Send logs and metrics to Better Stack using Vector

Want to collect telemetry data from your Kubernetes or Docker clusters?

The Better Stack collector is the recommended way to automatically gather logs, metrics, and traces without code changes, using eBPF-based auto-instrumentation.

Start logging in 2 minutes

Collect logs and metrics from your server using Vector.

Select your platform:

Install and configure Vector on Ubuntu or Debian:

Set up Vector

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curl -sSL https://telemetry.betterstack.com/setup-vector/ubuntu/$SOURCE_TOKEN \
  -o /tmp/setup-vector.sh && \
  bash /tmp/setup-vector.sh

Curious about what the script does?

Installs Vector using official package.
Configures Vector for your Better Stack source.
Enables and restarts Vector.

The script will ask for confirmation before making any changes.

Install

Install Vector on Windows using official installer:

Install Vector

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powershell Invoke-WebRequest https://packages.timber.io/vector/latest/vector-x64.msi -OutFile vector-latest-x64.msi
msiexec /i vector-latest-x64.msi

Setup

Run in Powershell as administrator to download Vector config:

Download Vector config using Powershell

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$config_yaml_path = "C:\Program Files\Vector\config\vector.yaml"
$backup_path = "C:\Program Files\Vector\config\vector-backup.yaml"
Move-Item -Path "$config_yaml_path" -Destination "$backup_path"
$docker_present = if ((Get-Command docker -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) -and (docker info 2>$null)) { "true" } else { "false" }
Invoke-RestMethod -Uri "https://telemetry.betterstack.com/vector-yaml/ubuntu/$SOURCE_TOKEN?docker=$docker_present" |
  Add-Content $config_yaml_path

Run Vector

Run Vector with new configuration:

Start Vector

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& "C:\Program Files\Vector\bin\vector" --config "C:\Program Files\Vector\config\vector.yaml"

Install

Install Vector using official installer:

Install Vector

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curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.vector.dev | sh -s -- -y

Create a Vector service:

Create a Vector service

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mkdir -p /etc/vector
mkdir -p /var/lib/vector/
cat <<-'SERVICE' >> /etc/systemd/system/vector.service
[Unit]
Description=Vector
Documentation=https://vector.dev
After=network-online.target
Requires=network-online.target

[Service]
User=vector
Group=vector
ExecStart=/root/.vector/bin/vector
ExecReload=/bin/kill -HUP $MAINPID
Restart=no
AmbientCapabilities=CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE
EnvironmentFile=-/etc/default/vector

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
SERVICE

Setup

Download Vector configuration for your source:

Download Vector config

Copied!

CONFIG_YAML_PATH="/etc/vector/vector.yaml"
BACKUP_SUFFIX=".bak-$(date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S)"
mv "${CONFIG_YAML_PATH}" "${CONFIG_YAML_PATH}${BACKUP_SUFFIX}"
DOCKER_PRESENT=$(command -v docker >/dev/null 2>&1 && docker info >/dev/null 2>&1 && echo "true" || echo "false")
curl -o "$CONFIG_YAML_PATH" \
  "https://telemetry.betterstack.com/vector-yaml/ubuntu/$SOURCE_TOKEN?docker=$DOCKER_PRESENT"

Restart Vector

Restart Vector to reload the configuration:

Restart Vector

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systemctl restart vector

You should see your logs in Better Stack → Live tail.

Set up Vector manually

Prefer configuring Vector manually?
Follow step-by-step instructions below.

