NetIQ Sentinel User Guide

NetIQ® Sentinel™
User Guide
December 2015
www.netiq.com/documentation
Legal Notice
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restricted rights, patent policy, and FIPS compliance, see http://www.netiq.com/company/legal/.
Copyright © 2015 NetIQ Corporation. All Rights reserved.
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of their respective owners.
Contents
About this Book and the Library
About NetIQ Corporation
9
11
1 Introduction to the Sentinel Interface
1.1
1.2
1.3
13
Sentinel Web Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Sentinel Control Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Solution Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2 Viewing Events in Real-Time
2.1
2.2
15
Viewing Events in Real-Time Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.1.1
Creating an Event View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.1.2
Viewing Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Viewing Events in Active Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.2.1
Accessing the Active Views Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.2.2
Reconfiguring Total Display Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.2.3
Viewing Real-Time Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.2.4
Managing Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3 Searching Events
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
31
Running an Event Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Viewing Search Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.2.1
Summary View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.2.2
Detailed View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Refining Search Results. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Saving a Search Query . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.4.1
Saving a Search Query as a Search Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.4.2
Saving a Search Query as a Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.4.3
Saving a Search Query as a Report Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.4.4
Saving a Search Query as a Routing Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.4.5
Saving a Search Query as a Retention Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.4.6
Creating a Dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Performing Event Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
3.5.1
Executing Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
3.5.2
Exporting the Search Results to a File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.5.3
Adding Events to an Incident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.5.4
Creating an Incident. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.5.5
Adding Events to a Correlation Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.5.6
Creating a Correlation Rule by Using Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.5.7
Viewing Identity Details of Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.5.8
Viewing Advisor Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.5.9
Viewing Asset Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.5.10 Viewing Vulnerabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
4 Configuring Filters
4.1
4.2
47
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Introducing the Filters Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
4.2.1
Filters Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Contents
3
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.2.2
Filter Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Creating a Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.3.1
Creating a Filter by Using the Edit Criteria Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.3.2
Creating a Filter by Using a Search Query . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Sample Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4.4.1
View Events of Severity 3 to 5 from a System in China. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4.4.2
Determine if User “Bob Smith” Tried to Log In after His Account was Disabled . . . . . . . . . 52
4.4.3
View Events from Two Subnets and Share the Filter with Network Administrators . . . . . . . 53
4.4.4
Find all Events that Include the Words “database” and “service,” and exclude “test” . . . . . 53
Viewing Events by Using Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Managing Filters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.6.1
Editing a Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.6.2
Deleting a Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
5 Correlating Event Data
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
5.6
5.7
5.8
5.9
5.10
5.11
5.12
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
5.1.1
How Correlation Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
5.1.2
Correlation Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
5.1.3
Correlation Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Accessing the Correlation User Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Understanding the Correlation Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
5.3.1
Correlation Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
5.3.2
Correlation Rule Builder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Creating Correlation Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
5.4.1
Understanding the Correlated Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
5.4.2
Creating a Simple Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
5.4.3
Creating a Sequence Rule. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
5.4.4
Creating a Composite Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5.4.5
Creating a Sequence Timeout Rule. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
5.4.6
Creating a Free-Form Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
5.4.7
Creating a Combination Rule. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
5.4.8
Creating Correlation Rules From Search Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Associating Actions to a Rule. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Testing a Correlation Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Sample Correlation Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
5.7.1
Detecting Critical Events from an Intrusion Detection System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
5.7.2
Detecting a Spreading Attack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
5.7.3
Detecting an Attack that Came from Outside the Firewall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Deploying Rules in the Correlation Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Viewing Correlated Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Customizing Correlated Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Managing Correlation Rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
5.11.1 Viewing the Rule Dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
5.11.2 Editing a Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
5.11.3 Deleting a Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Managing the Correlation Engine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
5.12.1 Using the Correlation Engine Dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
5.12.2 Stopping or Starting a Correlation Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
5.12.3 Renaming a Correlation Engine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
6 Visualizing and Analyzing Alerts
6.1
4
55
85
Viewing and Triaging Alerts in Alert Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
6.1.1
Creating an Alert View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
6.1.2
Viewing Alerts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
6.1.3
Escalating Alerts to an Incident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
NetIQ Sentinel User Guide
6.2
6.3
Analyzing Alert Dashboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
6.2.1
Creating the Alert Dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
6.2.2
Analyzing Alerts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
6.2.3
Customizing the Alert Dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
6.3.1
Unable to View Alerts in the Dashboard and Alert Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
7 Analyzing Trends in Data
7.1
7.2
7.3
7.4
7.5
7.6
7.7
7.8
93
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
7.1.1
Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
7.1.2
How Security Intelligence Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
7.1.3
Permissions for Security Intelligence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Creating a Dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
7.2.1
Creating a Dashboard by Using a Filter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Understanding the Dashboard Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Creating Baselines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Configuring Anomaly Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
7.5.1
Creating an Anomaly Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
7.5.2
Deploying an Anomaly Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
7.5.3
Undeploying an Anomaly Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
7.5.4
Managing Anomalies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Viewing Anomaly Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Managing Dashboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
7.7.1
Viewing a Dashboard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
7.7.2
Renaming a Dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
7.7.3
Deleting a Dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
7.8.1
The Create Button Is Not Displayed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
7.8.2
The Main Graph and the Time Slider Are Not Synchronized. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
7.8.3
Both Names for a Renamed Anomaly Are Displayed in the Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
7.8.4
Dashboard Date Range Not Updated to in Real Time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
8 Visualizing and Analyzing Network Flow Data
107
9 Configuring Dynamic Lists
109
9.1
9.2
Creating a Dynamic List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
9.1.1
Using the Sentinel Control Center to Create a Dynamic List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
9.1.2
Using the Correlation Rule Builder to Create a Dynamic List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Managing Dynamic Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
9.2.1
Editing a Dynamic List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
9.2.2
Deleting a Dynamic List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
9.2.3
Removing Dynamic List Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
10 Leveraging Identity Information
10.1
10.2
113
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Searching and Viewing User Identities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
10.2.1 Accessing the Identity Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
10.2.2 Performing a Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
10.2.3 Searching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
10.2.4 Viewing Profile Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
10.2.5 Viewing Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Contents
5
11 Manually Performing Actions on Events
11.1
11.2
11.3
11.4
Accessing Event Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Prerequisites for Executing Actions on Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Assigning Actions to Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Configuring Event Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
11.4.1 Creating a New Event Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
11.4.2 Cloning an Event Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
11.4.3 Moving an Event Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
11.4.4 Deleting an Event Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
12 Configuring Tags
12.1
12.2
12.3
12.4
12.5
12.6
12.7
12.8
13.3
13.4
131
Viewing Secure Configuration Manager Events and Compliance Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
15 Viewing Change Guardian Events
133
16 Configuring Incidents
135
16.1
16.2
16.3
6
127
Creating Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Scheduling Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
13.2.1 Scheduling Reports across Sentinel Servers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
13.2.2 Saving Reports in the CSV Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Working with Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Rebranding Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
14 Viewing Compliance to Configuration Policies
14.1
121
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
The Tags Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Creating a Tag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Managing Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
12.4.1 Sorting Tags. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
12.4.2 Adding and Removing Tags from Favorites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
12.4.3 Viewing and Modifying Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Performing Text Searches for Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Deleting Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Associating Tags with Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
12.7.1 Associating Tags with Event Routing Rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
12.7.2 Associating Tags with Event Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
12.7.3 Associating Tags with Collector Managers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
12.7.4 Associating Tags with Event Sources Servers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
12.7.5 Associating Tags with Collector Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
12.7.6 Associating Tags with Report Results and Report Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Viewing Tagged Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
13 Reporting
13.1
13.2
117
Accessing Incidents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Creating Incidents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Managing Incidents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
16.3.1 Viewing an Incident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
16.3.2 Attaching Workflows to Incidents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
16.3.3 Adding Attachments to Incidents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
16.3.4 Adding Notes to Incidents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
16.3.5 Executing Incident Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
NetIQ Sentinel User Guide
16.4
16.3.6 E-mailing an Incident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Adding an Incident View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
17 Configuring iTRAC Workflows
17.1
17.2
17.3
17.4
17.5
17.6
17.7
17.8
17.9
17.10
17.11
17.12
17.13
17.14
139
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Using the Template Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
17.3.1 Default Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Template Builder Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Creating a Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Managing Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
17.6.1 Viewing or Editing a Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
17.6.2 Copying a Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
17.6.3 Deleting a Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
17.7.1 Start Step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
17.7.2 Manual Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
17.7.3 Decision Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
17.7.4 Mail Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
17.7.5 Command Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
17.7.6 Activity Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
17.7.7 End Step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Adding Steps to a Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
17.8.1 Adding a Step from the Step Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
17.8.2 Adding a Step in the Process Builder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
17.8.3 Adding an Activity Step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
17.8.4 Adding an End Step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Managing Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
17.9.1 Copying a Step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
17.9.2 Modifying a Step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
17.9.3 Editing a Manual Step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
17.9.4 Editing a Decision Step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
17.9.5 Editing a Mail Step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
17.9.6 Editing a Command Step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
17.9.7 Deleting a Step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
17.10.1 Unconditional Transitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
17.10.2 Conditional Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
17.10.3 Creating an Expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
17.10.4 Else Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
17.10.5 Timeout Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
17.10.6 Alert Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
17.10.7 Error Transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
17.10.8 Managing Transitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
17.11.1 Incident Command Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
17.11.2 Incident Internal Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
17.11.3 Incident Composite Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Creating iTRAC Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Managing Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
17.13.1 Editing an Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
17.13.2 Exporting an Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
17.13.3 Importing an Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Managing iTRAC Roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
17.14.1 Adding a Role . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
17.14.2 Deleting a Role . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
17.14.3 Viewing the Role Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Contents
7
17.15 Process Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
17.15.1 Instantiating a Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
17.15.2 Automatic Step Execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
17.15.3 Manual Step Execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
17.15.4 Display Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
17.15.5 Displaying the Status of a Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
17.15.6 Changing Views in Process Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
17.15.7 Starting or Terminating a Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
18 Managing Work Items
18.1
18.2
18.3
18.4
18.5
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Understanding the Work Item Summary Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Viewing a Work Item . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Processing a Work Item . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Managing Work Items Of Other Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
A Search Query Syntax
A.1
A.2
A.3
A.4
A.5
A.6
A.7
B.3
B.4
8
173
Basic Search Query . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
A.1.1
Case Insensitivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
A.1.2
Special Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
A.1.3
Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
A.1.4
The Default Search Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
A.1.5
Tokenized Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
A.1.6
Non-Tokenized Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Wildcards in Search Queries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
A.2.1
Wildcards in Tokenized Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
A.2.2
Quoted Wildcards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
A.2.3
Leading Wildcards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
The notnull Query. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Tags in Search Queries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Regular Expression Queries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Range Queries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
IP Addresses Query . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
A.7.1
CIDR Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
A.7.2
Wildcards in IP Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
B Correlation Rule Expression Syntax
B.1
B.2
169
185
Event Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Event Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
B.2.1
Filter Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
B.2.2
Trigger Operation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
B.2.3
Window Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
B.2.4
Gate Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
B.2.5
Sequence Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
B.2.6
Sequence Timeout Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
B.2.7
Distinct Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
B.3.1
Flow Operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
B.3.2
Union Operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
B.3.3
Intersection Operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Order of Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
NetIQ Sentinel User Guide
About this Book and the Library
The User Guide provides conceptual information about Sentinel. This book also provides an overview
of the user interfaces and step-by-step guidance for many tasks.
Intended Audience
This guide is intended for Sentinel administrators and consultants.
Other Information in the Library
The library provides the following information resources:
Installation and Configuration Guide
The Installation and Configuration Guide provides an introduction to NetIQ Sentinel and explains
how to install and configure Sentinel.
Administration Guide
Provides the administration information and tasks required to manage a Sentinel deployment.
About this Book and the Library
9
10
NetIQ Sentinel User Guide
About NetIQ Corporation
We are a global, enterprise software company, with a focus on the three persistent challenges in your
environment: Change, complexity and risk—and how we can help you control them.
Our Viewpoint
Adapting to change and managing complexity and risk are nothing new
In fact, of all the challenges you face, these are perhaps the most prominent variables that deny
you the control you need to securely measure, monitor, and manage your physical, virtual, and
cloud computing environments.
Enabling critical business services, better and faster
We believe that providing as much control as possible to IT organizations is the only way to
enable timelier and cost effective delivery of services. Persistent pressures like change and
complexity will only continue to increase as organizations continue to change and the
technologies needed to manage them become inherently more complex.
Our Philosophy
Selling intelligent solutions, not just software
In order to provide reliable control, we first make sure we understand the real-world scenarios in
which IT organizations like yours operate — day in and day out. That's the only way we can
develop practical, intelligent IT solutions that successfully yield proven, measurable results. And
that's so much more rewarding than simply selling software.
Driving your success is our passion
We place your success at the heart of how we do business. From product inception to
deployment, we understand that you need IT solutions that work well and integrate seamlessly
with your existing investments; you need ongoing support and training post-deployment; and you
need someone that is truly easy to work with — for a change. Ultimately, when you succeed, we
all succeed.
Our Solutions
 Identity & Access Governance
 Access Management
 Security Management
 Systems & Application Management
 Workload Management
 Service Management
About NetIQ Corporation
11
Contacting Sales Support
For questions about products, pricing, and capabilities, contact your local partner. If you cannot
contact your partner, contact our Sales Support team.
Worldwide:
www.netiq.com/about_netiq/officelocations.asp
United States and Canada:
1-888-323-6768
Email:
[email protected]
Web Site:
www.netiq.com
Contacting Technical Support
For specific product issues, contact our Technical Support team.
Worldwide:
www.netiq.com/support/contactinfo.asp
North and South America:
1-713-418-5555
Europe, Middle East, and Africa:
+353 (0) 91-782 677
Email:
[email protected]
Web Site:
www.netiq.com/support
Contacting Documentation Support
Our goal is to provide documentation that meets your needs. If you have suggestions for
improvements, click Add Comment at the bottom of any page in the HTML versions of the
documentation posted at www.netiq.com/documentation. You can also email [email protected]. We value your input and look forward to hearing from you.
Contacting the Online User Community
Qmunity, the NetIQ online community, is a collaborative network connecting you to your peers and
NetIQ experts. By providing more immediate information, useful links to helpful resources, and
access to NetIQ experts, Qmunity helps ensure you are mastering the knowledge you need to realize
the full potential of IT investments upon which you rely. For more information, visit http://
community.netiq.com.
12
NetIQ Sentinel User Guide
1
Introduction to the Sentinel Interface
1
Sentinel is a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solution that receives information
from many sources throughout an enterprise, standardizes it, prioritizes it, and presents it to you to
make threat, risk, and policy decisions.
There are different tools to help you take advantage of all of the features Sentinel has to offer: You
must have necessary permissions to access these tools.
 Section 1.1, “Sentinel Web Interface,” on page 13
 Section 1.2, “Sentinel Control Center,” on page 13
 Section 1.3, “Solution Designer,” on page 13
1.1
Sentinel Web Interface
The Sentinel Web interface is the main user interface for viewing and interacting with Sentinel data.
For more information about the user interface and its options, see “Understanding Sentinel
Applications” in the NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.
1.2
Sentinel Control Center
Sentinel presents the collected data in the Sentinel Web interface as well as the Sentinel Control
Center (SCC). For more information on the Sentinel Control Center, see “Understanding Sentinel
Applications” in the NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.
1.3
Solution Designer
You can use the Solution Designer to package and export different contents, such as filters, reports,
searches, and Correlation rules with associated actions and dynamic lists. For more information on
Solution Designer, see “Solution Designer” in the NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.
Introduction to the Sentinel Interface
13
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NetIQ Sentinel User Guide
2
Viewing Events in Real-Time
2
An event represents a normalized log record reported to Sentinel from a third-party security device,
network or application device, or from an internal Sentinel source. There are several types of events:
 External events (events received from a security device) such as:
 An attack detected by an intrusion detection system (IDS)
 A successful login reported by an operating system
 A customer-defined situation such as a user accessing a file
 Internal events (events generated by Sentinel), including:
 A correlation rule being disabled
 The database filling up
Sentinel displays events in near real-time in a graphical and tabular representation. You can view and
analyze events in Real-time Views in the Sentinel Web interface and also in Active Views in the
Sentinel Control Center. Viewing events in Real-time Views enables you to view events without
having to log in to the Sentinel Control Center. To perform any event operations, you can launch the
Search interface. However, in Active Views, you can view the events and also perform event
operations in the Active Views table.
 Section 2.1, “Viewing Events in Real-Time Views,” on page 15
 Section 2.2, “Viewing Events in Active Views,” on page 16
2.1
Viewing Events in Real-Time Views
To view events in Real-time Views, you must first create an event view.
The administrator can see all events in the system. The events other users see may be limited by a
security or tenant filter. For information about permissions to view events, see “Configuring Roles and
Users” in the NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.
2.1.1
Creating an Event View
To view and analyze events, you must first create an event view in the Real-time Views panel.
To create an event view:
1 Log in to the Sentinel Web console.
2 Click Real-time Views > Events > Create.
3 Specify the following information:
 Name: Specify a unique name for the event view.
 Sharing: Select either of the following options:
 Public: Allow everyone to view the event view. In the Public mode, other users can
only view the events but cannot modify the event view. You are still the owner of the
event view.
Viewing Events in Real-Time
15
 Private: Only you are able to view the event view.
 Criteria: Specify the criteria to view specific events.
 Event Attribute: Select the attribute based on which you want to categorize the event data.
 Tenant: If you are in a multi-tenant environment, select a tenant name for which you want to
view events. The default tenant allows you to view events from all tenants. If you select a
tenant, only users of that tenant can view the events in this event view.
This option is available only if you are an administrator in a multi-tenant environment.
 Chart Type: Specify the chart type in which you want to view the event data.
 Y Axis: Select either of the following options:
 Event Count: Displays a graph with number of events for the specified time range.
 Event Count per Second: Displays a graph with event rate for the specified time
range.
 Time range: Select the time range for which you want to view the event data.
 Display Interval: Select the time interval between two data points.
4 Click Save to save the event view configuration.
2.1.2
Viewing Events
To view an event view:
1 Click Real-time Views > Events.
2 Select the event view and click Open the event view.
Sentinel provides a graphical representation of events for the specified criteria. The chart
automatically refreshes after the interval specified in Display Interval.
As you are viewing event data, you can perform the following actions in the chart:
 Mouse over the data points in the chart to view the number of incoming events or events per
second for a specific timestamp.
