Exec source

Collect output from a process running on the host

Configuration

Example configurations

{
  "sources": {
    "my_source_id": {
      "type": "exec",
      "mode": "scheduled",
      "command": null,
      "scheduled": null,
      "streaming": null
    }
  }
}

[sources.my_source_id]
type = "exec"
mode = "scheduled"

---
sources:
  my_source_id:
    type: exec
    mode: scheduled
    command: null
    scheduled: null
    streaming: null

{
  "sources": {
    "my_source_id": {
      "type": "exec",
      "mode": "scheduled",
      "command": null,
      "working_directory": null,
      "include_stderr": true,
      "maximum_buffer_size_bytes": 1000000,
      "scheduled": null,
      "framing": null,
      "streaming": null,
      "decoding": null
    }
  }
}

[sources.my_source_id]
type = "exec"
mode = "scheduled"
include_stderr = true
maximum_buffer_size_bytes = 1_000_000

---
sources:
  my_source_id:
    type: exec
    mode: scheduled
    command: null
    working_directory: null
    include_stderr: true
    maximum_buffer_size_bytes: 1000000
    scheduled: null
    framing: null
    streaming: null
    decoding: null

command

required [string]

The command to be run, plus any arguments required.

Array string literal

Option	Description
`bytes`	Events containing the byte frame as-is.
`gelf`	Events being parsed from a GELF message.
`json`	Events being parsed from a JSON string.
`native`	Events being parsed from Vector’s native protobuf format (EXPERIMENTAL).
`native_json`	Events being parsed from Vector’s native JSON format (EXPERIMENTAL).
`syslog`	Events being parsed from a Syslog message.

framing

optional object

Configures in which way incoming byte sequences are split up into byte frames.

framing.character_delimited

required object

Options for character_delimited framing.

Relevant when: method = `character_delimited`

framing.character_delimited.delimiter

required ascii_char

The character used to separate frames.

Examples

"\n"

"\t"

framing.character_delimited.max_length

optional uint

The maximum frame length limit. Any frames longer than max_length bytes will be discarded entirely.

Examples

framing.method

common optional string literal enum

The framing method.

Enum options

Option	Description
`bytes`	Byte frames are passed through as-is according to the underlying I/O boundaries (e.g. split between messages or stream segments).
`character_delimited`	Byte frames which are delimited by a chosen character.
`length_delimited`	Byte frames which are prefixed by an unsigned big-endian 32-bit integer indicating the length.
`newline_delimited`	Byte frames which are delimited by a newline character.
`octet_counting`	Byte frames according to the octet counting format.

default: `newline_delimited` for codecs other than `native`, which defaults to `length_delimited`

framing.newline_delimited

optional object

Options for newline_delimited framing.

Relevant when: method = `newline_delimited`

framing.newline_delimited.max_length

optional uint

The maximum frame length limit. Any frames longer than max_length bytes will be discarded entirely.

Examples

framing.octet_counting

optional object

Options for octet_counting framing.

Relevant when: method = `octet_counting`

framing.octet_counting.max_length

optional uint

The maximum frame length limit. Any frames longer than max_length bytes will be discarded entirely.

Examples

include_stderr

optional bool

Include the output of stderr when generating events.

default: true

maximum_buffer_size_bytes

optional uint

The maximum buffer size allowed before a log event will be generated.

default: 1e+06 (bytes)

mode

required string literal enum

The type of exec mechanism.

Examples

"scheduled"

"streaming"

Enum options string literal

Option	Description
`scheduled`	Scheduled exec mechanism.
`streaming`	Streaming exec mechanism.

scheduled

common optional object

The scheduled options.

scheduled.exec_interval_secs

common optional uint

The interval in seconds between scheduled command runs. The command will be killed if it takes longer than exec_interval_secs to run.

