Table of Contents

OVERVIEW

• About Corvil Connector for Splunk

DEPLOYMENT

• Hardware and software requirements

• Installation

USER GUIDE

• Preparing Corvil for streaming to Splunk

• Configuring the Corvil Connector for Splunk

• Data types

• Paths

• Release notes

• Support and resources

OVERVIEW

About Corvil Connector for Splunk

• Author: Corvil Connectors

• App Version: 1.2.3

Corvil Connector for Splunk allows a Splunk® Enterprise administrator to real-time stream Corvil analytics data into Splunk, for the usage of Security operations, IT operations, network and application performance monitoring. Corvil Connector for Splunk provides a modular input that connects to existing Corvil Analytics Streams which run on Corvil (CNE) appliances. Corvil Analytics Streams produce summaries of key events and transform them into actionable data.

For more information on Corvil, see: www.pico.net.

DEPLOYMENT

Hardware and software requirements

Version 1.2.3 of Corvil Connector for Splunk is compatible with: 

• Splunk Enterprise versions: 9.0, 8.2, 8.1

• Operating Systems: Platform independent on Linux or Microsoft Windows 

• Vendor Products: Corvil Analytics 9.x installed on a Corvil CNE appliance 

• System Requirements: Oracle JRE v1.8 installed on the Splunk Enterprise host** 

Download

Corvil Connector for Splunk can be installed directly from within your Splunk Enterprise admin interface, or downloaded from https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/2725/ and then uploaded to your Splunk Enterprise host. Both approaches are described below.

Installation

This section describes how to install Corvil Connector for Splunk in your Splunk Enterprise deployment. Details of how to configure and use it are covered in the User Guide below.

There are two ways to download and install Corvil Connector for Splunk, depending on whether your Splunk enterprise host has connectivity to splunkbase.splunk.com:

• Direct installation from Splunkbase

• Download and manual installation

We’ll look at these in more detail in the following sections.

Deploy to single server instance

Follow these steps to install Corvil Connector for Splunk in a single server instance of Splunk Enterprise:

Direct installation from Splunkbase

If your Splunk Enterprise host has the appropriate connectivity, you can install Corvil Connector for Splunk directly from Splunkbase:

1. Log in to Splunk Enterprise.

2. Open the Apps menu and select Browse more Apps.

3. On that page, search for Corvil. Corvil Connector for Splunk should display.

4. Click Install free.

5. On the Install app page:

   • Review the license terms and conditions and check the check box

   • Enter your splunk.com username and password (not your Splunk Enterprise username and password)

   • Click Login.

The Corvil data source can now be used to route a Corvil Analytics Stream into Splunk.

Download and manual installation

If your Splunk Enterprise host deployment does not have direct connectivity to splunkbase.splunk.com, you can download the Corvil Connector for Splunk from the link above and then manually install the Corvil Connector for Splunk from within Splunk Enterprise.

1. Log in to Splunk Enterprise.

2. Click the Apps gear icon.

3. Select Install app from file, navigate to the downloaded Corvil Connector for Splunk file, select it and click Open.

4. With the Corvil Connector for Splunk file selected, click Upload.

Deploy to distributed deployment

Corvil Connector for Splunk is only installed on indexers or forwarders:

• The installation process for an indexer is the same as for the single server case.

• Forwarders do not provide a GUI interface that can be used for managing add-ons. Corvil Connector for Splunk can be installed on the forwarder using the $SPLUNK_HOME/bin/splunk install app command. Alternatively, it can be installed via a set of manual steps:

  1. Download and unpack the .tgz package from Splunkbase

  2. Move the resulting Corvil directory into the $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps directory on your forwarder

  3. Restart the forwarder

USER GUIDE

The Corvil Connector for Splunk provides a Splunk modular input that feeds data from a Corvil Analytics Stream into Splunk. Multiple Corvil inputs can be configured, if required, connecting to multiple Corvil Analytics Streams.

