Install Vector via DPKG

Vector can be installed through the DPKG package manager which is generally used on Debian and Ubuntu systems.

Install

The daemon deployment strategy is designed for data collection on a single host. Vector runs in the background, in its own process, collecting all data for that host. Typically data is collected from a process manager, such as Journald via Vector's journald source, but can be collected through any of Vector's sources. The following diagram demonstrates how it works.

Vector daemon deployment strategyVector daemon deployment strategy
1. Your service logs to STDOUT
STDOUT follows the 12 factor principles.
2. STDOUT is captured
STDOUT is captured by your platform.
3. Vector collects & fans-out data
Vector collects data from your platform.

  1. Download the Vector .deb package

    curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -O https://packages.timber.io/vector/0.8.X/vector-amd64.deb

    Looking for a different version?

  2. Install the downloaded package

    sudo dpkg -i vector-amd64.deb

  3. Configure Vector

    Where do you want to send your data?
    Console
    cat <<-VECTORCFG > /etc/vector/vector.toml
    [sources.in]
      type = "journald" # required
    

    [sinks.out]
      # General
      type = "console" # required
      inputs = ["in"] # required
    

      # Encoding
      encoding.codec = "json" # required
    VECTORCFG'
    explain this command

  4. Start Vector

    sudo systemctl start vector

Configuring

The Vector configuration file is located at:

etc/vector/vector.toml

A full spec is located at /etc/vector/vector.spec.toml and examples are located in /etc/vector/examples/*. You can learn more about configuring Vector in the Configuration section.

Deploying

How you deploy Vector is largely dependent on your use case and environment. Please see the deployment section for more info on how to deploy Vector.

Administering

Vector can be managed through the Systemd service manager:

Administration

Uninstalling

sudo dpkg -r vector

Updating

Follow the install steps again, downloading the latest version of Vector.

Package

Architectures

Vector's DPKG packages are multi-arch and support the x86_64, ARM64, and ARMv7 architectures. The architecture name is prepended to the artifact file name.

Versions

Vector's DPKG packages can be downloaded with the following URLs. Note that Vector maintains special URLS that are automatically updated whenever Vector is released:

VersionURL
Latest majorhttps://packages.timber.io/vector/latest/vector-amd64.deb
Latest minorhttps://packages.timber.io/vector/<MAJOR>.X/vector-amd64.deb
Latest patchhttps://packages.timber.io/vector/<MAJOR.MINOR>.X/vector-amd64.deb
Specific versionhttps://packages.timber.io/vector/<MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH>/vector-amd64.deb
Latest nightlyhttps://packages.timber.io/vector/nightly/latest/vector-amd64.deb
Specific nightlyhttps://packages.timber.io/vector/nightly/<YYYY-MM-DD>/vector-amd64.deb

Source Files

Vector's DPKG source files are located in Vector's repo.

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