Azure Blob Storage
Store your observability data in Azure Blob Storage
Configuration
Example configurations
{
"sinks": {
"my_sink_id": {
"type": "azure_blob",
"inputs": [
"my-source-or-transform-id"
],
"container_name": "my-logs"
}
}
}
[sinks.my_sink_id]
type = "azure_blob"
inputs = [ "my-source-or-transform-id" ]
container_name = "my-logs"
sinks:
my_sink_id:
type: azure_blob
inputs:
- my-source-or-transform-id
container_name: my-logs
{
"sinks": {
"my_sink_id": {
"type": "azure_blob",
"inputs": [
"my-source-or-transform-id"
],
"blob_prefix": "blob/%F/",
"compression": "gzip",
"connection_string": "DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https;AccountName=mylogstorage;AccountKey=storageaccountkeybase64encoded;EndpointSuffix=core.windows.net",
"container_name": "my-logs",
"endpoint": "https://test.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/",
"storage_account": "mylogstorage"
}
}
}
[sinks.my_sink_id]
type = "azure_blob"
inputs = [ "my-source-or-transform-id" ]
blob_prefix = "blob/%F/"
compression = "gzip"
connection_string = "DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https;AccountName=mylogstorage;AccountKey=storageaccountkeybase64encoded;EndpointSuffix=core.windows.net"
container_name = "my-logs"
endpoint = "https://test.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/"
storage_account = "mylogstorage"
sinks:
my_sink_id:
type: azure_blob
inputs:
- my-source-or-transform-id
blob_prefix: blob/%F/
compression: gzip
connection_string: DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https;AccountName=mylogstorage;AccountKey=storageaccountkeybase64encoded;EndpointSuffix=core.windows.net
container_name: my-logs
endpoint: https://test.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/
storage_account: mylogstorage
acknowledgements
optional objectControls how acknowledgements are handled for this sink.
See End-to-end Acknowledgements for more information on how event acknowledgement is handled.
acknowledgements.enabled
optional boolWhether or not end-to-end acknowledgements are enabled.
When enabled for a sink, any source connected to that sink, where the source supports end-to-end acknowledgements as well, waits for events to be acknowledged by all connected sinks before acknowledging them at the source.
Enabling or disabling acknowledgements at the sink level takes precedence over any global
acknowledgements
configuration.
batch
optional objectbatch.max_bytes
optional uintThe maximum size of a batch that is processed by a sink.
This is based on the uncompressed size of the batched events, before they are serialized/compressed.
1e+07
(bytes)batch.max_events
optional uintbatch.timeout_secs
optional float300
(seconds)blob_append_uuid
optional boolWhether or not to append a UUID v4 token to the end of the blob key.
The UUID is appended to the timestamp portion of the object key, such that if the blob key
generated is date=2022-07-18/1658176486
, setting this field to true
results
in an blob key that looks like
date=2022-07-18/1658176486-30f6652c-71da-4f9f-800d-a1189c47c547
.
This ensures there are no name collisions, and can be useful in high-volume workloads where blob keys must be unique.
blob_prefix
optional string templateA prefix to apply to all blob keys.
Prefixes are useful for partitioning objects, such as by creating a blob key that
stores blobs under a particular directory. If using a prefix for this purpose, it must end
in /
to act as a directory path. A trailing /
is not automatically added.
"date/%F/hour/%H/"
"year=%Y/month=%m/day=%d/"
"kubernetes/{{ metadata.cluster }}/{{ metadata.application_name }}/"
blob/%F/
blob_time_format
optional string strftimeThe timestamp format for the time component of the blob key.
By default, blob keys are appended with a timestamp that reflects when the blob are sent to
Azure Blob Storage, such that the resulting blob key is functionally equivalent to joining
the blob prefix with the formatted timestamp, such as date=2022-07-18/1658176486
.
