Socket source

Configuration

Example configurations

{
  "sources": {
    "my_source_id": {
      "type": "socket",
      "address": "0.0.0.0:9000",
      "mode": "tcp",
      "path": "/path/to/socket"
    }
  }
}

[sources.my_source_id]
type = "socket"
address = "0.0.0.0:9000"
mode = "tcp"
path = "/path/to/socket"

sources:
  my_source_id:
    type: socket
    address: 0.0.0.0:9000
    mode: tcp
    path: /path/to/socket

{
  "sources": {
    "my_source_id": {
      "type": "socket",
      "address": "0.0.0.0:9000",
      "max_length": 102400,
      "mode": "tcp",
      "path": "/path/to/socket",
      "permit_origin": [
        "192.168.0.0/16"
      ],
      "port_key": "port",
      "shutdown_timeout_secs": 30,
      "socket_file_mode": 511
    }
  }
}

[sources.my_source_id]
type = "socket"
address = "0.0.0.0:9000"
max_length = 102_400
mode = "tcp"
path = "/path/to/socket"
permit_origin = [ "192.168.0.0/16" ]
port_key = "port"
shutdown_timeout_secs = 30
socket_file_mode = 511

sources:
  my_source_id:
    type: socket
    address: 0.0.0.0:9000
    max_length: 102400
    mode: tcp
    path: /path/to/socket
    permit_origin:
      - 192.168.0.0/16
    port_key: port
    shutdown_timeout_secs: 30
    socket_file_mode: 511

address

required string literal

The socket address to listen for connections on, or systemd{#N} to use the Nth socket passed by systemd socket activation.

If a socket address is used, it must include a port.

Examples

"0.0.0.0:9000"

"systemd"

"systemd#3"

Relevant when: mode = "tcp" or mode = "udp"

connection_limit

optional uint

The maximum number of TCP connections that are allowed at any given time.

Relevant when: mode = "tcp"

decoding

optional object

Configures how events are decoded from raw bytes.

decoding.avro

required object

Apache Avro-specific encoder options.

Relevant when: codec = "avro"

decoding.avro.schema

required string literal

The Avro schema definition. Please note that the following [apache_avro::types::Value] variants are currently not supported:

Date
Decimal
Duration
Fixed
TimeMillis

Examples

"{ \"type\": \"record\", \"name\": \"log\", \"fields\": [{ \"name\": \"message\", \"type\": \"string\" }] }"

decoding.avro.strip_schema_id_prefix

required bool

For Avro datum encoded in Kafka messages, the bytes are prefixed with the schema ID. Set this to true to strip the schema ID prefix. According to Confluent Kafka’s document.

Option	Description
`avro`	Decodes the raw bytes as as an Apache Avro message.
`bytes`	Uses the raw bytes as-is.
`gelf`	Decodes the raw bytes 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 decoder currently adheres more strictly to the GELF spec, with the exception that some characters such as `@` are allowed in field names. 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.
`influxdb`	Decodes the raw bytes as an Influxdb Line Protocol message.
`json`	Decodes the raw bytes as JSON.
`native`	Decodes the raw bytes as native Protocol Buffers format. This codec is experimental.
`native_json`	Decodes the raw bytes as native JSON format. This codec is experimental.
`protobuf`	Decodes the raw bytes as protobuf.
`syslog`	Decodes the raw bytes as a Syslog message. Decodes either as the RFC 3164-style format (“old” style) or the RFC 5424-style format (“new” style, includes structured data).
`vrl`	Decodes the raw bytes as a string and passes them as input to a VRL program.

decoding.gelf

optional object

GELF-specific decoding options.

Relevant when: codec = "gelf"

decoding.gelf.lossy

optional bool

Determines whether or not to replace invalid UTF-8 sequences instead of failing.

When true, invalid UTF-8 sequences are replaced with the U+FFFD REPLACEMENT CHARACTER.

default: true

decoding.influxdb

optional object

Influxdb-specific decoding options.

Relevant when: codec = "influxdb"

decoding.influxdb.lossy

optional bool

Determines whether or not to replace invalid UTF-8 sequences instead of failing.

When true, invalid UTF-8 sequences are replaced with the U+FFFD REPLACEMENT CHARACTER.

default: true

decoding.json

optional object

JSON-specific decoding options.

Relevant when: codec = "json"

decoding.json.lossy

optional bool

Determines whether or not to replace invalid UTF-8 sequences instead of failing.

When true, invalid UTF-8 sequences are replaced with the U+FFFD REPLACEMENT CHARACTER.

default: true

decoding.native_json

optional object

Vector’s native JSON-specific decoding options.

Relevant when: codec = "native_json"

decoding.native_json.lossy

optional bool

Determines whether or not to replace invalid UTF-8 sequences instead of failing.

When true, invalid UTF-8 sequences are replaced with the U+FFFD REPLACEMENT CHARACTER.

default: true

decoding.protobuf

optional object

Protobuf-specific decoding options.

Relevant when: codec = "protobuf"

decoding.protobuf.desc_file

optional string literal

Path to desc file

decoding.protobuf.message_type

optional string literal

message type. e.g package.message

decoding.syslog

optional object

Syslog-specific decoding options.

Relevant when: codec = "syslog"

decoding.syslog.lossy

optional bool

Determines whether or not to replace invalid UTF-8 sequences instead of failing.

When true, invalid UTF-8 sequences are replaced with the U+FFFD REPLACEMENT CHARACTER.

default: true

decoding.vrl

required object

VRL-specific decoding options.

Relevant when: codec = "vrl"

The Vector Remap Language (VRL) program to execute for each event. Note that the final contents of the . target will be used as the decoding result. Compilation error or use of ‘abort’ in a program will result in a decoding error.

decoding.vrl.timezone

optional string literal

The name of the timezone to apply to timestamp conversions that do not contain an explicit time zone. The time zone name may be any name in the TZ database, or local to indicate system local time.

If not set, local will be used.

Examples

"local"

"America/New_York"

"EST5EDT"

framing

optional object

Framing configuration.

Framing handles how events are separated when encoded in a raw byte form, where each event is a frame that must be prefixed, or delimited, in a way that marks where an event begins and ends within the byte stream.

framing.character_delimited

required object

Options for the character delimited decoder.

Relevant when: method = "character_delimited"

framing.character_delimited.delimiter

required ascii_char

The character that delimits byte sequences.

framing.character_delimited.max_length

optional uint

The maximum length of the byte buffer.

This length does not include the trailing delimiter.

By default, there is no maximum length enforced. If events are malformed, this can lead to additional resource usage as events continue to be buffered in memory, and can potentially lead to memory exhaustion in extreme cases.

If there is a risk of processing malformed data, such as logs with user-controlled input, consider setting the maximum length to a reasonably large value as a safety net. This ensures that processing is not actually unbounded.

framing.chunked_gelf

optional object

Options for the chunked GELF decoder.

Relevant when: method = "chunked_gelf"

framing.chunked_gelf.max_length

optional uint

The maximum length of a single GELF message, in bytes. Messages longer than this length will be dropped. If this option is not set, the decoder does not limit the length of messages and the per-message memory is unbounded.

Note that a message can be composed of multiple chunks and this limit is applied to the whole message, not to individual chunks.

This limit takes only into account the message’s payload and the GELF header bytes are excluded from the calculation. The message’s payload is the concatenation of all the chunks’ payloads.

framing.chunked_gelf.pending_messages_limit

optional uint

The maximum number of pending incomplete messages. If this limit is reached, the decoder starts dropping chunks of new messages, ensuring the memory usage of the decoder’s state is bounded. If this option is not set, the decoder does not limit the number of pending messages and the memory usage of its messages buffer can grow unbounded. This matches Graylog Server’s behavior.

framing.chunked_gelf.timeout_secs

optional float

The timeout, in seconds, for a message to be fully received. If the timeout is reached, the decoder drops all the received chunks of the timed out message.

default: 5

framing.length_delimited

required object

Options for the length delimited decoder.

