Simple Log Service:Install, run, upgrade, and uninstall Logtail

Install Logtail

Install Logtail using one-click installation or manual installation. One-click installation is supported only if you use an ECS instance that is in the same region and belongs to the same Alibaba Cloud account as the project. Otherwise, you must manually install Logtail.

# Download using the internal network
wget http://logtail-release-${region_id}.oss-${region_id}-internal.aliyuncs.com/linux64/logtail.sh -O logtail.sh; 
# Download using the internet
wget http://logtail-release-${region_id}.oss-${region_id}.aliyuncs.com/linux64/logtail.sh -O logtail.sh; 

# To install using the internet
chmod +x logtail.sh; ./logtail.sh install ${region_id}-internet
# If your servers are in on-premises data centers or from cloud vendors outside China, data transfer over the internet may cause high latency and instability. We recommend that you use transfer acceleration.
chmod +x logtail.sh; ./logtail.sh install ${region_id}-acceleration
# To install using the internal network, which is suitable for on-premises data centers with internal network access
chmod +x logtail.sh; ./logtail.sh install ${region_id}

# To install using the internet
chmod +x logtail.sh; ./logtail.sh install-local ${region_id}-internet
# If your servers are in on-premises data centers or from cloud vendors outside China, data transfer over the internet may cause high latency and instability. We recommend that you use transfer acceleration.
chmod +x logtail.sh; ./logtail.sh install-local ${region_id}-acceleration

# To install using the internet
.\logtail_installer.exe install ${region_id}-internet
# If your servers are in on-premises data centers or from cloud vendors outside China, data transfer over the internet may cause high latency and instability. We recommend that you use transfer acceleration.
.\logtail_installer.exe install ${region_id}-acceleration

Batch install Logtail

Use one of the following methods to install Logtail in batches.

• OOS orchestration: This method is suitable for scenarios with permission requirements. It supports high concurrency and is ideal for large-scale batch operations. For more information, see Use OOS to install or upgrade Logtail in batches.

• ECS Cloud Assistant: This method is easy to use. Run commands to execute temporary tasks. The procedure is as follows.

1. Go to ECS console - ECS Cloud Assistant.

2. In the top navigation bar, select the region and resource group of the resource that you want to manage.

3. In the upper-right corner of the ECS Cloud Assistant page, click Create/Run Command.

4. In the Create Command panel, enter the installation command in the Command content field. This example uses the internet installation method. For more installation commands, see Install Logtail.

   

   The installation command used here is as follows:

   #!/bin/bash
   region_id='cn-hangzhou'
   wget http://logtail-release-${region_id}.oss-${region_id}.aliyuncs.com/linux64/logtail.sh -O logtail.sh
   chmod +x logtail.sh
   ./logtail.sh install ${region_id}-internet

   Important

   After you install Logtail, if you switch the network type of the ECS instance from classic network to VPC, you must update the Logtail configuration. For more information, see How do I update the machine group configuration after I switch an ECS instance from the classic network to a VPC?.

5. In the Select Instance section, confirm that the agent status of the target instance is Normal. If the status is not Normal, see Install the Cloud Assistant Agent to install Cloud Assistant. Select the target instance and click Run. The execution status then becomes Successful. If the execution fails, see View execution results and fix common issues.

Start and stop Logtail

Check the Logtail status and version

cat /usr/local/ilogtail/app_info.json

{
   "logtail_version" : "0.16.30",
}

{
    "logtail_version" : "1.0.0.0"
}

Upgrade Logtail

stop successfully
Stop logtail successfully.
Upgrading logtail files ...
Upgrade logtail files successfully.
Starting logtail ...
ilogtail is running
Upgrade logtail successfully.
{
        "UUID" : "XXXXXXXX-XXXX",
        "compiler" : "GCC 9.3.1",
        "hostname" : "xxx",
        "instance_id" : "XXXXXXXX-XXXX_172.16.0.75_1730950372",
        "ip" : "172.16.0.75",
        "logtail_version" : "2.0.8",
        "os" : "Linux; 5.10.134-13.an8.x86_64; #1 SMP Mon Jan 9 10:39:46 CST 2023; x86_64",
        "update_time" : "2024-11-07 11:32:52"
}

Uninstall Logtail

wget http://logtail-release-${region_id}.oss-${region_id}.aliyuncs.com/linux64/logtail.sh -O logtail.sh; chmod +x logtail.sh; ./logtail.sh uninstall

.\logtail_installer.exe uninstall

Install the Logtail component

If you use an ACK cluster and the cluster belongs to the same Alibaba Cloud account as SLS, follow the instructions for ACK clusters. If you use a self-managed cluster, or if the ACK cluster and SLS belong to different Alibaba Cloud accounts, follow the instructions for self-managed clusters.

