HTTP Client source

Configuration

Example configurations

{
  "sources": {
    "my_source_id": {
      "type": "http_client",
      "endpoint": "http://127.0.0.1:9898/logs"
    }
  }
}

[sources.my_source_id]
type = "http_client"
endpoint = "http://127.0.0.1:9898/logs"

sources:
  my_source_id:
    type: http_client
    endpoint: http://127.0.0.1:9898/logs

{
  "sources": {
    "my_source_id": {
      "type": "http_client",
      "endpoint": "http://127.0.0.1:9898/logs",
      "headers": {
        "Accept": [
          "text/plain",
          "text/html"
        ],
        "X-My-Custom-Header": [
          "a",
          "vector",
          "of",
          "values"
        ]
      },
      "method": "GET",
      "query": {
        "field": [
          "value"
        ],
        "fruit": [
          "mango",
          "papaya",
          "kiwi"
        ]
      },
      "scrape_interval_secs": 15,
      "scrape_timeout_secs": 5
    }
  }
}

[sources.my_source_id]
type = "http_client"
endpoint = "http://127.0.0.1:9898/logs"
method = "GET"
scrape_interval_secs = 15
scrape_timeout_secs = 5

  [sources.my_source_id.headers]
  Accept = [ "text/plain", "text/html" ]
  X-My-Custom-Header = [ "a", "vector", "of", "values" ]

  [sources.my_source_id.query]
  field = [ "value" ]
  fruit = [ "mango", "papaya", "kiwi" ]

sources:
  my_source_id:
    type: http_client
    endpoint: http://127.0.0.1:9898/logs
    headers:
      Accept:
        - text/plain
        - text/html
      X-My-Custom-Header:
        - a
        - vector
        - of
        - values
    method: GET
    query:
      field:
        - value
      fruit:
        - mango
        - papaya
        - kiwi
    scrape_interval_secs: 15
    scrape_timeout_secs: 5

auth

optional object

HTTP Authentication.

auth.password

required string literal

The basic authentication password.

Relevant when: strategy = "basic"

Examples

"${PASSWORD}"

"password"

auth.strategy

required string literal enum

The authentication strategy to use.

Enum options

Option Description

Option	Description
`basic`	Basic authentication. The username and password are concatenated and encoded via base64.
`bearer`	Bearer authentication. The bearer token value (OAuth2, JWT, etc.) is passed as-is.

basic

Basic authentication.

The username and password are concatenated and encoded via base64.

bearer

Bearer authentication.

The bearer token value (OAuth2, JWT, etc.) is passed as-is.

Examples

"basic"

"bearer"

auth.token

required string literal

The bearer authentication token.

Relevant when: strategy = "bearer"

auth.user

required string literal

The basic authentication username.

Relevant when: strategy = "basic"

Examples

"${USERNAME}"

"username"

decoding

optional object

Decoder to use on the HTTP responses.

Option	Description
`bytes`	Uses the raw bytes as-is.
`gelf`	Decodes the raw bytes as a GELF message.
`json`	Decodes the raw bytes as JSON.
`native`	Decodes the raw bytes as native Protocol Buffers format. This codec is experimental.
`native_json`	Decodes the raw bytes as native JSON format. This codec is experimental.
`protobuf`	Decodes the raw bytes as protobuf.
`syslog`	Decodes the raw bytes as a Syslog message. Decodes either as the RFC 3164-style format (“old” style) or the RFC 5424-style format (“new” style, includes structured data).

decoding.gelf

optional object

GELF-specific decoding options.

Relevant when: codec = "gelf"

decoding.gelf.lossy

optional bool

Determines whether or not to replace invalid UTF-8 sequences instead of failing.

When true, invalid UTF-8 sequences are replaced with the U+FFFD REPLACEMENT CHARACTER.

default: true

decoding.json

optional object

JSON-specific decoding options.

