Access logging

Configuration

Access logs are configured as part of the HTTP connection manager config or TCP Proxy.

• v3 API reference

Format Rules

Access log formats contain command operators that extract the relevant data and insert it. They support two formats: “format strings” and “format dictionaries”. In both cases, the command operators are used to extract the relevant data, which is then inserted into the specified log format. Only one access log format may be specified at a time.

Format Strings

Format strings are plain strings, specified using the format key. They may contain either command operators or other characters interpreted as a plain string. The access log formatter does not make any assumptions about a new line separator, so one has to specified as part of the format string. See the default format for an example.

Default Format String

If custom format string is not specified, Envoy uses the following default format:

[%START_TIME%] "%REQ(:METHOD)% %REQ(X-ENVOY-ORIGINAL-PATH?:PATH)% %PROTOCOL%"
%RESPONSE_CODE% %RESPONSE_FLAGS% %BYTES_RECEIVED% %BYTES_SENT% %DURATION%
%RESP(X-ENVOY-UPSTREAM-SERVICE-TIME)% "%REQ(X-FORWARDED-FOR)%" "%REQ(USER-AGENT)%"
"%REQ(X-REQUEST-ID)%" "%REQ(:AUTHORITY)%" "%UPSTREAM_HOST%"\n

Example of the default Envoy access log format:

[2016-04-15T20:17:00.310Z] "POST /api/v1/locations HTTP/2" 204 - 154 0 226 100 "10.0.35.28"
"nsq2http" "cc21d9b0-cf5c-432b-8c7e-98aeb7988cd2" "locations" "tcp://10.0.2.1:80"

Format Dictionaries

Format dictionaries are dictionaries that specify a structured access log output format, specified using the json_format or typed_json_format keys. This allows logs to be output in a structured format such as JSON. Similar to format strings, command operators are evaluated and their values inserted into the format dictionary to construct the log output.

For example, with the following format provided in the configuration as json_format:

{
  "config": {
    "json_format": {
        "protocol": "%PROTOCOL%",
        "duration": "%DURATION%",
        "my_custom_header": "%REQ(MY_CUSTOM_HEADER)%"
    }
  }
}

The following JSON object would be written to the log file:

{"protocol": "HTTP/1.1", "duration": "123", "my_custom_header": "value_of_MY_CUSTOM_HEADER"}

This allows you to specify a custom key for each command operator.

The typed_json_format differs from json_format in that values are rendered as JSON numbers, booleans, and nested objects or lists where applicable. In the example, the request duration would be rendered as the number 123.

Format dictionaries have the following restrictions:

• The dictionary must map strings to strings (specifically, strings to command operators). Nesting is supported.

• When using the typed_json_format command operators will only produce typed output if the command operator is the only string that appears in the dictionary value. For example, "%DURATION%" will log a numeric duration value, but "%DURATION%.0" will log a string value.

Note

When using the typed_json_format, integer values that exceed \(2^{53}\) will be represented with reduced precision as they must be converted to floating point numbers.

Command Operators

Command operators are used to extract values that will be inserted into the access logs. The same operators are used by different types of access logs (such as HTTP and TCP). Some fields may have slightly different meanings, depending on what type of log it is. Differences are noted.

Note that if a value is not set/empty, the logs will contain a - character or, for JSON logs, the string "-". For typed JSON logs unset values are represented as null values and empty strings are rendered as "". omit_empty_values option could be used to omit empty values entirely.

Unless otherwise noted, command operators produce string outputs for typed JSON logs.

The following command operators are supported:

%START_TIME%

• HTTP

  Request start time including milliseconds.

  TCP

  Downstream connection start time including milliseconds.

