[syslog-ng] Insider 2020-04: syslog-ng RPM; mult-line-timeout; FreeBSD;

Thu Apr 9 10:08:23 UTC 2020

Dear syslog-ng users,

This is the 80th issue of syslog-ng Insider, a monthly newsletter that brings you syslog-ng-related news.

In these difficult times, when many of us stay at home, we can decide what to do with that bit of extra time that we don’t spend commuting. Some of us turn to entertainment or hobbies, do long-neglected things around the house, or even focus on studying and honing skills. If you ran out of movies to watch and want to spend your time on something more practical, this might be the best time to learn something new about syslog-ng. 
One starting point for that is the reference documentation, available for each release separately:
https://www.syslog-ng.com/technical-documents/list/syslog-ng-open-source-edition/
Another possibility is to check out our ever-growing collection of syslog-ng blogs. These describe a large number of different syslog-ng use cases. Blogs are available at https://www.syslog-ng.com/community/b/blog
If you want to deep dive into configuring syslog-ng, here are some of the highlights:
* The building blocks of syslog-ng: https://www.syslog-ng.com/community/b/blog/posts/building-blocks-of-syslog-ng
* Calculate PI with syslog-ng: https://www.syslog-ng.com/community/b/blog/posts/calculate-pi-syslog-ng
* Creating heat maps using the new syslog-ng geoip2 parser: https://www.syslog-ng.com/community/b/blog/posts/creating-heat-maps-using-new-syslog-ng-geoip2-parser/
* Extend syslog-ng in Python: https://www.syslog-ng.com/community/tags/python
Even if it is often not real-time, you can also chat with syslog-ng users and developers. The syslog-ng Gitter channel is a place to ask syslog-ng-related questions, but you are also very welcome to share your experiences about syslog-ng here. A success story not just feels good for developers but can also inspire other users. It is available at https://gitter.im/syslog-ng/syslog-ng

NEWS

Overview of syslog-ng RPM repositories
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This blog provides you an overview of syslog-ng RPM repositories: why to have unofficial packages at all and what are the advantages and disadvantages of the different unofficial repositories.
https://www.syslog-ng.com/community/b/blog/posts/overview-of-syslog-ng-rpm-repositories

Multi-line-timeout: making sure your last multi-line message is not lost
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When your application has a problem that it cannot handle, then Java, PHP and other environments often write multi-line error messages. These long messages include information that is useful for developers, but it might be difficult to handle for logging systems. A multi-line log message is usually saved when the beginning of the next message is detected, which can make handling the last message problematic.

This is where multi-line-timeout can help. After a pre-configured timeout, the last message is saved by syslog-ng. Losing a message when there are thousands of them is probably not a big deal. But if you are lucky, the error messages are rare. Maybe just a single message in a file. In either case, you can lose most or even all messages. If you do not want to lose these messages, configure multi-line-timeout.
https://www.syslog-ng.com/community/b/blog/posts/multi-line-timeout-making-sure-your-last-multi-line-message-is-not-lost

syslog-ng in FreeBSD ports
--------------------------
Recently we explored the different syslog-ng packages available for RPM-based Linux distributions, used by the majority of our Linux users. This time we focus on FreeBSD, the platform of choice for most of our non-Linux users.
>From this blog, you can learn about the features that are in the binary syslog-ng packages, how to compile syslog-ng for yourself from ports and the current syslog-ng version policy in ports.

NEW WHITE PAPERS

* Upgrade to State-of-the-Art Log Management: https://www.syslog-ng.com/whitepaper/log-management-essentials8137754/

WEBINARS

* Learn how to easily integrate Azure Sentinel into your log-data strategy: https://www.syslog-ng.com/webcast-ondemand/learn-how-to-easily-integrate-azure-sentinel-into-your-log-data-strategy8142757/

* You can browse recordings of past webinars at https://www.syslog-ng.com/events/

Your feedback and news, or tips about the next issue are welcome. To read this newsletter online, visit: https://syslog-ng.com/blog/

Peter Czanik (CzP) <peter.czanik at oneidentity.com>
Balabit (a OneIdentity company) / syslog-ng upstream
https://syslog-ng.com/community/
https://twitter.com/PCzanik