# Bitnami package for Fluentd

## What is Fluentd?

> Fluentd collects events from various data sources and writes them to files, RDBMS, NoSQL, IaaS, SaaS, Hadoop and so on.

[Overview of Fluentd](https://www.fluentd.org)
Trademarks: This software listing is packaged by Bitnami. The respective trademarks mentioned in the offering are owned by the respective companies, and use of them does not imply any affiliation or endorsement.

## TL;DR

```console
docker run --name fluentd bitnami/fluentd:latest
```

You can find the available configuration options in the [Environment Variables](#environment-variables) section.

## ⚠️ Important Notice: Upcoming changes to the Bitnami Catalog

Beginning August 28th, 2025, Bitnami will evolve its public catalog to offer a curated set of hardened, security-focused images under the new [Bitnami Secure Images initiative](https://news.broadcom.com/app-dev/broadcom-introduces-bitnami-secure-images-for-production-ready-containerized-applications). As part of this transition:

- Granting community users access for the first time to security-optimized versions of popular container images.
- Bitnami will begin deprecating support for non-hardened, Debian-based software images in its free tier and will gradually remove non-latest tags from the public catalog. As a result, community users will have access to a reduced number of hardened images. These images are published only under the “latest” tag and are intended for development purposes
- Starting August 28th, over two weeks, all existing container images, including older or versioned tags (e.g., 2.50.0, 10.6), will be migrated from the public catalog (docker.io/bitnami) to the “Bitnami Legacy” repository (docker.io/bitnamilegacy), where they will no longer receive updates.
- For production workloads and long-term support, users are encouraged to adopt Bitnami Secure Images, which include hardened containers, smaller attack surfaces, CVE transparency (via VEX/KEV), SBOMs, and enterprise support.

These changes aim to improve the security posture of all Bitnami users by promoting best practices for software supply chain integrity and up-to-date deployments. For more details, visit the [Bitnami Secure Images announcement](https://github.com/bitnami/containers/issues/83267).

## Why use Bitnami Secure Images?

- Bitnami Secure Images and Helm charts are built to make open source more secure and enterprise ready.
- Triage security vulnerabilities faster, with transparency into CVE risks using industry standard Vulnerability Exploitability Exchange (VEX), KEV, and EPSS scores.
- Our hardened images use a minimal OS (Photon Linux), which reduces the attack surface while maintaining extensibility through the use of an industry standard package format.
- Stay more secure and compliant with continuously built images updated within hours of upstream patches.
- Bitnami containers, virtual machines and cloud images use the same components and configuration approach - making it easy to switch between formats based on your project needs.
- Hardened images come with attestation signatures (Notation), SBOMs, virus scan reports and other metadata produced in an SLSA-3 compliant software factory.

Only a subset of BSI applications are available for free. Looking to access the entire catalog of applications as well as enterprise support? Try the [commercial edition of Bitnami Secure Images today](https://www.arrow.com/globalecs/uk/products/bitnami-secure-images/).

## Why use a non-root container?

Non-root container images add an extra layer of security and are generally recommended for production environments. However, because they run as a non-root user, privileged tasks are typically off-limits. Learn more about non-root containers [in our docs](https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-tanzu/application-catalog/tanzu-application-catalog/services/tac-doc/apps-tutorials-work-with-non-root-containers-index.html).

## Supported tags and respective `Dockerfile` links

Learn more about the Bitnami tagging policy and the difference between rolling tags and immutable tags [in our documentation page](https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-tanzu/application-catalog/tanzu-application-catalog/services/tac-doc/apps-tutorials-understand-rolling-tags-containers-index.html).

You can see the equivalence between the different tags by taking a look at the `tags-info.yaml` file present in the branch folder, i.e `bitnami/ASSET/BRANCH/DISTRO/tags-info.yaml`.

Subscribe to project updates by watching the [bitnami/containers GitHub repo](https://github.com/bitnami/containers).

## Get this image

The recommended way to get the Bitnami Fluentd Docker Image is to pull the prebuilt image from the [Docker Hub Registry](https://hub.docker.com/r/bitnami/fluentd).

```console
docker pull bitnami/fluentd:latest
```

To use a specific version, you can pull a versioned tag. You can view the [list of available versions](https://hub.docker.com/r/bitnami/fluentd/tags/) in the Docker Hub Registry.

```console
docker pull bitnami/fluentd:[TAG]
```

If you wish, you can also build the image yourself by cloning the repository, changing to the directory containing the Dockerfile and executing the `docker build` command. Remember to replace the `APP`, `VERSION` and `OPERATING-SYSTEM` path placeholders in the example command below with the correct values.

```console
git clone https://github.com/bitnami/containers.git
cd bitnami/APP/VERSION/OPERATING-SYSTEM
docker build -t bitnami/APP:latest .
```

## Connecting to other containers

Using [Docker container networking](https://docs.docker.com/engine/userguide/networking/), a different server running inside a container can easily be accessed by your application containers and vice-versa.

Containers attached to the same network can communicate with each other using the container name as the hostname.

### Using the Command Line

#### Step 1: Create a network

```console
docker network create fluentd-network --driver bridge
```

#### Step 2: Launch the Fluentd container within your network

Use the `--network <NETWORK>` argument to the `docker run` command to attach the container to the `fluentd-network` network.

```console
docker run --name fluentd-node1 --network fluentd-network bitnami/fluentd:latest
```

#### Step 3: Run another containers

We can launch another containers using the same flag (`--network NETWORK`) in the `docker run` command. If you also set a name to your container, you will be able to use it as hostname in your network.

