This is a text-only version of the following page on https://raymii.org: --- Title : OSSEC 2.8 Server, Client, Web UI and Analogi Dashboard Installation tutorial Author : Remy van Elst Date : 11-06-2014 URL : https://raymii.org/s/tutorials/OSSEC_2.8.0_Server_Client_and_Analogi_Dashboard_on_Ubuntu.html Format : Markdown/HTML --- OSSEC is an Open Source Host-based Intrusion Detection System that performs log analysis, file integrity checking, policy monitoring, rootkit detection, real- time alerting and active response. It runs on most operating systems, including Linux, MacOS, Solaris, HP-UX, AIX and Windows. It also includes agentless monitoring for use with for example Cisco, HP or Juniper hardware.

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OSSEC 2.8 was [released on the 4th of June, 2014][2]. You can find the [full release notes here][3]. New features include outputing of all alerts to a zeromq PUB socket in JSON, more sshd rules and a lot of bugfixes. This tutorial covers the installation of the OSSEC 2.8.0 server, the standard OSSEC Web UI and the Analogi dashboard on Ubuntu 14.04. It also covers OSSEC setup with MySQL support. Last but not least it shows you how to install the OSSEC agent on a *NIX system. [![OSSEC Analogi dashboard][4]][4] This tutorial is written for an Ubuntu 14.04 OSSEC 2.8.0 server, but can be easily adapted to other *NIX operating systems. It only covers basic OSSEC client/server configuration. It gets you started, the rest is available in the documentation: http://www.ossec.net/doc/ You can read the tutorial for [OSSEC 2.7 on Ubuntu 12.04 here.][5] ### Requirements * An Ubuntu 14.04 server * Apache2, PHP, MySQL and development packages * OSSEC clients to monitor (*NIX or Windows machines, Cisco switches etc). ### Installing development packages OSSEC is installed from source, therefore you need development packages. This is both for the OSSEC clients as for the OSSEC server: apt-get install build-essential make libssl-dev git ### Installing Apache, MySQL and PHP This is fairly simple on Ubuntu. It is all covered with apt: apt-get install mysql-server libmysqlclient-dev mysql-client apache2 php5 libapache2-mod-php5 php5-mysql php5-curl php5-gd php5-intl php-pear php5-imagick php5-imap php5-mcrypt php5-memcache php5-ming php5-ps php5-pspell php5-recode php5-snmp php5-sqlite php5-tidy php5-xmlrpc php5-xsl Remember to set a strong root password for MySQL. Next finish MySQL with a secure installation: mysql_secure_installation Accept all the suggested options. Now restart all requires services: /etc/init.d/apache2 restart /etc/init.d/mysql restart ### Compiling the OSSEC server Do note that OSSEC has Debian packages available. These do not include MySQL or Postgres support, therefore we need to compile it. The packages are also at the moment only available for OSSEC 2.7. Download and verify OSSEC, either via wget or from the website: http://www.ossec.net/?page_id=19 wget http://www.ossec.net/files/ossec-hids-2.8.tar.gz md5sum ossec-hids-2.8.tar.gz ossec-hids-2.8.tar.gz: 90f3c54f22abe9c07661fb51ddaa8474 From the OSSEC website: MD5(ossec-hids-2.8.tar.gz)= 90f3c54f22abe9c07661fb51ddaa8474 SHA1(ossec-hids-2.8.tar.gz)= 1d72a8cd347379ef7a533ba9633231c5bfedfa1a If it is correct, then extract it: tar -xf ossec-hids-2.8.tar.gz cd ossec-hids-2.8 #### Database support The Makefile error is fixed in 2.8. This tutorial uses MySQL because the Analogi dashboard only supports MySQL. Instructions for Postgres are included. Enable database support: cd src make setdb Error: PostgreSQL client libraries not installed. Info: Compiled with MySQL support. If you want postgres support, install `postgresql-server-dev-9.3`. Continue with the compilation/installation: cd ../ ./install.sh ** Para instalao em portugus, escolha [br]. ** , [cn]. ** Fur eine deutsche Installation wohlen Sie [de]. ** , [el]. ** For installation in English, choose [en]. ** Para instalar en Espaol , eliga [es]. ** Pour une installation en franais, choisissez [fr] ** A Magyar nyelv teleptshez vlassza [hu]. ** Per l'installazione in Italiano, scegli [it]. ** [jp]. ** Voor installatie in het Nederlands, kies [nl]. ** Aby instalowa w jzyku Polskim, wybierz [pl]. ** , [ru]. ** Za instalaciju na srpskom, izaberi [sr]. ** Trke kurulum iin sein [tr]. (en/br/cn/de/el/es/fr/hu/it/jp/nl/pl/ru/sr/tr) [en]: OSSEC HIDS v2.8 Installation Script - http://www.ossec.net You are about to start the installation process of the OSSEC HIDS. You must have a C compiler pre-installed in your system. If you have any questions or comments, please send an e-mail to dcid@ossec.net (or daniel.cid@gmail.com). - System: Linux ossec 3.13.0-24-generic - User: root - Host: ossec -- Press ENTER to continue or Ctrl-C to abort. -- 1- What kind of installation do you want (server, agent, local, hybrid or help)? server - Server installation chosen. 