syslog-generator

Generates syslog messages from a user defined file and sends them to a remote host.

Functionality

This script generates random hostnames, syslog levels, and tags to be used in a message. The variables and data structures can be modified to fit your needs by changing them towards the top of the script. The script also randomly pulls messages from a user defined file to provide variety to log data.

Usage

This script is written for Python 3+ and is meant to be run from the command line.

Required Arguments

• --host: IP or hostname to send syslog messages.
• --port: UDP port to send syslog messages.
• --file: Filename to read syslog messasges from. This file should contain ONLY the text of the message. Syslog format is handled by the script.
• --count: Number of messages to send at one time.

Optional Arguments

• --sleep: Number of seconds to sleep until the next batch of messages is sent. Using this argument continues the script indefinitely or until the CTRL-C combination is invoked.
• --tcp: true or false. If the value is set to true, the messages will be sent using tcp instead of udp. The default is to send udp.

Example

Send 10 messages at once:

syslog_gen.py --host 192.168.1.100 --port 514 --file sample_logs --count 10 

Send 10 messages at once using tcp:

syslog_gen.py --host 192.168.1.100 --port 514 --file sample_logs --count 10 --tcp true

Send 10 messages every 30 seconds:

syslog_gen.py --host 192.168.1.100 --port 514 --file sample_logs --count 10 --sleep 30 

Send 10 messages every 30 seconds using tcp:

syslog_gen.py --host 192.168.1.100 --port 514 --file sample_logs --count 10 --sleep 30 --tcp true