Overview

Dash0 handles multiple Nginx log formats commonly used in production environments, including standard configurations, combined formats, and Kubernetes ingress controller patterns. We automatically extract structured data from these logs without requiring custom regex development or log pipeline modifications.

This offers practical advantages:

Format compatibility: Works with various Nginx deployments without configuration changes
Standardized attributes: Maps log fields to OpenTelemetry semantic conventions, enabling consistent querying across services
Reduced MTTR: Simplifies troubleshooting by correlating Nginx logs with other telemetry data
Operational insights: Provides immediate visibility into HTTP status codes, response times, and upstream server performance

Supported Log Formats

Dash0 automatically detects and parses the following Nginx log formats:

Minimal Format

The basic Nginx access log format with essential information.

nginx

1
log_format minimal '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] "$request" $status $body_bytes_sent';

Standard Combined Format

The most common Nginx log format used in standard deployments. Extends the minimal format with HTTP referer and user agent information.

nginx

1
log_format combined '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] "$request" $status $body_bytes_sent "$http_referer" "$http_user_agent"';

Nginx Ingress Controller Format

Commonly used in Nginx Ingress Controller deployments. Extends the standard combined format with X-Forwarded-For header information.

nginx

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log_format main '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] "$request" $status $body_bytes_sent "$http_referer" "$http_user_agent" "$http_x_forwarded_for"';

Kubernetes Nginx Ingress with Upstream Info

Comprehensive format used in Kubernetes Nginx Ingress controllers. Includes detailed upstream service information, request timing, and request IDs.

nginx

12345
log_format upstreaminfo
    '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] "$request"'
    '$status $body_bytes_sent "$http_referer" "$http_user_agent" '
    '$request_length $request_time [$proxy_upstream_name] [$proxy_alternative_upstream_name] $upstream_addr '
    '$upstream_response_length $upstream_response_time $upstream_status $req_id';

Extracted Semantic Attributes

In addition to extracting structured attributes, Dash0 also validates the following Nginx variables and converts them to semantic attributes:

IP Address Attributes

Nginx Variable	Description	OpenTelemetry Mapping
`remote_addr`	Client IP address	`client.address`
`upstream_addr`	Address of the upstream server	—
`http_x_forwarded_for`	X-Forwarded-For header with client IP addresses	—

HTTP Request Attributes

Nginx Variable	Description	OpenTelemetry Mapping
`request_method`	HTTP method (GET, POST, etc.)	`http.request.method`
`request_uri`	Request URI path	`url.path`
`server_protocol`	HTTP protocol version	`network.protocol.name` and `network.protocol.version`
`http_referer`	HTTP referer header	—
`http_user_agent`	User agent string	`user_agent.original`

Response Attributes

Nginx Variable	Description	OpenTelemetry Mapping
`status`	HTTP response status code	`http.response.status_code`
`body_bytes_sent`	Size of the response in bytes	—
`upstream_status`	HTTP status code returned by the upstream server	—

Performance Metrics

Nginx Variable	Description
`request_length`	Request length including request line, headers, and body
`request_time`	Request processing time in seconds
`upstream_response_length`	Length of the response obtained from the upstream server
`upstream_response_time`	Time spent on receiving the response from the upstream server

Kubernetes-specific Attributes

Nginx Variable	Description
`proxy_upstream_name`	Name of the upstream service in Kubernetes
`proxy_alternative_upstream_name`	Alternative upstream name in Kubernetes

Request Identification

Nginx Variable	Description
`req_id`	Unique request identifier
`remote_user`	Username for authenticated requests

Log Severity Inference

In order to automatically infer the log severity levels, Dash0 uses the following HTTP status codes:

INFO level: 1xx status codes (Informational), 2xx status codes (Success), 3xx status codes (Redirection)
WARN level: 4xx status codes (Client Errors)
ERROR level: 5xx status codes (Server Errors)

How Dash0 Processes NGINX Logs