1. Install

Select your platform:

Configure the Vector APT repository and install Vector:

Install Vector

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bash -c "$(curl -L https://setup.vector.dev)"
apt-get install vector

Install Vector on Windows using official installer:

Install Vector

Copied!

powershell Invoke-WebRequest https://packages.timber.io/vector/latest/vector-x64.msi -OutFile vector-latest-x64.msi
msiexec /i vector-latest-x64.msi

Install Vector using official installer:

Install Vector

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curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.vector.dev | sh -s -- -y

Create a Vector service:

Create a Vector service

Copied!

mkdir -p /etc/vector
mkdir -p /var/lib/vector/
cat <<-'SERVICE' >> /etc/systemd/system/vector.service
[Unit]
Description=Vector
Documentation=https://vector.dev
After=network-online.target
Requires=network-online.target

[Service]
User=vector
Group=vector
ExecStart=/root/.vector/bin/vector
ExecReload=/bin/kill -HUP $MAINPID
Restart=no
AmbientCapabilities=CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE
EnvironmentFile=-/etc/default/vector

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
SERVICE

2. Setup

Download Vector configuration for your source, for example Ubuntu:

Download Vector config

Copied!

CONFIG_YAML_PATH="/etc/vector/vector.yaml"
BACKUP_SUFFIX=".bak-$(date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S)"
mv "${CONFIG_YAML_PATH}" "${CONFIG_YAML_PATH}${BACKUP_SUFFIX}"
DOCKER_PRESENT=$(command -v docker >/dev/null 2>&1 && docker info >/dev/null 2>&1 && echo "true" || echo "false")
curl -o "$CONFIG_YAML_PATH" \
  "https://telemetry.betterstack.test/vector-yaml/ubuntu/$SOURCE_TOKEN?docker=$DOCKER_PRESENT"

Download Vector config

Copied!

CONFIG_YAML_PATH="/opt/homebrew/etc/vector/vector.yaml"
BACKUP_SUFFIX=".bak-$(date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S)"
mv "${CONFIG_YAML_PATH}" "${CONFIG_YAML_PATH}${BACKUP_SUFFIX}"
DOCKER_PRESENT=$(command -v docker >/dev/null 2>&1 && docker info >/dev/null 2>&1 && echo "true" || echo "false")
curl -o "$CONFIG_YAML_PATH" \
  "https://telemetry.betterstack.test/vector-yaml/ubuntu/$SOURCE_TOKEN?docker=$DOCKER_PRESENT"

Download Vector config using Powershell

Copied!

$config_yaml_path = "C:\Program Files\Vector\config\vector.yaml"
$backup_path = "C:\Program Files\Vector\config\vector-backup.yaml"
Move-Item -Path "$config_yaml_path" -Destination "$backup_path"
$docker_present = if ((Get-Command docker -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) -and (docker info 2>$null)) { "true" } else { "false" }
Invoke-RestMethod -Uri "https://telemetry.betterstack.test/vector-yaml/ubuntu/$SOURCE_TOKEN?docker=$docker_present" |
  Add-Content $config_yaml_path

Want another config than for Ubuntu?

Our Ubuntu config collects logs for common databases and services.
Pick a different config from available configs or set it up manually.

3. RestartRun Vector

Restart Vector to reload the configuration:

Restart Vector

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systemctl restart vector

You should see your logs in Better Stack → Live tail.

Need help?

Please let us know at hello@betterstack.com.
We're happy to help! 🙏

Additional information

Vector sink setup

Want to manually configure Better Stack Vector sink?
Open your Vector config in /etc/vector/vector.yaml/opt/homebrew/etc/vector/vector.yamlC:\Program Files\Vector\config\vector.yaml and add Better Stack sink. It will automatically use all your Vector sources as inputs.

vector.yaml vector.toml

Copied!

transforms:
  better_stack_transform:
    type: "remap"
    inputs:
      - "*"
    source: |
      .dt = del(.timestamp)

sinks:
  better_stack:
    type: "http"
    method: "post"
    inputs:
      - "better_stack_transform"
    uri: "https://$INGESTING_HOST/"
    encoding:
      codec: "json"
    compression: "gzip"
    auth:
      strategy: "bearer"
      token: "$SOURCE_TOKEN"

[transforms.better_stack_transform]
type = "remap"
inputs = [ "*" ]
source = '''
.dt = del(.timestamp)
'''

