A single remote syslog destination can turn a collector outage into missing security events, delayed troubleshooting data, or a blocked forwarding path. rsyslog can send to a primary collector first and use a secondary collector only after the primary forwarding action is suspended.

Failover forwarding depends on ordered actions. The first omfwd action tries the primary TCP receiver, and the next action uses action.execOnlyWhenPreviousIsSuspended so it runs only when the previous action has failed. Use TCP or RELP for this pattern because UDP forwarding cannot reliably prove that a remote collector has disappeared.

Keep the forwarding actions synchronous. Per-action queues make failover actions run asynchronously, which removes the failure feedback that the secondary action needs. If the forwarding pipeline needs buffering, put the actions inside a queued ruleset and leave the individual primary and secondary actions on their default Direct queue behavior.

Related: How to forward syslog messages with rsyslog
Related: How to receive remote syslog messages with rsyslog
Related: How to configure an rsyslog forwarding queue

Steps to configure rsyslog forwarding failover:

  1. Confirm the primary and secondary collectors already listen for TCP syslog traffic on the expected port. 
    $ sudo ss -ltn 'sport = :514'
State  Local Address:Port
LISTEN 0.0.0.0:514

    Run this check on each collector. The client-side failover rule can only prove a secondary path if both receivers are configured before the outage test starts.

    Related: How to receive remote syslog messages with rsyslog

  2. Create a dedicated forwarding failover file on the client that sends logs. 
    $ sudo vi /etc/rsyslog.d/70-forwarding-failover.conf
  3. Add a queued ruleset with synchronous primary and secondary forwarding actions. 
    global(workDirectory="/var/spool/rsyslog")

template(
    name="ForwardPlainText"
    type="string"
    string="%timestamp% %hostname% %syslogtag%%msg%\n"
)

ruleset(
    name="remoteFailover"
    queue.type="LinkedList"
    queue.filename="remote-failover"
    queue.saveOnShutdown="on"
) {
    action(
        type="omfwd"
        name="primary_collector"
        target="syslog-primary.example.net"
        port="514"
        protocol="tcp"
        template="ForwardPlainText"
        action.resumeRetryCount="0"
        action.reportSuspension="on"
    )

    action(
        type="omfwd"
        name="secondary_collector"
        target="syslog-secondary.example.net"
        port="514"
        protocol="tcp"
        template="ForwardPlainText"
        action.execOnlyWhenPreviousIsSuspended="on"
        action.resumeRetryCount="-1"
        action.reportSuspension="on"
    )
}

*.* call remoteFailover

    The ruleset queue buffers the forwarding pipeline as a whole. Do not add queue.type, queue.filename, or other queue.* settings to the individual primary_collector or secondary_collector actions, because action queues prevent this failover test from seeing the previous action fail.

    Use the existing global(workDirectory=…) path if the system already sets one in /etc/rsyslog.conf. The path must exist and be writable by rsyslog before a named queue can store files.

  4. Validate the rsyslog configuration before restarting the service. 
    $ sudo rsyslogd -N1
rsyslogd: version 8.2512.0
##### snipped #####
rsyslogd: End of config validation run. Bye.

    Related: How to test rsyslog configuration syntax

  5. Restart rsyslog on the client to load the new forwarding rules. 
    $ sudo systemctl restart rsyslog

    Restart after a clean syntax test. Some distro units do not expose a separate reload action for rsyslog.

    Related: How to manage the syslog service

  6. Send a tagged message while the primary collector is available. 
    $ logger -t failover-test primary-path-ok
  7. Confirm the primary collector stored the tagged message. 
    $ sudo cat /var/log/remote/client01.log
Jun  5 01:13:42 client01 failover-test: primary-path-ok

    The receiver path depends on how the collector stores remote hosts. Use the file, index, or SIEM search that normally receives messages from the test client.

  8. Block the primary path in a maintenance window or lab so the client cannot connect to the primary collector. Run this on the primary collector, not on the forwarding client. 
    $ sudo systemctl stop rsyslog

    Run this on a disposable primary receiver or during an approved test window only. Stopping the collector interrupts syslog intake from every client that depends on that receiver.

  9. Send a probe message to let rsyslog detect the suspended primary action, then send a second tagged message for the secondary proof. 
    $ logger -t failover-test secondary-path-probe
$ logger -t failover-test secondary-path-ok

    rsyslog may not detect an action failure before the same message reaches the next action. A probe followed by a second unique message avoids treating that detection boundary as a failed failover configuration.

  10. Confirm the secondary collector stored the failover message. 
    $ sudo cat /var/log/remote/client01.log
Jun  5 01:13:47 client01 failover-test: secondary-path-ok
  11. Restore rsyslog on the primary collector. 
    $ sudo systemctl start rsyslog
  12. Send one more tagged message from the client after the action resume interval has elapsed. 
    $ logger -t failover-test primary-restored

    The default action resume interval is 30 seconds unless it is changed in the action configuration. Wait at least one interval before expecting the primary action to take over again.

  13. Confirm new messages return to the primary collector. 
    $ sudo cat /var/log/remote/client01.log
Jun  5 01:13:42 client01 failover-test: primary-path-ok
Jun  5 01:14:25 client01 failover-test: primary-restored

    The primary log should receive the initial available-path message and the restored-path message. The secondary log should contain only the message sent while the primary collector was unavailable.