---
layout: docs
page_title: Consul Enterprise Audit Logging
description: >-
  Consul Enterprise provides the ability to write events of user behavior with Consul’s API so operations and security users can perform legal compliance auditing.
---

# Audit Logging

<EnterpriseAlert>
  This feature requires{' '}
  <a href="https://www.hashicorp.com/products/consul/">Consul Enterprise</a>{' '}
  with the Governance and Policy module.
</EnterpriseAlert>

Consul Enterprise v1.8.0 adds audit logging as a feature that captures a clear and
actionable log of authenticated events (both attempted and committed) that Consul
processes via its HTTP API and compiles them into a JSON format for easy export.
These events contain a timestamp, the operation performed, and the user who initiated the action.

Audit logging enables security and compliance teams within an organization to get
greater insight into Consul access and usage patterns.

For more experience leveraging Consul's audit logging functionality, explore our
HashiCorp Learn tutorial [Capture Consul Events with Audit Logging](https://learn.hashicorp.com/tutorials/consul/audit-logging).

For detailed configuration information on configuring the Consul Enterprise's audit
logging, review the Consul [Audit Log](https://www.consul.io/docs/agent/config/agent-config-files#audit)
documentation.

## Example Configuration

Audit logging must be enabled on every agent in order to accurately capture all
operations performed through the HTTP API. To enable logging, add
the [`audit`](/docs/agent/config/agent-config-files#audit) stanza to the agent's configuration.

-> **Note**: Consul only logs operations which are initiated via the HTTP API.
The audit log does not record operations that take place over the internal RPC
communication channel used for agent communication.

<Tabs>
<Tab heading="Log to file">

The following example configures a destination called "My Sink". Since rotation is enabled,
audit events will be stored at files named: `/tmp/audit-<TIMESTAMP>.json`. The log file will 
be rotated either every 24 hours, or when the log file size is greater than 25165824 bytes 
(24 megabytes).

<CodeTabs>

```hcl
audit {
  enabled = true
  sink "My sink" {
    type   = "file"
    format = "json"
    path   = "/tmp/audit.json"
    delivery_guarantee = "best-effort"
    rotate_duration = "24h"
    rotate_max_files = 15
    rotate_bytes = 25165824
  }
}
```

```json
{
  "audit": {
    "enabled": true,
    "sink": {
      "My sink": {
        "type": "file",
        "format": "json",
        "path": "/tmp/audit.json",
        "delivery_guarantee": "best-effort",
        "rotate_duration": "24h",
        "rotate_max_files": 15,
        "rotate_bytes": 25165824
      }
    }
  }
}
```
</CodeTabs>

</Tab>

<Tab heading="Log to standard out">


The following example configures a destination called "My Sink" which emits audit
logs to standard out.

<CodeTabs>

```hcl
audit {
  enabled = true
  sink "My sink" {
    type   = "file"
    format = "json"
    path   = "/dev/stdout"
    delivery_guarantee = "best-effort"
  }
}
```

```json
{
  "audit": {
    "enabled": true,
    "sink": {
      "My sink": {
        "type": "file",
        "format": "json",
        "path": "/dev/stdout",
        "delivery_guarantee": "best-effort"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

</CodeTabs>

</Tab>
</Tabs>

## Example Audit Log

In this example a client has issued an HTTP GET request to look up the `ssh`
service in the `/v1/catalog/service/` endpoint.

Details from the HTTP request are recorded in the audit log. The `stage` field
is set to `OperationStart` which indicates the agent has begun processing the
request.

The value of the `payload.auth.accessor_id` field is the accessor ID of the
[ACL token](/docs/security/acl/acl-system#acl-tokens) which issued the request.

<CodeBlockConfig highlight="10">

```json
{
  "created_at": "2020-12-08T12:30:29.196365-05:00",
  "event_type": "audit",
  "payload": {
    "id": "e4a20aec-d250-72c4-2aea-454fe8ae8051",
    "version": "1",
    "type": "HTTPEvent",
    "timestamp": "2020-12-08T12:30:29.196206-05:00",
    "auth": {
      "accessor_id": "08f05787-3609-8001-65b4-922e5d52e84c",
      "description": "Bootstrap Token (Global Management)",
      "create_time": "2020-12-01T11:01:51.652566-05:00"
    },
    "request": {
      "operation": "GET",
      "endpoint": "/v1/catalog/service/ssh",
      "remote_addr": "127.0.0.1:64015",
      "user_agent": "curl/7.54.0",
      "host": "127.0.0.1:8500"
    },
    "stage": "OperationStart"
  }
}
```

</CodeBlockConfig>

After the request is processed, a corresponding log entry is written for the HTTP
response. The `stage` field is set to `OperationComplete` which indicates the agent
has completed processing the request.

<CodeBlockConfig highlight="24">

```json
{
  "created_at": "2020-12-08T12:30:29.202935-05:00",
  "event_type": "audit",
  "payload": {
    "id": "1f85053f-badb-4567-d239-abc0ecee1570",
    "version": "1",
    "type": "HTTPEvent",
    "timestamp": "2020-12-08T12:30:29.202863-05:00",
    "auth": {
      "accessor_id": "08f05787-3609-8001-65b4-922e5d52e84c",
      "description": "Bootstrap Token (Global Management)",
      "create_time": "2020-12-01T11:01:51.652566-05:00"
    },
    "request": {
      "operation": "GET",
      "endpoint": "/v1/catalog/service/ssh",
      "remote_addr": "127.0.0.1:64015",
      "user_agent": "curl/7.54.0",
      "host": "127.0.0.1:8500"
    },
    "response": {
      "status": "200"
    },
    "stage": "OperationComplete"
  }
}
```

</CodeBlockConfig>