This would represent a blob_prefix
set to date=%F/
and the timestamp of Mon Jul 18 2022
20:34:44 GMT+0000, with the filename_time_format
being set to %s
, which renders
timestamps in seconds since the Unix epoch.
Supports the common strftime
specifiers found in most
languages.
When set to an empty string, no timestamp is appended to the blob prefix.
buffer
optional objectConfigures the buffering behavior for this sink.
More information about the individual buffer types, and buffer behavior, can be found in the Buffering Model section.
buffer.max_events
optional uinttype = "memory"
500
buffer.max_size
required uintThe maximum size of the buffer on disk.
Must be at least ~256 megabytes (268435488 bytes).
type = "disk"
buffer.type
optional string literal enumOption | Description |
---|---|
disk | Events are buffered on disk. This is less performant, but more durable. Data that has been synchronized to disk will not be lost if Vector is restarted forcefully or crashes. Data is synchronized to disk every 500ms. |
memory | Events are buffered in memory. This is more performant, but less durable. Data will be lost if Vector is restarted forcefully or crashes. |
memory
buffer.when_full
optional string literal enumOption | Description |
---|---|
block | Wait for free space in the buffer. This applies backpressure up the topology, signalling that sources should slow down the acceptance/consumption of events. This means that while no data is lost, data will pile up at the edge. |
drop_newest | Drops the event instead of waiting for free space in buffer. The event will be intentionally dropped. This mode is typically used when performance is the highest priority, and it is preferable to temporarily lose events rather than cause a slowdown in the acceptance/consumption of events. |
block
compression
optional string literal enumCompression configuration.
All compression algorithms use the default compression level unless otherwise specified.
Some cloud storage API clients and browsers handle decompression transparently, so depending on how they are accessed, files may not always appear to be compressed.
gzip
connection_string
optional string literalThe Azure Blob Storage Account connection string.
Authentication with an access key or shared access signature (SAS)
are supported authentication methods. If using a non-account SAS,
healthchecks will fail and will need to be disabled by setting
healthcheck.enabled
to false
for this sink
When generating an account SAS, the following are the minimum required option settings for Vector to access blob storage and pass a health check.
Option | Value |
---|---|
Allowed services | Blob |
Allowed resource types | Container & Object |
Allowed permissions | Read & Create |
Either storage_account
, or this field, must be specified.
container_name
required string literalencoding
required objectencoding.avro
required objectcodec = "avro"
encoding.avro.schema
required string literalencoding.cef
required objectcodec = "cef"
encoding.cef.device_event_class_id
required string literalencoding.cef.device_product
required string literalencoding.cef.device_vendor
required string literalencoding.cef.device_version
required string literalencoding.cef.extensions
optional objectencoding.cef.extensions.*
required string literalencoding.cef.name
required string literalencoding.cef.severity
required string literalThis is a path that points to the field of a log event that reflects importance of the event. Reflects importance of the event.
It must point to a number from 0 to 10. 0 = Lowest, 10 = Highest. Equals to “cef.severity” by default.
encoding.cef.version
required string literal enumOption | Description |
---|---|
V0 | CEF specification version 0.1. |
V1 | CEF specification version 1.x. |
encoding.codec
required string literal enumOption | Description |
---|---|
avro | Encodes an event as an Apache Avro message. |
cef | Encodes an event as a CEF (Common Event Format) formatted message. |
csv | Encodes an event as a CSV message. This codec must be configured with fields to encode. |
gelf | Encodes an event as a GELF message. This codec is experimental for the following reason: The GELF specification is more strict than the actual Graylog receiver.
