Splunk Universal Forwarder Version 6.2.3+ Ubuntu 15.04

Splunk 4 Minutes

Author: Ryan Faircloth

Summary: Using repositories for version managment of the Splunk Universal Forwarder assists in ensuring managed Ubuntu systems are using the approved version of the software at all times.

Setup the repository server

  1. Install reprepro and nginx


    sudo apt-get install reprepro nginx packaging-dev -y

  2. Create a user to work with the repository


    adduser --disabled-password --disabled-login --home /srv/reprepro --group reprepro

  3. Change user to our reprepro user all commands for the repository should be executed using this ID


    sudo su - reprepro

Generate GPG Keys

  1. Change user to our reprepro user all commands for the repository should be executed using this ID 

    sudo su - reprepro
  2. Create the default configuration for gpg by running the command

    gpg --list-keys

  3. Edit ~/.gnupg/gpg.conf
    • uncomment the line no-greeting
    • add the following content to the end of the file
    # Prioritize stronger algorithms for new keys.
default-preference-list SHA512 SHA384 SHA256 SHA224 AES256 AES192 AES CAST5 BZIP2 ZLIB ZIP UNCOMPRESSED
# Use a stronger digest than the default SHA1 for certifications.
cert-digest-algo SHA512

  4. Generate a new key with the command gpg --gen-key

  5. Select the folowing options
    1. Type of key “(1) RSA and RSA (default)”
    2. Key size “4096”
    3. Expires “10y”
    4. Confirm “Y”
    5. Real Name “Splunk local repository”
    6. Email address on repository contact this generally should be an alias or distribution list
    7. Leave the comment blank
    8. Confirm and “O” to Okay
    9. Leave passphrase blank and confirm, a key will be generated not the sub KEY ID in the following example * E507D48E *


    gpg: checking the trustdb
    gpg: 3 marginal(s) needed, 1 complete(s) needed, PGP trust model
    gpg: depth: 0 valid: 1 signed: 0 trust: 0-, 0q, 0n, 0m, 0f, 1u
    gpg: next trustdb check due at 2025-05-24
    pub 4096R/410E1699 2015-05-27 [expires: 2025-05-24]
    Key fingerprint = 7CB8 81A9 E07F DA7B 83FF 2E1B 8B31 DA83 410E 1699
    uid Splunk local repository <repo@example.com>
    sub 4096R/E507D48E 2015-05-27 [expires: 2025-05-24]

  6. Export the signing keys public component save this content for use later


    gpg --export --armor KEY_ID >~/repo.pub

Configure Prerepro

  1. Change user to our reprepro user all commands for the repository should be executed using this ID sudo su - reprepro

  2. Create the directory structure sudo mkdir -p /srv/reprepro/ubuntu/{conf,dists,incoming,indices,logs,pool,project,tmp}

  3. Change directories to the new repository cd /srv/reprepro/ubuntu/

  4. Edit the file /srv/reprepro/ubuntu/conf/distributions

  5. Update the file contents 

    Origin: SplunkEnterprise
Label: SplunkEnterprise
Codename: ponies
Architectures: i386 amd64 source    
Components: main
Description: Splunk Enterprise and Universal Forwarders for Debian based systems
SignWith: YOUR-KEY-ID
  6. Edit the file /srv/reprepro/ubuntu/conf/options

  7. Update the file contents 

    ask-passphrase
basedir .

Load the packages

Load the packages using the following commands syntax replace package.deb with the correct path to the splunkforwarder deb file

reprepro -S utils -P standard includedeb ponies package.deb

Setup the web server

  1. Create the file /etc/nginx/sites-available/vhost-packages.conf

  2. Use the following content replacing package.local with the fqdn of the repository host 
    server {
  listen 80;
  server_name packages.internal;
    
  access_log /var/log/nginx/packages-access.log;
  error_log /var/log/nginx/packages-error.log;
    
  location / {
    root /srv/reprepro;
    index index.html;
  }
    
  location ~ /(.*)/conf {
    deny all;
  }
    
  location ~ /(.*)/db {
    deny all;
  }
}
  3. Increase the server name hash bucket by creating the following file /etc/nginx/conf.d/server_names_hash_bucket_size.conf

  4. Use the following content server_names_hash_bucket_size 64;

  5. Enable the new configuration

    sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/vhost-packages.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/vhost-packages.conf
sudo service nginx reload

Configure the repository

  1. Edit the file 
    /etc/apt/sources.list.d/packages.internal.list
  2. Use the following content 
    deb http://packages.internal/ubuntu/ ponies main
  3. Import the public key 
    sudo apt-key add /tmp/repo.pub
  4. Update the repository cache 
    sudo apt-get update

Install the Splunk Universal Forwarder

Run the following command

sudo apt-get install splunkforwarder

Configure the universal forwarder

  • Using best practices to manually create the org_deploymentclient configuration app
  • Using RPM based configuration package
  • Using Configuration Managment system such as Puppet or Chef

Create and install a configuration package for the Universal Forwarder

In the following procedure “org” should be replace with the abbreviate of the organization using the configuration.

  1. Create the paths /srv/reprepro/org_debs/

  2. Create the path for the first version of the package ie mkdir org-splunk-ufconfig-1

  3. Change to the new directory

  4. Create the following structure 

    ├── DEBIAN
│   ├── control (file)
│   ├── postinst (file)
│   ├── preinst (file)
│   └── prerm (file)
└── opt
    └── splunkforwarder
        └── etc
            └── apps
                └── org_all_deploymentclient
                    └── default
                        ├── deploymentclient.conf (file)
  5. Edit the DEBIAN/control file as follows


    Package: org-splunk-ufconfig
    Section: base
    Priority: standard
    Version: 1
    Architecture: all
    Maintainer: Your Name <you@email.com>
    Depends: splunkforwarder (>=6.0.0)
    Description: <insert up to 60 chars description>
    <insert long description, indented with spaces>

  6. Edit the DEBIAN/postinst

    #!/bin/bash
/opt/splunkforwarder/bin/splunk enable boot-start -user splunk --accept-license --answer-yes
service splunk start
  7. Edit the DEBIAN/preinst 
    #!/bin/bash
file="/etc/init.d/splunk"
if [ -f "$file" ]
then
    echo "$file found."
    service splunk stop
else
    echo "$file not found."
fi
  8. Edit the DEBIAN/prerm 
    #!/bin/bash
file="/etc/init.d/splunk"
if [ -f "$file" ]
then
    echo "$file found."
    service splunk stop
    /opt/splunkforwarder/bin/splunk disable boot-start
else
    echo "$file not found."
fi
  9. Update the contents of deploymentclient.conf with the appropriate information for you installation

  10. Add additional content as required for your deployment

  11. Change directories up to the parent of org-splunk-ufconfig–1

  12. Create the debian package with the command dpkg-deb --build org-splunk-ufconfig-1/

  13. Change to the repository directory /srv/reprepro/ubuntu

  14. Store the new package in the repository

    reprepro -S utils -P standard includedeb ponies /srv/reprepro/org_debs/org-splunk-ufconfig-1.deb

  15. Install the new package on the client using the command sudo apt-get install org-splunk-ufconfig this will install the splunk forwarder package if has not yet been installed.

Published by ryan@dss-i.com

Published