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GlossaryΒΆ

hekad
Daemon that routes messages from inputs to their outputs applying filters as configured.
Message
A message is the atomic unit of data that Hekad deals with. It is a data structure related to a single event happening in the outside world, such as a log file entry, a counter increment, an application exception, a notification message, etc. It is specified as a Message struct in the heka/message packages message.go file.
Message matcher
A configuration option for filter and output plugins that specifies which messages that plugin accepts for processing. The Heka router will evaluate the message matchers against every message to and will deliver the message when the match is positive.
Pipeline
Messages being processed by Hekad are passed through a specific set of plugins. A set of plugins to be applied to a message is often called (somewhat informally) a Heka pipeline.
PipelinePack
In addition to the core message data, Hekad needs to track some related state and configuration information for each message. To this end there is a PipelinePack struct defined in the heka/pipeline package’s pipeline_runner.go file. PipelinePack objects are what get passed in to the various Hekad plugins as messages flow through the pipelines.
Plugin
Hekad plugins are functional units that perform specific actions on or with messages. There are six types of plugins: inputs, splitters, decoders, filters, encoders, and ouputs.
PluginChanSize
A Heka configuration setting which specifies the size of the input channel buffer for the various Heka plugins. Defaults to 50.
PluginHelper
An interface that provides access to certain Heka internals that may be required by plugins in the course of their activity. Defined in config.go.
PluginRunner
A plugin-specific helper object that manages the lifespan of a given plugin and handles most details of interaction with the greater Heka environment. Comes in five variants, each tailored to a specific plugin type: InputRunner, SplitterRunner, DecoderRunner, FilterRunner, and OutputRunner.
PoolSize
A Heka configuration setting which specifies the number of PipelinePack structs that will be created. This value specifies the maximum number of incoming messages that Heka can be processing at any one time.
Router
Component in the Heka pipeline that accepts messages and delivers them to the appropriate filter and output plugins, as specified by the plugins’ message matcher values.