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diff --git a/docs/guides/collect-apache-nginx-web-logs.md b/docs/guides/collect-apache-nginx-web-logs.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..f5e37442 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/guides/collect-apache-nginx-web-logs.md @@ -0,0 +1,112 @@ +# Monitor Nginx or Apache web server log files + +Parsing web server log files with Netdata, revealing the volume of redirects, requests and other metrics, can give you a better overview of your infrastructure. + +Too many bad requests? Maybe a recent deploy missed a few small SVG icons. Too many requests? Time to batten down the hatches—it's a DDoS. + +You can use the [LTSV log format](http://ltsv.org/), track TLS and cipher usage, and the whole parser is faster than +ever. In one test on a system with SSD storage, the collector consistently parsed the logs for 200,000 requests in +200ms, using ~30% of a single core. + +The [web_log](https://github.com/netdata/go.d.plugin/blob/master/modules/weblog/README.md) collector is currently compatible +with [Nginx](https://nginx.org/en/) and [Apache](https://httpd.apache.org/). + +This guide will walk you through using the new Go-based web log collector to turn the logs these web servers +constantly write to into real-time insights into your infrastructure. + +## Set up your web servers + +As with all data sources, Netdata can auto-detect Nginx or Apache servers if you installed them using their standard +installation procedures. + +Almost all web server installations will need _no_ configuration to start collecting metrics. As long as your web server +has readable access log file, you can configure the web log plugin to access and parse it. + +## Custom configuration of the web log collector + +The web log collector's default configuration comes with a few example jobs that should cover most Linux distributions +and their default locations for log files: + +```yaml +# [ JOBS ] +jobs: +# NGINX +# debian, arch + - name: nginx + path: /var/log/nginx/access.log + +# gentoo + - name: nginx + path: /var/log/nginx/localhost.access_log + +# APACHE +# debian + - name: apache + path: /var/log/apache2/access.log + +# gentoo + - name: apache + path: /var/log/apache2/access_log + +# arch + - name: apache + path: /var/log/httpd/access_log + +# debian + - name: apache_vhosts + path: /var/log/apache2/other_vhosts_access.log + +# GUNICORN + - name: gunicorn + path: /var/log/gunicorn/access.log + + - name: gunicorn + path: /var/log/gunicorn/gunicorn-access.log +``` + +However, if your log files were not auto-detected, it might be because they are in a different location. Try the default +`web_log.conf` file. + +```bash +./edit-config go.d/web_log.conf +``` + +To create a new custom configuration, you need to set the `path` parameter to point to your web server's access log +file. You can give it a `name` as well, and set the `log_type` to `auto`. + +```yaml +jobs: + - name: example + path: /path/to/file.log + log_type: auto +``` + +Restart Netdata with `sudo systemctl restart netdata`, or the [appropriate +method](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/docs/configure/start-stop-restart.md) for your system. Netdata should pick up your web server's access log and +begin showing real-time charts! + +### Custom log formats and fields + +The web log collector is capable of parsing custom Nginx and Apache log formats and presenting them as charts, but we'll +leave that topic for a separate guide. + +We do have [extensive +documentation](https://github.com/netdata/go.d.plugin/blob/master/modules/weblog/README.md#custom-log-format) on how +to build custom parsing for Nginx and Apache logs. + +## Tweak web log collector alerts + +Over time, we've created some default alerts for web log monitoring. These alerts are designed to work only when your +web server is receiving more than 120 requests per minute. Otherwise, there's simply not enough data to make conclusions +about what is "too few" or "too many." + +- [web log alerts](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/netdata/netdata/master/health/health.d/web_log.conf). + +You can also edit this file directly with `edit-config`: + +```bash +./edit-config health.d/weblog.conf +``` + +For more information about editing the defaults or writing new alert entities, see our +[health monitoring documentation](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/health/README.md). |