[syslog-ng] Issues with sql driver

Fri Jan 18 17:48:05 UTC 2019

Hi Balazs,

I finally resolved all of my issues and as you stated I found (although not
explicitly state in the docs) a small config section in the docs that had
the column types defined and I was able to correctly define them and index
them properly.

I did however uncover what I think is a bug while doing this. When you
have use_dns (no); configured and you are dynamically inserting tables with
a macro that references the IP of the host, the query to create the table
fails with the error below. I was able to overcome this issue with manually
creating entries in the /etc/hosts file and turning use_dns (yes); but I do
not really want to have to maintain entries for everything we log to this
server. I also tested this on version 3.5.6 and version 3.19.1 so
presumably all versions of syslog-ng are affected. It seems as though the
sql driver doesn't properly escape the dots in the IP address of the host
macro per the error below. I am now going to report this as a bug on the
github.com repo for syslog-ng for those that care.

Jan 18 11:44:59 syslog syslog-ng[23770]: Error running SQL query;
type='mysql', host='127.0.0.1', port='', user='syslog-ng',
database='syslog', error='1064: You have an error in your SQL syntax; check
the manual that corresponds to your MariaDB server version for the right
syntax to use near \'.11.100 (date text, host text, level text, message
text)\' at line 1', query='CREATE TABLE messages_10.251.11.100 (date text,
host text, level text, message text)'
Jan 18 11:44:59 syslog syslog-ng[23770]: Error creating table, giving up;
table='messages_10.251.11.100'
Jan 18 11:44:59 syslog syslog-ng[23770]: Error checking table,
disconnecting from database, trying again shortly; time_reopen='10'
Jan 18 11:44:59 syslog syslog-ng[23770]: g_string_free: assertion 'string
!= NULL' failed

Regards,
Max

On Fri, Jan 18, 2019 at 2:57 AM Scheidler, Balázs <
balazs.scheidler at oneidentity.com> wrote:

