topic Re: Custom Sourcetype Challenges in Getting Data In

Custom Sourcetype Challenges

sloshburch — Thu, 31 Oct 2013 18:27:01 GMT

Using splunk 5.0.2 (although tested on splunk 6 as well - same challenges).

We're looking to use splunk to store audits of what software is on our systems. In Windows, we're trying to use "Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product" in powershell. This is defined in my inputs.conf as a [script://./bin/script.bat] stanza.

The props.conf for this sourcetype is:

[SloshBurchsSourceType]
SHOULD_LINEMERGE=false
LINE_BREAKER=([\r\n]+)Name
DATETIME_CONFIG = CURRENT
REPORT-SloshBurchsSourceType = SloshBurchsSourceType

A single event in splunk is coming in correctly as a block like this:

Name            : Adobe Shockwave Player 12.0
Vendor          : Adobe Systems, Inc
Version         : 12.0.4.144
Caption         : Adobe Shockwave Player 12.0
InstallLocation : C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Adobe\
InstallDate     : 20130917

I've set my transforms.conf to

[SloshBurchsSourceType]
DELIMS="\r\n", ":"

This isn't working - I'm not getting any of the fields. I'm guessing it's because of the : in the InstallLocation.

I tried switching to this transform.conf but still nothing. I'm guessing I'm using the regex wrong.

[SloshBurchsSourceType]
REGEX = (?<_KEY_1>.+)\s+:\s+(?<_VALUE_1>.+)
FORMAT = $1::$2

I want my sourcetype to automatically extract any "name : value" pairs from this without me having to list out the field names. I want splunk to dynamically detect the name value pairs in this sourcetype in the same way that is does, out of the box, for "name=value" format.

Any tips? Ideas what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks for any responses!

Re: Custom Sourcetype Challenges

lguinn2 — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 19:26:31 GMT

Your LINEBREAKER setting is consuming the "Name" characters at the beginning of the event. I would avoid using LINEBREAKER. Try this instead for props.conf

[SloshBurchsSourceType]
SHOULD_LINEMERGE=true
BREAK_ONLY_BEFORE = ^Name\s+\:
DATETIME_CONFIG = CURRENT
REPORT-SloshBurchsSourceType = SloshBurchsSourceType

I think that your first version of transforms.conf is probably fine.

Re: Custom Sourcetype Challenges

sloshburch — Tue, 12 Nov 2013 14:36:49 GMT

The events were separated correctly. The issue I am facing is how to separate the name : value pairs within the atomic events that I've created. Sorry if that was unclear.

Re: Custom Sourcetype Challenges

lguinn2 — Tue, 12 Nov 2013 18:33:51 GMT

Well, since the string "Name:" is actually consumed by your LINEBREAKER setting, it will throw off all the field extractions. That's why I made this recommendation. Plus, your use of LINEBREAKER also makes your data look different in Splunk than it does in the original file, which could throw users off too.