Generator input plugin

• Plugin version: v3.1.0
• Released on: 2021-11-04
• Changelog

For other versions, see the Versioned plugin docs.

For questions about the plugin, open a topic in the Discuss forums. For bugs or feature requests, open an issue in Github. For the list of Elastic supported plugins, please consult the Elastic Support Matrix.

Generate random log events.

The general intention of this is to test performance of plugins.

An event is generated first

This plugin uses different field names depending on whether ECS-compatibility in enabled (see also ecs_compatibility).

This plugin supports the following configuration options plus the Common options described later.

Also see Common options for a list of options supported by all input plugins.

• Value type is number
• Default value is 0

Set how many messages should be generated.

The default, 0, means generate an unlimited number of events.

• Value type is string

• Supported values are:

  • disabled: uses backwards compatible field names, such as [host]
  • v1, v8: uses fields that are compatible with ECS, such as [host][name]

Controls this plugin’s compatibility with the Elastic Common Schema (ECS). See Compatibility with the Elastic Common Schema (ECS) for detailed information.

Sample output: ECS enabled

{
    "message" => "Hello world!",
    "event" => {
        "sequence" => 0
    },
    "host" => {
        "name" => "the-machine"
    }
}

Sample output: ECS disabled

{
    "message" => "Hello world!",
    "sequence" => 0,
    "host" => "the-machine"
}

• Value type is array
• There is no default value for this setting.

The lines to emit, in order. This option cannot be used with the message setting.

Example:

input {
  generator {
    lines => [
      "line 1",
      "line 2",
      "line 3"
    ]
    # Emit all lines 3 times.
    count => 3
  }
}

The above will emit line 1 then line 2 then line 3, then line 1, etc…​

• Value type is string
• Default value is "Hello world!"

The message string to use in the event.

If you set this to stdin then this plugin will read a single line from stdin and use that as the message string for every event.

Otherwise, this value will be used verbatim as the event message.

• Value type is number
• Default value is 1

These configuration options are supported by all input plugins:

• Value type is hash
• Default value is {}

Add a field to an event

• Value type is codec
• Default value is "plain"

The codec used for input data. Input codecs are a convenient method for decoding your data before it enters the input, without needing a separate filter in your Logstash pipeline.

• Value type is boolean
• Default value is true

Disable or enable metric logging for this specific plugin instance by default we record all the metrics we can, but you can disable metrics collection for a specific plugin.

• Value type is string
• There is no default value for this setting.

Add a unique ID to the plugin configuration. If no ID is specified, Logstash will generate one. It is strongly recommended to set this ID in your configuration. This is particularly useful when you have two or more plugins of the same type, for example, if you have 2 generator inputs. Adding a named ID in this case will help in monitoring Logstash when using the monitoring APIs.

input {
  generator {
    id => "my_plugin_id"
  }
}

• Value type is array
• There is no default value for this setting.

Add any number of arbitrary tags to your event.

This can help with processing later.

• Value type is string
• There is no default value for this setting.

Add a type field to all events handled by this input.

Types are used mainly for filter activation.

The type is stored as part of the event itself, so you can also use the type to search for it in Kibana.

If you try to set a type on an event that already has one (for example when you send an event from a shipper to an indexer) then a new input will not override the existing type. A type set at the shipper stays with that event for its life even when sent to another Logstash server.