Relevant when: codec = "json"

decoding.json.lossy

optional bool

Determines whether or not to replace invalid UTF-8 sequences instead of failing.

When true, invalid UTF-8 sequences are replaced with the U+FFFD REPLACEMENT CHARACTER.

default: true

decoding.native_json

optional object

Vector’s native JSON-specific decoding options.

Relevant when: codec = "native_json"

decoding.native_json.lossy

optional bool

Determines whether or not to replace invalid UTF-8 sequences instead of failing.

When true, invalid UTF-8 sequences are replaced with the U+FFFD REPLACEMENT CHARACTER.

default: true

decoding.protobuf

optional object

Protobuf-specific decoding options.

Relevant when: codec = "protobuf"

decoding.protobuf.desc_file

optional string literal

Path to desc file

decoding.protobuf.message_type

optional string literal

message type. e.g package.message

decoding.syslog

optional object

Syslog-specific decoding options.

Relevant when: codec = "syslog"

decoding.syslog.lossy

optional bool

Determines whether or not to replace invalid UTF-8 sequences instead of failing.

When true, invalid UTF-8 sequences are replaced with the U+FFFD REPLACEMENT CHARACTER.

default: true

endpoint

required string literal

The HTTP endpoint to collect events from.

The full path must be specified.

Warning

You must explicitly add the path to your endpoint.

Examples

"http://127.0.0.1:9898/logs"

framing

optional object

Framing to use in the decoding.

framing.character_delimited

required object

Options for the character delimited decoder.

Relevant when: method = "character_delimited"

framing.character_delimited.delimiter

required uint

The character that delimits byte sequences.

framing.character_delimited.max_length

optional uint

The maximum length of the byte buffer.

This length does not include the trailing delimiter.

By default, there is no maximum length enforced. If events are malformed, this can lead to additional resource usage as events continue to be buffered in memory, and can potentially lead to memory exhaustion in extreme cases.

If there is a risk of processing malformed data, such as logs with user-controlled input, consider setting the maximum length to a reasonably large value as a safety net. This ensures that processing is not actually unbounded.

framing.method

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 (for example, 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: bytes

framing.newline_delimited

optional object

Options for the newline delimited decoder.

Relevant when: method = "newline_delimited"

framing.newline_delimited.max_length

optional uint

The maximum length of the byte buffer.

This length does not include the trailing delimiter.

framing.octet_counting

optional object

Options for the octet counting decoder.

Relevant when: method = "octet_counting"

framing.octet_counting.max_length

optional uint

The maximum length of the byte buffer.

headers

optional object

Headers to apply to the HTTP requests.

One or more values for the same header can be provided.

headers.*

required [string]

An HTTP request header and it’s value(s).

method

optional string literal enum

Specifies the method of the HTTP request.

Enum options string literal

Option	Description
`DELETE`	HTTP DELETE method.
`GET`	HTTP GET method.
`HEAD`	HTTP HEAD method.
`PATCH`	HTTP PATCH method.
`POST`	HTTP POST method.
`PUT`	HTTP Put method.

default: GET

proxy

optional object

Proxy configuration.

Configure to proxy traffic through an HTTP(S) proxy when making external requests.

Similar to common proxy configuration convention, you can set different proxies to use based on the type of traffic being proxied, as well as set specific hosts that should not be proxied.

proxy.enabled

optional bool

Enables proxying support.

default: true

proxy.http

optional string literal

Proxy endpoint to use when proxying HTTP traffic.

Must be a valid URI string.

Examples

"http://foo.bar:3128"

proxy.https

optional string literal

Proxy endpoint to use when proxying HTTPS traffic.

Must be a valid URI string.

Examples

"http://foo.bar:3128"

proxy.no_proxy

optional [string]

A list of hosts to avoid proxying.

