[syslog-ng] Losing TAG information

Thu Jun 22 15:14:17 CEST 2006

Thanks Nate!

It seems that the bad_hostname option worked!  I am going to monitor for
a while to see if it has any negative effects but all preliminary
investigations point to success.

Im curious though, what exactly does the bad_hostname option do?  You
write in you post below that SRV4-type boxes leave out the hostname when
sending syslogs over the wire.  My packet captures have revealed that
the hostnames are intact, except they have the string "Message forwarded
from host" in front of it.  Then a colon and then TAG information.  Here
is what my captured packet actually looked like:

0000   00 0d 60 b6 71 10 00 09 e8 b0 9e a1 08 00 45 00  ..`.q.........E.
0010   00 6e 75 f0 00 00 1d 11 a0 8d 0a 18 36 0a 0a 18  .nu.........6...
0020   3c c8 86 6a 02 02 00 5a a4 06 3c 31 31 3e 4a 75  <..j...Z..<11>Ju
0030   6e 20 31 33 20 31 34 3a 32 37 3a 35 30 20 4d 65  n 13 14:27:50 Me
0040   73 73 61 67 65 20 66 6f 72 77 61 72 64 65 64 20  ssage forwarded 
0050   66 72 6f 6d 20 61 64 64 61 3a 20 74 65 73 74 69  from adda: testi
0060   6e 67 20 3a 20 54 65 73 74 69 6e 67 20 5e 3f 67  ng : Testing ^?g
0070   67 67 67 67 67 67 67 67 67 67 67 20              ggggggggggg

As you can see the hostname is there, just not alone.  What goes on to
this packet with the bad_hostname() option turned on as opposed to off.

Thanks.

Alex

-----Original Message-----
From: syslog-ng-bounces at lists.balabit.hu
[mailto:syslog-ng-bounces at lists.balabit.hu] On Behalf Of Nate Campi
Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2006 7:55 PM
To: Syslog-ng users' and developers' mailing list
Subject: Re: [syslog-ng] Losing TAG information

Are you running syslog-ng on the AIX host as well? I think you probably
aren't. SRV4-type boxes leave out the hostname when sending syslogs over
the wire, but leave the rest of the header intact:

 http://www.campin.net/syslog-ng/syslog.html#missing_parts

This is highly confusing behavior, especially when there are spaces in
the program name. This is why I requested and Bazsi created the
"bad_hostname()" option. Either put syslog-ng on the AIX boxes or use
bad_hostname() on your syslog-ng loghost.

On Mon, Jun 19, 2006 at 09:21:05AM -0500, SOLIS, ALEX wrote:
> 
> I appreciate your sympathy but it does not help me with my TAG
problem.
> :)
> 
> Anyone else have any idea how to stop syslog-ng from purging the TAG
> information from an AIX syslogd message.  I have successfully sniffed
> syslog traffic between the AIX servers and my LOGHOST.  The TAG
(Process
> Name info) is definitely intact on the wire.  This confirms that
> syslog-ng is simply parsing the log message and removing the TAG info.
> 
> I did some more tests on the Linux LOGHOST using the logger utility
and
> I found that syslog-ng does not like spaces after the TAG information.
> For example:
> 
> 1)	   Logger -p syslog.info -t "TEST_TAG" "TEST_MESSAGE"
> 	
> 	Generates the log:
> 
> 	   Jun 19 08:42:38 loghost TEST_TAG: TEST_MESSAGE
> 
> 	
> 2)	   Logger -p syslog.info -t "TEST_TAG " "TEST_MESSAGE"
> 
> 	Generates the log:
> 
> 	    Jun 19 08:44:08 loghost : TEST_MESSAGE
> 
> Example two lost the TAG information because of the space after
> TEST_TAG.  I have considered the possibility that the messages being
> sent from the AIX box do not conform to syslog formatting standards
and
> therefore syslog-ng discards the field.  But I would like to know if
> there is anything that can be done to stop this behavior. 
> 
> Thanks for all responses, even sympathetic ones. :)
> 
> Alex
> 	
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Valdis.Kletnieks at vt.edu [mailto:Valdis.Kletnieks at vt.edu] 
> Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2006 9:09 PM
> To: SOLIS, ALEX
> Subject: Re: [syslog-ng] Losing TAG information
> 
> On Tue, 13 Jun 2006 10:07:33 CDT, "SOLIS, ALEX" said:
> 
>  (off-list reply)
> 
> > I have about 20 or so AIX 4.3 servers that are sending syslog
messages
> > to a Linux desktop running syslog-ng 1.6.5. 
> 
> You have my condolences.  IBM dropped support for even AIX 4.3.3
several
> years ago - hopefully you're not having problems keeping the software
> running and secure...
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Valdis.Kletnieks at vt.edu [mailto:Valdis.Kletnieks at vt.edu] 
> Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2006 9:09 PM
> To: SOLIS, ALEX
> Subject: Re: [syslog-ng] Losing TAG information
> 
> On Tue, 13 Jun 2006 10:07:33 CDT, "SOLIS, ALEX" said:
> 
>  (off-list reply)
> 
> > I have about 20 or so AIX 4.3 servers that are sending syslog
messages
> > to a Linux desktop running syslog-ng 1.6.5. 
> 
> You have my condolences.  IBM dropped support for even AIX 4.3.3
several
> years ago - hopefully you're not having problems keeping the software
> running and secure...
> 

-- 
Nate

I wonder why no company starts his manual with the words `We thank you
for buying this piece of junk. We have done our best to make this junk
as annoying as possible, and we assure that it will give you a
headache for the next two months. However, if you feel satisfied with
it, we will contact you for an expensive replacement.' 

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