Azure Event Hubs Source

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If you're using our new Cloud-to-Cloud source collection, see Migrating from Azure function-based collection to Event Hub Cloud-to-Cloud Source.

The Azure Event Hubs Source provides a secure endpoint to receive data from Azure Event Hubs. It securely stores the required authentication, scheduling, and state tracking information.

Collecting data from Azure Event Hubs using this Cloud-to-Cloud collection source has a supported throughput limit of 1MB/S (86GB/day) for a named Event Hub egress rate. We recommend using the Azure Functions model if you require higher throughput.

The Azure platform can be configured to export logs to one or more Event Hub destinations. Platform logs include:

• Resource Logs
• Activity Logs

Third party apps or services can be configured to send event data to Event Hubs as well, including Auth0.

note

This Source is available in the Fed deployment.

Prerequisites

1. Create an Event Hub using the Azure portal by navigating to Event Hubs in the Azure Portal.
   

2. Create an Event Hubs namespace. In this example, Namespace is set to cnctest:
   
   

3. Create an Event Hub Instance.
   

   • Shared Access Policies can be set up for the entire namespace. These policies can be used to access/manage all hubs in the namespace. A policy for the namespace is created by default: RootManageSharedAccessKey
     In this example, Event Hub Instance is set to my-hub.

4. Create a Shared Access Policy with the Listen claim to the newly created Event Hub Instance:
   
   
   
   In this example, Event Hub Instance is set to SumoCollectionPolicy.

5. Copy the Shared Access Policy Key.
   Copy the Primary/Secondary key associated with this policy.

6. When configuring the Azure Event Hubs Source in Sumo Logic, our input fields would be:

   Field	Value
   Azure Event Hubs Namespace	cnctest
   Event Hubs Instance Name	my-hub
   Shared Access Policy Name	SumoCollectionPolicy
   Shared Access Policy Key	mOsLf3RE…

   

States

An Azure Event Hubs Source tracks errors, reports its health, and start-up progress. You’re informed, in real-time, if the Source is having trouble connecting, if there's an error requiring user action, or if it is healthy and collecting by utilizing Health Events.

An Azure Event Hubs Source goes through the following states when created:

1. Pending. Once the Source is submitted, it is validated, stored, and placed in a Pending state.
2. Started. A collection task is created on the Hosted Collector.
3. Initialized. The task configuration is complete in Sumo Logic.
4. Authenticated. The Source successfully authenticated with Azure Event Hubs.
5. Collecting. The Source is actively collecting data from Azure Event Hubs.

If the Source has any issues during any one of these states, it is placed in an Error state.

When you delete the Source, it is placed in a Stopping state. When it has successfully stopped, it is deleted from your Hosted Collector.

On the Collection page, the Health and Status for Sources is displayed. Use Health Events to investigate issues with collection. You can click the text in the Health column, such as Error, to open the issue in Health Events to investigate.

Hover your mouse over the status icon to view a tooltip with details on the detected issue.

Create an Azure Event Hubs Source

When you create an Azure Event Hubs Source, you add it to a Hosted Collector. Before creating the Source, identify the Hosted Collector you want to use or create a new Hosted Collector. For instructions, see Configure a Hosted Collector.

To configure an Azure Event Hubs Source:

1. In Sumo Logic, select Manage Data > Collection > Collection.
2. On the Collectors page, click Add Source next to a HostedCollector.
3. Select Azure Event Hubs.
   