Relevant when: mode = `scheduled`

default: 60 (seconds)

streaming

common optional object

The streaming options.

streaming.respawn_interval_secs

optional uint

The interval in seconds between restarting streaming commands if needed.

Relevant when: mode = `streaming`

default: 5 (seconds)

streaming.respawn_on_exit

common optional bool

Determine if a streaming command should be restarted if it exits.

Relevant when: mode = `streaming`

default: true

working_directory

optional string literal

The directory in which to run the command.

Outputs

<component_id>

Default output stream of the component. Use this component’s ID as an input to downstream transforms and sinks.

Output Data

Logs

Line

An individual event from exec.

Fields

command required [string]

The command that was run to generate this event.

data_stream optional string literal

The data stream from which the event originated.

Examples

stdout

stderr

host required string literal

The local hostname, equivalent to the gethostname command.

Examples

my-host.local

message required string literal

The raw line, unparsed.

Examples

2019-02-13T19:48:34+00:00 [info] Started GET "/" for 127.0.0.1

pid required uint

The process ID of the command.

Examples

source_type required string literal

The name of the source type.

Examples

exec

timestamp required timestamp

The exact time the event was ingested into Vector.

Examples

2020-10-10T17:07:36.452332Z

Telemetry

Metrics

link

command_executed_total

counter

The total number of times a command has been executed.

component_id

The Vector component ID.

component_kind

The Vector component kind.

component_name

Deprecated, use component_id instead. The value is the same as component_id.

component_type

The Vector component type.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

command_execution_duration_seconds

histogram

The command execution duration in seconds.

component_id

The Vector component ID.

component_kind

The Vector component kind.

component_name

Deprecated, use component_id instead. The value is the same as component_id.

component_type

The Vector component type.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

component_discarded_events_total

counter

The number of events dropped by this component.

component_id

The Vector component ID.

component_kind

The Vector component kind.

component_name

Deprecated, use component_id instead. The value is the same as component_id.

component_type

The Vector component type.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

component_errors_total

counter

The total number of errors encountered by this component.

component_id

The Vector component ID.

component_kind

The Vector component kind.

component_name

Deprecated, use component_id instead. The value is the same as component_id.

component_type

The Vector component type.

error_type

The type of the error

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

stage

The stage within the component at which the error occurred.

component_received_event_bytes_total

counter

The number of event bytes accepted by this component either from tagged origins like file and uri, or cumulatively from other origins.

component_id

The Vector component ID.

component_kind

The Vector component kind.

component_name

Deprecated, use component_id instead. The value is the same as component_id.

component_type

The Vector component type.

container_name optional

The name of the container from which the data originated.

file optional

The file from which the data originated.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

mode optional

The connection mode used by the component.

peer_addr optional

The IP from which the data originated.

peer_path optional

The pathname from which the data originated.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

pod_name optional

The name of the pod from which the data originated.

uri optional

The sanitized URI from which the data originated.

component_received_events_total

counter

The number of events accepted by this component either from tagged origins like file and uri, or cumulatively from other origins.

component_id

The Vector component ID.

component_kind

The Vector component kind.

component_name

Deprecated, use component_id instead. The value is the same as component_id.

component_type

The Vector component type.

container_name optional

The name of the container from which the data originated.

file optional

The file from which the data originated.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

mode optional

The connection mode used by the component.

peer_addr optional

The IP from which the data originated.

peer_path optional

The pathname from which the data originated.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

pod_name optional

The name of the pod from which the data originated.

uri optional

The sanitized URI from which the data originated.

component_sent_event_bytes_total

counter

The total number of event bytes emitted by this component.

component_id

The Vector component ID.

component_kind

The Vector component kind.

component_name

Deprecated, use component_id instead. The value is the same as component_id.

component_type

The Vector component type.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

output optional

The specific output of the component.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

component_sent_events_total

counter

The total number of events emitted by this component.

component_id

The Vector component ID.

component_kind

The Vector component kind.