START_TIME can be customized using a format string. In addition to that, START_TIME also accepts following specifiers:

Examples of formatting START_TIME is as follows:

%START_TIME(%Y/%m/%dT%H:%M:%S%z %s)%
# To include millisecond fraction of the second (.000 ... .999). E.g. 1527590590.528.
%START_TIME(%s.%3f)%
%START_TIME(%s.%6f)%
%START_TIME(%s.%9f)%

In typed JSON logs, START_TIME is always rendered as a string.

%REQUEST_HEADERS_BYTES%

• HTTP

  Uncompressed bytes of request headers.

  TCP

  Not implemented (0).

%BYTES_RECEIVED%

• HTTP

  Body bytes received.

  TCP

  Downstream bytes received on connection.

Renders a numeric value in typed JSON logs.

%PROTOCOL%

• HTTP

  Protocol. Currently either HTTP/1.1 HTTP/2 or HTTP/3.

  TCP

  Not implemented (“-“).

In typed JSON logs, PROTOCOL will render the string "-" if the protocol is not available (e.g. in TCP logs).

%RESPONSE_CODE%

• HTTP

  HTTP response code. Note that a response code of ‘0’ means that the server never sent the beginning of a response. This generally means that the (downstream) client disconnected.

  Note that in the case of 100-continue responses, only the response code of the final headers will be logged. If a 100-continue is followed by a 200, the logged response will be 200. If a 100-continue results in a disconnect, the 100 will be logged.

  TCP

  Not implemented (“-“).

Renders a numeric value in typed JSON logs.

%RESPONSE_CODE_DETAILS%

• HTTP

  HTTP response code details provides additional information about the response code, such as who set it (the upstream or envoy) and why.

  TCP

  Not implemented (“-“)

%CONNECTION_TERMINATION_DETAILS%

• HTTP and TCP

  Connection termination details may provide additional information about why the connection was terminated by Envoy for L4 reasons.

%RESPONSE_HEADERS_BYTES%

• HTTP

  Uncompressed bytes of response headers.

  TCP

  Not implemented (0).

%RESPONSE_TRAILERS_BYTES%

• HTTP

  Uncompressed bytes of response trailers.

  TCP

  Not implemented (0).

%BYTES_SENT%

• HTTP

  Body bytes sent. For WebSocket connection it will also include response header bytes.

  TCP

  Downstream bytes sent on connection.

%UPSTREAM_REQUEST_ATTEMPT_COUNT%

• HTTP

  Number of times the request is attempted upstream. Note that an attempt count of ‘0’ means that the request was never attempted upstream.

  TCP

  Number of times the connection request is attempted upstream. Note that an attempt count of ‘0’ means that the connection request was never attempted upstream.

Renders a numeric value in typed JSON logs.

%UPSTREAM_WIRE_BYTES_SENT%

• HTTP

  Total number of bytes sent to the upstream by the http stream.

  TCP

  Not implemented (0).

%UPSTREAM_WIRE_BYTES_RECEIVED%

• HTTP

  Total number of bytes received from the upstream by the http stream.

  TCP

  Not implemented (0).

%UPSTREAM_HEADER_BYTES_SENT%

• HTTP

  Number of header bytes sent to the upstream by the http stream.

  TCP

  Not implemented (0).

%UPSTREAM_HEADER_BYTES_RECEIVED%

• HTTP

  Number of header bytes received from the upstream by the http stream.

  TCP

  Not implemented (0).

%DOWNSTREAM_WIRE_BYTES_SENT%

• HTTP

  Total number of bytes sent to the downstream by the http stream.

  TCP

  Not implemented (0).

%DOWNSTREAM_WIRE_BYTES_RECEIVED%

• HTTP

  Total number of bytes received from the downstream by the http stream. Envoy over counts sizes of received HTTP/1.1 pipelined requests by adding up bytes of requests in the pipeline to the one currently being processed.

  TCP

  Not implemented (0).

%DOWNSTREAM_HEADER_BYTES_SENT%

• HTTP

  Number of header bytes sent to the downstream by the http stream.

  TCP

  Not implemented (0).

