nxlog

Supported OS Windows

Overview

Configure NXLog to gather logs from your host, containers, & services.

Setup

Log collection

Configure NXLog to send your logs to your Datadog platform, replace the whole file in C:\Program Files\nxlog\conf by the following:

## Set the ROOT to the folder your nxlog was installed into,
## otherwise it won't start.
#To change for your own system if necessary
define ROOT C:\Program Files\nxlog
#define ROOT_STRING C:\Program Files\nxlog
#define ROOT C:\Program Files (x86)\nxlog
Moduledir %ROOT%\modules
CacheDir %ROOT%\data
Pidfile %ROOT%\data\nxlog.pid
SpoolDir %ROOT%\data
LogFile %ROOT%\data\nxlog.log
##Extension to format the message in JSON format
<Extension json>
    Module xm_json
</Extension>
##Extension to format the message in syslog format
<Extension syslog>
Module xm_syslog
</Extension>
########## INPUTS ###########
##Input for windows event logs
<Input syslogs>
    Module      im_msvistalog
##For windows 2003 and earlier use the following:
#    Module      im_mseventlog
</Input>
############ OUTPUTS ##############
##TCP output module
<Output out>
    Module      om_tcp
    Host        intake.logs.datadoghq.com
    Port        10514
    Exec        to_syslog_ietf();
    Exec        $raw_event="<DATADOG_API_KEY> "+$raw_event;
</Output>
############ ROUTES TO CHOOSE #####
<Route 1>
    Path        syslogs => out
</Route>

Do not forget to replace <DATADOG_API_KEY> in the format.

Activate NXLog watchfile module for each file you want to monitor, add the following before the output section:

##Module to watch a file
<Input FILE_WATCH_1>
  Module im_file
  File "PATH\\TO\\YOUR\\FILE1"
  Exec   $SourceName = '<MY_APPLICATION_NAME>';
  SavePos TRUE

  ##include the message and add meta data
  Exec $Message = $raw_event;
</Input>

Make sure those files are plugged in the output section

<Route file1>
    Path    FILE_WATCH_1,FILE_WATCH_2,... => out
</Route>

Restart NXLog. Open the service administrative tool:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools\Services.lnk

(Optional) Set extra parameters or tags. Add any specific attribute to your logs in each input section of your NXLog configuration file. For instance, to specify the source that is used in Datadog to identify the integration the logs come from, use:
```
Exec        $ddsource = 'mysourcevalue';
Exec        $ddtags = 'env:test,<KEY>:<VALUE>';
```

NXLog TLS encryption

Download the CA certificate

Add the om_ssl module in your NXLog configuration to enable secure transfer over port 10516:

<Output out>
  Module  om_ssl
  Host    intake.logs.datadoghq.com
  Port    10516
  Exec    to_syslog_ietf();
  Exec    $raw_event="my_api_key " + $raw_event;
  CAFile  <CERT_DIR>/ca-certificates.crt
  AllowUntrusted FALSE
</Output>

Configure NXLog to send your logs to your Datadog platform, replace the whole file in C:\Program Files\nxlog\conf by the following:

## Set the ROOT to the folder your nxlog was installed into,
## otherwise it won't start.
#To change for your own system if necessary
define ROOT C:\Program Files\nxlog
#define ROOT_STRING C:\Program Files\nxlog
#define ROOT C:\Program Files (x86)\nxlog
Moduledir %ROOT%\modules
CacheDir %ROOT%\data
Pidfile %ROOT%\data\nxlog.pid
SpoolDir %ROOT%\data
LogFile %ROOT%\data\nxlog.log
##Extension to format the message in JSON format
<Extension json>
    Module xm_json
</Extension>
##Extension to format the message in syslog format
<Extension syslog>
Module xm_syslog
</Extension>
########## INPUTS ###########
##Input for windows event logs
<Input syslogs>
    Module      im_msvistalog
##For windows 2003 and earlier use the following:
#    Module      im_mseventlog
</Input>
############ OUTPUTS ##############
##TCP output module
<Output out>
    Module      om_tcp
    Host        tcp-intake.logs.datadoghq.eu
    Port        1883
    Exec        to_syslog_ietf();
    Exec        $raw_event="<DATADOG_API_KEY> "+$raw_event;
</Output>
############ ROUTES TO CHOOSE #####
<Route 1>
    Path        syslogs => out
</Route>

Do not forget to replace <DATADOG_API_KEY> in the format.

Activate NXLog watchfile module for each file you want to monitor, add the following before the output section:

##Module to watch a file
<Input FILE_WATCH_1>
  Module im_file
  File "PATH\\TO\\YOUR\\FILE1"
  Exec   $SourceName = '<MY_APPLICATION_NAME>';
  SavePos TRUE

  ##include the message and add meta data
  Exec $Message = $raw_event;
</Input>

Make sure those files are plugged in the output section:

<Route file1>
    Path    FILE_WATCH_1,FILE_WATCH_2,... => out
</Route>

Restart NXLog. Open the service administrative tool:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools\Services.lnk

(Optional) Set extra parameters or tags. Add any specific attribute to your logs in each input section of your NXLog configuration file. For instance, to specify the source that is used in Datadog to identify the integration the logs come from, use:
```
Exec        $ddsource = 'mysourcevalue';
Exec        $ddtags = 'env:test,<KEY>:<VALUE>';
```

NXLog TLS encryption

Download the CA certificate

Add the om_ssl module in your NXLog configuration to enable secure transfer over port 443:

<Output out>
  Module  om_ssl
  Host    intake.logs.datadoghq.com
  Port    443
  Exec    to_syslog_ietf();
  Exec    $raw_event="my_api_key " + $raw_event;
  CAFile  <CERT_DIR>/ca-certificates.crt
  AllowUntrusted FALSE
</Output>

Troubleshooting

Need help? Contact Datadog support.