# Parsing Varying Logs with Logstash

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/parsing-varying-logs-with-logstash/152549>\
**Category:** Logstash\
**Created:** [October 15, 2018, 7:18pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/parsing-varying-logs-with-logstash/152549 "2018-10-15T19:18:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ryne\_Keel](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/ryne_keel/32/42827_2.png) [@Ryne\_Keel](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Ryne_Keel)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 7:18pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/parsing-varying-logs-with-logstash/152549/1 "2018-10-15T19:18:45Z")

</div>

Looking for some guidance on where to look for an example of how to do this properly. We have maillogs and postfix logs going into the same log file and I need to learn how to properly differentiate the logs.

So far these are the search patterns in grok that work, however, some of them are the same up to a certain point, and then there is examples where after that point, there either is, or isn't more entries:

```
  else if ([fields][log_type] == "maillog") {
    mutate {
      remove_field => ["[host]" ]
    }
    mutate {
      add_field => {
        "host" => "%{[beat][hostname]}"
      }
    }
    grok {
      match =>
      [
      "message", "%{SYSLOGTIMESTAMP:log_server_timestamp} %{WORD:server} %{NOTSPACE:protocol}: %{WORD:action}, %{NOTSPACE}\[%{IP:ip6}:%{IP:ip}]",
      "message", "%{SYSLOGTIMESTAMP:log_server_timestamp} %{WORD:server} %{NOTSPACE:protocol}: %{WORD:action}, %{NOTSPACE}=%{NOTSPACE:user}, %{NOTSPACE}\[%{IP:ip6}:%{IP:ip}]",
      "message", "%{SYSLOGTIMESTAMP:log_server_timestamp} %{WORD:server} %{NOTSPACE:protocol}: %{WORD:action}, %{NOTSPACE}=%{NOTSPACE:user}, %{NOTSPACE}\[%{IP:ip6}:%{IP:ip}], %{NOTSPACE}\[%{INT:port}\]",
      "message", "%{SYSLOGTIMESTAMP:log_server_timestamp} %{WORD:server} %{NOTSPACE:protocol}: %{WORD:action}, %{NOTSPACE}=%{NOTSPACE:user}, %{NOTSPACE}\[%{IP:ip6}:%{IP:ip}], %{NOTSPACE}\[%{INT:port}\], %{NOTSPACE}=%{INT:top}, %{NOTSPACE}=%{INT:retr}, %{NOTSPACE}=%{INT:rcvd}, %{NOTSPACE}=%{INT:sent}, %{NOTSPACE}=%{INT:time}",
      "message", "%{SYSLOGTIMESTAMP:log_server_timestamp} %{WORD:server} %{NOTSPACE:protocol}: %{WORD:action}, %{NOTSPACE}=%{NOTSPACE:user}, %{NOTSPACE}\[%{IP:ip6}:%{IP:ip}], %{NOTSPACE}=%{INT:headers}, %{NOTSPACE}=%{INT:body}, %{NOTSPACE}=%{INT:rcvd}, %{NOTSPACE}=%{INT:sent}, %{NOTSPACE}=%{INT:time}, %{NOTSPACE}=%{INT:starttls}"
      ]
    }
  }

```

So the obvious example is where sometimes the logs end at port number, but sometimes they include extra information after port number.

I am trying to find the most efficient way so that when there is more information after port number, it will continue parsing rather than stopping at port number.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 7:18pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/parsing-varying-logs-with-logstash/152549/2 "2018-11-12T19:18:46Z")

</div>

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