Updated March 8, 2023

Introduction to Logstash

The following article provides an outline for Logstash Version. It is an open-source tool which is basically used for maintaining the logs on various levels whether it be server or client depending upon the requirement. Logstash has a capability to work independently without any other third-party support that sends the data dynamically thus making logs to get normalize and reach the destination effectively. Collection makes lot of input configuration for packet transfer thus making all the events and data annotate every other data including events to behave properly whenever a successful communication occurs between the client and server seamlessly.

Various Logstash Version

There are lots of incremental changes present in Logstash, every version and its release have bug fixes and changes associated with it so there are many versions as follows:

1. Logstash 6.3.0 Version

All the versions before 6.3.0 supports for 6.2.x versions or earlier versions including 5.x versions which are considered as PQ versions prior to Logstash 6.3.0 therefore making persistent queue enabled therefore recommending deleting all the persistent queue and its associated activities before upgradation.

2. Logstash 6.0 Version

There are some core and major changes in Logstash 6.0 version which are as follows:

Changes in Logstash Core: These changes can affect any of the instance for Logstash which further impacts lot of features. All changes related to Logstash is mainly related to plugins associated with it.
Application settings segment with config.reload.interval parameter has been changed to use all the time related values and convert this to millisecond values for themselves in their desired units of time.
There are certain changes in terms of rpm and deb packages which in turn makes the overall config files match the required configuration with conf.d pattern matching the glob pattern for transformation.
Command line interface behavior also got changed providing options to -e and -f for mutual exclusion and configurations appending the stdin input and stdin output respectively.
There were many plugins which were deprecated from the default bundle based on the usage of data and still those plugins can be used before these versions.
These plugins can be installed manually if in case need arise.
Logstash-output-statsd
Logstash-input-irc
Logstash-input-log4j
Logstash-filter-uuid
Logstash-input-couchdb_changes
Logstash-codec-oldlogstashjson

3. Logstash 7.0.0-alpha1

Changes in Logstash Core: In this version the execution of java has been made as default.
There are major changes in core java specifications and all the associated activities.
Referencing to field is also made strict by default.
Bugfix: There is also a bugfix which is related to data type conversions including byte, short as in RabbitMQ input plugin.
Logstash-filter-aggregate is one of the plugins which has an ability to add new feature consisting of custom timeout or inactivity timeout in the block of entire code.
There are many logstash metrics specific to aggregate plugin having aggregate_maps, error_codes, pushed_events to track for.
Another Plugin Added is logstash-filter-jdbc_static: This plugin is used for adding additional information that emphasize on the documentation and signifies ordering in the table ordered.
Logstash-filter-xml: Plugin to add xpath to the failed empty set of arrays, it also fixes the forced_array behavior with nested elements.

4. Logstash 7.0.0-alpha2 Version

It also has some more improvised Plugins which are supported in this release version which are as follows:

Logstash_filter_elasticsearch.
Logstash Filter http: This is the new and recommended feature being added in this version based on REST filter.
Also, it supports one more plugin like logstash-flash-memcached for making cache of stuffs.
Logstash input beats is another plugin which consists of loosen jar-dependencies to allow plugins to work with JRubies including later version.

5. Logstash 7.0.0-beta1 Version

Removal of Removed obsolete lru_cachesize field from the logstash-filter-geoip.
Removal of logstash-filter_jdbc streaming which help in swap out of postgresql for testing and streaming.
Minor documentation fixes and enhancements as well.
Logstash input-beats changed vault of add_hostname with some security aspects to be maintained.
The plugin consists of some kafka dependency that is also being removed.

6. Logstash 7.0.0-rc1 Version

Removal of some of the unwanted plugin dependency package where it fixed lot of dependencies for plugins like:

Issues to be fixed for unqualified domains where it will fail for resolving the running instances with Logstash 5.x versions.
It included logstash-filter-kv which acts as a timeout parameter in this version.

7. Logstash 7.0.0-rc2 Version

It has a change related to plugins where the logstash-input-snmp plugin is updated and has a support for SNMP tables which can be queried religiously.
Enhancements related to get more cleared form of logs where three error messages in the client gets saved via target address related.

8. Logstash 7.0.0 Version

Logstash 7.0.0 version includes features from most of the already supported versions from 7.0.0-alpha1, alpha2, beta1, rc1 and rc2 versions.
Supports for most of the other plugins as well where it includes logstash-codec-cef, logstash-codec-netflow and many more.

9. Logstash 7.0.1 Version

It didn’t include much of the changes but majorly focused on bug fixing aspects of all the related 7.0.0 related versions.

10. Logstash 7.1.0 Version – Logstash 7.1.1 Version

In 7.1.0 version majorly updates for the changes to licensing of security features is emphasized on such as encrypted communications, files, and native authentication.
In this 7.1.1 version release majorly focused on bug fixing no user facing changes in the release.

11. Logstash 7.2.0 Version – Logstash 7.2.1 Version

Fixed that Java supports for Java 11 and Joni regexp is enabled.
Jinja2 docker dependency needs to be resolved.

12. Logstash 7.3.0 Version – Logstash 7.3.2 Version

There are major bug fixing related to ability to give multiple pipelines for all the settings.

13. Logstash 7.4.0 Version – Logstash 7.4.2 Version

Not much user-facing changes upto 7.4.2 version.

14. Logstash 7.5.0 Version – Logstash 7.5.2 Version

In 7.5.2 version the major emphasis is kept on improving the logstash start-time by moving class caching from compute steps to compiled pipeline.
Updated all jackson related dependencies.

15. Logstash 7.6.0 Version – Logstash 7.6.2 Version

Some fixes were made related to quoted plugin option key having many regression keys to stop pipeline from starting.

16. Logstash 7.7.0 – Logstash 7.13.4 Version

Have almost same fixes and changes related to plugins and manipulation in pipelines and its related components like GeoIP.

17. Logstash 7.14.0

This is the stable and latest version of Logstash which is currently into release segment.

Conclusion – Logstash Version

The Logstash Elastic Agent input plugin is available and is used with Elastic agents normal availability and elastic workplace search that has really aided in enhancing all the logs. Logging mechanism gets improvised and simplifies the job of maintaining logs in an efficient manner seamlessly. Logstash latest version has come a long way starting from its alpha release with lots of bug fixing and improvements.

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