Unified Assurance Event TCP Client Aggregator

Overview

The Unified Assurance Event TCP Client Aggregator is a generic integration that connects to a device over a TCP socket, reads the available messages, parses the results with customizable rules and creates de-duplicated events within Unified Assurance.

By default, Unified Assurance has the Event TCP Client Aggregator and Event TL1 Aggregator event services that utilizes the TCP Client Aggregator to collect events.

TCP Client Aggregator Setup

  1. Determine the host and port settings needed to establish a client connection.

  2. Review the logic in the rules files referenced in the configuration to see the processing that will be done when messages are retrieved:

    • "LoadRules" will be executed during application startup to load data that might be needed during processing.

    • "IncludeRules" will be read during application startup to load additional files that might be called during processing.

    • "BaseRules" will be executed for each device that is selected based on the configuration.

    Update the logic as needed.

  3. Create a clone of the default service, making changes to the configuration as needed.

  4. Enable the Service.

    Configuration -> Broker Control -> Services

Default Service

Field Value
Package Name coreCollection-app
Service Name Event TCP Client Aggregator
Service Program bin/core/collection/TCPClientd
Service Arguments
Service Description TCP Client Aggregator that collects from custom ports
Failover Type Standalone (Supported: Standalone, Primary/Backup)
Status Disabled
Privileged (Checked)

Default Configuration

Name Value Possible Values Notes
BaseRules collection/event/tcpclient/base.rules Text, 255 characters Relative path to Base Rules
BranchDir core/default Text, 255 characters relative path to Rules dir
IncludeRules collection/event/tcpclient/base.includes Text, 255 characters Relative path to Include Rules
LoadRules collection/event/tcpclient/base.load Text, 255 characters Relative path to Load Rules
LogFile logs/EventTCPClient.log Text, 255 characters Relative path to Log File.
LogLevel ERROR OFF, FATAL, ERROR, WARN, INFO, DEBUG Logging level used by application.
MetaData Text, 255 characters Value to determine which devices should be monitored by this aggregator. (Requires MetaTag.) - NO RELOAD CONFIG SUPPORT
MetaTag Text, 255 characters Meta Tag to determine which devices should be monitored by this aggregator. Value should match one of the existing Meta Tag Types. (Requires MetaData.) - NO RELOAD CONFIG SUPPORT
ShardID 1 Integer Database shard to be used.
Threads 10 Integer Number of process threads created. The aggregator takes a third of this value (rounded up) for database threads unless overridden by the "DBThreads" application configuration.
Buffer Integer Optional - If set, the amount of what has been read to can handle greater than 4096 message sizes up to a max buffer.
Capture Disabled Enabled/Disabled Optional - If enabled, saves the raw message in the Log.
DBThreads Integer Optional - Number of database threads to be created. If not specified, defaults to a third (rounded up) of "Threads" application configuration.
DelimiterFile Text, 255 characters Optional - Path to file that contains the additional delimiters used to delineate records. If not specified, delimiter is newline (\n).
EventBuffer Enabled Enabled/Disabled Optional - Enables the Event buffer
FailoverBufferLimit 0 Integer Optional - Enables Failover Standby buffer that keeps N-seconds worth of messages and replays this buffer when becoming Failover Active. (0=off N=seconds to keep) See Tokens: $buffer and $received
FieldSetFile Text, 255 characters Optional - Path to csv file containing custom list of fields that will be used when inserting data. (Requires InsertSQLFile.)
Host Text, 255 characters Optional - DNS name or IP Address of the TCP Client. (Requires Port.) DEPRECATED - Use MetaTag and MetaData - NO RELOAD CONFIG SUPPORT
InsertSQLFile Text, 255 characters Optional - Path to file containing custom SQL Insert statement for handling of event inserts. (Requires FieldSetFile.)
Port Integer Optional - Port for TCP Client collection. (Requires Host.) DEPRECATED - Use MetaTag and MetaData - NO RELOAD CONFIG SUPPORT
PreferIPv4 Enabled Enabled/Disabled Optional - Controls whether or not to prefer IPv4 transport to communicate with Devices. This option is only considered if both IPv4 and IPv6 are available for a device. If this config is missing, IPv6 will be preferred.
ReconnectTime 1200 Integer Optional - Time to wait in seconds for TCP messages from a device before disconnecting and attempting to reconnect. Defaults to 1200
RetryTime 1200 Integer Optional - Time to wait in seconds before attempting to retry connecting to a device. Defaults to 1200
SocketTimeout 2 Integer Optional - Time to wait in seconds for a socket to become available before trying again.
SplitCaptureByDevice Disabled Enabled/Disabled Optional - Outputs capture to separate logs by device (Requires Capture)

