Configure logging drivers

Docker includes multiple logging mechanisms to help you get information from running containers and services. These mechanisms are called logging drivers.

Each Docker daemon has a default logging driver, which each container uses unless you configure it to use a different logging driver.

Configure the default logging driver for the Docker daemon

To configure the Docker daemon to default to a specific logging driver, use the --log-driver=<VALUE> flag. If the logging driver has configurable options, you can set them using one or more instances of the --log-opt <NAME>=<VALUE> flag.

If you do not specify a logging driver, the default is json-file. Thus, the default output for commands such as docker inspect <CONTAINER> is JSON.

To find the current default logging driver for the Docker daemon, run docker info and search for Logging Driver. You can use the following command on Linux or macOS:

$ docker info |grep 'Logging Driver'

Logging Driver: json-file

Configure the logging driver for a container

When you start a container, you can configure it to use a different logging driver than the Docker daemon’s default. If the logging driver has configurable options, you can set them using one or more instances of the --log-opt <NAME>=<VALUE> flag. Even if the container uses the default logging driver, it can use different configurable options.

To find the current logging driver for a running container, if the daemon is using the json-file logging driver, run the following docker inspect command, substituting the container name or ID for <CONTAINER>:

$ docker inspect -f '{{.HostConfig.LogConfig.Type}}' <CONTAINER>

json-file

Supported logging drivers

The following logging drivers are supported. See each driver’s section below for its configurable options, if applicable.

Driver	Description
none	No logs will be available for the container and docker logs will not return any output.
json-file	The logs are formatted as JSON. The default logging driver for Docker.
syslog	Writes logging messages to the syslog facility. The syslog daemon must be running on the host machine.
journald	Writes log messages to journald. The journald daemon must be running on the host machine.
gelf	Writes log messages to a Graylog Extended Log Format (GELF) endpoint such as Graylog or Logstash.
fluentd	Writes log messages to fluentd (forward input). The fluentd daemon must be running on the host machine.
awslogs	Writes log messages to Amazon CloudWatch Logs.
splunk	Writes log messages to splunk using the HTTP Event Collector.
etwlogs	Writes log messages as Event Tracing for Windows (ETW) events. Only available on Windows platforms.
gcplogs	Writes log messages to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Logging.
nats	NATS logging driver for Docker. Publishes log entries to a NATS server.

Limitations of logging drivers

• The docker logs command is not available for drivers other than json-file and journald.

Examples

Configure the logging driver using labels or environment variables

If your container uses labels or environment variables specified in the Dockerfile or at runtime, some logging drivers can use these labels or environment variables to control logging behavior. If a collision occurs between a label and an environment variable, the environment variable takes precedence.

Specify logging attributes and options when you start the Docker daemon. For example, to manually start the daemon with the json-file driver, and set a label and two environment variables, use the following command:

$ dockerd \
         --log-driver=json-file \
         --log-opt labels=production_status \
         --log-opt env=os,customer

Next, run a container and specify values for the labels or env. For example, you might use this:

$ docker run -dit --label production_status=testing -e os=ubuntu alpine sh

If the logging driver supports it, this adds additional fields to the logging output. The following output is for json-file:

"attrs":{"production_status":"testing","os":"ubuntu"}

none

The none driver disables logging for the Docker daemon (if set on the daemon at start-up) or for an individual container at runtime. It has no options.

Examples

This example starts an alpine container with the none log driver.

$ docker run -it --log-driver none alpine ash

json-file

json-file is the default logging driver, and returns logging output in JSON format.

Options

The json-file logging driver supports the following logging options:

Option	Description	Example value
max-size	The maximum size of the log before it is rolled. A positive integer plus a modifier representing the unit of measure (k, m, or g).	--log-opt max-size=10m
max-file	The maximum number of log files that can be present. If rolling the logs creates excess files, the oldest file is removed. Only effective when max-size is also set. A positive integer.	--log-opt max-file=3
labels	Applies when starting the Docker daemon. A comma-separated list of logging-related labels this daemon will accept. Used for advanced log tag options.	--log-opt labels=production_status,geo
env	Applies when starting the Docker daemon. A comma-separated list of logging-related environment variables this daemon will accept. Used for advanced log tag options.	--log-opt env=os,customer

Note: If max-size and max-file are set, docker logs only returns the log lines from the newest log file.

