Graylog on Aruba Cloud
Deploy Graylog — centralized log management with search and alerting — on Aruba Cloud using Terraform and cloud-init. Deployed via Docker Compose with MongoDB and OpenSearch co-located on a single node.
Provider version: arubacloud/arubacloud
~> 0.5| Terraform: ≥ 1.9
Introduction
Graylog provides a powerful log aggregation platform with structured search, dashboards, alerting, and stream processing. It requires MongoDB (metadata) and OpenSearch (log index). This example provisions:
- Graylog via the official Docker image
- MongoDB 6 for configuration storage
- OpenSearch 2 for log indexing and search
- Web UI on port 9000, Syslog input on 1514, GELF input on 12201
Architecture Overview
Infrastructure Created
| Resource | Name pattern | Description |
|---|---|---|
arubacloud_project | gl-prod | Project container |
arubacloud_vpc | gl-prod-vpc | Virtual Private Cloud |
arubacloud_subnet | gl-prod-subnet | Basic subnet |
arubacloud_securitygroup | gl-prod-vm-sg | Security group |
arubacloud_securityrule | gl-prod-vm-ssh | SSH ingress |
arubacloud_securityrule | gl-prod-vm-webui | Graylog web UI TCP 9000 |
arubacloud_securityrule | gl-prod-vm-syslog | Syslog TCP/UDP 1514 |
arubacloud_securityrule | gl-prod-vm-gelf | GELF UDP 12201 |
arubacloud_elasticip | gl-prod-vm-eip | VM public IP |
arubacloud_blockstorage | gl-prod-boot | 100 GB boot disk (Performance) |
arubacloud_keypair | gl-prod-keypair | SSH public key |
arubacloud_cloudserver | gl-prod-vm | CloudServer VM |
Estimated Monthly Cost
| Resource | Spec | Est. cost/mo |
|---|---|---|
| CloudServer VM | CSO4A8 — 4 vCPU / 8 GB | ~€35 |
| Boot disk | 100 GB Performance | ~€15 |
| Elastic IP | — | ~€3 |
| Total | ~€53/mo |
For production log volumes, upgrade to CSO8A16 (8 vCPU / 16 GB, ~€95/mo).
Requirements
- Terraform ≥ 1.9
- ArubaCloud Terraform Provider
~> 0.5 - An ArubaCloud account with OAuth2 API credentials
- An SSH key pair
Variables
Required
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
arubacloud_client_id | ArubaCloud OAuth2 client ID |
arubacloud_client_secret | ArubaCloud OAuth2 client secret |
ssh_public_key | SSH public key content |
graylog_admin_password | Graylog admin password (min 8 chars) |
graylog_secret | Graylog password secret (min 16 chars — generate with pwgen -N 1 -s 96) |
Optional
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
app_name | "gl" | Short name used in all resource names |
environment | "prod" | Environment label |
location | "ITBG-Bergamo" | ArubaCloud region |
zone | "ITBG-1" | Availability zone |
billing_period | "Hour" | "Hour" or "Month" |
vm_flavor | "CSO4A8" | CloudServer flavor |
vm_image | "LU22-001" | Boot disk image (Ubuntu 22.04 LTS) |
vm_disk_size_gb | 100 | Boot disk size in GB (min 50 GB) |
ssh_cidr | "0.0.0.0/0" | CIDR for SSH |
admin_cidr | "0.0.0.0/0" | CIDR for web UI port 9000 |
syslog_cidr | "0.0.0.0/0" | CIDR for syslog/GELF inputs |
graylog_version | "6" | Graylog Docker image tag |
Outputs
| Output | Description |
|---|---|
graylog_url | Graylog web UI URL |
vm_public_ip | Public IP address of the VM |
ssh_command | SSH command to connect to the VM |
syslog_endpoint | Syslog TCP/UDP endpoint |
gelf_endpoint | GELF UDP endpoint |
Deployment Instructions
1. Clone and navigate
git clone https://github.com/arubacloud/terraform-arubacloud-examples.git
cd terraform-arubacloud-examples/graylog
2. Configure variables
cp terraform.tfvars.example terraform.tfvars
Generate a strong secret:
pwgen -N 1 -s 96
3. Deploy
terraform init
terraform plan
terraform apply
Bootstrap takes approximately 5–10 minutes (OpenSearch initialisation is the slowest step).
4. Access the UI
Navigate to http://<IP>:9000 and log in as admin with your graylog_admin_password.
5. Configure an input
In the web UI: System → Inputs → Launch new input. Select Syslog UDP and bind to port 1514.
Sending Logs
# rsyslog: add to /etc/rsyslog.d/90-graylog.conf
*.* @<graylog-ip>:1514;RSYSLOG_SyslogProtocol23Format
# filebeat: in filebeat.yml
output.logstash:
hosts: ["<graylog-ip>:5044"]