HTTP Server source

Alias

This component was previously called the http source. Make sure to update your Vector configuration to accommodate the name change:

[sources.my_http_server_source]
+type = "http_server"
-type = "http"

Configuration

Example configurations

{
  "sources": {
    "my_source_id": {
      "type": "http_server",
      "address": "0.0.0.0:80"
    }
  }
}

[sources.my_source_id]
type = "http_server"
address = "0.0.0.0:80"

sources:
  my_source_id:
    type: http_server
    address: 0.0.0.0:80

{
  "sources": {
    "my_source_id": {
      "type": "http_server",
      "address": "0.0.0.0:80",
      "encoding": "binary",
      "headers": [
        "User-Agent"
      ],
      "host_key": "hostname",
      "method": "POST",
      "path": "/",
      "path_key": "path",
      "query_parameters": [
        "application"
      ],
      "response_code": 200,
      "strict_path": true
    }
  }
}

[sources.my_source_id]
type = "http_server"
address = "0.0.0.0:80"
encoding = "binary"
headers = [ "User-Agent" ]
host_key = "hostname"
method = "POST"
path = "/"
path_key = "path"
query_parameters = [ "application" ]
response_code = 200
strict_path = true

sources:
  my_source_id:
    type: http_server
    address: 0.0.0.0:80
    encoding: binary
    headers:
      - User-Agent
    host_key: hostname
    method: POST
    path: /
    path_key: path
    query_parameters:
      - application
    response_code: 200
    strict_path: true

acknowledgements

optional object

Deprecated

This field is deprecated.

Controls how acknowledgements are handled by this source.

This setting is deprecated in favor of enabling acknowledgements at the global or sink level.

Enabling or disabling acknowledgements at the source level has no effect on acknowledgement behavior.

See End-to-end Acknowledgements for more information on how event acknowledgement is handled.

acknowledgements.enabled

optional bool

Whether or not end-to-end acknowledgements are enabled for this source.

address

required string literal

The socket address to listen for connections on.

It must include a port.

Examples

"0.0.0.0:80"

"localhost:80"

auth

optional object

HTTP Basic authentication configuration.

auth.password

required string literal

The password for basic authentication.

Examples

"hunter2"

"${PASSWORD}"

auth.username

required string literal

The username for basic authentication.

Examples

"AzureDiamond"

"admin"

decoding

optional object

Configures how events are decoded from raw bytes.

decoding.avro

required object

Apache Avro-specific encoder options.

Relevant when: codec = "avro"

decoding.avro.schema

required string literal

The Avro schema definition. Please note that the following [apache_avro::types::Value] variants are currently not supported:

Date
Decimal
Duration
Fixed
TimeMillis

Examples

"{ \"type\": \"record\", \"name\": \"log\", \"fields\": [{ \"name\": \"message\", \"type\": \"string\" }] }"

decoding.avro.strip_schema_id_prefix

required bool

For Avro datum encoded in Kafka messages, the bytes are prefixed with the schema ID. Set this to true to strip the schema ID prefix. According to Confluent Kafka’s document.

decoding.codec

required string literal enum

The codec to use for decoding events.

Enum options

Option	Description
`avro`	Decodes the raw bytes as as an Apache Avro message.
`bytes`	Uses the raw bytes as-is.
`gelf`	Decodes the raw bytes as a GELF message. This codec is experimental for the following reason: The GELF specification is more strict than the actual Graylog receiver. Vector’s decoder currently adheres more strictly to the GELF spec, with the exception that some characters such as `@` are allowed in field names. Other GELF codecs such as Loki’s, use a Go SDK that is maintained by Graylog, and is much more relaxed than the GELF spec. Going forward, Vector will use that Go SDK as the reference implementation, which means the codec may continue to relax the enforcement of specification.
`influxdb`	Decodes the raw bytes as an Influxdb Line Protocol 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).
`vrl`	Decodes the raw bytes as a string and passes them as input to a VRL program.

Examples

"avro"

"bytes"

"gelf"

"influxdb"

"json"

"native"

"native_json"

"protobuf"

"syslog"

"vrl"

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.influxdb

optional object

Influxdb-specific decoding options.

Relevant when: codec = "influxdb"

decoding.influxdb.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

decoding.vrl

required object

VRL-specific decoding options.

Relevant when: codec = "vrl"

The Vector Remap Language (VRL) program to execute for each event. Note that the final contents of the . target will be used as the decoding result. Compilation error or use of ‘abort’ in a program will result in a decoding error.

decoding.vrl.timezone

optional string literal

The name of the timezone to apply to timestamp conversions that do not contain an explicit time zone. The time zone name may be any name in the TZ database, or local to indicate system local time.

