Use this documentation with care! It describes
the outdated version 7, which was actively
developed around 2014 and is considered dead by the
rsyslog team.
This documentation reflects the latest update of the
v7-stable branch. It describes the 7.6.8 version, which was never
released. As such, it contains some content that
does not apply to any released version.
To obtain the doc that properly matches your installed
v7 version, obtain the doc set from your distro. Each
version of rsyslog contained the version that exactly
matches it.
As general advise, it is strongly suggested to
upgrade to the current version supported by the rsyslog
project. The current version can always be found on
the right-hand side info box on the rsyslog web site.
Note that there is only limited rsyslog community support
available for the outdated v7 version (officially we do not
support it at all, but we usually are able to answer simple
questions). If you need to stick with v7, it probably is
best to ask your distribution for support.
Configuration¶
Rsyslogd is configured via the rsyslog.conf file, typically found in /etc. By default, rsyslogd reads the file /etc/rsyslog.conf.
This can be changed by a command line option.
Note that configurations can be built interactively via the online rsyslog configuration builder tool.
All configuration directives need to be specified on a line by their own and must start with a dollar-sign.
Configuration file examples can be found in the rsyslog wiki. Also keep the rsyslog config snippets on your mind. These are ready-to-use real building blocks for rsyslog configuration.
There is also one sample file provided together with the documentation
set. If you do not like to read, be sure to have at least a quick look
at rsyslog-example.conf.
While rsyslogd contains enhancements over standard syslogd, efforts have been made to keep the configuration file as compatible as possible. While, for obvious reasons, enhanced features require a different config file syntax, rsyslogd should be able to work with a standard syslog.conf file. This is especially useful while you are migrating from syslogd to rsyslogd.