Add AIX support

[mostlyjason]

Describe the enhancement:
Currently, Filebeat does not support AIX but we've had several enhancement requests from customers to support it. AIX is not a common OS these days, but it does exist in great numbers in banking and insurance institutions that are highly regulated.

Additional details:
One customer has already created a version of Filebeat for AIX in version 5.5.1 but builds started to fail in 6.0. http://www.bullfreeware.com/pkg?id=4650

Go has gained support for AIX rather recently (minimum AIX 7.2), but some of our dependencies are not compiling on AIX. For example, Docker lacks support for AIX. You can see the conversation on Discuss here https://discuss.elastic.co/t/attempting-to-compile-filebeat-in-aix/143378/4 and https://discuss.elastic.co/t/disable-docker-support/178228. A fix has already been merged to use Docker only on supported platforms #13509. There are additional dependencies that need support for AIX as well.

[Helflym]

Hi,
I'm a member behind the Bullfreeware website and I'm currently actively porting Filebeat, Metricbeat and Auditbeat for AIX 7.2. Filebeat is already in good shape and I'll soon start pushing a few patches to introduce AIX to the beats software. Moreover, a rpm of version 7.5.1 should be able at the same time on our website, for those who are interested in.

About dependencies, as you said a fix has been merged to disable Docker and K8s for platforms which don't support it. A few adjustments have to be made in order to fully disable the build of Docker packages (especially with tests), but it's no longer a needed dependency for AIX.
The other dependencies (for Filebeat, Metricbeat and Auditbeat) that I'm aware of are:

• github.com/elastic/gosigar: In progress Add AIX support  gosigar#133
• github.com/elastic/go-sysinfo: In progress all: add AIX provider go-sysinfo#77
• github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify: In progress Add polling fallback fsnotify/fsnotify#326
• github.com/elastic/go-txfile: Merged Add AIX support go-txfile#44. Wait for gofrs to vendor
• github.com/gofrs/flock: In progress Add AIX support with fcntl gofrs/flock#40
• github.com/lib/pq: Merged Add AIX support lib/pq#929. Vendor possible
• github.com/insomniacslk/dhcp : Merged interfaces: add support for AIX insomniacslk/dhcp#352. Vendor possible
• github.com/mattn/go-isatty: Merged Add AIX support mattn/go-isatty#35, Vendor possible

I'll keep posting updates on this issue.
Note, maybe the title can be changed to "Add AIX support" as Filebeat isn't the only one targeted.

Edit 2020/04/01: Update dependencies

[mostlyjason]

@Helflym Awesome thanks so much this is an amazing effort and I'm excited to see all the progress you've made. Definitely keep us up to date here as you make more progress. I also updated the title as you suggested.

I heard separately that metricbeat on AIX will require more effort due to the OS API being different. Are you working on that as well?

[Helflym]

I heard separately that metricbeat on AIX will require more effort due to the OS API being different. Are you working on that as well?

Yes of course. For the moment, it seems that porting metrics dependencies (gosigar, go-sysinfo, etc) is enough to have a working metricbeat. Maybe the data won't be fully accurate and some fields will be missing. But it will be enough for a first metricbeat, and I will have time to improve them if needed.

[Helflym]

A quick update to say that I've released a first beta version of filebeat, metricbeat and auditbeat under our website: http://www.bullfreeware.com/?searching=true&package=beat&from=&to=&libraries=false&exact=false&version=5. Any feedback about configuration and/or modules would be much appreciated.

I've started to push some patches for dependencies upstream but almost all of them are stuck right now. So, we'll have to wait to have AIX on the beats' upstream.
elastic/gosigar#133
elastic/go-sysinfo#77
shirou/gopsutil#834
fsnotify/fsnotify#9

[mostlyjason]

Thanks for this effort @Helflym

[adammike]

@Helflym are these the apache licensed filebeat/auditbeat code?