Logstash is an open-source data processing pipeline that allows users to collect, process, and forward logs and event data from multiple sources. It is a key component of the Elastic Stack, designed to ingest structured and unstructured data for storage, transformation, and visualization. Logstash supports various input, filter, and output plugins, making it highly flexible for different use cases, including log management, security monitoring, and analytics.

• Extensible data pipeline supporting multiple input sources, including logs, metrics, and cloud services.
• Powerful filtering and transformation capabilities with Grok, mutate, and enrichment plugins.
• Seamless integration with Elasticsearch, Kibana, and Beats for real-time analysis and visualization.
• Supports various output destinations, such as databases, messaging queues, and cloud storage.
• Scalable and distributed architecture for handling large volumes of log data.

To set up and start Logstash on your VM, use the following command:

# sudo systemctl start logstash
# sudo systemctl enable logstash
  

Verify that Logstash is running using:

# sudo systemctl status logstash
  

Logstash configuration files are typically located at /etc/logstash/conf.d/. Ensure you configure appropriate input, filter, and output settings before running Logstash.