Vector’s encoder currently adheres more strictly to the GELF spec, with
the exception that some characters such as Other GELF codecs such as Loki’s, use a Go SDK that is maintained by Graylog, and is much more relaxed than the GELF spec. Going forward, Vector will use that Go SDK as the reference implementation, which means the codec may continue to relax the enforcement of specification. |
json | Encodes an event as JSON. |
logfmt | Encodes an event as a logfmt message. |
native | Encodes an event in the native Protocol Buffers format. This codec is experimental. |
native_json | Encodes an event in the native JSON format. This codec is experimental. |
protobuf | Encodes an event as a Protobuf message. |
raw_message | No encoding. This encoding uses the Be careful if you are modifying your log events (for example, by using a |
text | Plain text encoding. This encoding uses the Be careful if you are modifying your log events (for example, by using a |
encoding.csv
required objectcodec = "csv"
encoding.csv.capacity
optional uint8192
encoding.csv.double_quote
optional boolEnable double quote escapes.
This is enabled by default, but it may be disabled. When disabled, quotes in field data are escaped instead of doubled.
true
encoding.csv.escape
optional ascii_charThe escape character to use when writing CSV.
In some variants of CSV, quotes are escaped using a special escape character like \ (instead of escaping quotes by doubling them).
To use this, double_quotes
needs to be disabled as well otherwise it is ignored.
"
encoding.csv.fields
required [string]Configures the fields that will be encoded, as well as the order in which they appear in the output.
If a field is not present in the event, the output will be an empty string.
Values of type Array
, Object
, and Regex
are not supported and the
output will be an empty string.
encoding.csv.quote_style
optional string literal enumOption | Description |
---|---|
always | Always puts quotes around every field. |
necessary | Puts quotes around fields only when necessary. They are necessary when fields contain a quote, delimiter, or record terminator. Quotes are also necessary when writing an empty record (which is indistinguishable from a record with one empty field). |
never | Never writes quotes, even if it produces invalid CSV data. |
non_numeric | Puts quotes around all fields that are non-numeric. Namely, when writing a field that does not parse as a valid float or integer, then quotes are used even if they aren’t strictly necessary. |
necessary
encoding.except_fields
optional [string]encoding.metric_tag_values
optional string literal enumControls how metric tag values are encoded.
When set to single
, only the last non-bare value of tags are displayed with the
metric. When set to full
, all metric tags are exposed as separate assignments.
codec = "json" or codec = "text"
Option | Description |
---|---|
full | All tags are exposed as arrays of either string or null values. |
single | Tag values are exposed as single strings, the same as they were before this config option. Tags with multiple values show the last assigned value, and null values are ignored. |
single
encoding.only_fields
optional [string]encoding.protobuf
required objectcodec = "protobuf"
encoding.protobuf.desc_file
required string literalThe path to the protobuf descriptor set file.
This file is the output of protoc -o <path> ...
encoding.protobuf.message_type
required string literalencoding.timestamp_format
optional string literal enumOption | Description |
---|---|
rfc3339 | Represent the timestamp as a RFC 3339 timestamp. |
unix | Represent the timestamp as a Unix timestamp. |
unix_float | Represent the timestamp as a Unix timestamp in floating point. |
unix_ms | Represent the timestamp as a Unix timestamp in milliseconds. |
unix_ns | Represent the timestamp as a Unix timestamp in nanoseconds. |
unix_us | Represent the timestamp as a Unix timestamp in microseconds |
endpoint
optional string literalThe Azure Blob Storage Endpoint URL.
This is used to override the default blob storage endpoint URL in cases where you are using credentials read from the environment/managed identities or access tokens without using an explicit connection_string (which already explicitly supports overriding the blob endpoint URL).
This may only be used with storage_account
and is ignored when used with
connection_string
.
framing
optional objectframing.character_delimited
required objectmethod = "character_delimited"
framing.character_delimited.delimiter
required ascii_charframing.length_delimited
required objectmethod = "length_delimited"
framing.length_delimited.length_field_is_big_endian
optional booltrue
framing.length_delimited.length_field_length
optional uint4
framing.length_delimited.length_field_offset
optional uintframing.method
required string literal enumOption | Description |
---|---|
bytes | Event data is not delimited at all. |
character_delimited | Event data is delimited by a single ASCII (7-bit) character. |
length_delimited | Event data is prefixed with its length in bytes. The prefix is a 32-bit unsigned integer, little endian. |
newline_delimited | Event data is delimited by a newline (LF) character. |
healthcheck
optional objecthealthcheck.enabled
optional booltrue
inputs
required [string]A list of upstream source or transform IDs.
