Simple Log Service:Use Logtail to collect logs across Alibaba Cloud accounts

Step 1: Create a user identifier file

1. Log on to an ECS instance that belongs to Alibaba Cloud Account B.

   Important

   You must create a user identifier file on each ECS instance of ECS Cluster B.

2. Run the following command to create a user identifier file.

   In this example, a file that is named based on the ID of Alibaba Cloud Account A is created. The ID is used as the user identifier. For more information, see Configure a user identifier.

   touch /etc/ilogtail/users/12****456

Step 2: Create a custom identifier-based machine group

1. Create a custom identifier file for the machine group that you want to create on an ECS instance.

   Important

   You must create the custom identifier file on each ECS instance of ECS Cluster B.

   1. Log on to an ECS instance that belongs to Alibaba Cloud Account B.

   2. Create a file named /etc/ilogtail/user_defined_id in the /etc/ilogtail/ directory and specify a custom identifier in the file.

      For example, if you want to set the custom identifier to application_b, specify application_b in the file and save the file. For more information about the file paths, see Create a custom identifier-based machine group.

2. Create a machine group in the Simple Log Service console.

   1. Log on to the Simple Log Service console by using Alibaba Cloud Account A.

   2. In the Projects section, click the project that you want to manage.

   3. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Resources > Machine Groups.

   4. To the right of Machine Groups, choose > Create Machine Group.

   5. In the Create Machine Group panel, configure the following parameters and click OK.

      In the Custom Identifier field, enter the custom identifier that you specified in 1. For more information about other parameters, see Create a custom identifier-based machine group.

3. Check whether the heartbeat status of each ECS instance in the machine group is OK.

   1. In the Machine Groups list, click the machine group that is created.

   2. On the Machine Group Configurations page, view the list of ECS instances that use the same custom identifier and the heartbeat status of each ECS instance.

      If Heartbeat is OK, the ECS instance is connected to Simple Log Service. If Heartbeat is FAIL, see How do I troubleshoot an error that is related to a Logtail machine group in a host environment?

Step 3: Collect logs

1. Log on to the Simple Log Service console by using Alibaba Cloud Account A.

2. In the Import Data section, click Regular Expression - Text Logs.

3. In the Select Logstore step, select the project and Logstore that you want to manage and click Next.

4. In the Machine Group Configurations step, configure the parameters.

   1. Select Servers for Scenario.

   2. Select ECS for Installation Environment.

   3. Select the machine group that is created in Step 2, move the machine group from the Source Machine Group section to the Applied Server Groups section, and then click Next.

5. Create a Logtail configuration and click Next.

   For more information about the parameters, see Collect logs in full regex mode.

   Important

   • By default, you can use only one Logtail configuration to collect logs from a log file. The collection process of Logtail in Alibaba Cloud Account B is not stopped. In this case, the Logtail configuration of Alibaba Cloud Account A cannot take effect. To ensure that the Logtail configuration of Alibaba Cloud Account A takes effect, you can use one of the following methods:

     • Stop the collection process in Alibaba Cloud Account B. To stop the collection process, log on to the Simple Log Service console by using Alibaba Cloud Account B and remove the existing Logtail configuration from the machine group. For more information, see Apply Logtail configurations to a machine group.

     • Add compulsory collection settings to the Logtail configuration of Alibaba Cloud Account A. For more information, see How do I collect multiple copies of logs in a file?

   • After you create the Logtail configuration, delete the existing Logtail configuration of Alibaba Cloud Account B to prevent duplicate log collection. For more information, see Delete Logtail configurations.

   

6. Preview data, configure indexes, and then click Next.

   By default, full-text indexing is enabled in Simple Log Service. You can configure field indexes based on the collected logs in manual or automatic mode. For more information, see Create indexes.

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