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Config Rules

Configure Config Rules inputs for the Splunk Add-on for AWS

Complete the steps to configure Config Rules inputs for the Splunk Add-on for Amazon Web Services (AWS):

  1. You must manage accounts for the add-on as a prerequisite. See Manage accounts for the Splunk Add-on for AWS.
  2. Configure AWS services for the Config Rules input.
  3. Configure AWS permissions for the Config Rules input.
  4. Configure Config Rules inputs either through Splunk Web or configuration files.

Configure AWS services for the Config Rules input

  1. Enable AWS Config for all regions for which you want to collect data in the add-on. Follow the steps in the AWS documentation. See http://docs.aws.amazon.com/config/latest/developerguide/setting-up.html.
  2. Set up AWS Config Rules by following the instructions in the AWS Config documentation. See http://docs.aws.amazon.com/config/latest/developerguide/evaluate-config_set-up.html.
  3. Grant the necessary permissions to the AWS account used for this input.

Configure AWS permissions for the Config Rules input

You need these required permissions for Config:

  • DescribeConfigRules
  • DescribeConfigRuleEvaluationStatus
  • GetComplianceDetailsByConfigRule
  • GetComplianceSummaryByConfigRule

See the following sample inline policy to configure Config Rules input permissions:

{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "config:DescribeConfigRules",
                "config:DescribeConfigRuleEvaluationStatus",
                "config:GetComplianceDetailsByConfigRule",
                "config:GetComplianceSummaryByConfigRule"
            ],
            "Resource": "*"
        }
    ]
}

For more information and sample policies, see http://docs.aws.amazon.com/config/latest/developerguide/example-policies.html

When you create a config rule, do not select more than 25 config rules per region. Selecting more than 25 config rules during input configuration will result in no data collection.

Configure a Config Rules input using Splunk Web

To configure inputs using Splunk Web:

  • Click Splunk Add-on for AWS in the left navigation bar on Splunk Web home.
  • Click Create New Input > Config Rules.
  • Fill out the fields as described in the table:
Argument in configuration file Field in Splunk Web Description
aws_account AWS Account The AWS account or EC2 IAM role the Splunk platform uses to access your Config Rules data. In Splunk Web, select an account from the drop-down list.
region Region The AWS region that contains the Config Rules. See the AWS documentation for more information.
rule_names Config Rules Config Rules names in a comma-separated list. Leave blank to collect all rules.
sourcetype Source Type A source type for the events. Enter a value only if you want to override the default of aws:config:rule. Event extraction relies on the default value of source type. If you change the default value, you must update props.conf as well.
index Index The index name where the Splunk platform puts the Config Rules data. The default is main.
polling_interval Polling Interval The data collection interval, in seconds. The default is 300 seconds.

Configure a Config Rules input using configuration files

To configure the input using configuration files, create $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/Splunk_TA_aws/local/aws_config_rule_tasks.conf using the following template:

[<name>]
account = <value>
region = <value>
rule_names = <value>
sourcetype = <value>
polling_interval = <value>
index = <value>

Here is an example stanza that collects Config Rules data for just two rules:

[splunkapp2:us-east-1]
account = splunkapp2
region = us-east-1
rule_names=required-tags,restricted-common-ports
sourcetype = aws:config:rule
polling_interval = 300
index = aws