Check the Logtail status, version, and IP address

• Run the following command to check the Logtail status.

  kubectl get po -n kube-system | grep logtail

  The following result is returned:

  NAME            READY     STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
  logtail-ds-gb92k   1/1       Running   0          2h
  logtail-ds-wm7lw   1/1       Running   0          4d

• Run the following command to view information, such as the Logtail version number and IP address.

  kubectl exec logtail-ds-gb92k -n kube-system cat /usr/local/ilogtail/app_info.json

  The following result is returned:

  {
     "hostname" : "logtail-ds-gb92k",
     "instance_id" : "0EBB2B0E-0A3B-11E8-B0CE-0A58AC140402_172.20.4.2_1517810940",
     "ip" : "192.0.2.0",
     "logtail_version" : "0.16.2",
     "os" : "Linux; 3.10.0-693.2.2.el7.x86_64; #1 SMP Tue Sep 12 22:26:13 UTC 2017; x86_64",
     "update_time" : "2021-02-05 06:09:01"
  }

Upgrade and roll back Logtail

1. Before upgrading, back up the description files related to the Logtail component.

   Important

   If significant collection latency exists before the upgrade, the upgrade may cause a small amount of log loss.

   kubectl get ds -n kube-system logtail-ds -o yaml > logtail-ds.yaml
   kubectl get deployment -n kube-system alibaba-log-controller -o yaml > alibaba-log-controller.yaml
   kubectl get crd aliyunlogconfigs.log.alibabacloud.com -o yaml > aliyunlogconfigs-crd.yaml
   kubectl get cm -n kube-system alibaba-log-configuration -o yaml > alibaba-log-configuration.yaml
   kubectl get aliyunlogconfigs --all-namespaces -o yaml > aliyunlogconfigs-cr.yaml

2. Select an upgrade method based on your cluster type. If you use an ACK cluster and the cluster belongs to the same Alibaba Cloud account as SLS, follow the instructions for ACK clusters. If you use a self-managed cluster, or if the ACK cluster and SLS belong to different Alibaba Cloud accounts, follow the instructions for self-managed clusters.

   Upgrade on ACK clusters

   We recommend that you use the automatic upgrade method. If you have modified parameters, such as environment variables, in the logtail-ds DaemonSet or the alibaba-log-controller deployment, use the manual upgrade method to prevent your changes from being reset.

   Automatic upgrade

   Important

   Automatic upgrade will reset the configurations that you manually modified in logtail-ds and alibaba-log-controller.

   1. Log on to the ACK console.

   On the Clusters page, find the target cluster and choose More > Operations > Manage Components in the Actions column.

   2. On the Logs and Monitoring tab, find logtail-ds and click Upgrade.

   3. In the Upgrade Component dialog box, click OK.

      Important

      If you cannot upgrade to the latest version of Logtail, your Kubernetes cluster version may be too old. Upgrade your Kubernetes cluster first or use the manual upgrade method.

      After you perform the upgrade, view the status of the logtail-ds pods in the ACK console. If all logtail-ds pods are in the running state, the upgrade is successful.

   Manual upgrade

   Important

   Manual upgrade does not update your configuration based on the latest Logtail component. Some feature optimizations may not be available.

   Manual upgrade includes upgrading logtail-ds and alibaba-log-controller. Typically, you only need to upgrade logtail-ds to obtain the collection capabilities provided by the new Logtail version. When you need to obtain the collection capabilities of the new Logtail CRD method, you need to upgrade alibaba-log-controller. The following steps use logtail-ds as an example.

   1. Log on to the ACK console.

   On the Clusters page, find the target cluster and choose More > Operations > Manage Components in the Actions column.

   2. Choose Workloads > DaemonSets.

      Note

      To upgrade alibaba-log-controller, choose Workloads > Deployments. Then, in the kube-system namespace, find alibaba-log-controller and complete the upgrade.

   3. Set Namespace to kube-system, and then click Edit in the row of logtail-ds.

   4. Check whether the following environment variables exist.

      If the ALIYUN_LOGTAIL_CONFIG, ALIYUN_LOGTAIL_USER_ID, and ALIYUN_LOGTAIL_USER_DEFINED_ID environment variables do not exist, your Logtail version may be too old. Submit a ticket to inquire about the upgrade method.

   5. Click Select Image Tag next to Image Tag.

   6. In the Image Tag dialog box, click the latest version, and then click OK.

   7. On the right side of the page, click Update.

      After you perform the upgrade, view the status of the logtail-ds pods in the ACK console. If all logtail-ds pods are in the Running state, the upgrade is successful.

   Upgrade on self-managed clusters

   Note

   We recommend that you upgrade by installing the latest Logtail component. If you only update the image version of some components, such as logtail-ds or alibaba-log-controller, the upgrade may fail.

   Reinstall the Logtail component to complete the automatic upgrade. For more information, see Install the Logtail component.

3. To roll back to a specific version, follow these steps.

   Note

   The YAML files backed up before the upgrade contain redundant information that you need to manually delete before using them to restore the Logtail configuration. You can use the kubectl-neat tool to do this. The fields to be deleted are metadata.creationTimestamp, metadata.generation, metadata.resourceVersion, metadata.uid, and status.

   1. Determine whether to keep the new Logtail configuration after the upgrade based on your business needs.

      If you do not need to keep it, delete the new Logtail configuration.

   2. Delete the redundant information from the backup files.

      cat logtail-ds.yaml | kubectl-neat > neat-logtail-ds.yaml
      cat alibaba-log-controller.yaml | kubectl-neat > neat-alibaba-log-controller.yaml
      cat aliyunlogconfigs-crd.yaml | kubectl-neat > neat-aliyunlogconfigs-crd.yaml
      cat alibaba-log-configuration.yaml | kubectl-neat > neat-alibaba-log-configuration.yaml
      cat aliyunlogconfigs-cr.yaml | kubectl-neat > neat-aliyunlogconfigs-cr.yaml

   3. Apply the streamlined backup files to restore the Logtail configuration.

      kubectl apply -f neat-logtail-ds.yaml
      kubectl apply -f neat-alibaba-log-controller.yaml
      kubectl apply -f neat-aliyunlogconfigs-crd.yaml
      kubectl apply -f neat-alibaba-log-configuration.yaml
      kubectl apply -f neat-aliyunlogconfigs-cr.yaml

Uninstall Logtail

Select an uninstallation method based on your cluster type. If you use an ACK cluster and the cluster belongs to the same Alibaba Cloud account as SLS, follow the instructions for ACK clusters. If you use a self-managed cluster, or if the ACK cluster and SLS belong to different Alibaba Cloud accounts, follow the instructions for self-managed clusters.

How do I use one SLS Project for multiple Kubernetes clusters?

If you want to collect container logs from multiple clusters into the same SLS project, set the installation parameters for the other clusters' SLS components to be the same as those you used when you first installed the components.

How do I view Logtail logs?

Logtail logs are stored in the /usr/local/ilogtail/ directory within the Logtail container. The file names are ilogtail.LOG and logtail_plugin.LOG.

The standard output in the Logtail container is not for reference. You can ignore the following standard output content.

start umount useless mount points, /shm$|/merged$|/mqueue$
umount: /logtail_host/var/lib/docker/overlay2/3fd0043af174cb0273c3c7869500fbe2bdb95d13b1e110172ef57fe840c82155/merged: must be superuser to unmount
umount: /logtail_host/var/lib/docker/overlay2/d5b10aa19399992755de1f85d25009528daa749c1bf8c16edff44beab6e69718/merged: must be superuser to unmount
umount: /logtail_host/var/lib/docker/overlay2/5c3125daddacedec29df72ad0c52fac800cd56c6e880dc4e8a640b1e16c22dbe/merged: must be superuser to unmount
......
xargs: umount: exited with status 255; aborting
umount done
start logtail
ilogtail is running
logtail status:
ilogtail is running

How do I check the status of SLS components in a Kubernetes cluster?

Run the following commands to check.

kubectl get deploy alibaba-log-controller -n kube-system
kubectl get ds logtail-ds -n kube-system

What do I do if the alibaba-log-controller fails to start?

Confirm that you have followed these installation instructions.

• Run the installation command on the master node of the Kubernetes cluster.

• Enter your cluster ID as a parameter in the installation command.

If the installation fails because of these issues, run the kubectl delete -f deploy command to delete the generated installation template and then run the installation command again.

How do I check the status of the Logtail-ds DaemonSet in a Kubernetes cluster?

Run the kubectl get ds -n kube-system command to check the status of the Logtail-ds DaemonSet.

How do I view the Logtail runtime logs?

Logtail runtime logs are saved in the /usr/local/ilogtail/ directory. The file name is ilogtail.LOG. Rotated files are compressed and stored as ilogtail.LOG.x.gz. For example, run the following command to view the logs.

kubectl exec logtail-ds-gb92k -n kube-system tail /usr/local/ilogtail/ilogtail.LOG

The result is as follows:

[2018-02-05 06:09:02.168693] [INFO] [9] [build/release64/sls/ilogtail/LogtailPlugin.cpp:104] logtail plugin Resume:start
[2018-02-05 06:09:02.168807] [INFO] [9] [build/release64/sls/ilogtail/LogtailPlugin.cpp:106] logtail plugin Resume:success
[2018-02-05 06:09:02.168822] [INFO] [9] [build/release64/sls/ilogtail/EventDispatcher.cpp:369] start add existed check point events, size:0
[2018-02-05 06:09:02.168827] [INFO] [9] [build/release64/sls/ilogtail/EventDispatcher.cpp:511] add existed check point events, size:0 cache size:0 event size:0 success count:0

How do I restart Logtail in a specific pod?

1. Stop Logtail.

   logtail-ds-gb92k is the container name and kube-system is the namespace. Replace them as needed.

   kubectl exec logtail-ds-gb92k -n kube-system /etc/init.d/ilogtaild stop

2. The following result indicates that Logtail is stopped.

   kill process Name: ilogtail pid: 7
   kill process Name: ilogtail pid: 9
   stop success

3. Start Logtail.

   logtail-ds-gb92k is the container name and kube-system is the namespace. Replace them as needed.

   kubectl exec logtail-ds-gb92k -n kube-system /etc/init.d/ilogtaild start

The following result indicates that Logtail is started.

ilogtail is running