2- Setting up the installation environment. - Choose where to install the OSSEC HIDS [/var/ossec]: - Installation will be made at /var/ossec . 3- Configuring the OSSEC HIDS. 3.1- Do you want e-mail notification? (y/n) [y]: - What's your e-mail address? user@example.org - What's your SMTP server ip/host? smtp.gmail.com 3.2- Do you want to run the integrity check daemon? (y/n) [y]: - Running syscheck (integrity check daemon). 3.3- Do you want to run the rootkit detection engine? (y/n) [y]: - Running rootcheck (rootkit detection). 3.4- Active response allows you to execute a specific command based on the events received. For example, you can block an IP address or disable access for a specific user. More information at: http://www.ossec.net/en/manual.html#active-response - Do you want to enable active response? (y/n) [y]: - Active response enabled. - By default, we can enable the host-deny and the firewall-drop responses. The first one will add a host to the /etc/hosts.deny and the second one will block the host on iptables (if linux) or on ipfilter (if Solaris, FreeBSD or NetBSD). - They can be used to stop SSHD brute force scans, portscans and some other forms of attacks. You can also add them to block on snort events, for example. - Do you want to enable the firewall-drop response? (y/n) [y]: - firewall-drop enabled (local) for levels >= 6 - Default white list for the active response: - 194.60.207.52 - 194.60.207.53 - 79.170.92.7 - Do you want to add more IPs to the white list? (y/n)? [n]: 3.5- Do you want to enable remote syslog (port 514 udp)? (y/n) [y]: - Remote syslog enabled. 3.6- Setting the configuration to analyze the following logs: -- /var/log/auth.log -- /var/log/syslog -- /var/log/dpkg.log -- /var/log/apache2/error.log (apache log) -- /var/log/apache2/access.log (apache log) - If you want to monitor any other file, just change the ossec.conf and add a new localfile entry. Any questions about the configuration can be answered by visiting us online at http://www.ossec.net . 5- Installing the system - Running the Makefile INFO: Little endian set. *** Making zlib (by Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler) *** [...] *** Making cJSON (by Dave Gamble) *** [...] *** Making Lua 5.2 (by team at PUC-Rio in Brazi) *** [...] *** Making os_xml *** [...] *** Making os_regex *** [...] *** Making os_net *** [...] *** Making os_crypto *** [...] *** Making shared *** [...] *** Making config *** [...] *** Making os_maild *** [...] *** Making os_dbd *** make[1]: Entering directory `/root/ossec-hids-2.8/src/os_dbd' Compiling DB support with: cc -g -Wall -I../ -I../headers -DDEFAULTDIR=\"/var/ossec\" -DUSE_OPENSSL -DUSEINOTIFY -DARGV0=\"ossec-dbd\" -DOSSECHIDS *.c ../config/lib_config.a ../shared/lib_shared.a ../os_net/os_net.a ../os_regex/os_regex.a ../os_xml/os_xml.a -o ossec-dbd -I/usr/include/mysql -DBIG_JOINS=1 -fno-strict-aliasing -g -DNDEBUG -L/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu -lmysqlclient -lpthread -lz -lm -ldl -DDBD -DUMYSQL make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/ossec-hids-2.8/src/os_dbd' *** Making os_csyslogd *** [...] *** Making agentlessd *** [...] *** Making os_execd *** [...] *** Making analysisd *** [...] *** Making logcollector *** [...] *** Making remoted *** [...] *** Making client-agent *** [...] *** Making addagent *** [...] *** Making util *** [...] *** Making rootcheck *** [...] *** Making syscheckd *** [...] *** Making monitord *** [...] *** Making os_auth *** [...] - System is Debian (Ubuntu or derivative). - Init script modified to start OSSEC HIDS during boot. - Configuration finished properly. - To start OSSEC HIDS: /var/ossec/bin/ossec-control start - To stop OSSEC HIDS: /var/ossec/bin/ossec-control stop - The configuration can be viewed or modified at /var/ossec/etc/ossec.conf Thanks for using the OSSEC HIDS. If you have any question, suggestion or if you find any bug, contact us at contact@ossec.net or using our public maillist at ossec-list@ossec.net ( http://www.ossec.net/main/support/ ). More information can be found at http://www.ossec.net --- Press ENTER to finish (maybe more information below). --- - In order to connect agent and server, you need to add each agent to the server. Run the 'manage_agents' to add or remove them: /var/ossec/bin/manage_agents More information at: http://www.ossec.net/en/manual.html#ma OSSEC is now installed. Restart it: /var/ossec/bin/ossec-control restart ### Configuring MySQL We need to create a user and database for OSSEC. Open a MySQL shell: mysql -u root -p Enter password: [...] mysql> create database ossec; Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec) grant INSERT,SELECT,UPDATE,CREATE,DELETE,EXECUTE on ossec.* to ossec_u; Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec) set password for ossec_u = PASSWORD('Passw0rd'); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec) flush privileges; Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec) quit; The database also needs a schema. OSSEC provides the schema, it is located in the extracted OSSEC folder, `src/os_dbd`. Import it into MySQL: mysql -u root -p ossec < src/os_dbd/mysql.schema ### OSSEC MySQL configuration We have to add the database config to `/var/ossec/etc/ossec.conf`: 127.0.0.1 ossec_u Passw0rd ossec mysql Change `type mysql` to `type postgresql` for the PostgreSQL database. Save it, then enable the database in OSSEC: /var/ossec/bin/ossec-control enable database /var/ossec/bin/ossec-control restart ### Installing OSSEC Web UI [![OSSEC Web UI][6]][6] This is also quite simple. Because we've already set up Apache and PHP, we can just download the web UI and extract to `/var/www/html`: wget http://www.ossec.net/files/ossec-wui-0.8.tar.gz tar -xf ossec-wui-0.8.tar.gz mkdir -p /var/www/html/ossec/tmp/ mv ossec-wui-0.8/* /var/www/html/ossec/ chown www-data:www-data /var/www/html/ossec/tmp/ chmod 666 /var/www/html/ossec/tmp Make sure the `www-data` user can access the ossec folder: usermod -a -G ossec www-data We use version 0.8 of Web UI because there are a lot of errors (like broken search) in the stable 0.3 version. We also set the correct permissions on the `tmp/` folder. Afterwards the web ui is visible at `http://hostname/ossec/`. ### Installing Analogi Web Dashboard [![OSSEC Analogi dashboard][4]][4] [This tutorial was tested on a DigitalOcean VPS. If you use this link you sponsor this website. (referral link)][1] The Analogi dashboard is a nice and informative dashboard around OSSEC, which provides more visual information then the standard Web UI. The standard Web UI has better search functions, the Dashboard can be used for example on a Wall Mounted monitor and such. Installation consists out of cloning the git repo and editing the settings file: cd /var/www/html/ git clone https://github.com/ECSC/analogi.git cp analogi/db_ossec.php.new analogi/db_ossec.php vim analogi/db_ossec.php Edit the relevant settings for the MySQL database configuration: define ('DB_USER_O', 'ossec_u'); define ('DB_PASSWORD_O', 'Passw0rd'); define ('DB_HOST_O', '127.0.0.1'); define ('DB_NAME_O', 'ossec'); When correctly configured the Analogi webinterface can be found at http://hostname/analogi/. The OSSEC server is now correctly set up. ### Client installation Download and verify the OSSEC 2.8 .tar.gz file as described above. Don't forget to install the development packages. This time, do an agent installation. See the output below: # ./install.sh ** Para instalao em portugus, escolha [br]. ** , [cn]. ** Fur eine deutsche Installation wohlen Sie [de]. ** , [el]. ** For installation in English, choose [en]. ** Para instalar en Espaol , eliga [es]. ** Pour une installation en franais, choisissez [fr] ** A Magyar nyelv teleptshez vlassza [hu]. ** Per l'installazione in Italiano, scegli [it]. ** [jp]. ** Voor installatie in het Nederlands, kies [nl]. ** Aby instalowa w jzyku Polskim, wybierz [pl]. ** , [ru]. ** Za instalaciju na srpskom, izaberi [sr]. ** Trke kurulum iin sein [tr]. (en/br/cn/de/el/es/fr/hu/it/jp/nl/pl/ru/sr/tr) [en]: OSSEC HIDS v2.8 Installation Script - http://www.ossec.net You are about to start the installation process of the OSSEC HIDS. You must have a C compiler pre-installed in your system. If you have any questions or comments, please send an e-mail to dcid@ossec.net (or daniel.cid@gmail.com). - System: Linux ossec-client 3.13.0-24-generic - User: root - Host: ossec-client -- Press ENTER to continue or Ctrl-C to abort. -- 1- What kind of installation do you want (server, agent, local, hybrid or help)? agent - Agent(client) installation chosen. 