[syslog-ng] Running multiple syslog-ng instances on the same host (RHEL6 CO6 SL6)

[Evan Rempel]

In my environment we want to have isolation between the standard OS 
based syslog-ng service and the central syslog-ng collector service, 
which of course is running on a host that already has an OS based 
syslog-ng process running on it.

Running muliple syslog-ng daemons under systemd is not so difficult.  
Copy the system service file and systemd automatically registers a .d 
folder for custom configurations, however, there is nothing automatic 
about the System V init mechanism used in the RHEL6 based systems.

Don't worry because they syslog-ng init script from the copr yum 
repository (https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/czanik) starting at 
3.19 has already thought of this and made multiple instances as 
automatic as they can be.

Quick steps to create a second syslog-ng instance:

1. Decide on the new name extension (shown here is yourName)

2. Copy the included init script

cp /etc/init.d/syslog-ng /etc/init.d/syslog-ng-yourName

3. Change the SYSLOGNG_SUFFIX value in your new init script to the value 
"-yourName". You need the leading hyphen because your added -yourName to 
the init file name.

4. Copy and customize the included customization file

cp /etc/sysconfig/syslog-ng /etc/sysconfig/syslog-ng-yourName

By default all of the configuration and runtime files will default to 
file names including the -yourName suffix, so very little if any 
customization should be needed.

5. Create a new syslog-ng configuration file for your new instance

vi /etc/syslog-ng/syslog-ng-yourName

6. Enable the auto-start of your new instance

chkconfig --add syslog-ng-yourName

7. Start your instance

/sbin/service syslog-ng-yourName start


Thanks again to all of the people adding value to an already great product!