Provisioning an instance

You can provision an instance of the IBM Cloud Logs service through the IBM Cloud catalog, and programmatically by using a terraform script or the Resource Controller API.

If you are creating an instance with IBM Cloud Object Storage buckets, make sure you create a S2S authorization policy that grants IBM Cloud Logs access to IBM Cloud Object Storage, before proceeding. The policy should grant access to the IBM Cloud Object Storage service as a whole, not just to the bucket. After creating the instance, the policy can be updated to restrict access to just the bucket. The bucket details can also be configured any time after the service instance is created.

There are limits for each provisioned instance. For more information, see Limits per instance.

Provisioning an instance through the Observability dashboard

To provision an instance from the Observability dashboard in the IBM Cloud, complete the following steps:

Log in to your IBM Cloud account.

After you log in, the IBM Cloud UI opens.
Click the Menu icon > Observability to access the Observability dashboard.
Click Logging > Instances. You might need to click the Cloud Logs tab to see your IBM Cloud Logs instances.
Click Create.
Select the required service for your instance.
Select the location where you plan to provision the instance.
Enter a name for the service instance.
Select a resource group.

By default, the default resource group is set.

Note: If you are not able to select a resource group, check that you have editing permissions on the resource group where you want to provision the instance.
Select the Standard service plan.

By default, the Standard plan is set.

For more information about service plans, see Service plans and pricing.-->
Optionally, add the bucket details.
Click Create.

After you provision an instance, the UI opens.

Next, configure a log source by adding a logging agent. This agent is responsible for collecting and forwarding logs to your instance.

Provisioning an instance through the catalog

To provision an instance of IBM Cloud Logs through the IBM Cloud catalog, complete the following steps:

Log in to your IBM Cloud account.

After you log in, the IBM Cloud UI opens.
Click Catalog. The list of the services that are available in IBM Cloud opens.
To filter the list of services that is displayed, select the Logging and Monitoring category.
Click the IBM Cloud Logs tile.
Select the location where you plan to provision the instance.
Enter a name for the service instance.
Select a resource group.

By default, the Default resource group is set.

Note: If you are not able to select a resource group, check that you have editing permissions on the resource group where you want to provision the instance.
Select the Standard service plan.

By default, the standard plan is set.

For more information about service plans, see Service plans and pricing.
Optionally, add the bucket details.
Click Create.

After you provision an instance, the UI opens.

Next, configure a log source by adding a logging agent. This agent is responsible for collecting and forwarding logs to your instance.

Provisioning an instance through the CLI

To provision an instance of IBM Cloud Logs through the command line, complete the following steps:

[Pre-requisite] Installation of the IBM Cloud CLI.

For more information, see Installing the IBM Cloud CLI.

If the CLI is installed, continue with the next step.
Log in to the region in the IBM Cloud where you want to provision the instance. Run the following command: ibmcloud login
Set the resource group where you want to provision the instance. Run the following command: ibmcloud target

By default, the default resource group is set.
Create the instance. Run the ibmcloud resource service-instance-create command:
```
ibmcloud resource service-instance-create NAME cloud-logs SERVICE_PLAN_NAME LOCATION -p '{"private_endpoints_only": PRIVATE_ENDPOINT}'
```
Where

NAME is the name of the instance

SERVICE_PLAN_NAME is the type of plan. Valid values are lite, 7-day, 14-day, 30-day.

LOCATION is the region where the logging instance is created. To get the latest list of locations that are available for the IBM Cloud Logs service, see Locations.
- PRIVATE_ENDPOINT is either true or false. If true only private endpoints can be used to access the instance.
  
  Unless otherwise specified when provisioning an instance, the default is for the instance to be accessible by both public and private endpoints.
For example, to provision an instance with the 7 days retention plan that can be accessed only by private endpoints, run the following command:
```
ibmcloud resource service-instance-create my-instance cloud-logs 7-day us-south -p '{"private_endpoints_only": true}'
```
To provision an instance with the 14 days retention plan that can be accessed only by both public and private endpoints, run one of the following commands:
```
ibmcloud resource service-instance-create my-instance cloud-logs 14-day us-south -p '{"private_endpoints_only": false}'
```
or
```
ibmcloud resource service-instance-create my-instance cloud-logs 14-day us-south
```