How To Install syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data on Debian 9

In this tutorial we learn how to install syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data on Debian 9. syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data is Enhanced system logging daemon (add-contextual-data)

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data on Debian 9.

What is syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data

syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data is:

syslog-ng is an enhanced log daemon, supporting a wide range of input and output methods: syslog, unstructured text, message queues, databases (SQL and NoSQL alike) and more.

Key features:

  • receive and send RFC3164 and RFC5424 style syslog messages
  • work with any kind of unstructured data
  • receive and send JSON formatted messages
  • classify and structure logs with builtin parsers (csv-parser(), db-parser(), etc.)
  • normalize, crunch and process logs as they flow through the system
  • hand on messages for further processing using message queues (like AMQP), files or databases (like PostgreSQL or MongoDB).

This package provides the add-contextual-data module for syslog-ng. With this module syslog-ng can use an external database file to append custom name-value pairs on incoming logs (to enrich messages). The database is a file that containing <selector, name, value> records. Currently only CSV format is supported. It is like geoip parser where the selector is $HOST, but the user can define the selector, and also the database contents.

There are three methods to install syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data on Debian 9. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.

Install syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data Using apt-get

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

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt database, We can install syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data using apt-get by running the following command:

sudo apt-get -y install syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data

Install syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data Using apt

Update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, We can install syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data

Install syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data 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 Debian. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.

sudo aptitude update

After updating apt database, We can install syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data using aptitude by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data

How To Uninstall syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data on Debian 9

To uninstall only the syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data package we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get remove syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data

Uninstall syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data And Its Dependencies

To uninstall syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Debian 9, we can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data

Remove syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data Configurations and Data

To remove syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data configuration and data from Debian 9 we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y purge syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data

Remove syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data configuration, data, and all of its dependencies

We can use the following command to remove syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data

Dependencies

syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data have the following dependencies:

References

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install syslog-ng-mod-add-contextual-data package on Debian 9 using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.