> You can also specify a type in the column specification, e.g.
> columns('date varchar(64)')  or something like that. With that change, the
> CREATE INDEX should work.
>
> those debug messages should be emitted from the internal() source or
> printed to stderr if running in the foreground.
>
> On Wed, Jan 16, 2019 at 10:41 PM N. Max Pierson <nmaxpierson at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I am using the version supplied in the epel repo on CentOS 7.6.1810 which
>> is syslog-ng version 3.5.6. I can certainly try a newer version if you
>> think that would be beneficial, but I will need to build a RPM from the
>> source as I use yum to mange all applications and libraries on the system.
>> I'll try and build a new RPM with the latest version and see if that fixes
>> my issue. I'll also try and create the tables manually using TEXT types to
>> see if I can at least get the records into the database but ultimately I
>> would like to be able to dynamically insert records with syslog-ng creating
>> tables and columns on demand.
>>
>> One last question, how were you able to see the sql debug that showed you
>> what statements/queries were being used? I was unable to locate that info
>> in any log files I have.
>>
>> Thanks again for all of your help!
>>
>> Regards,
>> Max
>>
>> On Wed, Jan 16, 2019 at 2:36 PM Péter, Kókai <peter.kokai at oneidentity.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> I tried your config on ubuntu:16.04 where I've found 3.5.6-2.1
>>> [@416d315]. The mysql was the latest mysql docker image in dockerhub.
>>>
>>> It create a new table, and push the message into the table; but not at
>>> the first time. When it tried to create a table instrumenting with index,
>>> "Error running SQL query; type='mysql', host='127.0.0.1', port='',
>>> user='root', database='syslog', error='1170: BLOB/TEXT column \'date\' used
>>> in key specification without a key length', query='CREATE INDEX
>>> messages_peterkokai_work_date_idx ON messages_peterkokai_work (date)'"
>>>
>>> It creates the fields of the table as TEXT, which cannot be index by
>>> default.
>>>
>>> What distro are you using ? Where do you get the syslog-ng ? Would it be
>>> possible to try with the latest ?
>>>
>>> --
>>> Kokan
>>>
>>> On Wed, Jan 16, 2019 at 5:27 PM N. Max Pierson <nmaxpierson at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Thanks for all of the feedback Peter.
>>>>
>>>> I have resolved all of the issues I was having and it turns out I did
>>>> not have the specific mysql libdbi driver installed which was causing the
>>>> error. Now that it is resolved, I am having one last issue. When I enable
>>>> the log statement with the sql destination in it, nothing is being written
>>>> to the database. I'm not getting any errors as to why and I know the source
>>>> and filter/rewrite is working because if I log it to a flat file it works
>>>> correctly. My config for the sql destination is below, so my questions are
>>>> ....
>>>>
>>>> The docs state that the tables and columns can be dynamically created
>>>> if I use macros, but that doesn't happen with the config below. Is that
>>>> correct for version 3.5 that I am using? Is this config correct and is
>>>> there any logs or flags I can use to see why the tables and columns aren't
>>>> being created dynamically? I also created them manually and it still
>>>> doesn't insert the record either.
>>>>
>>>> source s_network { udp(ip(0.0.0.0) port(514)); };
>>>>
>>>> filter f_nexus { host("10.251.11.241"); };
>>>>
>>>> rewrite r_nexus{ subst("^[a-z]+ [0-9]+ [0-9]+:[0-9]+:[0-9]+ [a-z]+: ",
>>>> "", value("MESSAGE"), type("posix"), flags("ignore-case"),
>>>> condition(filter(f_nexus))); };
>>>>
>>>> destination d_mysql {
>>>>     sql(type(mysql)
>>>>     host("127.0.0.1")
>>>>     username("syslog-ng")
>>>>     password("password")
>>>>     database("syslog")
>>>>     table("messages_${HOST}")
>>>>     columns("date", "host", "level", "message")
>>>>     values("${R_DATE}", "${HOST}", "${LEVEL}", "${MESSAGE}")
>>>>     indexes("date", "host", "level") );
>>>> };
>>>>
>>>> log { source(s_network); rewrite(r_nexus); destination(d_mysql); };
>>>>
>>>> Thanks again for the help!!
>>>>
>>>> Regards,
>>>> Max
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Jan 16, 2019 at 12:18 AM Péter, Kókai <
>>>> peter.kokai at oneidentity.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hello,
>>>>>
>>>>> Please do that :) I was not on board of the project at version 3.5
>>>>>
>>>>> Well a macro itself also a template, a template somewhat more generic
>>>>> as that include string literals, template functions and of course macros,
>>>>> and those combination.
>>>>>
>>>>> In order to cut the date part; there was just recently a nice patch
>>>>> that did similar thing for websense-parser:
>>>>> https://github.com/balabit/syslog-ng/pull/2471/commits/a725a578b06459e96a3bc85812e12a71d3f0a3b4
>>>>>
>>>>> Also for example the cisco-parser has tricks you can learn from:
>>>>> https://github.com/balabit/syslog-ng/blob/master/scl/cisco/plugin.conf
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Kokan
>>>>>
>>>>> On Tue, Jan 15, 2019 at 8:16 PM N. Max Pierson <nmaxpierson at gmail.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks for the reply.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I am using version 3.5, so I am reading the admin guide for 3.5 now
>>>>>> to see if I have something configured that isn't available in this version.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> As far as the template, I thought the ${R_DATE} was a macro. Maybe I
>>>>>> am misunderstanding then. What I need is to take a part of the log that
>>>>>> comes in and remove it. Here is a sample of the message I have below. What
>>>>>> is the best way to remove the date portion that isn't part of the standard
>>>>>> syslog message ( the part delimited by ***).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Jan 15 13:12:35 10.251.11.241 ***2019 Jan 15 13:12:35 CST:***
