If our logging solutions don't meet your needs, you can use our Log API to send log data directly to New Relic's Log management via an HTTP endpoint.
Caution
Do not call our API from a customer-facing application. If you must, be sure to do it async.
Compatibility and requirements
Requirements include:
- New Relic license key (recommended) or an Insert API key.
- For payload details, see limits and restricted characters.
Tip
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HTTP setup
To send log data to your New Relic account:
- Get your New Relic license key (recommended) or register an Insert API key.
- Generate the JSON message using the required headers and body fields.
- Submit the JSON message to the HTTP endpoint in a POST request.
- Generate some traffic and wait a few minutes, then check your account for data.
HTTP headers
When creating your HTTP headers, use these guidelines:
Header | Supported values |
---|---|
Required |
|
Exactly one of:
or
Required | Use either your New Relic Insert API key (with Api-Key) or license key (with |
Gzipped JSON formatting is accepted. If sending compressed JSON, please include the Content-Type: application/json
and Content-Encoding: gzip
headers.
JSON body
You can send your JSON message using either a simplified or detailed set of attributes:
Limits and restricted characters
Restrictions on logs sent to the Log API:
- Payload total size: 1MB(10^6 bytes) maximum per POST. We highly recommend using compression.
- The payload must be encoded as UTF-8.
- Number of attributes per event: 255 maximum
- Length of attribute name: 255 characters
- Length of attribute value: 4096 maximum character length
Some specific attributes have additional restrictions:
accountId
: This is a reserved attribute name. If it is included, it will be dropped during ingest.appId
: Value must be an integer. If it is not an integer, the attribute name and value will be dropped during ingest.eventType
: Can be a combination of alphanumeric characters,_
underscores, and:
colons.timestamp
: Must be a Unix epoch timestamp. You can define timestamps either in seconds or in milliseconds.
Rate limits on logs sent to the Log API:
- Maximum rate for HTTP requests sent to the Log API: 300,000 requests per minute
- Maximum rate of uncompressed Log JSON bytes sent to the Log API: 10 GB per minute
Rate limit violations
Exceeding rate limits affects how the Log API behaves. Follow these instructions if this happens.
Log payload format
We accept any valid JSON payload. The payload must encoded as UTF-8.
Important
Log management does not support white space in attribute names. For example, {"Sample Attribute": "Value"}
would cause errors.
JSON message attributes
JSON message attribute parsing
This will attempt to parse any message
attribute as JSON. If the message
attribute is JSON, it will be parsed and the resultant JSON attributes will be added to the event. If the message
attribute is not JSON, it is left as is.
For example, the event:
{ "timestamp": 1562767499238, "message": "{\"service-name\": \"login-service\", \"user\": {\"id\": 123, \"name\": \"alice\"}}"}
Will be treated as:
{ "timestamp": 1562767499238, "message": "{\"service-name\": \"my-service\", \"user\": {\"id\": 123, \"name\": \"alice\"}}", "service-name": "login-service", "user": { "id": 123, "name": "alice" }}
Important
Log management does not support white space in attribute names. For example, {"Sample Attribute": "Value"}
would cause errors.
Log JSON example
Attributes may be scalar JSON types like string and number, but may also be compound (or nested) objects. Compound attributes will have their leaf attributes stored with flattened names.
For instance, a compound user
attribute in a log entry's attributes:
"attributes": { "action": "login", "user": { "id": 123, "name": "alice" }}
will result in the following attributes being stored with the log event:
Attribute | Value |
---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Log POST example
Log POST
message example:
POST /log/v1 HTTP/1.1
Host: log-api.newrelic.com
Content-Type: application/json
X-License-Key: <YOUR_LICENSE_KEY>
Accept: */*
Content-Length: 319
[{
"common": {
"attributes": {
"logtype": "accesslogs",
"service": "login-service",
"hostname": "login.example.com"
}
},
"logs": [{
"timestamp": <TIMESTAMP_IN_UNIX_EPOCH>,
"message": "User 'xyz' logged in"
},{
"timestamp": <TIMESTAMP_IN_UNIX_EPOCH>,
"message": "User 'xyz' logged out",
"attributes": {
"auditId": 123
}
}]
}]
The above POST
message would result in the following log messages being stored in Log management:
Example of stored common block attributes:
Attribute | Value |
---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Example of stored logs block attributes example:
Attribute | Value |
---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
HTTP endpoint
Once configured, your JSON data can be sent to the following endpoint in a POST request:
United States (US) endpoint:
https://log-api.newrelic.com/log/v1
European Union (EU) endpoint:
https://log-api.eu.newrelic.com/log/v1
Here's an example of a JSON POST request:
POST /log/v1 HTTP/1.1
Host: log-api.newrelic.com
Content-Type: application/json
X-License-Key: <YOUR_LICENSE_KEY>
Accept: */*
Content-Length: 133
{
"timestamp": <TIMESTAMP_IN_UNIX_EPOCH>,
"message": "User 'xyz' logged in",
"logtype": "accesslogs",
"service": "login-service",
"hostname": "login.example.com"
}
Find log data
For where to find data sent via the Log API (including from integrations that use that API), see Find log data.
What's next?
Now that you've enabled Log management, here are some potential next steps:
- Explore your data using the Logs UI.
- Configure your agent to see contextual log data, such as distributed tracing, stack traces, application logs, and more.
- Query your data and create custom dashboards, charts, or alerts.
If no data appears after you enable Log management, follow the troubleshooting procedures.
For more help
If you need more help, check out these support and learning resources:
- Browse the Explorers Hub to get help from the community and join in discussions.
- Find answers on our sites and learn how to use our support portal.
- Run New Relic Diagnostics, our troubleshooting tool for Linux, Windows, and macOS.
- Review New Relic's data security and licenses documentation.