logstash kibana elastic-stack logstash-configuration filebeat

Logging .net Core with Elastic stack

Trying to set up simple logging with Filebeats, Logstash and be able to view logs in Kibana. Running a simple mvc .net core app with log4net as logger. log4net FileAppender appending logs to C:\Logs\Debug.log just fine. However not able to push those to Kibana.

Based on this artice here, I would set up filebeats, then transform log via logstash and be able to view my logs in Kibana.

logstash.yml

- module: logstash
  # logs
  log:
    enabled: true
    #var.paths: ["C:/Logs/Debug.log"] - THIS CAUSES ERRROS - should this be UNCOMMENTED?
    
    # Convert the timestamp to UTC. Requires Elasticsearch >= 6.1.
    #var.convert_timezone: false

  # Slow logs
  slowlog:
   enabled: true
    #var.paths: ["C:/Logs/Debug.log"]

    # Convert the timestamp to UTC. Requires Elasticsearch >= 6.1.
    #var.convert_timezone: false

logstash-sample.conf

# Sample Logstash configuration for creating a simple
# Beats -> Logstash -> Elasticsearch pipeline.

input { 
    file {
        path => "C:\Logs\Debug.log"
	type => "log4net"
        codec => multiline {
                    pattern => "^(DEBUG|WARN|ERROR|INFO|FATAL)"
                    negate => true
                    what => previous
                }
      }
}
filter {
  if [type] == "log4net" {
    grok {
      match => [ "message", "(?m)%{LOGLEVEL:level} %{TIMESTAMP_ISO8601:sourceTimestamp} %{DATA:logger} \[%{NUMBER:threadId}\]  \[%{IPORHOST:tempHost}\] %{GREEDYDATA:tempMessage}" ]
    }
    mutate {
        replace => [ "message" , "%{tempMessage}" ]
        replace => [ "host" , "%{tempHost}" ]
        remove_field => [ "tempMessage" ]
        remove_field => [ "tempHost" ]
    }
  }
}
output {
  elasticsearch {
    host => localhost
    index => "%{[@metadata][beat]}-%{[@metadata][version]}-%{+YYYY.MM.dd}"
    #user => "elastic"
    #password => "changeme"
  }
}

Running logstash with config-sample output:

Filebeat.yml

###################### Filebeat Configuration Example #########################

# This file is an example configuration file highlighting only the most common
# options. The filebeat.reference.yml file from the same directory contains all the
# supported options with more comments. You can use it as a reference.
#
# You can find the full configuration reference here:
# https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/index.html

# For more available modules and options, please see the filebeat.reference.yml sample
# configuration file.

#=========================== Filebeat inputs =============================

filebeat.inputs:

# Each - is an input. Most options can be set at the input level, so
# you can use different inputs for various configurations.
# Below are the input specific configurations.

- type: log

  # Change to true to enable this input configuration.
  enabled: false

  # Paths that should be crawled and fetched. Glob based paths.
  paths:
    #- /var/log/*.log
    - c:\Logs\*.log

  # Exclude lines. A list of regular expressions to match. It drops the lines that are
  # matching any regular expression from the list.
  #exclude_lines: ['^DBG']

  # Include lines. A list of regular expressions to match. It exports the lines that are
  # matching any regular expression from the list.
  #include_lines: ['^ERR', '^WARN']

  # Exclude files. A list of regular expressions to match. Filebeat drops the files that
  # are matching any regular expression from the list. By default, no files are dropped.
  #exclude_files: ['.gz$']

  # Optional additional fields. These fields can be freely picked
  # to add additional information to the crawled log files for filtering
  #fields:
  #  level: debug
  #  review: 1

  ### Multiline options

  # Multiline can be used for log messages spanning multiple lines. This is common
  # for Java Stack Traces or C-Line Continuation

  # The regexp Pattern that has to be matched. The example pattern matches all lines starting with [
  #multiline.pattern: ^\[

  # Defines if the pattern set under pattern should be negated or not. Default is false.
  #multiline.negate: false

  # Match can be set to "after" or "before". It is used to define if lines should be append to a pattern
  # that was (not) matched before or after or as long as a pattern is not matched based on negate.
  # Note: After is the equivalent to previous and before is the equivalent to to next in Logstash
  #multiline.match: after


#============================= Filebeat modules ===============================

filebeat.config.modules:
  # Glob pattern for configuration loading
  path: ${path.config}/modules.d/*.yml

  # Set to true to enable config reloading
  reload.enabled: false

  # Period on which files under path should be checked for changes
  #reload.period: 10s

#==================== Elasticsearch template setting ==========================

setup.template.settings:
  index.number_of_shards: 3
  #index.codec: best_compression
  #_source.enabled: false

#================================ General =====================================

# The name of the shipper that publishes the network data. It can be used to group
# all the transactions sent by a single shipper in the web interface.
#name:

# The tags of the shipper are included in their own field with each
# transaction published.
#tags: ["service-X", "web-tier"]

# Optional fields that you can specify to add additional information to the
# output.
#fields:
#  env: staging


#============================== Dashboards =====================================
# These settings control loading the sample dashboards to the Kibana index. Loading
# the dashboards is disabled by default and can be enabled either by setting the
# options here, or by using the `-setup` CLI flag or the `setup` command.
#setup.dashboards.enabled: false

# The URL from where to download the dashboards archive. By default this URL
# has a value which is computed based on the Beat name and version. For released
# versions, this URL points to the dashboard archive on the artifacts.elastic.co
# website.
#setup.dashboards.url:

#============================== Kibana =====================================

# Starting with Beats version 6.0.0, the dashboards are loaded via the Kibana API.
# This requires a Kibana endpoint configuration.
setup.kibana:
  host: "localhost:5601"

  # Kibana Host
  # Scheme and port can be left out and will be set to the default (http and 5601)
  # In case you specify and additional path, the scheme is required: http://localhost:5601/path
  # IPv6 addresses should always be defined as: https://[2001:db8::1]:5601
  #host: "localhost:5601"

  # Kibana Space ID
  # ID of the Kibana Space into which the dashboards should be loaded. By default,
  # the Default Space will be used.
  #space.id:

#============================= Elastic Cloud ==================================

# These settings simplify using filebeat with the Elastic Cloud (https://cloud.elastic.co/).

# The cloud.id setting overwrites the `output.elasticsearch.hosts` and
# `setup.kibana.host` options.
# You can find the `cloud.id` in the Elastic Cloud web UI.
#cloud.id:

# The cloud.auth setting overwrites the `output.elasticsearch.username` and
# `output.elasticsearch.password` settings. The format is `<user>:<pass>`.
#cloud.auth:

#================================ Outputs =====================================

# Configure what output to use when sending the data collected by the beat.

#-------------------------- Elasticsearch output ------------------------------
#output.elasticsearch:
  # Array of hosts to connect to.
 # hosts: ["localhost:9200"]

  # Enabled ilm (beta) to use index lifecycle management instead daily indices.
  #ilm.enabled: false

  # Optional protocol and basic auth credentials.
  #protocol: "https"
  #username: "elastic"
  #password: "changeme"
#----------------------------- Logstash output --------------------------------
output.logstash:
  # The Logstash hosts
  hosts: ["localhost:5044"]

  # Optional SSL. By default is off.
  # List of root certificates for HTTPS server verifications
  #ssl.certificate_authorities: ["/etc/pki/root/ca.pem"]

  # Certificate for SSL client authentication
  #ssl.certificate: "/etc/pki/client/cert.pem"

  # Client Certificate Key
  #ssl.key: "/etc/pki/client/cert.key"

#================================ Processors =====================================