 Click any category in the legend to filter the view by the legend items.
 Click and drag the mouse to zoom the view for a specific time range.
The event view enables you to view only the summarized event data. To view the event details or
perform any event operations, you can do either of the following:
 Click a specific area in the chart to open the Search interface with the list of events represented
in that area.
 Click Search Events.
For information about viewing event details and performing event operations, see Section 3.2,
“Viewing Search Results,” on page 33 and Section 3.5, “Performing Event Operations,” on page 42.
2.2
Viewing Events in Active Views
Sentinel displays events in near real-time in Active Views tab in the Sentinel Control Center. As you
view events, you can also perform relevant operations on the events, including:
 Create incidents or add the events to an exiting incident
 For correlated events, you can view the events that triggered the correlated event
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NetIQ Sentinel User Guide
 Execute actions on the events
 View the Advisor and asset data
For more information, see Section 2.2.4, “Managing Events,” on page 19.
NOTE: You must have the Create and use Active Views permission to view and manage events in
Active Views.
2.2.1
Accessing the Active Views Tab
When you launch the Sentinel Control Center, the Active Views tab is the first tab that is displayed. If
the Active Views tab is not displayed, you can access it by:
1 Log in to the Sentinel Web interface, then click Applications in the toolbar.
2 Click Launch Control Center.
3 Log in to the Sentinel Control Center as a user with Create and use Active Views permission.
The Active Views tab is displayed.
Active Views provides two types of views, which display the events in tables and graphs.
Table format displays the variables of the events as columns in a table. You can sort the information in
the grid by clicking the column name.
Graphical format displays events as graphs. You can change the chart types by right-clicking
anywhere in the chart and by selecting the desired chart type. You can also view the events that
match the filter criteria by right-clicking anywhere in the chart and by selecting the Drill-down option
from the menu. The events are displayed in the Sentinel Web interface.
The event table and the snapshot are the two types of Active Views.
Near Real Time Event Table: Displays the events in graphs with the following features:
 Holds up to 750 events per 30-second period. If there are more than 750 events, the events are
prioritized to display correlated events first, then events that are sent to the GUI by using routing
rules, then all remaining events.
 By default, the client maintains a 24-hour period of cached events. You can configure the time.
For more information, see Section 2.2.2, “Reconfiguring Total Display Time,” on page 18.
 By default, the smallest possible display interval of an active view is 30 seconds. This is
represented by a gray line in the event table.
Figure 2-1 Gray Line- Indicating the Smallest Possible Display Interval
If there are more than 750 events per 30-second time period, a red separation line indicates that
there are more events than are displayed.
Viewing Events in Real-Time
17
Figure 2-2 Red Line- Indicating More Events to Display
 When you save user preferences, the system continues to collect data for four days. For
instance, if you save your preferences, then log out and log back in the following day, your Active
View displays data as if you never logged off.
 If an Active View is created and not saved, it continues to collect data for an hour. Within that
hour, if an identical Active View is created, the Active View displays data for the last hour.
Snapshot: Time-stamped view of a Real Event View table.
Several features make an Active View unique.
 The filter assigned to an Active View
 The z-axis attribute
 The security filter assigned to a user
You can change event names to user-friendly names and the new names are populated throughout
the system. For more information, see “Renaming Event Fields” in the NetIQ Sentinel Administration
Guide.
2.2.2
Reconfiguring Total Display Time
Active View Properties allows you to configure the cached time in each client. The default cache time
value in an Active View is 24 hours.
To reconfigure the total display time:
1 Access the Active Views tab.
For more information, see Section 2.2.1, “Accessing the Active Views Tab,” on page 17.
2 In the menu, click Active Views > Properties.
3 Select the maximum display time, then click OK.
The new values do not take effect until you restart the Sentinel Control Center.
2.2.3
Viewing Real-Time Events
1 Access the Active Views tab.
For more information, see Section 2.2.1, “Accessing the Active Views Tab,” on page 17.
2 In the menu, click Active Views > Create Active View.
3 Use the following information to define the display properties:
Event Attribute (Z Axis): In drop-down list, select the desired attribute.
Filter: Specify the filter, or click the Browse button to select a defined filter.
Display Events: Select where to display event.
4 To customize additional settings, click Next, then continue with Step 5.
or
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NetIQ Sentinel User Guide
To use the default settings, click Finish. The following default values are selected:
 A display interval and refresh rate of 30 seconds
 Total display time of 15 minutes
 Y-axis as the event count
 A chart type of Stacked Bar 2D
5 Define the statistical parameters:
Display Interval: Select the display interval. This is the interval to display events.
Refresh Rate: Select the refresh rate. This is the rate at which Active Views refresh.
Total Display Time: Specify the amount of time to display the chart.
Y-axis: Set the Y axis to be either the total event count or event count per second.
6 Click Next.
7 Select your chart type from the drop-down list:
 Stacked Bar 2D
 Bar 3D
 Line
 Ribbon
8 Click Finish.
The five buttons to the left of the chart perform the following functions:
Lock Chart or Unlock Chart: Used when performing a drill-down, zoom in, zoom out, zoom to
selection, and when saving a chart as an .html file. When you click the Lock button, you have
additional options:
 Zoom In: Zooms in without changing any of the time settings of the chart.
 Zoom Out: Zooms out without changing any of the time settings of the chart.
 Zoom to Selection: Zooms in on a selection of time intervals of events.
 Snapshot Active View: Saves an .html file with the chart as an image and events in a tabular
format.
Increase Display Interval: Increases the display time interval for incoming events.
Decrease Display Interval: Decreases the display time interval for incoming events.
Increase Display Time: Increases the time interval along the x-axis.
Decrease Display Time: Decreases the time interval along the x-axis.
2.2.4
Managing Events
In the table view, you can manage one or more events. Select the event or events you want to
manage, then right-click and select the option.
 “Showing and Hiding Event Details” on page 20
 “Sending Mail Messages about Events and Incidents” on page 20
 “Creating Incidents” on page 21
 “Adding Events to an Incident” on page 21
 “Viewing Events That Trigger Correlated Events” on page 21
Viewing Events in Real-Time
19
 “Executing Actions on Events” on page 22
 “Investigating an Event or Events” on page 22
 “Accessing the Active Browser” on page 24
 “Viewing Advisor Data” on page 25
 “Viewing Asset Data” on page 25
 “Viewing Vulnerabilities” on page 26
 “Viewing User Information” on page 28
 “Viewing the Targets” on page 28
 “Managing Columns” on page 28
 “Taking a Snapshot of a Navigator Window” on page 29
Showing and Hiding Event Details
To show details in a Real Time Event Table of the Navigator or Snapshot, double-click or right-click an
event, then click Show Details.
The details display in the left panel of the Real Time Event Table.
To close the Event Details window in a Real Time Event Table of the Navigator or Snapshot, rightclick an event, then click Show Details.
Sending Mail Messages about Events and Incidents
To send mail messages from within the Sentinel Control Center, you must have an SMTP integrator
that is configured with connection information and with the SentinelDefaultEMailServer set to True.
For more information on configuring the SMTP Integrator, see “Configuring Integrators” in the NetIQ
Sentinel Administration Guide.
To send an event message by e-mail:
1 In a Real Time Event Table, right-click an event or a group of events, then select Send Email.
The e-mail is sent to the specified recipients.
To e-mail an incident:
1 After you save your incident, click the Incidents tab, Incidents > Incidents View.
2 Click All Incidents in the Switch View drop-down list located at the bottom right corner.
3 Double-click an incident.
4 Click the Email Incident button.
5 Provide the following information:
 Email Address
 Email Subject
 Email Message
6 Click OK.
The e-mail messages have .html attachments that address incident details, events, assets,
vulnerabilities, advisor information, attachment information, incident notes, and incident history.
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NetIQ Sentinel User Guide
Creating Incidents
Creating an incident is useful in grouping a set of events together to indicate a pattern of interest,
such an attack.
You must have the View or create incidents and add events to incidents permission to create
incidents.
If events are not initially displayed in a newly created incident, it is probably because of a lag in the
time between display in the Real Time Events window and insertion into the event store. It takes a few
minutes for the original events to be inserted into the event store and displayed in the incident.
1 Access the Active Views tab.
For more information, see Section 2.2.1, “Accessing the Active Views Tab,” on page 17.
2 In a Real Time Event Table, select an event or a group of events and right-click.
3 Select Create Incident.
4 Follow the steps in Section 16.2, “Creating Incidents,” on page 135.
Adding Events to an Incident
You must have the View or create incidents and add events to incidents permission to add events to
Incidents.
1 Access the Active Views tab.
For more information, see Section 2.2.1, “Accessing the Active Views Tab,” on page 17.
2 In a Real Time Event Table, select an event or a group of events and right-click.
3 Select Add To Incident.
4 Click Browse, then click Search to list the available incidents.
You can define your criteria to better search for a particular incident or incidents in the Select
Incident window.
5 Select an incident, then click Add.
6 Click OK.
If events are not initially displayed in a newly created incident, it is probably because of a lag in
the time between display in the Real Time Events window and insertion into the event store. It
takes a few minutes for the original events to be inserted into the event store and display in the
incident.
Viewing Events That Trigger Correlated Events
1 Access the Actives Views tab.
For more information, see Section 2.2.1, “Accessing the Active Views Tab,” on page 17.
2 In the Real Time Event Table, right-click a correlated event, then select View Trigger Events.
The View Trigger Events option is enabled only for Correlated events. “Viewing the Targets” on
page 28. The events that generated the correlation event are displayed in the Sentinel Web
interface.
Viewing Events in Real-Time
21
Executing Actions on Events
You can execute the following actions on events:
 Log to File
 Log to Syslog
 Send Email
 Send SNMP trap
 Send via Sentinel Link
1 Access the Actives Views tab.
For more information, see Section 2.2.1, “Accessing the Active Views Tab,” on page 17.
2 In a Real Time Event Table, select an event or a group of events, right-click, then select the
action you want to execute.
Investigating an Event or Events
You can use the Active Views tab to investigate events in two ways:
 You can perform an event query for the last hour on a single event for:
 Other events with the same target IP address
 Other events with the same source (initiator) IP address
 Other targets with the same event name
NOTE: You cannot perform a query on a null (empty) field.
 You can graphically display the mappings between any two fields in the selected events. This is
particularly useful to view the relationship between the initiatiors (IP, port, event, sensor type,
Collector) and the targets (IP, port, event, sensor type, Collector name) of the selected events,
but any fields can be used
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NetIQ Sentinel User Guide
The following illustration shows initiator IP addresses mapped to target IP addresses.
Figure 2-3 Graph Mapper
 “Using the Investigate Option for an Event Query” on page 23
 “Using the Investigate Option with the Graph Mapper” on page 24
Using the Investigate Option for an Event Query
You can perform an event query within the last hour for events similar to the selected event.
1 In a Navigator or Snapshot window, right-click an event, then click Investigate and select one of
the options below:
Show More Events to this target: Events with the same destination IP address
Show More Events from this source: Events with the same initiator IP address
What are the target objects of this event?: Events with the same event name as the selected
event.
The chosen event information is displayed in the Sentinel Web interface.
Viewing Events in Real-Time
23
Using the Investigate Option with the Graph Mapper
To create a graph map:
1 In a Real Time Event Table, right-click one or more events, then select Investigate > Show
Graph.
2 Select the desired information in the From and To fields, then click Finish.
3 In the Graph Mapper window, select how the information is displayed:
 Circular
 Hierarchical
 Organic
 Orthogonal
Accessing the Active Browser
The Active Browser provides the ability to browse through a selected set of data to look for patterns
and perform investigation. You can view the selected events in the Active Views in the Active
Browser. You can also perform all the right-click activities that are available in Active Views in the
Active Browser.
 “Viewing Events in the Active Browser” on page 24
 “Searching in the Active Browser” on page 24
 “Adding Attributes in the Active Browser” on page 24
Viewing Events in the Active Browser
1 Access the Active Views tab.
For more information, see Section 2.2.1, “Accessing the Active Views Tab,” on page 17.
2 Select the events you want to view in the Active Browser.
3 Right-click the events, then select View in Active Browser.
The selected events display in the Active Browser window.
Searching in the Active Browser
1 Access the Active Views tab.
For more information, see Section 2.2.1, “Accessing the Active Views Tab,” on page 17.
2 Specify the value or text you want to search for in the Search field, then click the Search button.
You can move between the various searches by using the Forward and Backward buttons above the
search field.
Adding Attributes in the Active Browser
1 Access the Active Views tab.
For more information, see Section 2.2.1, “Accessing the Active Views Tab,” on page 17.
2 Click the Add an attribute for categorization button.
3 Select an attribute from the list.
4 Click OK.
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Viewing Advisor Data
Advisor provides a cross-reference between real-time intrusion detection system (IDS) attack
signatures and Advisor's knowledge base of vulnerabilities. The supported intrusion detection
systems are listed in “Detecting Vulnerabilities and Exploits” in the NetIQ Sentinel Administration
Guide.
To view Advisor data:
1 In a Real Time Event Table, right-click one or more events, then click Analyze > Advisor Data.
If the IDS AttackName field is properly populated, a report similar to the one below is displayed
in the Sentinel Web interface.
Viewing Asset Data
This feature allows you to view and save your view as an HTML file of your Asset Report. To view the
Asset data, you must run an asset management tool such as NMAP and bring the results into
Sentinel by using an Asset Collector. The available data for viewing are:
 Hardware
 MAC Address
 Name
 Type
 Vendor
 Product
 Version
 Value
 Criticality
Viewing Events in Real-Time
25
 Network
 IP Address
 Hostname
 Software
 Name
 Type
 Vendor
 Product
 Version
 Contacts
 Order
 Name
 Role
 Email
 Phone Number
 Location
 Location
 Address
If both the Source IP and Destination IP are populated in an event, the asset data is displayed for
both. If either of them is populated, the respective asset data is displayed.
To view asset data:
1 In a Real Time Event Table, right-click one or more events, then click Analyze > Asset Data.
The Asset data is displayed in the Sentinel Web interface.
Viewing Vulnerabilities
Vulnerability Visualization provides a textual or graphical representation of the vulnerabilities of
selected destination systems. Vulnerabilities for the selected destination IPs can be seen for the
current time or for the time of the selected events.
Vulnerability Visualization requires that a vulnerability Collector is running and is adding vulnerability
scan information to the Sentinel database. The Sentinel Plug-in Web site provides Collectors for
several industry-standard vulnerability scanners, and additional vulnerability Collectors can be written
by using the Collector Builder.
NOTE: Vulnerability Collectors are distinct from Event Collectors and use different commands.
There are several Vulnerability Visualization views:
 HTML
 Graphical
 Circular
 Organic
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 Hierarchical
 Orthogonal
The HTML view is a report view that lists relevant fields, depending on which vulnerability scanner
you have:
 IP
 Host
 Vulnerability
 Port/protocol
The graphical display is a rendering of vulnerabilities that links them to an event through common
ports. There are four available views:
 Organic view
 Hierarchical view
 Circular view
 Orthogonal view
The graphical display has four panels:
 Graph panel
 Tree panel
 Control panel
 Details/events panel
The graph panel display associates vulnerabilities to a port/protocol combination of a resource (IP
address). For example, if a resource has five unique port/protocol combinations that are vulnerable,
there are five nodes attached to that resource. The resources are grouped together under the
scanner that scanned the resources and reported the vulnerabilities. If two different scanners are
used, such as ISS and Nessus, there are two independent scanner nodes that have vulnerabilities
associated with them.
NOTE: Event mapping takes place only between the selected events and the vulnerability data
returned.
The tree panel organizes data in same hierarchy as the graph. The tree panel also allows users to
hide or show nodes at any level in the hierarchy.
The control panel exposes all the functionality available in the display. This includes:
 Four different algorithms to display
 The ability to show all or selected nodes that have events mapped to them
 Zooming in and out of selected areas of the graph
There are two tabs. When you are in the Details tab, click on a node displays node details. When you
are in the Events tab, clicking an event associated with a node displays a table in a Real Time
window.
To run a vulnerability visualization:
1 In a Real Time Event Table, right-click one or more events, then click Analyze and select one of
the following options:
Viewing Events in Real-Time
27
Current Vulnerability: Queries the database for vulnerabilities that are active (effective) at the
current date and time.
Event Time Vulnerability: Queries the database for vulnerabilities that were active (effective) at
the date and time of the selected event.
Viewing User Information
NetIQ provides optional integration with Novell Identity Manager. With this integration, user identity
information is added to incoming events when the account name matches one from Novell Identity
Manager. When the InitUserIdentity or TargetUserIdentity column is populated in an event, a
right-click menu is enabled to open the user’s page in the Identity Browser.
When you right-click an event and select Show Identity Details, you can choose to view the identity
of the Initiator user, the Target user, or both. The Identity Browser opens and shows identifying
information about the user (or users) from the identity management system, all the accounts to which
the user is provisioned, and the recent activity by that user. For more information on the Identity
Browser, see Chapter 10, “Leveraging Identity Information,” on page 113.
Viewing the Targets
You can view the targets of the events in the Real Time Event Table.
1 In an existing Real Time Event Table, right-click an event, then click Target.
2 Select one of the following options:
 ping
 Name server lookup
 Trace Route
 Whois?
The selected information is displayed.
Managing Columns
You can manage the columns displayed in the Active Views tab.
1 Access the Active Views tab.
For more information, see Section 2.2.1, “Accessing the Active Views Tab,” on page 17.
2 Click Active Views > Event Real Time > Manage Columns.
3 Use the Add and Remove buttons to move column titles between the Available columns list
and the Show these columns in this order list.
4 Use the Insert button to insert an available column item into a specific location.
5 Use the up-arrow and down-arrow to arrange the order of the columns as you want them to
display in the Real Time Event Table.
The top to bottom order of column titles in the Manage Column dialog box determines the left to
right order of the columns in the Real Time Event Table.
6 To save your changes, click OK.
7 (Optional) If you want your columns to display the next time you open the Sentinel Control
Center, click File > Save Preferences.
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Taking a Snapshot of a Navigator Window
You must have user permission to take a snapshot.
