How To Install rsyslog on Ubuntu

Posted on April 1, 2023  (Last modified on May 20, 2023 )

2 minutes  • 404 words

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install rsyslog on Ubuntu.

What is rsyslog

rsyslog is:

Rsyslog is a multi-threaded implementation of syslogd (a system utility providing support for message logging), with features that include:

• reliable syslog over TCP, SSL/TLS and RELP
• on-demand disk buffering
• email alerting
• writing to MySQL or PostgreSQL databases (via separate output plugins)
• permitted sender lists
• filtering on any part of the syslog message
• on-the-wire message compression
• fine-grained output format control
• failover to backup destinations
• enterprise-class encrypted syslog relaying

It is the default syslogd on Debian systems.

There are three methods to install rsyslog on Ubuntu. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.

Install rsyslog Using apt-get

Update apt database with apt-get using the following command.

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt database, We can install rsyslog using apt-get by running the following command:

sudo apt-get -y install rsyslog

Install rsyslog Using apt

Update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, We can install rsyslog using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install rsyslog

Install rsyslog Using aptitude

If you want to follow this method, you might need to install aptitude first since aptitude is usually not installed by default on Ubuntu. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.

sudo aptitude update

After updating apt database, We can install rsyslog using aptitude by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install rsyslog

How To Uninstall rsyslog on Ubuntu

To uninstall only the rsyslog package we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get remove rsyslog

Uninstall rsyslog And Its Dependencies

To uninstall rsyslog and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Ubuntu, we can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove rsyslog

Remove rsyslog Configurations and Data

To remove rsyslog configuration and data from Ubuntu we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y purge rsyslog

Remove rsyslog configuration, data, and all of its dependencies

We can use the following command to remove rsyslog configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge rsyslog

Dependencies

rsyslog have the following dependencies:

• libc6
• libestr0
• libfastjson4
• libsystemd0
• libuuid1
• zlib1g

References

• rsyslog website

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install rsyslog package on Ubuntu using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.