# Configure processors to enhance or manipulate events generated by the beat.

processors:
  - add_host_metadata: ~
  - add_cloud_metadata: ~

#================================ Logging =====================================

# Sets log level. The default log level is info.
# Available log levels are: error, warning, info, debug
#logging.level: debug

# At debug level, you can selectively enable logging only for some components.
# To enable all selectors use ["*"]. Examples of other selectors are "beat",
# "publish", "service".
#logging.selectors: ["*"]

#============================== Xpack Monitoring ===============================
# filebeat can export internal metrics to a central Elasticsearch monitoring
# cluster.  This requires xpack monitoring to be enabled in Elasticsearch.  The
# reporting is disabled by default.

# Set to true to enable the monitoring reporter.
#xpack.monitoring.enabled: false

# Uncomment to send the metrics to Elasticsearch. Most settings from the
# Elasticsearch output are accepted here as well. Any setting that is not set is
# automatically inherited from the Elasticsearch output configuration, so if you
# have the Elasticsearch output configured, you can simply uncomment the
# following line.
#xpack.monitoring.elasticsearch:

Output from my Browser windows:

I see my mvc app logging just fine (log4net) logs in C:\Logs\Debug.log, however not able to set it up so that these show up in Kibana. How would I set it up so that I would see my logs in Kibana?

EDIT 1:

logstash.config

# Sample Logstash configuration for creating a simple
# Beats -> Logstash -> Elasticsearch pipeline.

input {
  beats {
    port => 5044
  }
}
filter {
  grok {      
      match => { "message" => "(?m)^%{TIMESTAMP_ISO8601:timestamp}~~\[%{DATA:thread}\]~~\[%{DATA:user}\]~~\[%{DATA:requestId}\]~~\[%{DATA:userHost}\]~~\[%{DATA:requestUrl}\]~~%{DATA:level}~~%{DATA:logger}~~%{DATA:logmessage}~~%{DATA:exception}\|\|" }
      add_field => { 
        "received_at" => "%{@timestamp}" 
        "received_from" => "%{host}"
      }
      remove_field => ["message"]      
    }
  date {
    match => [ "timestamp", "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss:SSS" ]
  }
}
output {
  elasticsearch {
	hosts => ["http://localhost:9200"]
	sniffing => true
    index => "%{app_name}_%{app_env}_%{type}-%{+YYYY.MM.dd}"
	document_type => "%{[@metadata][type]}"
    #user => "elastic"
    #password => "changeme"
  }
  stdout { codec => rubydebug }
}

filebeat.yml

filebeat.inputs:

# Each - is an input. Most options can be set at the input level, so
# you can use different inputs for various configurations.
# Below are the input specific configurations.

- type: log

  # Change to true to enable this input configuration.
  enabled: true

  # Paths that should be crawled and fetched. Glob based paths.
  paths:
    #- /var/log/*.log
    - c:\Logs\*.log
    
   .....
   
#-------------------------- Elasticsearch output ------------------------------
#output.elasticsearch:
  # Array of hosts to connect to.
  #hosts: ["localhost:9200"]

  # Enabled ilm (beta) to use index lifecycle management instead daily indices.
  #ilm.enabled: false

  # Optional protocol and basic auth credentials.
  #protocol: "https"
  #username: "elastic"
  #password: "changeme"
#----------------------------- Logstash output --------------------------------
output.logstash:
  # The Logstash hosts
  hosts: ["localhost:5044"]

I have filebeats enabled/running as service. Also logstash running (see powershell window below). When I change anything in Debug.log file and save, i see those changes being output to console right away.

However, when I go to dashboard I do not see any logs still. What am I doing wrong?

