipeline message, view risk warnings.
3. Click Continue. After the cluster is updated, the pipeline deletion task is complete.

References

• API operation for creating a pipeline: CreatePipelines
• Reference for using Logstash to migrate data: Use Alibaba Cloud Logstash to migrate data from a self-managed Elasticsearch cluster to an Alibaba Cloud Elasticsearch cluster
• Reference for using Logstash to synchronize log data: Use the logstash-input-sls plug-in

FAQ

• After I create a pipeline, the process is stuck, and the update progress of my Logstash cluster remains unchanged. What do I do?
• FAQ about data transfer by using Logstash
• Troubleshoot Logstash performance issues