The recommended way to install Fluentd on Windows is to use MSI installers of fluent-package
.
fluent-package
is a packaged distribution of Fluentd which is formerly known as td-agent
.
- Includes Ruby and other library dependencies (since most Windows machines don't have them installed).
- Includes a set of commonly-used 3rd-party plugins such as
in_windows_eventlog2
.
You can also see fluent-package-v5-vs-td-agent.
{% hint style='danger' %} The following are deprecated td-agent (EOL) information:
- About deprecated Treasure Agent (td-agent) v4 (EOL), see Install by .msi Installer v4 (Windows).
- About deprecated Treasure Agent (td-agent) 3 will not be maintained anymore, see Install by msi Package v3.
- Do not directly upgrade from v3 to v5. Such a workflow is not supported. It causes a trouble. Upgrade in stages. (v3 to v4, then v4 to v5) {% endhint %}
Download the latest MSI installer from the download page. Run the installer and follow the wizard. If you want to use Long Term Support version, use LTS.
Open C:/opt/fluent/etc/fluent/fluentd.conf
with a text editor. Replace the configuration with the following content:
<source>
@type windows_eventlog2
@id windows_eventlog2
channels application
read_existing_events false
tag winevt.raw
rate_limit 200
<storage>
@type local
persistent true
path C:\opt\fluent\winlog.json
</storage>
</source>
<match winevt.raw>
@type stdout
</match>
Open Windows Start menu, and search Fluent Package Command Prompt
. In most environments, the program will be found right under the "Recently Added" section or "Best match" section.
Fluent Package Command Prompt
is basically cmd.exe
, with a few PATH tweaks for Fluentd programs. Use this program whenever you need to interact with Fluentd.
Type the following command into Fluent Package Command Prompt
with Administrator privilege:
C:\opt\fluent> fluentd
Now fluentd
starts listening to Windows Eventlog, and will print records to stdout as they occur.
Fluentd is registered as a Windows service permanently by the msi installer. Since version 5.0.0, the service does not automatically start after installed. You must manually start it.
Choose one of your preferred way:
- Using GUI
- Using
net.ext
- Using Powershell Cmdlet
Please guide yourself to Control Panel -> System and Security -> Administrative Tools -> Services
, and you'll see Fluentd Windows Service
is listed.
Please double click Fluentd Window Service
, and click Start
button. Then the process will be executed as Windows Service.
> net start fluentdwinsvc
The Fluentd Windows Service service is starting..
The Fluentd Windows Service service was started successfully.
PS> Start-Service fluentdwinsvc
Note that using fluentdwinsvc
is needed to start Fluentd service from the command-line. fluentdwinsvc
is the service name and it should be passed to net.exe
or Start-Service
Cmdlet.
The log file will be located at C:/opt/fluent/fluentd.log
as we specified in Step 3.
Open Fluent Package Command Prompt
and use fluent-gem
command:
C:\opt\fluent> fluent-gem install fluent-plugin-xyz --version=1.2.3
You are now ready to collect real logs with Fluentd. Refer to the following tutorials on how to collect data from various sources:
- Basic Configuration
- Application Logs
- Examples
{% hint style='info' %} There are some commercial supports for Fluentd, see Enterprise Services. If you use Fluentd on production, Let's share your use-case/testimonial on Testimonials page. Please consider to feedback via GitHub. {% endhint %}
If this article is incorrect or outdated, or omits critical information, please let us know. Fluentd is an open-source project under Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). All components are available under the Apache 2 License.