A snapshot is useful to study events of interest because the Navigator refreshes automatically and
the alert or alerts of interest scroll off the screen. Also, within a snapshot, you can sort by column.
1 Access the Active Views tab.
For more information, see Section 2.2.1, “Accessing the Active Views Tab,” on page 17.
2 In the menu, click Active Views > Event Real Time > Snapshot.
A Snapshot window opens and is added to the Snap Shots folder list under Active Views in the
Navigator. The graphical display is not part of the snapshot.
To sort columns in a snapshot, click any column header once to sort by ascending value and twice to
sort by descending value.
Viewing Events in Real-Time
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3
Searching Events
3
Sentinel provides an option to perform a search on events.You can search the local data in the
primary storage (/data directory) or the stored data in compressed format at the configured
secondary storage location.With the necessary configuration, you can also search system events
generated by Sentinel, and view the raw data for each event. By default, events are returned in a
reverse chronological order. This sort order relates to how the events are stored in the file system
partitions.
You can also search Sentinel servers that are distributed across different geographic locations. For
more information, see “Configuring Data Federation” in the NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.
 Section 3.1, “Running an Event Search,” on page 31
 Section 3.2, “Viewing Search Results,” on page 33
 Section 3.3, “Refining Search Results,” on page 36
 Section 3.4, “Saving a Search Query,” on page 37
 Section 3.5, “Performing Event Operations,” on page 42
3.1
Running an Event Search
By default, the search results include all events generated by the Sentinel system operations. These
events are tagged with the Sentinel tag. If no query is specified and you click Search for the first
time after the Sentinel installation, the default search returns all events with severity 0 to 5.
Otherwise, the Search feature reuses the last specified search query.
To search for a value in a specific field, use the ID of the event name, a colon, and the value. For
example, to search for an authentication attempt to Sentinel by user2, use the following text in the
search field:
evt:LoginUser AND sun:user2
An advanced search can narrow the search for a value to a specific event field. The advanced search
criteria are based on the event IDs for each event field and the search logic for the index. Advanced
searches can include the product name, severity, source IP, and the event type. For example:
 pn:NMAS AND sev:5
This searches for events with the product name NMAS and severity five.
 sip:10.0.0.01 AND evt:"Set Password"
This searches for the initiator IP address 10.0.0.1 and a “Set Password” event.
Multiple advanced search criteria can be combined by using various operators. The advanced search
criteria syntax is modeled on the search criteria for the Apache Lucene open source package. For
more information on building search criteria, see Appendix A, “Search Query Syntax,” on page 173.
Searching Events
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Performing a Search
To perform a search:
1 Log in to the Sentinel Web interface:
https://<IP_Address/DNS_Sentinel_server:8443>
IP_Address/DNS_Sentinel_server is the IP address or the DNS name of the Sentinel server and
8443 is the default port for the Sentinel server.
2 In the Reports and Searches panel, click New search.
3 You can perform a search by using any of the following:
 Search criteria: Specify the search criteria in the Search field.
For information on creating search criteria, see Appendix A, “Search Query Syntax,” on
page 173.
 Add Criteria: Click Add Criteria and select from the criteria listed, click Add, and then click
Search. You can select criteria from the list of criteria or filter the criteria based on recent
criteria, tags, or filters.
 Show recent criteria: Select a search criterion from the recent search history. The
search history displays a maximum of 15 search expressions. Select the criteria, click
Show recent criteria, and then click Add.
 Show Tags: You can search events that have a particular tag. Click Show Tags, that
lists the tags in the system. Select the tags, and then click Add.
 Show Filters: You can reuse existing filters to perform a new search. Click Show
Filters that lists the existing filters. Select the filter on which you want to perform the
search, and then click Add.
You can combine multiple criteria, tags, or filters by using the And or Or condition.
4 (Optional) Select a time period for the search.
 The default is Last 1 hour.
 Custom allows you to select a start date and time and an end date and time for the query.
The start date should be earlier than the end date, and the time is based on the machine’s
local time.
 Whenever searches all available data, without any time constraints.
5 (Optional) If you have administrator privileges, you can select other Sentinel servers for the
search.
If you have data federation configured, you can perform a search on other Sentinel servers. For
more information, see “Configuring Data Federation” in the NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.
6 Click Search.
The search results are displayed. For information on the search results, see Section 3.2,
“Viewing Search Results,” on page 33.
7 (Optional) Modify the search criteria by clicking Edit Criteria.
8 (Optional) Modify the search results by selecting the desired event fields in the search results
To add an AND or Or condition to the existing criteria, left-click the event field, select the required
fields, and then specify the desired condition.
9 Click Search.
10 (Conditional) To save the search query, see Section 3.4, “Saving a Search Query,” on page 37.
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3.2
Viewing Search Results
Searches return a set of events. When results are sorted by relevance, only the top 50,000 events
can be viewed. When results are sorted by time, all the events in the system are displayed.
Occasionally, the search engine might index events faster than they are inserted into the data
directory. If you run a search that returns events that were not added in the data directory, you get a
message indicating that some events match the search query, but they are not found in the data
directory. If you run the search again later, the events are added to the data directory and the search
is shown as successful.
NOTE: If time is not synchronized across your server, client, and event sources, you might get
unexpected results from your search. This is especially a problem if searches are performed on time
durations such as Custom, Last 1 hour, and Last 24 hours where display results are based on the
time zone of the machine on which the search is performed.
The information in each event is grouped into the following categories:
Category
Icon
Description
General
No icon
Generic information about the event, such as severity, date, time,
product name, and taxonomy.
Initiator
The source that caused the event to occur. The source can be a device,
network port, etc.
Target
The object that is affected by the event. The object can be a file,
database table, directory object, etc.
Observer
The service that observed the event activity.
Reporter
The service that reported the event activity.
Tags
No icon
Tags that the events are being tagged with.
Customer value
No icon
Fields set by the customer.
Retention period
No icon
Retention period of the event.
The initiator, target, and observer can be hosts, services, and accounts. In some cases, the initiator,
target, and observer can be all the same, such as a user modifying this or her own account. In other
cases, the initiator, target, and observer can be different, such as an intrusion detection system
detecting a network attack. If an event field has no data, it is not displayed in the results.
Event fields are grouped according to the following categories:
Group
Icon
Description
Host
The initiator or target host information. For example, initiator host IP, target hostname,
or target host ID.
User
The initiator or target user information. For example, the initiator username, initiator
user department, target user ID, or target username.
Service
The initiator or target service information. For example, the target service name, target
service component, or initiator service name.
Searching Events
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Group
Icon
Description
Domain
Domain information of both the host and user. For example, the target host domain
and initiator username.
IPCountry
The country information of the initiator and target trust. For example, the target host
country.
Target trust
The target trust and target domain information of the event that was affected. The
name can be a group, role, profile, etc.
Target data
The target data name and data container information. The data name is the name of
the data object, such as a database table, directory object, or file that was affected by
the event. The data container is the full path for data object.
Tenant name
The name of the tenant that owns the event data, applied to all the events in the
inbound stream from a given Collector. The tenant name can be the name of the
customer, division, department, etc.
Vulnerability
A flag that indicates whether Exploit Detection has matched this attack against known
vulnerabilities in the target.
Each event type is represented by a specific icon. The following table lists the icons that represent the
various types of events:
Icon
Type of Event
Audit event
Performance event
Anomaly event
Correlation event
Unparsed event
You can view the search results in the summary view and in the detailed view. When you mouse over
an event field, the information about the field is displayed.
 Section 3.2.1, “Summary View,” on page 34
 Section 3.2.2, “Detailed View,” on page 34
3.2.1
Summary View
The Summary view of the search results displays the basic information about the event. The basic
information includes severity, date, time, product name, taxonomy, and observer category for the
event.
3.2.2
Detailed View
1 To view the report details, click the More link at the top right corner of the search results.
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This displays details such as host/user domain information, IPCountry information, extended
target fields like TargetTrust and TargetData, Observer and Reporter fields, customer set
variables, default data retention duration information for any individual event, and the tags set for
the event.
2 To view all the details of an event, click the All link.
3 To view details about all events, click the Show more details link at the top of the search results
page.
You can expand or collapse the details for all events on a page by using the Show more details
or Show less details link.
4 (Optional) Click the get raw data link to open a new Raw Data tab with event source hierarchy
and event source fields populated, based on the information received from the event.
The get raw data link is available only for users in the administrator role.
If the search result is a system or an internal event, the get raw data link does not appear.
To verify and download the raw data files, see “Verifying and Downloading Raw Data Files” in the
NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.
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35
3.3
Refining Search Results
The search refinement panel can be used to narrow the search results by selecting one or more
values for an event field. You can refine the results for one or more event fields.
The set of event fields that is displayed in the search refinement panel is configurable on a per-user
basis.
For performance considerations, the maximum sample size used to calculate the event field value
statistics is 50,000 events. The actual sample size is displayed in the field count label as Field
counts based on the first <sample-size> events where <sample-size> is replaced by the
actual sampling size.
To refine search results:
1 Log in to the Sentinel Web interface.
https://<IP_Address/DNS_Sentinel_server:8443>
IP_Address/DNS_Sentinel_server is the IP address or the DNS name of the Sentinel server and
8443 is the default port for the Sentinel server.
2 In the Reports and Searches panel, click New Search.
3 Specify the search criteria, then click Search.
For more information on how to run an event search, see “Running an Event Search” on
page 31.
4 Click fields in the REFINE section.The Select Event Fields window is displayed.
5 To refine the search, select the event fields from the available fields, then click Save.
The selected event fields are displayed in the REFINE panel.
A count at the right side of each event field displays the number of unique values that exist for
that event field in the data directory. The calculation is based on the first 50,000 events found.
The event field selection is on a per-user basis. Each user can have a different set of selected
event fields.
6 Click each event field to view the unique values for that event field.
For example, if the search results contain events that had severities 1, 2, 5, and 4, the event field
is displayed as Severity (4).
The top 10 unique values are initially displayed in the order of most frequent to least frequent.
The value next to the check box represents the unique value for that event field and the value at
the far right represents the number of times the value appears in the search result.
If there are multiple unique values occurring the same number of times in a search, the values
are sorted by the most recent occurrence of the value.
For example, if events of severity 1 and 4 occurred 34 times in the search results, and an event
of severity 4 was logged most recently, the unique value 4 appears at the top of the list.
To display the unique values in the order of least frequent to most frequent, click reverse.
When there are more than 10 unique values, you can view and filter either the top 10 or the
bottom 10 unique values. You cannot refine your search on both the conditions at the same time.
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In the following scenarios, the number of events returned from a refined search is greater than
the number of values listed for an event field:
 If the refinement performs a new search with additional terms intersected with the initial
search string, such as by using an AND operator, the new search is run against all events in
the system, including the result set from the initial search. If new events that came into the
system match the refined search, they are shown in the resulting set and the event count is
greater than the field value count.
 If there are more than 50,000 events, the event field statistics are calculated only on the first
50,000 events.
There could be an event field value that occurs 50 times in the first 50,000 events, but it
could occur 1,000 times in all other stored events. In this scenario, the displayed value
count is 50, but when the search is refined with this value it returns 1,000 events.
7 Click OK.
Selected event field values are listed under the event field in the REFINE panel.
The right panel displays the refined search results, which contain only the selected values.
8 Repeat Step 4 through Step 7 to further refine the search.
9 (Optional) Click clear to clear the selected unique event field values from the REFINE panel and
to return to the original search results.
10 (Optional) Click add to search to add the refined search values to the current search tab and to
recalculate the search statistics.
If you have already added the event field value to the current search tab, clicking clear does not
return to the previous search results.
3.4
Saving a Search Query
You can save a search query, then repeat it as desired. To save a search query, you must first
perform a search. When you are satisfied with the search results, you save the search query.
NOTE: You must have the necessary permission to access the specific options. For example, only
users in the Report Administrator role can save the search query as a report template.
 Section 3.4.1, “Saving a Search Query as a Search Template,” on page 37
 Section 3.4.2, “Saving a Search Query as a Filter,” on page 38
 Section 3.4.3, “Saving a Search Query as a Report Template,” on page 38
 Section 3.4.4, “Saving a Search Query as a Routing Rule,” on page 41
 Section 3.4.5, “Saving a Search Query as a Retention Policy,” on page 41
 Section 3.4.6, “Creating a Dashboard,” on page 42
3.4.1
Saving a Search Query as a Search Template
1 Perform and refine a search until you are satisfied with the search results.
For more information, see Section 3.1, “Running an Event Search,” on page 31 and Section 3.3,
“Refining Search Results,” on page 36.
2 Click Save as, and then click Save search.
3 Specify a unique name for the search and provide an optional description.
Searching Events
37
4 Specify the following information in the Default Parameters section:
Data sources: Displays the number of servers that Sentinel will search for events. This option is
useful if data federation is enabled. To select the data sources you want to search, click selected
data sources, then select the data sources.
Email to: To e-mail the report template to others, specify the e-mail address. To send the report
template to more than one person, specify multiple e-mail addresses separated by a comma.
Result limit: Specify the number of results to be stored in the search template. By default, 1000
results are stored in a report template.
5 Click Save.
3.4.2
Saving a Search Query as a Filter
1 Perform a search, and refine the search results as desired.
For more information, see Section 3.1, “Running an Event Search,” on page 31 and Section 3.3,
“Refining Search Results,” on page 36.
2 When you are satisfied with the search results, click Save as, then click Save search as filter.
3 Specify a unique name for the filter and an optional description.
4 In the drop-down list, select one of the following options to specify the access for this filter:
 Private: Allows you to make this filter private. Other users cannot view or access this filter.
 Public: Allows you to share this filter with all users.
 Users in same role: Allows you to share this filter with users who have the same role as
yours.
 Users in selected roles: Allows you to share this filter with users in specific roles. If you
select this option, a blank field is displayed where you can specify the roles. As you type the
role name, a list of roles is displayed.
Select one or more roles.
NOTE: This option is available only for users in the administrator role.
5 Click Save.
The saved filter is listed in the Filters panel. For more information on filters, see Chapter 4,
“Configuring Filters,” on page 47.
3.4.3
Saving a Search Query as a Report Template
You can save the search query as a search report.
NOTE: You must have the Manage Reports permission to save the search query as a report
template.
1 Perform a search, and refine the search results as desired.
For more information, see Section 3.1, “Running an Event Search,” on page 31 and Section 3.3,
“Refining Search Results,” on page 36.
2 When you are satisfied with the search results, click Save as, then click Save search as report.
3 Specify the following parameters:
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Parameter
Description
Report name
Specify a unique name for the report. The name should not exceed 200
characters.
Based on
Select the base report from which you want to create the report.
You can view a sample report by clicking the View Sample button.
Description
The description is automatically displayed based on the report that is
selected and you can edit the description.
Criteria
Criteria is automatically populated based on the report selected and is
not editable.
Additional criteria
Specify additional search criteria to the existing criteria. To build a new
criteria on your own, click Edit Criteria. To build a new criteria from
available system objects containing criteria, click Add Criteria.
The criteria that you add here is appended to the existing criteria.
Data sources
Select the source machines on which the reports can be run by clicking
the selected data sources link. You can select data sources only if
your Sentinel is configured for data federation.
For more information, see “Configuring Data Federation”in the NetIQ
Sentinel Administration Guide.
Additional Criteria
Specify additional criteria to refine the results. The criteria that you
specify here can be edited while scheduling the report. If you specify
Criteria name, the name is displayed at the end of the report results.
NOTE: This parameter is not available for all reports.
Time Zone
Specify the time zone with which you want to populate the report. When
you schedule the report, the time zone that you specify here is
displayed in the report data.
For example, if the Time Zone is set to US/Pacific-New time, the report
data displays the selected time zone.
By default, it displays the time zone that is set in the client system.
NOTE: This parameter is not available for all reports.
Searching Events
39
Parameter
Description
Date Range
If the report includes time period parameters, choose the date range.
All time periods are based on the local time for the browser. The From
Date and the To Date automatically change to reflect the option you
selected.
 Current Day: Shows events from midnight of the current day until
11:59:00 PM of the current day. If the current time is 8:00:00 AM,
the report shows 8 hours of data.
 Previous Day: Shows events from midnight yesterday until
11:59:00 PM yesterday.
 Week To Date: Shows events from midnight Sunday of the
current week until the end of the selected day.
 Previous Week: Shows events for the last seven days.
 Month to Date: Shows events from midnight the first day of the
current month until the end of the selected day.
 Previous Month: Shows events for a month, from midnight of the
first day of the previous month until 11:59:00 PM. of the last day of
the previous month.
 Custom Date Range: Shows events for a period whose start and
end date are chosen. If you select Custom Date Range, set the
start date (From Date) and the end date (To Date) for the report.
Group By
Group the events according to specific event field by selecting the
event field from the Group by drop-down list.
NOTE: This parameter is not available for all reports.
Language
Choose the language in which the report labels and descriptions should
be displayed. The possible values are English, French, German, Italian,
Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, or
Portuguese.
The default value is the language with which the current user logged in,
if that language is supported by the report. If the report does not
support the language, the report’s default language (typically English)
is used.
The data in the report is displayed in the language that was originally
used by the event source.
Email to
Specify an e-mail address in the Email to field. If you want to mail the
report to more than one user, separate the e-mail addresses with a
comma.
Result limit
Specify the number of results to be displayed or stored when you run or
schedule the report. By default, 1000 results are stored.
If you specify a value in Group By field, the result limit is based on
grouping.
4 Click Save to save the search as report definition.
You can see the saved report definition in the Reports and Searches panel in the Sentinel Web
interface. To view the reports, see “Working with Reports” on page 129.
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3.4.4
Saving a Search Query as a Routing Rule
You must be in the administrator role to save the search query as a routing rule.
1 Perform a search, and refine the search results as desired.
For more information, see Section 3.1, “Running an Event Search,” on page 31 and Section 3.3,
“Refining Search Results,” on page 36.
2 When you are satisfied with the search results, click Save as, then click Save search as routing
rule.
3 Specify a name for the rule.
4 (Conditional) To associate one or more tags to the events, click Select tag, select the desired
tags, then click Set.
5 Select where you want to route the events to:
 All: Events are routed to all Sentinel services, including Correlation and Security
Intelligence.
 Event store only: Events are sent directly to the event store, and are not displayed in
Active Views and the search results page.
