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Datadog

Cribl Stream can send log and metric events to Datadog. (Datadog supports metrics only of type gauge, counter, and rate via its REST API.)

Cribl Stream sends events to the following Datadog endpoints in the US region. Use a DNS lookup to discover and include the corresponding IP addresses in your firewall rules’ allowlist.

  • Logs: https://http-intake.logs.datadoghq.com/v1/input
  • Metrics: https://api.datadoghq.com/api/v1/series

Type: Streaming | TLS Support: Yes | PQ Support: Yes

Configuring Cribl Stream to Output to Datadog
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From the top nav, click Manage, then select a Worker Group to configure. Next, you have two options:

To configure via the graphical QuickConnect UI, click Routing > QuickConnect (Stream) or Collect (Edge). Next, click + Add Destination at right. From the resulting drawer’s tiles, select Datadog. Next, click either + Add Destination or (if displayed) Select Existing. The resulting drawer will provide the options below.

Or, to configure via the Routing UI, click Data > Destinations (Stream) or More > Destinations (Edge). From the resulting page’s tiles or the Destinations left nav, select Datadog. Next, click New Destination to open a New Destination modal that provides the options below.

General Settings
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Output ID: Enter a unique name to identify this Destination definition.

Authentication Settings
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Use the Authentication method buttons to select one of these options:

  • Manual: Displays a field for you to enter an API key that is available in your Datadog profile.

  • Secret: This option exposes an API key (text secret) drop-down, in which you can select a stored secret that references the API access token described above. A Create link is available to store a new, reusable secret.

API key: Enter your Datadog organization’s API key.

Optional Settings
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Datadog site: Select the US (default) or Europe region.

Send logs as: Specify the content type to use when sending logs. Defaults to application/json, where each log message is represented by a JSON object. The alternative text/plain option sends one message per line, with newline \n delimiters.

Message field: Name of the event field that contains the message to send. If not specified, Cribl Stream sends a JSON representation of the whole event (regardless of whether Send logs as is set to JSON or plain text).

Source: Name of the source to send with logs. If you’re sending logs as JSON objects (i.e., you’ve selected Send logs as: application/json), the event’s source field (if set) will override this value.

Host: Name of the host to send with logs. If you’re sending logs as JSON objects, the event’s host field (if set) will override this value.

Service: Name of the service to send with logs. If you’re sending logs as JSON objects, the event’s __service field (if set) will override this value.

Datadog tags: List of tags to send with logs (e.g., env:prod, env_staging:east).

Severity: Default value for message severity. If you’re sending logs as JSON objects, the event’s __severity field (if set) will override this value. Defaults to info; the drop-down offers many other severity options.

Datadog uses the above five fields (source, host, __service, tags, and __severity) to enhance searches and UX.

Allow API key from events: If toggled to Yes, any API key in the __agent_api_key internal field will override the API key field’s value. This option is useful if events originate from multiple Datadog Agent Sources, each configured with a different API key. (For further details, see Managing API Keys.)

Backpressure behavior: Specify whether to block, drop, or queue events when all receivers are exerting backpressure. Defaults to Block.

Tags: Optionally, add tags that you can use for filtering and grouping at the final destination. Use a tab or hard return between (arbitrary) tag names.

Persistent Queue Settings
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This tab is displayed when the Backpressure behavior is set to Persistent Queue.

On Cribl-managed Cribl.Cloud Workers (with an Enterprise plan), this tab exposes only the Clear Persistent Queue button. A maximum queue size of 1 GB disk space is automatically allocated per Worker Process.

Max file size: The maximum data volume to store in each queue file before closing it. Enter a numeral with units of KB, MB, etc. Defaults to 1 MB.

Max queue size: The maximum amount of disk space the queue is allowed to consume. Once this limit is reached, Cribl Stream stops queueing and applies the fallback Queue‑full behavior. Enter a numeral with units of KB, MB, etc.

Queue file path: The location for the persistent queue files. Defaults to $CRIBL_HOME/state/queues. To this value, Cribl Stream will append /<worker‑id>/<output‑id>.

Compression: Codec to use to compress the persisted data, once a file is closed. Defaults to None. Select Gzip to enable compression.

Queue-full behavior: Whether to block or drop events when the queue is exerting backpressure (because disk is low or at full capacity). Block is the same behavior as non-PQ blocking, corresponding to the Block option on the Backpressure behavior drop-down. Drop new data throws away incoming data, while leaving the contents of the PQ unchanged.

Clear persistent queue: Click this button if you want to flush out files that are currently queued for delivery to this Destination. A confirmation modal will appear. (Appears only after Output ID has been defined.)

Processing Settings
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Post‑Processing
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Pipeline: Pipeline to process data before sending the data out using this output.

System fields: A list of fields to automatically add to events that use this output. By default, includes cribl_pipe (identifying the Cribl Stream Pipeline that processed the event). Supports wildcards. Other options include:

  • cribl_host – Cribl Stream Node that processed the event.
  • cribl_wp – Cribl Stream Worker Process that processed the event.
  • cribl_input – Cribl Stream Source that processed the event.
  • cribl_output – Cribl Stream Destination that processed the event.

Advanced Settings
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Validate server certs: Toggle to Yes to reject certificates that are not authorized by a CA in the CA certificate path, nor by another trusted CA (e.g., the system’s CA).

Round-robin DNS: Toggle on to enable round-robin DNS lookup across multiple IP addresses, IPv4 and IPv6. When a DNS server resolves a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) to multiple IP addresses, Cribl Stream will sequentially use each address in the order they are returned by the DNS server for subsequent connection attempts.

Compress: Toggle this slider to Yes to compress log events’ payload body before sending.

Request timeout: Amount of time (in seconds) to wait for a request to complete before aborting it. Defaults to 30.

Request concurrency: Maximum number of concurrent requests per Worker Process. When Cribl Stream hits this limit, it begins throttling traffic to the downstream service. Defaults to 5. Minimum: 1. Maximum: 32.

Max body size (KB): Maximum size of the request body before compression. Defaults to 4096 KB. The actual request body size might exceed the specified value because the Destination adds bytes when it writes to the downstream receiver. Cribl recommends that you experiment with the Max body size value until downstream receivers reliably accept all events.

Max events per request: Maximum number of events to include in the request body. The 0 default allows unlimited events.

Flush period (s): Maximum time between requests. Low values could cause the payload size to be smaller than its configured maximum. Defaults to 1.

Extra HTTP headers: Name-value pairs to pass as additional HTTP headers.

Failed request logging mode: Use this drop-down to determine which data should be logged when a request fails. Select among None (the default), Payload, or Payload + Headers. With this last option, Cribl Stream will redact all headers, except non-sensitive headers that you declare below in Safe headers.

Safe headers: Add headers to declare them as safe to log in plaintext. (Sensitive headers such as authorization will always be redacted, even if listed here.) Use a tab or hard return to separate header names.

Environment: If you’re using GitOps, optionally use this field to specify a single Git branch on which to enable this configuration. If empty, the config will be enabled everywhere.

Internal Fields
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Cribl Stream uses a set of internal fields to assist in forwarding data to a Destination.

If an event contains the internal field __criblMetrics, Cribl Stream will send it to Datadog as a metric event. Otherwise, Cribl Stream will send it as a log event.

You can use these fields to override outbound event values for log events:

  • ddtags
  • __service
  • __severity

No internal fields are supported for metric events.

For More Information
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You might find these Datadog references helpful: