--- sort: 3 title: Data ingestion weight: 3 menu: docs: identifier: victorialogs-data-ingestion parent: "victorialogs" weight: 3 aliases: - /VictoriaLogs/data-ingestion/ - /VictoriaLogs/data-ingestion/index.html --- # Data ingestion [VictoriaLogs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/) can accept logs from the following log collectors: - Filebeat. See [how to setup Filebeat for sending logs to VictoriaLogs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/data-ingestion/Filebeat.html). - Fluentbit. See [how to setup Fluentbit for sending logs to VictoriaLogs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/data-ingestion/Fluentbit.html). - Logstash. See [how to setup Logstash for sending logs to VictoriaLogs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/data-ingestion/Logstash.html). - Vector. See [how to setup Vector for sending logs to VictoriaLogs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/data-ingestion/Vector.html). - Promtail (aka Grafana Loki). See [how to setup Promtail for sending logs to VictoriaLogs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/data-ingestion/Promtail.html). The ingested logs can be queried according to [these docs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/querying/). See also: - [Log collectors and data ingestion formats](#log-collectors-and-data-ingestion-formats). - [Data ingestion troubleshooting](#troubleshooting). ## HTTP APIs VictoriaLogs supports the following data ingestion HTTP APIs: - Elasticsearch bulk API. See [these docs](#elasticsearch-bulk-api). - JSON stream API aka [ndjson](http://ndjson.org/). See [these docs](#json-stream-api). - Loki JSON API. See [these docs](#loki-json-api). VictoriaLogs accepts optional [HTTP parameters](#http-parameters) at data ingestion HTTP APIs. ### Elasticsearch bulk API VictoriaLogs accepts logs in [Elasticsearch bulk API](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/docs-bulk.html) / [OpenSearch Bulk API](http://opensearch.org/docs/1.2/opensearch/rest-api/document-apis/bulk/) format at `http://localhost:9428/insert/elasticsearch/_bulk` endpoint. The following command pushes a single log line to VictoriaLogs: ```bash echo '{"create":{}} {"_msg":"cannot open file","_time":"0","host.name":"host123"} ' | curl -X POST -H 'Content-Type: application/json' --data-binary @- http://localhost:9428/insert/elasticsearch/_bulk ``` It is possible to push thousands of log lines in a single request to this API. If the [timestamp field](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#time-field) is set to `"0"`, then the current timestamp at VictoriaLogs side is used per each ingested log line. Otherwise the timestamp field must be in the [ISO8601](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601) format. For example, `2023-06-20T15:32:10Z`. Optional fractional part of seconds can be specified after the dot - `2023-06-20T15:32:10.123Z`. Timezone can be specified instead of `Z` suffix - `2023-06-20T15:32:10+02:00`. See [these docs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#data-model) for details on fields, which must be present in the ingested log messages. The API accepts various http parameters, which can change the data ingestion behavior - [these docs](#http-parameters) for details. The following command verifies that the data has been successfully ingested to VictoriaLogs by [querying](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/querying/) it: ```bash curl http://localhost:9428/select/logsql/query -d 'query=host.name:host123' ``` The command should return the following response: ```bash {"_msg":"cannot open file","_stream":"{}","_time":"2023-06-21T04:24:24Z","host.name":"host123"} ``` The response by default contains [`_msg`](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#message-field), [`_stream`](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#stream-fields) and [`_time`](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#time-field) fields plus the explicitly mentioned fields. See [these docs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/LogsQL.html#querying-specific-fields) for details. The duration of requests to `/insert/elasticsearch/_bulk` can be monitored with `vl_http_request_duration_seconds{path="/insert/elasticsearch/_bulk"}` metric. See also: - [How to debug data ingestion](#troubleshooting). - [HTTP parameters, which can be passed to the API](#http-parameters). - [How to query VictoriaLogs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/querying/). ### JSON stream API VictoriaLogs accepts JSON line stream aka [ndjson](http://ndjson.org/) at `http://localhost:9428/insert/jsonline` endpoint. The following command pushes multiple log lines to VictoriaLogs: ```bash echo '{ "log": { "level": "info", "message": "hello world" }, "date": "0", "stream": "stream1" } { "log": { "level": "error", "message": "oh no!" }, "date": "0", "stream": "stream1" } { "log": { "level": "info", "message": "hello world" }, "date": "0", "stream": "stream2" } ' | curl -X POST -H 'Content-Type: application/stream+json' --data-binary @- \ 'http://localhost:9428/insert/jsonline?