If not set, local will be used.

Examples

"local"

"America/New_York"

"EST5EDT"

encoding

optional string literal enum

The expected encoding of received data.

For json and ndjson encodings, the fields of the JSON objects are output as separate fields.

Enum options string literal

Option	Description
`binary`	Binary.
`json`	JSON.
`ndjson`	Newline-delimited JSON.
`text`	Plaintext.

framing

optional object

Framing configuration.

Framing handles how events are separated when encoded in a raw byte form, where each event is a frame that must be prefixed, or delimited, in a way that marks where an event begins and ends within the byte stream.

framing.character_delimited

required object

Options for the character delimited decoder.

Relevant when: method = "character_delimited"

framing.character_delimited.delimiter

required ascii_char

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.chunked_gelf

optional object

Options for the chunked GELF decoder.

Relevant when: method = "chunked_gelf"

framing.chunked_gelf.decompression

optional string literal enum

Decompression configuration for GELF messages.

Enum options

Option	Description
`Auto`	Automatically detect the decompression method based on the magic bytes of the message.
`Gzip`	Use Gzip decompression.
`None`	Do not decompress the message.
`Zlib`	Use Zlib decompression.

default: Auto

framing.chunked_gelf.max_length

optional uint

The maximum length of a single GELF message, in bytes. Messages longer than this length will be dropped. If this option is not set, the decoder does not limit the length of messages and the per-message memory is unbounded.

Note that a message can be composed of multiple chunks and this limit is applied to the whole message, not to individual chunks.

This limit takes only into account the message’s payload and the GELF header bytes are excluded from the calculation. The message’s payload is the concatenation of all the chunks’ payloads.

framing.chunked_gelf.pending_messages_limit

optional uint

The maximum number of pending incomplete messages. If this limit is reached, the decoder starts dropping chunks of new messages, ensuring the memory usage of the decoder’s state is bounded. If this option is not set, the decoder does not limit the number of pending messages and the memory usage of its messages buffer can grow unbounded. This matches Graylog Server’s behavior.

framing.chunked_gelf.timeout_secs

optional float

The timeout, in seconds, for a message to be fully received. If the timeout is reached, the decoder drops all the received chunks of the timed out message.

default: 5

framing.length_delimited

required object

Options for the length delimited decoder.

Relevant when: method = "length_delimited"

framing.length_delimited.length_field_is_big_endian

optional bool

Length field byte order (little or big endian)

default: true

framing.length_delimited.length_field_length

optional uint

Number of bytes representing the field length

default: 4

framing.length_delimited.length_field_offset

optional uint

Number of bytes in the header before the length field

framing.length_delimited.max_frame_length

optional uint

Maximum frame length

default: 8.388608e+06

framing.method

required 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.
`chunked_gelf`	Byte frames which are chunked GELF messages.
`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.

Examples

"bytes"

"character_delimited"

"chunked_gelf"

"length_delimited"

"newline_delimited"

"octet_counting"

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 [string]

A list of HTTP headers to include in the log event.

Accepts the wildcard (*) character for headers matching a specified pattern.

Specifying “*” results in all headers included in the log event.

These headers are not included in the JSON payload if a field with a conflicting name exists.

Array string literal

Examples

[
  "User-Agent",
  "X-My-Custom-Header",
  "X-*",
  "*"
]

host_key

optional string literal

If set, the name of the log field used to add the remote IP to each event

Examples

"hostname"

keepalive

optional object

Configuration of HTTP server keepalive parameters.

keepalive.max_connection_age_jitter_factor

optional float

The factor by which to jitter the max_connection_age_secs value.

A value of 0.1 means that the actual duration will be between 90% and 110% of the specified maximum duration.

default: 0.1

keepalive.max_connection_age_secs

optional uint

The maximum amount of time a connection may exist before it is closed by sending a Connection: close header on the HTTP response. Set this to a large value like 100000000 to “disable” this feature

Only applies to HTTP/0.9, HTTP/1.0, and HTTP/1.1 requests.

A random jitter configured by max_connection_age_jitter_factor is added to the specified duration to spread out connection storms.

Examples

default: 300 (seconds)

method

optional string literal enum

Specifies the action of the HTTP request.

Enum options string literal

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

default: POST

path

optional string literal

The URL path on which log event POST requests are sent.

Examples

"/event/path"

"/logs"

default: /

path_key

optional string literal

The event key in which the requested URL path used to send the request is stored.

Examples

"vector_http_path"

default: path

query_parameters

optional [string]

A list of URL query parameters to include in the log event.