Solution

I was able to solve this. Logging in .net Core 2.0 using Log4Net. 1. Setup your log4net as always (make sure your logging works and you logs get written to some log file => for me it's C:\Logs\Debug.log"

Install Kibana, Elasticsearch, Logstash and Filebeat: https://www.elastic.co/start
configure filebeat.yml

filebeat.inputs:

#=========================== Filebeat inputs =============================

filebeat.inputs:

- type: log

  # Change to true to enable this input configuration.
  enabled: true

  # Paths that should be crawled and fetched. Glob based paths.
  paths:
    #- /var/log/*.log
    - c:\Logs\*.log


  multiline.pattern: '^(\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}\s)'

  multiline.negate: true

  multiline.match: after


#============================= Filebeat modules ===============================

filebeat.config.modules:
  # Glob pattern for configuration loading
  path: ${path.config}/modules.d/*.yml

  # Set to true to enable config reloading
  reload.enabled: false

  # Period on which files under path should be checked for changes
  #reload.period: 10s

#==================== Elasticsearch template setting ==========================

setup.template.settings:
  index.number_of_shards: 3
  #index.codec: best_compression
  #_source.enabled: false

#============================== Kibana =====================================

# Starting with Beats version 6.0.0, the dashboards are loaded via the Kibana API.
# This requires a Kibana endpoint configuration.
setup.kibana:
  host: "localhost:5601"


#-------------------------- Elasticsearch output ------------------------------
#output.elasticsearch: => MAKE SURE THIS IS COMMENTED OUT 
  # Array of hosts to connect to.
#  hosts: ["localhost:9200"]

  # Enabled ilm (beta) to use index lifecycle management instead daily indices.
  #ilm.enabled: false

  # Optional protocol and basic auth credentials.
  #protocol: "https"
  #username: "elastic"
  #password: "changeme"
#----------------------------- Logstash output --------------------------------
output.logstash:
  # The Logstash hosts
  hosts: ["localhost:5044"]


processors:
  - add_host_metadata: ~
  - add_cloud_metadata: ~

logstash.yml

- module: logstash
  # logs
  log:
    enabled: true

    # Set custom paths for the log files. If left empty,
    # Filebeat will choose the paths depending on your OS.
    #var.paths: -C:\Logs\*.log
    
    # Convert the timestamp to UTC. Requires Elasticsearch >= 6.1.
    #var.convert_timezone: false

  # Slow logs
  slowlog:
   enabled: true
    # Set custom paths for the log files. If left empty,
    # Filebeat will choose the paths depending on your OS.
    #var.paths: C:\Logs\*.log

    # Convert the timestamp to UTC. Requires Elasticsearch >= 6.1.
    #var.convert_timezone: false

logstash.conf

# Sample Logstash configuration for creating a simple
# Beats -> Logstash -> Elasticsearch pipeline.

input {
  beats {
    port => 5044
  }
}
filter {
  grok {      
      match => { "message" => "(?m)^%{TIMESTAMP_ISO8601:timestamp}~~\[%{DATA:thread}\]~~\[%{DATA:user}\]~~\[%{DATA:requestId}\]~~\[%{DATA:userHost}\]~~\[%{DATA:requestUrl}\]~~%{DATA:level}~~%{DATA:logger}~~%{DATA:logmessage}~~%{DATA:exception}\|\|" }
      add_field => { 
        "received_at" => "%{@timestamp}" 
        "received_from" => "%{host}"
      }
      remove_field => ["message"]      
    }
  date {
    match => [ "timestamp", "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss:SSS" ]
  }
}
output {
  elasticsearch {
	hosts => ["http://localhost:9200"]
	sniffing => true
    index => "filebeat-%{+YYYY.MM.dd}"
	document_type => "%{[@metadata][type]}"
    #user => "elastic"
    #password => "changeme"
  }
  stdout { codec => rubydebug }
}

Make sure logstash is running with this configuration (CMD):

\bin\logstash -f c:\Elastic\Logstash\config\logstash.conf
Open your Log file (C:\Logs\Debug.log) and add something. you should see output in powershell output window where logstash is running and pulling in data:
Open Kibana and go to index that you've written to (logstash.conf) index => "filebeat-%{+YYYY.MM.dd}"