Overview

This module provides a method to deploy Splunk Server or Splunk Universal Forwarder with common configurations and ensure the services maintain a running state. Alternate configuration is available for rsyslog as well if you do not need the full Splunk agent.

This module was written using the Puppet Enterprise Console as the External Node Classifier. Modifying to leverage a different ENC (or none at all) should be simple enough, just give a look at params.pp.

This module does require the puppetlabs/firewall module as specified ports will automatically be opened in your firewall to allow for incoming traffic.

Disclaimer

The following platform/deployments have been tested:

• Windows 2008 (32 and 64bit) - Server and Universal Forwarder
• Windows 2003 (32 and 64bit) - Server and Universal Forwarder
• CentOS 6.x (32 and 64bit) - Server, Universal Forwarder and rsyslog

Downloading

It is recommended that you use the puppet module tool described in the Installation section below to download and implement this module.

Installation & Setup

To begin using this module, use the Puppet Module Tool (PMT) from the command line to install this module:

puppet module install dhogland-splunk

This will place the module into your primary module path if you do not utilize the -dir directive.

Once the module is in place, there is just a little setup needed:

• first, you will need to place your downloaded splunk installers into the files directory, <module_path>/splunk/files/.
  • validate in the params.pp file
    • the version you downloaded matches the $splunk_ver variable. If not, change the value to match.
    • the full file names for $installer match what you have placed into the files directory.
• second, you will need to configure a few objects in the Console
  • create a class and call it splunk.
  • create a group named to your desire with the following parameters:
    • splunk_logging_server
      • This is the server that will act as your Splunk Central Logging Server
    • splunk_syslog_port
      • This is the desired port that tcp syslog messages will be configured to listen on for the Server and send to from rsyslog. This is raw tcp syslog data.
    • splunk_forwarder_port
      • This is the desired port that splunktcp syslog messages will be configured to listen on for the Server and send to from the Forwarder, this is a separate port because data sent from the Splunk Forwarders are 'cooked' data and must be recieved by a splunktcp listener.
    • splunk_deploy
      • Valid values for this are server, forwarder or syslog. If server is defined the Splunk Server will be deployed and configured. If forwarder is defined the Splunk Universal Forwarder will be deployed and configured. If syslog is defined (only available for Linux hosts), rsyslog will be ensured that it is installed, running and sending all messages to desired central logging server over the proper port.
  • finally, create child groups to the first group and override the splunk_deploy parameter as needed (see example below).

Example setup

In my files directory I've placed the following version(s) of Splunk:

    splunk-4.3.1-119532.i386.rpm
    splunk-4.3.1-119532-linux-2.6-amd64.deb
    splunk-4.3.1-119532-linux-2.6-intel.deb
    splunk-4.3.1-119532-linux-2.6-x86_64.rpm
    splunk-4.3.1-119532-x64-release.msi
    splunk-4.3.1-119532-x86-release.msi
    splunkforwarder-4.3.1-119532.i386.rpm
    splunkforwarder-4.3.1-119532-linux-2.6-amd64.deb
    splunkforwarder-4.3.1-119532-linux-2.6-intel.deb
    splunkforwarder-4.3.1-119532-linux-2.6-x86_64.rpm
    splunkforwarder-4.3.1-119532-x64-release.msi
    splunkforwarder-4.3.1-119532-x86-release.msi

In my params.pp file I validate that the following variables match what I have in my files dir:

• $splunk_ver = '4.3.1-119532'
• $installer will evaluate out to match the appropriate file in my file directory. eg. splunk-${splunk_ver}.i386.rpm matches splunk-4.3.1-119532.i386.rpm and falls under the appropriate architecture, operatingsystem and deploy cases.

In my Console I have created the following classes, groups/parameters:

    * Classes
      - splunk
    * Groups/parameters
      - splunk (has the class splunk associated to it)
        + splunk_logging_server = splunk.mydomain.lan
        + splunk_forwarder_port = 8002
        + splunk_syslog_port = 8001
        + splunk_deploy = server
      - forwarder (child group of splunk)
        + splunk_deploy = forwarder
      - syslog (child group of splunk)
        + splunk_deploy = syslog

Now with this set up, I simply need to add a node to the main splunk group to designate what server will be handling the role of the Splunk Server and assign nodes to either the forwarder or syslog group depending on if I want to configure the forwarder for the node or configure rsyslog to report data to the defined Server.

Bugs