What are FortiGate Logs?
FortiGate logs are the recorded events and activities that occur on a FortiGate security appliance. FortiGate is a network security appliance that provides a range of security functions, such as firewall, VPN, antivirus, intrusion prevention, web filtering, and more. FortiGate logs capture data related to these security functions, which can be used to analyze and troubleshoot network security issues.
FortiGate logs include information such as:
- Traffic logs: logs of all network traffic that has passed through the FortiGate appliance, including source and destination IP addresses, protocols, and port numbers.
- Event logs: logs of system events, such as software upgrades, user logins and logouts, and configuration changes.
- Security logs: logs of security-related events, such as intrusion prevention alerts, antivirus scans, and web filtering blocks.
- VPN logs: logs of all VPN traffic passing through the FortiGate appliance.
- System logs: logs of system activity, such as resource usage and error messages.
FortiGate logs can be viewed and analyzed using the FortiAnalyzer tool, which provides a centralized location for collecting, analyzing, and reporting on FortiGate logs. Analyzing FortiGate logs can help network administrations identify potential security threats troubleshoot network issues.
Why you should monitor FortiGate logs?
Monitoring FortiGate logs is essential for ensuring the security and stability of a network. Here we will mention below a few reasons why you should monitor FortiGate logs:
- Detect security threats: FortiGate logs can help you identify security threats, such as malware infections, network attacks, and unauthorized acess attempts. By monitoring the logs, you can detect these threats early and take action to prevent or mitigate them.
- Troubleshoot network issues: FortiGate logs can also help you troubleshoot network issues, such as connectivity problems, performance issues, and configuration error. By analyzing the logs, you can pinpoint the root cause of the issue and take corrective action.
- Optimize network performance: FortiGate logs can also provide insights into network usage, bandwidth utilization, and application performance. By monitoring these logs, you can identify areas where network performance can be optimized, such as by reducing bandwidth usage or prioritizing critical applications.
FortiGate los are crucial for maintaining a secure and stable network environment. It allows you to detect security threats, troubleshoot network issues, ensure compliance, and optimize network performance.
Logstail SaaS Platform contribution
Here are a few ways that Logstail can contribute to monitoring FortiGate logs:
- Centralized log management: Logstail provides a centralized location for collecting, storing, and analyzing FortiGate logs. This makes it easy to search and analyze logs across multiple FortiGate appliances.
- Real-time monitoring: Logstail can be configured to monitor FortiGate logs in real-time. This means that you can be alerted immediately when a security event or network issue occurs.
- Visualizations and Reporting: Logstail platform provides powerful visualization and reporting tools that can help analyze FortiGate logs. This includes dashboards, charts, and graphs that can help you identify trends and patterns in log data.
- Alerting: Logstail can also be used to create alerts based on FortiGate logs. This means that you can configure Logstail to automatically notify you when a specific even or condition occurs in the FortiGate logs.
Filebeat Installation
Filebeat is an open-source lightweight dat shipper tool that is used to collect, parse, and send log data from various sources to a centralized location, such as Logstail platform that you can install on your servers to periodically collect data from the operating system and from services running on the server etc.
[Note: You need to have an active Logstail account to follow the links given below.]
To install the Filebeat agent, you need to use the guide found on the log shippers page.
1. First, you must follow the detailed steps given by the instructions in the link above to install our agent.
[Note: Don’t forget to specify you operating system as shown above.]
2. As soon as your data shipper is set up and ready your next move is to head to the apps page and locate the Fortigate logs service, there by pressing: “Add data” you will install the dashboards that will provide you with the visualizations which are used for providing a cleaner and clearer picture of your Fortigate appliances.
[Note: A pop up message should appear on the bottom-right corner of your screen verifying that the dashboards were successfully installed.]
3. Now you can head up at the dashboards page and you will be able to select from a bunch of different dashboards as seen below:
[Note: In case that you have more dashboards, you can always use search.]
This is an example of how [FortiGate] Overview ECS dashboard will look:
Logstail Insights plugin.
Insights is a powerful AI-Powered plugin. It integrates the Anomaly detection tool which is another important capability and can be leveraged through Logstail Platform. Anomaly detection involves identifying patterns or data points that deviate significantly from the norm, which may indicate unusual or potential problematic activity. Provides the user with data visualizations, such as charts and graphs. These visualizations are helpful in identifying patterns and trends that may not be immediately apparent through simple data analysis. Ιnsights plugin is functioning in real time analyzing new ingested logs. Performing predictive analytics to identify issues before they occur and automatically alerting the user via Alerting Plugin.
Setup Anomaly-Detection for FortiGate logs using Logstail Insights Plugin.
1. Navigate to the Insights plugin page from the top menu and click on Create detector.
2. Name your detector and add an optional description:
3. Select your logstail-fortigate-* index.
4. Configure the Timestamp field and click next:
5. Configure the Feature settings as you prefer and click next:
[Note: you can add more than one Features.]
6. Set up your detector jobs and click next. Detector will start running:
Logstail Alerting plugin.
Alerting plugin is used to create and manage alerts based on a specific condition. If conditions are met it will trigger a notification to alert the user.
Why use Logstail Alerting plugin?
Logstail alerting plugin provides a number of benefits when it comes to monitoring FortiGate logs:
- Real-time alerts: Alerts when specific events occur in FortiGate logs.
- Customization: Alerting plugin allows you to customize your alerts based on specific criteria, such as severity level, message content, and time of day.
- Automation: Configure your alerting plugin to automate actions in response to specific events, such as send an email or trigger a remediation process.
In summary, using Logstail alerting plugin for monitoring FortiGate logs can help you to detect and respond to security incidents and performance issues more quickly and efficiently, while also providing customization and automation options that can help you to optimize your security operations.
Combining Logstail Alerting Plugin with FortiGate logs.
In the following steps we will analyze how you can create your own triggers for your FortiGate appliances with some examples.
Steps to create trigger for CPU usage:
1. First you need to enter the Alerting plugin from the top menu. Click on Monitors tab and create a monitor:
2. On create monitor enter a name for the alert you want to create. Select a monitor type and a monitor definition method:
3. Pick your logstail-fortigate-* index and define your Time field:
4. After all that you must create a trigger as the example below:
5. Create a new action. With actions you get notified for the alerts you have set.
After you’ve made your configurations hit create on the bottom-right of your page and you are ready to go!
Logstail Reporting plugin.
Reports can be produced with the Reporting Plugin in PNG, PDF, and CSV formats. They can be used to convey crucial information to a variety of stakeholders, like as executives, clients, and staff. Reports can offer insightful information on a variety of data sources, including system metrics, that might not be immediately apparent.
Why use Logstail Reporting plugin?
It provides an easier way for companies and individuals to improve performance and lower the risk of mistakes when they have access to timely, relevant information and display data about threats, activities, and events in a clear, succinct manner.
Generating Reports for FortiGate logs.
1. Navigate to Reports plugin from the top menu and click create to create a new Report Definition.
2. Name your Report and you can also add an optional description:
3. Third you need to select the type of your report and your source to provide a desired time range for the report.
4. Choose the file format and click create.
5. Download your report from the Reports table.
Conclusion.
Logstail platform may assist you by combining the technologies so that you are always aware of the status of your system. This will ensure that it is operating properly and help you to stop any unexpected events that might have been fatal sooner. Moreover it can offer an accurate overall view.
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