>>>>>> %DAEMON-3-SYSTEM_MSG: NTP Receive dropping message: Received NTP control
>>>>>> mode packet. Drop count:147908  - ntpd[15029]
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>> Max
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Tue, Jan 15, 2019 at 12:03 AM Péter, Kókai <
>>>>>> peter.kokai at oneidentity.com> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hello,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> As the *--syntax-only* suggest, it only does check for syntactic
>>>>>>> errors.
>>>>>>> A common way to find such issues to start the process in foreground:
>>>>>>> * stop syslog-ng systemd service (so it won't get in the way)
>>>>>>> * start syslog-ng as the systemd would do, plus include the -F
>>>>>>> (foreground) option and -e (print internal logs to the stderr); optionally
>>>>>>> you may also use -d (debug) -v (verbose); but in this case probably the -Fe
>>>>>>> would suffice
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I just tried your config (with additional @version: 3.18), and it
>>>>>>> started just fine.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> About the second part. You already using template in your
>>>>>>> configuration for the date column ( ${R_DATE} ); in the values you should
>>>>>>> be able to use any template (not template function due).
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>> Kokan
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Mon, Jan 14, 2019 at 10:54 PM N. Max Pierson <
>>>>>>> nmaxpierson at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Hi List,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I have 2 questions about the sql driver. First, I am trying to get
>>>>>>>> messages into sql using the sql driver but I get an error when I try and
>>>>>>>> restart syslog-ng when I enable the log statement with the sql destination.
>>>>>>>> The syslog-ng --syntax-only command runs without any issues but systemd
>>>>>>>> throws and error that it cannot restart the service but doesn't give a
>>>>>>>> clear reason. My config is below, doesn't anyone know where in a log I can
>>>>>>>> see why it won't restart??
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> source s_network { udp(ip(0.0.0.0) port(514)); };
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> destination d_mysql {
>>>>>>>>     sql(type(mysql)
>>>>>>>>     host("127.0.0.1")
>>>>>>>>     username("syslog-ng")
>>>>>>>>     password("password")
>>>>>>>>     database("syslog")
>>>>>>>>     table("messages_${HOST}")
>>>>>>>>     columns("date", "host", "message")
>>>>>>>>     values("${R_DATE}", "${HOST}", "${MESSAGE}")
>>>>>>>>     indexes("date", "host") );
>>>>>>>> };
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> log { source(s_network); destination(d_mysql); };
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> My second question is can you use a template with the sql
>>>>>>>> destination driver? I need to reformat some Cisco Nexus logs because of how
>>>>>>>> it formats the date (looks to be non RFC compliant) and if so, can someone
>>>>>>>> give me a sample of config with the template in the sql destination driver?
>>>>>>>> I cannot seem to find in the docs if this is even possible much less and
>>>>>>>> example of how to do it.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> TIA,
>>>>>>>> Max
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> ______________________________________________________________________________
>>>>>>>> Member info: https://lists.balabit.hu/mailman/listinfo/syslog-ng
>>>>>>>> Documentation:
>>>>>>>> http://www.balabit.com/support/documentation/?product=syslog-ng
>>>>>>>> FAQ: http://www.balabit.com/wiki/syslog-ng-faq
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> ______________________________________________________________________________
>>>>>>> Member info: https://lists.balabit.hu/mailman/listinfo/syslog-ng
>>>>>>> Documentation:
>>>>>>> http://www.balabit.com/support/documentation/?product=syslog-ng
>>>>>>> FAQ: http://www.balabit.com/wiki/syslog-ng-faq
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> ______________________________________________________________________________
>>>>>> Member info: https://lists.balabit.hu/mailman/listinfo/syslog-ng
>>>>>> Documentation:
>>>>>> http://www.balabit.com/support/documentation/?product=syslog-ng
>>>>>> FAQ: http://www.balabit.com/wiki/syslog-ng-faq
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>> ______________________________________________________________________________
>>>>> Member info: https://lists.balabit.hu/mailman/listinfo/syslog-ng
>>>>> Documentation:
>>>>> http://www.balabit.com/support/documentation/?product=syslog-ng
>>>>> FAQ: http://www.balabit.com/wiki/syslog-ng-faq
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> ______________________________________________________________________________
>>>> Member info: https://lists.balabit.hu/mailman/listinfo/syslog-ng
>>>> Documentation:
>>>> http://www.balabit.com/support/documentation/?product=syslog-ng
>>>> FAQ: http://www.balabit.com/wiki/syslog-ng-faq
>>>>
>>>>
>>> ______________________________________________________________________________
>>> Member info: https://lists.balabit.hu/mailman/listinfo/syslog-ng
>>> Documentation:
>>> http://www.balabit.com/support/documentation/?product=syslog-ng
>>> FAQ: http://www.balabit.com/wiki/syslog-ng-faq
>>>
>>>
>> ______________________________________________________________________________
>> Member info: https://lists.balabit.hu/mailman/listinfo/syslog-ng
>> Documentation:
>> http://www.balabit.com/support/documentation/?product=syslog-ng
>> FAQ: http://www.balabit.com/wiki/syslog-ng-faq
>>
>>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Member info: https://lists.balabit.hu/mailman/listinfo/syslog-ng
> Documentation:
> http://www.balabit.com/support/documentation/?product=syslog-ng
> FAQ: http://www.balabit.com/wiki/syslog-ng-faq
>
>
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