Dell EMC ECS Add-on for Splunk
Overview
Details
Dell ECS Add-on for Splunk
Dell ECS Add-on is a Splunk Add-on which is collecting data from ECS REST APIs and indexes into the Splunk Enterprise.
* Author - Dell Inc.
Release Notes
-
Version 1.2.0
- Upgraded to latest python libraries.
- Deprecated python2 support.
- Added support for latest Splunk version.
- Added flux API support for DELL v3.6.
-
Version 1.1.0
- Splunk 8 Support
- Made Add-on Python23 compatible
Requirements
Splunk Enterprise:
- Version 8.1.x and 8.2.x
Python:
- Version 3.7
Tested on CentOS, Windows with the latest chrome and firefox version.
Recommended System Configuration
Standard Splunk Enterprise configuration of Search Head, Indexer, and Forwarder.
Topology and Setting up Splunk Environment
This Add-On can be set up in two ways:
1) Standalone Mode: Install the Add-on app on a single machine. This single machine would serve as a Search Head + Indexer + Heavy forwarder for this setup.
2) Distributed Environment: Install Add-on on search head and Heavy forwarder (for REST API).
- Add-on resides on search head machine need not require any configuration here.
- Add-on needs to be installed and configured on the Heavy forwarder system.
- Execute the following command on Heavy forwarder to forward the collected data to the indexer. /opt/splunk/bin/splunk add forward-server <indexer_ip_address>:9997
- On the Indexer machine, enable event listening on port 9997 (recommended by Splunk).
- Add-on needs to be installed on search head for CIM mapping
Installation
This TA can be installed through UI using following steps.
- Log in to Splunk Web and navigate to Apps > Manage Apps.
- Click
install app from file. - Click
Choose fileand select Dell ECS Add-on installation file. - Click on
Upload. - Restart Splunk.
Upgradation to version 1.2.0 from the previous version
- Disable all Inputs.
- Reconfigure the accounts by clicking on edit and save it again after providing require fields.
- Enable all Inputs.
Application Setup
Configurations
After Installation
- Click on the
Configurationtab next toInputstab. - Click on the
Addbutton to add an ECS Server information. - Provide your ECS Server credential and Click on
Add.
| Global account parameters | Mandatory or Optional | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Account name | Mandatory | Provide unique name to uniquely identify ECS Server details |
| Server Address | Mandatory | Provide Server Address for ECS server (IP Address) |
| Username | Mandatory | Provide User name of ECS server |
| Password | Mandatory | Provide Password of ECS server |
| Verify SSL Certificate | Optional | To get the data from APIs using SSL, remains the checkbox enable otherwise disable it. Note that if checkbox is enable then user needs to append certificate in $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/TA-dellecs/ta_dell_ecs/requests/cacert.pem file, for the safety purpose please take a backup of cacert.pem while appending SSL certificate |
| Proxy Enable | Optional | To enable proxy for the account. If an account with proxy enabled is used in any input then it uses the proxy details attached to that account for the data collection |
Following proxy params will show up once Proxy Enable checkbox is checked:
| Proxy Paramters | Mandatory or Optional | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Proxy Type | Mandatory | Select proxy type that you want to use from dropdown. The TA supports http proxy only. |
| Proxy Host | Mandatory | Host or IP of the proxy server |
| Proxy Port | Mandatory | Port for proxy server |
| Proxy Username | Optional | Username of the proxy server. It is mandatory in case when user has entered Password |
| Proxy Password | Optional | Password of the proxy server. It is mandatory in case when user has entered Username |
- To configure log-level, Select
Logging. - Select the log level from dropdown and click on
Save.
If you are configuring data collection >=3.6 version of Dell ECS
Load Balancer:
On the TA side, configuration of the ECS Node IP’s is needed instead of a VIP. This is because it utilizes the API call GET /vdc/nodes to return all ECS node information and match it with the configured account. It then uses that to grab the data from the ECS influxDB using the Flux API to help minimize impact on the ECS cluster.
