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Version: Next

from_fluent_bit

Receives events via Fluent Bit.

Synopsis​

from_fluent_bit plugin:string, [options=record, fluent_bit_options=record,
                schema=string, selector=string, schema_only=bool, merge=bool, raw=bool,
                unflatten=string, arrays_of_objects=bool]

Description​

The from_fluent_bit operator acts as a bridge into the Fluent Bit ecosystem, making it possible to acquire events from a Fluent Bit input plugin.

An invocation of the fluent-bit commandline utility

fluent-bit -o plugin -p key1=value1 -p key2=value2 -p…

translates to our from_fluent_bit operator as follows:

from_fluent_bit "plugin", options={key1: value1, key2: value2, …}
Output to Fluent Bit

You can output events to Fluent Bit using the to_fluent_bit operator.

plugin: string​

The name of the Fluent Bit plugin.

Run fluent-bit -h and look under the Inputs section of the help text for available plugin names. The web documentation often comes with an example invocation near the bottom of the page, which also provides a good idea how you could use the operator.

options = record (optional)​

Sets plugin configuration properties.

The key-value pairs in this record are equivalent to -p key=value for the fluent-bit executable.

fluent_bit_options = record (optional)​

Sets global properties of the Fluent Bit service., e.g., fluent_bit_options={flush:1, grace:3}.

Consult the list of available key-value pairs to configure Fluent Bit according to your needs.

We recommend factoring these options into the plugin-specific fluent-bit.yaml so that they are independent of the fluent-bit operator arguments.

merge = bool (optional)​

Merges all incoming events into a single schema* that converges over time. This option is usually the fastest for reading highly heterogeneous data, but can lead to huge schemas filled with nulls and imprecise results. Use with caution.

*: In selector mode, only events with the same selector are merged.

raw = bool (optional)​

Use only the raw types that are native to the parsed format. Fields that have a type specified in the chosen schema will still be parsed according to the schema.

This means that JSON numbers will be parsed as numbers, but every JSON string remains a string, unless the field is in the schema.

schema = string (optional)​

Provide the name of a schema to be used by the parser.

If a schema with a matching name is installed, the result will always have all fields from that schema.

  • Fields that are specified in the schema, but did not appear in the input will be null.
  • Fields that appear in the input, but not in the schema will also be kept. schema_only=true can be used to reject fields that are not in the schema.

If the given schema does not exist, this option instead assigns the output schema name only.

The schema option is incompatible with the selector option.

selector = string (optional)​

Designates a field value as schema name with an optional dot-separated prefix.

The string is parsed as <fieldname>[:<prefix>]. The prefix is optional and will be prepended to the field value to generate the schema name.

For example, the Suricata EVE JSON format includes a field event_type that contains the event type. Setting the selector to event_type:suricata causes an event with the value flow for the field event_type to map onto the schema suricata.flow.

The selector option is incompatible with the schema option.

schema_only = bool (optional)​

When working with an existing schema, this option will ensure that the output schema has only the fields from that schema. If the schema name is obtained via a selector and it does not exist, this has no effect.

This option requires either schema or selector to be set.

unflatten = string (optional)​

A delimiter that, if present in keys, causes values to be treated as values of nested records.

A popular example of this is the Zeek JSON format. It includes the fields id.orig_h, id.orig_p, id.resp_h, and id.resp_p at the top-level. The data is best modeled as an id record with four nested fields orig_h, orig_p, resp_h, and resp_p.

URI support & integration with from​

The from_fluent_bit operator can also be used from the from operator. For this, the fluentbit:// scheme can be used. The URI is then translated:

from "fluentbit://plugin"
from_fluent_bit "plugin"

Examples​

OpenTelemetry​

Ingest OpenTelemetry logs, metrics, and traces:

from_fluent_bit "opentelemetry"

You can then send JSON-encoded log data to a freshly created API endpoint:

curl \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --request POST \
  --data '{"resourceLogs":[{"resource":{},"scopeLogs":[{"scope":{},"logRecords":[{"timeUnixNano":"1660296023390371588","body":{"stringValue":"{\"message\":\"dummy\"}"},"traceId":"","spanId":""}]}]}]}' \
  http://0.0.0.0:4318/v1/logs

Splunk​

Handle Splunk HEC requests:

from_fluent_bit "splunk", options={port: 8088}

ElasticSearch & OpenSearch​

Handle ElasticSearch & OpenSearch Bulk API requests or ingest from beats (e.g., Filebeat, Metricbeat, Winlogbeat):

from_fluent_bit "elasticsearch", options={port: 9200}