NXLog Legacy Documentation

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

This topic describes the steps to install and upgrade NXLog on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.

Installing

First, download the appropriate NXLog install archive from the NXLog website.

  1. Log in to your account, then click My account at the top of the page.

  2. Under the Downloads > NXLog Enterprise Edition files tab, download the correct archive for your system.

    Table 1. Available SLES Files
    Platform Archive

    SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12

    nxlog-6.5.9781_sles12_x86_64.tar.bz2

    SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15

    nxlog-6.5.9781_sles15_x86_64.tar.bz2

  3. Use SFTP or a similar secure method to transfer the archive to the target server.

  4. Log in to the target server and extract the contents of the archive.

    # tar -xvf nxlog-6.5.9781_sles15_x86_64.tar.bz2
    Table 2. Packages in an SLES Archive
    Package Description

    nxlog-6.5.9781_sles15.x86_64.rpm

    The main NXLog package

    nxlog-checkpoint-6.5.9781_sles15.x86_64.rpm

    Provides the im_checkpoint module

    nxlog-dbi-6.5.9781_sles15.x86_64.rpm

    Provides the im_dbi and om_dbi modules

    nxlog-java-6.5.9781_sles15.x86_64.rpm

    Provides the xm_java, im_java, and om_java modules

    nxlog-kafka-6.5.9781_sles15.x86_64.rpm

    Provides the im_kafka and om_kafka modules

    nxlog-odbc-6.5.9781_sles15.x86_64.rpm

    Provides the im_odbc and om_odbc modules

    nxlog-pcap-6.5.9781_sles15.x86_64.rpm

    Provides the im_pcap module

    nxlog-perl-6.5.9781_sles15.x86_64.rpm

    Provides the xm_perl, im_perl, and om_perl modules

    nxlog-python-6.5.9781_sles15.x86_64.rpm

    Provides the xm_python, im_python, and om_python modules

    nxlog-ruby-6.5.9781_sles15.x86_64.rpm

    Provides the xm_ruby, im_ruby, and om_ruby modules

    nxlog-systemd-6.5.9781_sles15.x86_64.rpm

    Provides the im_systemd module

    nxlog-wseventing-6.5.9781_sles15.x86_64.rpm

    Provides the im_wseventing module

    nxlog-zmq-6.5.9781_sles15.x86_64.rpm

    Provides the im_zmq and om_zmq modules

  5. Optional: To change the NXLog user and group for the installation, set the NXLOG_USER and NXLOG_GROUP environment variables. During installation, a new user and a new group will be created based on these environment variables. They will be used for User and Group directives in nxlog.conf, and for the ownership of some directories under /opt/nxlog. Specifying an already existing user or group is not supported. The created user and group will be deleted on NXLog removal.

    # export NXLOG_USER=nxlog2
    # export NXLOG_GROUP=nxlog2
  6. Download the public key file from the NXLog’s public contrib repository and import it to the RPM database.

    # rpm --import nxlog-pubkey.asc

    For more details about the package verification, see the Signature Verification for RPM Packages section in the User Guide.

  7. Install the required NXLog packages and their dependencies (this example installs the main NXLog package only).

    # zypper install nxlog-6.5.9781_sles15.x86_64.rpm
  8. Configure NXLog by editing /opt/nxlog/etc/nxlog.conf. General information about configuring NXLog can be found in Configuration. For more details about configuring NXLog to collect logs on Linux, see the GNU/Linux summary.

  9. Verify the configuration file syntax.

    # /opt/nxlog/bin/nxlog -v
    2020-10-17 08:05:06 INFO configuration OK
  10. Start the service using the service command:

    # systemctl start nxlog.service
  11. Check that the NXLog service is running with the systemctl command.

    # systemctl | grep nxlog
    nxlog.service
    loaded active running  NXLog daemon

Upgrading

To update an NXLog installation to the latest release, use zypper as in the installation instructions above. It is recommended to make a backup of the configuration files before starting this process.

# zypper install nxlog-6.5.9781_sles12.x86_64.rpm

To replace a trial installation of NXLog Enterprise Edition with a licensed copy of the same version, follow the installation instructions.

The same user and group will be used for the upgrade as was used for the original installation (see installation user and group above). Changing to a different user and group during upgrade is not supported.

Uninstalling

To uninstall NXLog, use zypper remove. To remove any packages that were dependencies of NXLog but are not required by any other packages, include the --clean-deps option. Verify the operation before confirming!

# zypper remove 'nxlog*'
This procedure may not remove all files that were created while configuring NXLog. Likewise, any files created as a result of NXLog’s logging operations will not be removed. To find these files, examine the configuration files that were used with NXLog and check the installation directory (/opt/nxlog).