Sentinel is preconfigured to accept Syslog data from Syslog event sources that send data over TCP (port 1468), UDP (port 1514), or SSL (port 1443). You can also configure Sentinel to listen on additional ports. To collect Syslog data, configure your Syslog event sources to send data to one of these ports.
The following sections describe how you can configure the event sources to send data to Sentinel and how you can configure new Syslog ports to receive data:
Sentinel can receive, store, and search against events from any Syslog source. If it recognizes the data source, Sentinel automatically chooses the most suitable Collector to parse the data, parses the data into events, and stores the data in the configured secondary storage location.
You can filter the collected data to drop any unwanted events. Messages from recognized data sources are parsed into fields such as target IP address and source username. Messages from unrecognized data sources are placed in a single field for storage, searching, and reporting.
The Generic Event Collector collects and processes data from unrecognized event sources that have suitable Connectors. If the data was generated by a supported event source, the Generic Event Collector analyzes the received data and attempts to parse the information. If the Generic Event Collector does not understand the message, it does minimal parsing and places the text in the Message (Msg) field.
When you point your Syslog event sources to Sentinel, Sentinel automatically creates an event source entry to track data received from the event source. An entry is created for each unique IP address or hostname that appears in the header portion of the Syslog messages. This entry enables you to identify the computers generating the Syslog messages, regardless of whether they are being aggregated by a Syslog relay or not. It also enables you to manage how the data is processed.
To add or remove Syslog servers, use the Event Source Management interface. For more information, see Configuring Data Collection for Other Event Sources.
From Sentinel Main, click Collection > Event Source Servers.
In the Syslog Server section, specify the SSL, TCP, and UDP port numbers for the Syslog servers.
The default ports for SSL, TCP, and UDP are 1443, 1468, and 1514 respectively.
To start or stop the data collection for each of the Syslog servers, select the On or Off options next to them.
To change the port values, specify a valid port value.
The following table shows the status messages you see after entering the valid or non-valid port values.
|
Status Icon |
Message |
|---|---|
|
Green Check Mark |
If the specified port is valid and is not in use, a port is valid and open message is displayed. |
|
Red Cross |
If the specified port is not valid (non-numeric or not between 1 to 65535), a port is not valid message is displayed. |
|
Red Cross |
If the specified port is valid but it is already in use, or if the Syslog server does not have permission to use it, a port is valid but not open message is displayed. |
Set the appropriate client authentication and server key pairs settings for the SSL Syslog server.
For more information about setting the client authentication, see Configuring Client Authentication for the SSL Syslog Server.
The SSL Syslog server is automatically restarted if any changes are made here.
(Optional) Click Reset to restore the previous settings.
Click Save to save the new settings.
The Save button is disabled until you specify a valid port for all of the servers.
The client authentication settings determine how strictly the SSL Syslog server verifies the identity of Syslog event sources that are attempting to send their data.You should use a strict client authentication policy that is applicable in your environment to prevent rogue Syslog event sources from sending undesired data into Sentinel.
Open: No authentication is required. Sentinel does not request, require, or validate a certificate from the event source.
Loose: A valid X.509 certificate is required from the event source, but the certificate is not validated. It does not need to be signed by a certificate authority.
Strict: A valid X.509 certificate is required from the event source, and it must be signed by a trusted certificate authority. If the event source does not present a valid certificate, Sentinel does not accept its event data.
For strict authentication, you must have a trust store that contains the public certificate of the certificate authority (CA) that signed the event source certificate. After you have a DER or PEM certificate, you can create the trust store by using the TruststoreCreator utility that comes with Sentinel.
Log in to the Sentinel server as novell user.
Go to the /var/opt/novell/sentinel/data/updates/done folder.
Use the following command to extract the syslog_connector.zip file:
unzip syslog_connector.zip
Copy the TruststoreCreator.sh or TruststoreCreator.bat file to the machine that has the certificates.
or
Copy the certificates to the computer with the TruststoreCreator utility.
Run the TruststoreCreator.sh utility as follows:
TruststoreCreator.sh -keystore /tmp/my.keystore -password password1 -certs /tmp/cert1.pem,/tmp/cert2.pem
In this example, the TruststoreCreator utility creates a keystore file called my.keystore that contains two certificates (cert1.pem and cert2.pem). It is protected by the password password1. The keystore file must be imported into the trust store.
For strict authentication, the administrator can import a certificate by using the Import button. This helps ensure that only authorized event sources are sending data to Sentinel. The trust store must include public certificate of the certificate authority (CA) that signed the event source certificate.
The following procedure must be run on the computer that has the trust store on it. You can open a web browser on the computer with the trust store or move the trust store to any computer with a web browser.
NOTE:If the CA is signed by another CA, you must import the chain of CA certificates until the root CA.
To import a trust store:
From Sentinel Main, click Collection > Event Source Servers.
In the Syslog Server section, select the Strict option under Client authentication.
Click Browse and browse to the trust store file (for example, my.keystore)
Specify the password for the truststore file.
Click Import.
(Optional) Click Details to see more information about the trust store.
(Optional) Click Reset to restore the previous settings.
Click Save.
After the trust store is successfully imported, you can click Details to see the certificates included in the trust store.
Sentinel is installed with a built-in certificate, which is used to authenticate the Sentinel server to the event sources. This certificate can be overridden with a certificate signed by a public certificate authority (CA).
To replace the built-in certificate:
From Sentinel Main, click Collection > Event Source Servers.
In the Syslog Server section, under Server key pairs, select Custom.
Click Browse and browse to the trust store file.
Specify the password for the trust store file.
Click Import.
(Optional) If there is more than one public-private key pair associated with the file, select the desired key pair, then click OK.
(Optional) Click Details to see more information about the server key pair.
(Optional) Click Reset to restore the previous settings.
Click Save.