Wildcards (*
) are supported.
See configuration for more info.
request
optional objectMiddleware settings for outbound requests.
Various settings can be configured, such as concurrency and rate limits, timeouts, retry behavior, etc.
Note that the retry backoff policy follows the Fibonacci sequence.
request.adaptive_concurrency
optional objectConfiguration of adaptive concurrency parameters.
These parameters typically do not require changes from the default, and incorrect values can lead to meta-stable or unstable performance and sink behavior. Proceed with caution.
request.adaptive_concurrency.decrease_ratio
optional floatThe fraction of the current value to set the new concurrency limit when decreasing the limit.
Valid values are greater than 0
and less than 1
. Smaller values cause the algorithm to scale back rapidly
when latency increases.
Note that the new limit is rounded down after applying this ratio.
0.9
request.adaptive_concurrency.ewma_alpha
optional floatThe weighting of new measurements compared to older measurements.
Valid values are greater than 0
and less than 1
.
ARC uses an exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) of past RTT measurements as a reference to compare with the current RTT. Smaller values cause this reference to adjust more slowly, which may be useful if a service has unusually high response variability.
0.4
request.adaptive_concurrency.initial_concurrency
optional uintThe initial concurrency limit to use. If not specified, the initial limit will be 1 (no concurrency).
It is recommended to set this value to your service’s average limit if you’re seeing that it takes a
long time to ramp up adaptive concurrency after a restart. You can find this value by looking at the
adaptive_concurrency_limit
metric.
1
request.adaptive_concurrency.max_concurrency_limit
optional uintThe maximum concurrency limit.
The adaptive request concurrency limit will not go above this bound. This is put in place as a safeguard.
200
request.adaptive_concurrency.rtt_deviation_scale
optional floatScale of RTT deviations which are not considered anomalous.
Valid values are greater than or equal to 0
, and we expect reasonable values to range from 1.0
to 3.0
.
When calculating the past RTT average, we also compute a secondary “deviation” value that indicates how variable those values are. We use that deviation when comparing the past RTT average to the current measurements, so we can ignore increases in RTT that are within an expected range. This factor is used to scale up the deviation to an appropriate range. Larger values cause the algorithm to ignore larger increases in the RTT.
2.5
request.concurrency
optional string literal enum uintConfiguration for outbound request concurrency.
This can be set either to one of the below enum values or to a positive integer, which denotes a fixed concurrency limit.
Option | Description |
---|---|
adaptive | Concurrency will be managed by Vector’s Adaptive Request Concurrency feature. |
none | A fixed concurrency of 1. Only one request can be outstanding at any given time. |
adaptive
request.rate_limit_duration_secs
optional uintrate_limit_num
option.1
(seconds)request.rate_limit_num
optional uintrate_limit_duration_secs
time window.250
(requests)request.retry_attempts
optional uint9.223372036854776e+18
(retries)request.retry_initial_backoff_secs
optional uintThe amount of time to wait before attempting the first retry for a failed request.
After the first retry has failed, the fibonacci sequence is used to select future backoffs.
1
(seconds)request.retry_jitter_mode
optional string literal enumOption | Description |
---|---|
Full | Full jitter. The random delay is anywhere from 0 up to the maximum current delay calculated by the backoff strategy. Incorporating full jitter into your backoff strategy can greatly reduce the likelihood of creating accidental denial of service (DoS) conditions against your own systems when many clients are recovering from a failure state. |
None | No jitter. |
Full
request.retry_max_duration_secs
optional uint30
(seconds)request.timeout_secs
optional uintThe time a request can take before being aborted.