component_name

Deprecated, use component_id instead. The value is the same as component_id.

component_type

The Vector component type.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

output optional

The specific output of the component.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

events_in_total

counter

The number of events accepted by this component either from tagged origins like file and uri, or cumulatively from other origins. This metric is deprecated and will be removed in a future version. Use component_received_events_total instead.

component_id

The Vector component ID.

component_kind

The Vector component kind.

component_name

Deprecated, use component_id instead. The value is the same as component_id.

component_type

The Vector component type.

container_name optional

The name of the container from which the data originated.

file optional

The file from which the data originated.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

mode optional

The connection mode used by the component.

peer_addr optional

The IP from which the data originated.

peer_path optional

The pathname from which the data originated.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

pod_name optional

The name of the pod from which the data originated.

uri optional

The sanitized URI from which the data originated.

events_out_total

counter

The total number of events emitted by this component. This metric is deprecated and will be removed in a future version. Use component_sent_events_total instead.

component_id

The Vector component ID.

component_kind

The Vector component kind.

component_name

Deprecated, use component_id instead. The value is the same as component_id.

component_type

The Vector component type.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

output optional

The specific output of the component.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

processed_bytes_total

counter

The number of bytes processed by the component.

component_id

The Vector component ID.

component_kind

The Vector component kind.

component_name

Deprecated, use component_id instead. The value is the same as component_id.

component_type

The Vector component type.

container_name optional

The name of the container from which the bytes originate.

file optional

The file from which the bytes originate.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

mode optional

The connection mode used by the component.

peer_addr optional

The IP from which the bytes originate.

peer_path optional

The pathname from which the bytes originate.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

pod_name optional

The name of the pod from which the bytes originate.

uri optional

The sanitized URI from which the bytes originate.

processed_events_total

counter

The total number of events processed by this component. This metric is deprecated in place of using component_received_events_total and component_sent_events_total metrics.

component_id

The Vector component ID.

component_kind

The Vector component kind.

component_name

Deprecated, use component_id instead. The value is the same as component_id.

component_type

The Vector component type.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

processing_errors_total

counter

The total number of processing errors encountered by this component. This metric is deprecated in favor of component_errors_total.

component_id

The Vector component ID.

component_kind

The Vector component kind.

component_name

Deprecated, use component_id instead. The value is the same as component_id.

component_type

The Vector component type.

error_type

The type of the error

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

source_lag_time_seconds

histogram

The difference between the timestamp recorded in each event and the time when it was ingested, expressed as fractional seconds.

component_id

The Vector component ID.

component_kind

The Vector component kind.

component_name

Deprecated, use component_id instead. The value is the same as component_id.

component_type

The Vector component type.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

Examples

Exec line

Given this event...

64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.060 ms

...and this configuration...

[sources.my_source_id]
type = "exec"

---
sources:
  my_source_id:
    type: exec

{
  "sources": {
    "my_source_id": {
      "type": "exec"
    }
  }
}

...this Vector event is produced:

{
  "data_stream": "stdout",
  "host": "my-host.local",
  "message": "64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.060 ms",
  "pid": 5678,
  "source_type": "exec",
  "timestamp": "2020-03-13T20:45:38.119Z"
}

How it works

Context

By default, the exec source augments events with helpful context keys.

Line Delimiters

Each line is read until a new line delimiter, the 0xA byte, is found or the end of the maximum_buffer_size_bytes is reached.

Shutting Down

When Vector begins shutting down (typically due to a SIGTERM), this source will signal to the child process to terminate, if it is running, to shut down.

On *nix platforms, Vector will issue a SIGTERM to the child process, allowing it to gracefully shutdown, and the source will continue reading until the process exits or Vector’s shutdown grace period expires.

On Windows, the subprocess will be issued a SIGKILL and terminate abruptly. In the future we hope to support graceful shutdown of Windows processes as well.

State

This component is stateless, meaning its behavior is consistent across each input.