Getting Data In

data input & forwarding on universal forwarders

remy06
Contributor

I've installed universal forwarder on linux system and have configured the forwarder to forward linux log to indexer ip 3.4.5.6:

inputs.conf

[monitor://path.../myfile]

host = 1.2.3.4

sourcetype = linux:log

output.conf

[tcpout]

server = 3.4.5.6

Still unable to receive any logs from the forwarder yet. Anything I've missed?

0 Karma

nrjsh1988
New Member

You can find it here :-

/opt/splunk/etc/system/local/outputs.conf

0 Karma

kristian_kolb
Ultra Champion

Well, you may find several outputs.conf files on your system, popular paths include:

  • /opt/splunkforwarder/etc/apps/SplunkUniversalForwarder/local
  • /opt/splunkforwarder/etc/apps/search/local
  • /opt/splunkforwarder/etc/system/local

Don't mess with any of the ../default/outputs.conf files.

The problem may also lie elsewhere;

  • Compression must be enabled on both the forwarding and receiving end.
  • On the forwarder, try '/opt/splunkforwarder/bin/splunk btool outputs list' to see the current configuration for outputs.
  • Do you see any network traffic going out of your forwarder? Try 'netstat -an | grep 3333'. If you do not see that the connection is ESTABLISHED, you may have a firewall blocking the traffic.
  • Does your monitor stanza identify your source files/directory correctly? Try to see what the forwarder thinks by connecting to the REST api. This requires that you have changed the default password ('changeme') for the admin account on the forwarder. https://your-forwarder-ip-or-name:8089/services/admin/inputstatus/TailingProcessor:FileStatus
  • Always look through the splunkd.log for errors (in /opt/splunkforwarder/var/log/splunk/). Stop the forwarder. Make note of the time. Start the forwarder. Look through the splunkd.log from the time when you (re-)started.

Hope this helps,

Kristian

remy06
Contributor

I've re-checked the documentation and followed the syntax.

In inputs.conf

[monitor:///path.../myfile]

host = 1.2.3.4

sourcetype = linux:log

outputs.conf

[tcpout-server://3.4.5.6:3333]

compressed=false

Understood that outputs.conf is provided with universal forwarder in the search app.I can't find it, and if were to create it manually should it be placed at opt/splunk/etc/../search/default ?

0 Karma

remy06
Contributor

So...anyone knows where to locate outputs.conf that comes with universal forwarder...

0 Karma

Drainy
Champion

you should define a port;
eg

[tcpoutip_port]
server = ip:port

and then ensure you have seutp your indexer to receive on the same port.
To then verify on the web gui that there is connectivity or to help troubleshoot then you could perform a search as an admin like;
index=_internal tcpin*

0 Karma
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