Elasticsearch Sink

The Vector elasticsearch sink batches log events to Elasticsearch via the _bulk API endpoint.

Configuration

Common
Advanced

vector.toml

[sinks.my_sink_id]
  # REQUIRED
  type = "elasticsearch" # example, must be: "elasticsearch"
  inputs = ["my-source-id"] # example
  
  # OPTIONAL
  host = "http://10.24.32.122:9000" # example, no default
  index = "vector-%Y-%m-%d" # default

Options

19 items

common only

tableoptional

basic_auth

Options for basic authentication.

commonstringrequired

password

The basic authentication password.

No default

View examples

commonstringrequired

user

The basic authentication user name.

No default

View examples

intbytesoptional

batch_size

The maximum size of a batch before it is flushed. See Buffers & Batches for more info.

Default: 10490000

View examples

intsecondsoptional

batch_timeout

The maximum age of a batch before it is flushed. See Buffers & Batches for more info.

Default: 1

View examples

tableoptional

buffer

Configures the sink specific buffer.

intbytesoptional

max_size

The maximum size of the buffer on the disk.

No default

Only relevant when: type = "disk"

View examples

inteventsoptional

num_items

The maximum number of events allowed in the buffer.

Default: 500

Only relevant when: type = "memory"

View examples

stringenumoptional

type

The buffer's type / location. disk buffers are persistent and will be retained between restarts.

Default: "memory"

Enum, must be one of: "memory" "disk"

View examples

stringenumoptional

when_full

The behavior when the buffer becomes full.

Default: "block"

Enum, must be one of: "block" "drop_newest"

View examples

stringoptional

doc_type

The doc_type for your index data. This is only relevant for Elasticsearch <= 6.X. If you are using >= 7.0 you do not need to set this option since Elasticsearch has removed it.

Default: "_doc"

View examples

tableoptional

headers

Options for custom headers.

commonstringrequired

`[header-name]`

A custom header to be added to each outgoing Elasticsearch request.

No default

View examples

booloptional

healthcheck

Enables/disables the sink healthcheck upon start. See Health Checks for more info.

Default: true

View examples

commonstringoptional

host

The host of your Elasticsearch cluster. This should be the full URL as shown in the example. This is required if the provider is not "aws"

No default

View examples

commontemplateablestringoptional

index

Index name to write events to. See Template Syntax for more info.

Default: "vector-%F"

View examples

stringenumoptional

provider

The provider of the Elasticsearch service. This is used to properly authenticate with the Elasticsearch cluster. For example, authentication for AWS Elasticsearch Service requires that we obtain AWS credentials to properly sign the request.

Default: "default"

Enum, must be one of: "default" "aws"

View examples

tableoptional

query

Custom parameters to Elasticsearch query string.

commonstringrequired

`[parameter-name]`

A custom parameter to be added to each Elasticsearch request.

No default

View examples

stringoptional

region

When using the AWS provider, the AWS region of the target Elasticsearch instance.

No default

View examples

intoptional

request_in_flight_limit

The maximum number of in-flight requests allowed at any given time. See Rate Limits for more info.

Default: 5

View examples

intsecondsoptional

request_rate_limit_duration_secs

The window used for the request_rate_limit_num option See Rate Limits for more info.

Default: 1

View examples

intoptional

request_rate_limit_num

The maximum number of requests allowed within the request_rate_limit_duration_secs window. See Rate Limits for more info.

Default: 5

View examples

intoptional

request_retry_attempts

The maximum number of retries to make for failed requests. See Retry Policy for more info.

Default: 5

View examples

intsecondsoptional

request_retry_backoff_secs

The amount of time to wait before attempting a failed request again. See Retry Policy for more info.

Default: 1

View examples

intsecondsoptional

request_timeout_secs

The maximum time a request can take before being aborted. It is highly recommended that you do not lower value below the service's internal timeout, as this could create orphaned requests, pile on retries, and result in deuplicate data downstream.

Default: 60

View examples

tableoptional

tls

Configures the TLS options for connections from this sink.

stringoptional

ca_path

Absolute path to an additional CA certificate file, in DER or PEM format (X.509).

No default

View examples

stringoptional

crt_path

Absolute path to a certificate file used to identify this connection, in DER or PEM format (X.509) or PKCS#12. If this is set and is not a PKCS#12 archive, key_path must also be set.

No default

View examples

stringoptional

key_pass

Pass phrase used to unlock the encrypted key file. This has no effect unless key_pass above is set.

No default

View examples

stringoptional

key_path

Absolute path to a certificate key file used to identify this connection, in DER or PEM format (PKCS#8). If this is set, crt_path must also be set.

No default

View examples

booloptional

verify_certificate

If true (the default), Vector will validate the TLS certificate of the remote host. Do NOT set this to false unless you understand the risks of not verifying the remote certificate.

Default: true

View examples

booloptional

verify_hostname

If true (the default), Vector will validate the configured remote host name against the remote host's TLS certificate. Do NOT set this to false unless you understand the risks of not verifying the remote hostname.

Default: true

View examples

Output

The elasticsearch sink batches log events to Elasticsearch via the _bulk API endpoint. Batches are flushed via the batch_size or batch_timeout options. You can learn more in the buffers & batches section. For example:

POST <host>/_bulk HTTP/1.1
Host: <host>
Content-Type: application/x-ndjson
Content-Length: <byte_size>
{ "index" : { "_index" : "<index>" } }
<json_encoded_log>
{ "index" : { "_index" : "<index>" } }
<json_encoded_log>
{ "index" : { "_index" : "<index>" } }
<json_encoded_log>

How It Works

Buffers & Batches

The elasticsearch sink buffers & batches data as shown in the diagram above. You'll notice that Vector treats these concepts differently, instead of treating them as global concepts, Vector treats them as sink specific concepts. This isolates sinks, ensuring services disruptions are contained and delivery guarantees are honored.

Batches are flushed when 1 of 2 conditions are met:

The batch age meets or exceeds the configured batch_timeout (default: 1 seconds).
The batch size meets or exceeds the configured batch_size (default: 10490000 bytes).

Buffers are controlled via the buffer.* options.

Environment Variables

Environment variables are supported through all of Vector's configuration. Simply add ${MY_ENV_VAR} in your Vector configuration file and the variable will be replaced before being evaluated.

You can learn more in the Environment Variables section.

Health Checks

Health checks ensure that the downstream service is accessible and ready to accept data. This check is performed upon sink initialization. If the health check fails an error will be logged and Vector will proceed to start.

Require Health Checks

If you'd like to exit immediately upon a health check failure, you can pass the --require-healthy flag:

vector --config /etc/vector/vector.toml --require-healthy

Disable Health Checks

If you'd like to disable health checks for this sink you can set the healthcheck option to false.

Nested Documents

Vector will explode events into nested documents before writing them to Elasticsearch. Vector assumes keys with a . delimit nested fields. You can read more about how Vector handles nested documents in the Data Model document.

Rate Limits

Vector offers a few levers to control the rate and volume of requests to the downstream service. Start with the request_rate_limit_duration_secs and request_rate_limit_num options to ensure Vector does not exceed the specified number of requests in the specified window. You can further control the pace at which this window is saturated with the request_in_flight_limit option, which will guarantee no more than the specified number of requests are in-flight at any given time.

Please note, Vector's defaults are carefully chosen and it should be rare that you need to adjust these. If you found a good reason to do so please share it with the Vector team by opening an issie.

Retry Policy

Vector will retry failed requests (status == 429, >= 500, and != 501). Other responses will not be retried. You can control the number of retry attempts and backoff rate with the request_retry_attempts and request_retry_backoff_secs options.

Template Syntax

The index options support Vector's template syntax, enabling dynamic values derived from the event's data. This syntax accepts strptime specifiers as well as the {{ field_name }} syntax for accessing event fields. For example:

vector.toml

[sinks.my_elasticsearch_sink_id]
  # ...
  index = "vector-%Y-%m-%d"
  index = "application-{{ application_id }}-%Y-%m-%d"
  # ...

You can read more about the complete syntax in the template syntax section.

#Configuration

#Options

#basic_auth

#password

#user

#batch_size

#batch_timeout

#buffer

#max_size

#num_items

#type

#when_full

#doc_type

#headers

#[header-name]

#healthcheck

#host

#index

#provider

#query

#[parameter-name]

#region

#request_in_flight_limit

#request_rate_limit_duration_secs

#request_rate_limit_num

#request_retry_attempts

#request_retry_backoff_secs

#request_timeout_secs

#tls

#ca_path

#crt_path

#key_pass

#key_path

#verify_certificate

#verify_hostname

#Output

#How It Works

#Buffers & Batches

#Environment Variables

#Health Checks

#Require Health Checks

#Disable Health Checks

#Nested Documents

#Rate Limits

#Retry Policy

#Template Syntax

Configuration

Options

basic_auth

password

user

batch_size

batch_timeout

buffer

max_size

num_items

type

when_full

doc_type

headers

`[header-name]`

healthcheck

host

index

provider

query

`[parameter-name]`

region

request_in_flight_limit

request_rate_limit_duration_secs

request_rate_limit_num

request_retry_attempts

request_retry_backoff_secs

request_timeout_secs

tls

ca_path

crt_path

key_pass

key_path

verify_certificate

verify_hostname

Output

How It Works

Buffers & Batches

Environment Variables

Health Checks

Require Health Checks

Disable Health Checks

Nested Documents

Rate Limits

Retry Policy

Template Syntax