Examples

This example starts an alpine container which can have a maximum of 3 log files no larger than 10 megabytes each.

$ docker run --it --log-opt max-size=10m --log-opt max-file=3 alpine ash

syslog

Options

The following logging options are supported for the syslog logging driver:

Option	Description	Example value
syslog-address	The address of an external syslog server. The URI specifier may be [tcp|udp|tcp+tls]://host:port, unix://path, or unixgram://path. If the transport is tcp, udp, or tcp+tls, the default port is 514.	--log-opt syslog-address=tcp+tls://192.168.1.3:514, --log-opt syslog-address=unix:///tmp/syslog.sock
syslog-facility	The syslog facility to use. Can be the number or name for any valid syslog facility. See the syslog documentation.	--log-opt syslog-facility=daemon
syslog-tls-ca-cert	The absolute path to the trust certificates signed by the CA. Ignored if the address protocol is not tcp+tls.	--log-opt syslog-tls-ca-cert=/etc/ca-certificates/custom/ca.pem
syslog-tls-cert	The absolute path to the TLS certificate file. Ignored if the address protocol is not tcp+tls.	--log-opt syslog-tls-cert=/etc/ca-certificates/custom/cert.pem
syslog-tls-key	The absolute path to the TLS key file. Ignored if the address protocol is not tcp+tls.	--log-opt syslog-tls-key=/etc/ca-certificates/custom/key.pem
syslog-tls-skip	If set to true, TLS verification is skipped when connecting to the syslog daemon. Defaults to false. Ignored if the address protocol is not tcp+tls.	--log-opt syslog-tls-skip-verify=true
tag	A string that is appended to the APP-NAME in the syslog message. By default, Docker uses the first 12 characters of the container ID to tag log messages. Refer to the log tag option documentation for customizing the log tag format.	--log-opt tag=mailer
syslog-format	The syslog message format to use. If not specified the local UNIX syslog format is used, without a specified hostname. Specify rfc3164 for the RFC-3164 compatible format, rfc5424 for RFC-5424 compatible format, or rfc5424micro for RFC-5424 compatible format with microsecond timestamp resolution.	--log-opt syslog-format=rfc5424micro
labels	Applies when starting the Docker daemon. A comma-separated list of logging-related labels this daemon will accept. Used for advanced log tag options.	--log-opt labels=production_status,geo
env	Applies when starting the Docker daemon. A comma-separated list of logging-related environment variables this daemon will accept. Used for advanced log tag options.	--log-opt env=os,customer

Examples

This example sends the container’s logging output to a syslog remote server at 192.168.0.42 on port 123, using the the daemon facility:

$ docker run \
         --log-driver=syslog \
         --log-opt syslog-address=tcp://192.168.0.42:123 \
         --log-opt syslog-facility=daemon \
         alpine ash

This example connects to syslog using TCP+TLS transport and specifies the trust certificate, certificate, and key to use.

$ docker run \
         --log-driver=syslog \
         --log-opt syslog-address=tcp+tls://192.168.0.42:123 \
         --log-opt syslog-tls-ca-cert=syslog-tls-ca-cert=/etc/ca-certificates/custom/ca.pem \
         --log-opt syslog-tls-cert=syslog-tls-ca-cert=/etc/ca-certificates/custom/cert.pem \
         --log-opt syslog-tls-key=syslog-tls-ca-cert=/etc/ca-certificates/custom/key.pem \
         alpine ash

journald

The journald logging driver stores the container id in the journal’s CONTAINER_ID field. For detailed information on working with this logging driver, see the journald logging driver reference documentation.

Options

Option	Description	Example value
tag	A template for setting the CONTAINER_TAG value in journald logs. Refer to the log tag option documentation for customizing the log tag format.	--log-opt tag=mailer
labels	Applies when starting the Docker daemon. A comma-separated list of logging-related labels this daemon will accept. Used for advanced log tag options.	--log-opt labels=production_status,geo
env	Applies when starting the Docker daemon. A comma-separated list of logging-related environment variables this daemon will accept. Used for advanced log tag options.	--log-opt env=os,customer

Examples

$ docker run \
         --log-driver=journald \
         alpine ash

gelf

Options

The gelf logging driver supports the following options:

Option	Description	Example value
gelf-address	The address of the GELF server. udp is the only supported URI specifier and you must specify the port.	--log-opt gelf-address=udp://192.168.0.42:12201
gelf-compression-type	The type of compression the GELF driver uses to compress each log message. Allowed values are gzip, zlib and none. The default is gzip.	--log-opt gelf-compression-type=gzip
gelf-compression-level	The level of compression when gzip or zlib is the gelf-compression-type. An integer in the range of -1 to 9 (BestCompression). Default value is 1 (BestSpeed). Higher levels provide more compression at lower speed.	--log-opt gelf-compression-level=2
tag	A string that is appended to the APP-NAME in the gelf message. By default, Docker uses the first 12 characters of the container ID to tag log messages. Refer to the log tag option documentation for customizing the log tag format.	--log-opt tag=mailer
labels	Applies when starting the Docker daemon. A comma-separated list of logging-related labels this daemon will accept. Adds additional key on the extra fields, prefixed by an underscore (_). Used for advanced log tag options.	--log-opt labels=production_status,geo
env	Applies when starting the Docker daemon. A comma-separated list of logging-related environment variables this daemon will accept. Adds additional key on the extra fields, prefixed by an underscore (_). Used for advanced log tag options.	--log-opt env=os,customer

Examples

This example connects the container to the GELF server running at 192.168.0.42 on port 12201.

$ docker run -dit \
             --log-driver=gelf \
             --log-opt gelf-address=udp://192.168.0.42:12201 \
             alpine sh

fluentd

Options

The fluentd logging driver supports the following options:

Option	Description	Example value
fluentd-address	The address of the Fluentd server, in the format host:port with no protocol specifier.	--log-opt fluentd-address=192.168.0.42:24224
fluentd-buffer-limit	The maximum size of the fluentd log buffer, with a size prefix KB, MB, or GB. Defaults to 8MB.	--log-opt fluentd-buffer-limit=8MB
fluentd-retry-wait	The initial delay before retrying after a connection failure. After the initial delay, it increases exponentially. Defaults to 1000ms.	--log-opt fluentd-retry-wait=1000ms
fluentd-max-retries	The maximum number of connection attempts before the container stops due to failure to connect. Defaults to 1073741824, which is effectively infinite.	--log-opt fluentd-max-retries=200
fluentd-async-connect	If set to false, Docker blocks on initial connection and the container stops if it cannot connect. Defaults to false.	--log-opt fluentd-async-connect=false
tag	A string that is appended to the APP-NAME in the fluentd message. By default, Docker uses the first 12 characters of the container ID to tag log messages. Refer to the log tag option documentation for customizing the log tag format.	--log-opt tag=mailer

Examples

This example logs container output to the Fluentd server running on localhost at port 24224 and prepends the tag docker.<CONTAINER_NAME> to the beginning of each message.

$ docker run -dit \
             --log-driver=fluentd \
             --log-opt fluentd-address=localhost:24224 \
             --log-opt tag="docker.{{.Name}}" \
             alpine sh

For detailed information on working with the fluentd logging driver, see the fluentd logging driver.

awslogs

The Amazon Cloudwatch Logs driver is called awslogs.

Options

The awslogs supports the following options:

Option	Description	Example value
awslogs-region	Sets the region where the logs are sent. If not set, the container’s region is used.	--log-opt awslogs-region=us-east-1
awslogs-group	The log group to use for the logs.	--log-opt awslogs-group=myLogGroup
awslogs-stream	The log stream to use. If not specified, the container ID is used as the log stream.	--log-opt awslogs-stream=myLogStream

Examples

This exampe sends the logs to region us-east-1 and uses the log group myLogGroup.

$ docker run \
         --log-driver=awslogs \
         --log-opt awslogs-region=us-east-1 \
         --log-opt awslogs-group=myLogGroup \
         alpine sh

For detailed information on working with this logging driver, see the awslogs logging driver reference documentation.

splunk

The splunk logging driver sends container logs to the HTTP Event Collector in Splunk Enterprise and Splunk Cloud.