Multiple patterns are allowed:

Pattern	Example match
Domain names	`example.com` matches requests to `example.com`
Wildcard domains	`.example.com` matches requests to `example.com` and its subdomains
IP addresses	`127.0.0.1` matches requests to `127.0.0.1`
CIDR blocks	`192.168.0.0/16` matches requests to any IP addresses in this range
Splat	`*` matches all hosts

query

optional object

Custom parameters for the HTTP request query string.

One or more values for the same parameter key can be provided.

The parameters provided in this option are appended to any parameters manually provided in the endpoint option.

query.*

required [string]

A query string parameter and it’s value(s).

scrape_interval_secs

optional uint

The interval between scrapes. Requests are run concurrently so if a scrape takes longer than the interval a new scrape will be started. This can take extra resources, set the timeout to a value lower than the scrape interval to prevent this from happening.

default: 15 (seconds)

scrape_timeout_secs

optional float

The timeout for each scrape request.

default: 5 (seconds)

tls

optional object

TLS configuration.

tls.alpn_protocols

optional [string]

Sets the list of supported ALPN protocols.

Declare the supported ALPN protocols, which are used during negotiation with peer. They are prioritized in the order that they are defined.

tls.ca_file

optional string literal

Absolute path to an additional CA certificate file.

The certificate must be in the DER or PEM (X.509) format. Additionally, the certificate can be provided as an inline string in PEM format.

Examples

"/path/to/certificate_authority.crt"

tls.crt_file

optional string literal

Absolute path to a certificate file used to identify this server.

The certificate must be in DER, PEM (X.509), or PKCS#12 format. Additionally, the certificate can be provided as an inline string in PEM format.

If this is set, and is not a PKCS#12 archive, key_file must also be set.

Examples

"/path/to/host_certificate.crt"

tls.key_file

optional string literal

Absolute path to a private key file used to identify this server.

The key must be in DER or PEM (PKCS#8) format. Additionally, the key can be provided as an inline string in PEM format.

Examples

"/path/to/host_certificate.key"

tls.key_pass

optional string literal

Passphrase used to unlock the encrypted key file.

This has no effect unless key_file is set.

Examples

"${KEY_PASS_ENV_VAR}"

"PassWord1"

tls.verify_certificate

optional bool

Enables certificate verification.

If enabled, certificates must not be expired and must be issued by a trusted issuer. This verification operates in a hierarchical manner, checking that the leaf certificate (the certificate presented by the client/server) is not only valid, but that the issuer of that certificate is also valid, and so on until the verification process reaches a root certificate.

Relevant for both incoming and outgoing connections.

Do NOT set this to false unless you understand the risks of not verifying the validity of certificates.

tls.verify_hostname

optional bool

Enables hostname verification.

If enabled, the hostname used to connect to the remote host must be present in the TLS certificate presented by the remote host, either as the Common Name or as an entry in the Subject Alternative Name extension.

Only relevant for outgoing connections.

Do NOT set this to false unless you understand the risks of not verifying the remote hostname.

Environment variables

HTTPS_PROXY

common optional string literal

The global URL to proxy HTTPS requests through.

If another HTTPS proxy is set in the configuration file or at a component level, this one will be overridden.

The lowercase variant has priority over the uppercase one.

Examples

http://foo.bar:3128

HTTP_PROXY

common optional string literal

The global URL to proxy HTTP requests through.

If another HTTP proxy is set in the configuration file or at a component level, this one will be overridden.

The lowercase variant has priority over the uppercase one.

Examples

http://foo.bar:3128

NO_PROXY

common optional string literal

List of hosts to avoid proxying globally.

Allowed patterns here include:

Pattern	Example match
Domain names	`example.com` matches requests to `example.com`
Wildcard domains	`.example.come` matches requests to `example.com` and its subdomains
IP addresses	`127.0.0.1` matches requests to `127.0.0.1`
CIDR blocks	`192.168.0.0./16` matches requests to any IP addresses in this range
Splat	`*` matches all hosts

If another no_proxy value is set in the configuration file or at a component level, this one is overridden.

The lowercase variant has priority over the uppercase one.

