Log Custom Data

Log format variables

A log format variable is a string prefixed by the character %:

%variable

You can use them to create custom log formats that record custom data in your HAProxy Enterprise logs.

Avoid spaces in the variable name. A space is considered as a separator. If a variable is between square brackets ([ .. ]), then it can be an expression, such as to call a fetch method to get a value. Below, we get the value of the Host HTTP header by using the req.hdr fetch method:

%[req.hdr(Host)]

A common way to use this is to record a variable in the logs by using the var fetch method as shown below:

frontend www
   bind :80

   # store the 'path' in a variable named 'txn.mypath'
   http-request set-var(txn.mypath) path

   # logs will show the path value
   log-format %[var(txn.mypath)]

You can prefix a variable with a plus or minus sign and a flag. A plus adds the flag, while a minus removes it. There are three flags available:

• Q: adds double quotes around the value

• X: represents the value as hexadecimal

• E: escapes characters with a backslash, such as double quotes and backslashes

In the example below, we add double quotes around the Host header value:

%{+Q}[req.hdr(Host)]

You can use a special variable %o to propagate its flags to all following variables in the same format string.

Check the list of predefined log format variables in the Reference Guide.

Define a new log format

You will use the log-format directive to create a new log format. This line accepts log format variables.

If you were to replicate the format you get with option tcplog, it would look like this:

defaults
   log-format "%ci:%cp [%t] %ft %b/%s %Tw/%Tc/%Tt %B %ts %ac/%fc/%bc/%sc/%rc %sq/%bq"

The option httplog format would look like this:

defaults
   log-format "%ci:%cp [%tr] %ft %b/%s %TR/%Tw/%Tc/%Tr/%Ta %ST %B %CC %CS %tsc %ac/%fc/%bc/%sc/%rc %sq/%bq %hr %hs %{+Q}r"

You can define your own format. For example, below, we collect only the client's IP address and port, the server's IP address and port, the URL path, and the response status code:

defaults
   log-format "%ci:%cp %si:%sp %HU %ST"
   # logs: 192.168.50.1:56428 127.0.0.1:8080 / 304

Store the log format in an environment variable

Often, you will want to keep the existing information collected by the premade log format rules (option tcplog and option httplog) and append new information to them. To make that easier, you can store the original format in an environment variable and then reference it in your log-format line.

1. Add the premade log format to an environment variable by using setenv in the global section. Below, we store the HTTP log format in a variable named HTTP_LOG:

   global
      setenv HTTP_LOG "%ci:%cp [%tr] %ft %b/%s %TR/%Tw/%Tc/%Tr/%Ta %ST %B %CC %CS %tsc %ac/%fc/%bc/%sc/%rc %sq/%bq %hr %hs %{+Q}r"

2. Reference the environment variable in your log-format line. In the example below, we append a variable named txn.myvariable to the end of the original HTTP log format:

   defaults
      log-format "${HTTP_LOG} %[var(txn.myvariable)]"