Edge Delta HTTP Source

The Edge Delta HTTP Source node receives log data over HTTP for centralized collection in microservice and event-driven architectures.

14 minute read

Overview

The HTTP source node directly receives log data from applications that transmit logs over HTTP, which is a common method for centralized log collection, especially in microservice architectures and event-driven architectures.

Note: Customers with HTTP source, TCP source or UDP source nodes should not use or update to Agent version v0.1.97.

AI Team: Configure this source using the HTTPS connector for streamlined setup in AI Team.

outgoing_data_types: log

Example Configuration

nodes:
- name: my_http_input
  type: http_input
  port: 3421
  parse_mode: auto
  read_timeout: 10s
  included_paths:
    - /v1/.*
  authentication:
    strategy: Bearer
    secret: "testXYZ"

Required Parameters

name

A descriptive name for the node. This is the name that will appear in pipeline builder and you can reference this node in the YAML using the name. It must be unique across all nodes. It is a YAML list element so it begins with a - and a space followed by the string. It is a required parameter for all nodes.

nodes:
  - name: <node name>
    type: <node type>

type: http_input

The type parameter specifies the type of node being configured. It is specified as a string from a closed list of node types. It is a required parameter.

nodes:
  - name: <node name>
    type: <node type>

port

Enter the port number that the http_input type node should listen on. It is specified as an integer and is a required parameter.

nodes:
  - name: <node name>
    type: http_input
    port: <port number>

Optional Parameters

included_paths

The included_paths parameter is used to filter incoming traffic to only accept requests from specified paths. This helps reduce input noise and enables routing to specific HTTP input nodes. It is specified as one or more regex patterns and is an optional parameter. When not specified, the HTTP input will accept requests from all paths.

nodes:
- name: http_input
  type: http_input
  port: 3421
  read_timeout: 10s
  included_paths:
    - /v1/.*

Cloud Fleet Configuration

When using HTTP input nodes in Cloud Fleets, the included_paths parameter is critical for configuring multiple HTTP inputs:

Important Cloud Fleet Constraints:

Cloud Fleets support port 80 for HTTP traffic and port 443 for HTTPS/TLS traffic
Custom ports (e.g., 3421, 8080) cannot be used
When configuring multiple HTTP inputs on the same port, you must use path filtering with included_paths to separate traffic
Without included_paths filters, all HTTP input nodes will receive all incoming data, causing duplication
If you only have one HTTP input node, included_paths is optional and the node will accept all paths

Multiple HTTP Inputs Example:

In this example, three HTTP input nodes all use the same port (80 for HTTP, but could be 443 for HTTPS/TLS) and each accepts different paths. The first node only accepts paths starting with /service-a/, the second only accepts /service-b/ paths, and the third handles /metrics/ paths.

nodes:
- name: service_a_input
  type: http_input
  port: 80
  included_paths:
    - /service-a/.*

- name: service_b_input
  type: http_input
  port: 80
  included_paths:
    - /service-b/.*

- name: metrics_input
  type: http_input
  port: 80
  included_paths:
    - /metrics/.*

Path Filtering Notes:

Patterns are regular expressions (e.g., /v1/.* matches /v1/logs, /v1/metrics)
Each HTTP input node should have unique, non-overlapping path patterns
Requests not matching any included_paths pattern will be rejected

For troubleshooting Cloud Fleet HTTP input issues, see the Cloud Pipelines Troubleshooting Guide.

parse_mode

The parse_mode parameter controls how incoming HTTP request bodies are processed and split into individual log entries. This is particularly important when receiving JSON payloads that contain embedded newlines, which could previously cause a single JSON object to be incorrectly split into multiple log entries.

Available options:

auto (default) - Automatically detects the format based on the Content-Type header and payload structure
json - Explicitly parse as JSON objects, preserving embedded newlines within JSON strings
lines - Process as line-delimited logs (original behavior, splits on newlines)

When to use each mode:

auto mode (recommended):

Default behavior that handles most use cases automatically
Detects JSON based on Content-Type header (application/json)
Falls back to line processing for non-JSON content
Best choice when receiving mixed content types

json mode:

Use when you know all incoming data will be JSON
Prevents JSON objects with embedded newlines from being split incorrectly
Handles single JSON objects, JSON arrays, and NDJSON (newline-delimited JSON)
Falls back to line processing if JSON parsing fails

lines mode:

Use when receiving plain text logs with one log entry per line
Each newline character creates a separate log entry
Original HTTP input behavior before parse_mode was introduced

nodes:
- name: http_input_json
  type: http_input
  port: 8080
  parse_mode: json  # Parse as JSON, preserving embedded newlines

Example - Problem Solved by JSON Mode:

Before parse_mode: json, a JSON payload with embedded newlines would be incorrectly split:

// Input JSON with embedded newlines:
{"id": "123", "message": "Line 1\nLine 2\nLine 3", "level": "INFO"}

// Without parse_mode: json - INCORRECT (3 broken log entries):
{"id": "123", "message": "Line 1
Line 2
Line 3", "level": "INFO"}

// With parse_mode: json - CORRECT (1 complete log entry):
{"id": "123", "message": "Line 1\nLine 2\nLine 3", "level": "INFO"}

Content-Type Header Detection:

When using auto mode, the HTTP input detects JSON based on the Content-Type header:

# This request will be processed as JSON (auto-detected):
curl -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"id": "123", "msg": "Log with\nnewlines"}' \
  http://localhost:8080/logs

# This request will be processed as lines:
curl -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: text/plain" \
  -d 'Line 1
Line 2
Line 3' \
  http://localhost:8080/logs

Backward Compatibility:

The default auto mode maintains backward compatibility with existing configurations. No changes are required for deployments that don’t send JSON with embedded newlines.

authentication

The authentication parameter defines the type of authentication. It is specified as a string. Basic and Bearer are supported. For Bearer authentication you specify a secret token. For Basic, you specify the username and password. Authentication is an optional parameter.

Bearer:

nodes:
- name: http_input
  type: http_input
  port: 3421
  read_timeout: 10s
  included_paths:
    - /v1/.*
  authentication:
    strategy: Bearer
    secret: "<your_bearer_token>"

Basic:

- name: my_http_input
  type: http_input
  port: 8080
  included_paths:
    - /v1/.*
  authentication:
    strategy: Basic
    username: <username>
    password: <password>

listen

The listen parameter is used to specify the address to listen to for incoming traffic. It is specified as a string and it is optional.

nodes:
  - name: <node name>
    type: http_input
    port: <port number>
    listen: <host>

rate_limit

The rate_limit parameter enables you to control data ingestion based on system resource usage. This advanced setting helps prevent source nodes from overwhelming the agent by automatically throttling or stopping data collection when CPU or memory thresholds are exceeded.

Use rate limiting to prevent runaway log collection from overwhelming the agent in high-volume sources, protect agent stability in resource-constrained environments with limited CPU/memory, automatically throttle during bursty traffic patterns, and ensure fair resource allocation across source nodes in multi-tenant deployments.

When rate limiting triggers, pull-based sources (File, S3, HTTP Pull) stop fetching new data, push-based sources (HTTP, TCP, UDP, OTLP) reject incoming data, and stream-based sources (Kafka, Pub/Sub) pause consumption. Rate limiting operates at the source node level, where each source with rate limiting enabled independently monitors and enforces its own thresholds.

Configuration Steps:

Click Add New in the Rate Limit section
Click Add New for Evaluation Policy
Select Policy Type:

CPU Usage: Monitors CPU consumption and rate limits when usage exceeds defined thresholds. Use for CPU-intensive sources like file parsing or complex transformations.
Memory Usage: Monitors memory consumption and rate limits when usage exceeds defined thresholds. Use for memory-intensive sources like large message buffers or caching.
AND (composite): Combines multiple sub-policies with AND logic. All sub-policies must be true simultaneously to trigger rate limiting. Use when you want conservative rate limiting (both CPU and memory must be high).
OR (composite): Combines multiple sub-policies with OR logic. Any sub-policy can trigger rate limiting. Use when you want aggressive rate limiting (either CPU or memory being high triggers).

Select Evaluation Mode. Choose how the policy behaves when thresholds are exceeded:

Enforce (default): Actively applies rate limiting when thresholds are met. Pull-based sources (File, S3, HTTP Pull) stop fetching new data, push-based sources (HTTP, TCP, UDP, OTLP) reject incoming data, and stream-based sources (Kafka, Pub/Sub) pause consumption. Use in production to protect agent resources.
Monitor: Logs when rate limiting would occur without actually limiting data flow. Use for testing thresholds before enforcing them in production.
Passthrough: Disables rate limiting entirely while keeping the configuration in place. Use to temporarily disable rate limiting without removing configuration.