[sinks.better_stack]
type = "http"
method = "post"
inputs = [ "better_stack_transform" ]
uri = "https://$INGESTING_HOST/"
encoding.codec = "json"
compression = "gzip"
auth.strategy = "bearer"
auth.token = "$SOURCE_TOKEN"

Restart Vector to reload the configuration:

Restart Vector

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systemctl restart vector

Available configs

We provide ready-to-use Vector configs for databases, web servers, and other services. Download any config we provide from URLs listed below:

DBs Queues Webservers Proxies System

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https://telemetry.betterstack.com/vector-yaml/elasticsearch/$SOURCE_TOKEN
https://telemetry.betterstack.com/vector-yaml/elasticsearch_with_metrics/$SOURCE_TOKEN
https://telemetry.betterstack.com/vector-yaml/mongodb/$SOURCE_TOKEN
https://telemetry.betterstack.com/vector-yaml/mysql/$SOURCE_TOKEN
https://telemetry.betterstack.com/vector-yaml/mysql_with_metrics/$SOURCE_TOKEN
https://telemetry.betterstack.com/vector-yaml/postgresql/$SOURCE_TOKEN
https://telemetry.betterstack.com/vector-yaml/postgresql_with_metrics/$SOURCE_TOKEN
https://telemetry.betterstack.com/vector-yaml/redis/$SOURCE_TOKEN
https://telemetry.betterstack.com/vector-yaml/redis_with_metrics/$SOURCE_TOKEN

https://telemetry.betterstack.com/vector-yaml/rabbitmq/$SOURCE_TOKEN
https://telemetry.betterstack.com/vector-yaml/rabbitmq_with_metrics/$SOURCE_TOKEN
https://telemetry.betterstack.com/vector-yaml/redis/$SOURCE_TOKEN
https://telemetry.betterstack.com/vector-yaml/redis_with_metrics/$SOURCE_TOKEN

https://telemetry.betterstack.com/vector-yaml/apache/$SOURCE_TOKEN
https://telemetry.betterstack.com/vector-yaml/nginx/$SOURCE_TOKEN

https://telemetry.betterstack.com/vector-yaml/haproxy/$SOURCE_TOKEN
https://telemetry.betterstack.com/vector-yaml/traefik/$SOURCE_TOKEN
https://telemetry.betterstack.com/vector-yaml/traefik_with_metrics/$SOURCE_TOKEN

https://telemetry.betterstack.com/vector-yaml/auth_log/$SOURCE_TOKEN
https://telemetry.betterstack.com/vector-yaml/docker/$SOURCE_TOKEN
https://telemetry.betterstack.com/vector-yaml/kubernetes/$SOURCE_TOKEN
https://telemetry.betterstack.com/vector-yaml/ubuntu/$SOURCE_TOKEN?docker=true
https://telemetry.betterstack.com/vector-yaml/ubuntu/$SOURCE_TOKEN?docker=false
https://telemetry.betterstack.com/vector-yaml/ufw/$SOURCE_TOKEN

Better Stack collector

Better Stack OpenTelemetry logging

Explore documentation

Send logs and metrics to Better Stack using Vector

Want to collect telemetry data from your Kubernetes or Docker clusters?

Start logging in 2 minutes

Install

Setup

Run Vector

Install

Setup

Restart Vector

Set up Vector manually

1. Install

2. Setup

Want another config than for Ubuntu?

3. RestartRun Vector

Need help?

Additional information

Vector sink setup

Available configs

On this page

Explore documentation

Send logs and metrics to Better Stack using Vector

Want to collect telemetry data from your Kubernetes or Docker clusters?

Start logging in 2 minutes

Install

Setup

Run Vector

Install

Setup

Restart Vector

Set up Vector manually

1. Install

2. Setup

Want another config than for Ubuntu?

3. RestartRun Vector

Need help?

Additional information

Vector sink setup

Available configs

On this page

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