## Configuration

To create an endpoint that collects logs on your host just run:

```console
docker run -d -p 24224:24224 -p 24224:24224/udp -v /data:/opt/bitnami/fluentd/log fluentd
```

Default configurations are:

- configuration file at `/opt/bitnami/fluentd/conf/fluentd.conf`
- listen port `24224` for Fluentd forward protocol
- store logs with tag `docker.**` into `/opt/bitnami/fluentd/log/docker.*.log`
- store all other logs into `/opt/bitnami/fluentd/log/data.*.log`

You can overwrite the default configuration file by mounting your own configuration file on the directory `/opt/bitnami/fluentd/conf`:

```console
docker run --name fluentd -v /path/to/fluentd.conf:/opt/bitnami/fluentd/conf/fluentd.conf bitnami/fluentd:latest
```

You can also extend the default configuration by importing your custom configuration with the "@include" directive. It is a simple as creating a directory with you custom config files and mount it on the directory `/opt/bitnami/fluentd/conf/conf.d`:

```console
docker run --name fluentd -v /path/to/custom-conf-directory:/opt/bitnami/fluentd/conf/conf.d bitnami/fluentd:latest
```

Find more information about this feature, consult [official documentation](https://docs.fluentd.org/configuration/config-file)

You can also add custom init scripts to the path referenced on `$FLUENTD_INITSCRIPTS_DIR` (which defaults to `/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d`):

```console
docker run --name fluentd -v /path/to/custom-scripts-directory:/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d bitnami/fluentd:latest
```

### Environment variables

Environment variable below are configurable to control how to execute fluentd process:

- `FLUENTD_CONF`: This variable allows you to specify configuration file name that will be used in -c Fluentd command line option. If you want to use your own configuration file (without any optional plugins), you can do it with this environment variable and Docker volumes (`-v` option of `docker run`).
- `FLUENTD_OPT`: Use this variable to specify other Fluentd command line options, like -v or -q.
- `FLUENTD_DAEMON_USER`: The user that will run the `fluentd` process when the container is run as root.
- `FLUENTD_DAEMON_GROUP`: The group of the user that will run the `fluentd` process when the container is run as root.

## Logging

The Bitnami fluentd Docker image sends the container logs to the `stdout`. To view the logs:

```console
docker logs fluentd
```

You can configure the containers [logging driver](https://docs.docker.com/engine/admin/logging/overview/) using the `--log-driver` option if you wish to consume the container logs differently. In the default configuration docker uses the `json-file` driver.

## Customize this image

The Bitnami Fluentd Open Source Docker image is designed to be extended so it can be used as the base image for your custom Fluentd containers.

### Extend this image

Before extending this image, please note there are certain configuration settings you can modify using the original image:

- Settings that can be adapted using environment variables. For instance, you can modify the Fluentd command-line options setting the environment variable `FLUENTD_OPT`.
- [Replacing the default configuration file by mounting your own configuration file](#configuration).

If your desired customizations cannot be covered using the methods mentioned above, extend the image. To do so, create your own image using a Dockerfile with the format below:

```Dockerfile
FROM bitnami/fluentd
### Put your customizations below
...
```

Here is an example of extending the image installing custom Fluentd plugins:

```Dockerfile
FROM bitnami/fluentd

### Install custom Fluentd plugins
RUN fluent-gem install 'fluent-plugin-docker_metadata_filter'
```

## Maintenance

### Upgrade this image

Bitnami provides up-to-date versions of fluentd, including security patches, soon after they are made upstream. We recommend that you follow these steps to upgrade your container.

#### Step 1: Get the updated image

```console
docker pull bitnami/fluentd:latest
```

#### Step 2: Stop and backup the currently running container

Stop the currently running container using the command

```console
docker stop fluentd
```

Next, take a snapshot of the persistent volume `/path/to/fluentd-persistence` using:

```console
rsync -a /path/to/fluentd-persistence /path/to/fluentd-persistence.bkp.$(date +%Y%m%d-%H.%M.%S)
```

You can use this snapshot to restore the database state should the upgrade fail.

#### Step 3: Remove the currently running container

```console
docker rm -v fluentd
```

#### Step 4: Run the new image

Re-create your container from the new image, restoring your backup if necessary.

```console
docker run --name fluentd bitnami/fluentd:latest
```

## Notable Changes

### Starting January 16, 2024

- The `docker-compose.yaml` file has been removed, as it was solely intended for internal testing purposes. For production-ready deployments, we highly recommend utilizing its associated [Bitnami Helm chart](https://github.com/bitnami/charts/tree/main/bitnami/fluentd).

## Contributing

We'd love for you to contribute to this container. You can request new features by creating an [issue](https://github.com/bitnami/containers/issues) or submitting a [pull request](https://github.com/bitnami/containers/pulls) with your contribution.

## Issues

If you encountered a problem running this container, you can file an [issue](https://github.com/bitnami/containers/issues/new/choose). For us to provide better support, be sure to fill the issue template.

## License

Copyright &copy; 2025 Broadcom. The term "Broadcom" refers to Broadcom Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

<http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0>

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.