Set Absolute Limits and Relative Limits (for CPU Usage and Memory Usage policies)

Note: If you specify both absolute and relative limits, the system evaluates both conditions and rate limiting triggers when either condition is met (OR logic). For example, if you set absolute limit to 1.0 CPU cores and relative limit to 50%, rate limiting triggers when the source uses either 1 full core OR 50% of available CPU, whichever happens first.

For CPU Absolute Limits: Enter value in full core units:
- 0.1 = one-tenth of a CPU core
- 0.5 = half a CPU core
- 1.0 = one full CPU core
- 2.0 = two full CPU cores
For CPU Relative Limits: Enter percentage of total available CPU (0-100):
- 50 = 50% of available CPU
- 75 = 75% of available CPU
- 85 = 85% of available CPU
For Memory Absolute Limits: Enter value in bytes
- 104857600 = 100Mi (100 × 1024 × 1024)
- 536870912 = 512Mi (512 × 1024 × 1024)
- 1073741824 = 1Gi (1 × 1024 × 1024 × 1024)
For Memory Relative Limits: Enter percentage of total available memory (0-100)
- 60 = 60% of available memory
- 75 = 75% of available memory
- 80 = 80% of available memory

Set Refresh Interval (for CPU Usage and Memory Usage policies). Specify how frequently the system checks resource usage:

Recommended Values:
- 10s to 30s for most use cases
- 5s to 10s for high-volume sources requiring quick response
- 1m or higher for stable, low-volume sources

The system fetches current CPU/memory usage at the specified refresh interval and uses that value for evaluation until the next refresh. Shorter intervals provide more responsive rate limiting but incur slightly higher overhead, while longer intervals are more efficient but slower to react to sudden resource spikes.

The GUI generates YAML as follows:

# Simple CPU-based rate limiting
nodes:
  - name: <node name>
    type: <node type>
    rate_limit:
      evaluation_policy:
        policy_type: cpu_usage
        evaluation_mode: enforce
        absolute_limit: 0.5  # Limit to half a CPU core
        refresh_interval: 10s

# Simple memory-based rate limiting
nodes:
  - name: <node name>
    type: <node type>
    rate_limit:
      evaluation_policy:
        policy_type: memory_usage
        evaluation_mode: enforce
        absolute_limit: 536870912  # 512Mi in bytes
        refresh_interval: 30s

Composite Policies (AND / OR)

When using AND or OR policy types, you define sub-policies instead of limits. Sub-policies must be siblings (at the same level)—do not nest sub-policies within other sub-policies. Each sub-policy is independently evaluated, and the parent policy’s evaluation mode applies to the composite result.

AND Logic: All sub-policies must evaluate to true at the same time to trigger rate limiting. Use when you want conservative rate limiting (limit only when CPU AND memory are both high).
OR Logic: Any sub-policy evaluating to true triggers rate limiting. Use when you want aggressive protection (limit when either CPU OR memory is high).

Configuration Steps:

Select AND (composite) or OR (composite) as the Policy Type
Choose the Evaluation Mode (typically Enforce)
Click Add New under Sub-Policies to add the first condition
Configure the first sub-policy by selecting policy type (CPU Usage or Memory Usage), selecting evaluation mode, setting absolute and/or relative limits, and setting refresh interval
In the parent policy (not within the child), click Add New again to add a sibling sub-policy
Configure additional sub-policies following the same pattern

The GUI generates YAML as follows:

# AND composite policy - both CPU AND memory must exceed limits
nodes:
  - name: <node name>
    type: <node type>
    rate_limit:
      evaluation_policy:
        policy_type: and
        evaluation_mode: enforce
        sub_policies:
          # First sub-policy (sibling)
          - policy_type: cpu_usage
            evaluation_mode: enforce
            absolute_limit: 0.75  # Limit to 75% of one core
            refresh_interval: 15s
          # Second sub-policy (sibling)
          - policy_type: memory_usage
            evaluation_mode: enforce
            absolute_limit: 1073741824  # 1Gi in bytes
            refresh_interval: 15s

# OR composite policy - either CPU OR memory can trigger
nodes:
  - name: <node name>
    type: <node type>
    rate_limit:
      evaluation_policy:
        policy_type: or
        evaluation_mode: enforce
        sub_policies:
          - policy_type: cpu_usage
            evaluation_mode: enforce
            relative_limit: 85  # 85% of available CPU
            refresh_interval: 20s
          - policy_type: memory_usage
            evaluation_mode: enforce
            relative_limit: 80  # 80% of available memory
            refresh_interval: 20s