Relevant when: method = "length_delimited"

framing.length_delimited.length_field_is_big_endian

optional bool

Length field byte order (little or big endian)

default: true

framing.length_delimited.length_field_length

optional uint

Number of bytes representing the field length

default: 4

framing.length_delimited.length_field_offset

optional uint

Number of bytes in the header before the length field

framing.length_delimited.max_frame_length

optional uint

Maximum frame length

default: 8.388608e+06

framing.method

required string literal enum

The framing method.

Enum options

Option	Description
`bytes`	Byte frames are passed through as-is according to the underlying I/O boundaries (for example, split between messages or stream segments).
`character_delimited`	Byte frames which are delimited by a chosen character.
`chunked_gelf`	Byte frames which are chunked GELF messages.
`length_delimited`	Byte frames which are prefixed by an unsigned big-endian 32-bit integer indicating the length.
`newline_delimited`	Byte frames which are delimited by a newline character.
`octet_counting`	Byte frames according to the octet counting format.

Examples

"bytes"

"character_delimited"

"chunked_gelf"

"length_delimited"

"newline_delimited"

"octet_counting"

framing.newline_delimited

optional object

Options for the newline delimited decoder.

Relevant when: method = "newline_delimited"

framing.newline_delimited.max_length

optional uint

The maximum length of the byte buffer.

This length does not include the trailing delimiter.

framing.octet_counting

optional object

Options for the octet counting decoder.

Relevant when: method = "octet_counting"

framing.octet_counting.max_length

optional uint

The maximum length of the byte buffer.

host_key

optional string literal

Overrides the name of the log field used to add the peer host to each event.

The value will be the peer host’s address, including the port i.e. 1.2.3.4:9000.

By default, the global log_schema.host_key option is used.

Set to "" to suppress this key.

keepalive

optional object

TCP keepalive settings for socket-based components.

keepalive.time_secs

optional uint

The time to wait before starting to send TCP keepalive probes on an idle connection.

Relevant when: mode = "tcp"

max_connection_duration_secs

optional uint

Maximum duration to keep each connection open. Connections open for longer than this duration are closed.

This is helpful for load balancing long-lived connections.

Relevant when: mode = "tcp"

max_length

optional uint

The maximum buffer size of incoming messages.

Messages larger than this are truncated.

default: 102400 (bytes)

Relevant when: mode = "udp"

mode

required string literal enum

The type of socket to use.

Examples

"tcp"

"udp"

"unix_datagram"

"unix_stream"

Enum options string literal

Option	Description
`tcp`	Listen on TCP.
`udp`	Listen on UDP.
`unix_datagram`	Listen on a Unix domain socket (UDS), in datagram mode.
`unix_stream`	Listen on a Unix domain socket (UDS), in stream mode.

path

required string literal

The Unix socket path.

This should be an absolute path.

Examples

"/path/to/socket"

Relevant when: mode = "unix_datagram" or mode = "unix_stream"

permit_origin

optional [string]

List of allowed origin IP networks. IP addresses must be in CIDR notation.

Array string literal

Examples

[
  "192.168.0.0/16",
  "127.0.0.1/32",
  "::1/128",
  "9876:9ca3:99ab::23/128"
]

Relevant when: mode = "tcp"

port_key

optional string literal

Overrides the name of the log field used to add the peer host’s port to each event.

The value will be the peer host’s port i.e. 9000.

By default, "port" is used.

Set to "" to suppress this key.

default: port

Relevant when: mode = "tcp" or mode = "udp"

receive_buffer_bytes

optional uint

The size of the receive buffer used for each connection.

Relevant when: mode = "tcp" or mode = "udp"

shutdown_timeout_secs

optional uint

The timeout before a connection is forcefully closed during shutdown.

default: 30 (seconds)

Relevant when: mode = "tcp"

socket_file_mode

optional uint

Unix file mode bits to be applied to the unix socket file as its designated file permissions.

Note: The file mode value can be specified in any numeric format supported by your configuration language, but it is most intuitive to use an octal number.

Examples

Relevant when: mode = "unix_datagram" or mode = "unix_stream"

tls

optional object

TlsEnableableConfig for sources, adding metadata from the client certificate.

tls.alpn_protocols

optional [string]

Sets the list of supported ALPN protocols.

