Splunk Search

Syslog forwarding and load balancing

jwillaime
Explorer

Hello,

I would like to know if it is possible to have load balancing for the syslog forwarding feature of Splunk. For exemple, is it possible to have something like the following in outputs.conf:

[syslog:syslog_fwd]
server = server1:514, server2:514
type = udp

Thank you in advance.

Tags (1)
0 Karma

nickhills
Ultra Champion

According to the documentation you should be able to do this, using the following syntax

[syslog]
defaultGroup = syslog:syslog_fwd_svr1, syslog:syslog_fwd_svr2

[syslog:syslog_fwd_svr1]
server = server1:514

[syslog:syslog_fwd_svr2]
server = server2:514

However, I have not tested this, nor can I guess how (or if) it will load balance messages.
Since its UDP, you should probably expect some level of duplication & inconsistency.

Side note: this feature is not available on Universal Forwarders

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/7.2.3/admin/Outputsconf#Syslog_output----

If my comment helps, please give it a thumbs up!
0 Karma

BainM
Communicator

No, it is not possible to do that with a single port. You will need to designate a different port for server2.

0 Karma
Get Updates on the Splunk Community!

Splunk + ThousandEyes: Correlate frontend, app, and network data to troubleshoot ...

 Are you tired of troubleshooting delays caused by siloed frontend, application, and network data? We've got a ...

Splunk Observability for AI

Don’t miss out on an exciting Tech Talk on Splunk Observability for AI!Discover how Splunk’s agentic AI ...

🔐 Trust at Every Hop: How mTLS in Splunk Enterprise 10.0 Makes Security Simpler

From Idea to Implementation: Why Splunk Built mTLS into Splunk Enterprise 10.0  mTLS wasn’t just a checkbox ...