PowerDNS Recursor

Samurai [Local] Collector	Samurai [Cloud] Collector

This guide describes the steps required to configure PowerDNS Recursor logs to a Samurai Local Collector deployed on your network by configuring rsyslog.

Connectivity Requirements

You must ensure the following connectivity requirements are available:

Table 1: Connectivity requirements

Configure PowerDNS

Ensure that Structured Logging is enabled and Quiet is disabled in the PowerDNS Recursor configuration file, normally located at /etc/powerdns/recursor.conf:

structured-logging=yes
quiet=no

Configure log forwarding with rsyslog

Follow the below steps to configure rsyslog to forward authentication events.

Rsyslog prerequisites

Ensure the following statement is included in the main rsyslog configuration file, normally located at /etc/rsyslog.conf:

$IncludeConfig /etc/rsyslog.d/*.conf

If no IncludeConfig statement exist for the /etc/rsyslog.d/ directory, append it to the end of rsyslog.conf.

Create /etc/rsyslog.d/ntt_powerdns.conf

Create /etc/rsyslog.d/ntt_powerdns.conf and insert the below configuration block, enter the Local Collector IP in the Target field.

template(
	name = "powerdns-recursor"
	type = "string"
	string = "<%PRI%>1 %TIMESTAMP:::date-rfc3339% %HOSTNAME% %APP-NAME% %PROCID% powerdns_recursor %STRUCTURED-DATA% %msg%"
)
if ($programname == "pdns-recursor") then {  
	action(
		queue.type="LinkedList" 
		queue.size="10000"
		type="omfwd"
		template="powerdns-recursor"
		Target="<Local Collector IP>"
		Port="514" 
		Protocol="tcp" 
	)
}

Validate and restart service

Confirm that rsyslog can parse the configuration without any errors by running:

rsyslogd -N1

Then restart the rsyslog service:

sudo systemctl restart rsyslog

The log messages will now be forwarded to the Samurai Local Collector.

For integrations that utilize a Local Collector where we ingest syslog only, you do not need to follow specific steps in the Samurai MDR portal as we auto detect the vendor and product. The only reason you need to use the Samurai MDR portal is if you need to determine the Local Collector IP address. Of course you will still need to ensure the integration is functioning! See Integrations for more information on checking status.

Our Integration guide was accurate at the time of writing but vendors change things frequently! If you find errors or anything is outdated, let us know by raising a request in the Samurai MDR application and we shall get it updated.