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Getting Started

Get data flowing through ByteFreezer in under 10 minutes. These steps match the checklist on your dashboard.

Prerequisites

  • A ByteFreezer account (create one at bytefreezer.com)
  • A server or VM to run the data-plane components (Proxy, Receiver, Piper, Packer)
  • S3 or MinIO bucket for storage

Step 1: Create a Tenant

  1. Log in to the ByteFreezer dashboard
  2. Navigate to Tenants
  3. Click Create Tenant
  4. Enter ID: test and a descriptive name
  5. Click Create

Step 2: Create a Dataset

  1. Navigate to Datasets
  2. Select your test tenant
  3. Click Create Dataset
  4. Enter ID: test
  5. Set status to Draft
  6. Assign the dataset to the proxy you plan to receive data on
  7. Configure input: select Syslog as the source type
  8. Configure output: set your S3/MinIO bucket where processed Parquet files will be stored
  9. Test input and output connections until they report back healthy
  10. Set Test Mode to on — this returns results faster for validation
  11. Click Create

Step 3: Generate an API Key

  1. Navigate to Settings → API Keys
  2. Click Generate Key
  3. Copy the token — you will need it for Proxy configuration

Step 4: Install the Proxy

Choose your deployment method:

See Kubernetes deployment for full instructions.

env:
  - name: CONFIG_MODE
    value: "control-only"
  - name: ACCOUNT_ID
    value: "your-account-id"
  - name: BEARER_TOKEN
    value: "your-api-key"
  - name: CONTROL_URL
    value: "https://api.bytefreezer.com"

See Systemd deployment for full instructions.

# /etc/bytefreezer-proxy/config.yaml
config_mode: "control-only"
account_id: "your-account-id"
bearer_token: "your-api-key"
control_url: "https://api.bytefreezer.com"

See Docker deployment for full instructions.

docker run -d \
  -e CONFIG_MODE=control-only \
  -e ACCOUNT_ID=your-account-id \
  -e BEARER_TOKEN=your-api-key \
  -e CONTROL_URL=https://api.bytefreezer.com \
  -p 514:514/udp \
  bytefreezer/proxy:latest

After starting the proxy, verify it appears as Healthy on the Health page in the dashboard.

Step 5: Send Test Data

Use the fakedata tool to send syslog data to your proxy:

fakedata syslog --host <proxy-ip> --port 514 --rate 100

This sends 100 synthetic syslog events per second to the proxy's syslog listener. See Testing for all protocols and load testing options.

Step 6: Verify Data Flow

  1. Open the Statistics dashboard
  2. You should see events progressing through the pipeline: Proxy → Receiver → Piper → Packer → Storage
  3. Check your S3/MinIO bucket for Parquet files in the output path
  4. It may take a few minutes for data to appear at the final destination

Once you see data arriving at storage, your pipeline is working end-to-end.

Next Steps