Splunk App v2.0.0 - Installation and Configuration Guide

The VMware Carbon Black Cloud App for Splunk is a single application to integrate your endpoint and workload security features and telemetry directly into Splunk dashboards, workflows and alert streams.

This application connects with any Carbon Black Cloud offering and replaces the existing product-specific Carbon Black Cloud apps for Splunk. This app provides a unified solution to integrate Carbon Black Cloud Endpoint and Workload offerings with Splunk Enterprise, Splunk Cloud, and Splunk Enterprise Security (ES). Out-of-the-box, this app provides holistic visibility into the state of your endpoints and workloads through customizable dashboards and alert feeds in Splunk.

Requirements

  • Splunk Enterprise 9.0, 9.1 or Splunk Cloud
  • Splunk CIM Add-on

Upgrading to v2.0.0

Before Upgrading to v2.0.0

  1. If you have a non-production instance of Splunk, upgrade that first.


  2. Identify if you have any custom content that uses alert metadata, such as reports, searches, or dashboards.

    • If the content is using a non-CIM and non data model field, review the Migration Guide. Many renamed fields have been aliased to their old values. However, Splunk content based on fields that were removed or were replaced by multiple fields will need to be updated.
      • If the field is marked as DEPRECATED then the field no longer exists. Choose a different field or remove that field from your custom content.
      • If the field has a replacement field identified then update to use that field name instead.
      • Field changes for the Alerts v7 API are here
      • Field changes for the Data Forwarder Alert Schema v2 are here

Note: Since the Alerts v7 schema contains more metadata, customers may see an increase in alert size by up to 2x. However, since Observed alerts were removed, customers are likely to see a net decrease in overall storage required for CB Analytics alerts (up to 10x decrease), but a net increase in other alert types such as Watchlist (up to 2x increase).

  1. If there are any Splunk alerts using the Process GUID Details or VMwareCBC Enrich CB Analytic Events alert actions, review why they were configured and the data that is used.

    • In the CBC Splunk app v1.x, many customers used these to get context not available in alerts, such as process & parent process information.
    • The alert metadata included in both Alert v7 API and Data Forwarder Schema v2 has been improved and you may no longer need to run these alert actions.
    • If you determine it is no longer necessary to automate these alert actions, disable or remove the Splunk Alert.

      This image shows the configured action.

  2. If you are using any of the Live Response alert actions - List Process or Kill Process - the API Key must be changed. Before upgrading, update your existing Splunk access level to include the required permissions.

    a. In the Splunk App, identify the API key (Access Level type is Custom) you use for other Splunk inputs and actions, such as the Alerts input.

    b. In the Carbon Black Cloud console identify the access level you use for that API key by going to Settings > API Access, finding the API ID and reading the Access Level.

    c. Add Live Response permissions to that Access Level.

    1. Go to Settings > API Access > Access Levels tab
    2. Find and edit (click the pencil icon) that access level
    3. Add the following permissions for Kill Process and List Process if you want to continue to enable those actions.
      The full permissions are in Table 2. 
    * Kill Process requires:
  * device - READ
  * org.liveresponse.session - CREATE, READ, DELETE
  * org.liveresponse.process - READ, DELETE
* List Processes requires:
  * device - READ
  * org.liveresponse.session - CREATE, READ, DELETE
  * org.liveresponse.process - READ



  3. If you are using an Audit Log input then the API key MUST be changed to a custom access level key with audit log permissions by October 31, 2024. Before upgrading, update your existing Splunk access level to include the required permissions.

    a. Before upgrading, follow the steps listed above in the Carbon Black Cloud console to add the org.audits permission to the Custom Access Level being used by the API key you’re using in Splunk.
    The full permissions are in Table 1.

    b. Note: When the API key has the audit log permission added, three days of audit logs will be ingested using that key. There may be three days of duplicate audit log data collected by Splunk when switching API keys.



  4. If you are you an Enterprise EDR customer, decide whether to ingest Authentication Events collected by Carbon Black Cloud into Splunk.


Installing v2.0.0

In Splunk:

  1. Navigate to Managing Apps
  2. Find VMware Carbon Black Cloud
  3. In the version column click Update to 2.0.0

After Upgrading to v2.0.0

  1. If you are using the Live Response List or Kill Process actions the API key must be changed.

    a. In the Splunk App go to the Administration > Application Administration Page > Alert Actions tab.

    b. Deselect the old API Token and select the API Token using the Access Level you updated in Step 4 of What to do before upgrading to v2.0.0.

  2. If you are using an audit log input the API key must be changed.

    a. In the Splunk App go to the Administration > Application Administration Page > Audit Log Inputs Tab.

    b. After upgrading, update the API Token used in the audit log input to the Custom type API key you updated in Step 5 of What to do before upgrading to v2.0.0.


    Note: When the API key has the audit log permission added, three days of audit logs will be ingested using that key. There may be three days of duplicate audit log data collected by Splunk when switching API keys.



  3. If you are you an Enterprise EDR customer, you can take ingest Authentication Events collected by Carbon Black Cloud into Splunk

    a. In the Carbon Black Cloud Console:

    • Ensure Enterprise EDR is enabled
    • Ensure Auth Event collection is enabled in relevant policies. See the Carbon Black Cloud User Guide for steps to enable Auth Event Collection.

    b. In the Splunk App go to the Administration > Application Administration Page > Auth Event Inputs tab.

    c. For more information:


  4. Configure the types of Alerts to ingest if you are using the API ingest option.

    • Version 2.0.0 of the app can ingest the new types of alerts from Carbon Black Cloud.
    • In the Splunk App go to the Administration > Application Administration Page > Alerts Inputs Tab.
    • Choose the types of Alerts to ingest. All can be selected.
    • You may see the Alert Type Both after upgrading the app. Both means CB Analytics and Watchlist alert types, the only two that were supported in App version v1.x.



Verify after data ingest

  1. Verify that custom content that uses alert metadata, such as reports, searches, or dashboards is populating correctly.

    If data is missing, verify the mappings have been updated:

    • Field changes for the Alerts v7 API are here
    • Field changes for the Data Forwarder Alert Schema v2 are here
    • If the field is marked as DEPRECATED then the field no longer exists. Choose a different field or remove that field from your custom content.
    • If the field has a replacement field identified then update to use that field name instead.

  2. If you are using any of the Live Response alert actions - List Process or Kill Process - verify the actions execute correctly.

    • Check the Administration > Application Health Overview for errors.
    • If a 401 or 403 error occurs there is a problem with the API Key Configuration.
    • Verify the Access Level in Carbon Black Cloud has the permissions for each action as per Table 2.
    • Verify the Splunk Configuration uses the API Key that has been assigned the Access Level in the previous step

  3. If you are using an audit log input, verify Audit Logs are being ingested.

    • Check the Administration > Application Health Overview for errors.
    • If a 401 or 403 error occurs there is a problem with the API Key Configuration.
    • Verify the Access Level in Carbon Black Cloud has the permissions for each action as per Table 2.
    • Verify the Splunk Configuration uses the API Key that has been assigned the Access Level in the previous step

  4. Check other inputs are being ingested correctly

Deployment Guide

Warning: Installing the VMware Carbon Black Cloud Technology Add-on (TA) or Input Add-on (IA) on the same node as the App is an unsupported configuration that may result in instability or errors.

Depending on your Splunk configuration and version, the VMware Carbon Black Cloud app, Technology Add-on (TA), and Input Add-on (IA) need to be installed on specific Splunk instances. See the following sections as to where each component is installed.

Note: This app has not been reviewed for FedRAMP Compliance for use in the AWS GovCloud (US) environment. Please reach out to Carbon Black Cloud Support for further information.

Distributed App Configuration

In a distributed environment the app and add-ons only support a subset of configuration as each Splunk component provides specific functionality.

The Heavy Forwarder is where Splunk will ingest data from the Carbon Black Cloud, the Indexer will process the incoming data and apply the CIM compliant models, and the Search Head provides the graphical search interface that allows you to interact with the data through dashboards, alert actions and custom commands.

  • Search Head - vmware_app_for_splunk

    • VMware CBC Base Configuration
    • Proxies
    • API Token Configuration
    • Alert Actions
    • Custom Commands

  • Heavy Forwarder - IA-vmware_app_for_splunk

    • Proxies
    • API Token Configuration
    • Built-in Inputs (Alert Inputs, Audit Log Inputs, Auth Events, Live Query Inputs, and Vulnerabilities Inputs)

Note: If you are using the Data Forwarder to ingest Alerts and Events then you will need to install and configure the Splunk AWS Add-on.

  • Indexer - TA-vmware_app_for_splunk
    • No additional configuration needed beyond installation for CIM compliant models

App Setup and Configuration

An updated Setup Video with in depth walk through of the following sections will be published shortly.

The earlier version is still available, however some configuration has changed per the release notes for version 2.0.0.

The VMware Carbon Black Cloud App offers two methods to ingest data. Each method supports a subset of the Carbon Black Cloud data which is outlined below.

Built-In Input

  • Use the VMware Carbon Black Cloud App (or Input Add-on via a Heavy Forwarder), which leverages VMware Carbon Black Cloud REST APIs to pull data into Splunk
  • Supported Data
    • Alerts
    • Audit Logs
    • Auth Events
    • Live Query Results
    • Vulnerabilities

Data Forwarder

  • Streams data into an AWS S3 bucket at scale
  • Uses the AWS Add-on for Splunk to pull the data from AWS S3 into Splunk
  • Supported Data
    • Alerts Recommended for orgs with high volumes
    • Endpoint.Events
    • Watchlist.Hit

Authentication & Authorization

For built-in data inputs, alert actions, and commands, create an API Key with the correct permissions in the Carbon Black Cloud and then configure Splunk to use those keys.

  1. Identify the built-in data inputs, alert actions, and commands you intend to use.

  2. Reference Tables 1, 2, and 3 below to identify the required RBAC Permissions. Starting with App Version 2.0.0 all inputs and actions use an Access Level of type custom, so only one API key is required. (For multi-tenancy configurations, this is one API Key per org.)

  3. If Identity is managed in Carbon Black Could: Generate API Keys in the Carbon Black Cloud console under Settings –> API Access. Refer to the VMware Carbon Black Cloud Authentication Guide for additional guidance.

    1. Access Level

      All functions require an Access Level Type Custom. Create a Custom Access Level with the permissions required for the Inputs and Actions you want to use. The tables below list the necessary permissions that must be included in your Custom Access Level for each Action.

    2. API Keys

      Starting with App Version 2.0.0 all inputs and actions use an Access Level of type custom, so only one API key is required. (For multi-tenancy configurations, this is one API Key per org.)

      Create one API key with Access Level set to Custom, then select the Access Level you created in step 1.

      Earlier versions made use of Access Level types Live Response and API. See What to do before upgrading to v2.0.0 for details on how to update.

    3. ORG KEY

      Remember your organization’s Org Key from the top of the API Keys table for later steps.

  4. If Identity is managed in VMware Cloud Services Platform: Create OAuth Apps in the VMware Cloud Services Platform. Refer to the VMware Carbon Black Cloud Authentication Guide for additional guidance.

    Use the App Id in the API Id field, and App Secret in the API Key.

    1. Custom Role

      Create a Custom Role with the permissions required for the Inputs and Actions you want to use. The tables below list the necessary permissions that must be included in your Custom Role for each Action.

      Starting with the Splunk App v2.0.0 all APIs use an Access Level of type Custom.

    2. OAuth App - replace API Keys

      Starting with the Splunk App v2.0.0 only one OAuth App is required as all APIs use the Access Level type Custom.

      All actions use Custom Access Levels. Create one OAuth App with the custom role created in step 1.

      Earlier versions made use of Access Level types Live Response and API. See What to do before upgrading to v2.0.0 for details on how to update.

    3. ORG KEY

      Get your organization’s Org Key from Carbon Black Cloud on the Settings –> General page for later steps.

  5. In Splunk, navigate to the Administration –> Application Configuration menu in the VMware Carbon Black Cloud App.

    1. On the API Token Configuration tab, create a new API configuration by clicking the + in the top right corner.

    2. Give the configuration meaningful API Name and Organization Name. You’ll use this to configure built-in Inputs and Actions.

    3. Enter the Org Key, API ID (or OAuth App Id), and API Secret Key (or OAuth App Secret) from step 3 (or 4).

    4. The CBC Environment is the hostname of the Carbon Black Cloud console your organization is provisioned e.g. defense.conferdeploy.net.

    Repeat steps 2-4 for each API Key you created from step 3 or 4. From App v2.0.0 onwards, the only time more than one API key is required is for multi-tenant configurations. In this case one API Key for each Carbon Black Cloud tenant is required.


Access Levels & Permissions

All built-in inputs and actions require an API Key with an Access Level of type CUSTOM. This changed in App v2.0.0; earlier versions used other Access Levels of type LIVE_RESPONSE and API. The following tables indicate the permissions that are required.

Table 1: API Data Inputs
Inputs Description Permissions Data Schema
Alerts Alerts indicate suspicious behavior and known threats in your environment. Use the Data Forwarder option instead when you have a high volume or significant bursts as the Data Forwarder provides higher scalability. orgs.alerts (Read) Alert Schema
Auth Events Auth Events API provides visibility into authentication events that occur on Windows endpoints. org.search.events (Read, Create) Auth Event Schema
Live Query Results LiveQuery Run and Result data. Requires VMware Carbon Black Cloud Audit & Remediation livequery.manage (Read) LiveQuery Result Schema
Vulnerabilities Vulnerability assessment data including identified CVEs, metadata, and impacted assets. Requires VMware Carbon Black Cloud Workload Protection vulnerabilityAssessment.data (Read) Vulnerabilty Schema
*Audit Logs Carbon Black Cloud Audit Logs, such as when a user signs-in or updates a policy org.audits (Read) Audit Log Schema

* Note: Audit Logs changed from an Access Level type of `API` or `LIVE_RESPONSE` to `CUSTOM` in Splunk App v2.0.0


Table 2: Alert Actions/Adaptive Responses

All built-in inputs and actions require an API Key with an Access Level of type CUSTOM. This changed in App v2.0.0; earlier versions used other Access Levels of type LIVE_RESPONSE and API for some actions.

The following tables indicate the permissions that are required.

