Install Vector from archives

This page covers installing Vector from a pre-built archive. These archives contain the vector binary as well as supporting configuration files.

{{< warning >}} We recommend installing Vector through a supported platform or package manager, if possible. These handle permissions, directory creation, and other intricacies covered in the Next Steps section. {{< /warning >}}

linkInstallation

linkLinux (ARM64)

Download and unpack the archive:

1# Latest ({{< version >}})
2mkdir -p vector && \
3  curl -sSfL --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 https://packages.timber.io/vector/{{< version >}}/vector-{{< version >}}-aarch64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz | \
4  tar xzf - -C vector --strip-components=2
5
6# Nightly
7mkdir -p vector && \
8  curl -sSfL --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 https://packages.timber.io/vector/nightly/latest/vector-nightly-aarch64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz | \
9  tar xzf - -C vector --strip-components=2

Change into the vector directory:

1cd vector

Move Vector into your $PATH:

1echo "export PATH=\"$(pwd)/vector/bin:\$PATH\"" >> $HOME/.profile
2source $HOME/.profile

Start Vector:

1vector --config config/vector.toml

linkLinux (ARMv7)

Download and unpack the archive:

1# Latest ({{< version >}})
2mkdir -p vector && \
3  curl -sSfL --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 https://packages.timber.io/vector/{{< version >}}/vector-{{< version >}}-armv7-unknown-linux-gnueabihf.tar.gz | \
4  tar xzf - -C vector --strip-components=2
5
6# Nightly
7mkdir -p vector && \
8  curl -sSfL --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 https://packages.timber.io/vector/nightly/latest/vector-nightly-armv7-unknown-linux-gnueabihf.tar.gz | \
9  tar xzf - -C vector --strip-components=2

Change into the vector directory:

1cd vector

Move Vector into your $PATH:

1echo "export PATH=\"$(pwd)/vector/bin:\$PATH\"" >> $HOME/.profile
2source $HOME/.profile

Start Vector:

1vector --config config/vector.toml

linkmacoS (x86_64)

Download and unpack the archive:

1# Latest (version {{< version >}})
2mkdir -p vector && \
3  curl -sSfL --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 https://packages.timber.io/vector/{{< version >}}/vector-{{< version >}}-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz  | \
4  tar xzf - -C vector --strip-components=2
5
6# Nightly
7mkdir -p vector && \
8  curl -sSfL --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 https://packages.timber.io/vector/nightly/latest/vector-nightly-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz  | \
9  tar xzf - -C vector --strip-components=2

Change into the vector directory:

1cd vector

Move Vector into your $PATH:

1echo "export PATH=\"$(pwd)/vector/bin:\$PATH\"" >> $HOME/.profile
2source $HOME/.profile

Start Vector:

1vector --config config/vector.toml

linkWindows (x86_64)

Download the Vector release archive:

1# Latest (version {{< version >}})
2powershell Invoke-WebRequest https://packages.timber.io/vector/{{< version >}}/vector-{{< version >}}-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip -OutFile vector-{{< version >}}-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip
3
4
5# Nightly
6powershell Invoke-WebRequest https://packages.timber.io/vector/0.12.X/vector-nightly-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip -OutFile vector-nightly-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip

Extract files from the archive:

1powershell Expand-Archive vector-nightly-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip .

Navigate to the Vector directory:

1cd vector-nightly-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc

Start Vector:

1.\bin\vector --config config\vector.toml

linkLinux (x86_64)

Download and unpack the archive:

1# Latest (version {{< version >}})
2mkdir -p vector && \
3  curl -sSfL --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 https://packages.timber.io/vector/{{< version >}}/vector-{{< version >}}-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz  | \
4  tar xzf - -C vector --strip-components=2
5
6# Nightly
7mkdir -p vector && \
8  curl -sSfL --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 https://packages.timber.io/vector/nightly/latest/vector-nightly-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz | \
9  tar xzf - -C vector --strip-components=2

Change into the vector directory:

1cd vector

Move Vector into your $PATH:

1echo "export PATH=\"$(pwd)/vector/bin:\$PATH\"" >> $HOME/.profile
2source $HOME/.profile

Start Vector:

1vector --config config/vector.toml

linkNext steps

linkConfiguring

The Vector configuration file is located at:

1config/vector.toml

Example configurations are located in config/vector/examples/*. You can learn more about configuring Vector in the Configuration documentation.

linkData directory

We recommend creating a data directory that Vector can use:

1mkdir /var/lib/vector

{{< warning >}} Make sure that this directory is writable by the vector process. {{< /warning >}}

Vector offers a global data_dir option that you can use to specify the path of your directory:

1data_dir = "/var/lib/vector" # default

linkService managers

Vector archives ship with service files in case you need them:

linkInit.d

To install Vector into init.d, run:

1cp -av etc/init.d/vector /etc/init.d

linkSystemd

To install Vector into Systemd, run:

1cp -av etc/systemd/vector.service /etc/systemd/system

linkUpdating

To update Vector, follow the same installation instructions above.