4. Enter a Name for the Source. The description is optional.
   
5. (Optional) For Source Category, enter any string to tag the output collected from the Source. Category metadata is stored in a searchable field called _sourceCategory.
6. Forward to SIEM. Check the checkbox to forward your data to Cloud SIEM Enterprise. When configured with the Forward to SIEM option the following metadata fields are set:
   • _siemVendor: Microsoft
   • _siemProduct: Azure
   • _siemFormat: JSON
   • _siemEventID: <metadata.eventType> Where metadata.eventType is populated from the field in the event JSON, such as Administrative or Resource Health. See more information about the available event types for the Azure platform in Activity Log Categories and Resource Log Categories. Logs that do not contain a category field are assigned category UNKNOWN.
7. (Optional) Fields. Click the +Add Field link to define the fields you want to associate, each field needs a name (key) and value.
   •  A green circle with a check mark is shown when the field exists in the Fields table schema.
   •  An orange triangle with an exclamation point is shown when the field doesn't exist in the Fields table schema. In this case, an option to automatically add the nonexistent fields to the Fields table schema is provided. If a field is sent to Sumo that does not exist in the Fields schema it is ignored, known as dropped.
8. Azure Event Hubs Namespace. Enter your Azure Event Hubs Namespace name. 
9. Event Hubs Instance Name. Enter the Azure Event Hubs Instance Name.
10. Shared Access Policy. Enter your Shared Access Policy Name and Key. The Shared Access Policy requires the Listen claim.
11. Consumer Group Name. If needed, specify a custom consumer group name. When using a custom Consumer Group make sure that it exists for the Event Hub instance.
12. Receive data with latest offset or from timestamp. Choose one of the following options:
    • Latest offset (default) - this will start the receiver with the latest offset and collect any new logs received to the Event Hub moving forward.
    • Timestamp - use this option to start receiving logs from a specific point in time in the event stream. Timestamp can be used to ingest historical data. Once all historical data has been ingested it is recommended to switch to Latest offset. This will ensure the Collector continues from the latest recorded checkpoint when restarted and not use the Timestamp specified as a starting point, which could result in logs being received and processed more than once.  
13. Processing Rules for Logs. Configure any desired filters, such as allowlist, denylist, hash, or mask, as described in Create a Processing Rule.
14. Advanced Options for Logs.
    • Timestamp Parsing. This option is selected by default. If it's deselected, no timestamp information is parsed at all.
    • Time Zone. There are two options for Time Zone. You can use the time zone present in your log files, and then choose an option in case time zone information is missing from a log message. Or, you can have Sumo Logic completely disregard any time zone information present in logs by forcing a time zone. It's very important to have the proper time zone set, no matter which option you choose. If the time zone of logs can't be determined, Sumo Logic assigns logs UTC; if the rest of your logs are from another time zone your search results will be affected.
    • Timestamp Format. By default, Sumo Logic will automatically detect the timestamp format of your logs. However, you can manually specify a timestamp format for a Source. See Timestamps, Time Zones, Time Ranges, and Date Formats for more information.  
15. When you are finished configuring the Source, click Submit.

Error types

When Sumo Logic detects an issue it is tracked by Health Events. The following table shows the three possible error types, the reason the error would occur, if the Source attempts to retry, and the name of the event log in the Health Event Index.

Type	Reason	Retries	Retry Behavior	Health Event Name
ThirdPartyConfig	Normally due to an invalid configuration. You'll need to review your Source configuration and make an update.	No retries are attempted until the Source is updated.	Not applicable	ThirdPartyConfigError
ThirdPartyGeneric	Normally due to an error communicating with the third party service APIs.	Yes	The Source will retry for up to 90 minutes, after which retries will be attempted every 60 minutes.	ThirdPartyGenericError
FirstPartyGeneric	Normally due to an error communicating with the internal Sumo Logic APIs.	Yes	The Source will retry for up to 90 minutes, after which retries will be attempted every 60 minutes.	FirstPartyGenericError

Restarting your Source

If your Source encounters ThirdPartyConfig errors, you can restart it from either the Sumo Logic UI or Sumo Logic API.

UI

To restart your source in the Sumo Logic platform, follow the steps below:

1. Open the Collection page, and go to Manage Data > Collection > Collection.
2. Select the source and click the information icon on the right side of the row.
3. The API usage information popup is displayed. Click the Restart Source button on the bottom left.
   
4. Click Confirm to send the restart request.
   
5. The bottom left of the platform will provide a notification informing you the request was successful.
   

API

To restart your source using the Sumo Management API, follow the instructions below:

• Method: POST
• Example endpoint:

  https://api.sumologic.com/api/v1/collectors/{collector_id}/sources/{source_id}/action/restart

Sumo Logic endpoints like api.sumologic.com are different in deployments outside us1. For example, an API endpoint in Europe would begin api.eu.sumologic.com. A service endpoint in us2 (Western U.S.) would begin service.us2.sumologic.com. For more information, see Sumo Logic Endpoints.