Declare the supported ALPN protocols, which are used during negotiation with peer. They are prioritized in the order that they are defined.

tls.ca_file

optional string literal

Absolute path to an additional CA certificate file.

The certificate must be in the DER or PEM (X.509) format. Additionally, the certificate can be provided as an inline string in PEM format.

Examples

"/path/to/certificate_authority.crt"

tls.client_metadata_key

optional string literal

Event field for client certificate metadata.

tls.crt_file

optional string literal

Absolute path to a certificate file used to identify this server.

The certificate must be in DER, PEM (X.509), or PKCS#12 format. Additionally, the certificate can be provided as an inline string in PEM format.

If this is set, and is not a PKCS#12 archive, key_file must also be set.

Examples

"/path/to/host_certificate.crt"

tls.enabled

optional bool

Whether or not to require TLS for incoming or outgoing connections.

When enabled and used for incoming connections, an identity certificate is also required. See tls.crt_file for more information.

tls.key_file

optional string literal

Absolute path to a private key file used to identify this server.

The key must be in DER or PEM (PKCS#8) format. Additionally, the key can be provided as an inline string in PEM format.

Examples

"/path/to/host_certificate.key"

tls.key_pass

optional string literal

Passphrase used to unlock the encrypted key file.

This has no effect unless key_file is set.

Examples

"${KEY_PASS_ENV_VAR}"

"PassWord1"

tls.server_name

optional string literal

Server name to use when using Server Name Indication (SNI).

Only relevant for outgoing connections.

Examples

"www.example.com"

tls.verify_certificate

optional bool

Enables certificate verification. For components that create a server, this requires that the client connections have a valid client certificate. For components that initiate requests, this validates that the upstream has a valid certificate.

If enabled, certificates must not be expired and must be issued by a trusted issuer. This verification operates in a hierarchical manner, checking that the leaf certificate (the certificate presented by the client/server) is not only valid, but that the issuer of that certificate is also valid, and so on until the verification process reaches a root certificate.

Do NOT set this to false unless you understand the risks of not verifying the validity of certificates.

tls.verify_hostname

optional bool

Enables hostname verification.

If enabled, the hostname used to connect to the remote host must be present in the TLS certificate presented by the remote host, either as the Common Name or as an entry in the Subject Alternative Name extension.

Only relevant for outgoing connections.

Do NOT set this to false unless you understand the risks of not verifying the remote hostname.

Relevant when: mode = "tcp"

Outputs

<component_id>

Default output stream of the component. Use this component’s ID as an input to downstream transforms and sinks.

Output Data

Logs

Warning

The fields shown below will be different if log namespacing is enabled. See Log Namespacing for more details

Line

A single socket event.

Fields

client_metadata optional object

Client TLS metadata.

host required string literal

The peer host IP address.

Examples

129.21.31.122

message required string literal

The raw line, unparsed.

Examples

2019-02-13T19:48:34+00:00 [info] Started GET "/" for 127.0.0.1

port optional uint

The peer source port.

Examples

source_type required string literal

The name of the source type.

Examples

socket

timestamp required timestamp

The exact time the event was ingested into Vector.

Examples

2020-10-10T17:07:36.452332Z

Telemetry

Metrics

link

component_discarded_events_total

counter

The number of events dropped by this component.

component_id

The Vector component ID.

component_kind

The Vector component kind.

component_type

The Vector component type.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

intentional

True if the events were discarded intentionally, like a filter transform, or false if due to an error.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

component_errors_total

counter

The total number of errors encountered by this component.

component_id

The Vector component ID.

component_kind

The Vector component kind.

component_type

The Vector component type.

error_type

The type of the error

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

stage

The stage within the component at which the error occurred.

component_received_bytes

histogram

The size in bytes of each event received by the source.

component_id

The Vector component ID.

component_kind

The Vector component kind.

component_type

The Vector component type.

container_name optional

The name of the container from which the data originated.

file optional

The file from which the data originated.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

mode optional

The connection mode used by the component.

peer_addr optional

The IP from which the data originated.