# Monitor mode for testing thresholds
nodes:
  - name: <node name>
    type: <node type>
    rate_limit:
      evaluation_policy:
        policy_type: memory_usage
        evaluation_mode: monitor  # Only logs, doesn't limit
        relative_limit: 70  # Test at 70% before enforcing
        refresh_interval: 30s

read_timeout

The read_timeout parameter is used to specify how long to wait for incoming data. Default value is 0 which means no time out. It is specified as a duration and it is optional.

nodes:
  - name: <node name>
    type: http_input
    port: <port number>
    read_timeout: 10s

source_metadata

This option is used to define which detected resources and attributes to add to each data item as it is ingested by Edge Delta. You can select:

Required Only: This option includes the minimum required resources and attributes for Edge Delta to operate.
Default: This option includes the required resources and attributes plus those selected by Edge Delta
High: This option includes the required resources and attributes along with a larger selection of common optional fields.
Custom: With this option selected, you can choose which attributes and resources to include. The required fields are selected by default and can’t be unchecked.

Based on your selection in the GUI, the source_metadata YAML is populated as two dictionaries (resource_attributes and attributes) with Boolean values.

See Choose Data Item Metadata for more information on selecting metadata.

tls

The tls parameter is a dictionary type that enables a number of options to be set using sub-parameters.

nodes:
  - name: <node name>
    type: http_input
    port: <port number>
    tls:
      <tls options>:

ca_file The ca_file parameter is a child of the tls parameter. It specifies the CA certificate file. It is specified as a string and is optional.

nodes:
  - name: <node name>
    type: http_input
    port: <port number>
    tls:
      ca_file: /certs/ca.pem

ca_path The ca_path parameter is a child of the tls parameter. It specifies the location of the CA certificate files. It is specified as a string and is optional.

nodes:
  - name: <node name>
    type: http_input
    port: <port number>
    tls:
      ca_path: /var/etc/kafka

client_auth_type The client_auth_type parameter is a child of the tls parameter. It specifies the authentication type to use for the connection. It is specified as a string from a closed list and is optional.

The following authentication methods are available:

noclientcert indicates that no client certificate should be requested during the handshake, and if any certificates are sent they will not be verified.
requestclientcert indicates that a client certificate should be requested during the handshake, but does not require that the client send any certificates.
requireanyclientcert indicates that a client certificate should be requested during the handshake, and that at least one certificate is required from the client, but that certificate is not required to be valid.
verifyclientcertifgiven indicates that a client certificate should be requested during the handshake, but does not require that the client sends a certificate. If the client does send a certificate it is required to be valid.
requireandverifyclientcert indicates that a client certificate should be requested during the handshake, and that at least one valid certificate is required to be sent by the client

nodes:
  - name: <node name>
    type: http_input
    port: <port number>
    tls:
      client_auth_type: <auth type>

crt_file The crt_file parameter is a child of the tls parameter. It specifies the certificate file. It is specified as a string and is optional.

nodes:
  - name: <node name>
    type: http_input
    port: <port number>
    tls:
      crt_file: /certs/server-cert.pem

ignore_certificate_check The ignore_certificate_check parameter is a child of the tls parameter. When set to true, it ignores certificate checks for the remote endpoint. It is specified as a Boolean value and the default is false, indicating that TLS verification will be performed. This is an optional parameter.

nodes:
  - name: <node name>
    type: http_input
    port: <port number>
    tls:
      ignore_certificate_check: true

key_file The key_file parameter is a child of the tls parameter. It specifies the key file. It is specified as a string and is optional.

nodes:
  - name: <node name>
    type: http_input
    port: <port number>
    tls:
      key_file: /certs/server-key.pem

key_password The key_password parameter is a child of the tls parameter. It specifies the key password. When the private key_file location is provided, this file can also be provided to get the password of the private key. It is specified as a string and is optional.

nodes:
  - name: <node name>
    type: http_input
    port: <port number>
    tls:
      key_password: <password>

max_version The max_version parameter is a child of the tls parameter. It specifies the maximum version of TLS to accept. It is specified as a string and is optional.

You can select one of the following options:

TLSv1_0
TLSv1_1
TLSv1_2
TLSv1_3

nodes:
  - name: <node name>
    type: http_input
    port: <port number>
    tls:
      max_version: <TLS version>

min_version The min_version parameter is a child of the tls parameter. It specifies the minimum version of TLS to accept. It is specified as a string and is optional. The default is TLSv1_2.