Alert Action Description Permission
Add IOCs to a Watchlist Adds specified IOC(s) to a specified report in a watchlist. Requires VMware Carbon Black Cloud Enterprise EDR orgs.watchlist (Create, Read, Update)
Ban Hash Prevents a sha256 hash from being executed in Carbon Black Cloud. org.reputations (Create)
*Close Alert Closes the specified alert in Carbon Black Cloud org.alerts (Read)
org.alerts.close (Execute)
Get File Metadata Retrieves file metadata, such as the number of devices the hash was observed on, from the specified sha256 file hash. Requires VMware Carbon Black Cloud Enterprise EDR ubs.org.sha256 (Read)
*Kill Process Remotely kills a process on the devices specified in the search device (Read)
org.liveresponse.session (Create, Read, Delete)
org.liveresponse.process (Read, Delete)
*List Processes Remotely lists processes on the specified device. Example: If an Analytics alert did not terminate the process, identify if the suspicious process is still running on the device. device (Read)
org.liveresponse.session (Create, Read, Delete)
org.liveresponse.process (Read)
Process GUID Details Fetches the most up to date, detailed metadata associated with the specified process GUID. Example: learn more about the process that triggered a Watchlist alert, such as parent and process cmdline Example: learn more about the process that triggered a Watchlist alert. org.search.events (Read, Execute)
Quarantine Device Quarantines the specified device and prevents suspicious activity and malware from affecting the rest of your network. The device can only communicate with Carbon Black Cloud until unquarantined device (Read)
device.quarantine (Execute)
Remove IOCs from a Watchlist Removes IOCs from a report in a watchlist. Requires VMware Carbon Black Cloud Enterprise EDR orgs.watchlist (Read, Update, Delete)
Run Livequery Creates a new LiveQuery Run. Example: Automatically get the logged in users on an endpoint after a credential scraping alert. Requires VMware Carbon Black Cloud Audit & Remediation device (Read)
livequery.manage (Create, Read)
Un-quarantine Device(s) Removes the specified device(s) from the quarantined state, allowing them to communicate normally on the network. device (Read)
device.quarantine (Execute)
Update Device Policy Updates the policy associated with the specified device. Example: move a device to a more restrictive policy during incident investigation device (Read)
device.policy (Update)
Enrich Alert Observations Searches and ingests the Observations that are associated with the alert. Intended for use with the “Enrich CB Alert Observations” Splunk Alert. org.search.events (Create, Read)
Enrich CB Analytic Events (Deprecated with Deactivation date of July 31, 2024) Searches and ingests the Enriched Events that are associated with the CB Analytics alert. Intended for use with the “CB Analytics - Ingest Enriched Events” Splunk Alert. Requires VMware Carbon Black Cloud Endpoint Standard org.search.events (Create, Read)

* Note: Kill Process changed from an Access Level type of `LIVE_RESPONSE` to `CUSTOM` in Splunk App v2.0.0

* Note: List Processes changed from an Access Level type of `LIVE_RESPONSE` to `CUSTOM` in Splunk App v2.0.0

* Note: Dismiss Alert was changed in v2.0.0 to Close Alerts.


Table 3: Commands

All commands require an API Key with an Access Level of type CUSTOM. This changed in App v2.0.0; earlier versions used other Access Levels of type LIVE_RESPONSE and API. The following tables indicate the permissions that are required.

Command Description Permission
VMware CBC Device Info (cbcdvcinfo) Gets real-time information about a CBC device. See Custom Commands section below for usage and best practices device (Read)
VMware CBC Hash Info (cbchashinfo) Gets real-time information about a sha256 hash, such as the number of devices that observed the file. Requires Enterprise EDR. ubs.org.sha256 (Read)
VMware CBC Query (Alert Details dashboard: Alert History tab) Loads a timeline view of the alert, including when it was created, determination changes, workflow updates, notes, and MDR comments org.alerts (READ)
VMware CBC Query (Alert Details dashboard: Observations tab) Loads Carbon Black Cloud Observations related to an alert. Only certain alert types, such as CB Analytics, Host Based Firewall, and Intrusion Detection System, have Observations. org.search.events (CREATE, READ)

Built-in Input Configuration

Ensure that you have correctly deployed the Apps and/or Add-ons per the Deployment Guide before attempting any configuration.

  1. Create two Event index(s) for your data.

    • One index for the Carbon Black Cloud data e.g. carbonblackcloud
    • One index for the results of the Alert Actions e.g. carbonblackcloud_actions

    For instructions on creating an Index see the Splunk documentation

  2. Navigate to the Administration –> Application Configuration menu in the VMware Carbon Black Cloud App

  3. On the VMware CBC Base Configuration tab set the VMware CBC Base Index and VMware CBC Action Index to the index names from step 1 e.g. carbonblackcloud

  4. [Optional] Configure a proxy if needed on the Proxies tab

  5. If you have not already configured any API Configurations in Splunk see the Authentication & Authorization section

  6. Depending on what inputs you want to configure see the corresponding section:

    • Alerts

      • Data Forwarder

        See Data Forwarder Input Configuration

      • API

        1. Navigate to the Alerts Inputs tab in the Application Configuration menu

        2. Create a new configuration by clicking the + in the top right corner

        3. Enter a name for this configuration

        4. Set the Minimum Severity to the desired level Default: 4

        5. Select the desired Alert types Default: All

          • You may see Both after upgrading the app. Both means CB Analytics and Watchlist alert types, the only two that were supported in App version v1.x.

