.. _prop-message-uuid:
.. _properties.message.uuid:

uuid
====

.. index::
   single: properties; uuid
   single: uuid

.. summary-start

Exposes a per-message UUID generated on first access when enabled.

.. summary-end

This property belongs to the **Message Properties** group.

:Name: uuid
:Category: Message Properties
:Type: string

Description
-----------
.. note::
   Only available if rsyslog is built with ``--enable-uuid``.

A UUID for the message. It is not present by default, but will be created on
first read of the uuid property. Thereafter, in the local rsyslog instance, it
will always be the same value. This is also true if rsyslog is restarted and
messages stayed in an on-disk queue.

Note well: the UUID is **not** automatically transmitted to remote syslog
servers when forwarding. If that is needed, a special template needs to be
created that contains the uuid. Likewise, the receiver must parse that UUID from
that template.

The uuid property is most useful if you would like to track a single message
across multiple local destination. An example is messages being written to a
database as well as to local files.

Usage
-----
.. _properties.message.uuid-usage:

.. code-block:: rsyslog

   template(name="example" type="list") {
       property(name="uuid")
   }

Notes
~~~~~
The UUID is generated lazily on first access and remains local unless explicitly
forwarded.

See also
--------
See :doc:`../../configuration/properties` for the category overview.