Whenever I present syslog-ng at a conference or I stand next to a booth, people often ask me why should they use syslog-ng instead of one of its competitors. So let me summarize what the users and developers of syslog-ng typically consider as its most important values. Documentation Yes, I know, this is not syslog-ng itself. However, talking to some of our most active and loyal users, one common feedback was that they had chosen syslog-ng because of the quality of its documentation.

The August syslog-ng newsletter is now on-line: Deprecating Java-based drivers from syslog-ng: Is HDFS next? Your first steps configuring syslog-ng Prometheus exporter in syslog-ng It is available at https://www.syslog-ng.com/community/b/blog/posts/the-syslog-ng-insider-2025-08-hdfs-configuration-prometheus syslog-ng logo

Recently, several people have asked me about the syslog-ng project’s view on Artificial intelligence. In short, there is cautious optimism: we embrace AI, but it does not take over any critical tasks from humans. But what does this mean for syslog-ng? Read more at https://www.syslog-ng.com/community/b/blog/posts/syslog-ng-development-and-ai syslog-ng logo

There are multiple syslog protocols with multiple variants. The new transport(auto) option of the syslog() source in syslog-ng allows you to support all TCP-based variants with a single source driver. When it comes to syslog, there are many transport options. RFC3164 describes the “legacy” or “BSD” syslog protocol, while RFC5424 refers to the “new” syslog protocol (which is also more than a decade old now… :-) ). RFC5424-formatted messages normally come with framing or octet counting (as per RFC6587), where messages are prefixed with the length of the message.

Last year, I wrote a small configuration snippet for syslog-ng: FreeBSD audit source. I published it in a previous blog, and based on feedback, it is already used in production. And soon, it will be available also as part of a syslog-ng release. As an active FreeBSD user and co-maintainer of the sysutils/syslog-ng port for FreeBSD, I am always happy to share FreeBSD-related news. Last year, we improved directory monitoring and file reading on FreeBSD and MacOS.

The June syslog-ng newsletter is now on-line: Installing nightly syslog-ng arm64 packages on a Raspberry Pi Working with One Identity Cloud PAM Linux agent logs in syslog-ng Testing the new syslog-ng wildcard-file() source options on Linux It is available at https://www.syslog-ng.com/community/b/blog/posts/the-syslog-ng-insider-2025-06-arm64-pam-testing syslog-ng logo

While most Java-based drivers have been deprecated in syslog-ng years ago, we have recently removed all of them in preparation to syslog-ng 4.9.0. Right now, the only Java-based driver remaining is HDFS, so we want to ask the syslog-ng community if the HDFS destination is still needed for them. Read more at https://www.syslog-ng.com/community/b/blog/posts/deprecating-java-based-drivers-from-syslog-ng-is-hdfs-next syslog-ng logo

Last year, syslog-ng 4.8.0 improved the wildcard-file() source on FreeBSD and MacOS. Version 4.9.0 will do the same for Linux by using inotify for file and directory monitoring, resulting in faster performance while using significantly less resources. This blog is a call for testing the new wildcard-file() source options before release. Read more at https://www.syslog-ng.com/community/b/blog/posts/testing-the-new-syslog-ng-wildcard-file-source-options-on-linux syslog-ng logo

One Identity Cloud PAM is one of the latest security products by One Identity. It provides asset management as well as secure and monitored remote access for One Identity Cloud users to hosts on their local network. Last year, I showed you how collect One Identity Cloud PAM Network Agent log messages on Windows and create alerts when somebody connects to a host on your local network using PAM Essentials. This time, I will show you how to work with the Linux version of the Network Agent.

Finally, a new syslog-ng release! As you can see from its version number, this is a bug fix release. It took a bit longer than expected, as we wanted to release it in sync with syslog-ng PE, the commercial variant of syslog-ng. 4.8.2 serves not just as the foundation of the new syslog-ng PE release, but also provides fixes to 4.8.1, which is included in major Linux distributions. This update ensures that all our recent bug fixes reach the majority of our users.