2- Setting up the installation environment. - Choose where to install the OSSEC HIDS [/var/ossec]: - Installation will be made at /var/ossec . 3- Configuring the OSSEC HIDS. 3.1- What's the IP Address or hostname of the OSSEC HIDS server?: 1.2.3.4 - Adding Server IP 1.2.3.4 3.2- Do you want to run the integrity check daemon? (y/n) [y]: - Running syscheck (integrity check daemon). 3.3- Do you want to run the rootkit detection engine? (y/n) [y]: - Running rootcheck (rootkit detection). 3.4 - Do you want to enable active response? (y/n) [y]: 3.5- Setting the configuration to analyze the following logs: -- /var/log/auth.log -- /var/log/syslog -- /var/log/dpkg.log - If you want to monitor any other file, just change the ossec.conf and add a new localfile entry. Any questions about the configuration can be answered by visiting us online at http://www.ossec.net . --- Press ENTER to continue --- 5- Installing the system - Running the Makefile INFO: Little endian set. *** Making zlib (by Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler) *** [...] *** Making cJSON (by Dave Gamble) *** [...] *** Making Lua 5.2 (by team at PUC-Rio in Brazi) *** [...] *** Making os_xml *** [...] *** Making os_regex *** [...] *** Making os_net *** [...] *** Making os_crypto *** [...] *** Making shared *** [...] *** Making config *** [...] *** Making os_maild *** [...] *** Making os_dbd *** [...] *** Making os_csyslogd *** [...] *** Making agentlessd *** [...] *** Making os_execd *** [...] *** Making analysisd *** [...] *** Making logcollector *** [...] *** Making remoted *** [...] *** Making client-agent *** [...] *** Making addagent *** [...] *** Making util *** [...] *** Making rootcheck *** [...] *** Making syscheckd *** [...] *** Making monitord *** [...] *** Making os_auth *** [...] - System is Debian (Ubuntu or derivative). - Init script modified to start OSSEC HIDS during boot. - Configuration finished properly. - To start OSSEC HIDS: /var/ossec/bin/ossec-control start - To stop OSSEC HIDS: /var/ossec/bin/ossec-control stop - The configuration can be viewed or modified at /var/ossec/etc/ossec.conf Thanks for using the OSSEC HIDS. If you have any question, suggestion or if you find any bug, contact us at contact@ossec.net or using our public maillist at ossec-list@ossec.net ( http://www.ossec.net/main/support/ ). More information can be found at http://www.ossec.net --- Press ENTER to finish (maybe more information below). --- #### Client OSSEC config Adding a client to OSSEC is quite simple. First you add the client to the server, which gives you a key. Then you add this key to the client, edit the config file on the client and that's it. First we need to generate a key on the OSSEC server for this client. We do this by running `/var/ossec/bin/manage_agents`, option A, then entering the hostname, IP and ID for the client we want to add. Do this on the OSSEC server: root@ossec:~# /var/ossec/bin/manage_agents **************************************** * OSSEC HIDS v2.8 Agent manager. * * The following options are available: * **************************************** (A)dd an agent (A). (E)xtract key for an agent (E). (L)ist already added agents (L). (R)emove an agent (R). (Q)uit. Choose your action: A,E,L,R or Q: A - Adding a new agent (use '\q' to return to the main menu). Please provide the following: * A name for the new agent: ossec-client1 * The IP Address of the new agent: 2.3.4.5 * An ID for the new agent[001]: Agent information: ID:001 Name:ossec-client1 IP Address:2.3.4.5 Confirm adding it?