        6. Select the API Token configured in the Authentication & Authorization section

          Note: Ensure your Splunk access level has the permissions specified in Table 1 above for 'Alerts API'

        7. Select the proxy configured in step 4. Select None if a proxy is not being used.

        8. Set Lookback to 0 unless you need to retrieve data from the previous day(s) Default: 7 days

        9. Select the index equal to the Base Index name from VMware CBC Base Configuration e.g. carbonblackcloud

        10. Set the Interval to the desired poll cycle Default: 300 seconds

          Note: If your organization generates a significant amount of alerts, consider using the Data Forwarder option 11*[Optional]* Add a query to refine the alerts that will be ingested

          Note: The query uses the same syntax as the search bar on the 'Alerts' page in the Carbon Black Cloud console. Example: NOT report_name:"My Noisy Report"

    • Audit Logs

      1. Navigate to the Audit Log Inputs tab in the Application Configuration menu

      2. Create a new configuration by clicking the + in the top right corner

      3. Enter a name for this configuration

      4. Select the API Token configured in the Authentication & Authorization section

        Note: Ensure your Splunk access level has the permissions specified in Table 1 above for 'Audit Logs API'

      5. Select the proxy configured in step 4. Select None if a proxy is not being used.

      6. Set the index equal to the Base Index name from VMware CBC Base Configuration e.g. carbonblackcloud

        Note: Do not include 'index='

      7. Set the Interval to the desired poll cycle Default: 300 seconds

    • Auth Events

      Auth Events requires Enterprise EDR, and to be enabled for each policy. Read more in the Carbon Black Cloud User Guide.

      • API

        1. Navigate to the Auth Events Inputs tab in the Application Configuration menu

        2. Create a new configuration by clicking the + in the top right corner

        3. Enter a name for this configuration

        4. Select the Custom API Token configured in the Authentication & Authorization section

          Note: Ensure your Splunk access level has the permissions specified in Table 1 above for 'Auth Events API' Note: This requires Enterprise EDR to be enabled

        5. Select the proxy configured in step 4. Select None if a proxy is not being used.

        6. Set Lookback to 0 unless you need to retrieve data from the previous day(s) Default: 7 days

        7. Set the index equal to the Base Index name from VMware CBC Base Configuration e.g. carbonblackcloud

          Note: Do not include 'index='

        8. Set the Interval to the desired poll cycle Default: 300 seconds

          Note: If your organization generates a significant amount of alerts, consider using the Data Forwarder option

    • Live Query Results

      1. Navigate to the Live Query Inputs tab in the Application Configuration menu

      2. Create a new configuration by clicking the + in the top right corner

      3. Enter a name for this configuration

      4. Select the Custom API Token configured in the Authentication & Authorization section

        Note: Ensure your Splunk access level has the permissions specified in Table 1 above for 'Live Query Results'

      5. Select the proxy configured in step 4. Select None if a proxy is not being used.

      6. Set Lookback to 0 unless you need to retrieve data from the previous day(s) Default: 7 days

      7. Select the index equal to the Base Index name from VMware CBC Base Configuration e.g. carbonblackcloud

        Note: Do not include 'index='

      8. Set the Interval to the desired poll cycle Default: 300 seconds

      9. Add a Result query to refine the results that will be ingested e.g. * for all results

        Note: The query uses the same syntax as the 'Live Query' -> 'Query Results' page in the Carbon Black Cloud console

    • Vulnerabilities

      1. Navigate to the Vulnerabilities Inputs tab in the Application Configuration menu

      2. Create a new configuration by clicking the + in the top right corner

      3. Enter a name for this configuration

      4. Set the Minimum Risk to the desired level Default: 7

      5. Select the Custom API Token configured in the Authentication & Authorization section

        Note: Ensure your Splunk access level has the permissions specified in Table 1 above for 'Vulnerabilities'

