syslogng-dynamic is an open source project from LogCentral that brings modern flexibility to syslog-ng. Designed for containerized environments, it enables dynamic configuration reloading without service interruptions, making it easier to deploy and operate a robust syslog collection system in Docker.
✨ Key Features
- 🔄 Dynamic Configuration Reloading: Detects and reloads configuration changes automatically with inotify and a polling fallback.
- 🐳 Docker-based Deployment: Deploy easily using Docker Compose, with host networking support for native UDP/TCP handling.
- 🏢 Multi-site Support: Modular configuration structure designed for managing multiple sites or locations.
- 💚 Health Monitoring: Built-in health checks and monitoring endpoints ensure reliability.
- 🌐 Cross-platform Compatibility: Works with Docker on Linux, macOS, and Windows.
🏗️ Architecture
The system is composed of several building blocks that make it flexible and production-friendly:
- 📊 syslog-ng: The core log collection engine with dynamic reloading capabilities.
- 📁 Modular Configuration: Config files organized by options and locations, making it easier to manage at scale.
- ⚡ Reloader Script: Watches configuration changes, intelligently debounces events, and triggers safe reloads.
- 🧪 Testing Utilities: Python-based tools to generate syslog test messages and validate setups.
🚀 Getting Started
Head over to the syslogng-dynamic GitHub repository, clone the project, and launch it with Docker Compose.
The configuration structure is designed to be intuitive, making it easy to start collecting logs from multiple sources in minutes.
☁️ When to Choose LogCentral Cloud
While syslogng-dynamic is perfect for developers, labs, and small-scale syslog deployments, running your own logging stack comes with challenges: storage growth, backups, security compliance, and scaling across multiple locations. That’s why LogCentral Cloud was created.
- Fully managed: No need to maintain servers or configurations.
- Infinitely scalable: Designed for enterprises with heavy log volumes.
- EU-compliant: GDPR-friendly with secure EU data hosting.
- Native integrations: Cisco Meraki OAuth and more.
In short: use syslogng-dynamic when you want full control and flexibility. Use LogCentral when you want simplicity, scalability, and zero maintenance.
It’s a Docker-based syslog-ng server with dynamic config reloading, health checks, and modular multi-site support.
It uses inotify for file change detection with a polling fallback to safely reload syslog-ng without downtime.
Yes, as long as Docker is installed, it runs cross-platform.
LogCentral Cloud is better for teams that need simplicity, infinite scalability, and compliance without managing infrastructure.