Deploy NXLog Agent with Salt

Salt is a free software configuration management tool that offers fast and scalable configuration management and a remote execution software framework. This framework runs concurrently on the minions, permitting the instantaneous configuration of an unlimited number of remote hosts by using language-specific state files.

A basic Salt setup consists of a Salt master (your workstation) handling one or more Salt minions (the target servers). A server running the salt-master service is called the Salt master. The master provides the orchestration and automation environment between managed nodes. A system or device operated by the Salt master is called a Salt minion. A minion can either run the salt-minion service or be agentless utilizing salt-ssh or salt-proxy. In our example, we will use the salt-ssh service to reduce complexity.

To install Salt, refer to the Salt installation guide.

Salt Master configuration file

Before using salt-ssh, you must configure the Salt-Master installed on your workstation. Edit /etc/salt/master and uncomment the following lines:

Example 1. master

interface: 0.0.0.0
publish_port: 4505
enable_ssh_minions: True
ret_port: 4506
conf_file: /etc/salt/master
ssh_port: 22
file_roots:
  base:
    - /srv/salt/states
    - /srv/salt/files

The most important information here is the file_roots key that defines the respective paths to state files, images, installation files, etc. It will fail if a task attempts to upload a file to any path not specified here.

Now restart the salt-master service to apply the changes by executing:

$ systemctl restart salt-master

Salt configuration file

Salt SSH connects to remote nodes using a file called roster located at /etc/salt/roster. The roster file contains information regarding the remote systems and their connection. With the roster file configured, salt-ssh can execute all Salt commands. Although the roster file does not have a file extension, it is a YAML file.

The following YAML file will be used for this example.

roster

ubuntu:
  host:         192.168.1.10
  user:         <username>
  passwd:       <password>
  sudo:         True
  tty:          True

When using sudo, ensure that tty is also enabled. Otherwise, the connection will fail.

Test the connection to the remote node:

$ salt-ssh 'ubuntu*' test.ping

The command should return:

ubuntu:
    True

NXLog Agent configuration file

Prior to writing the Salt state file, the NXLog Agent configuration file needs to be created and saved in /srv/salt/files/managed.conf.

This configuration example will set up NXLog Agent with a basic connection to NXLog Platform. The basic configuration can be downloaded by navigating to Agents > Agents in NXLog Platform and clicking on Add new Agent. The downloaded config will include the correct YOUR_PLATFORM_ADDRESS define.

managed.conf

define HOST YOUR_PLATFORM_ADDRESS:5514
LogLevel              INFO
LogFile               %MYLOGFILE%
<Extension admin>
    Module            xm_admin
    Host              %HOST%
    SocketType        SSL
    AllowUntrusted    True
    RequireCert       False
    <ACL conf>
        Directory     %CONFDIR%
        AllowRead     TRUE
        AllowWrite    TRUE
    </ACL>
    <ACL cert>
        Directory     %CERTDIR%
        AllowRead     TRUE
        AllowWrite    TRUE
    </ACL>
</Extension>

The next step is to create the state file, which defines the steps for installing and configuring NXLog Agent.

nxlog.sls

copy_nxlog_archive:
  file.managed:
    - name: /srv/salt/files/nxlog-5.4.7313_ubuntu20_amd64.tar.bz2
    - source: salt://nxlog-5.4.7313_ubuntu20_amd64.tar.bz2
    - user: root
    - group: root
    - makedirs: True

nxlog_archive_extraction:
  archive.extracted:
    - name: /srv/salt/files/nxlog
    - source: salt://nxlog-5.4.7313_ubuntu20_amd64.tar.bz2
    - enforce_toplevel: False

nxlog_deps_installation:
  pkg.installed:
    - pkgs:
      - libapr1
      - libdbi1
      - curl
      - openjdk-8-jdk

nxlog_instalaltion:
  pkg.installed:
    - sources:
      - nxlog: /srv/salt/files/nxlog/nxlog-5.4.7313_ubuntu20_amd64.deb
      - ruby: /srv/salt/files/nxlog/nxlog-ruby_5.4.7313_ubuntu20_amd64.deb
      - systemd: /srv/salt/files/nxlog/nxlog-systemd_5.4.7313_ubuntu20_amd64.deb
      - java: /srv/salt/files/nxlog/nxlog-java_5.4.7313_ubuntu20_amd64.deb
      - python: /srv/salt/files/nxlog/nxlog-python_5.4.7313_ubuntu20_amd64.deb
      - odbc: /srv/salt/files/nxlog/nxlog-odbc_5.4.7313_ubuntu20_amd64.deb
      - checkpoint: /srv/salt/files/nxlog/nxlog-checkpoint_5.4.7313_ubuntu20_amd64.deb 
      - pcap: /srv/salt/files/nxlog/nxlog-pcap_5.4.7313_ubuntu20_amd64.deb
      - wseventing: /srv/salt/files/nxlog/nxlog-wseventing_5.4.7313_ubuntu20_amd64.deb
      - dbi: /srv/salt/files/nxlog/nxlog-dbi_5.4.7313_ubuntu20_amd64.deb
      - perl: /srv/salt/files/nxlog/nxlog-perl_5.4.7313_ubuntu20_amd64.deb
      - zmq: /srv/salt/files/nxlog/nxlog-zmq_5.4.7313_ubuntu20_amd64.deb
      - kafka: /srv/salt/files/nxlog/nxlog-kafka_5.4.7313_ubuntu20_amd64.deb

copy_nxlog_config:
  file.managed:
    - name: /opt/nxlog/etc/nxlog.d/managed.conf
    - source: salt://managed.conf
    - user: nxlog
    - group: nxlog

restart_nxlog:
  service.running:
    - name: nxlog
    - enable: True
    - full_restart: True
    - watch:
      - file: /opt/nxlog/etc/nxlog.d/managed.conf

The state file has the .sls extension.

To run the tasks on the remote server, execute the command:

$ salt-ssh 'ubuntu*' state.apply nxlog