Options

The splunk logging driver requires the following options:

Option	Description	Example value
splunk-token	The Splunk HTTP Event Collector token.	--log-opt splunk-token=<splunk_http_event_collector_token>
splunk-url	Path to your Splunk Enterprise or Splunk Cloud instance (including port and scheme used by HTTP Event Collector).	--log-opt splunk-url=https://your_splunk_instance:8088

The splunk logging driver allows the following options:

Option	Description	Example value
splunk-source	Event source.	--log-opt splunk-token=176FCEBF-4CF5-4EDF-91BC-703796522D20
splunk-sourcetype	Event source type.	--log-opt splunk-sourcetype=iis
splunk-index	Event index.	--log-opt splunk-index=os
splunk-capath	Path to root certificate.	--log-opt splunk-capath=/path/to/cert/cacert.pem
splunk-caname	Name to use for validating server certificate. Defaults to the hostname of the splunk-url.	--log-opt splunk-caname=SplunkServerDefaultCert
splunk-insecureskipverify	Ignore server certificate validation.	--log-opt splunk-insecureskipverify=false
tag	Specify tag for message, which interpret some markup. Default value is {{.ID}} (12 characters of the container ID). Refer to the log tag option documentation for information about customizing the log tag format.	--log-opt tag="{{.Name}}/{{.FullID}}"
labels	Applies when starting the Docker daemon. A comma-separated list of logging-related labels this daemon will accept. Adds additional key on the extra fields, prefixed by an underscore (_). Used for advanced log tag options.	--log-opt labels=production_status,geo
env	Applies when starting the Docker daemon. A comma-separated list of logging-related environment variables this daemon will accept. Adds additional key on the extra fields, prefixed by an underscore (_). Used for advanced log tag options.	--log-opt env=os,customer

Examples

This examples sets several options for the splunk logging driver.

$ docker run \
       --log-driver=splunk \
       --log-opt splunk-token=176FCEBF-4CF5-4EDF-91BC-703796522D20 \
       --log-opt splunk-url=https://splunkhost:8088 \
       --log-opt splunk-capath=/path/to/cert/cacert.pem \
       --log-opt splunk-caname=SplunkServerDefaultCert \
       --log-opt tag="{{.Name}}/{{.FullID}}" \
       --log-opt labels=location \
       --log-opt env=TEST \
       --env "TEST=false" \
       --label location=west \
   alpine sh

For detailed information about working with the splunk logging driver, see the Splunk logging driver reference documentation.

etwlogs

Options

The etwlogs logging driver forwards each log message as an ETW event. An ETW listener can then be created to listen for these events. This driver does not accept any options.

Examples

$ docker run \
         --logging-driver=etwlogs \
         alpine sh

The ETW logging driver is only available on Windows. For detailed information about working with this logging driver, see the ETW logging driver reference documentation.

gcplogs

Options

The Google Cloud Platform logging driver (gcplogs) supports the following options:

Option	Description	Example value
gcp-project	The GCP project to log to. Defaults to discovering this value from the GCE metadata service.	--log-opt gcp-project=myProject
log-cmd		--log-opt log-cmd=true	Whether to log the command that started the container. Defaults to false.	--log-opt log-cmd=false
labels	Applies when starting the Docker daemon. A comma-separated list of logging-related labels this daemon will accept. Adds additional key on the extra fields, prefixed by an underscore (_). Used for advanced log tag options.	--log-opt labels=production_status,geo
env	Applies when starting the Docker daemon. A comma-separated list of logging-related environment variables this daemon will accept. Adds additional key on the extra fields, prefixed by an underscore (_). Used for advanced log tag options.	--log-opt env=os,customer

Examples

This example logs the start command and sets a label and an environment variable, which will be incorporated into the logs if the Docker daemon was started with the appropriate --log-opt options.

$ docker run --log-driver=gcplogs \
    --log-opt gcp-log-cmd=true \
    --env "TEST=false" \
    --label location=west \
    your/application \

For detailed information about working with the Google Cloud logging driver, see the Google Cloud Logging driver reference documentation.

NATS logging options

The NATS logging driver supports the following options:

--log-opt labels=<label1>,<label2>
--log-opt env=<envvar1>,<envvar2>
--log-opt tag=<tag>
--log-opt nats-servers="<comma separated list of nats servers uris>"
--log-opt nats-max-reconnect="<max attempts to connect to a server>"
--log-opt nats-subject="<subject where logs are sent>"
--log-opt nats-tls-ca-cert="<absolute path to cert>"
--log-opt nats-tls-cert="<absolute path to cert>"
--log-opt nats-tls-key="<absolute path to cert>"
--log-opt nats-tls-skip-verify="<value>"

For detailed information, see the NATS logging driver reference documentation.