Remote Windows Registry monitoring

[troy_otis]

I am somewhat new to Splunk but I have been assigned a configured system which I am trying to modify. It currently monitors filesystem changes and to make adjustments to that I modify an inputs.conf file under deployment_apps. I want to add windows registry monitoring. I am looking for a simple step by step procedure to add this monitoring to the existing systems. Do I add entries to the same inputs.conf file as the filesystem change or is there another area to add this information to? I would like to do this on the main Splunk server and push out the updates to the systems being monitored.

Thanks,

[adrianathome]

I recommend that you test in a development environment. Registry monitoring is the one thing that affected performance of my production systems.

I wouldn't push a configuration bundle via deployment server until you fully understand the configurations and have tested performance. If you don't have a development environment you can at least test the configs with one/few systems.

Enabling it is easy. If you download the Windows TA and look at the inputs.conf you can see what the stanza looks like. You can use the same inputs.conf for the filesystem changes.

http://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/5.0.4/Data/MonitorWindowsregistrydata

[troy_otis]

What is the Windows TA?

I have the Universal Forwarder installed, does the Windows TA add the executable required for the windows registry monitoring?