 None (drop): Events are dropped or ignored, and are not sent to any Sentinel service.
6 Select one or more actions to be performed on each event that meets the search criteria. Click
the plus and minus icons to add and remove actions.
7 Click Save.
3.4.5
Saving a Search Query as a Retention Policy
You must be in the administrator role to save the search query as a retention policy.
1 Perform a search, and refine the search results as desired.
For more information, see Section 3.1, “Running an Event Search,” on page 31 and Section 3.3,
“Refining Search Results,” on page 36.
2 When you are satisfied with the search results, click Save as, then click Save search as
retention policy.
3 Specify a name for the retention policy.
4 In the Keep at least field, specify the minimum number of days to retain the events in the
system. The value must be a valid positive integer.
5 (Optional) In the Keep at most field, specify the maximum number of days for which the events
should be retained in the system.
The value must be a valid positive integer and must be greater than or equal to the Keep at
least value. If no value is specified, the system retains the events in the system until the space is
available in primary storage.
6 Click Save.
The newly created policy is displayed in the data retention table. For more information on
retention policies, see “Configuring Data Retention Policies” in the NetIQ Sentinel Administration
Guide.
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41
3.4.6
Creating a Dashboard
You must have the Manage and View Security Intelligence Dashboards permission to create a
dashboard.
1 Perform a search, and refine the search results as desired.
For more information, see Section 3.1, “Running an Event Search,” on page 31 and Section 3.3,
“Refining Search Results,” on page 36.
2 When you are satisfied with the search results, click Save as, then click Save search as
dashboard.
3 Specify the following information to create the dashboard:
 Name: Specify a unique name for the dashboard.
 Classifier: Select the classifier that determines the categories displayed in the dashboard.
Click the Info link for information on each category.
 Data Retention Period: Select how long the data for the dashboard is retained.
4 Click Create dashboard to create the dashboard.
The dashboard is displayed in a new browser tab. A new dashboard is empty because it has not had
time to collect any data. For more information on dashboards, see Chapter 7, “Analyzing Trends in
Data,” on page 93.
3.5
Performing Event Operations
You can use the events in the search results to perform various tasks as you view the search results.
 Section 3.5.1, “Executing Actions,” on page 42
 Section 3.5.2, “Exporting the Search Results to a File,” on page 43
 Section 3.5.3, “Adding Events to an Incident,” on page 43
 Section 3.5.4, “Creating an Incident,” on page 44
 Section 3.5.5, “Adding Events to a Correlation Rule,” on page 44
 Section 3.5.6, “Creating a Correlation Rule by Using Events,” on page 44
 Section 3.5.7, “Viewing Identity Details of Events,” on page 45
 Section 3.5.8, “Viewing Advisor Report,” on page 45
 Section 3.5.9, “Viewing Asset Data,” on page 45
 Section 3.5.10, “Viewing Vulnerabilities,” on page 46
3.5.1
Executing Actions
Only users in the following roles can execute actions on events:
 Administrator
 Incident Administrator
 Security Policy Administrator
 User
You need to configure the actions before executing actions on events. For more information, see
Section 11.2, “Prerequisites for Executing Actions on Events,” on page 117.
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To execute actions on events:
1 Perform a search, and refine the search results as desired.
For more information, see Section 3.1, “Running an Event Search,” on page 31 and Section 3.3,
“Refining Search Results,” on page 36.
2 In the search results, select the events on which you want to execute actions.
3 Click Event operations > Show action panel.
4 In the Event Actions panel > Actions drop-down, select the desired actions, then click
Execute.
For more information on executing actions, see Chapter 11, “Manually Performing Actions on
Events,” on page 117.
The results of the actions are displayed in the Results field.
3.5.2
Exporting the Search Results to a File
1 Perform a search, and refine the search results as desired.
For more information, see Section 3.1, “Running an Event Search,” on page 31 and Section 3.3,
“Refining Search Results,” on page 36.
2 In the search results, select the events you want to export to a file.
3 Click Event operations > Export to file.
4 Specify the following information:
File Name: Specify a name for the file to which you want to export the search results.
Event Limit: Specify the maximum number of events to be saved. The event limit must be less
than the number of events you selected and the maximum event limit is 200000.
All the search results are written into a .csv file. These files are then compressed into a .zip file
for downloading.
5 (Optional) You can remove the event fields that you do not want to export to the file. Click
Choose Fields, then clear the selections for the fields that you do not want to export to the file.
By default, the null fields are excluded and not exported to file.
6 Click Export to export the search result to a file.
A download file dialog box is displayed with an option to open or save the .zip file.
7 Select the desired option, then click OK.
3.5.3
Adding Events to an Incident
You must have the View or Create Incidents and Add Events to Incidents permission to add events to
incidents.
For more information on Incidents, see Chapter 16, “Configuring Incidents,” on page 135.
1 Perform a search, and refine the search results as desired.
For more information, see Section 3.1, “Running an Event Search,” on page 31 and Section 3.3,
“Refining Search Results,” on page 36.
2 In the search results, select the events you want to add to an incident.
3 Click Event Operations > Add to incident.
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43
NOTE: Ensure that incidents are available. If there are no incidents available, then you need to
create one. For more information on creating incidents seeSection 3.5.4, “Creating an Incident,”
on page 44.
4 Click Search to view all the available incidents.
5 (Optional) To view incidents based on categories, select a category from the GroupBy drop-
down list.
6 Select the incident to which you want to add events.
7 Click OK.
3.5.4
Creating an Incident
You can create an incident from a group of events representing something of interest. For example,
group together similar events or group together a set of different events that indicate a pattern of
interest such as an attack.
You must have the View or Create Incidents and Add Events to Incidents permission to create
incidents.
For more information on Incidents, see Chapter 16, “Configuring Incidents,” on page 135.
To create an incident from events:
1 Perform a search, and refine the search results as desired.
For more information, see Section 3.1, “Running an Event Search,” on page 31 and Section 3.3,
“Refining Search Results,” on page 36.
2 In the search results, select the events you want to add to an incident.
3 Click Event operations > Create incident.
4 Use the following information to create the incident:
Title: Specify a title for the incident.
Description: Specify a description of the incident.
Severity: Select the severity of the incident from the drop-down list.
Priority: Select the priority of the incident from the drop-down list.
Category: Select the category of the incident from the drop-down list.
Responsible: Select the user that is responsible to investigate and close the incident.
iTRAC: Select an iTrac workflow to use to manage the incident.
5 Click OK to create the incident.
3.5.5
Adding Events to a Correlation Rule
You must have the Manage Correlation Engine and Rules permission to create a Correlation rule. For
more information on creating a Correlation rule by using events, see Section 5.4.8, “Creating
Correlation Rules From Search Results,” on page 74.
3.5.6
Creating a Correlation Rule by Using Events
You must have the Manage Correlation Engine and Rules permission to create a Correlation rule. For
more information on creating a Correlation rule by using events, see Section 5.4.8, “Creating
Correlation Rules From Search Results,” on page 74.
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3.5.7
Viewing Identity Details of Events
If Sentinel is integrated with Identity Management systems, you can view the user identity details of
events. You must have the View People Browser permission to view the Identity details.
1 Perform a search, and refine the search results as desired.
For more information, see Section 3.1, “Running an Event Search,” on page 31 and Section 3.3,
“Refining Search Results,” on page 36.
2 In the search results, select the events for which you want to view the identity details.
3 Click Event operations > Show identity details.
4 Select whether you want to view the identity of the Initiator user, the Target user, or both.
For more information on identity details, see Chapter 10, “Leveraging Identity Information,” on
page 113.
3.5.8
Viewing Advisor Report
The following are the prerequisites to view the Advisor data:
 The Advisor feed must be up-to-date, processed, and loaded into the Sentinel database.
 The selected event must be from a product supported by Advisor and it must have the
Vulnerability field value set to 1.
To view the Advisor data:
1 Click Filters > Exploit Detected Events or specify vul:1 in the Search field, then click Search.
All events that are likely to have exploited a known vulnerability are displayed.
2 In the search results, select the events for which you want to view the Advisor data.
3 Click Event operations > View Advisor report.
The Advisor report is displayed in a new tab.
For more information on Advisor, see “Detecting Vulnerabilities and Exploits” in the NetIQ
Sentinel Administration Guide.
3.5.9
Viewing Asset Data
You must have the View Asset Data permission to view the asset data of the selected events. You can
view the asset information related to a machine or device from which you are receiving events. To
view the asset data, you must run the asset management Collector and ensure that the asset data is
being added to the Sentinel database.
1 Perform a search, and refine the search results as desired.
For more information, see Section 3.1, “Running an Event Search,” on page 31 and Section 3.3,
“Refining Search Results,” on page 36.
2 In the search results, select the events for which you want to view the asset data.
3 Click Event operations > View assets.
The asset data is displayed in a new tab.
For more information on asset data, see “Viewing Asset Data” on page 25.
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45
3.5.10
Viewing Vulnerabilities
You must have the View asset vulnerability data permission to view the Vulnerability data. You can
view the vulnerabilities of the selected destination systems. To view the Vulnerability data, you must
run the Vulnerability Collector and ensure that the Vulnerability scan information is being added to the
Sentinel database.
Vulnerabilities can be seen for the current time or for the event time.
 View Vulnerabilities at current time: This report queries the database for vulnerabilities that
are active (effective) at the current date and time, and displays the relevant information.
 View Vulnerabilities at time of event: This report queries the database for vulnerabilities that
were active (effective) at the date and time of the selected event, and displays the relevant
events.
To view the Vulnerability report:
1 Perform a search, and refine the search results as desired.
For more information, see Section 3.1, “Running an Event Search,” on page 31 and Section 3.3,
“Refining Search Results,” on page 36.
2 In the search results, select the events for which you want to view the Vulnerability data.
3 (Conditional) To view vulnerabilities at the current time, click Event operations > View
Vulnerabilities at current time.
4 (Conditional) To view vulnerabilities at the time of the event, click Event operations > View
Vulnerabilities at time of event.
For more information on the vulnerability data, see “Viewing Vulnerabilities” on page 26.
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4
Configuring Filters
4
 Section 4.1, “Overview,” on page 47
 Section 4.2, “Introducing the Filters Interface,” on page 47
 Section 4.3, “Creating a Filter,” on page 50
 Section 4.4, “Sample Filters,” on page 52
 Section 4.5, “Viewing Events by Using Filters,” on page 54
 Section 4.6, “Managing Filters,” on page 54
4.1
Overview
The Filters feature in Sentinel allows you to customize the event search and prevent data overload.
This feature provides a Add or Edit criteria dialog that helps you build search queries ranging from
simple to complex. You can save a search query as a filter and reuse it as required, so you can
perform a search by selecting the filter rather than specifying the query manually every time.
You can reuse filters while using or configuring Sentinel features, such as:
 Configuring Data Synchronization. For more information, see “Configuring Data
Synchronization” in the NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.
 Configuring a Data Retention policy. For more information, see “Configuring Data Retention
Policies” in the NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.
 Configuring the data visibility settings for a role. For more information, see “Creating a Role” in
the NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.
 Creating dashboards. For more information, see Section 7.2, “Creating a Dashboard,” on
page 96
 Configuring event routing rules. For more information, see “Configuring Event Routing Rules” in
the NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.
 Viewing real-time events in Active Views. For more information, see Chapter 2, “Viewing Events
in Real-Time,” on page 15.
Sentinel provides a list of filters by default. You can also create your own filters.
4.2
Introducing the Filters Interface
 Section 4.2.1, “Filters Panel,” on page 48
 Section 4.2.2, “Filter Criteria,” on page 48
Configuring Filters
47
4.2.1
Filters Panel
To access the Filters panel, click Filters in the navigation panel on the left of the Sentinel Web
interface. The Filters panel lists the default filters, filters you create, and the filters that other users
have shared with you.
The Filters panel includes the following:
 Find Filters: Allows you to search the specified filter. Specify the filter name, description of the
filter, or keywords to search for a filter.
 Create: Launches the filter similar to search that allows you to specify the filter criteria.
 My Filters: Lists the default filters and the filters you created.
 Shared Filters: Lists the filters that other users have shared with you.
To view events based on filters, select the desired filter. The associated events are displayed in the
search results panel.
4.2.2
Filter Criteria
You can specify the filter criteria by using either the Add Criteria or Edit Criteria dialog.
Add Criteria
Creating a filter is similar to performing a search. For more information, see Section 3.1, “Running an
Event Search,” on page 31.
The Add Criteria provides the predefined criteria list from which you can select the required criteria.
You can filter the criteria based on recent criteria, tags, or filters.
 Show only recent criteria: Select a search criterion from the recent search history. The search
history displays a maximum of 15 search expressions. Select the criteria, click Show only
recent criteria, and then click Add.
 Show only tags: You can search events that have a particular tag. Click Show only tags to list
the tags in the system. Select the tags, and then click Add.
 Show only filters: You can reuse existing filters to perform a new search. Click Show only
filters to list the existing filters. Select the filter on which you want to perform the search, and
then click Add.
You can combine multiple criteria, tags, or filters by using the And or Or condition. After adding the
criteria, you can test the filter by clicking Test Filter.
Edit Criteria
The Edit Criteria provides a list of parameters required to build search criteria ranging from simple to
complex. You can either select the parameters, or you can manually specify the search criteria.
For information on building search queries, see Appendix A, “Search Query Syntax,” on page 173.
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The Edit Criteria dialog box includes the following elements:
Table 4-1 Edit Criteria Dialog Box Elements
Element
Description
Criteria
If you select Structured, this field displays the criteria formed by the parameters you
select. You cannot modify or specify the filter criteria.
If you select Free-form, you can manually specify the filter criteria.
Structured
Allows you to select the various parameters to build the filter criteria.
Free-form
Allows you to manually specify the filter criteria rather than selecting from the
available parameters.
The search criteria is based on the standard Lucene syntax with some Sentinel
extensions. For information on creating a filter criteria (search query), see
Appendix A, “Search Query Syntax,” on page 173.
If this option is selected, the following elements are not displayed:
 Event fields
 Criteria fields
 Field details
Exclude system events
Select this option to exclude Sentinel internal events such as audit events and
performance events from the search results.
Event fields
Displays a categorized list of possible event fields you can add to the filter criteria.
You can expand each category to display the set of fields in that category. If you
know the name of the field you want, specify the name in the Search field. The event
category list will adjust to present only matching fields.
For more information on event fields, click Tips located at the top right of the
Sentinel Web interface.
Criteria fields
Lists a set of overlay criteria that you can use on top of per-field searches. The
following fields are displayed by default:
 All data: Performs a search across all event fields.
For more information, see Section A.1.4, “The Default Search Field,” on
page 175 in Appendix A, “Search Query Syntax,” on page 173.
 Tags: Events can be tagged in various ways to help identify relationships
between events. Queries that include a “Tags” search will look at the event tags
(rv145) for matches.
 Taxonomy: Events are also classified using a number of taxonomic categories
for the action, outcome, and so on. Queries that include a “Taxonomy” search
will search for specific classes of events.
For more information on taxonomy, see Sentinel Taxonomy.
Configuring Filters
49
Element
Description
Field details
The fields in this section vary depending on the event or criteria fields you select. For
example:
 For tokenized fields, you can specify the words that you want to include or
exclude in the filter criteria. For information on the tokenized and non-tokenized
fields, click Tips located at the top right of the Sentinel Web interface.
 For non-tokenized fields, you can specify a value or a range of values.
 For taxonomy fields, specific taxonomy options are displayed.
 For date attributes, a date-time calendar is displayed as you type the date. You
can select a date.
 For fields that contain internal Sentinel UUIDs, such as the CollectorID field,
the corresponding Sentinel object names are displayed and can be selected.
4.3
Condition: AND OR
Allows you to specify the AND or OR condition between the criteria fields. These
options are available when you add additional event criteria to the criteria fields.
Cancel
Allows you to cancel the filter creation process.
Search
Runs a search to test the filter before saving it.
Creating a Filter
Filter expressions are simple math expressions and simple evaluations. Filters work on selection sets
by matching events against the specified criteria. If the match is TRUE, the event is displayed in
Active Views or search results, or passed to other functions. If the match is FALSE, the event is
blocked.
For example, consider a search query that is written as follows:
(sip:"10.0.0.1")
Events whose source IP address is 10.0.0.1 are included in the filter.
You must use the event field ID to represent an event name. Click the Tips link on the top right of the
Sentinel Web interface for a list of event field names and their IDs.
For more information building search queries, see Appendix A, “Search Query Syntax,” on page 173.
While creating a filter, you can specify whether you want to share a filter with other users. You must
have the Share Search Filters permission to share filters with everyone or with users in the same role
as yours. If you are a user in the administrator role, you can share filters with users in a different role.
You can create filters either by using the Add or Edit Criteria dialog or by using the Save as icon in the
Search panel.
 Section 4.3.1, “Creating a Filter by Using the Edit Criteria Dialog,” on page 50
 Section 4.3.2, “Creating a Filter by Using a Search Query,” on page 51
4.3.1
Creating a Filter by Using the Edit Criteria Dialog
1 Log in to the Sentinel Web interface.
https://<IP_Address/DNS_Sentinel_server:8443>
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IP_Address/DNS_Sentinel_server is the IP address or DNS name of the Sentinel server and
8443 is the default port for the Sentinel server.
2 In the navigation panel, click Filters > Create.
3 Select one of the following methods to create a search criteria:
 To build the search criteria by selecting parameters, make sure that Structured is selected,
select the parameters, then continue with Step 4.
For information on these parameters, see Table 4-1, “Edit Criteria Dialog Box Elements,” on
page 49.
 To manually specify the search query rather than selecting the listed parameters, select
Free-form. In the Criteria field, specify the search query, then continue with Step 4.
For information on creating a search query, see Appendix A, “Search Query Syntax,” on
page 173.
4 (Conditional) If you do not want to include Sentinel internal events in the search, select Exclude
system events.
5 Click Search to search events according to the specified filter criteria.
By default, the search is performed on events that were generated within the last 1 hour.
6 Review the search results to verify that the filter is retrieving the expected events.
7 (Optional) You can modify the search query by selecting one or more event field values from the
search results, or you can click Edit search filter, then make necessary changes.
