Version: 3.0

Centralized Logging Setup

Overview

This document explains how to enable the centralized logging infrastructure for Ant Media deployments.

Logs from customer environments are securely collected and forwarded to a centralized, multi-tenant logging platform for monitoring and troubleshooting.

The setup can be completed either by the customer or by the Ant Media team.

Supported Environments

Centralized logging for media servers works across both major deployment types:

Standalone Instances

VMs, bare metal servers, or cloud VMs running Ant Media Server. Setup is done via a single shell script that downloads and configures the logging agent automatically.

Kubernetes Clusters

K8s clusters running Ant Media Server pods. Setup uses Fluent Bit deployed via Helm — the standard Kubernetes-native approach for log collection and forwarding.

1. Instance-Based Installation

For standalone instances, the centralized logging agent is installed via a shell script.

Prerequisites

Root or sudo access
Outbound network access to the Central Logging endpoint
Centralized logging credentials provided by the Ant Media team

info

Your centralized logging credentials (Tenant Email, Username, Password) are provided by the Ant Media team. Contact Ant Media support to request them before starting.

Install the Logging Agent — Standalone Instance

The centralized logging agent for standalone instances is installed via a shell script. The script downloads, configures, and starts the logging agent automatically — no manual configuration required.

Step 1: Download or copy the installation script to the instance:

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ant-media/Scripts/refs/heads/master/central-logging/install_central-logging.sh
chmod +x install_central-logging.sh

Step 2: Execute the script:

sudo ./install_central-logging.sh

Step 3: During execution, you will be prompted to enter the following:

Tenant Email
Username
Password

These credentials will be used to configure secure log forwarding.

Verify the Installation & Confirm Logs Are Flowing

Confirm Fluent Bit Service is Running:

The installation script installs Fluent Bit as a systemd service.

$ systemctl status fluent-bit
● fluent-bit.service - Fluent Bit
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/fluent-bit.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Sun 2026-05-03 13:05:47 UTC; 38min ago
       Docs: https://docs.fluentbit.io/manual/
   Main PID: 4295 (fluent-bit)
      Tasks: 3 (limit: 9126)
     Memory: 4.3M (peak: 4.9M)
        CPU: 314ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/fluent-bit.service
             └─4295 /opt/fluent-bit/bin/fluent-bit -c //etc/fluent-bit/fluent-bit.conf

May 03 13:05:47 ip-172-31-9-186 fluent-bit[4295]: [2026/05/03 13:05:47.257] [ info] [cmetrics] version=2.1.2
May 03 13:05:47 ip-172-31-9-186 fluent-bit[4295]: [2026/05/03 13:05:47.257] [ info] [ctraces ] version=0.7.1
May 03 13:05:47 ip-172-31-9-186 fluent-bit[4295]: [2026/05/03 13:05:47.257] [ info] [input:tail:tail.0] initializing
May 03 13:05:47 ip-172-31-9-186 fluent-bit[4295]: [2026/05/03 13:05:47.257] [ info] [input:tail:tail.0] storage_strategy='memory' (memory only)
May 03 13:05:47 ip-172-31-9-186 fluent-bit[4295]: [2026/05/03 13:05:47.272] [ info] [input:tail:tail.0] multiline core started
May 03 13:05:47 ip-172-31-9-186 fluent-bit[4295]: [2026/05/03 13:05:47.275] [ info] [input:tail:tail.0] db: delete unmonitored stale inodes from the databa>
May 03 13:05:47 ip-172-31-9-186 fluent-bit[4295]: [2026/05/03 13:05:47.275] [ info] [output:****:****.0] configured, hostname=log.antmedia.io:80
May 03 13:05:47 ip-172-31-9-186 fluent-bit[4295]: [2026/05/03 13:05:47.275] [ info] [sp] stream processor started
May 03 13:05:47 ip-172-31-9-186 fluent-bit[4295]: [2026/05/03 13:05:47.275] [ info] [engine] Shutdown Grace Period=5, Shutdown Input Grace Period=2
May 03 13:05:47 ip-172-31-9-186 fluent-bit[4295]: [2026/05/03 13:05:47.277] [ info] [input:tail:tail.0] inotify_fs_add(): inode=296751 watch_fd=1 name=/var>