Event TL1 Aggregator Service

Field Value
Package Name coreCollection-app
Service Name Event TL1 Aggregator
Service Program bin/core/collection/TCPClientd
Service Arguments
Service Description TCP Client Aggregator that collects from the TL1 Gateway
Failover Type Standalone (Supported: Standalone, Primary/Backup)
Status Disabled
Privileged (Checked)

Event TL1 Aggregator Configuration

Name Value Possible Values Notes
BaseRules collection/event/tl1g/base.rules Text, 255 characters Relative path to Base Rules
BranchDir core/default Text, 255 characters relative path to Rules dir
IncludeRules collection/event/tl1g/base.includes Text, 255 characters Relative path to Include Rules
LoadRules collection/event/tl1g/base.load Text, 255 characters Relative path to Load Rules
LogFile logs/EventTL1.log Text, 255 characters Relative path to Log File.
LogLevel ERROR OFF, FATAL, ERROR, WARN, INFO, DEBUG Logging level used by application.
MetaData Text, 255 characters Value to determine which devices should be monitored by this aggregator. (Requires MetaTag.) - NO RELOAD CONFIG SUPPORT
MetaTag Text, 255 characters Meta Tag to determine which devices should be monitored by this aggregator. Value should match one of the existing Meta Tag Types. (Requires MetaData.) - NO RELOAD CONFIG SUPPORT
ShardID 1 Integer Database shard to be used.
Threads 10 Integer Number of process threads created. The aggregator takes a third of this value (rounded up) for database threads unless overridden by the "DBThreads" application configuration.
Buffer 32 Integer Optional - If set, the amount of what has been read to can handle greater than 4096 message sizes up to a max buffer.
Capture Disabled Enabled/Disabled Optional - If enabled, saves the raw message in the Log.
DBThreads Integer Optional - Number of database threads to be created. If not specified, defaults to a third (rounded up) of "Threads" application configuration.
DelimiterFile Text, 255 characters Optional - Path to file that contains the additional delimiters used to delineate records. If not specified, delimiter is newline (\n).
EventBuffer Enabled Enabled/Disabled Optional - Enables the Event buffer
FailoverBufferLimit 0 Integer Optional - Enables Failover Standby buffer that keeps N-seconds worth of messages and replays this buffer when becoming Failover Active. (0=off N=seconds to keep) See Tokens: $buffer and $received
FieldSetFile Text, 255 characters Optional - Path to csv file containing custom list of fields that will be used when inserting data. (Requires InsertSQLFile.)
Host Text, 255 characters Optional - DNS name or IP Address of the TCP Client. (Requires Port.) DEPRECATED - Use MetaTag and MetaData - NO RELOAD CONFIG SUPPORT
InsertSQLFile Text, 255 characters Optional - Path to file containing custom SQL Insert statement for handling of event inserts. (Requires FieldSetFile.)
Port Integer Optional - Port for TCP Client collection. (Requires Host.) DEPRECATED - Use MetaTag and MetaData - NO RELOAD CONFIG SUPPORT
PreferIPv4 Enabled/Disabled Optional - Controls whether or not to prefer IPv4 transport to communicate with Devices. This option is only considered if both IPv4 and IPv6 are available for a device. If this config is missing, IPv6 will be preferred.
ReconnectTime 1200 Integer Optional - Time to wait in seconds for TCP messages from a device before disconnecting and attempting to reconnect. Defaults to 1200
RetryTime 1200 Integer Optional - Time to wait in seconds before attempting to retry connecting to a device. Defaults to 1200
SocketTimeout 2 Integer Optional - Time to wait in seconds for a socket to become available before trying again.
SplitCaptureByDevice Disabled Enabled/Disabled Optional - Outputs capture to separate logs by device (Requires Capture)

Best Practices

The following list shows the best practices for working with this application:

Rules

This aggregator uses the Unified Assurance standard rules architecture, which are 100% Perl syntax. Refer to the following articles to assist in rules creation:

Tokens

The aggregator exposes the following tokens for rules processing.