Accepts the wildcard (*) character for query parameters matching a specified pattern.

Specifying “*” results in all query parameters included in the log event.

These override any values included in the body with conflicting names.

Array string literal

Examples

[
  "application",
  "source",
  "param*",
  "*"
]

response_code

optional uint

Specifies the HTTP response status code that will be returned on successful requests.

Examples

default: 200

strict_path

optional bool

Whether or not to treat the configured path as an absolute path.

If set to true, only requests using the exact URL path specified in path are accepted. Otherwise, requests sent to a URL path that starts with the value of path are accepted.

With strict_path set to false and path set to "", the configured HTTP source accepts requests from any URL path.

default: true

tls

optional object

Configures the TLS options for incoming/outgoing connections.

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.enabled

optional bool

Whether or not to require TLS for incoming or outgoing connections.

When enabled and used for incoming connections, an identity certificate is also required. See tls.crt_file for more information.

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.server_name

optional string literal

Server name to use when using Server Name Indication (SNI).

Only relevant for outgoing connections.

Examples

"www.example.com"

tls.verify_certificate

optional bool

Enables certificate verification. For components that create a server, this requires that the client connections have a valid client certificate. For components that initiate requests, this validates that the upstream has a valid certificate.

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.

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.

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

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

path required string literal

The HTTP path the event was received from. The key can be changed using the path_key configuration setting

Examples

/logs/event712

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 request

Fields

message required string literal

The raw line from the incoming payload.

Examples

Hello world

path required string literal

The HTTP path the event was received from. The key can be changed using the path_key configuration setting

Examples

/logs/event712

source_type required string literal

The name of the source type.

Examples

http_server

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_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_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_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_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_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_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_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_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_server_handler_duration_seconds

histogram

The duration spent handling a HTTP request.

component_id

The Vector component ID.

component_kind

The Vector component kind.

component_type

The Vector component type.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

method optional

The HTTP method of the request.

path

The path that produced the error.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

status optional

The HTTP status code of the request.

http_server_requests_received_total

counter

The total number of HTTP requests received.

component_id

The Vector component ID.

component_kind

The Vector component kind.

component_type

The Vector component type.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

method optional

The HTTP method of the request.

path

The path that produced the error.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

http_server_responses_sent_total

counter

The total number of HTTP responses sent.

component_id

The Vector component ID.

component_kind

The Vector component kind.

component_type

The Vector component type.

host optional

The hostname of the system Vector is running on.

method optional

The HTTP method of the request.

path

The path that produced the error.

pid optional

The process ID of the Vector instance.

status optional

The HTTP status code of the request.

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_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

text/plain

Given this event...

POST / HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: text/plain
User-Agent: my-service/v2.1
X-Forwarded-For: my-host.local

Hello world

...and this configuration...

sources:
  my_source_id:
    type: http_server
    address: 0.0.0.0:80
    encoding: text
    headers:
      - User-Agent

[sources.my_source_id]
type = "http_server"
address = "0.0.0.0:80"
encoding = "text"
headers = [ "User-Agent" ]

{
  "sources": {
    "my_source_id": {
      "type": "http_server",
      "address": "0.0.0.0:80",
      "encoding": "text",
      "headers": [
        "User-Agent"
      ]
    }
  }
}

...this Vector event is produced:

[{"log":{"User-Agent":"my-service/v2.1","host":"my-host.local","message":"Hello world","path":"/","source_type":"http_server","timestamp":"2020-10-10T17:07:36.452332Z"}}]

application/json

Given this event...

POST /events HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/json
User-Agent: my-service/v2.1
X-Forwarded-For: my-host.local
{"key": "val"}

...and this configuration...

sources:
  my_source_id:
    type: http_server
    address: 0.0.0.0:80
    encoding: json
    headers:
      - User-Agent
    path_key: vector_http_path

[sources.my_source_id]
type = "http_server"
address = "0.0.0.0:80"
encoding = "json"
headers = [ "User-Agent" ]
path_key = "vector_http_path"

{
  "sources": {
    "my_source_id": {
      "type": "http_server",
      "address": "0.0.0.0:80",
      "encoding": "json",
      "headers": [
        "User-Agent"
      ],
      "path_key": "vector_http_path"
    }
  }
}

...this Vector event is produced:

[{"log":{"User-Agent":"my-service/v2.1","host":"my-host.local","key":"val","source_type":"http_server","timestamp":"2020-10-10T17:07:36.452332Z"}}]

How it works

Context

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

Decompression

Received body is decompressed according to Content-Encoding header. Supported algorithms are gzip, deflate, snappy, and zstd.

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.