Lnav TLS Configuration Done Right

The terminal is silent except for the cursor. You type one command, and the logs come alive—encrypted, authenticated, secure. This is Lnav TLS configuration done right.

Lnav is one of the fastest ways to search, view, and parse logs from system files, containers, or remote machines. Adding TLS support ensures that every log stream is protected in transit. Whether you’re pulling logs from a remote syslog over TCP or connecting to an HTTPS endpoint, TLS configuration in Lnav is the difference between plain text risk and encrypted precision.

To configure TLS in Lnav, you need three things: a certificate, a private key, and the correct configuration flags. Place your certificate and key in a secure, non-world-readable directory. Use an intermediate certificate chain if your CA requires it.

In most cases, you’ll start Lnav with environment variables or CLI arguments that point to your TLS files:

lnav --tls-cert=/path/to/cert.pem \
 --tls-key=/path/to/key.pem \
 --tls-ca=/path/to/ca.pem

If you’re connecting to a syslog source over TLS, update your syslog_input config with the proper scheme (tcps or tls). Lnav will handle the handshake automatically. Verify certificate validity using openssl s_client before running Lnav to avoid handshake failures.

TLS configuration in Lnav also means considering ciphers and protocols. By default, Lnav negotiates modern secure ciphers, but you can restrict them using OpenSSL configuration files or environment variables. Disable TLS 1.0 and 1.1. Use TLS 1.2 or 1.3 wherever possible.

For automated workflows, keep your keys and certs rotated with a CI/CD process. Test every change in a staging environment. Logs are often the most sensitive asset in a system; they contain stack traces, credentials, and clues about your architecture. TLS stops attackers from reading them mid-flight.

Once your Lnav TLS configuration is in place, you get fast, indexed log viewing over secure channels, without opening up raw sockets or risking unencrypted output. It’s a small setup cost that pays off in incident response speed and data safety.

See this in action with fully secured, production-grade logging pipelines. Deploy it live in minutes at hoop.dev.