8 When you are satisfied with the search results, click
, then click Save as new filter.
9 Specify a name for the filter and an optional description.
10 In the drop-down list, select one of the following options to specify the access for this filter:
 Private: Allows you to make this filter private. Other users cannot view or access this filter.
 Public: Allows you to share this filter with all users.
 Users in same role: Allows you to share this filter with users who have the same role as
yours.
 Users in selected roles: Allows you to share this filter with users in specific roles. If you
select this option, a blank field is displayed where you can specify the roles. As you type the
role name, a list of roles is displayed.
Select one or more roles.
NOTE: This option is available only for users in the administrator role.
11 Click Save.
4.3.2
Creating a Filter by Using a Search Query
You can save a search query as a filter and use this filter to perform searches when required rather
than specifying the search query again. For more information on creating a filter by using a search
query, see Section 3.4.2, “Saving a Search Query as a Filter,” on page 38.
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51
4.4
Sample Filters
This section lists a few examples on how you can create filters.
 Section 4.4.1, “View Events of Severity 3 to 5 from a System in China,” on page 52
 Section 4.4.2, “Determine if User “Bob Smith” Tried to Log In after His Account was Disabled,”
on page 52
 Section 4.4.3, “View Events from Two Subnets and Share the Filter with Network
Administrators,” on page 53
 Section 4.4.4, “Find all Events that Include the Words “database” and “service,” and exclude
“test”,” on page 53
4.4.1
View Events of Severity 3 to 5 from a System in China
 In the Edit Criteria > Event fields, select SourceHostCountry.
For more information on the Filter Criteria, see Section 4.2.2, “Filter Criteria,” on page 48.
 The name should match any string that contains the name “China.” For example, “ChinaBeijing.”
Specify china* in the Value field.
 The severity of the events must be 3 to 5:
 In Event fields, select Severity.
 In the Values that range from field, specify 3 TO 5.
NOTE: If you are familiar with the search query syntax, you can directly specify the query in the
Criteria field as follows:
(rv29:china*) AND (sev:[3 TO 5])
For more information on the search query syntax, see Appendix A, “Search Query Syntax,” on
page 173.
Click Search to view events that match the specified criteria.
4.4.2
Determine if User “Bob Smith” Tried to Log In after His
Account was Disabled
 In the Edit Criteria > Event fields, select the following:
 InitiatorUserName
 TargetUserName
 EffectiveUserName
For more information, see Section 4.2.2, “Filter Criteria,” on page 48.
 Select the OR condition.
 Specify "Bob Smith" in the Value field.
 To determine if the user has logged in, or tried to log in, select Taxonomy in Criteria fields.
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NOTE: You can also select the appropriate event fields if you are familiar with the values to be
specified for the event fields. Taxonomy is a classification of events where events of similar type
are grouped together. It helps you search events based on the taxonomy classification rather
than you specifying the specific event names and their values.
 In the Field details, select the following:
 From the Class drop-down list, select User Session Events.
 From the Identifier drop-down list, select Create.
 For Outcome, select Success, then select Failure.
NOTE: If you are familiar with the search query syntax, you can directly specify the query in the
Criteria field as follows:
(xdasclass:2 AND xdasid:0 AND (xdasoutcome:0 OR xdasoutcome:1)) AND (iufname:"Bob
Smith")
For more information on taxonomy, see Sentinel Taxonomy.
Click Search to view the events that match the specified criteria.
4.4.3
View Events from Two Subnets and Share the Filter with
Network Administrators
 Select subnets:
 In Edit criteria > Event fields, select SourceIP.
 In Field details > Value, specify the subnet, for example, 172.17.0.0/16.
 Repeat the above two steps to specify another subnet.
 The events must be from either of the subnets. Therefore, select OR as the condition.
 Click Search to view events that match the specified criteria.
 The filter must be shared with network administrators:
 In the search results panel, click
, then click Save as new filter.
 Specify an intuitive name and an optional description.
 From the drop-down list, select Share with roles, then select Network Administrator.
 Click Save.
4.4.4
Find all Events that Include the Words “database” and
“service,” and exclude “test”
 In Edit Criteria > Criteria fields, select All data.
 You want to find events that include words “database” and “service,” and exclude “test.”
Therefore, in Field details, specify the following:
 In the All of these words field, specify database service.
 In the Exclude these words field, specify test.
NOTE: If you are familiar with the search query syntax, you can directly specify the query in the
Criteria field as follows:
Configuring Filters
53
_data:(database AND service) NOT _data:test
The _data field allows you to search for words that might appear in any event field. For more
information, see “The Default Search Field” in Appendix A, “Search Query Syntax,” on page 173.
Click Search to view the events that match the specified criteria.
4.5
Viewing Events by Using Filters
You can use filters to view events either by selecting the desired filter in the Filters panel or by using
the Filter
icon in the search results panel. For more information, see Chapter 3, “Searching
Events,” on page 31.
4.6
Managing Filters
You can edit and delete only the filters that you created. The default filters and the filters that other
users have shared with you cannot be edited or deleted.
 Section 4.6.1, “Editing a Filter,” on page 54
 Section 4.6.2, “Deleting a Filter,” on page 54
4.6.1
Editing a Filter
1 In the Sentinel Web interface, select Filters, then select the filter that you want to edit.
The filter criteria are displayed in the search results panel.
2 (Conditional) To edit the filter name, description, or the filter type, click Edit.
3 Make the necessary changes, then click OK.
4 (Conditional) To edit the filter criteria, click Edit search filter.
For more information on the criteria you can select, see Section 4.2.2, “Filter Criteria,” on
page 48.
5 Make the necessary changes, then click Search.
6 Click
4.6.2
, then select Save <filter_name> filter.
Deleting a Filter
1 In the Sentinel Web interface, select Filters > My filters, then select the filter that you want to
delete.
2 Click
.
3 Click Delete to confirm deletion.
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5
Correlating Event Data
5
A single event viewed in the system might not necessarily draw your attention. But when you
correlate a set of similar or comparable events in a given period, you might identify a potential
problem. Sentinel helps you correlate events by using the rules you create and deploy in the
Correlation Engine, so you can take appropriate action to mitigate any problems.
 Section 5.1, “Overview,” on page 55
 Section 5.2, “Accessing the Correlation User Interface,” on page 59
 Section 5.3, “Understanding the Correlation Interface,” on page 60
 Section 5.4, “Creating Correlation Rules,” on page 65
 Section 5.5, “Associating Actions to a Rule,” on page 75
 Section 5.6, “Testing a Correlation Rule,” on page 75
 Section 5.7, “Sample Correlation Rules,” on page 76
 Section 5.8, “Deploying Rules in the Correlation Engine,” on page 77
 Section 5.9, “Viewing Correlated Events,” on page 78
 Section 5.10, “Customizing Correlated Event,” on page 78
 Section 5.11, “Managing Correlation Rules,” on page 79
 Section 5.12, “Managing the Correlation Engine,” on page 81
5.1
Overview
Correlation adds intelligence to security event management by automating analysis of the incoming
event stream to find patterns of interest. Correlation allows you to define rules that identify critical
threats and complex attack patterns so that you can prioritize events and initiate effective incident
management and response.
 Section 5.1.1, “How Correlation Works,” on page 56
 Section 5.1.2, “Correlation Rules,” on page 56
 Section 5.1.3, “Correlation Engine,” on page 59
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5.1.1
How Correlation Works
The following illustration shows how Correlation works:
Figure 5-1 Correlation Workflow
Sample actions...
Message Bus
Monitoring
events
4
Send
e-mail
Actions are
executed
Rules
fire
2
1
Create rule
Associate action
Log
to file
Trace
Initiator IP
5
3
Correlation events
are generated
Deploy in
Correlation Engine
1. A user creates a Correlation rule.
2. The user associates one or more actions to the Correlation rule.
3. The user deploys the rule in the Correlation Engine.
4. The Correlation Engine processes events from the real-time event stream to determine whether
they should trigger any of the active rules to fire the associated actions.
5. If events match the rule criteria, correlation events are generated and associated actions are
executed.
Sentinel’s correlation is near real-time and depends on the time stamp of the individual events. When
an event arrives at the Correlation Engine, the engine reorders the events in a buffer based on the
event time stamp (dt) field so that the events are evaluated in time order. This is done partly to
evaluate sequence rules in which the rule only fires if events occur in a specific order.
The buffer is 30 seconds long, so if the event time stamp (dt) is more than 30 seconds older than the
Collector Manager time stamp, the event is not evaluated. To minimize false time differences, you
must use an NTP (Network Time Protocol) server to synchronize the time settings on the relevant
machines. For more information, see “Configuring Time” in the NetIQ Sentinel Installation and
Configuration Guide.
5.1.2
Correlation Rules
Correlation rules define a pattern of events that should trigger a rule. You can create rules that range
from simple to extremely complex. For example:
 High severity event from a finance server
 High severity event from any server brought online in the past 10 days
 Five failed logins in 2 minutes
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 Five failed logins to the same server from the same username in 2 minutes
 Intrusion detection event targeting a server, followed by an attempted login to root originating
from the same server within 60 seconds
 A service stop event is not followed by the service start within 5 minutes
A rule can have one or more subrules:
 “Simple Rule” on page 57
 “Sequence Rule” on page 57
 “Composite Rule” on page 57
 “Sequence Timeout Rule” on page 58
 “Free-form Rule” on page 58
 “Combining Different Rule Types” on page 58
Simple Rule
The simple rule has just one subrule. You can specify additional criteria if you want the rule to fire
when all or any of the specified criteria are met. You can also specify the number of times the event
should occur for the rule to fire. For example, to monitor a situation with five failed logins within a
minute on a finance server.
For information on creating a simple rule, see Section 5.4.2, “Creating a Simple Rule,” on page 67.
Sequence Rule
The Sequence rule has two or more subrules that fire in a sequence. You can use a Sequence rule
when you want the rule to fire if its subrules meet the specified criteria in the specified sequence
within the defined time frame. For example, to monitor a situation where there has been a successful
login after three failed logins by the same user within five minutes.
The Sequence rule can also fire even when a single event can satisfy multiple or all of the subrules
within the time frame and the times at which they were satisfied are in ascending order. For
information about creating a Sequence rule, see Section 5.4.3, “Creating a Sequence Rule,” on
page 68.
For more information on Sequence rule expression syntax, see Section B.2.5, “Sequence Operation,”
on page 192.
Composite Rule
The Composite rule has two or more subrules that fire according to the criteria you define. There are
two types of Composite rules:
 Composite (AND): Indicates that all subrules must fire.
 Composite (OR): Indicates that a specified number of subrules must fire.
For example, you can create a Composite (AND) rule to monitor a situation where there have been
failed logins on a finance server and a database server within two minutes.
Similarly, for example, you can create a Composite (OR) rule, if you have three or more subrules and
you want the rule to fire if a maximum of two subrules meet the specified criteria.
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The Composite rule can also fire even when a single event can satisfy multiple or all of the subrules.
For information on creating a Composite rule, see Section 5.4.4, “Creating a Composite Rule,” on
page 69.
For information about Composite rule expression syntax, see Section B.2.4, “Gate Operation,” on
page 192.
Sequence Timeout Rule
The Sequence Timeout rule fires when an event that matches the first subrule is not followed by an
event that matches the second subrule in a specified time frame.
For example, you can create a Sequence Timeout rule to detect a scenario where the server stopped
but did not start again within an interval of 5 minutes.
Similarly, you can also create a Sequence Timeout rule to detect a scenario where a firewall security
update started but was not followed by successful installation of updates within the specified time
interval.
For information about creating a Sequence Timeout rule, see Section 5.4.5, “Creating a Sequence
Timeout Rule,” on page 70.
For information about Sequence rule expression syntax, see Section B.2.6, “Sequence Timeout
Operation,” on page 193.
Free-form Rule
If you are familiar with the rule expression syntax, you can create correlation rules by manually
specifying the rule expression. You can use free-form rules to create complex rules by using
additional operators such as Window, Intersection, and Union.
For information about the rule expression syntax, see Appendix B, “Correlation Rule Expression
Syntax,” on page 185.
For information about creating a free-form rule, see Section 5.4.6, “Creating a Free-Form Rule,” on
page 72.
Combining Different Rule Types
You can create correlation rules with a combination of different rule types to detect complex
scenarios.You can create rule combinations such as a Sequence rule with a Composite rule or a
Sequence Timeout rule with a Sequence rule, and so on. You can create a combination of different
rule types either by using the free-form view or by using a combination of structured view and the
free-form view.
Consider a scenario where you want a correlation rule to fire when a system scan (Event A) detects a
virus (Event B), but is not followed by a quarantine (Event C) in 30 seconds. The overall timeframe for
this complete activity is 1 hour. For this scenario, you can create a combination of Sequence and
Sequence Timeout rules.
For information about combining different rule types, see Section 5.4.7, “Creating a Combination
Rule,” on page 73.
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5.1.3
Correlation Engine
To monitor events according to the correlation rules, you must deploy the rules in the correlation
engine. When an event occurs that satisfies the rule criteria, the correlation engine generates a
correlation event describing the pattern.
NOTE: Events that are sent directly to the event store or dropped by event routing rules are not
processed by the correlation engine.
The Sentinel correlation engine provides specific advantages over database-centric correlation
engines.
 By relying on in-memory processing rather than database inserts and reads, the correlation
engine performs during high steady-state volumes as well as during event spikes when under
attack, which is the time when correlation performance is most critical.
 The correlation volume does not slow down other system components, so the user interface
remains responsive, especially with high event volumes.
 The correlation engine can add events to incidents after an incident has been created.
 You can deploy multiple correlation engines, each on its own server, without the need to replicate
configurations or add databases. The correlation engine is built with a pluggable framework that
allows the addition of new correlation engines. Independent scaling of components provides
cost-effective scalability and performance.
NOTE: You cannot install more than one correlation engine on a single system. You can install
additional correlation engines on remote systems, and then connect them to the Sentinel server.
For more information about installing the Correlation Engine, see “Installing Collector Managers
and Correlation Engines” in NetIQ Sentinel Installation and Configuration Guide > Installing
Sentinel.
5.2
Accessing the Correlation User Interface
NOTE: You must have the Manage correlation engine and rules permission to access the Correlation
interface.
1 Log in to the Sentinel web interface as a user with the Manage Correlation Engine and Rules
permission.
https://<IP_Address/DNS_Sentinel_server:8443>
IP_Address/DNS_Sentinel_server is the IP address or DNS name of the Sentinel server and
8443 is the default port for the Sentinel server.
2 In the navigation panel, click Correlation.
The Correlation panel is displayed. For more information, see Section 5.3.1, “Correlation Panel,”
on page 60.
You can also access the Correlation user interface from the search results panel. For information on
creating Correlation rules from the search results panel, see Section 5.4.8, “Creating Correlation
Rules From Search Results,” on page 74.
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5.3
Understanding the Correlation Interface
The Correlation interface includes the following:
 Section 5.3.1, “Correlation Panel,” on page 60
 Section 5.3.2, “Correlation Rule Builder,” on page 61
5.3.1
Correlation Panel
The Correlation panel lists the rules and the Correlation Engines installed on your system.
The Correlation panel includes the following options:
 “Search Field” on page 60
 “Create Link” on page 60
 “More Link” on page 60
 “Rules” on page 60
 “Engines” on page 61
Search Field
The Search
field allows you to search for the specified rule in your system.
Create Link
The Create link launches the Correlation Rule Builder that helps you to create correlation rules.
More Link
The More link allows you to select multiple rules to delete them.
Rules
The Rules section lists all the available rules in the system. The icon next to the rule indicates the
status of the rule:
 Enabled
: The rule is deployed in the Correlation Engine and is enabled to process events.
 Disabled : The rule is deployed in the Correlation Engine, but the rule is disabled and is not
processing events.
 No icon: The rule is not deployed in the Correlation Engine.
To view the details of any rule, click the rule. When you select or click any rule, the following icons are
displayed:
 Search : Searches for the events that meet the rule criteria. The events are displayed in the
search results panel.
 Edit
: Allows you to edit the rule.
 Delete : Allows you to delete the rule.
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Engines
The Engines section lists the Correlation Engines installed in the system. The icon next to the
Correlation Engine indicates the status of the Correlation Engine.
 Start
: The Correlation Engine is started and is processing the deployed correlation rules.
 Stop : The Correlation Engine is stopped. When the Correlation Engine is stopped, all inmemory data is preserved and no new correlation events are generated.
 Offline
: The remote Correlation Engine is off.
Click any engine to view the details, such as the rules deployed in this engine and information about
the engine. For more information, see Section 5.12.1, “Using the Correlation Engine Dashboard,” on
page 81.
5.3.2
Correlation Rule Builder
The Correlation Rule Builder helps you to create correlation rules and includes the following:
 “Command Buttons” on page 61
 “Rule Builder Elements” on page 61
 “Subrule Window” on page 62
 “Expression Builder” on page 64
 “Actions Panel” on page 65
Command Buttons
The following command buttons are available:
 Subrule: Adds a subrule window in the rule builder. You can add additional subrules to create a
Sequence or Composite rule.
 View Rule Expression/Hide Rule Expression: Displays or hides the expression of the rule.
This is a toggle button.
 Save Rule: Saves the rule in the Sentinel database.
 Save As: Allows you to save the rule with another name.
 Test Rule: Tests the rule against the events in your system. For more information, see
Section 5.6, “Testing a Correlation Rule,” on page 75.
Rule Builder Elements
Table 5-1 Common Rule Builder Elements
Element
Description
Action
edit
Allows you to edit the rule name
Click the edit link.
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Element
Description
Action
Rule type
Lists the types of rules:
Select an appropriate rule type for the rule
you want to create.
 Sequence
 Composite (AND)
 Composite (OR)
This list is displayed only if there is more than
one subrule.
Count
This field is enabled only for Composite (OR)
rules and if there are more than 2 subrules.
Specify a number or use the up/down arrow
keys to select a number.
It indicates the maximum number of subrules
NOTE: The value should always be less
that should meet the specified criteria for the
than the number of subrules in the rule.
rule to fire. For example, if you have 5 subrules
and you specify the Count as 3, the rule fires if
one, two, or three subrules meet the specified
criteria.