_stream_fields=stream&_time_field=date&_msg_field=log.message' ``` It is possible to push unlimited number of log lines in a single request to this API. If the [timestamp field](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#time-field) is set to `"0"`, then the current timestamp at VictoriaLogs side is used per each ingested log line. Otherwise the timestamp field must be in the [ISO8601](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601) format. For example, `2023-06-20T15:32:10Z`. Optional fractional part of seconds can be specified after the dot - `2023-06-20T15:32:10.123Z`. Timezone can be specified instead of `Z` suffix - `2023-06-20T15:32:10+02:00`. See [these docs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#data-model) for details on fields, which must be present in the ingested log messages. The API accepts various http parameters, which can change the data ingestion behavior - [these docs](#http-parameters) for details. The following command verifies that the data has been successfully ingested into VictoriaLogs by [querying](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/querying/) it: ```bash curl http://localhost:9428/select/logsql/query -d 'query=log.level:*' ``` The command should return the following response: ```bash {"_msg":"hello world","_stream":"{stream=\"stream2\"}","_time":"2023-06-20T13:35:11.56789Z","log.level":"info"} {"_msg":"hello world","_stream":"{stream=\"stream1\"}","_time":"2023-06-20T15:31:23Z","log.level":"info"} {"_msg":"oh no!","_stream":"{stream=\"stream1\"}","_time":"2023-06-20T15:32:10.567Z","log.level":"error"} ``` The response by default contains [`_msg`](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#message-field), [`_stream`](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#stream-fields) and [`_time`](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#time-field) fields plus the explicitly mentioned fields. See [these docs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/LogsQL.html#querying-specific-fields) for details. The duration of requests to `/insert/jsonline` can be monitored with `vl_http_request_duration_seconds{path="/insert/jsonline"}` metric. See also: - [How to debug data ingestion](#troubleshooting). - [HTTP parameters, which can be passed to the API](#http-parameters). - [How to query VictoriaLogs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/querying/). ### Loki JSON API VictoriaLogs accepts logs in [Loki JSON API](https://grafana.com/docs/loki/latest/api/#push-log-entries-to-loki) format at `http://localhost:9428/insert/loki/api/v1/push` endpoint. The following command pushes a single log line to Loki JSON API at VictoriaLogs: ```bash curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" -XPOST "http://localhost:9428/insert/loki/api/v1/push?_stream_fields=instance,job" --data-raw \ '{"streams": [{ "stream": { "instance": "host123", "job": "app42" }, "values": [ [ "0", "foo fizzbuzz bar" ] ] }]}' ``` It is possible to push thousands of log streams and log lines in a single request to this API. The API accepts various http parameters, which can change the data ingestion behavior - [these docs](#http-parameters) for details. There is no need in specifying `_msg_field` and `_time_field` query args, since VictoriaLogs automatically extracts log message and timestamp from the ingested Loki data. The following command verifies that the data has been successfully ingested into VictoriaLogs by [querying](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/querying/) it: ```bash curl http://localhost:9428/select/logsql/query -d 'query=fizzbuzz' ``` The command should return the following response: ```bash {"_msg":"foo fizzbuzz bar","_stream":"{instance=\"host123\",job=\"app42\"}","_time":"2023-07-20T23:01:19.288676497Z"} ``` The response by default contains [`_msg`](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#message-field), [`_stream`](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#stream-fields) and [`_time`](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#time-field) fields plus the explicitly mentioned fields. See [these docs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/LogsQL.html#querying-specific-fields) for details. The duration of requests to `/insert/loki/api/v1/push` can be monitored with `vl_http_request_duration_seconds{path="/insert/loki/api/v1/push"}` metric. See also: - [How to debug data ingestion](#troubleshooting). - [HTTP parameters, which can be passed to the API](#http-parameters). - [How to query VictoriaLogs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/querying/). ### HTTP parameters VictoriaLogs accepts the following parameters at [data ingestion HTTP APIs](#http-apis): - `_msg_field` - it must contain the name of the [log field](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#data-model) with the [log message](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#message-field) generated by the log shipper. This is usually the `message` field for Filebeat and Logstash. If the `_msg_field` parameter isn't set, then VictoriaLogs reads the log message from the `_msg` field. - `_time_field` - it must contain the name of the [log field](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#data-model) with the [log timestamp](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#time-field) generated by the log shipper. This is usually the `@timestamp` field for Filebeat and Logstash. If the `_time_field` parameter isn't set, then VictoriaLogs reads the timestamp from the `_time` field. If this field doesn't exist, then the current timestamp is used. - `_stream_fields` - it should contain comma-separated list of [log field](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#data-model) names, which uniquely identify every [log stream](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#stream-fields) collected