Datadog highly recommends that you do not lower this value below the service’s internal timeout, as this could create orphaned requests, pile on retries, and result in duplicate data downstream.
60
(seconds)storage_account
optional string literalThe Azure Blob Storage Account name.
Attempts to load credentials for the account in the following ways, in order:
- read from environment variables (more information)
- looks for a Managed Identity
- uses the
az
CLI tool to get an access token (more information)
Either connection_string
, or this field, must be specified.
Telemetry
Metrics
linkbuffer_byte_size
gaugebuffer_discarded_events_total
counterbuffer_events
gaugebuffer_received_event_bytes_total
counterbuffer_received_events_total
counterbuffer_sent_event_bytes_total
counterbuffer_sent_events_total
countercomponent_discarded_events_total
counterfilter
transform, or false if due to an error.component_errors_total
countercomponent_received_event_bytes_total
countercomponent_received_events_count
histogramA histogram of the number of events passed in each internal batch in Vector’s internal topology.
Note that this is separate than sink-level batching. It is mostly useful for low level debugging performance issues in Vector due to small internal batches.
component_received_events_total
countercomponent_sent_bytes_total
countercomponent_sent_event_bytes_total
countercomponent_sent_events_total
counterutilization
gaugeHow it works
Buffers and batches
This component buffers & batches data as shown in the diagram above. You’ll notice that Vector treats these concepts differently, instead of treating them as global concepts, Vector treats them as sink specific concepts. This isolates sinks, ensuring services disruptions are contained and delivery guarantees are honored.
Batches are flushed when 1 of 2 conditions are met:
- The batch age meets or exceeds the configured
timeout_secs
. - The batch size meets or exceeds the configured
max_bytes
ormax_events
.
Buffers are controlled via the buffer.*
options.
Health checks
Require health checks
If you’d like to exit immediately upon a health check failure, you can pass the
--require-healthy
flag:
vector --config /etc/vector/vector.yaml --require-healthy
Disable health checks
healthcheck
option to
false
.Object naming
By default, Vector names your blobs different based on whether or not the blobs are compressed.
Here is the format without compression:
<key_prefix><timestamp>-<uuidv4>.log
Here’s an example blob name without compression:
blob/2021-06-23/1560886634-fddd7a0e-fad9-4f7e-9bce-00ae5debc563.log
And here is the format with compression:
<key_prefix><timestamp>-<uuidv4>.log.gz
An example blob name with compression:
blob/2021-06-23/1560886634-fddd7a0e-fad9-4f7e-9bce-00ae5debc563.log.gz
Vector appends a UUIDV4 token to ensure there are no name conflicts in the unlikely event that two Vector instances are writing data at the same time.
You can control the resulting name via the blob_prefix
,
blob_time_format
, and blob_append_uuid
options.
For example, to store objects at the root Azure storage folder, without a timestamp or UUID use these configuration options:
blob_prefix = "{{ my_file_name }}"
blob_time_format = ""
blob_append_uuid = false
Rate limits & adaptive concurrency
Adaptive Request Concurrency (ARC)
Adaptive Request Concurrency is a feature of Vector that does away with static concurrency limits and automatically optimizes HTTP concurrency based on downstream service responses. The underlying mechanism is a feedback loop inspired by TCP congestion control algorithms. Checkout the announcement blog post,
We highly recommend enabling this feature as it improves performance and reliability of Vector and the systems it communicates with. As such, we have made it the default, and no further configuration is required.
Static concurrency
If Adaptive Request Concurrency is not for you, you can manually set static concurrency
limits by specifying an integer for request.concurrency
:
sinks:
my-sink:
request:
concurrency: 10
Rate limits
In addition to limiting request concurrency, you can also limit the overall request
throughput via the request.rate_limit_duration_secs
and request.rate_limit_num
options.
sinks:
my-sink:
request:
rate_limit_duration_secs: 1
rate_limit_num: 10
These will apply to both adaptive
and fixed request.concurrency
values.