      6. Select the proxy configured in step 4. Select None if a proxy is not being used.

      7. Set the index equal to the Base Index name from VMware CBC Base Configuration e.g. carbonblackcloud

        Note: Do not include 'index='

      8. Set the Interval to the desired poll cycle Default: 300 seconds

      9. [Optional] Add a query to refine the vulnerabilities that will be ingested

        Note: The query uses the same syntax as the 'Vulnerabilities' page in the Carbon Black Cloud console

Data Forwarder Input Configuration

A Data forwarder must be created in order for the Carbon Black Cloud to stream data externally. The forwarder will be responsible for routing data to an S3 bucket where it can then be taken as input by Splunk using the AWS input add-on.

Requirements

  • The AWS add-on for Splunk is required for configuring inputs from an AWS source
  • For each data type (Alerts and Events) you want to bring into Splunk you will need the following
    • An AWS S3 bucket
    • An AWS SQS queue
    • A Carbon Black Cloud Data Forwarder
Note: You can configure more than one forwarder for each type if you have complex filtering needs.

Create a Data Forwarder

Configure your forwarder with filters to limit the amount of event data forwarded to Splunk in order to reduce costs. The forwarder can be created via Carbon Black Cloud Console under Settings –> Data Forwarders or the Carbon Black Cloud Data Forwarder API.

Note: The same forwarder cannot be used for multiple Data Forwarder Types (Alert, Event, Watchlist Hit). Create a separate forwarder for each type of data you want to forward.

Configure AWS Add-On

Before configuring the AWS inputs, make sure that the AWS add-on is installed in your Splunk environment. For instructions on installing the AWS add-on see the Splunk documentation.

The recommended approach to ingest Carbon Black Cloud Data Forwarder data into Splunk is the SQS-based S3 data input.

To configure an input in the AWS add-on to pull Carbon Black Cloud data using SQS-based S3:

  1. Configure your AWS account on the Configuration page in the AWS Add-on

  2. In the AWS Add-on, create a new input on the Inputs page by selecting Create New input -> Custom Data Type -> SQS-based S3

    1. Specify a name that should be used for this input

    2. Select the AWS account you configured with the AWS Add-on

    3. [Optional] If you configured IAM roles when configuring your AWS account select the created role

    4. Select the AWS Region where you configured the SQS queue and S3 bucket

    5. Select the SQS queue from the dropdown

      Note: If you don't see your SQS queue ensure you have selected the correct AWS region and the SQS queue was created in the region

    6. Set the batch size for Splunk to pull from your SQS queue Default: 10 messages

    7. Ensure the S3 File Decoder is set to Custom Logs

    8. Use one of the following Source Types depending on the data you configured for the forwarder

      • Set to vmware:cbc:s3:alerts for Alerts
      • Set to vmware:cbc:s3:events for Events
      • Set to vmware:cbc:s3:watchlist:hits for Watchlist Hits


      Note: You will need to create separate inputs for each of Alerts, Events and Watchlist Hits

    9. Ensure the index you select matches the base index configured in the VMware Carbon Black Cloud app

      Note: Alerts and Event should both be configured to the base index

    10. UNCHECK the box “Signature Validate All Events”

    11. In Advanced Settings, you can increase the polling cycle for fetching messages from the SQS Default: 300 seconds



Note: If you need to reload older events and are using SQS to pull buckets, the events will not be available in the queue once they are retrieved. To view historical events or reload data, use the generic S3 option or copy the events to another prefix to copy it to the queue.

Support and Resources

Diagnostics Generation

Please include a support diagnostic file when creating a support ticket. Use the following command to generate the file based on which Splunk app or add-on is installed. Send the resulting file to support.

$SPLUNK_HOME/bin/splunk diag --collect=app:vmware_app_for_splunk
$SPLUNK_HOME/bin/splunk diag --collect=app:IA-vmware_app_for_splunk
$SPLUNK_HOME/bin/splunk diag --collect=app:TA-vmware_app_for_splunk

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Last modified on January 26, 2024