Watch Live Log Forwarding

$ sudo journalctl -u fluent-bit -f
May 03 13:05:47 ip-172-31-9-186 fluent-bit[4295]: [2026/05/03 13:05:47.257] [ info] [cmetrics] version=2.1.2
May 03 13:05:47 ip-172-31-9-186 fluent-bit[4295]: [2026/05/03 13:05:47.257] [ info] [ctraces ] version=0.7.1
May 03 13:05:47 ip-172-31-9-186 fluent-bit[4295]: [2026/05/03 13:05:47.257] [ info] [input:tail:tail.0] initializing
May 03 13:05:47 ip-172-31-9-186 fluent-bit[4295]: [2026/05/03 13:05:47.257] [ info] [input:tail:tail.0] storage_strategy='memory' (memory only)
May 03 13:05:47 ip-172-31-9-186 fluent-bit[4295]: [2026/05/03 13:05:47.272] [ info] [input:tail:tail.0] multiline core started
May 03 13:05:47 ip-172-31-9-186 fluent-bit[4295]: [2026/05/03 13:05:47.275] [ info] [input:tail:tail.0] db: delete unmonitored stale inodes from the database: count=0
May 03 13:05:47 ip-172-31-9-186 fluent-bit[4295]: [2026/05/03 13:05:47.275] [ info] [output:****:****.0] configured, hostname=log.antmedia.io:80
May 03 13:05:47 ip-172-31-9-186 fluent-bit[4295]: [2026/05/03 13:05:47.275] [ info] [sp] stream processor started
May 03 13:05:47 ip-172-31-9-186 fluent-bit[4295]: [2026/05/03 13:05:47.275] [ info] [engine] Shutdown Grace Period=5, Shutdown Input Grace Period=2
May 03 13:05:47 ip-172-31-9-186 fluent-bit[4295]: [2026/05/03 13:05:47.277] [ info] [input:tail:tail.0] inotify_fs_add(): inode=296751 watch_fd=1 name=/var/log/antmedia/ant-media-server.log

Confirm Fluent Bit Database Files Exist

Fluent Bit creates flb.db* files to track which log positions it has already forwarded. Their presence confirms it has started reading your Ant Media logs:

$ ls /usr/local/antmedia/log/ 
0.0.0.0_access.log  ant-media-server-analytics.log  ant-media-server.log  antmedia-error.log  flb.db  flb.db-shm  flb.db-wal

🔒 Credentials are stored in /etc/fluent-bit/fluent-bit.conf with restricted permissions and are never echoed back to the terminal.

2. Kubernetes Environment

For Kubernetes clusters, Fluent Bit is deployed using Helm.

Prerequisites

Helm v3/v4 installed
Cluster-admin or sufficient RBAC permissions
Centralized logging credentials provided by the Ant Media team

info

Your centralized logging credentials (Tenant Email, Username, Password) are provided by the Ant Media team. Contact Ant Media support to request them before starting.

Install Fluent Bit via Helm — Kubernetes Cluster

For Kubernetes environments, Fluent Bit is deployed as a DaemonSet using Helm — the standard Kubernetes-native approach. Fluent Bit runs on every node in your cluster and collects logs from all Ant Media Server pods automatically.

