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Fluentd#

DescriptionInstall

Fluentd is a highly flexible, open-source data collector designed to unify logging across distributed systems. It allows you to collect, parse, transform, and forward logs and events from multiple sources to a wide range of storage and analytics backends.

Fluentd supports hundreds of input and output plugins, enabling integration with popular platforms such as Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, Loki, Kafka, S3, and many others. It is widely used in Kubernetes environments to aggregate container logs and forward them to centralized logging systems.

Key Features#

Unified log collection from containers, nodes, and applications
Rich plugin ecosystem (1000+ plugins)
Structured log processing and transformation
Reliable buffering and retry mechanisms
Kubernetes-native deployment support
Multi-output routing and filtering

Why deploy Fluentd with k0rdent?#

Using the k0rdent Service Template (kgst), Fluentd can be deployed consistently across multiple Kubernetes clusters as a MultiClusterService. This enables:

Centralized logging strategy across clusters
Standardized configuration management
Scalable log aggregation in multi-cluster environments
Simplified lifecycle management (install, upgrade, remove)

Fluentd is an essential building block for implementing observability and log aggregation in production-grade Kubernetes platforms.

Prerequisites#

Deploy k0rdent v1.7.0: QuickStart

Install template to k0rdent#

helm upgrade --install fluentd oci://ghcr.io/k0rdent/catalog/charts/kgst --set "chart=fluentd:0.5.3" -n kcm-system

Verify service template#

kubectl get servicetemplates -A
# NAMESPACE    NAME                            VALID
# kcm-system   fluentd-0-5-3                   true

Deploy service template#

apiVersion: k0rdent.mirantis.com/v1beta1
kind: MultiClusterService
metadata:
  name: fluentd
spec:
  clusterSelector:
    matchLabels:
      group: demo
  serviceSpec:
    services:
    - template: fluentd-0-5-3
      name: fluentd
      namespace: fluentd

Official docs