sap-btp-cloud-logging

name	sap-btp-cloud-logging
description	This skill provides comprehensive guidance for SAP Cloud Logging service on SAP BTP. Use when setting up Cloud Logging instances, configuring log ingestion from Cloud Foundry or Kyma runtimes, implementing OpenTelemetry observability, analyzing logs/metrics/traces in OpenSearch Dashboards, configuring SAML authentication, managing certificates, or troubleshooting ingestion issues. Covers service plans (dev/standard/large), all 4 instance creation methods (BTP Cockpit, CF CLI, BTP CLI, Service Operator), all 4 ingestion methods (Cloud Foundry, Kyma, OpenTelemetry, JSON API), and security best practices.
license	GPL-3.0
metadata	{"version":"1.1.0","last_verified":"2025-11-27","source_documentation":"https://github.com/SAP-docs/btp-cloud-logging","sap_help_portal":"https://help.sap.com/docs/cloud-logging"}

SAP BTP Cloud Logging Skill

Table of Contents

• Service Overview
• Service Plans
• Quick Start
  • Prerequisites
  • Instance Creation Options
• Configuration Parameters
  • Full Configuration Example
• Data Ingestion Methods
  • 1. Cloud Foundry Runtime
  • 2. Kyma Runtime
  • 3. OpenTelemetry API (OTLP)
  • 4. JSON API
• Certificate Management
  • Certificate Validity
• Bundled Resources
  • Root CA Rotation (3-Step Process)
• OpenSearch Dashboards
  • Access
  • Pre-built Dashboards
  • Custom Dashboards & Alerting
  • Index Patterns Summary
• Security Best Practices
  • Security Recommendations
  • SAML Authentication Setup
• Backup & Recovery
  • Automatic Backups
  • Restoration Process
• Common Issues & Troubleshooting
• Reference Files
• Documentation Links
  • Official Sources
  • Related Documentation
• Data Protection Notice

Service Overview

SAP Cloud Logging is an instance-based observability service built on OpenSearch that stores, visualizes, and analyzes application logs, metrics, and traces from SAP BTP Cloud Foundry, Kyma, Kubernetes, and other runtime environments.

Key Capabilities:

• Ingest logs, metrics, and traces via OpenTelemetry (OTLP) or JSON API
• Ingest application and request logs from Cloud Foundry runtime
• Configure data retention (1-90 days)
• Visualize and analyze data in OpenSearch Dashboards
• Create custom dashboards and alerts
• SAML authentication via SAP Identity Authentication Service

---

Service Plans

Plan	Capacity	Use Case	Auto-Scaling
dev	7.5 GB fixed	Evaluation only	No
standard	75 GB - 375 GB	Production (100 logs/sec)	Yes
large	750 GB - 3.75 TB	Production (1000 logs/sec)	Yes

Important: Plan updates are not supported. Migration requires running instances in parallel.

---

Quick Start

Prerequisites

1. SAP BTP Global Account
2. Subaccount with Cloud Logging entitlement
3. (Recommended) SAP Cloud Identity Services tenant for SAML authentication

Note for SAP Build Code Users: If using SAP Build Code, follow the SAP Build Code Initial Setup instructions instead. Cloud Logging in SAP Build Code is available for evaluation purposes only.

Instance Creation Options

Choose one method based on your workflow:

Option 1: SAP BTP Cockpit (UI)

1. Navigate to Subaccount → Instances and Subscriptions → Create
2. Select cloud-logging service and plan
3. Configure parameters (see Configuration section)
4. Create service key for credentials

Option 2: Cloud Foundry CLI

cf create-service cloud-logging standard my-cls-instance -c '{
  "retention_period": 14,
  "backend": { "max_data_nodes": 10 },
  "ingest": { "max_instances": 10 }
}'

# Wait for provisioning
cf services  # Check "last operation" status

# Create service key
cf create-service-key my-cls-instance my-cls-key
cf service-key my-cls-instance my-cls-key

Option 3: SAP BTP CLI

btp create services/instance \
  --subaccount <SUBACCOUNT_ID> \
  --name my-cls-instance \
  --offering-name "cloud-logging" \
  --plan-name standard \
  --parameters '{"retention_period": 14}'

# Create binding
btp create services/binding \
  --subaccount <SUBACCOUNT_ID> \
  --name my-cls-binding \
  --instance-name my-cls-instance

