To configure a Flume agent, edit the following three configuration files:

flume.conf

Configure each Flume agent by defining properties in a configuration file at /etc/flume/conf/flume.conf. The init scripts installed by the flume-agent package read the contents of this file when starting a Flume agent on any host. At a minimum, the Flume configuration file must specify the required sources, channels, and sinks for your Flume topology.

For example, the following sample Flume configuration file defines a Netcat source, a Memory channel and a Logger sink. This configuration lets a user generate events and subsequently logs them to the console.

# example.conf: A single-node Flume configuration

# Name the components on this agent
a1.sources = r1
a1.sinks = k1
a1.channels = c1

# Describe/configure the source
a1.sources.r1.type = netcat
a1.sources.r1.bind = localhost
a1.sources.r1.port = 44444

# Describe the sink
a1.sinks.k1.type = logger

# Use a channel that buffers events in memory
a1.channels.c1.type = memory
a1.channels.c1.capacity = 1000
a1.channels.c1.transactionCapacity = 100

# Bind the source and sink to the channel
a1.sources.r1.channels = c1
a1.sinks.k1.channel = c1

This configuration defines a single agent named a1. a1 has a source that listens for data on port 44444, a channel that buffers event data in memory, and a sink that logs event data to the console. The configuration file names the various components, and describes their types and configuration parameters. A given configuration file might define several named agents.

See the Apache Flume Component Guide for a complete list of all available Flume components.

To see what configuration properties you can adjust, a template for this file is installed in the configuration directory at /etc/flume/conf/flume.conf.properties.template.

A second template file exists for setting environment variables automatically at startup:

/etc/flume/conf/flume- env.sh.template.

	Note
	If you use an HDFS sink, be sure to specify a target folder in HDFS.

flume-env.sh

Set environment options for a Flume agent in /etc/flume/conf/flume-env.sh:

log4j.properties

Set the log directory for log4j in /etc/flume/conf/log4j.properties:

flume.log.dir=/var/log/flume