Generator

Generate fake events, which can be useful for testing, benchmarking, and demos

status: stable role: daemon role: sidecar delivery: at-least-once egress: stream state: stateless output: log
Page source Edit this page
Generates fakes events, useful for testing, benchmarking, and demoing.

Configuration

Example configurations 

{
  "sources": {
    "my_source_id": {
      "type": "generator",
      "format": "shuffle"
    }
  }
}
[sources.my_source_id]
type = "generator"
format = "shuffle"

---
sources:
  my_source_id:
    type: generator
    format: shuffle

{
  "sources": {
    "my_source_id": {
      "type": "generator",
      "format": "shuffle",
      "interval": 1,
      "count": null,
      "lines": [
        "Line 1"
      ],
      "sequence": null
    }
  }
}
[sources.my_source_id]
type = "generator"
format = "shuffle"
interval = 1
lines = [ "Line 1" ]

---
sources:
  my_source_id:
    type: generator
    format: shuffle
    interval: 1
    count: null
    lines:
      - Line 1
    framing: null
    sequence: null
    decoding: null

count

optional uint
The total number of lines to output. By default the source continuously prints logs (infinitely).

decoding

optional object
Configures in which way frames are decoded into events.

decoding.codec

optional string literal enum
The decoding method.
Enum options
OptionDescription
bytesEvents containing the byte frame as-is.
jsonEvents being parsed from a JSON string.
syslogEvents being parsed from a Syslog message.
default: bytes

format

required string literal enum
The format of the randomly generated output.
Examples 
"shuffle"
"apache_common"
"apache_error"
"syslog"
"bsd_syslog"
"json"
Enum options string literal
OptionDescription
apache_commonRandomly generated logs in Apache common format.
apache_errorRandomly generated logs in Apache error format.
bsd_syslogRandomly generated logs in Syslog format (RFC 3164).
jsonRandomly generated HTTP server logs in JSON format.
shuffleLines are chosen at random from the list specified using lines.
syslogRandomly generated logs in Syslog format (RFC 5424).

framing

optional object
Configures in which way incoming byte sequences are split up into byte frames.

framing.character_delimited

optional object
Options for character_delimited framing.
Relevant when: method = `character_delimited`
framing.character_delimited.delimiter
optional string literal
The character used to separate frames.
Examples 
"\n"
"\t"
framing.character_delimited.max_length
optional uint
The maximum frame length limit. Any frames longer than max_length bytes will be discarded entirely.
Examples 
65535
102400

framing.method

optional string literal enum
The framing method.
Enum options
OptionDescription
bytesByte frames are passed through as-is according to the underlying I/O boundaries (e.g. split between messages or stream segments).
character_delimitedByte frames which are delimited by a chosen character.
length_delimitedByte frames whose length is encoded in a header.
newline_delimitedByte frames which are delimited by a newline character.
octet_countingByte frames according to the octet counting format.
default: bytes

framing.newline_delimited

optional object
Options for newline_delimited framing.
Relevant when: method = `newline_delimited`
framing.newline_delimited.max_length
optional uint
The maximum frame length limit. Any frames longer than max_length bytes will be discarded entirely.
Examples 
65535
102400

framing.octet_counting

optional object
Options for octet_counting framing.
Relevant when: method = `octet_counting`
framing.octet_counting.max_length
optional uint
The maximum frame length limit. Any frames longer than max_length bytes will be discarded entirely.
Examples 
65535
102400

interval

optional float
The amount of time, in seconds, to pause between each batch of output lines. The default is one batch per second. In order to remove the delay and output batches as quickly as possible, set interval to 0.0.
Examples 
1
0.1
0.01
default: 1

lines

optional [string]
The list of lines to output.
Array string literal
Examples 
[
  "Line 1",
  "Line 2"
]
Relevant when: `format` = `shuffle`

sequence

optional bool
If true, each output line starts with an increasing sequence number, beginning with 0.
default: false
Relevant when: `format` = `shuffle`

Output

Telemetry

Metrics

link

component_sent_event_bytes_total

counter
The total number of event bytes emitted by this component.
component_id required
The Vector component ID.
component_kind required
The Vector component kind.
component_name required
Deprecated, use component_id instead. The value is the same as component_id.
component_type required
The Vector component type.
host required
The hostname of the system Vector is running on.
pid required
The process ID of the Vector instance.

component_sent_events_total

counter
The total number of events emitted by this component.
component_id required
The Vector component ID.
component_kind required
The Vector component kind.
component_name required
Deprecated, use component_id instead. The value is the same as component_id.
component_type required
The Vector component type.
host required
The hostname of the system Vector is running on.
pid required
The process ID of the Vector instance.

events_out_total

counter
The total number of events emitted by this component. This metric is deprecated and will be removed in a future version. Use component_sent_events_total instead.
component_id required
The Vector component ID.
component_kind required
The Vector component kind.
component_name required
Deprecated, use component_id instead. The value is the same as component_id.
component_type required
The Vector component type.
host required
The hostname of the system Vector is running on.
pid required
The process ID of the Vector instance.

processed_events_total

counter
The total number of events processed by this component. This metric is deprecated in place of using component_received_events_total and component_sent_events_total metrics.
component_id required
The Vector component ID.
component_kind required
The Vector component kind.
component_name required
Deprecated, use component_id instead. The value is the same as component_id.
component_type required
The Vector component type.
host required
The hostname of the system Vector is running on.
pid required
The process ID of the Vector instance.

How it works

Context

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

State

This component is stateless, meaning its behavior is consistent across each input.
Sidebar