Examples

localhost,.example.com,192.168.0.0./16

http_proxy

common optional string literal

The global URL to proxy HTTP requests through.

If another HTTP proxy is set in the configuration file or at a component level, this one will be overridden.

The lowercase variant has priority over the uppercase one.

Examples

http://foo.bar:3128

https_proxy

common optional string literal

The global URL to proxy HTTPS requests through.

If another HTTPS proxy is set in the configuration file or at a component level, this one will be overridden.

The lowercase variant has priority over the uppercase one.

Examples

http://foo.bar:3128

no_proxy

common optional string literal

List of hosts to avoid proxying globally.

Allowed patterns here include:

Pattern	Example match
Domain names	`example.com` matches requests to `example.com`
Wildcard domains	`.example.come` matches requests to `example.com` and its subdomains
IP addresses	`127.0.0.1` matches requests to `127.0.0.1`
CIDR blocks	`192.168.0.0./16` matches requests to any IP addresses in this range
Splat	`*` matches all hosts

If another no_proxy value is set in the configuration file or at a component level, this one is overridden.

The lowercase variant has priority over the uppercase one.

Examples

localhost,.example.com,192.168.0.0./16

Outputs

<component_id>

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

Output Data

Metrics

counter

A single value that can be incremented or reset to a zero value but not decremented.

* optional

Any tags present on the metric.

source_type

The name of the source type.

distribution

A distribution represents a distribution of sampled values. It is used with services that support global histograms and summaries.

* optional

Any tags present on the metric.

source_type

The name of the source type.

gauge

A gauge represents a point-in-time value that can increase and decrease. Vector’s internal gauge type represents changes to that value. Gauges should be used to track fluctuations in values, like current memory or CPU usage.

* optional

Any tags present on the metric.

source_type

The name of the source type.

histogram

gauge

Also called a timer. A histogram samples observations (usually things like request durations or response sizes) and counts them in configurable buckets. It also provides a sum of all observed values.

* optional

Any tags present on the metric.

source_type

The name of the source type.

set

gauge

A set represents an array of unique values.

* optional

Any tags present on the metric.

source_type

The name of the source type.

Logs

Warning

The fields shown below will be different if log namespacing is enabled. See Log Namespacing for more details

Structured

An individual line from an application/json request

Fields

* optional *

Any field contained in your JSON payload

source_type required string literal

The name of the source type.

Examples

http_client

timestamp required timestamp

The exact time the event was ingested into Vector.

Examples

2020-10-10T17:07:36.452332Z

Text

An individual line from a text/plain HTTP request

Fields

message required string literal

The raw line from the incoming payload.

Examples

Hello world

source_type required string literal

The name of the source type.

Examples

http_client

timestamp required timestamp

The exact time the event was ingested into Vector.

Examples

2020-10-10T17:07:36.452332Z

Telemetry

Metrics

link

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.

intentional

True if the events were discarded intentionally, like a filter transform, or false if due to an error.

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_bytes_total

counter

The number of raw bytes accepted by this component from source 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_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_count

histogram

A histogram of the number of events passed in each internal batch in Vector’s internal topology.

Note that this is separate than sink-level batching. It is mostly useful for low level debugging performance issues in Vector due to small internal batches.

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.

http_error_response_total

counter

The total number of HTTP error responses for this component.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

http_request_errors_total

counter

The total number of HTTP request errors for this component.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

parse_errors_total

counter

The total number of errors parsing metrics for this component.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

request_duration_seconds

histogram

The total request duration in seconds.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

requests_completed_total

counter

The total number of requests completed 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.

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.

How it works

Context

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

State

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

Transport Layer Security (TLS)

Vector uses OpenSSL for TLS protocols due to OpenSSL’s maturity. You can enable and adjust TLS behavior via the tls.* options and/or via an OpenSSL configuration file. The file location defaults to /usr/local/ssl/openssl.cnf or can be specified with the OPENSSL_CONF environment variable.