%DOWNSTREAM_HEADER_BYTES_RECEIVED%

• HTTP

  Number of header bytes received from the downstream by the http stream.

  TCP

  Not implemented (0).

Renders a numeric value in typed JSON logs.

%DURATION%

• HTTP

  Total duration in milliseconds of the request from the start time to the last byte out.

  TCP

  Total duration in milliseconds of the downstream connection.

Renders a numeric value in typed JSON logs.

%REQUEST_DURATION%

• HTTP

  Total duration in milliseconds of the request from the start time to the last byte of the request received from the downstream.

  TCP

  Not implemented (“-“).

Renders a numeric value in typed JSON logs.

%REQUEST_TX_DURATION%

• HTTP

  Total duration in milliseconds of the request from the start time to the last byte sent upstream.

  TCP

  Not implemented (“-“).

Renders a numeric value in typed JSON logs.

%RESPONSE_DURATION%

• HTTP

  Total duration in milliseconds of the request from the start time to the first byte read from the upstream host.

  TCP

  Not implemented (“-“).

Renders a numeric value in typed JSON logs.

%RESPONSE_TX_DURATION%

• HTTP

  Total duration in milliseconds of the request from the first byte read from the upstream host to the last byte sent downstream.

  TCP

  Not implemented (“-“).

Renders a numeric value in typed JSON logs.

%RESPONSE_FLAGS%

Additional details about the response or connection, if any. For TCP connections, the response codes mentioned in the descriptions do not apply. Possible values are:

• HTTP and TCP

  • UH: No healthy upstream hosts in upstream cluster in addition to 503 response code.

  • UF: Upstream connection failure in addition to 503 response code.

  • UO: Upstream overflow (circuit breaking) in addition to 503 response code.

  • NR: No route configured for a given request in addition to 404 response code, or no matching filter chain for a downstream connection.

  • URX: The request was rejected because the upstream retry limit (HTTP) or maximum connect attempts (TCP) was reached.

  • NC: Upstream cluster not found.

  • DT: When a request or connection exceeded max_connection_duration or max_downstream_connection_duration.

  HTTP only

  • DC: Downstream connection termination.

  • LH: Local service failed health check request in addition to 503 response code.

  • UT: Upstream request timeout in addition to 504 response code.

  • LR: Connection local reset in addition to 503 response code.

  • UR: Upstream remote reset in addition to 503 response code.

  • UC: Upstream connection termination in addition to 503 response code.

  • DI: The request processing was delayed for a period specified via fault injection.

  • FI: The request was aborted with a response code specified via fault injection.

  • RL: The request was ratelimited locally by the HTTP rate limit filter in addition to 429 response code.

  • UAEX: The request was denied by the external authorization service.

  • RLSE: The request was rejected because there was an error in rate limit service.

  • IH: The request was rejected because it set an invalid value for a strictly-checked header in addition to 400 response code.

  • SI: Stream idle timeout in addition to 408 response code.

  • DPE: The downstream request had an HTTP protocol error.

  • UPE: The upstream response had an HTTP protocol error.

  • UMSDR: The upstream request reached max stream duration.

  • OM: Overload Manager terminated the request.

%ROUTE_NAME%

Name of the route.

%VIRTUAL_CLUSTER_NAME%

• HTTP*/gRPC

  Name of the matched Virtual Cluster (if any).

  TCP/UDP

  Not implemented (“-“)

%UPSTREAM_HOST%

Upstream host URL (e.g., tcp://ip:port for TCP connections).

%UPSTREAM_CLUSTER%

Upstream cluster to which the upstream host belongs to. If runtime feature envoy.reloadable_features.use_observable_cluster_name is enabled, then alt_stat_name will be used if provided.

%UPSTREAM_LOCAL_ADDRESS%

Local address of the upstream connection. If the address is an IP address it includes both address and port.