JSON configuration

Sources can be configured using UTF-8 encoded JSON files with the Collector Management API. See how to use JSON to configure Sources for details. 

Parameter	Type	Required	Description	Access
config	JSON Object	Yes	Contains the configuration parameters for the Source.
schemaRef	JSON Object	Yes	Use {"type":"Azure Event Hubs"} for an Azure Event Hubs Source.	not modifiable
sourceType	String	Yes	Use Universal for an Azure Event Hubs Source.	not modifiable

The following table shows the config parameters for an Azure Event Hubs Source.

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description	Access
name	String	Yes		Type a desired name of the Source. The name must be unique per Collector. This value is assigned to the metadata field _source.	modifiable
description	String	No	null	Type a description of the Source.	modifiable
category	String	No	null	Type a category of the source. This value is assigned to the metadata field _sourceCategory. See best practices for details.	modifiable
fields	JSON Object	No		JSON map of key-value fields (metadata) to apply to the Collector or Source. Use the boolean field _siemForward to enable forwarding to SIEM.	modifiable
namespace	String	Yes		Your Azure Event Hubs Namespace name.	modifiable
hub_name	String	Yes		The Azure Event Hubs Instance Name	modifiable
access_policy_name	String	Yes		Your Shared Access Policy Name. The Shared Access Policy requires the Listen claim.	modifiable
access_policy_key	String	Yes		Your Shared Access Policy Key. The Shared Access Policy requires the Listen claim.	modifiable
consumer_group	String	Yes	$Default	If needed, specify a custom consumer group name. When using a custom Consumer Group make sure that it exists for the Event Hub instance.	modifiable
receive_with_latest_offset	Boolean	Yes	True	Receive data with the latest offset or from the timestamp.	modifiable
receive_from_timestamp	Boolean	No		Set to true when receive_with_latest_offset is false.	modifiable
timeZone	String	No	null	Type the time zone you'd like the source to use in TZ database format. Example: "America/Los_Angeles". See time zone format for details.	modifiable
forceTimeZone	Boolean	No	false	Type true to force the Source to use a specific time zone, otherwise type false to use the time zone found in the logs. The default setting is false.	modifiable
automaticDateParsing	Boolean	No	true	Determines if timestamp information is parsed or not. Type true to enable automatic parsing of dates (the default setting); type false to disable. If disabled, no timestamp information is parsed at all.	modifiable
autoParseTimeFormat	Boolean	No	true	Sets if the timestamp format is automatically detected by Sumo Logic. If autoParseTimeFormat is set to false, then defaultDateFormats must be specified.	modifiable
defaultDateFormats	Object	array	No	null	Define formats for the dates present in your log messages. You can specify a locator regex to identify where timestamps appear in log lines. The defaultDateFormats object has two elements: format (required)—Specify the date format. locator (optional)—A regular expression that specifies the location of the timestamp in your log lines. For example, INFO(.*) For an example, see Timestamp example, below. For more information about timestamp options, see Timestamps, Time Zones, Time Ranges, and Date Formats.

Azure Event Hubs Source JSON example:

{
    "api.version": "v1",
    "source": {
        "schemaRef": {
            "type": "Azure Event Hubs"
        },
        "config": {
            "name": "Azure Event Hubs",
            "description": "East field",
            "namespace": "namespace",
            "hub_name": "hub name",
            "access_policy_name": "policyName",
            "access_policy_key": "********",
            "consumer_group": "groupName",
            "fields": {
                "_siemForward": false
            },
            "category": "eastTeamF",
            "receive_with_latest_offset": true,
            "automaticDateParsing": true,
            "autoParseTimeFormat": false,
            "defaultDateFormats": [{
                "format": "dd-MM-yyyy",
                "locator": "INFO(.*)"
            }]
        },
        "sourceType": "Universal"
    }
}

Additional Information

• Tutorial to Stream Azure Active Directory logs to an Azure event hub