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Configure Global Log Receiver

Published April 5, 2023 | Last modified March 11, 2025

Objective

This guide provides instructions on how to enable sending of your tenant logs from F5® Distributed Cloud Regional Edge (RE) Sites to an external log collection system. The sent logs include all system and application logs of your tenant. This also includes logs of all Customer Edge (CE) Sites of that tenant. For conceptual information about logging, see Logs.

A folder gets created each day in your log collection system and in that folder, a folder for each hour gets created. The logs are sent for every 5 minutes into the hourly folder and are stored in a compressed gzip file.

Global log receiver supports sending the logs for the following log collection systems:

  • AWS Cloudwatch
  • AWS S3
  • Azure Blob Storage
  • Azure Event Hubs
  • Datadog
  • GCP Bucket
  • Generic HTTP or HTTPs server
  • IBM QRadar
  • Kafka
  • NewRelic
  • Splunk
  • SumoLogic

Note: Currently, global log receiver supports only sending the request (access) logs, security events, and audit logs for all HTTP Load Balancers and sites.

Using the instructions provided in this guide, you can configure a Global Log Receiver in the F5® Distributed Cloud Console (Console) to enable sending of logs to an external log collection system.

Prerequisites

Enable Global Receiver of Logs

You can configure global log receiver in either system namespace (Multi-Cloud Network Connect service) or in shared namespace (Shared Configuration service). In case of configuring in shared namespace, you can configure to send from either shared namespace or all namespaces or specific list of namespaces. If you are configuring in system namespace, you can only send logs from system namespace.

The example shown in this guide creates a global log receiver object in the Console in system namespace for sending the logs to the external log collection system.

Perform the following in the F5® Distributed Cloud Console:

Step 1: Start creating a global log receiver.

  • In the Console home page, select the Multi-Cloud Network Connect service or the Shared Configuration service.

  • Multi-Cloud Network Connect service: Select Manage > Log Management > Global Log Receiver.

  • Shared Configuration service: Select Manage > Global Log Receiver.

Figure: Navigate to Global Log Receiver Page

Figure: Navigate to Global Log Receiver Page

  • Select Add Global Log Receiver button.
Step 2: Configure global log receiver properties.

  • Enter a name in the metadata section. Optionally, set labels and add a description.

  • Select Request Logs, Security Events, or Audit Logs for the Log Type field. The request logs are set by default.

  • In case of Multi-Cloud Network Connect service, select logs from current namespace for the Log Message Selection field. This is also the default option.

  • In case of Shared Configuration, you can select one of the following options:

    • Select logs from current namespace - send logs from the shared namespace.

    Note: In case of DNS Request Logs, sending logs from current namespace is not supported. Either select logs from all namespaces or select logs from specific namespaces, and select the system namespace to send logs.

    • Select logs from all namespaces - send logs from all namespaces.
    • Select logs in specific namespaces - send logs from specified namespaces. Enter the namespace name in the displayed namespaces list. Use Add item button to add more than one namespace.

  • Select a receiver in the Receiver Configuration drop-down menu and follow the corresponding instructions below.

AWS Cloudwatch Receiver
Figure: AWS Cloudwatch Global Log Receiver Configuration

Figure: AWS Cloudwatch Global Log Receiver Configuration

  • Enter the group name for the target CloudWatch logs stream in the Group Name field.

  • Enter the stream name for the target CloudWatch logs stream in the Stream Name field.

  • In the AWS Cloud Credentials box, select a cloud credentials object from the drop-down. Alternatively, you can also use the Create new Cloud Credential button to create new object. For instructions on creating cloud credentials, see Cloud Credentials.

Note: For an AWS cloud credential, only the optionAWS Programmatic Access Credentials is supported.

  • Select a region from the AWS Region drop-down menu. Ensure that you select the same region in which the S3 storage is configured.
AWS S3 Receiver
Figure: AWS S3 Global Log Receiver Configuration

Figure: AWS S3 Global Log Receiver Configuration

  • Enter your AWS S3 bucket name in the S3 Bucket Name field.

  • Select AWS Cloud Credentials box, select a cloud credentials object from the drop-down. Alternatively, you can also use the Create new Cloud Credential button to create new object. For instructions on creating cloud credentials, see Cloud Credentials.

Note: For an AWS cloud credential, only the optionAWS Programmatic Access Credentials is supported.

  • Select AWS Region box, select a region from the drop-down. Ensure that you select the same region in which the S3 storage is configured.
Azure Blob Storage
Figure: Azure Blob Global Log Receiver Configuration

Figure: Azure Blob Global Log Receiver Configuration

  • Click Configure to setup the Azure Blob storage connection string.

    Figure: Azure Blob Connection String

    Figure: Azure Blob Connection String

    • Select Blindfolded Secret from the Secret Type drop-down menu.

    • Use the Action drop-down menu to select:

      • Use Blindfold Blindfolded Secret: Enter your connection string into the Blindfolded Secret field.
      • Blindfold New Secret: Select Built-in from the Policy Type drop-down menu and enter your connection string into the Secret to Blindfold field, or select Custom for the policy type and then choose a custom policy and enter your connection string.

      * Where to get the Azure BLOB connection string:

      1. Go to All Services > Storage accounts > (name of account).
      2. Select Access Keys on the navigation menu for the storage account you have selected.
      3. In the Access Keys pane, choose one of the access keys and click Show for the Connection String. Click Copy to Clipboard on the left side of the shown field.
      Figure: Azure Blob Connection String Location

      Figure: Azure Blob Connection String Location

  • In the Container Name field, enter the name of the Azure container into which the logs should be sent.

Azure Event Hubs
Figure: Azure Event Hubs Global Log Receiver Configuration

Figure: Azure Event Hubs Global Log Receiver Configuration

  • Click Configure to setup the Azure Event Hubs storage connection string.

    Figure: Azure Blob Connection String

    Figure: Azure Blob Connection String

    • Select Blindfolded Secret from the Secret Type drop-down menu.
    • Use the Action drop-down menu to select:
      • Use Blindfold Blindfolded Secret: Enter your connection string into the Blindfolded Secret field.
      • Blindfold New Secret: Select Built-in from the Policy Type drop-down menu and enter your connection string into the Secret to Blindfold field, or select Custom for the policy type and then choose a custom policy and enter your connection string.

Note: Your connection string should look like EntityPath=<EventHubName>.

* Where to get the Azure Event Hubs connection string: Refer to the following Microsoft article: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/event-hubs/event-hubs-get-connection-string.

  • In the Container Name field, enter the name of the Azure container into which the logs should be stored.
Datadog Receiver
Figure: Datadog Global Log Receiver Configuration

Figure: Datadog Global Log Receiver Configuration

  • Enter the URL for DataDog into the Datadog into the Datadog Site field (datadoghq.com)

  • Click Configure to setup the Datadog API Key.

    Figure: Azure Blob Connection String

    Figure: Azure Blob Connection String

    • Select Blindfolded Secret from the Secret Type drop-down menu.

    • Use the Action drop-down menu to select:

      • Use Blindfold Blindfolded Secret: Enter your Datadog API Key into the Blindfolded Secret field.
      • Blindfold New Secret: Select Built-in from the Policy Type drop-down menu and enter your Datadog API Key into the Secret to Blindfold field, or select Custom for the policy type and then choose a custom policy and enter your Datadog API Key.

      * Where to get the Datadog API Key:

      1. Go to https://app.datadoghq.com/organization-settings/api-keys
      2. Create API key or select existing one
      3. A dialog will pop-up. Click Copy from the dialog and paste this value into the the global log receiver configuration for API Key

      Figure: Datadog API Key Location

      Figure: Datadog API Key Location

      Datadog Documentation: https://docs.datadoghq.com/account_management/api-app-keys/#add-an-api-key-or-client-token

GCP Bucket Receiver
Figure: GCP Global Log Receiver Configuration

Figure: GCP Global Log Receiver Configuration

  • In the GCP Bucket Name field, enter the name of the bucket into which the logs should be sent.

  • Use the GCP Cloud Credentials drop-down menu to select an existing set of credentials. Alternatively select Add Item to create new credentials. For help creating new credentials, see Cloud Credentials.

HTTP Receiver
Figure: HTTP Global Log Receiver Configuration

Figure: HTTP Global Log Receiver Configuration

  • Enter the URI for your HTTP receiver in the HTTP Uri field.

  • Choose an authentication type from the Authentication drop-down menu.

    • None: no authentication will be performed.
    • Basic Authentication: Enter your login in the User Name field and click Configure to enter your password.
    • Token Authentication: Click Configure to enter your authentication token.
IBM QRadar Receiver
Figure: QRadar Global Log Receiver Configuration

Figure: QRadar Global Log Receiver Configuration

Enter the URI for your QRadar receiver in the Log Source Collector URL field. For more information, refer to the following IBM document: https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/dsm?topic=options-http-receiver-protocol-configuration

Note: In some cases, multiple events will be sent to the global log receiver at once. The QRadar receiver needs to be told to split the events into multiple records. To do this, configure the Message Pattern field as follows:

Figure: QRadar Message Pattern Configuration

Figure: QRadar Message Pattern Configuration

Kafka Receiver
Figure: Kafka Global Log Receiver Configuration

Figure: Kafka Global Log Receiver Configuration

  • Enter a Kafka bootstrap server in the form of host:port into the Kafka Bootstrap Server List. Use the Add Item button to add additional pairs.