Splunk ensures that any Corvil inputs are started once Splunk itself starts. If a Corvil input loses the network connection to the Corvil appliance or the publishing of the Corvil Analytics Stream is halted, the input will attempt to reconnect every 10 seconds.

Preparing Corvil for Streaming to Splunk

Corvil Analytics Streams, via the Corvil Connector for Splunk, can real-time stream Corvil analytics data to Splunk. For more information on configuring Corvil Analytics Streams on Corvil appliances, please consult the Corvil Analytics User Guide.

Corvil Connector for Splunk Configuration

The Corvil Connector for Splunk can be configured on the Splunk UI, using the Splunk REST API or via manual file modification.

Configuring the Corvil Connector for Splunk using the Splunk UI

To configure the Corvil Connector for Splunk as a modular input for Splunk Enterprise:

1. Log in to Splunk Enterprise.

2. From the Settings menu select Data Inputs. On the Data Inputs page, Corvil Connector for Splunk is listed as Corvil Connector.

3. Click Add new.

4. Complete the Add Data form. The optional configuration settings are documented below and the mandatory settings are:

   • Input Name Specify the name for the Splunk data input

   • CNE address Specify the hostname or IP address of the CNE publishing the Corvil Analytics Stream

   • CNE port This field specifies the CNE port number that publishes the Corvil Analytics Stream and is set to 443 by default to show that only encrypted connections are allowed.

   • Username/Password Specify the Web Services API login credentials on the CNE publishing the Corvil Stream (The default username is monitor), or click the 'Retrieve authorization details from script' which hides the username and password section entirely, replacing it with an option to specify the script. See More Settings section below.

   • Analytics Stream Name Specify the name of the Corvil Analytics Stream of interest

5. Click Next.

The form is validated and when it successfully saves, the new Corvil input will connect to the CNE and start streaming data into Splunk. Any validation error is reported on the page. Check the corvil_connector.log. Additional error information, if required, can be found in var/log/splunk/splunkd.log

Note: If addition of the Corvil input fails, check that Oracle JRE 1.8 is installed on your Splunk Enterprise host.

Optional configuration settings

• Event Types Specify the names of the event types of interest as defined in the Corvil Analytics Stream. Multiple event types can be specified as a comma-separated list without whitespace (Default: the field is blank, which publishes all events)

• Include Heartbeats Check the box to include Heartbeat messages with Corvil Analytics Stream events (Default: unchecked)

• Only Include Events in Violation Check the box to specify that only events that violate the thresholds defined in network service objectives on the CNE should be retrieved (Default: unchecked)

• Include links to the Corvil appliance Check the box to include links to the Corvil Appliance in each event (message-url must be enabled on the appliance)

• Suppressed Fields Multiple field names to be suppressed can be specified as a comma-separated list without whitespace (Default: the field is blank, which publishes all the fields)

• Allow Self-Signed Certificates Select this option if the CNE is using a self-signed certificate for encryption (Default: Self-signed Certificates not allowed).

Some less frequently used options are available under More Settings:

• Set the source type Tell Splunk what kind of data this is so you can group it with other data of the same type when you search. When this is set to automatic, Splunk classifies and assigns the sourcetype automatically, and gives unknown sourcetypes placeholder names. You can manually force the source type to 'corvil' rather than rely on auto-detection.

• Index Set the destination index for streamed events for this source.

• Rate-Limit Set a rate-limiter preventing the Corvil Connector for Splunk from sending more than Rate-Limit-Count messages over a period of Rate-Limit-Period seconds, (events violating the limiter are ignored). Zero (0) in either of the fields disables the limiter.

• Encrypt Password Select this to hide the password for the CNE login (Default: password encryption is off).



Important Notes

• Splunk 9.0, 8.2 or8.1 is recommended to give optimal insight into Splunk add-on setup and connectivity error conditions.

• The corvil_connector.log currently will only contain log entries related to new connector config that is added via the Splunk UI or REST API request. If the connector config is added via shell modifying inputs.conf file, the corvil_connector.log will not contain related log entries.

