Fluent Bit - How to Enable Log Forwarding to Syslog Server in vSphere Kubernetes Service (VKS) Cluster

Products

• VMware vSphere Kubernetes Service

Issue/Introduction

Users may want to configure Fluent Bit to send container logs to a remote Syslog server for centralized log collection and monitoring.

Environment

vSphere Kubernetes Service

Cause

By default, the Fluent Bit package does not forward logs to an external Syslog endpoint unless explicitly configured. Users must modify the fluent-bit-data-values.yaml file to enable and define the desired Syslog output configuration.

Resolution

To forward logs to a Syslog server using Fluent Bit in a TKG Service Cluster on vSphere Supervisor, follow the steps below:

Prepare the fluent-bit-data-values.yaml
Create or modify the fluent-bit-data-values.yaml file with the following Syslog output configuration:

---
fluent_bit:
  config:
    outputs: |
      [OUTPUT]
        Name   syslog
        Match  *
        Host   <HOST_IP>
        Port   <HOST_PORT>
        Mode   <TCP_MODE>
        Syslog_Message_key   message

Install or Update Fluent Bit Package
Use the following command to install Fluent Bit with your custom configuration:

tanzu package install fluent-bit \
  --package-name fluent-bit.tanzu.vmware.com \
  --version <version> \
  --values-file fluent-bit-data-values.yaml

Or to update an existing Fluent Bit package:

tanzu package installed update fluent-bit \
  --package-name fluent-bit.tanzu.vmware.com \
  --version <version> \
  --values-file fluent-bit-data-values.yaml

 

Verify the Deployment
Ensure the Fluent Bit pods are running and that logs are being received by the external Syslog server.

Verify this by running kubectl get pods -n <fluentbit-namespace>

Additional Information

Reference
Refer to the official Fluent Bit package documentation for additional output plugins or advanced filtering:
Fluent Bit Package Reference - Broadcom TechDocs