Group by
Lists the attributes you can use to group the
correlation events.
The Group by list is enabled if there are two or
more subrules.
Time frame
Hr: Min: Sec
Indicates the time within which the specified
criteria in the subrules should be satisfied for
the rule to fire.
Select one or more attributes. For example,
to group events by username, select
initusername.
Specify the time in hours, minutes, or
seconds.
Subrule Window
The subrule window allows you to specify the expressions (criteria) for the rule and lists the various
expressions that you have created for a subrule.
Table 5-2 Subrule Window Elements
Element
Description
Toggle icons
Toggles between a structured rule and a free- Click the icon to toggle to the freeform rule.
form or structured view.
Group by
Lists the attributes you can use to group the
correlation events.
The Group by list is enabled only if the Count
is greater than 1.
Count
Close icon
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Action
Select one or more attributes. For
example, to group events by
username, select initusername.
Indicates the number of times the expressions Specify a number or use the up/down
must meet the specified criteria for the
arrow keys to select the number.
subrule/rule to fire.
Closes the subrule window.
Click the icon to close the subrule
window.
Element
Description
Action
Time frame
Indicates the time within which the specified
criteria in the subrule should be satisfied for
the rule to fire.
Specify the time in hours, minutes, or
seconds. For example, if you want
the rule to fire within 2 minutes,
specify 2 in the Min field.
Determines whether the subrule should fire
when all or any of the conditions in the
expression are met, according to the
selection.
Select one of the conditions.
Hr: Min: Sec
Condition: AND OR
These option buttons are enabled only if there
are two or more expressions in a subrule.
Create a new
expression
Delete expression
Allows you to create a new expression.
Displays the Expression Builder. For more
information, see “Expression Builder” on
page 64.
Deletes the expression.
Click the link to create a new
expression.
Click the icon to delete the
expression.
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Expression Builder
The Expression Builder allows you to select various parameters required to create an expression for
the rule. The various parameters include Attributes, Operator, and Value. These parameters are
interdependent, and changing one of them affects the validity of others.
Figure 5-2 Expression Builder
Attribute: Displays a categorized list of possible event fields that can be used to create a Correlation
rule. Each category can be expanded to display the set of fields in that category. If you know the
name of the field you want, specify the name in the Search field. The event category list adjusts to
present only matching fields.
For information on the various event fields, click Tips located at the top right corner.
Operator: Lists the various operators. The list varies depending on the selected attribute type. For
example:
 For all attributes, the =, <, >, !=, <=, >=, inlist, isnull, not inlist, and not isnull operators are
available.
 For string attributes, the match regex operator is available.
 For IP attributes, the match subnet operator is available.
 For tag attributes, the contains operator is available.
For more information on using the operators, see “Filter Operation” in Appendix B, “Correlation Rule
Expression Syntax,” on page 185.
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Value: This field varies, depending on the attribute and operator. For example:
 For the isnull and not isnull operators, no value can be chosen.
 For the inlist and not inlist operators, the available dynamic lists are displayed. You can also
create a new dynamic list if necessary. For more information on dynamic lists, see Section 9.1,
“Creating a Dynamic List,” on page 109.
 For the Severity attribute, the severity list is displayed.
 For date attributes, a date-time calendar is displayed.
 For xdas taxonomy attributes, the taxonomy builder is displayed.
 For numeric attributes, only numbers are accepted.
 For the Sensor type attribute, the list of sensor types is displayed.
 For the Tags (rv145) attribute, the list of available tags is displayed.
 For Collector fields, a list of Collectors is displayed.
You can also select one or more event attributes as the value by using the Show Attributes option.
Actions Panel
The Actions panel lists the actions associated with the rule, allows you to associate actions to the
rule, and allows you to define when the action should execute.
The Actions panel includes the following icons:
 Action execution criteria
: Allows you to specify when the rule should initiate the action.
When you click this icon, the Action Execution Criteria dialog box is displayed:
You can select one of the following options:
 Perform actions every time the rule fires: The action executes each time the rule criteria
are met.
 Perform actions at most every: The action executes at most every specified time interval.
By default, this option is selected and the time interval is set to 1 hour. This is to ensure that
the rule does not fire continually and overutilize resources.
 Add action
: Allows you to associate actions to the rule. When you click this icon, a list of
actions is displayed. Select one or more actions that you want to associate to the rule.
For more information on associating actions to a rule, see Section 5.5, “Associating Actions to a
Rule,” on page 75.
5.4
Creating Correlation Rules
The procedure to create various types of Correlation rules is the same for all rule types, except for a
few steps that are specific to each rule type. Events are evaluated by rules in the specified order until
a match is made, so you should order subrules accordingly. More narrowly defined subrules and
more important subrules should be placed at the beginning of the list. When creating correlation
rules, you can also define what you want to see in the correlated event.
 Section 5.4.1, “Understanding the Correlated Event,” on page 66
 Section 5.4.2, “Creating a Simple Rule,” on page 67
 Section 5.4.3, “Creating a Sequence Rule,” on page 68
 Section 5.4.4, “Creating a Composite Rule,” on page 69
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 Section 5.4.5, “Creating a Sequence Timeout Rule,” on page 70
 Section 5.4.6, “Creating a Free-Form Rule,” on page 72
 Section 5.4.7, “Creating a Combination Rule,” on page 73
 Section 5.4.8, “Creating Correlation Rules From Search Results,” on page 74
5.4.1
Understanding the Correlated Event
By default, correlated events display the event name and message as the rule name and description
respectively.
The correlated event field values depend on the number of events that triggered the correlated event
and whether any of the event fields are grouped.
 In case of a single event triggering the correlated event, all the event field values are copied to
the correlated event. If one or more event fields are grouped, only the grouped event fields are
copied to the correlated event.
 In case of multiple events triggering a correlated event, the grouped event field values are
copied to the correlated event. If none of the event fields are grouped, no values are copied to
the correlated event.
The following table describes the default event fields in a correlated event. You can also customize
the event field values to suit your requirements. For more information, see Section 5.10,
“Customizing Correlated Event,” on page 78.
Table 5-3 Default Correlated Event Fields
66
Correlation Event Field
ID
Sample Value
Description
EventName
evt
LoginUser
The name of the correlation
rule.
EventTime
dt
2014-02-10T05:21:29.047Z
The time when the last trigger
event was fired.
Message
msg
Rule triggered for every
successful login
The description in the
correlation rule.
ObserverCategory
rv32
SIEM
For a correlated event, this
event field is always set to
SIEM.
ObserverServiceComponent
rv150
SessionServices
This value is same as that of
the last trigger event.
ObserverTZ
estz
Asia/Kolkata
The time zone in which the
correlation engine is located.
ObserverType
st
C
For a correlated event, the
event field is always set to C.
SentinelProcessingComponent rt2
LoginUser
The correlation rule name.
SentinelProcessingComponent rv123
ID
CC72FBA4-711D-1031-8046005056A56C5B
This is the ID of the correlation
rule. The correlation rule ID
remains the same even though
the correlation rule name
changes.
NetIQ Sentinel User Guide
Correlation Event Field
ID
Sample Value
Description
SentinelServiceComponentNa
me
sres
LoginUser
It is the name of the correlation
rule.
SentinelServiceName
res
Correlation
For a correlated event, this
event field is always set to
Correlation.
Severity
sev
4
For a correlated event, this
event field is always set to 4.
XDASClass
xdasclass
2
This value is same as that of
the last trigger event.
XDASDetail
xdasdetail
0
This value is same as that of
the last trigger event.
XDASIdentifier
xdasid
0
This value is same as that of
the last trigger event.
XDASOutcome
xdasoutco
me
0
This value is same as that of
the last trigger event.
XDASOutcomeName
xdasoutco
mename
XDAS_OUT_SUCCESS
This value is same as that of
the last trigger event.
XDASProvider
xdasprov
0
This value is same as that of
the last trigger event.
XDASRegistry
xdasreg
0
This value is same as that of
the last trigger event.
XDASTaxonomyName
xdastaxna
me
XDAS_AE_CREATE_SESSIO
N
This value is same as that of
the last trigger event.
For more information on correlated event fields, click Tips in the Sentinel Web Console. For more
information on the event taxonomy and event fields, see Sentinel Taxonomy.
NOTE: By default, Sentinel correlates the correlated events received from remote Sentinel servers. If
you do not want the correlation rules to consider remote correlated events, set the following property
in the /etc/opt/novell/sentinel/config/server.xml file to false and restart the Sentinel server:
<property name="correlateRemoteCorrelationEvents">false</property>
5.4.2
Creating a Simple Rule
A simple rule has just one subrule. You can specify additional criteria if you want the rule to fire when
all or any of the specified criteria are met. You can also specify the number of times the event should
occur for the rule to fire.
1 Launch the Correlation Rule Builder. By default, a subrule window is displayed.
For more information, see Section 5.2, “Accessing the Correlation User Interface,” on page 59.
2 In the subrule window, click Create a new expression.
The Expression Builder is displayed. For more information, see “Expression Builder” on page 64.
3 Select the criteria for the subrule, then click OK.
The specified criteria are displayed in the subrule window.
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4 (Conditional) Specify additional expressions as necessary:
4a Repeat Step 2 and Step 3.
4b Select either of the following conditions:
 AND: Use this condition if you want the subrule to fire when the conditions in all of the
expressions are met.
 OR: Use this condition if you want the subrule to fire when the condition in either of the
expressions is met.
4c (Conditional) You can group events based on the distinct values of event fields or group
events by same values of event fields. Select the Group by drop-down list, drag and drop
the desired event fields in the Group By Fields or Distinct Fields list depending on how
you want to group the events.
4d In the Count field, specify the number of times the expressions must meet the specified for
the rule to fire. If the count is greater than 1, the Hr, Min, and Sec fields are enabled.
4e Specify the time frame within which the subrule should fire.
4f (Conditional) If the count is greater than one and if there are any grouped event fields, by
default only the grouped event field values are copied to the correlated event. If you want to
copy all the event field values from the last event that triggered the correlated event,
deselect Copy only group by fields from the trigger events.
5 (Optional) To associate one or more actions to the rule, click
in the Actions panel.
For more information on associating actions, see Section 5.5, “Associating Actions to a Rule,” on
page 75.
6 (Optional) To test whether the rule works as expected, click Test Rule.
For more information on testing the rule, see Section 5.6, “Testing a Correlation Rule,” on
page 75.
7 Click Save As.
8 Specify a name for the rule and an optional description, then click OK.
9 Deploy the rule in the Correlation Engine so that events can be processed according to the rule.
For more information, see Section 5.8, “Deploying Rules in the Correlation Engine,” on page 77.
5.4.3
Creating a Sequence Rule
A Sequence rule has two or more subrules that fire in sequence. You can use a Sequence rule when
you want the rule to fire if its subrules meet the specified criteria in the specified sequence within the
defined time frame. Therefore, you need to order the subrules in the required sequence.
1 Launch the Correlation Rule Builder. By default, a subrule window is displayed.
For more information, see Section 5.2, “Accessing the Correlation User Interface,” on page 59.
2 In the Subrule window, click Create a new expression.
The Expression Builder is displayed. For more information, see “Expression Builder” on page 64.
3 Select the criteria for the subrule, then click OK.
The specified criteria are displayed in the subrule window.
4 (Conditional) Specify additional expressions as necessary:
4a Select either of the following conditions:
 AND: Use this condition if you want the subrule to fire when the conditions in all of the
expressions are met.
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 OR: Use this condition if you want the subrule to fire when the condition in either of the
expressions is met.
4b (Conditional) You can group events based on the distinct values of event fields or group
events by same values of event fields. Select the Group by drop-down list, drag and drop
the desired event fields in the Group By Fields or Distinct Fields list depending on how
you want to group the events.
4c In the Count field, specify the number of times the expressions must meet the specified
criteria for the rule to fire. If the Count is greater than 1, the Hr, Min, and Sec fields are
enabled.
4d Specify the time frame within which the subrule should fire.
4e (Conditional) If the count is greater than one and if there are any grouped event fields, by
default only the grouped event field values are copied to the correlated event. If you want to
copy all the event field values from the last event that triggered the correlated event,
deselect Copy only group by fields from the trigger events.
5 To add additional subrules, click Add Subrule, then repeat Step 2 through Step 4 to specify the
subrule criteria.
6 In the rule type drop-down list, select Sequence rule.
7 Specify the time frame within which the rule should fire.
8 (Optional) To associate one or more actions to the rule, click
in the Actions panel.
For more information on associating actions, see Section 5.5, “Associating Actions to a Rule,” on
page 75.
9 (Optional) To test whether the rule is works as expected, click Test Rule.
For more information on testing the rule, see Section 5.6, “Testing a Correlation Rule,” on
page 75.
10 Click Save As.
11 Specify a name for the rule and an optional description, then click Save.
12 Deploy the rule in the Correlation Engine so that events can be processed according to the rule.
For more information, see Section 5.8, “Deploying Rules in the Correlation Engine,” on page 77.
5.4.4
Creating a Composite Rule
A Composite rule has two or more subrules that fire according to the criteria you define.
1 Launch the Correlation Rule Builder. By default, a subrule window is displayed.
For more information, see Section 5.2, “Accessing the Correlation User Interface,” on page 59.
2 In the Subrule window, click Create a new expression.
The Expression Builder displayed. For more information, see “Expression Builder” on page 64.
3 Select the criteria for the rule, then click OK.
The specified criteria are displayed in the subrule window.
4 (Conditional) Specify additional expressions as necessary:
4a Select either of the following conditions:
 AND: Use this condition if you want the subrule to fire when the conditions in all of the
expressions are met.
 OR: Use this condition if you want the subrule to fire when the condition in either of the
expressions is met.
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4b (Conditional) You can group events based on the distinct values of event fields or group
events by same values of event fields. Select the Group by drop-down list, drag and drop
the desired event fields in the Group By Fields or Distinct Fields list depending on how
you want to group the events.
4c In the Count field, specify the number of times the expressions must meet the specified
criteria for the rule to fire. If the Count is greater than 1, the Hr, Min, and Sec fields are
enabled.
4d Specify the time frame within which the subrule should fire.
4e (Conditional) If the count is greater than one and if there are any grouped event fields, by
default only the grouped event field values are copied to the correlated event. If you want to
copy all the event field values from the last event that triggered the correlated event,
deselect Copy only group by fields from the trigger events.
5 Complete Step 1 through Step 4 in Section 5.4.2, “Creating a Simple Rule,” on page 67.
6 To add additional subrules, click Add Subrule, then repeat Step 2 through Step 4 to specify the
subrule criteria.
7 In the rule type drop-down list, select Composite rule.
8 Select one of the following:
 Composite Rule (AND): The rule fires if all the subrules meet the specified criteria within
the defined time frame.
 Composite Rule (OR): The rule fires if any of the subrules meets the specified criteria
within the defined time frame.
9 (Conditional) If you selected Composite Rule (OR), use the Count field to specify the number of
subrules that should meet the specified criteria.
The value in the Count field must be less than the number of subrules. For example, if there are
5 subrules and you specify the count as 3, the rule fires if 3 or more subrules meet the specified
criteria.
10 Specify the time frame within which the rule should fire.
11 (Optional) To associate one or more actions to the rule, click
in the Actions panel.
For more information on associating actions, see Section 5.5, “Associating Actions to a Rule,” on
page 75.
12 (Optional) To test whether the rule is works as expected, click Test Rule.
For more information on testing the rule, see Section 5.6, “Testing a Correlation Rule,” on
page 75.
13 Click Save As.
14 Specify an intuitive name for the rule and an optional description, then click Save.
15 Deploy the rule in the Correlation Engine so that events can be processed according to the rule.
For more information, see Section 5.8, “Deploying Rules in the Correlation Engine,” on page 77.
5.4.5
Creating a Sequence Timeout Rule
A Sequence Timeout rule fires when events that match the first subrule are not followed by events
that match the second subrule in a specified time frame. For example, you can create a Sequence
Timeout rule to detect a scenario where the server stopped but did not start again within an interval of
5 minutes. Similarly, you can also create a Sequence Timeout rule to detect a scenario where a
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firewall security update started but was not followed by successful installation of updates within the
specified time interval. A Sequence Timeout rule has two subrules. You must order the subrules in the
required sequence.
To create a Sequence Timeout rule, perform the following the steps:
1 Launch the Correlation Rule Builder.
For more information, see Section 5.2, “Accessing the Correlation User Interface,” on page 59.
2 In the subrule window, click Create a new expression.
For more information about using the Expression Builder, see “Expression Builder” on page 64.
3 Select the criteria for the subrule, then click OK.
4 (Conditional) Specify additional criteria as necessary for the subrule:
4a Select either of the following conditions:
 AND: Use this condition if you want the subrule to fire when the conditions in all of the
expressions are met.
 OR: Use this condition if you want the subrule to fire when the condition in either of the
expressions is met.
4b (Conditional) You can group events based on the distinct values of event fields or group
events by the same values of event fields. Select the Group by drop-down list, and drag
and drop the desired event fields in the Group By Fields or Distinct Fields list depending
on how you want to group the events.
4c In the Count field, specify the number of times the expressions must meet the specified
criteria for the rule to fire. If Count is greater than 1, the Hr, Min, and Sec fields are enabled.
4d Specify the time frame within which the subrule should fire.
4e (Conditional) If the count is greater than one and if there are any grouped event fields, by
default, only the grouped event field values are copied to the correlated event. If you want to
copy all the event field values from the last event that triggered the correlated event,
deselect Copy only group by fields from the trigger events.
5 To add the second subrule, click Add Subrule, then repeat Step 2 through Step 4 to specify the
criteria for the second subrule.
6 In the Rule Type drop-down list, select Sequence Timeout.
7 Specify the time frame after which the rule should fire if the second subrule conditions are not
met.
8 (Optional) To associate one or more actions to the rule, click
in the Actions panel.
For more information about associating actions, see Section 5.5, “Associating Actions to a Rule,”
on page 75.
9 (Optional) To test whether the rule works as expected, click Test Rule.
For more information about testing the rule, see Section 5.6, “Testing a Correlation Rule,” on
page 75.
10 Click Save As.
11 Specify a name for the rule and an optional description, then click Save.
12 Deploy the rule in the Correlation Engine so that events can be processed according to the rule.
For more information, see Section 5.8, “Deploying Rules in the Correlation Engine,” on page 77.