So, configuring a VIP does work for ECS version 3.5 and below but not for 3.6.
Increase the Timeout if required:
If we run into Timeout Error, then follow the below steps to increase timeout value in Splunk Add-on.
1.) Disable the Input
2.) Navigate to location: $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/TA-dellecs/bin. Make below changes:
i.) Copy ecs_connect.py and rename it to ecs_connect.py.bak so we would have a backup.
ii.) In ecs_connect.py find for string: self.TIMEOUT=15
iii.) Change value of timeout from 15 to 60 (i.e. 60 seconds)
Note: This change would affected all three modular inputs (login and data collection)
3.) Enable Input
Inputs
- Go to the apps list and open
Dell ECS Add-on for Splunk. From the inputs screen, click onCreate New Input. It has multiple input configurationDell ECS Input,Dell ECS Namespaces Input,Dell ECS Buckets Input. Dell ECS Inputwill index all the data into the Splunk except Namespace and Bucket data.Dell ECS Namespace Inputwill index Namespace data only.Dell ECS Buckets Inputwill index Buckets data only.
Note that if multiple inputs are created with the same global account, there will be duplicate Events in Splunk.
| Input Parameter | Mandatory or Optional | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Mandatory | Provide unique name to uniquely identify a ECS Server details |
| Interval | Mandatory | Interval in seconds or cron schedule. The input will be triggered at every interval time and fetch the data from ECS endpoints. cron schedule e.g. for every one minute cron schedule will be /1 * * *. |
| Index | Mandatory | Index in which you want to store your data. |
| Global Account | Mandatory | Select previously configured ECS Server details. |
| Start Time | Optional | Provide start time in GMT from which Data Collection will start. Time format is "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M". |
Search
To see data logged by Dell ECS Add-on for Splunk, select the Search tab. Search Dell_ECS_index macro.
External Libraries used
| Libraries(Python) | Version | Repository link | License |
|---|---|---|---|
| croniter | 0.3.25 | https://pypi.org/project/croniter/ | https://github.com/kiorky/croniter/blob/master/docs/LICENSE |
| dateutil | 2.6.1 | https://pypi.org/project/python-dateutil/ | https://github.com/dateutil/dateutil/blob/master/LICENSE |
Troubleshooting
To troubleshoot Dell ECS Add-on, check following log files
$SPLUNK_HOME/var/log/splunk/ta_dell_ecs_dell_ecs_input.log
$SPLUNK_HOME/var/log/splunk/ta_dell_ecs_dell_ecs_namespaces_input.log
* $SPLUNK_HOME/var/log/splunk/ta_dell_ecs_dell_ecs_buckets_input.log file.
User can search for ERROR logs in the Splunk using following query
* index="_internal" source=**ta_dell_ecs_dell_ecs_*.log** ERROR
Uninstall & Cleanup steps
- Remove $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/TA-dellecs
- Remove $SPLUNK_HOME/var/log/splunk/ta_dell_ecs_dell_ecs_input.log
- Remove $SPLUNK_HOME/var/log/splunk/ta_dell_ecs_dell_ecs_namespaces_input.log
- Remove $SPLUNK_HOME/var/log/splunk/ta_dell_ecs_dell_ecs_buckets_input.log
- To reflect the cleanup changes in UI, Restart Splunk Enterprise instance
Support
- Support Offered: Yes
- Support Email: Richard.Paulson@Dell.com
Copyright
- Copyright (C) 2022 Dell Technologies Inc. All Rights Reserved.
External Documentation
Please reference the guide located to below link for additional configuration details.
Link: https://www.delltechnologies.com/asset/en-us/products/storage/technical-support/h18011-dell-emc-ecs-app-for-splunk-enterprise-configuration-guide.pdf
Release Notes
Version 1.2.0
- Migrated App and TA to use the latest version of jQuery.
- Added support for Flux API for ECS EMC v3.6.x and above.
Version 1.1.0
Added support of Splunk 8.x
Made Add-on Python2 and Python3 compatible
Added proxy support
Added extraction for CAS logs