you need to have a pattern for your ruleset, which will match the $program macro. <patterndb version='3' pub_date='2011-02-11'> <ruleset name='session_close' id='123456678'> <pattern>RT_FLOW</pattern> <rules> <rule provider='cj' id='182437592347598' class='session'> <patterns> <pattern>@ESTRING:TEST1:::@ @ANYSTRING:TEST2@</pattern> </patterns> </rule> </rules> </ruleset> </patterndb> Then TEST1 should be RT_FLOW_SESSION_CLOSE and TEST2 should be session closed unset: 192.168.199.253/55189->8.8.8.8/53 junos-dns-udp X.X.X.X/60836->8.8.8.8/53 source-nat-rule None 17 trust-to-untrust trust untrust 30455 1(83) 1(83) 2 N/A N/A N/A(N/A) vlan.0 home that helps. Evan. ________________________________________ From: syslog-ng-bounces@lists.balabit.hu [syslog-ng-bounces@lists.balabit.hu] On Behalf Of Chris Johnson [masterof0@gmail.com] Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2012 4:44 PM To: Syslog-ng and developers' mailing list users' Subject: [syslog-ng] Cant get pattern matching to work Sorry for bombarding the mailing list with questions. I have been working through the documentation but just seem to keep hitting obstacles. I have compared this to the examples in the manual and some samples I was able to track down, but Im not seeing where I am going wrong. For this question, I am working with the following data: "MESSAGE" : "RT_FLOW_SESSION_CLOSE: session closed unset: 192.168.199.253/55189->8.8.8.8/53 junos-dns-udp X.X.X.X/60836->8.8.8.8/53 source-nat-rule None 17 trust-to-untrust trust untrust 30455 1(83) 1(83) 2 N/A N/A N/A(N/A) vlan.0", "PROGRAM" : "RT_FLOW" Based on this , I have generated the following pattern database and config just to see if I am heading down the right path. Unfortunately, what I thought would generate a pattern match on the logs and generate the appropriate macros, are not retuning anything. I have also tried taking out the $PROGRAM patter, but that did not seem to help. I have also validated this with pdbtool and it succeeds. Any help is greatly appreciated Chris patterndb.xml <patterndb version='3' pub_date='2011-02-11'> <ruleset name='session_close' id='123456678'> <rules> <rule provider='cj' id='182437592347598' class='session'> <patterns> <pattern> @ESTRING:TEST1:::@ @ANYSTRING:TEST2@ </pattern> </patterns> </rule> </rules> </ruleset> </patterndb> syslog-ng.conf #####Destinations##### destination d_mongodb { mongodb( value-pairs( key("TEST1") key("TEST2") scope("base") ) ); }; #####Parser##### parser pattern_db { db_parser( file("/usr/local/etc/patterndb.xml") ); }; #####Log##### log { source(s_network); parser(pattern_db); destination(d_mongodb); }; Unfortunately, what I thought would pattern match and generate a macro for