There is no problem using the PacketBeat and TopBeat inteded for the ELK - ElasticSearch, LogStash, Kibana stack with splunk, as these can log to file:
First, install theam as described in ELK - ElasticSearch, LogStash, Kibana
Then, set the output to file in the Beat's yml file (in either /etc/packetbeat/packetbeat.yml or /etc/topbeat/topbeat.yml):
/etc/packetbeat/packetbeat.yml
# Configure what outputs to use when sending the data collected by the beat.
# Multiple outputs may be used.
output:
...
...
### File as output
file:
# Path to the directory where to save the generated files. The option is mandatory.
path: "/tmp/packetbeat"
# Name of the generated files. The default is `packetbeat` and it generates files: `packetbeat`, `packetbeat.1`, `packetbeat.2`, etc.
filename: packetbeat
# Maximum size in kilobytes of each file. When this size is reached, the files are
# rotated. The default value is 10 MB.
rotate_every_kb: 10000
# Maximum number of files under path. When this number of files is reached, the
# oldest file is deleted and the rest are shifted from last to first. The default
# is 7 files.
number_of_files: 7
/etc/topbeat/topbeat.yml
# Configure what outputs to use when sending the data collected by the beat.
# Multiple outputs may be used.
output:
...
...
### File as output
file:
# Path to the directory where to save the generated files. The option is mandatory.
path: "/tmp/topbeat"
# Name of the generated files. The default is `topbeat` and it generates files: `topbeat`, `topbeat.1`, `topbeat.2`, etc.
filename: topbeat
# Maximum size in kilobytes of each file. When this size is reached, the files are
# rotated. The default value is 10 MB.
rotate_every_kb: 10000
# Maximum number of files under path. When this number of files is reached, the
# oldest file is deleted and the rest are shifted from last to first. The default
# is 7 files.
number_of_files: 7
Then add, the file to splunk input.conf:
input.conf
[monitor:///tmp/packetbeat/packetbeat] host=moserver index=packetbeat sourcetype=packetbeat-output [monitor:///tmp/topbeat/topbeat] host=moserver index=topbeat sourcetype=topbeat-output
These baby's log a lot of data... so I configure the sample rate for topbeat (can be done for packetbeat), and change it from 10 to 60 seconds:
/etc/topbeat/topbeat.yml
input: # In seconds, defines how often to read server statistics period: 10