# Get credentials
btp get services/binding --name my-cls-binding --subaccount <SUBACCOUNT_ID>

Option 4: SAP BTP Service Operator (Kubernetes/Kyma)

apiVersion: services.cloud.sap.com/v1
kind: ServiceInstance
metadata:
  name: cloud-logging-instance
  namespace: sap-cloud-logging-integration
spec:
  serviceOfferingName: cloud-logging
  servicePlanName: standard
  parameters:
    retentionPeriod: 14
---
apiVersion: services.cloud.sap.com/v1
kind: ServiceBinding
metadata:
  name: cls-binding
  namespace: sap-cloud-logging-integration
spec:
  serviceInstanceName: cloud-logging-instance
  secretName: sap-cloud-logging

---

Configuration Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
retention_period	int	7	Data retention in days (1-90)
backend.max_data_nodes	int	10	Max OpenSearch data nodes (2-10)
dashboards.custom_label	string	-	Dashboard identifier (max 20 chars)
ingest.max_instances	int	10	Max ingest instances for autoscaling (2-10)
ingest.min_instances	int	2	Min ingest instances (2-10)
ingest_otlp.enabled	bool	false	Enable OpenTelemetry Protocol ingestion
feature_flags	array	[]	Experimental features (e.g., upgradeToOpenSearchV2)
rotate_root_ca	bool	false	Trigger CA certificate rotation
saml	object	-	SAML authentication configuration

Full Configuration Example

{
  "retention_period": 14,
  "feature_flags": ["upgradeToOpenSearchV2"],
  "dashboards": {
    "custom_label": "PROD-CLS"
  },
  "backend": {
    "max_data_nodes": 10
  },
  "ingest": {
    "max_instances": 10,
    "min_instances": 2
  },
  "ingest_otlp": {
    "enabled": true
  },
  "saml": {
    "enabled": true,
    "initiated": true,
    "admin_group": "CLS-Admins",
    "roles_key": "groups",
    "idp": {
      "metadata_url": "[https://<tenant>.accounts.ondemand.com/saml2/metadata",](https://<tenant>.accounts.ondemand.com/saml2/metadata",)
      "entity_id": "[https://<tenant>.accounts.ondemand.com"](https://<tenant>.accounts.ondemand.com")
    },
    "sp": {
      "entity_id": "cloud-logging-<instance-id>"
    }
  }
}

---

Data Ingestion Methods

1. Cloud Foundry Runtime

Bind applications directly to the Cloud Logging instance:

cf bind-service <app-name> <cls-instance>

Index Patterns:

• logs-cfsyslog-* - Application logs
• metrics-otel-v1-* - Resource metrics

For user-provided services with mTLS, see references/cf-ingestion.md.

2. Kyma Runtime

Requires telemetry and btp-operator modules enabled:

# Create namespace
kubectl create namespace sap-cloud-logging-integration

# Deploy ServiceInstance and ServiceBinding (see templates above)
kubectl apply -n sap-cloud-logging-integration -f cls-instance.yaml

Index Patterns:

• logs-json-istio-envoy-kyma* - Istio access logs
• logs-json-kyma* - Application logs

3. OpenTelemetry API (OTLP)

Enable with ingest_otlp.enabled: true, then configure your application:

Service Key Credentials:

• ingest-otlp-endpoint - gRPC endpoint (hostname:443)
• ingest-otlp-cert - Client certificate (PEM)
• ingest-otlp-key - Private key (PKCS#8)
• server-ca - Server CA certificate

Index Patterns:

• logs-otel-v1-* - Logs
• metrics-otel-v1-* - Metrics
• otel-v1-apm-span-* - Traces
• otel-v1-apm-service-map - Service map

Note: Only gRPC protocol supported. Use OpenTelemetry Collector to convert http/protobuf or http/json.

For Java/Node.js automation libraries, see references/opentelemetry-ingestion.md.

4. JSON API

Send logs via HTTP with mTLS:

curl -X PUT "[https://<ingest-endpoint>/v1/ingest"](https://<ingest-endpoint>/v1/ingest") \
  --cert client.crt --key client.key \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '[{"msg": "log message", "date": "2025-01-15T10:30:00Z"}]'

Index Pattern: logs-json-*

For Fluent Bit configuration, see references/json-api-ingestion.md.

---

Certificate Management

Certificate Validity

• Default: 90 days
• Configurable: 1-180 days via certValidityDays in binding parameters

Root CA Rotation (3-Step Process)

CAUTION: Not following this process causes ingestion interruption.