  • Enter the Kafka topic name for the reported events.

NewRelic Receiver
Figure: NewRelic Log Receiver Configuration

Figure: NewRelic Log Receiver Configuration

  • Select the endpoint thats applicable to your NewRelic account in the NewRelic Account Endpoint drop-down menu.

  • Click Configure to setup the NewRelic license key.

    Figure: NewRelic License Key

    Figure: NewRelic License Key

    • Select Blindfolded Secret from the Secret Type drop-down menu.
    • Use the Action drop-down menu to select:
      • Use Blindfold Blindfolded Secret: Enter your NewRelic license key into the Blindfolded Secret field.
      • Blindfold New Secret: Select Built-in from the Policy Type drop-down menu and enter your NewRelic license key into the Secret to Blindfold field, or select Custom for the policy type and then choose a custom policy and enter your NewRelic license key.
Splunk Receiver
Figure: Splunk Log Receiver Configuration

Figure: Splunk Log Receiver Configuration

  • Enter the Splunk HEC Logs Endpoint.

  • Click Configure to setup the Splunk HEC token.

    Figure: Splunk License Key

    Figure: Splunk License Key

    • Select Blindfolded Secret from the Secret Type drop-down menu.
    • Use the Action drop-down menu to select:
      • Use Blindfold Blindfolded Secret: Enter your Splunk HEC token into the Blindfolded Secret field.
      • Blindfold New Secret: Select Built-in from the Policy Type drop-down menu and enter your Splunk HEC token into the Secret to Blindfold field, or select Custom for the policy type and then choose a custom policy and enter your Splunk HEC token.

*Splunk Configuration Details.

According to a Splunk article, there are 2 different Splunk HEC URI:

In either of the scenarios, you can use the following command to validate the URL:

  • In case of Splunk Cloud, enter %>nslookup http-inputs-<customer_stack>.splunkcloud.com

  • In case of Splunk Test Drive, enter $ nslookup input-prd-uniqueid.cloud.splunk.com

Splunk Documentation: https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/9.0.4/Data/UsetheHTTPEventCollector

SumoLogic Receiver
Figure: SumoLogic Log Receiver Configuration

Figure: SumoLogic Log Receiver Configuration

  • Click Configure to setup the SumoLogic Source Address URL.

    Figure: SumoLogic Source Address URL

    Figure: SumoLogic Source Address URL

    • Select Blindfolded Secret from the Secret Type drop-down menu.
    • Use the Action drop-down menu to select:
      • Use Blindfold Blindfolded Secret: Enter your SumoLogic HTTP collector URL into the Blindfolded Secret field.
      • Blindfold New Secret: Select Built-in from the Policy Type drop-down menu and enter your SumoLogic HTTP collector URL into the Secret to Blindfold field, or select Custom for the policy type and then choose a custom policy and enter your SumoLogic HTTP collector URL.
Step 3: Optionally, configure advanced settings.

Advanced settings include configuring batch options and TLS. Using batch options, you can apply limits such as maximum number of messages bytes or timeout for a batch of logs to be sent to the receiver.

Select Show Advanced Fields toggle and do the following in the Batch Options section:

  • Select Timeout Seconds for the Batch Timeout Options and enter a timeout value in the Timeout Seconds box.
  • Select Max Events for the Batch Max Events and enter a value between 32 and 2000 in the Max Events box.
  • Select Max Bytes for the Batch Bytes and enter a value between 4096 and 1048576 in the Batch Bytes box. Logs will be sent after the batch is size is equal to or more than the specified byte size.

Do the following for TLS section:

  • Select Use TLS for the TLS field.
  • Select Server CA Certificates for the Trusted CA field. Enter the certificates in PEM or Base64 format in the Server CA Certificates box.
  • Select Enable mTLS for mTLS config and enter client certificate in PEM or Base64 format in the Client Certificate box.
    • Select Configure in the Client Private Key field, enter the secret in the box with type selected as Text.
    • Select Blindfold, wait for the operation to complete, and click Apply.
Step 4: Complete log receiver creation.

Select Save & Exit to complete creating the global log receiver.

Step 5: Inspect your connection and verify that logs are collected in the receiver..
  • Select ... > Test Connection in the Actions column for your global log receiver object. Wait for the test to complete and return message indicating successful connection.

Note: The F5 Distributed Cloud performs up to 20 retries in case of connection failure. The retries are performed only in case of the following HTTP response codes are returned:

  • 429
  • 500 and above, but not 501
  • Verify that logs are collected into your receiver (such as S3 bucket in AWS).

Concepts

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