the log shipper. If the `_stream_fields` parameter isn't set, then all the ingested logs are written to default log stream - `{}`. - `ignore_fields` - this parameter may contain the list of [log field](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#data-model) names, which must be ignored during data ingestion. - `debug` - if this parameter is set to `1`, then the ingested logs aren't stored in VictoriaLogs. Instead, the ingested data is logged by VictoriaLogs, so it can be investigated later. See also [HTTP headers](#http-headers). ### HTTP headers VictoriaLogs accepts optional `AccountID` and `ProjectID` headers at [data ingestion HTTP APIs](#http-apis). These headers may contain the needed tenant to ingest data to. See [multitenancy docs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/#multitenancy) for details. ## Troubleshooting The following command can be used for verifying whether the data is successfully ingested into VictoriaLogs: ```bash curl http://localhost:9428/select/logsql/query -d 'query=*' | head ``` This command selects all the data ingested into VictoriaLogs via [HTTP query API](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/querying/#http-api) using [any value filter](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/LogsQL.html#any-value-filter), while `head` cancels query execution after reading the first 10 log lines. See [these docs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/querying/#command-line) for more details on how `head` integrates with VictoriaLogs. The response by default contains [`_msg`](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#message-field), [`_stream`](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#stream-fields) and [`_time`](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#time-field) fields plus the explicitly mentioned fields. See [these docs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/LogsQL.html#querying-specific-fields) for details. VictoriaLogs provides the following command-line flags, which can help debugging data ingestion issues: - `-logNewStreams` - if this flag is passed to VictoriaLogs, then it logs all the newly registered [log streams](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#stream-fields). This may help debugging [high cardinality issues](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#high-cardinality). - `-logIngestedRows` - if this flag is passed to VictoriaLogs, then it logs all the ingested [log entries](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#data-model). See also `debug` [parameter](#http-parameters). VictoriaLogs exposes various [metrics](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/#monitoring), which may help debugging data ingestion issues: - `vl_rows_ingested_total` - the number of ingested [log entries](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#data-model) since the last VictoriaLogs restart. If this number icreases over time, then logs are successfully ingested into VictoriaLogs. The ingested logs can be inspected in the following ways: - By passing `debug=1` parameter to every request to [data ingestion APIs](#http-apis). The ingested rows aren't stored in VictoriaLogs in this case. Instead, they are logged, so they can be investigated later. The `vl_rows_dropped_total` [metric](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/#monitoring) is incremented for each logged row. - By passing `-logIngestedRows` command-line flag to VictoriaLogs. In this case it logs all the ingested data, so it can be investigated later. - `vl_streams_created_total` - the number of created [log streams](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#stream-fields) since the last VictoriaLogs restart. If this metric grows rapidly during extended periods of time, then this may lead to [high cardinality issues](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/keyConcepts.html#high-cardinality). The newly created log streams can be inspected in logs by passing `-logNewStreams` command-line flag to VictoriaLogs. ## Log collectors and data ingestion formats Here is the list of log collectors and their ingestion formats supported by VictoriaLogs: | How to setup the collector | Format: Elasticsearch | Format: JSON Stream | Format: Loki | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | [Filebeat](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/data-ingestion/Filebeat.html) | [Yes](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/current/elasticsearch-output.html) | No | No | | [Fluentbit](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/data-ingestion/Fluentbit.html) | No | [Yes](https://docs.fluentbit.io/manual/pipeline/outputs/http) | [Yes](https://docs.fluentbit.io/manual/pipeline/outputs/loki) | | [Logstash](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/data-ingestion/Logstash.html) | [Yes](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/logstash/current/plugins-outputs-elasticsearch.html) | No | No | | [Vector](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/data-ingestion/Vector.html) | [Yes](https://vector.dev/docs/reference/configuration/sinks/elasticsearch/) | No | [Yes](https://vector.dev/docs/reference/configuration/sinks/loki/) | | [Promtail](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/VictoriaLogs/data-ingestion/Promtail.html) | No | No | [Yes](https://grafana.com/docs/loki/latest/clients/promtail/configuration/#clients) |