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5.4.6
Creating a Free-Form Rule
If you are familiar with the rule expression syntax, you can create correlation rules by manually
specifying the rule expression. You can use free-form rules to create complex rules by using
additional operators such as Window, Intersection, and Union.
1 Launch the Correlation Rule Builder.
For more information, see Section 5.2, “Accessing the Correlation User Interface,” on page 59.
2 (Conditional) Perform Step 2a to create a free-form rule using a single subrule otherwise, follow
Step 2b if you want to create a free-form rule using multiple subrules:
2a Using single subrule:
2a1 Click Create.
2a2 In the subrule window, click
to switch to the free-form view.
2a3 Specify the criteria for the rule.
2a4 (Optional) Click
to view the rule in a structured format.
Free-form expressions that include the Window operator or a combination of AND, OR,
Sequence and Sequence Timeout operators are not supported in the structured view.
2b Using multiple subrules:
2b1 Click Create.
2b2 In the Subrule window, click Create a new expression.
The Expression Builder is displayed. For more information, see “Expression Builder” on
page 64.
2b3 Select the criteria for the rule expression.
2b4 (Conditional) Specify additional expressions as necessary:
2b4a Select either of the following conditions:
 AND: Use this condition if you want the subrule to fire when the conditions in
all of the expressions are met.
 OR: Use this condition if you want the subrule to fire when the condition in
either of the expressions is met.
2b4b (Conditional) You can group events based on the distinct values of event fields or
group events by same values of event fields. Select the Group by drop-down list,
drag and drop the desired event fields in the Group By Fields or Distinct Fields
list depending on how you want to group the events.
2b4c In the Count field, specify the number of times the expressions must meet the
specified criteria for the rule to fire. If the Count is greater than 1, the Hr, Min, and
Sec fields are enabled.
2b4d Specify the time frame within which the subrule should fire.
2b4e (Conditional) If the count is greater than one and if there are any grouped event
fields, by default only the grouped event field values are copied to the correlated
event. If you want to copy all the event field values from the last event that
triggered the correlated event, deselect Copy only group by fields from the
trigger events.
2b5 Follow Step 2b1 through Step 2b4 to create multiple subrules in the structured format.
2b6 Click Edit in Free-form view to view the combined free-form expression syntax of all
the subrules in the structured format.
2b7 Edit the free-form expression syntax further to suit your requirements.
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NOTE: As you type the rule expression, the Free-form editor validates the rule expression
syntax and indicates errors if the syntax is wrong.
For more information on the rule expression syntax, see Appendix B, “Correlation Rule
Expression Syntax,” on page 185.
3 (Optional) To associate one or more actions to the rule, click
in the Actions panel.
For more information on associating actions, see Section 5.5, “Associating Actions to a Rule,” on
page 75.
4 (Optional) To test whether the rule works as expected, click Test Rule.
For more information on testing the rule, see Section 5.6, “Testing a Correlation Rule,” on
page 75.
5 Click Save As.
6 Specify an intuitive name for the rule and an optional description, then click Save.
7 Deploy the rule in the Correlation Engine so that events can be processed according to the rule.
For more information, see Section 5.8, “Deploying Rules in the Correlation Engine,” on page 77.
5.4.7
Creating a Combination Rule
You can create correlation rules with a combination of different rule types to detect complex
scenarios. For example, a Sequence rule with a Composite rule or a Sequence Timeout rule with a
Sequence rule, and so on. You can create a combination of different rule types either by using the
free-form view or by using a combination of the structured view and the free-form view.
Consider a scenario where you want a correlation rule to fire when a system scan (Event A) detects a
virus (Event B), but is not followed by a quarantine (Event C) in 30 seconds. The overall timeframe for
the sequence of events is 1 hour. For this scenario, you can create a combination of Sequence and
Sequence Timeout rules as follows:
Event A followed by (Event B not followed by Event C), which can also be represented as Event A ->
(Event B ->x Event C),
To create a combination of different rule types for the above scenario:
1 Create a Sequence Timeout rule for (Event B ->x Event C) in the structured view and specify the
time frame as 30 seconds.
2 Click Edit in Free-form View to combine the two subrules (Event B ->x Event C) into a single
subrule in the free-form view.
3 (Conditional) Perform Step 3a if you are familiar with the rule expression syntax. Otherwise,
perform Step 3b.
3a Using free-form expression:
3a1 Edit the free-form rule expression further to add the Sequence operator such that the
final expression is sequence(Event A, sequence_timeout(Event B, Event C, 30), 3600).
3a2 Skip to Step 4.
3b Using a combination of free-form and structured view:
3b1 Click Add Subrule to add a new subrule for Event A.
3b2 Add the rule criteria for Event A.
3b3 Drag the subrule for Event A by the rule header and place it before the free-form
subrule to reorder the subrules.
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3b4 Select Sequence from the Rule Type drop-down to create the rule as follows.
Event A -> (Event B ->x Event C)
3b5 Specify the overall time frame as 1 hour.
4 (Optional) To associate one or more actions to the rule, click
in the Actions panel.
For more information about associating actions, see Section 5.5, “Associating Actions to a Rule,”
on page 75.
5 (Optional) To test whether the rule works as expected, click Test Rule.
For more information about testing the rule, see Section 5.6, “Testing a Correlation Rule,” on
page 75.
6 Click Save As.
7 Specify a name for the rule and an optional description, then click Save.
8 Deploy the rule in the Correlation Engine so that events can be processed according to the rule.
For more information, see Section 5.8, “Deploying Rules in the Correlation Engine,” on page 77.
5.4.8
Creating Correlation Rules From Search Results
1 In the search results panel, select the events from which you want to create a Correlation rule.
2 In the Events Operations drop-down list, select one of the following:
 Add to correlation rule: Adds the selected events to an existing rule.
 Create correlation rule: Creates a new rule with the selected events.
3 (Conditional) If you selected create correlation rule, the Correlation Rule Builder is displayed.
The events that you selected to build the rule are displayed below the rule builder. Skip to Step 5.
4 (Conditional) If you selected add to correlation rule, the Add events to an existing rule window
is displayed that lists the rules in the system.
Select a rule, then click OK.
The Correlation Rule Builder is displayed. The events that you selected to build the rule are
displayed below the rule builder.
5 From the event list, drag the attributes that you want to add to the rule to the Subrule window.
6 (Optional) To associate one or more actions to the rule, in the Actions panel, click
.
For more information on associating actions, see Section 5.5, “Associating Actions to a Rule,” on
page 75.
7 (Optional) To test whether the rule is works as expected, click Test Rule.
For more information on testing the rule, see Section 5.6, “Testing a Correlation Rule,” on
page 75.
8 Click Save As.
9 Specify an intuitive name for the rule and an optional description, then click Save.
10 Deploy the rule in the Correlation Engine so that events can be processed according to the rule.
For more information, see Section 5.8, “Deploying Rules in the Correlation Engine,” on page 77.
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5.5
Associating Actions to a Rule
You can configure one or more actions to a rule. The associated actions are executed when the rule
fires.
1 Launch the Correlation interface.
For more information, see Section 5.2, “Accessing the Correlation User Interface,” on page 59.
2 In the Correlation panel, click any rule to which you want to associate actions, then click
.
The Correlation Rule Builder is displayed.
3 In the Actions panel, click
to associate one or more actions to the rule.
The list of actions is displayed.
4 Select the actions that you want to associate with the rule, then click OK.
5 Click
to define when the action should execute.
6 Select one of the following:
 Perform actions every time the rule fires: Sentinel creates a correlated event and
executes the associated action each time the rule fires.
 Perform actions at most every: Sentinel creates a correlated event and executes the
action at most every specified time interval. By default, this option is selected and the time
interval is set to 1 hour. This is to ensure that rule does not fire continually and overutilize
resources. You can also define the maximum number of trigger events to be associated with
the correlated event. For more information, see “Configuring the Number of Trigger Events
to be Associated with a Correlated Event” in the NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.
7 Click OK.
8 Click Save Rule.
NOTE: If you modified a deployed rule, you must redeploy the rule in the Correlation Engine for the
changes to take effect. For information on deploying a rule, see Section 5.8, “Deploying Rules in the
Correlation Engine,” on page 77.
5.6
Testing a Correlation Rule
You can determine whether the rule is working as expected by testing a rule on the events that are
already in the system before deploying it to monitor real-time events.
1 Launch the Correlation interface.
For more information, see Section 5.2, “Accessing the Correlation User Interface,” on page 59.
2 In the Correlation panel, click any rule that you want to test, then click
.
3 Click Test Rule.
4 Specify the time frame during which you want to test the rule.
5 (Optional) Click
to filter events that the rule should process.
6 Click Test Rule.
The test takes some time, depending on the specified criteria. After the test is complete, the test
results are displayed.
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The test results display the rule details:
 Status: Indicates whether the test is running, stopped, or completed. The test stops when
the rule has fired at least 20 times during the test process. This ensures that the rule is
working as expected and saves time when there are many events.
 Started at: The date/time when the rule started to fire.
 Finished at: The date/time when the test stopped.
The indicators (dots) indicate when the rule fired. The white dot indicates a single correlation
event. The black dot indicates multiple correlation events generated within a short period of time.
Click the indicator to see the event details.
7 Click the Close icon to close the test results.
5.7
Sample Correlation Rules
This section provides a few examples on how you can create correlation rules. For more examples,
see Appendix B, “Correlation Rule Expression Syntax,” on page 185.
 Section 5.7.1, “Detecting Critical Events from an Intrusion Detection System,” on page 76
 Section 5.7.2, “Detecting a Spreading Attack,” on page 77
 Section 5.7.3, “Detecting an Attack that Came from Outside the Firewall,” on page 77
5.7.1
Detecting Critical Events from an Intrusion Detection
System
This example identifies critical events from an intrusion detection system and sends an e-mail to the
Administrator.
 Launch the Correlation Rule Builder. In the Correlation panel, click Create.
 In the Subrule window, click Create a new expression.
 Specify that the events must be from an intrusion detection system (IDS):
 In the Expression Builder > Event Fields, select ObserverCategory.
 Ensure that the “=” operator is selected.
 In the Value field, specify IDS, then click OK.
 Identify critical events:
 Add another expression. In the Subrule window, click Create a new expression.
 In the Expression Builder > Event Fields, select Severity.
 Select >= as the operator.
 In the Value field, select 4, then click OK.
 If events are found, send an e-mail to the administrator:
 In the Actions panel, click
to associate the action with the rule.
 Select Send E-mail.
 Click
to update the action execution criteria.
 Select Perform actions everytime the rule fires, then click OK.
 Click Save Rule.
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 Deploy the rule in the Correlation Engine.
For more information, see Section 5.8, “Deploying Rules in the Correlation Engine,” on page 77.
 Search events that match the rule criteria.
For more information, see Section 5.9, “Viewing Correlated Events,” on page 78.
5.7.2
Detecting a Spreading Attack
This example creates a Correlation rule that indicates whether the source of an attack was previously
the destination of an attack (within 15 minutes.) Because this involves comparing a current event set
with a past event set, it uses the window operation.
 In the Subrule window, click
to switch to the free-form editor.
 Specify the expression as follows:
filter(e.TaxonomyLevel1="Attack") flow window(w.dip=e.sip,
filter(e.rv51="Attack"), 15m)
 Click Save Rule.
 Deploy the rule in the Correlation Engine.
For more information, see Section 5.8, “Deploying Rules in the Correlation Engine,” on page 77.
 Search events that match the rule criteria.
For more information, see Section 5.9, “Viewing Correlated Events,” on page 78.
5.7.3
Detecting an Attack that Came from Outside the Firewall
This example creates a Correlation rule that checks whether an intrusion detection system attack
event seen inside your network came through your firewall in the last 10 seconds.
 In the Subrule window, click
to switch to the free-form editor.
 Specify the expression as follows:
filter(e.TaxonomyLevel1="Attack") flow window(w.dip=e.sip,
filter(e.rv32="FW"), 10)
 Click Save Rule.
 Deploy the rule in the Correlation Engine.
For more information, see Section 5.8, “Deploying Rules in the Correlation Engine,” on page 77.
 Search events that match the rule criteria.
For more information, see Section 5.9, “Viewing Correlated Events,” on page 78.
5.8
Deploying Rules in the Correlation Engine
You can deploy the Correlation rules either from the rule dashboard or from the Correlation Engine
dashboard.
To deploy rules from the Correlation Engine dashboard:
1 Launch the Correlation interface.
For more information, see Section 5.2, “Accessing the Correlation User Interface,” on page 59.
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2 In the Correlation panel, select the rule that you want to deploy and click the Open Overview
icon.
3 In the Deploy/Undeploy section, select the engine to which you want to deploy the rule, then click
Deploy.
To deploy rules from the Correlation Rule dashboard:
1 Launch the Correlation interface.
For more information, see Section 5.2, “Accessing the Correlation User Interface,” on page 59.
2 In the Correlation panel, click the engine to which you want to deploy rules.
The Correlation Engine dashboard is displayed.
3 In the Available rules section, select the rule or rules that you want to deploy, then click Deploy.
5.9
Viewing Correlated Events
Correlated events contain detailed information about the trigger events. To view correlated events,
perform the following:
1 Launch the Correlation interface.
For more information, see Section 5.2, “Accessing the Correlation User Interface,” on page 59.
2 In the Correlation panel, select any rule, then click
.
The events that match the rule criteria are displayed in the search results panel. The correlated
events are displayed with the
icon.
3 (Optional) Click
to see the correlated event fields and their values. For more information, see
Table 5-3 on page 66.
You can use the event field IDs to create search queries to find specific correlated events. For
example, if you want to search for the correlated events that were generated because of the
correlation rule LoginUser, specify the following query in the Search field:
st:C AND rt2:LoginUser
For more information about searching for events, see Section 3.1, “Running an Event Search,”
on page 31.
4 (Optional) Click View triggers to view the events that generated the correlated event.
5.10
Customizing Correlated Event
Correlated events include specific event fields with some default values. For more information, see
Table 5-3 on page 66 in Section 5.4.1, “Understanding the Correlated Event,” on page 66.
You can customize the default correlated event field values. For example, when a specific event
pattern is detected and you want the rule to create correlated events with a high severity value, you
can customize the Severity field of the correlated event. Similarly, if you want to allow a specific
tenant to view correlated events specific to their tenant, you can set the TenantName field to the
tenant associated with the rule.
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You can customize the correlated event when performing either of the following:
 Creating the correlation rule:
 You can use the Customize correlated event option that allows you to customize almost
all the correlated event fields except for the Sentinel internal fields.
 Any customization in the correlated event field values is applicable only to the specific
correlation rule.
 Configuring the Generate Custom Correlation Event action:
 When specifying the attribute values you can either reference to a correlated event field
value or the last event that triggered the correlated event. However, you can customize only
certain event fields.
 You can associate the customizations made in the action to multiple correlation rules.
For more information, see “Managing Actions” in the NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.
To customize correlated event field values:
1 In the Correlation panel, select the correlation rule, then click the Edit icon.
2 In the correlation rule builder, click Customize correlated event.
3 Drag the event fields you want to edit from the Available event fields section to the Selected
event fields section.
4 Click the Edit icon to specify the value for the event field.
By default, the value is same as the event field value of the last event that triggered the
correlated event. You can also reference other event field values in the Value field by enclosing
the event field in $.
For example, for a login failure event, in the Message field you may want to refer to the
InitiatorUserName, you can specify the Value as Login failure by $sun$.
5 Click OK.
6 After customizing the correlated event fields, click Set to save the correlated event.
7 Click Save Rule.
The customized correlated event values are applied only for correlated events generated after
the customization.
5.11
Managing Correlation Rules
 Section 5.11.1, “Viewing the Rule Dashboard,” on page 79
 Section 5.11.2, “Editing a Rule,” on page 80
 Section 5.11.3, “Deleting a Rule,” on page 81
5.11.1
Viewing the Rule Dashboard
The Rule dashboard displays overall information of the rule. The Rule dashboard helps you to deploy
or undeploy a rule on a Correlation Engine, and also helps you manage the rule status. After a rule is
deployed, you can monitor the health of the rule, activities such as the events processed, and the
memory usage by the rule.
To view the Rule dashboard, select the desired rule in the Correlation panel.
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After a rule is deployed, the dashboard displays the following information:
 Rule health statistics: Indicates the overall performance of the rule and enables you to monitor
the activities of the rule.
 Activity statistics: Indicates the activities of the rule since it was deployed in the
Correlation Engine:
 Fire count: The number of times the rule fired. You can use this information to
discover a rule that fires more than expected and that might need to be tuned, or to
discover a rule that does not fire as often as you would expect. In either case, this tab
guides you to the rules that are the most and least active. The search icon allows you
to view the events generated since the rule was deployed or enabled.
 Fire rate: The number of times the rule has been fired relative to the events processed
by the rule. This statistic is similar to fire count in that it gives an indication of how
active a rule is. However, instead of giving a raw count, the fire rate gives a percentage
that is relative to the number of events a rule has processed.
 EPS utilization: The processing time this rule consumes relative to the capacity of the
engine. This statistic provides an estimate of the amount of engine capacity a given
rule is currently consuming. Rules that are more complex, have time-consuming
actions, or fire frequently consume more capacity. You can use this statistic to
determine whether the rule needs to be tuned or perhaps moved to another Correlation
Engine for scalability reasons.
 Events processed: The number of events processed by the rule since the rule was
deployed.
 Total processing time: Total time spent by the Correlation Engine processing the rule
since it was deployed or enabled.
 Memory statistics: Indicates the memory consumed by the rule:
 Estimated memory utilization: Gives a snapshot of roughly how much memory a rule
is consuming. Rules consume memory when they have discriminators specified for
fields with multiple values (through the Group by list), and when rules hold events in
memory for operations like the advanced “window” operation. Rules that consume a lot
of memory are a potential liability to a healthy system and should be carefully reviewed
to ensure they are properly written or possibly moved to another Correlation Engine for
scalability reasons.
 Events in memory: Number of events held in memory by the rule.
 Cardinality: Number of strings and related structures held in memory by the rule.