peer_path optional

The pathname from which the data originated.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

pod_name optional

The name of the pod from which the data originated.

uri optional

The sanitized URI from which the data originated.

component_received_bytes_total

counter

The number of raw bytes accepted by this component from source origins.

component_id

The Vector component ID.

component_kind

The Vector component kind.

component_type

The Vector component type.

container_name optional

The name of the container from which the data originated.

file optional

The file from which the data originated.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

mode optional

The connection mode used by the component.

peer_addr optional

The IP from which the data originated.

peer_path optional

The pathname from which the data originated.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

pod_name optional

The name of the pod from which the data originated.

uri optional

The sanitized URI from which the data originated.

component_received_event_bytes_total

counter

The number of event bytes accepted by this component either from tagged origins like file and uri, or cumulatively from other origins.

component_id

The Vector component ID.

component_kind

The Vector component kind.

component_type

The Vector component type.

container_name optional

The name of the container from which the data originated.

file optional

The file from which the data originated.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

mode optional

The connection mode used by the component.

peer_addr optional

The IP from which the data originated.

peer_path optional

The pathname from which the data originated.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

pod_name optional

The name of the pod from which the data originated.

uri optional

The sanitized URI from which the data originated.

component_received_events_count

histogram

A 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_id

The Vector component ID.

component_kind

The Vector component kind.

component_type

The Vector component type.

container_name optional

The name of the container from which the data originated.

file optional

The file from which the data originated.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

mode optional

The connection mode used by the component.

peer_addr optional

The IP from which the data originated.

peer_path optional

The pathname from which the data originated.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

pod_name optional

The name of the pod from which the data originated.

uri optional

The sanitized URI from which the data originated.

component_received_events_total

counter

The number of events accepted by this component either from tagged origins like file and uri, or cumulatively from other origins.

component_id

The Vector component ID.

component_kind

The Vector component kind.

component_type

The Vector component type.

container_name optional

The name of the container from which the data originated.

file optional

The file from which the data originated.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

mode optional

The connection mode used by the component.

peer_addr optional

The IP from which the data originated.

peer_path optional

The pathname from which the data originated.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

pod_name optional

The name of the pod from which the data originated.

uri optional

The sanitized URI from which the data originated.

component_sent_event_bytes_total

counter

The total number of event bytes emitted by this component.

component_id

The Vector component ID.

component_kind

The Vector component kind.

component_type

The Vector component type.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

output optional

The specific output of the component.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

component_sent_events_total

counter

The total number of events emitted by this component.

component_id

The Vector component ID.

component_kind

The Vector component kind.

component_type

The Vector component type.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

output optional

The specific output of the component.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

connection_established_total

counter

The total number of times a connection has been established.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

connection_send_errors_total

counter

The total number of errors sending data via the connection.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

connection_shutdown_total

counter

The total number of times the connection has been shut down.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

source_lag_time_seconds

histogram

The difference between the timestamp recorded in each event and the time when it was ingested, expressed as fractional seconds.

component_id

The Vector component ID.

component_kind

The Vector component kind.

component_type

The Vector component type.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

Examples

Socket line

Given this event...

2019-02-13T19:48:34+00:00 [info] Started GET "/" for 127.0.0.1

...and this configuration...

sources:
  my_source_id:
    type: socket

[sources.my_source_id]
type = "socket"

{
  "sources": {
    "my_source_id": {
      "type": "socket"
    }
  }
}

...this Vector event is produced:

{
  "host": "my-host.local",
  "message": "2019-02-13T19:48:34+00:00 [info] Started GET \"/\" for 127.0.0.1",
  "source_type": "socket",
  "timestamp": "2020-10-10T17:07:36.452332Z"
}

How it works

Context

By default, the socket source augments events with helpful context keys.

State

This component is stateless, meaning its behavior is consistent across each input.

Transport Layer Security (TLS)

Vector uses OpenSSL for TLS protocols due to OpenSSL’s maturity. You can enable and adjust TLS behavior via the tls.* options and/or via an OpenSSL configuration file. The file location defaults to /usr/local/ssl/openssl.cnf or can be specified with the OPENSSL_CONF environment variable.