Get Started with BindPlane Logs for Stackdriver

Update: Google Stackdriver is now Google Cloud Logging and Google Cloud Monitoring. BindPlane will continue to integrate and support both of these products.

Recently we released a great new Logs feature for BindPlane. BindPlane Logs allow you to consolidate all your log files into Google Stackdriver, Google Cloud Platform’s monitoring tool.  This new integration connects health and performance signals from a wide variety of sources. Today we will take you through how to get started with BindPlane Logs for Google Stackdriver. Once a log source is ingested into Stackdriver you can view and search through the raw log data and create metrics from those log files.  Those logs-based metrics can then be used in Stackdriver monitoring charts and alerting policies, with the ability to view logs and metrics side-by-side.  Stackdriver and BindPlane together bring an in-depth hybrid and multi-cloud view into one dashboard.

Users of the Alpha version gained incredible insight into previously invisible systems by bringing logs from on-prem Kubernetes into Stackdriver to leverage the same alerts, policies and SRE methods that they use with GKE.  

How can you take advantage of using BindPlane for Stackdriver logs ingestion?  

If you are a current BindPlane and Stackdriver user, you don’t need to do anything!  After logging into BindPlane, you will find a “Logs” tab at the top of the left-hand navigation.  Click “Logs” then simply follow the steps below to start streaming your first log source to Stackdriver logging. These steps can also be found in our documentation.  Repeat these steps for each remaining log sources in your environment to gain visibility into your most important systems.

If you are using Stackdriver but haven’t setup your BindPlane account yet, the process is simple and straightforward. Make sure you have your GCP billing account and project already set up. 

Here’s how to get started with BindPlane 

Visit the BindPlane page in the Google Cloud Marketplace

Stackdriver customers can use BindPlane at no additional cost, but you must activate the service. 

To activate your BindPlane:

1. Find BindPlane in the Google Cloud Marketplace
2. From the BindPlane marketplace listing, click “Start with the free plan” button

Select your BindPlane plan

1. On step 1, Subscribe, you will need to confirm that the “free” plan is selected from the drop-down menu
2. Assign your preferred GCP billing account and click “Subscribe”
3. On step 2, Activate, click “Register with Blue Medora”

Create your BindPlane account

From the BindPlane sign up page:

1. Link the GCP project you created to BindPlane by using the project name in the “Company Name” field.
2. Create your account using an email and password
3. Accept the end-user licensing agreement
4. Click “Sign up”

Sign in to BindPlane

Once you’ve done that, close the registration window and return to the BindPlane marketplace listing. Click the “Manage API keys on Blue Medora website” link to sign in and begin the configuration process.

Install the Smart Agent

Now that have your account all set up and ready to go, you can get started with BindPlane Logs for Stackdriver. All it takes to start tracking your Sources with logs in Google Stackdriver is a few simple steps found in our in-depth blog and Video that will take you through how to setup your Agent, Destination, Source and Templates. Visit the BindPlane documentation page for more information.

Viewing Logs in Stackdriver

There should now be logs flowing into Stackdriver.  To view those logs you go to the Stackdriver Logging > Logs (Logs Viewer) page in the GCP Console.  

An overview of viewing Logs in Stackdriver can be found here.

Now that you have these new on-premises and alternate cloud logs in Stackdriver you can setup Logs-based Metrics and alerts from those metrics on critical conditions found in the log files.

Ready to get started with BindPlane Logs for Google Stackdriver?

If you already have a BindPlane account created, start importing logs today by logging in to your account.  

If you don’t have a BindPlane account yet, get started today by signing up through the Google Cloud Platform Marketplace.