(y/n): y Agent added. Get the key for the OSSEC client: root@ossec:~# /var/ossec/bin/manage_agents **************************************** * OSSEC HIDS v2.8 Agent manager. * * The following options are available: * **************************************** (A)dd an agent (A). (E)xtract key for an agent (E). (L)ist already added agents (L). (R)emove an agent (R). (Q)uit. Choose your action: A,E,L,R or Q: E Available agents: ID: 001, Name: ossec-client1, IP: 2.3.4.5 Provide the ID of the agent to extract the key (or '\q' to quit): 001 Agent key information for '001' is: SD[...]AAUjd= ** Press ENTER to return to the main menu. Then switch to the OSSEC client and execute the manage_agents: root@ossec:~# /var/ossec/bin/manage_agents **************************************** * OSSEC HIDS v2.8 Agent manager. * * The following options are available: * **************************************** (I)mport key from the server (I). (Q)uit. Choose your action: I or Q: i * Provide the Key generated by the server. * The best approach is to cut and paste it. *** OBS: Do not include spaces or new lines. Paste it here (or '\q' to quit): SD[...]AAUjd= Agent information: ID:001 Name:ossec-client1 IP Address:2.3.4.5 Confirm adding it?(y/n): y Added. ** Press ENTER to return to the main menu. Check if this in the `/var/ossec/etc/ossec.conf` file: 1.2.3.4 Where `1.2.3.4` is your OSSEC server URL or IP. Now restart OSSEC on both the OSSEC server and the newly added client: /var/ossec/bin/ossec-control restart Repeat these steps for any client that needs to be added. ### Bonus Tips Here are a few bonus tips/config examples for OSSEC ### Active Response If you've enabled Active Response you are protected from brute force attacks for ssh and some other pieces of software. Try it, login as a nonexistent user and check the web ui and logging: [![brute][7]][7] tail -f /var/ossec/logs/active-responses.log Wed Jun 11 21:16:43 CEST 2014 /var/ossec/active-response/bin/host-deny.sh add - 198.211.118.121 1402514203.20760 5712 Wed Jun 11 21:16:43 CEST 2014 /var/ossec/active-response/bin/firewall-drop.sh add - 198.211.118.121 1402514203.20760 5712 On Linux it is just a standard iptables DROP rule for that IP. You can delete the DROP rule by first finding out it's ID: iptables -L -n --line-numbers Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT) num target prot opt source destination 1 DROP all -- 198.211.118.121 0.0.0.0/0 Chain FORWARD (policy ACCEPT) num target prot opt source destination 1 DROP all -- 198.211.118.121 0.0.0.0/0 Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT) num target prot opt source destination Then you can delete the rule with that ID: iptables -D INPUT 1 iptables -D FORWARD 1 #### Ignoring rules To very simply ignore rules based on rule id, add them to the XML file located in `/var/ossec/rules/local_rules/xml`, either on the ossec client for one machine or the ossec server to ignore on all machines: 3333, 3334 List of rules to be ignored. #### Monitoring additional log files The OSSEC agent by default only monitors a few log files. To add more, edit the `/var/ossec/etc/ossec.conf` file and add a line like this: /var/log/* syslog This will add all files under `/var/log`. This might be a lot, you can also just add multiple `` blocks with filenames. #### Firewall You need to allow UDP port 1514 between OSSEC server and clients. Otherwise you get errors like this: 2013/09/06 19:53:00 ossec-agentd: INFO: Using IPv4 for: 10.0.51.31 . 2013/09/06 19:53:21 ossec-agentd(4101): WARN: Waiting for server reply (not started). Tried: 'ossec.raymii.nl/10.0.51.31'. ### Removing OSSEC [If you want to remove OSSEC, either the client or the server, read this tutorial. It covers all the steps required to uninstall OSSEC][8] [1]: https://www.digitalocean.com/?refcode=7435ae6b8212 [2]: http://www.ossec.net/?p=1098 [3]: http://www.ossec.net/files/ossec-hids-2.8-release-note.txt [4]: https://raymii.org/s/inc/img/ossec/analogi-2.8.png [5]: https://raymii.org/s/tutorials/OSSEC_and_webui_and_analogi_dashboard_installation_on_Ubuntu.html [6]: https://raymii.org/s/inc/img/ossec/webui-2.8.png [7]: https://raymii.org/s/inc/img/ossec/webui-brute-2.8.png [8]: https://raymii.org/s/tutorials/Uninstall_OSSEC.html --- License: All the text on this website is free as in freedom unless stated otherwise. This means you can use it in any way you want, you can copy it, change it the way you like and republish it, as long as you release the (modified) content under the same license to give others the same freedoms you've got and place my name and a link to this site with the article as source. 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