1. Create new CA: Update instance with "rotate_root_ca": true
2. Rebind all applications: Create new bindings for each shipping mechanism
3. Delete old CA: Update instance with "rotate_root_ca": false

---

OpenSearch Dashboards

Access

1. Create service binding/key
2. Navigate to dashboards-url from credentials
3. Authenticate (SAML or basic auth)

Pre-built Dashboards

• Cloud Foundry application performance
• Request latency and error rates
• Resource utilization metrics

Custom Dashboards & Alerting

• Create custom dashboards for specific analysis needs
• Configure alerting based on observability data
• Integrate with SAP Alert Notification for SAP BTP for advanced alerting workflows

Index Patterns Summary

Source	Index Pattern
CF Logs	logs-cfsyslog-*
CF Metrics	metrics-otel-v1-*
OTLP Logs	logs-otel-v1-*
OTLP Metrics	metrics-otel-v1-*
OTLP Traces	otel-v1-apm-span-*
JSON API	logs-json-*
Kyma Apps	logs-json-kyma*
Kyma Istio	logs-json-istio-envoy-kyma*

Note: Attribute names use @ instead of . due to OpenSearch/Lucene limitations.

---

Security Best Practices

Security Recommendations

• BTP-CLS-0001: Configure SAML authentication with Identity Authentication Service (critical)
• BTP-CLS-0002: Rotate service keys regularly; deletion doesn't automatically invalidate credentials
• BTP-CLS-0003: Review Kyma runtime and JSON API security configuration

Note: Only BTP-CLS-0001 (critical level) is currently reported to SAP Cloud ALM. Other recommendations must be manually verified.

SAML Authentication Setup

1. Create SAML 2.0 application in SAP Identity Authentication
2. Configure "groups" attribute from Identity Directory
3. Set Name ID Format to "E-mail"
4. Enable request signing (recommended)
5. Configure saml parameters in instance configuration
6. The admin_group maps to all_access role

See references/saml-authentication.md for detailed setup.

---

Backup & Recovery

Automatic Backups

Backed up: OpenSearch settings, roles, role mappings, tenants, groups, security configs, saved objects, ISM policies Not backed up: Alerts

Restoration Process

Create SAP support ticket with component BC-CP-CLS including:

1. Dashboard URL
2. Instance configuration
3. Deprovisioning timestamp
4. Target restoration date (max 7 days)
5. Owner information
6. Business justification

---

Common Issues & Troubleshooting

Instance Creation Fails

• Verify entitlement in subaccount
• Check service plan availability in region
• Validate JSON configuration syntax

Ingestion Not Working

• Verify binding credentials are current (check certificate expiry)
• For CF: Binding takes effect without restaging
• For OTLP: Ensure ingest_otlp.enabled: true
• Check network connectivity to ingest endpoint

Dashboard Access Issues

• Verify SAML configuration if enabled
• Check user is in configured admin group
• Validate IdP metadata URL accessibility

Certificate Expiration

• Default validity: 90 days
• Create new binding before expiration
• Consider root CA rotation if widespread

---

Reference Files

For detailed information, see bundled reference files:

Configuration & Setup

• references/service-plans.md (183 lines) - Service plans comparison and capacity planning
• references/configuration-parameters.md (270 lines) - Complete parameter reference with examples

Ingestion Methods

• references/cf-ingestion.md (211 lines) - Cloud Foundry ingestion details
• references/kyma-ingestion.md (293 lines) - Kyma runtime integration
• references/opentelemetry-ingestion.md (363 lines) - OTLP setup with Java/Node.js automation
• references/json-api-ingestion.md (435 lines) - JSON API and Fluent Bit configuration

Security & Authentication

• references/saml-authentication.md (329 lines) - SAML setup with Identity Authentication Service

---

Documentation Links

Official Sources

• GitHub Docs: https://github.com/SAP-docs/btp-cloud-logging
• SAP Help Portal: https://help.sap.com/docs/cloud-logging
• Discovery Center: https://discovery-center.cloud.sap/serviceCatalog/cloud-logging
• Capacity Estimator: Referenced in Discovery Center

Bundled Resources

Reference Documentation

• references/cf-ingestion.md - Cloud Foundry runtime ingestion guide
• references/kyma-ingestion.md - Kyma/Cloud Foundry Kyma runtime ingestion
• references/opentelemetry-ingestion.md - OpenTelemetry data ingestion
• references/json-api-ingestion.md - JSON API ingestion methods
• references/saml-authentication.md - SAML authentication configuration
• references/service-plans.md - Service plans comparison and selection

Related Documentation

• OpenSearch: https://opensearch.org/docs/latest/
• SAP Cloud Identity Services: https://help.sap.com/docs/cloud-identity
• BTP Security Recommendations: https://help.sap.com/docs/btp/sap-btp-security-recommendations-c8a9bb59fe624f0981efa0eff2497d7d/sap-btp-security-recommendations

---

Data Protection Notice

SAP Cloud Logging is not designed for personal or business-critical data. Take measures to prevent transmission of such data. Data is stored regionally but physical data center locations may differ from consumption locations within the same region.