Batched compression (im_batchcompress)
The im_batchcompress module provides a compressed network transport with optional SSL encryption. It uses a custom protocol to receive and decompress a batch of messages sent by om_batchcompress.
To examine the supported platforms, see the list of installation packages. |
Configuration
The im_batchcompress module accepts the following directives in addition to the common module directives.
TLS/SSL directives
The following directives configure secure data transfer via TLS/SSL.
Specifies if the connection should be allowed with an expired certificate.
If set to |
|||
Specifies if the certificate FQDN should be validated against the server hostname or not.
If set to |
|||
Specifies if the connection should be allowed regardless of the certificate verification results.
If set to |
|||
Path to a directory containing certificate authority (CA) certificates. These certificates will be used to verify the certificate presented by the remote host. The certificate files must be named using the OpenSSL hashed format, i.e. the hash of the certificate followed by .0, .1 etc. To find the hash of a certificate using OpenSSL:
For example, if the certificate hash is A remote host’s self-signed certificate (which is not signed by a CA) can also be trusted by including a copy of the certificate in this directory. |
|||
Path of the certificate authority (CA) certificate that will be used to verify the certificate presented by the remote host. A remote host’s self-signed certificate (which is not signed by a CA) can be trusted by specifying the remote host certificate itself. In the case of certificates signed by an intermediate CA, the certificate specified must contain the complete certificate chain (certificate bundle). |
|||
This optional directive, supported only on Windows, defines a pattern for locating a suitable CA (Certificate Authority) certificate and its thumbprint in the native Windows Certificate Storage.
The pattern must follow PCRE2 rules and use the format Configuration examples:
or
A normal log output example would look like as follows:
This directive is only supported on Windows. |
|||
This optional directive, supported only on Windows, specifies the thumbprint of the certificate authority (CA) certificate that will be used to verify the certificate presented by the remote host. The hexadecimal fingerprint string can be copied from Windows Certificate Manager (certmgr.msc). Whitespaces are automatically removed. The certificate must be added to a Windows certificate store that is accessible by NXLog Agent. This directive is mutually exclusive with the CADir, CAFile and CAPattern directives. |
|||
Path of the certificate file that will be presented to the remote host during the SSL handshake. |
|||
Path of the private key file that was used to generate the certificate specified by the CertFile directive. This is used for the SSL handshake. |
|||
This optional directive, supported only on Windows, defines a pattern for identifying a corresponding certificate and its thumbprint within the native Windows Certificate Storage.
The pattern must follow PCRE2 rules and use the format Configuration examples:
or
A normal log output example would look like as follows:
|
|||
This optional directive, supported only on Windows, specifies the thumbprint of the certificate that will be presented to the remote server during the HTTPS handshake.
The hexadecimal fingerprint string can be copied from Windows Certificate Manager (certmgr.msc).
Whitespaces are automatically removed.
The certificate must be imported to the
When the global directive UseCNGCertificates is set to
On the contrary, when the global directive UseCNGCertificates is set to The usage of the directive is the same in all cases:
This directive is only supported on Windows and is mutually exclusive with the CertFile and CertKeyFile directives. |
|||
Path to a directory containing certificate revocation list (CRL) files. These CRL files will be used to check for certificates that were revoked and should no longer be accepted. The files must be named using the OpenSSL hashed format, i.e. the hash of the issuer followed by .r0, .r1 etc. To find the hash of the issuer of a CRL file using OpenSSL:
For example if the hash is |
|||
Path of the certificate revocation list (CRL) which will be used to check for certificates that have been revoked and should no longer be accepted. Example to generate a CRL file using OpenSSL:
|
|||
This optional directive specifies a file with dh-parameters for Diffie-Hellman key exchange. These parameters can be generated with dhparam(1ssl). If this directive is not specified, default parameters will be used. See the OpenSSL Wiki for further details. |
|||
Passphrase of the private key specified by the CertKeyFile directive. A passphrase is required when the private key is encrypted. The following example generates a private key with Triple DES encryption using OpenSSL:
This directive is not required for passwordless private keys. |
|||
If set to This directive is only supported on Windows. |
|||
Specifies if the remote host must present a certificate.
If set to |
|||
This optional directive, supported only on Windows, if set to |
|||
The signature algorithm parameter that is being sent to the Windows SSL library. Allowed values depend on the available encryption providers. This directive is only supported on Windows. |
|||
This optional directive specifies the hostname used for Server Name Indication (SNI). |
|||
This optional directive can be used to set the permitted cipher list for TLSv1.2 and below, overriding the default.
Use the format described in the ciphers(1ssl) man page.
For example specify
|
|||
This optional directive can be used to set the permitted cipher list for TLSv1.3. Use the same format as in the SSLCipher directive. Refer to the OpenSSL documentation for a list of valid TLS v1.3 cipher suites. The default value is:
|
|||
Specifies if data compression is enabled when sending data over the network.
The compression mechanism is based on the zlib compression library.
The default value is
|
|||
This directive can be used to set the allowed SSL/TLS protocol(s). It takes a comma-separated list of values which can be any of the following: |
|||
If set to TRUE, the module uses the Windows Cryptography API: Next Generation (CNG) to access the private keys associated with certificates identified by a thumbprint. This directive is only supported on Windows. |
Optional directives
The module accepts connections on this IP address or DNS hostname.
For security, the default listen address is The port number can be defined by appending it to the hostname or IP address using a colon as a separator ( Using the any address You can define this directive multiple times to listen on multiple addresses or ports in a single module instance. Specify IPv4 and IPv6 addresses separately as needed. If you use a DNS name, you should keep the addresses or CNAMEs below 16 to avoid issues caused by DNS response size limits.
|
|||
This optional directive can be used to allow IP addresses and/or networks to connect. The directive can be set multiple times to add different IPs or networks to allow. This directive is only active when the ListenAddr directive is present. In the absence of this directive, the BlockIP directive is considered. If both AllowIP and BlockIP are absent, then hosts are not restricted from connecting to a listening module. The following formats may be used for the AllowIP directive:
|
|||
This optional directive can be used to deny IP addresses and/or networks to connect. The directive can be set multiple times to add different IPs or networks to deny. This directive is only active when the ListenAddr directive is present. In the absence of this directive, the AllowIP directive is considered. If both AllowIP and BlockIP are absent, then hosts are not restricted from connecting to a listening module. The following formats may be used for the BlockIP directive:
|
|||
With this optional directive it is possible to set the maximum number of allowed concurrent/active connections for a listening TCP socket.
If not specified, the default value is 2024-03-01 22:29:16 ERROR [im_tcp|in_tcp] Number of allowed active connections(10) reached: 10. Refusing connection from 127.0.0.1 |
|||
This optional directive defines the maximum time in seconds before NXLog Agent closes TCP connections without traffic. The minimum timeout value is 15 seconds. If this directive is not specified, NXLog Agent does not close idle TCP connections. |
|||
This optional boolean directive specifies whether the module instance should exclusively bind to the specified port.
The default value is
|
|||
This optional boolean directive determines whether the module instance should forcibly bind to a port already in use.
The default value is |
|||
This optional boolean directive specifies whether multiple im_batchcompress module instances can listen on the same port.
When you enable this directive, multiple instances run in a separate thread, allowing NXLog Agent to process incoming logs simultaneously.
See the examples below.
The default value is
|
Fields
The following fields are used by im_batchcompress.
$MessageSourceAddress
(type: ipaddr)-
The IP address of the remote host.
Examples
This configuration listens on port 2514 for incoming log batches and writes them to file.
<Input batchcompress>
Module im_batchcompress
ListenAddr 0.0.0.0:2514
</Input>
<Output file>
Module om_file
File "tmp/output"
</Output>
<Route batchcompress_to_file>
Path batchcompress => file
</Route>