Log streaming: Cloud Files

Fastly's Real-Time Log Streaming feature can send log file to Cloud Files. Operated by Rackspace, Cloud Files is a file storage service used by developers and IT teams.

NOTE

Fastly does not provide direct support for third-party services. Read Fastly's Terms of Service for more information.

Prerequisites

If you don't already have a Rackspace Cloud account, you'll need to register for one. Follow the instructions on Rackspace's website.

Creating a Cloud Files user and container

Start by creating a Cloud Files user with restricted permissions via Rackspace's cloud control panel.

  1. Log in to Rackspace's cloud control panel.
  2. From the user account menu, select User Management.
  3. Click Create User and fill in all appropriate details.
  4. In the Product Access section, set User Role to Custom.
  5. Review the Product Access list. For all items in the Product column, set Role to No Access except the Files item.
  6. Set the Files item Role to Admin. This will allow you to create the files to store the logs in, but not access any other services.

Next, find the API key for your Cloud Files account. You'll use this later to authenticate using the Cloud Files API.

  1. From the user account menu, select Account Settings.
  2. Show the API key in the Login details and make a note of it.

Now that you've created the Cloud Files user and found the API key, you can set up a Cloud Files container.

  1. From the Storage menu, select Files.
  2. Click Create Container.
  3. Assign the container a meaningful name like Fastly logs - my service.
  4. Choose a region to keep the files in and make sure the container is private.
  5. Click Create Container.

Adding a Cloud Files logging endpoint

Once you have created the Cloud Files user and container, follow these instructions to add Cloud Files as a logging endpoint:

  1. Deliver services
  2. Compute services
  1. Review the information in our guide to setting up remote log streaming.
  2. In the Rackspace Cloud Files area, click Create endpoint.
  3. Fill out the Create a Cloud Files endpoint fields as follows:
    • In the Name field, enter a human-readable name for the endpoint.
    • In the Placement area, select where the logging call should be placed in the generated VCL. Valid values are Format Version Default, waf_debug (waf_debug_log), and None. Read our guide on changing log placement for more information.
    • In the Log format field, optionally enter an Apache-style string or VCL variables to use for log formatting. Consult the example format section for details.
    • (Optional) In the Timestamp format field, enter a timestamp format for log files. The default is an strftime compatible string. Our guide on changing where log files are written provides more information.
    • In the Bucket name field, enter the name of the Cloud Files container in which to store the logs.
    • In the User field, enter the username of the Cloud Files user you created above.
    • In the Access key field, enter the API key of your Cloud Files account.
    • (Optional) In the Period field, enter an interval (in seconds) to control how frequently your log files are rotated. Rotation entails the finalization of one file object and the start of a new one, never removing any previously created file object. This value defaults to 3600 seconds.
    • From the Region menu, select the region to stream logs to.
  4. Click Advanced options and fill out the fields as follows:
    • (Optional) In the Path field, enter the path within the bucket to store the files. The path ends with a trailing slash. If this field is left empty, the files will be saved in the bucket's root path. Our guide on changing where log files are written provides more information.
    • (Optional) In the PGP public key field, enter a PGP public key that Fastly will use to encrypt your log files before writing them to disk. You will only be able to read the contents by decrypting them with your private key. The PGP key should be in PEM (Privacy-Enhanced Mail) format. Read our guide on log encryption for more information.
    • In the Select a log line format area, select the log line format for your log messages. Our guide on changing log line formats provides more information.
    • (Optional) In the Compression field, select the compression format you want applied to the log files. Our guide on changing log compression options provides more information.
  5. Click Create to create the new logging endpoint.
  6. Click Activate to deploy your configuration changes.

Example format

The following is an example format string for sending data to Cloud Files. Our discussion of format strings provides more information.

1{
2 "timestamp": "%{strftime(\{"%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%z"\}, time.start)}V",
3 "client_ip": "%{req.http.Fastly-Client-IP}V",
4 "geo_country": "%{client.geo.country_name}V",
5 "geo_city": "%{client.geo.city}V",
6 "host": "%{if(req.http.Fastly-Orig-Host, req.http.Fastly-Orig-Host, req.http.Host)}V",
7 "url": "%{json.escape(req.url)}V",
8 "request_method": "%{json.escape(req.method)}V",
9 "request_protocol": "%{json.escape(req.proto)}V",
10 "request_referer": "%{json.escape(req.http.referer)}V",
11 "request_user_agent": "%{json.escape(req.http.User-Agent)}V",
12 "response_state": "%{json.escape(fastly_info.state)}V",
13 "response_status": %{resp.status}V,
14 "response_reason": %{if(resp.response, "%22"+json.escape(resp.response)+"%22", "null")}V,
15 "response_body_size": %{resp.body_bytes_written}V,
16 "fastly_server": "%{json.escape(server.identity)}V",
17 "fastly_is_edge": %{if(fastly.ff.visits_this_service == 0, "true", "false")}V
18}
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