• If the CNE is using a self-signed certificate for encryption, then the connector configuration must enable the “Allow Self-Signed Certificates” option. Otherwise, the connector will refuse to connect to the CNE. Refer to “Configuring HTTP over TLS (HTTPS) for GUI and Web Services API Access” in the Corvil Analytics Administration Guide for more information on Self-Signed Certificates.

• The splunkd.log will contain an error message related to log4j connector configuration. This is a known issue and does not impact connector core functionality or connector logging. The connector uses an embedded log4 configuration rather than an external one.

• Installation of the Corvil Connector for Splunk via UI is recommended, however if the Corvil Connector is installed via unpacking the tar.gz / spl file and copying the directory content into the Splunk server, ensure that:

  • Permissions are set correctly on the Corvil Connector files

  • If default.conf was copied by hand to create an inputs.conf, be sure that all entries that have values of true or false, are replaced with 1 or 0.

Configuring the Corvil Connector for Splunk using the Splunk REST API

It is possible to create new Corvil connectors from CLI using REST API endpoint. Using this method, you can get feedback on whether the Connector was properly configured and if the connection succeeded or not.

This method is essentially the same as using the Splunk UI or manually editing inputs.conf but is instead feeding the configurable parameters in via the Splunk REST API request which can be useful if you don’t have Splunk UI access.

1. Enter the API request containing your required configuration parameters from a Linux command line. In the following example self-signed certificates are allowed:

**curl -d 'name=CorvilConnectorName' -d 'Username=monitor' -d 'Hostname=<CNE_IP_or_FQDN>' -d 'Password=<password>' -d 'Port-Number=443' -d 'Only-Violations-Events=0' -d 'Include-Links=0' -d 'Analytic-Stream-Name=Notable Events' -d 'Receive-Heartbeats=0' -d 'Allow-Self-Signed=1' -k -u SplunkAdminUser:SplunkAdminPass https://localhost:8089/services/data/inputs/corvil**

If the connection is successful, the REST API will return an XML output confirming the connector configuration.

If there is an issue with the connection, an error will be returned.

Configuring the Input on a Splunk forwarder

Since the Splunk forwarder does not offer a GUI for managing add-ons, the configuration needs to be done by directly editing the inputs.conf file:

• Copy $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/Corvil/default/inputs.conf to $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/Corvil/local/inputs.conf

• Edit $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/Corvil/local/inputs.conf to configure one or more inputs. The copy of inputs.conf in default shows the possible options.

• Each configured input has its own stanza starting with a line that names a new input [corvil://db-stream] followed by disabled = 0 and the input’s parameters - identical to the list above. For example

[corvil://test]

sourcetype = corvil

disabled = 0

Hostname = corvil1

Port-Number = 5101

...

• Restart: $SPLUNK_HOME/bin/splunk restart

Verifying Corvil events are received

Once the encrypted connection to the CNE is established, verify that Splunk is receiving Corvil events from the CNE. One way to check this is to run a search in Splunk, such as: source="corvil://<corvil_connector_connection_name_in_Splunk_Data_Inputs>"

Data types

The Corvil Connector for Splunk defines a "corvil" source type, which is JSON-formatted data with mandatory fields (for example, timestamp and eventID).

Paths

Connector log file on Splunk server

<splunk_path>/var/log/splunk/corvil_connector.log

Third-party Software Attributions

Version 1.2.2 of Corvil Connector for Splunk incorporates the following third-party software or libraries: Google Protobuf, Apache commons codec, and Apache Sling commons JSON

Support and Resources

Contacting Corvil Technical Support

If you need support for Corvil products, then Corvil Technical Support can be contacted Monday to Friday between 9:00 and 17:00 GMT. Corvil customers with a standard contract will be ensured of a response within 24 hours and have access to a portal where support tickets can be tracked.

• e-mail: support@corvil.com

• USA/Canada Toll Free: 1800 673 3185

• UK Freephone: 0800 066 4799

• International: +353 1 859 1010