Splunk Enterprise

How to transfer data from the data source to forwarder via syslog over TLS?

AHA-0114
Explorer

I would like to transfer data from the data source to Forwarder via Syslog over TLS.
Is it possible to use the default SSL certificate provided by Splunk to transfer data from the data source to the forwarder over Syslog over TLS?
Is it possible to use the default SSL certificate provided by Splunk on non-Splunk equipment?

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PickleRick
SplunkTrust
SplunkTrust

Ok, some things need clarification. Whereas TCP or HTTP are relatively strict terms, syslog is a very loosely applied name regarding to - depending on context - many things from completely anything sent to UDP/514 to a particular RFC5424 message format.

Most probably by saying "syslog over TLS" you mean a simple tcp-tls-based input regardless of what's being sent there.

Yes, it can be done. Just use tcp-tls: input instead of tcp:. Parameters regarding encryption/authentication not specified within particular input will be pulled from defaul [SSL] stanza.

In case of simple network inputs however, it's often worth considering setting up intermediate syslog-processing layer (sc4s, rsyslog...) to keep the network-level metadata.

And yes, technicaly speaking, you could of course use the splunk's internal certificates but it's generally good idea to use your own CA in production environment.

VatsalJagani
SplunkTrust
SplunkTrust

I'm not a Syslog expert but if you are using rsyslog then this (https://www.rsyslog.com/doc/v8-stable/tutorials/tls_cert_summary.html) document might be useful.

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