%UPSTREAM_TRANSPORT_FAILURE_REASON%

• HTTP

  If upstream connection failed due to transport socket (e.g. TLS handshake), provides the failure reason from the transport socket. The format of this field depends on the configured upstream transport socket. Common TLS failures are in TLS trouble shooting.

  TCP

  Not implemented (“-“)

%DOWNSTREAM_REMOTE_ADDRESS%

Remote address of the downstream connection. If the address is an IP address it includes both address and port.

Note

This may not be the physical remote address of the peer if the address has been inferred from Proxy Protocol filter or x-forwarded-for.

%DOWNSTREAM_REMOTE_ADDRESS_WITHOUT_PORT%

Remote address of the downstream connection. If the address is an IP address the output does not include port.

Note

This may not be the physical remote address of the peer if the address has been inferred from Proxy Protocol filter or x-forwarded-for.

%DOWNSTREAM_DIRECT_REMOTE_ADDRESS%

Direct remote address of the downstream connection. If the address is an IP address it includes both address and port.

Note

This is always the physical remote address of the peer even if the downstream remote address has been inferred from Proxy Protocol filter or x-forwarded-for.

%DOWNSTREAM_DIRECT_REMOTE_ADDRESS_WITHOUT_PORT%

The direct remote address of the downstream connection. If the address is an IP address the output does not include port.

Note

This is always the physical remote address of the peer even if the downstream remote address has been inferred from Proxy Protocol filter or x-forwarded-for.

%DOWNSTREAM_LOCAL_ADDRESS%

Local address of the downstream connection. If the address is an IP address it includes both address and port. If the original connection was redirected by iptables REDIRECT, this represents the original destination address restored by the Original Destination Filter using SO_ORIGINAL_DST socket option. If the original connection was redirected by iptables TPROXY, and the listener’s transparent option was set to true, this represents the original destination address and port.

%DOWNSTREAM_LOCAL_ADDRESS_WITHOUT_PORT%

Same as %DOWNSTREAM_LOCAL_ADDRESS% excluding port if the address is an IP address.

%CONNECTION_ID%

An identifier for the downstream connection. It can be used to cross-reference TCP access logs across multiple log sinks, or to cross-reference timer-based reports for the same connection. The identifier is unique with high likelihood within an execution, but can duplicate across multiple instances or between restarts.

%GRPC_STATUS%

gRPC status code which is easy to interpret with text message corresponding with number.

%DOWNSTREAM_LOCAL_PORT%

Similar to %DOWNSTREAM_LOCAL_ADDRESS_WITHOUT_PORT%, but only extracts the port portion of the %DOWNSTREAM_LOCAL_ADDRESS%

%REQ(X?Y):Z%

• HTTP

  An HTTP request header where X is the main HTTP header, Y is the alternative one, and Z is an optional parameter denoting string truncation up to Z characters long. The value is taken from the HTTP request header named X first and if it’s not set, then request header Y is used. If none of the headers are present ‘-‘ symbol will be in the log.

  TCP

  Not implemented (“-“).

%RESP(X?Y):Z%

• HTTP

  Same as %REQ(X?Y):Z% but taken from HTTP response headers.

  TCP

  Not implemented (“-“).

%TRAILER(X?Y):Z%

• HTTP

  Same as %REQ(X?Y):Z% but taken from HTTP response trailers.

  TCP

  Not implemented (“-“).