Token Description
$Event Reference to the hash that is used to create and insert the Event data into the database. Keys map to the fields within the table used and values assigned are inserted in the database to that field. (e.g. $Event->{'IPAddress'} = '192.168.1.1' to assign the event IP address to '192.168.1.1') At least the 'Node' and 'Summary' fields must be set, or no event is inserted.
$Packet TCP Socket Message (hash reference)
$Packet->{Received} epoch time packet was received by the aggregator
$Packet->{Buffer} Flag for if was buffered during standby and was replayed (0 = No, 1 = Yes)
$Packet->{Message} Message Received
$Packet->{Target} Default connection point for Remote Client or Server. Will be $Packet->{DNS} if $Packet->{DNS} is populated, otherwise $Packet->{IP}
$Packet->{DNS} DNS of remote server
$Packet->{DeviceName} Device Name of remote server.
$Packet->{Host} Device Name of remote server. DEPRECATED - Use $Packet->{DeviceName}
$Packet->{IP} Preferred IP Address of Remote Client or Server calculated from $IPv4, $IPv6, and the PreferIPv4 application configuration.
$Packet->{IPv4} IPv4 Address of remote server.
$Packet->{IPv6} IPv6 Address of remote server.
$discard_flag Flag for discard (0=No, 1=Yes)
$count Message Counter
$AppConfig Hash reference to the application configuration name-value pairs that were configured. (i.e. use $AppConfig->{'Host'} to retrieve the set value for 'Host'.)
$CustomHash Custom key, value cache available across all rules. Contents commonly defined in Load Rules then used in Base or other rules. NOTE: This variable is a shared object and any additional sub hashes or arrays must be shared before use or it will cause the error: "Invalid value for shared scalar". Instantiate the sub hash/array using '&share({})' e.g. 
$CustomHash->{SubObject} = &share({});
$StorageHash Internal cache used as the StorageHash option when calling rules functions such as FindDeviceID(). NOTE: The structure of this cache is subject to change! Not recommended for custom global storage or manual manipulation; use $CustomHash.

Example Integrations

Creating Custom Rules Files

The TCP Client Aggregator will split each message using the defined Delimiter, by default newline (\n). Thus if the message is:

This Device is Down\n
This Device is Up\n

That will create two events in Unified Assurance.

These two events will be used as an example of how the messages could be parsed in the rules file.

Steps

  1. Go to the Rules UI:

    Configuration -> Rules

  2. Expand the folder path: core -> default -> collection -> event -> tcpclient

  3. Select the "tcpclient" folder, then click "Add -> Add File". Enter the following:

    • File Name => newbase.rules

    • Logic

      $Log->Message('DEBUG', "Ran Base Rules");
$Log->Message('DEBUG', [
    '#===============================================',
    '# Received New TCP Client Message',
    '# DNS     = ' . $Packet->{'DeviceName'},
    '# IP      = ' . $Packet->{'IP'},
    '# Message = ' . $Packet->{'Message'},
    '#==============================================='
]);

$Event->{'Node'}       = $Packet->{'DeviceName'};
$Event->{'IPAddress'}  = $Packet->{'IP'};
$Event->{'Summary'}    = $Packet->{'Message'};
$Event->{'Severity'}   = 0;
$Event->{'AlarmGroup'} = 'Unknown';
$Event->{'AlarmKey'}   = 'GenericTCP-->' . $Event->{'Node'} . ':' . $Event->{'Summary'};

if ($Packet->{'Message'} eq '') {
    $Event->{'SubMethod'} = "Error";
    $Log->Message('ERROR', "Blank message in packet");
    $discard_flag = 1;
}
elsif ($Packet->{'Message'} =~ "Down") {
    $Event->{'AlarmGroup'} = "Down";
    $Event->{'Severity'}   = 5;
}
elsif ($Packet->{'Message'} =~ "Up") {
    $Event->{'AlarmGroup'} = "Up";
    $Event->{'Severity'}   = 0;
}
else {
    # NO Rules
    $Event->{'SubMethod'} = "Generic TCP";
    $Log->Message('ERROR', "!ERROR! No Rules Defined for TCP");
    $Log->Message('DEBUG', "No Rules for TCP Message [" . $Packet->{Message} . "]");
}
$Log->Message('DEBUG', "Finished Base Rules");

      When the event message is parsed, if the message contains Down, a Down Event is created with "Severity" set to 5 (Critical).

      If the message contains Up, an event is passed in which clears the previous alarm by parsing the message and setting "Severity to 0 (Normal).

    • Click "Submit", then enter a commit message, then click "OK".

  4. Create a clone of the default service, making changes to the configuration as needed for connectivity, and change the "BaseRules" configuration to use the "newbase.rules".

  5. Verify the aggregator is processing the events correctly.

Administration Details

The following list shows the technical details need for advanced administration of the application: