Installation

Splunk stream Netflow

gopenshaw
Explorer

Hello,

I'm hoping someone is able to help me find out what's going on with Splunk Stream and Netflow because I'm tearing my hair out trying to get it working.

I have a separate indexer and search head and am trying to use the independent stream forwarder. The forwarder host also has UF installed but not Splunk_TA_stream, incidentally I tried getting it working with the Splunk_TA_stream app and was also seeing similar results.

SH configuration:

Splunk app for stream installed and configured as per https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/StreamApp/7.3.0/DeployStreamApp/UseStreamtoingestNetflowandIPF...

Indexer configuration:
$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/splunk_httpinput/local/inputs.conf

 

[http]
disabled = 0
port = 8088
dedicatedIoThreads = 8

[http://streamfwd]
description = Splunk Stream HEC
disabled = 0
index = main
token = <hec_token>
indexes = _internal,main
[splunk@<indexer> ~]$ netstat -antup | grep 8088
(Not all processes could be identified, non-owned process info
 will not be shown, you would have to be root to see it all.)
tcp     0   0 0.0.0.0:8088      0.0.0.0:*        LISTEN      11580/splunkd

 

Independent forwarder setup:

/opt/streamfwd/local/inputs.conf

 

[streamfwd://streamfwd]
splunk_stream_app_location = https://<search_head>:8000/en-us/custom/splunk_app_stream/
stream_forwarder_id =
disabled = 0

 

 /opt/streamfwd/local/streamfwd.conf

 

[streamfwd://streamfwd]
authToken = <auth_token_generated_by_curl_config>

[streamfwd]
httpEventCollectorToken = <HEC_TOKEN>
processingThreads = 4

indexer.0.uri = https://<indexer>:8088

netflowReceiver.0.port = 9996
netflowReceiver.0.decoder = netflow
netflowReceiver.0.ip = <forwarder_ip>

 

If i run the search index=main sourcetype="stream:*" the only events I see are:

 

 { [-]
   endtime: 2020-12-22T12:18:36Z
   event_name: netFlowOptions
   exporter_ip: <router_ip>
   exporter_time: 2020-Dec-22 12:18:36
   exporter_uptime: 4273621448
   netflow_version: 9
   observation_domain_id: 0
   seqnumber: 340894
   timestamp: 2020-12-22T12:18:36Z
} 

 

and running index=_internal sourcetype="stream:*" host="<forwarder>" gives me two sourcetypes, stream:log and stream:stats. stream:log gives me nothing of interest, just decode errors until the template is received, then these errors stop.

stream:stats shows me:

 

 { [-]
   agentMode: 1
   ipAddress: <stream_forwarder_ip>
   netflow: { [-]
     NetflowDataHandlers: [ [-]
       { [-]
         NetflowDecoders: [ [-]
           { [-]
             name: Netflow
             processedRecords: 210991
           }
         ]
         droppedPackets: 0
         id: 0
       }
     ]
     NetflowReceivers: [ [-]
       { [-]
         id: 0
         recvdBytes: 8861500
         running: true
       }
     ]
     eventsIn: 210964
     eventsOut: 210964
     id: NetflowManager
     running: true
   }
   osName: Linux
   senders: [ [-]
     { [-]
       busyConnections: 0
       configTemplateName:
       connections: [ [-]
         { [-]
           endpoint: 0.0.0.0:0
           id: 0
           lastConnect: 2020-12-22T12:15:55.118285Z
           numErrors: 5
           numSent: 20
           queueSize: 0
           status: closed
           workStatus: idle
         }
         { [-]
           endpoint: 0.0.0.0:0
           id: 1
           lastConnect: 2020-12-22T12:14:54.193007Z
           numErrors: 4
           numSent: 27
           queueSize: 0
           status: closed
           workStatus: idle
         }
         { [-]
           endpoint: 0.0.0.0:0
           id: 2
           lastConnect: 2020-12-22T12:14:54.200473Z
           numErrors: 3
           numSent: 20
           queueSize: 0
           status: closed
           workStatus: idle
         }
         { [+]
         }
         { [+]
         }
         { [+]
         }
         { [+]
         }
         { [+]
         }
         { [+]
         }
         { [+]
         }
       ]
       dateLastUpdated: 1608637900306
       encrypted: true
       host: <search_head>
       id: <some_id>
       key:
       lastErrorCode: 0
       name:
       numBytes: 4367915
       numErrors: 41
       numStreams: 1
       openConnections: 0
       port: 8000
       requestsQueued: 0
       requestsSent: 229
       running: true
       streamForwarderGroups: [ [+]
       ]
       streamForwarderId: <forwarder_fqdn>
       streams: [ [-]
         { [-]
           bytes: 8016506
           bytes_in: 8016506
           bytes_out: 0
           delta_bytes: 339112
           delta_bytes_in: 339112
           delta_bytes_out: 0
           delta_events: 8924
           delta_raw_bytes: 5889905
           events: 210964
           id: TEST_NETFLOW
           raw_bytes: 130470120
           stats_only: 0
         }
       ]
     }
   ]
   sniffer: { [+]
   }
   systemType: x86_64
   versionNumber: 7.3.0
} 

 

which suggests that netflow receivers are working as expected.

Running a tcpdump on the receiver host I can see that I am receiving genuine netflow v9 which is readable using wireshark.

I've looked at splunkd.log on the indexer and I'm not seeing anything that relates to the stream forwarder. I'm at a loss where to look next. I have gone through the documentation countless times over the last few days to make sure I'm not missing anything.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Labels (2)
1 Solution

gopenshaw
Explorer

It turns out that steam is actually configured correctly. The reason I was only seeing the heartbeats is because there is a delay of 5000+ seconds between event time and index time.

View solution in original post

Hamidreza74
Explorer

I have the same problem, how do I tune these times?

0 Karma

gopenshaw
Explorer

In my case ran a packet capture between the switches and the Splunk server. Using this Splunk article I calculated the times and Splunk was correct. https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/StreamApp/7.3.0/DeployStreamApp/UseStreamtoingestNetflowandIPF...

It appeared to be the switches misreporting the time. I was planning to follow it up with the switch vendor, but we went in a different direction so I don't have any further updates, sorry!

Tags (1)
0 Karma

gopenshaw
Explorer

It turns out that steam is actually configured correctly. The reason I was only seeing the heartbeats is because there is a delay of 5000+ seconds between event time and index time.

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