How To Install rsyslog on Ubuntu 20.04

In this tutorial we learn how to install rsyslog on Ubuntu 20.04. rsyslog is reliable system and kernel logging daemon reliable system and kernel logging daemon

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install rsyslog on Ubuntu 20.04.

What is rsyslog

rsyslog is:

Rsyslog is a multi-threaded implementation of syslogd (a system utility providing support for message logging), with features that include:

  • reliable syslog over TCP, SSL/TLS and RELP
  • on-demand disk buffering
  • email alerting
  • writing to MySQL or PostgreSQL databases (via separate output plugins)
  • permitted sender lists
  • filtering on any part of the syslog message
  • on-the-wire message compression
  • fine-grained output format control
  • failover to backup destinations
  • enterprise-class encrypted syslog relaying

It is the default syslogd on Debian systems. Task: minimal, ubuntu-core

Package: rsyslog Architecture: amd64 Version: 8.2001.0-1ubuntu1 Priority: important Section: admin Origin: Ubuntu Maintainer: Ubuntu Developers [email protected] Original-Maintainer: Michael Biebl [email protected] Bugs: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+filebug Installed-Size: 1655 Provides: linux-kernel-log-daemon, system-log-daemon Pre-Depends: init-system-helpers (>= 1.54~) Depends: libc6 (>= 2.27), libestr0 (>= 0.1.4), libfastjson4 (>= 0.99.7), libsystemd0 (>= 209), libuuid1 (>= 2.16), zlib1g (>= 1:1.1.4), adduser, ucf Recommends: logrotate Suggests: rsyslog-mysql | rsyslog-pgsql, rsyslog-mongodb, rsyslog-doc, rsyslog-openssl | rsyslog-gnutls, rsyslog-gssapi, rsyslog-relp, apparmor (>= 2.8.96~2541-0ubuntu4~) Conflicts: linux-kernel-log-daemon, system-log-daemon Filename: pool/main/r/rsyslog/rsyslog_8.2001.0-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb Size: 427240 MD5sum: 45065a9f9d7120c9e189964f67d73535 SHA1: 2fbc539c8f92cccc90cf09a78e6bd9119cff61af SHA256: 77061e8f3cfda591e778eb10682e66a38e7cb87cc44220a102c7d62e331f64c2 Homepage: http://www.rsyslog.com/ Description-en: reliable system and kernel logging daemon Rsyslog is a multi-threaded implementation of syslogd (a system utility providing support for message logging), with features that include:

  • reliable syslog over TCP, SSL/TLS and RELP
  • on-demand disk buffering
  • email alerting
  • writing to MySQL or PostgreSQL databases (via separate output plugins)
  • permitted sender lists
  • filtering on any part of the syslog message
  • on-the-wire message compression
  • fine-grained output format control
  • failover to backup destinations
  • enterprise-class encrypted syslog relaying

It is the default syslogd on Debian systems. Task: minimal, ubuntu-core

There are three methods to install rsyslog on Ubuntu 20.04. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.

Install rsyslog Using apt-get

Update apt database with apt-get using the following command.

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt database, We can install rsyslog using apt-get by running the following command:

sudo apt-get -y install rsyslog

Install rsyslog Using apt

Update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, We can install rsyslog using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install rsyslog

Install rsyslog Using aptitude

If you want to follow this method, you might need to install aptitude first since aptitude is usually not installed by default on Ubuntu. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.

sudo aptitude update

After updating apt database, We can install rsyslog using aptitude by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install rsyslog

How To Uninstall rsyslog on Ubuntu 20.04

To uninstall only the rsyslog package we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get remove rsyslog

Uninstall rsyslog And Its Dependencies

To uninstall rsyslog and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Ubuntu 20.04, we can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove rsyslog

Remove rsyslog Configurations and Data

To remove rsyslog configuration and data from Ubuntu 20.04 we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y purge rsyslog

Remove rsyslog configuration, data, and all of its dependencies

We can use the following command to remove rsyslog configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge rsyslog

References

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install rsyslog package on Ubuntu 20.04 using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.