%DYNAMIC_METADATA(NAMESPACE:KEY*):Z%

• HTTP

  Dynamic Metadata info, where NAMESPACE is the filter namespace used when setting the metadata, KEY is an optional lookup key in the namespace with the option of specifying nested keys separated by ‘:’, and Z is an optional parameter denoting string truncation up to Z characters long. Dynamic Metadata can be set by filters using the StreamInfo API: setDynamicMetadata. The data will be logged as a JSON string. For example, for the following dynamic metadata:

  com.test.my_filter: {"test_key": "foo", "test_object": {"inner_key": "bar"}}

  • %DYNAMIC_METADATA(com.test.my_filter)% will log: {"test_key": "foo", "test_object": {"inner_key": "bar"}}

  • %DYNAMIC_METADATA(com.test.my_filter:test_key)% will log: foo

  • %DYNAMIC_METADATA(com.test.my_filter:test_object)% will log: {"inner_key": "bar"}

  • %DYNAMIC_METADATA(com.test.my_filter:test_object:inner_key)% will log: bar

  • %DYNAMIC_METADATA(com.unknown_filter)% will log: -

  • %DYNAMIC_METADATA(com.test.my_filter:unknown_key)% will log: -

  • %DYNAMIC_METADATA(com.test.my_filter):25% will log (truncation at 25 characters): {"test_key": "foo", "test

  TCP

  Not implemented (“-“).

Note

For typed JSON logs, this operator renders a single value with string, numeric, or boolean type when the referenced key is a simple value. If the referenced key is a struct or list value, a JSON struct or list is rendered. Structs and lists may be nested. In any event, the maximum length is ignored.

Note

DYNAMIC_METADATA command operator will be deprecated in the future in favor of METADATA operator.

%CLUSTER_METADATA(NAMESPACE:KEY*):Z%

• HTTP

  Upstream cluster Metadata info, where NAMESPACE is the filter namespace used when setting the metadata, KEY is an optional lookup key in the namespace with the option of specifying nested keys separated by ‘:’, and Z is an optional parameter denoting string truncation up to Z characters long. The data will be logged as a JSON string. For example, for the following dynamic metadata:

  com.test.my_filter: {"test_key": "foo", "test_object": {"inner_key": "bar"}}

  • %CLUSTER_METADATA(com.test.my_filter)% will log: {"test_key": "foo", "test_object": {"inner_key": "bar"}}

  • %CLUSTER_METADATA(com.test.my_filter:test_key)% will log: foo

  • %CLUSTER_METADATA(com.test.my_filter:test_object)% will log: {"inner_key": "bar"}

  • %CLUSTER_METADATA(com.test.my_filter:test_object:inner_key)% will log: bar

  • %CLUSTER_METADATA(com.unknown_filter)% will log: -

  • %CLUSTER_METADATA(com.test.my_filter:unknown_key)% will log: -

  • %CLUSTER_METADATA(com.test.my_filter):25% will log (truncation at 25 characters): {"test_key": "foo", "test

  TCP

  Not implemented (“-“).

Note

For typed JSON logs, this operator renders a single value with string, numeric, or boolean type when the referenced key is a simple value. If the referenced key is a struct or list value, a JSON struct or list is rendered. Structs and lists may be nested. In any event, the maximum length is ignored.

Note

CLUSTER_METADATA command operator will be deprecated in the future in favor of METADATA operator.

%FILTER_STATE(KEY:F):Z%

• HTTP

  Filter State info, where the KEY is required to look up the filter state object. The serialized proto will be logged as JSON string if possible. If the serialized proto is unknown to Envoy it will be logged as protobuf debug string. Z is an optional parameter denoting string truncation up to Z characters long. F is an optional parameter used to indicate which method FilterState uses for serialization. If ‘PLAIN’ is set, the filter state object will be serialized as an unstructured string. If ‘TYPED’ is set or no F provided, the filter state object will be serialized as an JSON string.

  TCP

  Same as HTTP, the filter state is from connection instead of a L7 request.

Note

For typed JSON logs, this operator renders a single value with string, numeric, or boolean type when the referenced key is a simple value. If the referenced key is a struct or list value, a JSON struct or list is rendered. Structs and lists may be nested. In any event, the maximum length is ignored

%REQUESTED_SERVER_NAME%

• HTTP

  String value set on ssl connection socket for Server Name Indication (SNI)

  TCP

  String value set on ssl connection socket for Server Name Indication (SNI)

%DOWNSTREAM_LOCAL_URI_SAN%

• HTTP

  The URIs present in the SAN of the local certificate used to establish the downstream TLS connection.

