Element: action

Location

/patterndb/ruleset/actions/action

Description

OPTIONAL — A container element describing an action that is performed when a message matching the rule is received.

Attributes

• condition: An AxoSyslog filter expression. The action is performed only if the message matches the filter. The filter can include macros and name-value pairs extracted from the message. When using actions together with message-correlation, you can also use the $(context-length) macro, which returns the number of messages in the current context. For example, this can be used to determine if the expected number of messages has arrived to the context: condition='"$(context-length)" > "5"'

• rate: Specifies maximum how many messages should be generated in the specified time period in the following format: <number-of-messages>/<period-in-seconds>. For example: 1/60 allows 1 message per minute. Rates apply within the scope of the context, that is, if context-scope="host" and rate="1/60", then maximum one message is generated per minute for every host that sends a log message matching the rule. Excess messages are dropped. Note that when applying the rate to the generated messages, AxoSyslog uses the timestamps of the log messages, similarly to calculating the context-timeout. That way rate is applied correctly even if the log messages are processed offline.

• trigger: Specifies when the action is executed. The trigger attribute has the following possible values:

  • match: Execute the action immediately when a message matching the rule is received.

  • timeout: Execute the action when the correlation timer (context-timeout) of the pattern database rule expires. This is available only if actions are used together with correlating messages.

Children

• create-context

• message: A container element storing the message to be sent when the action is executed. Currently AxoSyslog sends these messages to the internal() destination.

  • For details on the message context, see Correlating log messages using pattern databases and Actions and message correlation. For details on triggering messages, see Triggering actions for identified messages

    inherit-mode: This attribute controls which name-value pairs and tags are propagated to the newly generated message.

    • context: AxoSyslog collects every name-value pair from each message stored in the context, and includes them in the generated message. If a name-value pair appears in multiple messages of the context, the value in the latest message will be used. Note that tags are not merged, the generated message will inherit the tags assigned to the last message of the context.

    • last-message: Only the name-value pairs appearing in the last message are copied. If the context contains only a single message, then it is the message that triggered the action.

    • none: An empty message is created, without inheriting any tags or name-value pairs.

    This option is available in AxoSyslog 3.8 and later.

  • inherit-properties: This attribute is deprecated. Use the inherit-mode attribute instead.

    If set to TRUE, the original message that triggered the action is cloned, including its name-value pairs and tags.

    If set to context, AxoSyslog collects every name-value pair from each message stored in the context, and includes them in the generated message. If a name-value pair appears in multiple messages of the context, the value in the latest message will be used. Note that tags are not merged, the generated message will inherit the tags assigned to the last message of the context.

    For details on the message context, see Correlating log messages using pattern databases and Actions and message correlation. For details on triggering messages, see Triggering actions for identified messages

    This option is available in AxoSyslog 5.3.2 and later.

• values: A container element for values and fields that are used to create the message generated by the action.

  • value: Sets the value of the message field specified in the name attribute of the element. For example, to specify the body of the generated message, use the following syntax:

    
        <value name="MESSAGE">A log message matched rule number $.classifier.rule_id</value>
    

    Note that currently it is not possible to add DATE, FACILITY, or SEVERITY fields to the message.

    When the action is used together with message correlation, the AxoSyslog application automatically adds fields to the message based on the context-scope parameter. For example, using context-scope="process" automatically fills the HOST, PROGRAM, and PID fields of the generated message.

  • name: Name of the message field set by the value element.

Example: Generating messages for pattern database matches

When inserted in a pattern database rule, the following example generates a message when a message matching the rule is received.

   <actions>
        <action>
            <message>
                <values>
                    <value name="MESSAGE">A log message from ${HOST} matched rule number $.classifier.rule_id</value>
                </values>
            </message>
        </action>
    </actions>

To inherit the properties and values of the triggering message, set the inherit-properties attribute of the <message> element to TRUE. That way the triggering log message is cloned, including name-value pairs and tags. If you set any values for the message in the <action> element, they will override the values of the original message.

Example: Generating messages with inherited values

The following action generates a message that is identical to the original message, but its $PROGRAM field is set to overriding-original-program-name

   <actions>
        <action>
            <message inherit-properties='TRUE'>
                <values>
                    <value name="PROGRAM">overriding-original-program-name</value>
                </values>
            </message>
        </action>
    </actions>