Getting Started

WordPress VIP

Connect WordPress VIP edge request logs to Honeylog.

Use this guide for WordPress VIP. Do not install the standard Honeylog WordPress plugin: this installation uses the HTTP request edge logs available in the WordPress VIP Dashboard.

#What you need

You need access to the WordPress VIP Dashboard, permission to configure Log Shipping, and an AWS account where you can create CloudFormation stacks. If different people manage WordPress VIP and AWS, they can complete their respective phases using this same guide.

The installation creates two AWS stacks. A stack is the group of AWS resources created together from a template. The first uses the Honeylog template to prepare a private destination for the logs. WordPress VIP then generates a second template that gives VIP permission to send logs to that destination.

#Phase 1: Create the Honeylog AWS stack

  1. Create the website in Honeylog and choose WordPress VIP.
  2. Download the Honeylog AWS template.
  3. Confirm that a file named cloudformation.yaml was downloaded.
  4. Open AWS CloudFormation in the AWS account that will receive the VIP logs.
  5. Choose Create stack > With new resources (standard), then upload the Honeylog template.
  6. Review the parameters shown by Honeylog. Use the personalized values from the private installation page, not the placeholders below.
  7. Create the stack and wait until its status changes to CREATE_COMPLETE.
  8. Open the stack's Outputs tab and keep it available for Phase 2.

Download cloudformation.yaml

The public download above is a reference template and contains placeholders. For the actual installation, use the prefilled download from the private Honeylog installation page.

CloudFormation parameters:

HoneylogApiUrl: https://api.honeylog.io/events
HoneylogIngestionSecret: SITE_TOKEN
HoneylogSiteDomain: SITE_DOMAIN
LogRetentionDays: 30
SkipPathRegex: "\\.(?:css|js|mjs|map|png|jpe?g|gif|svg|ico|webp|avif|woff2?|ttf|eot|otf|xml|txt)$"

Do not continue until the Honeylog stack shows CREATE_COMPLETE. If it shows CREATE_FAILED, open the failed event and send its error message to your AWS administrator or Honeylog support.

#Phase 2: Connect WordPress VIP

  1. Sign in to the WordPress VIP Dashboard and select the application and environment you want to track, normally production.
  2. Open Logs > Log Shipping and choose HTTP request edge logs. Do not choose origin logs, because they leave out visits served from the VIP cache.
  3. Choose AWS S3 as the destination.
  4. In the Honeylog stack's Outputs tab, find AwsAccountId, VipLogBucketName, and VipLogBucketRegion. Paste each value into the matching WordPress VIP field.
  5. Leave the prefix empty unless your WordPress VIP or AWS administrator has given you a specific value.
  6. Ask WordPress VIP to generate or download its CloudFormation template.
  7. Return to CloudFormation in the same AWS account and create a second stack by uploading the template generated by WordPress VIP.
  8. Wait until this second stack also shows CREATE_COMPLETE.
  9. Return to WordPress VIP and run the Log Shipping connection test.
  10. Enable Log Shipping only after the test succeeds.

The required result is a successful WordPress VIP connection test with Log Shipping enabled. If the test fails, send the displayed error to the WordPress VIP or AWS administrator before continuing.

#Phase 3: Verify

  1. Open several public pages on the production website.
  2. Wait at least five minutes, then open Honeylog and look for the new visits.
  3. If the visits appear, the installation is complete.
  4. If they do not appear, open the S3 bucket named by VipLogBucketName in the Honeylog stack outputs and confirm that it contains one or more files ending in .gz.
  5. Find ConsumerFunctionName in the same outputs. Open CloudWatch and select the log group named /aws/lambda/ConsumerFunctionName.
  6. Look for a recent message containing WordPress VIP edge logs processed. and confirm that events_emitted and batches_sent are greater than zero for a file that contains website visits.
  7. Send any error message, or the point at which this checklist fails, to your AWS administrator or Honeylog support.

WordPress VIP sends logs in groups at regular intervals, so visits can take several minutes to appear in Honeylog.