Better Stack Datadog Agent metrics & logs forwarding

Start monitoring in 2 minutes

1. Install Datadog Agent

Set up Datadog Agent using the official install script to send metrics:

DD_URL="https://$INGESTING_HOST_DATADOG" \
DD_API_KEY="$SOURCE_TOKEN" \
DD_HOSTNAME="$(hostname)" \
DD_INSTRUMENTATION_TELEMETRY_ENABLED="false" \
bash -c "$(curl -L https://s3.amazonaws.com/dd-agent/scripts/install_script_agent7.sh)"

2. (Optional) Enable log forwarding

To enable log forwarding to Better Stack, update the following values in /etc/datadog-agent/datadog.yaml config:

api_key: "$SOURCE_TOKEN"

logs_enabled: true
logs_config:
  logs_dd_url: "$INGESTING_HOST_DATADOG:443"
  force_use_http: true

Custom log collection

By default, installed Datadog Agent doesn't collect any logs. You can start collecting logs from a log file by creating a custom configuration, for example to collect Apache logs:

logs:
  - type: file
    path: /var/log/apache2/access.log
    source: apache
    service: apache
  - type: file
    path: /var/log/apache2/error.log
    source: apache
    service: apache

You can find example configurations for commonly used services in /etc/datadog-agent/conf.d/.

Read more about Log collection configuration in the official docs.

3. Restart Datadog Agent

Restart the Datadog Agent to apply the new configuration:

sudo service datadog-agent restart

sudo systemctl restart datadog-agent

4. Verify metrics and logs forwarding

• Metrics: Check your metrics in the Datadog Agent dashboard.
• Logs: If you enabled logs, check your logs in Better Stack → Live tail.

Adjust existing Datadog Agent

Adjust Datadog Agent to send metrics and logs.

Update configuration

Update the following values in your existing /etc/datadog-agent/datadog.yaml config:

# Metrics configuration
dd_url: "https://$INGESTING_HOST_DATADOG"
api_key: "$SOURCE_TOKEN"

# Logs configuration
logs_enabled: true
logs_config:
  logs_dd_url: "$INGESTING_HOST_DATADOG:443"
  force_use_http: true

# Disable unsupported optional telemetry settings
apm_config:
  enabled: false
process_config:
  process_collection:
    enabled: false
  container_collection:
    enabled: false
network_path:
  connections_monitoring:
    enabled: false

Restart Datadog Agent

Restart the Datadog Agent to apply the new configuration:

sudo service datadog-agent restart

sudo systemctl restart datadog-agent

Need help?

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