What is data_dir? Should the user create it?

[ddxv]

[sources.nginx_logs]
type = "file"
include = [ "/var/log/nginx/access.log" ]
read_from = "end"

[sinks.my_sink_id]
type = "console"
inputs = ["nginx_logs"]
encoding.codec = "json"

When trying to run the above on a fresh install of Vector from the downloaded bash script (not via apt) I encountered the same issue as this discussion:
#11390

2023-11-12T03:46:29.890581Z ERROR vector::topology::builder: Configuration error. error=Source "nginx_logs": data_dir "/var/lib/vector/" does not exist

Based on the above discussion, I tried creating fixing by creating sudo mkdir /var/lib/vector but that led to the next error:
Configuration error. error=Source "nginx_logs": Could not create subdirectory "nginx_logs" inside of data dir "/var/lib/vector/": Permission denied (os error 13)

This feels like I'm going the wrong direction due to the permissions. Instead what should I be doing?

[arch-xtof]

Hello, data_dir is where Vector can create files to store its state/data. To avoid the error you mentioned, you should change the user and group of the directory to the user that runs Vector. You can do this by doing sudo chown -R vector:vector /var/lib/vector, where vector:vector is the user:group that you use to run the service.

Generally, if you install vector as a package it should automatically create the directory otherwise, you need to do it manually.

[jszwedko]

This is accurate. Some additional documentation on what the directory is used for: https://vector.dev/docs/reference/configuration/global-options/#data_dir

[ddxv]

@jszwedko Thanks! Didn't see it when I had searched the site.