First, download the pre-configured Fluent Bit values file from Ant Media’s GitHub and add the Fluent Helm chart repository:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ant-media/Scripts/refs/heads/master/central-logging/values_central-logging.yaml
helm repo add fluent https://fluent.github.io/helm-charts
helm repo update

Run the Helm install command, replacing the three placeholder values with your actual credentials that AMS provides.

helm upgrade --install fluent-bit fluent/fluent-bit \
  -f values_central-logging.yaml \
  --set TENANT_EMAIL="[email protected]" \
  --set USERNAME="username" \
  --set PASSWORD="password"

Parameters:

Parameter	Description
`TENANT_EMAIL`	Your organization's email address
`USERNAME`	Centralized logging username
`PASSWORD`	Centralized logging password

info

⎈ The helm upgrade --install command is idempotent — if Fluent Bit is already deployed, it updates the configuration. If it’s new, it installs it. You can safely re-run this command to rotate credentials or update the values file.

Verify the Installation & Confirm Logs Are Flowing

Confirm Fluent Bit Pods are Running

Fluent Bit is deployed as a DaemonSet — one pod per node. All pods should show Running:

$ kubectl get pods -l app.kubernetes.io/name=fluent-bit
NAME                 READY   STATUS     RESTARTS   AGE
fluent-bit-2xkp9    1/1     Running    0          2m14s
fluent-bit-8nqw4    1/1     Running    0          2m14s
fluent-bit-d7mrt    1/1     Running    0          2m14s

Watch Live Log Forwarding from a Pod

Stream Fluent Bit’s output from the DaemonSet — you should see the same two confirmation lines as the instance installation:

$ kubectl logs daemonset/fluent-bit -f
fluent-bit: [info] [output:loki:loki.0] configured, hostname=log.antmedia.io:80
fluent-bit: [info] [input:tail:tail.0] inotify_fs_add(): name=/var/log/antmedia/ant-media-server.log

Confirm the Helm Release is Deployed

$ helm list
NAME          NAMESPACE   REVISION   STATUS     CHART
fluent-bit    default     1          deployed   fluent-bit-0.x.x

info

⚠️ For Kubernetes, outbound port 80 access to log.antmedia.io must be permitted at both the security group level and any Kubernetes NetworkPolicy applied to the fluent-bit namespace. Both layers need to allow the traffic.

Final Check — Confirm with the Ant Media Team (Both Environments)

Regardless of your environment, contact the Ant Media team and ask them to confirm that logs from your tenant are visible on their central logging platform. If all three checks above pass, but logs are still not showing on their end, the most common cause is an outbound rule blocking port 80 traffic to log.antmedia.io.

⚠️ Fluent Bit forwards logs to log.antmedia.io on port 80 — confirmed from the live service output. Ensure outbound HTTP on port 80 to this hostname is permitted in your firewall, security group, or Kubernetes NetworkPolicy.

Privacy and Data Scope

The centralized logging system is designed to help the Ant Media team troubleshoot issues faster and provide proactive support when needed.

Only operational and text-based logs are collected from the environment. These logs may include:

Stream IDs
WebSocket connection events
Application warnings and errors
Service startup and shutdown events
Resource and infrastructure-related logs

Sensitive customer data is not collected through this logging pipeline. For example, media content, stream payloads, user passwords, video/audio data, and other confidential business data are not included in the centralized logging system.

The collected logs are used only for monitoring, troubleshooting, and support purposes by the Ant Media team.

Overview​

Supported Environments​

1. Instance-Based Installation​

Prerequisites​

Install the Logging Agent — Standalone Instance​

Verify the Installation & Confirm Logs Are Flowing​

2. Kubernetes Environment​

Prerequisites​

Install Fluent Bit via Helm — Kubernetes Cluster​

Verify the Installation & Confirm Logs Are Flowing​

Final Check — Confirm with the Ant Media Team (Both Environments)​

Privacy and Data Scope​

Overview

Supported Environments

1. Instance-Based Installation

Prerequisites

Install the Logging Agent — Standalone Instance

Verify the Installation & Confirm Logs Are Flowing

2. Kubernetes Environment

Prerequisites

Install Fluent Bit via Helm — Kubernetes Cluster

Verify the Installation & Confirm Logs Are Flowing

Final Check — Confirm with the Ant Media Team (Both Environments)

Privacy and Data Scope