Audit Log
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    Audit Log

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    Article Summary

    The Audit Log enables you to see:

    • Changes made to ControlUp’s configuration settings, such as adding a new hypervisor.
    • Remote operations are performed on managed assets through ControlUp, such as rebooting a virtual machine or killing a process on a managed computer.

    These logs are primarily used in corporate environments. The audit log uploads data to the ControlUp cloud or can be configured to save to a local Syslog server. The Audit Log is by default, configured to enable centralized auditing in hybrid cloud environments.

    Auditing Methods

    Group Actions

    The auditing is carried out separately for each OBJECT on each TARGET and includes all details and completion status for each audit log entry.

    Auditing Optimizations

    The initialization and completion records carry only the relevant data to save storage and traffic.

    The initialization record contains all data except the output, while the completion record contains the output, status, and the error message if the action failed.

    In the case of mass/group activity in public configuration, we have separate 'initialized' audit log entries for each object and one common 'completion' entry for all objects in the group because in such case the action is completed successfully for all objects or failed for all objects.

    The Audit Log documents up to ten automated action executions, per trigger, per minute in the organization. If the number of executions exceeds the limit, the automated actions run without auditing, even if the enforced mode is enabled.

    The following audit log entry is added to document the exception in CA:
    "The amount of audit log entries generated by the trigger exceeds the permitted limit and will be silenced for a while."

    Storing the Audit Logs

    The Audit Logs may be stored in the following ways:

    • ControlUp Cloud: This is the default configuration for hybrid cloud environments. Once support for the cloud data store is implemented, it is possible to view an audit log report in Solve. The data is retained in this log for a period of a year after it was first recorded. This option is NOT available for on-premises implementations.
      For complete information on viewing Audit Logs, see here.
      The following is an example of the Audit Log stored in Solve.
    • SysLog: The contents of the SysLog data store can be viewed using any standard Syslog reader (e.g. Splunk). On-premises implementations can only store audit logs on their SysLog Servers.
      The following is an example of the Audit Log stored on a Syslog Server.

    Actions are reported in the Audit Log as two separate entries; once for initialization of the action and once for completion of the action.

    Audit Log Settings

    Only the organization owner can modify the audit log settings. The organization owner is displayed and managed in the Security Settings pane in the Real-Time Console.

    Go to the Audit Log tab by clicking Audit Log from the Settings ribbon and the Audit Log page appears.

    • Enable Centralized Auditing- For enabling/disabling the audit log data storage in the hybrid cloud environment.
      • Fail action if auditing fails - Enforced mode. Prevents actions from being executed if the auditing was not completed properly. Not available in SysLog.
    • Send to SysLog Server-Enables you to save the auditing records to a SysLog server by entering its:
      • IP/hostname - Enter the IP address or hostname of the SysLog server.
      • Port - Enter the port to use to connect to the Syslog server.
      • Protocol - Select the protocol to use to connect to the SysLog server – UDP or TCP

    Once you have finished making changes to the settings, click Apply to save the changes or OK to save the changes and close the window.

    Audit Logs Data

    For each entry in the audit logs, the following information is stored:

    Item

    Description

    Date

    Date and time of the event

    Origin

    The source of the event (Web client, Console, PowerShell, automated action, Insights, etc)

    Status

    The status of the event (initiated, completed, aborted, error, etc.)

    Requesting Computer

    The hostname or IP address of the computer from which the event was initiated. This can be:

    • Computer used
    • Console, if the user performed an action from the console
    • Monitor where the AA/cmdlet was executed
    • Solve/Insights

    Requesting User 

    The user account of the user who initiated the event

    Credentials

    The user account that was used to execute the command

    Note: If this is the same as Requesting User, this field is left blank

    Activity

    The type of action that was performed (kill a process, add a computer, etc)

    Details

    Additional information that is specific to the command

    Object Type

    The type of object on which the command was executed

    Object Name

    The name of object on which the command was executed

    Executing Computer

    The name of the object on which the command was executed (computer hostname, hypervisor name, Citrix ADC name, organization name, username, etc)

    Output

    The output of the operation

    For example: If the action being audited is running a script you can see the output of the script by clicking the icon in this column


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