  TCP

  The URIs present in the SAN of the local certificate used to establish the downstream TLS connection.

%DOWNSTREAM_PEER_URI_SAN%

• HTTP

  The URIs present in the SAN of the peer certificate used to establish the downstream TLS connection.

  TCP

  The URIs present in the SAN of the peer certificate used to establish the downstream TLS connection.

%DOWNSTREAM_LOCAL_SUBJECT%

• HTTP

  The subject present in the local certificate used to establish the downstream TLS connection.

  TCP

  The subject present in the local certificate used to establish the downstream TLS connection.

%DOWNSTREAM_PEER_SUBJECT%

• HTTP

  The subject present in the peer certificate used to establish the downstream TLS connection.

  TCP

  The subject present in the peer certificate used to establish the downstream TLS connection.

%DOWNSTREAM_PEER_ISSUER%

• HTTP

  The issuer present in the peer certificate used to establish the downstream TLS connection.

  TCP

  The issuer present in the peer certificate used to establish the downstream TLS connection.

%DOWNSTREAM_TLS_SESSION_ID%

• HTTP

  The session ID for the established downstream TLS connection.

  TCP

  The session ID for the established downstream TLS connection.

%DOWNSTREAM_TLS_CIPHER%

• HTTP

  The OpenSSL name for the set of ciphers used to establish the downstream TLS connection.

  TCP

  The OpenSSL name for the set of ciphers used to establish the downstream TLS connection.

%DOWNSTREAM_TLS_VERSION%

• HTTP

  The TLS version (e.g., TLSv1.2, TLSv1.3) used to establish the downstream TLS connection.

  TCP

  The TLS version (e.g., TLSv1.2, TLSv1.3) used to establish the downstream TLS connection.

%DOWNSTREAM_PEER_FINGERPRINT_256%

• HTTP

  The hex-encoded SHA256 fingerprint of the client certificate used to establish the downstream TLS connection.

  TCP

  The hex-encoded SHA256 fingerprint of the client certificate used to establish the downstream TLS connection.

%DOWNSTREAM_PEER_FINGERPRINT_1%

• HTTP

  The hex-encoded SHA1 fingerprint of the client certificate used to establish the downstream TLS connection.

  TCP

  The hex-encoded SHA1 fingerprint of the client certificate used to establish the downstream TLS connection.

%DOWNSTREAM_PEER_SERIAL%

• HTTP

  The serial number of the client certificate used to establish the downstream TLS connection.

  TCP

  The serial number of the client certificate used to establish the downstream TLS connection.

%DOWNSTREAM_PEER_CERT%

• HTTP

  The client certificate in the URL-encoded PEM format used to establish the downstream TLS connection.

  TCP

  The client certificate in the URL-encoded PEM format used to establish the downstream TLS connection.

%DOWNSTREAM_PEER_CERT_V_START%

• HTTP

  The validity start date of the client certificate used to establish the downstream TLS connection.

  TCP

  The validity start date of the client certificate used to establish the downstream TLS connection.

DOWNSTREAM_PEER_CERT_V_START can be customized using a format string. See START_TIME for additional format specifiers and examples.

%DOWNSTREAM_PEER_CERT_V_END%

• HTTP

  The validity end date of the client certificate used to establish the downstream TLS connection.

  TCP

  The validity end date of the client certificate used to establish the downstream TLS connection.

DOWNSTREAM_PEER_CERT_V_END can be customized using a format string. See START_TIME for additional format specifiers and examples.

%HOSTNAME%

The system hostname.

%LOCAL_REPLY_BODY%

The body text for the requests rejected by the Envoy.

%FILTER_CHAIN_NAME%

The network filter chain name of the downstream connection.