Assure1 Event TCP Client Aggregator¶

Overview¶

The Assure1 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 Assure1.

By default, Assure1 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¶

Determine the host and port settings needed to establish a client connection.
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.
Create a clone of the default service, making changes to the configuration as needed.
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:

To let the aggregator run more efficiently and connect to multiple endpoints, a Meta Tag specific to the devices that will be connected to should be used and then specified in the Application Configuration. In addition, the Meta Tag "TCPAggregatorPort" should be added to the devices with the value set to the port to be used.

Rules¶

This aggregator uses the Assure1 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'} = '192.0.2.1' to assign the event IP address to '192.0.2.1') 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 Assure1.

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

Steps¶

Go to the Rules UI:

Configuration -> Rules
Expand the folder path: core -> default -> collection -> event -> tcpclient

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".

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".
Verify the aggregator is processing the events correctly.

Administration Details¶

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

Package - coreCollection-app
Synopsis - ./TCPClientd [OPTIONS]

Options:

 -c, --AppConfigID N   Application Config ID (Service, Job, or Request ID)
 -?, -h, --Help        Print usage and exit

Threaded - Multi-Threaded