Getting started with IBM® Cloud Logs Routing

Learn about IBM Cloud Logs Routing

Learn more about IBM Cloud Logs Routing.

To use the IBM® Cloud Logs Routing service, consider the following information:

• You must create a tenant in a region in your account that defines the target destination of logs collected in that region and the rules on how they are routed.

  You must create (onboard) an IBM Cloud Logs Routing tenant in your IBM Cloud account in at least one supported IBM Cloud® region.

• You must install the IBM Cloud Logs Routing agent on 1 or more log sources. You must configure the agent to send log events to the IBM Cloud Logs Routing service in your account.

• If you are connecting log sources through an IBM Cloud VPC, you must configure an ingestion virtual private endpoint (VPE) to privately connect agents running on those log sources to the IBM Cloud Logs Routing service.

IBM Cloud prerequisites

1. Check the regions where the IBM Cloud Logs Routing service is available.

2. If you don't have an IBM Cloud account, register an IBM Cloud account. You need an IBMid to work in IBM Cloud.

3. Check that the user who is configuring IBM Cloud Logs Routing for the IBM Cloud® account has sufficient permissions to manage the IBM Cloud Logs Routing service. For more information, see Managing IAM access for IBM Cloud Logs Routing.

4. If you do not have a cluster, create a cluster or use an existing IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service cluster.

Install prerequisites

Install the following tools:

• Download and install the IBM Cloud® CLI.
• If you are installing the agent on a Kubernetes cluster, install the Kubernetes CLI (kubectl) .
• If you are installing the agent on an Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud cluster, install the Red Hat Openshift CLI (oc).
• Provision an IBM Cloud Logs instance. For more information, see Provisioning an instance.
• If you are going to be running the agent in an IBM Cloud® Virtual Private Cloud and will be using the IBM Cloud® CLI to configure networking, install the IBM Cloud® Virtual Private Cloud CLI plugin.
• Download and install jq to process output and query desired results. JQ stands for JSON processor.

Enable connectivity

You can manage IBM Cloud Logs Routing by using the management API. The management API supports either a public endpoint or a private endpoint. A public endpoint can be reached over the internet, whereas a private endpoint can be accessed only from within the IBM Cloud private network.

To create a tenant, you must use the IBM Cloud Logs Routing management API.

Using the public endpoint does not require additional work in this step. Use the public endpoint to complete the steps in this tutorial.

For more information, see Connecting to IBM Cloud Logs Routing.

Collect information about the target destination

IBM Cloud Logs Routing supports the following targets:

• IBM Cloud Logs
• IBM Log Analysis

Create a tenant in a region

Create a IBM Cloud Logs tenant by following Creating an IBM Cloud Logs tenant in IBM Cloud Logs Routing.

Enable connectivity

You can send logs to IBM Cloud Logs Routing by using the ingestion API.

The ingestion API supports only private endpoints and is therefore not accessible from the public internet.

The IBM® Cloud Logs Routing supports the following types of endpoints to privately connect to IBM Cloud Logs Routing:

• IBM Cloud Cloud Service Endpoint (CSE)
• Virtual Private Endpoint (VPE) for VPC.

Choose one of the following options to privately connect to IBM Cloud Logs Routing:

• Using virtual private endpoints for VPC to privately connect to IBM Cloud Logs Routing.
• Using service endpoints to privately connect to IBM Cloud Logs Routing.

Deploy the agent

• For IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service clusters: Complete the steps in Managing the IBM® Cloud Logs Routing agent for IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service clusters.

• For Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud clusters: Complete the steps in Managing the IBM® Cloud Logs Routing agent for Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud clusters.