 Deploy/Undeploy: Lists the available Correlation Engines.You can select an engine, then click
Deploy or Undeploy to add or remove the rule in the Correlation Engine.
 Associated actions: Lists the actions associated with the rule.
 Status: Indicates the current status of the rule. You can also use this option to enable or disable
the rule.
5.11.2
Editing a Rule
1 Launch the Correlation interface.
For more information, see Section 5.2, “Accessing the Correlation User Interface,” on page 59.
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2 Do either of the following:
 In the Correlation panel, select the rule for which you want to modify the details, then click
.
 In the Rule dashboard window, select the rule for which you want to modify the details, then
click Edit rule.
The rule details are displayed in the Correlation Rule Builder.
3 Make the necessary changes, then click Save Rule.
NOTE: If you modify a deployed rule, you must redeploy the rule in the Correlation Engine for the
changes to take effect. For information on deploying a rule, see Section 5.8, “Deploying Rules in the
Correlation Engine,” on page 77.
5.11.3
Deleting a Rule
You can delete rules that are not deployed in the Correlation Engine. To delete a deployed rule, you
must first undeploy the rule from the Correlation Engine.
1 Launch the Correlation interface.
For more information, see Section 5.2, “Accessing the Correlation User Interface,” on page 59.
2 Select the rule that you want to delete, then click
.
3 Click OK to confirm deletion.
5.12
Managing the Correlation Engine
 Section 5.12.1, “Using the Correlation Engine Dashboard,” on page 81
 Section 5.12.2, “Stopping or Starting a Correlation Engine,” on page 83
 Section 5.12.3, “Renaming a Correlation Engine,” on page 84
5.12.1
Using the Correlation Engine Dashboard
The Correlation Engine dashboard provides an overall picture of the health of the engine and the
various rules deployed to it. The dashboard provides information on the activity of an engine and
provides insights about which rules are behaving as expected and which rules might need additional
tuning.
To view the Correlation Engine dashboard, select the desired Correlation Engine in the Correlation
panel.
The dashboard displays a simple view of all the rules deployed to that engine and a list of rules
available to deploy. You can also see some general information about the engine, such as its current
state (running, stopped, or offline) and how long the engine has been in that state. There is also a
summary that shows how many events the engine has processed, and an indication of current
utilization of the engine (EPS utilization). In general, you can think of this number as something
analogous to CPU utilization, but this metric indicates how much of the capacity of the engine is
currently utilized. As the number of rules and the complexity of rules increases along with the current
EPS (events per second) rate of the system, you can expect this number to grow larger.
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The Deployed rules comparison tab provides a more granular view of engine activity. The various
tabs represent various statistics, and you can select a given tab to sort the rules (ascending or
descending) by these statistics to get a clear picture of how various rules are behaving and
consuming resources.
The Correlation Engine dashboard also allows you to manage the engine and the rules in your
system:
 “Managing the Correlation Engine” on page 82
 “Managing Deployed Rules” on page 82
 “Comparing Deployed Rules” on page 82
 “Viewing Engine Details” on page 83
 “Viewing Available Rules” on page 83
Managing the Correlation Engine
The following options are available to manage the Correlation Engine:
 Stop: Stops an active Correlation Engine. When the engine stopped, it does not monitor the
events against the deployed rules.
 Undeploy all: Undeploys all the deployed rules from the engine.
 Rename: Allows you to rename the engine.
Managing Deployed Rules
This section lists the number of rules and the rules deployed in the engine.
The following options are displayed when you mouse over a rule:
 View: Opens the Rule dashboard to provides overall information on the rule. For more
information, see Section 5.11.1, “Viewing the Rule Dashboard,” on page 79.
 Disable: Allows you to disable the rule. When a rule is disabled, it does not process the events.
 Undeploy: Undeploys the rule from the Correlation Engine.
Comparing Deployed Rules
This section helps you compare the rules based on parameters such as fire count, EPS capacity, and
memory utilization. You can sort the rules as desired by using the up-arrow and down-arrow icons.
 Fire count: The number of times the rule has fired since it was deployed or enabled. You can
use this information to discover a rule that fires more than expected and that might need to be
tuned, or to discover a rule that does not fire as often as you would expect. In either case, this
tab guides you to the rules that are the most and least active.
 Last fired: The last time the rule fired since it was deployed. This statistic is useful for
determining the rules that are currently active and inactive in the system. A rule might have fired
frequently, but it has not fired recently. Or, a rule might fire infrequently, but it fired recently. This
tab gives you a real-time picture of what is active in the engine at any given time.
 Fire rate: The number of times the rules have fired relative to the events processed by the
engine. This statistic is similar to fire count in that it gives an indication of how active a rule is.
However, instead of giving a raw count, the fire rate gives a percentage that is relative to the
number of events a rule has processed. This normalizes the metric, and rules that were recently
deployed can be compared with rules that were deployed at an earlier time.
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 EPS utilization: The events processing time the rule consumes relative to the capacity of the
engine. This statistic provides an estimate of the amount of engine capacity a given correlation
rule is currently consuming. Rules that are more complex, have time-consuming actions, or fire
frequently consume more capacity. You can use this statistic to identify rules that need to be
tuned or perhaps moved to another correlation engine for scalability reasons.
 Memory utilization: The estimated memory utilization of the rule. In addition to EPS utilization,
which provides a good picture of how much time a rule consumes relative to the total available
processing time of the engine, the memory utilization gives a snapshot of roughly how much
memory a rule is consuming. Rules consume memory when they have discriminators specified
for fields with multiple values (through the Group by list), and when rules hold events in memory
for operations like the advanced “window” operation. Rules that consume a lot of memory are a
potential liability to a healthy system and should be carefully reviewed to ensure they are
properly written or possibly moved to another engine for scalability reasons.
Viewing Engine Details
This section lists the Correlation Engine details and so you can monitor the performance of the
Correlation Engine.
 Engine ID: The Correlation Engine ID.
 Engine Name: The name of the Correlation Engine.
 Host IP: The IP address of the host machine where the Correlation Engine is installed.
 Hostname: The hostname of the machine where the Correlation Engine is installed
 State: Whether the status of the Correlation Engine is running or stopped.
 Events Processed: The number of events processed by the deployed rules since they were
deployed.
 Last changed state: The time the Correlation Engine status was last changed.
 EPS utilization: The processing time the Correlation Engine consumes relative to the capacity
of the engine.
Viewing Available Rules
This section lists the available rules in the system that are not deployed in the Correlation Engine. It
also allows you to select rules and deploy them in the Correlation Engine.
5.12.2
Stopping or Starting a Correlation Engine
The Correlation Engine is in the Start mode by default and keeps processing events for the rules
deployed in the engine. You can determine when the Correlation Engine should process the events
and start or stop the Correlation Engine accordingly.
1 Launch the Correlation interface.
For more information, see Section 5.2, “Accessing the Correlation User Interface,” on page 59.
2 In the Correlation > Engines section, select the Correlation Engine that you want to stop.
The Correlation Engine dashboard is displayed.
3 (Conditional) To stop the engine, click Stop.
The engine is stopped and does not process any events.
4 (Conditional) To start the engine, click Start.
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5.12.3
Renaming a Correlation Engine
1 Launch the Correlation interface.
For more information, see Section 5.2, “Accessing the Correlation User Interface,” on page 59.
2 In the Correlation > Engines section, select the Correlation Engine that you want to rename.
The Correlation Engine dashboard is displayed.
3 Click Rename, which is above the Rules Deployed section.
4 Modify the name of the engine, then click anywhere outside the field.
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6
Visualizing and Analyzing Alerts
6
Alerts notify you of what is most important for you to look at. Alerts can relate to threats to IT
resources or performance thresholds such as system memory full or IT resources not responding.
Correlation rules define the patterns that you are alerted to. Sentinel automatically associates the
relevant events and identities with the alert to help you determine the root cause of a potential threat.
Sentinel provides a graphical and tabular representation of alerts. Visualizing alerts helps you identify
and analyze potential threats against your IT resources. You can view and analyze alerts in the
following panels in the Sentinel Web console:
 Alert Views: The real-time alert views show you the alerts that are most important to look at and
enable you to view and manage alert details. Charts provide a summary of alerts and the table
provides a prioritized list of all the alerts. Alert view also enables you to perform alert triage
operations such as changing states of an alert, assigning alerts to users or roles, adding
information to the knowledge base, and so on. You can further drill-down into each alert to view
the alert details such as trigger events, user identities involved, alert history, and so on. For more
information about alert view, see Section 6.1, “Viewing and Triaging Alerts in Alert Views,” on
page 85.
 Dashboards: Alert dashboards enable you to perform powerful exploration and analysis of
alerts. For example, you can find out the average time taken by owners to close alerts, the
correlation rule generating the maximum number of alerts, geographical locations from where
the alerts with high severity are detected, and so on. The alert dashboard enables you to create
customized charts and tables for analysis. You can filter and refine the data further as you select
certain areas in the charts and use the query and filter options. For more information about alert
dashboard, see Section 6.2, “Analyzing Alert Dashboards,” on page 89.
This chapter provides information about the following:
 Section 6.1, “Viewing and Triaging Alerts in Alert Views,” on page 85
 Section 6.2, “Analyzing Alert Dashboards,” on page 89
 Section 6.3, “Troubleshooting,” on page 92
6.1
Viewing and Triaging Alerts in Alert Views
To view and analyze alerts, you must first create the alert view. To configure the alert view, you must
either be an administrator or have the Manage Alerts permission. For more information, see
“Visualizing Network Traffic” in NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.“
 Section 6.1.1, “Creating an Alert View,” on page 85
 Section 6.1.2, “Viewing Alerts,” on page 86
 Section 6.1.3, “Escalating Alerts to an Incident,” on page 88
6.1.1
Creating an Alert View
To view and analyze alerts, you must first configure the alert view.
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To create an alert view:
1 Log in to the Sentinel Web console.
2 Click Real-time Views > Alert Views > the Create icon.
3 Specify the following information:
 Name: Specify a name for the alert view.
 Sharing: Select either of the following options:
 Public: Allow everyone to view the alert view. In the public mode, you are the owner of
the alert view and other users cannot edit it.
 Private: Only you will be able to view the alert view.
 Data sources: Add other data sources from which you want to view alerts. For information
about data sources, see “Configuring Data Federation” in the NetIQ Sentinel Administration
Guide.
 Criteria: Specify the criteria to filter the alerts.
 Tenant: If you are in a multi-tenant environment, select the department or the tenant name
for which you want to view alerts.
NOTE: This option is displayed only if you are an administrator in a multi-tenant
environment. For information about multitenancy, see “Configuring Sentinel for
Multitenancy” in the NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.
 Time range: Specify the time range for which you want to view alerts.
 Use alert period: Select Created or Modified to view the alerts that were created or
modified in the specified time range.
4 Click Save to save the alert view.
6.1.2
Viewing Alerts
Sentinel provides a graphical and tabular representation of alerts that match the specified alert
criteria. The charts represent the alerts overview information classified by Priority, State, and Severity.
The alert view table displays only distinct alerts. Duplicate alerts are rolled up to a single distinct alert.
For more information about rolling up of duplicate alerts, see “Configuring Alert Notifications” in the
NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide. The alert view table provides information about an alert such
as, severity, priority, owner, state, occurrences, and so on. Alerts from Sentinel servers in distributed
location are distinguished by the Remote icon ( ) next to the name of the alert. You can view the IP
address of the remote Sentinel server by moving the mouse over the name of the alert.
NOTE: The alerts displayed in the alert view are filtered depending on the manage alert permissions
and the tenancy of the user role. For more information about permission to manage alerts, see
“Configuring Roles and Users” in the NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.
To create customized charts and tables for further analysis of the alert data, see Section 6.2,
“Analyzing Alert Dashboards,” on page 89.
To view alert views:
1 In the Sentinel Web interface, click Real-time Views > Alert Views.
2 Select the desired alert view and click the Open alerts view icon.
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As you visualize and monitor alerts, you can perform the following activities in the alert view:
 Mouse over the charts to determine the number of alerts based on alert states, priority, and
severity.
 Sort alerts based on one or more columns in the table. Press Shift+click to select multiple
columns to sort. By default, the alert view table displays alerts based on the time when the alerts
were triggered. Therefore, the latest alerts are listed on the top in the table.
 Assign alerts to a user or a role, including yourself or your role.
 Modify the alert state to indicate the progress on the alert investigation.
 Add comments to the alert to indicate the changes you made to the alert, which helps you to
keep an up-to-date record of the alert investigation. For example, you can add comments when
you change the state of a specific alert or when you have gathered more information about the
alert. Providing specific comments allows you to accumulate knowledge about a particular
instance of the alert and track how a particular condition was addressed. Comments are
important in tracking the alert, particularly if the process of resolving the alert spans several
users or roles.
 View events that triggered the alert and drill-down further to the extent of viewing the user
identities that triggered the event by clicking the View details icon in the alert view table.
The Alert Details page displays a detailed information about an alert including the following:
 Source: Displays the correlation rule that generated the alert. You can also annotate the
correlation rule by adding information to the knowledge base so that future alerts generated
by this correlation rule include the associated historical information.
 Knowledge Base: Knowledge base is a repository that contains information about the
conditions that resulted in the alert. It can also include information about resolution of a
particular alert, which can help others resolve similar alerts in the future. Over time, you can
collect a valuable knowledge base about the alert specific to a tenant or an enterprise.
For example, an employee has recently joined the organization and does have the access
permissions to a secured server. But this employee might not have been added yet to the
authorized users list. Therefore, an alert is generated every time the employee tries to
access the server. In such a case, you can add a note in the alert knowledge base to
indicate that the “employee is approved to access the server, but is not yet listed in the
authorized users list. This alert can be ignored and set to low priority.”
NOTE: To view or edit the knowledge base, you must be an administrator or have the View
Knowledge Base or Edit Knowledge Base permissions.
 Alert Fields: Displays the alert fields that provide the following information:
 who and what caused the alert
 the assets affected
 the taxonomic categories of the action that caused the alert, the outcome, and so on.
For more information on taxonomy, see Sentinel Taxonomy.
For more information about alert fields, click Tips on the top-right corner of the Sentinel
Web interface.
 Trigger Events: Displays the events that triggered the alert. You can investigate the
conditions that triggered the alert by examining the trigger events. By default, the Alert
Details page displays 10000 trigger events per alert. You can also define this number as
necessary. For more information, see “Configuring the Number of Trigger Events to be
Displayed in the Alert View” in the NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.
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You can also perform necessary actions on these events similar to how you would do with
the events in a Search page. To view the alert trigger events in the Search page, click the
Search icon. Sentinel displays the events that triggered the alert in a new Search page.
NOTE: Although the alert may include trigger events older than the configured data
retention period, the search will only return events that are within the data retention period.
For information about manually performing actions on events, see Chapter 11, “Manually
Performing Actions on Events,” on page 117. You can also perform other event operations
such as adding these events to an incident, exporting these events to a CSV file, and
viewing the vulnerabilities associated with these events. For information about performing
event operations, see Section 3.5, “Performing Event Operations,” on page 42 in Chapter 3,
“Searching Events,” on page 31.
 Show history: Displays the changes made to the alert, which helps you track any actions
taken on the alert.
 Identities: Displays the list of users involved in the alert. This information helps you to
investigate about the users involved in the alert and monitor their activities.
6.1.3
Escalating Alerts to an Incident
After performing adequate investigation on an alert, you may determine there is some serious
problem and the alert needs further investigation by the security analyst. You can escalate such alerts
by creating an incident without losing all the work you already did as part of the alert investigation.
You must have any of the following permissions to escalate alerts to an incident:
 Create incidents, add events and escalate alerts to incidents
 Create, modify and execute actions on assigned incidents
 Manage all aspects of incidents: create, modify and delete
In multi-tenancy environments, only users in the default tenant can escalate alerts to incidents.
You can escalate alerts either to an existing incident or create a new incident. When you select the
option to escalate alerts to an existing incident, Sentinel lists the existing incidents.
By default, Sentinel displays 500 incidents in the list. To configure the number of incidents you want to
view by default, see “Configuring the Number of Incidents to be Listed in the Incidents List” in the
NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.
Sentinel sorts the list of incidents based on the relevance of the incident to the selected alerts. The
relevance score of the incident helps you to easily identify the appropriate incident rather than having
to scroll through the entire list of incidents. The relevance score ranges from 0 to 100. The higher the
score the higher the relevancy of the incident to the selected alerts. Incidents with the following
properties have a higher relevance score:
 Incident name matches with any of the selected alerts’ names.
 Incident already contains alerts whose names match with the names of any of the selected
alerts.
 Incident name matches with any of the selected alerts’ names and the incident also contains
alerts whose names match with the names of any of the selected alerts.
Sentinel considers only the first 50 selected alerts to calculate the relevance score.
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When you escalate alerts to an incident, Sentinel attaches the events that triggered the alert, asset
details, and alert comments to the incident. By default, Sentinel attaches 25 trigger events per alert to
the incident. To configure the number of trigger events to be attached to the incident, see “Configuring
the Number of Alert Trigger Events to be Attached with the Incident” in the NetIQ Sentinel
Administration Guide.
After you escalate an alert, Sentinel changes the alert state to Closed. If you want to escalate the
same alerts to a different incident, you can re-open the alerts and escalate them to a different
incident. However, you cannot re-escalate the same alerts to the same incident again. If there are
additional trigger events to the same alerts that were already escalated and you want to add those
events to the same incident, you can open the alert trigger events in the search pane and then add
the additional trigger events to the already created incident. For more information, see Section 3.5.3,
“Adding Events to an Incident,” on page 43.
To escalate alerts to an incident:
1 In the Sentinel Web interface, click Real-time Views > Alert Views.
2 Select the desired alert view and click the Open the alert view icon.
3 In the Alerts View panel, select the desired alerts and click Escalate.
or
Select the alert you want to escalate, click the View Details icon and then click Escalate.
You can escalate only alerts that are not in the Closed state.
4 Specify the reason for escalation.
5 (Conditional) To verify whether there’s an existing incident for the selected alerts, click Select an
existing incident, select the relevant incident, and click Escalate.
6 (Conditional) If there is no matching incident for the selected alerts or you want to create a new
incident, click create a new incident.
Sentinel populates the default values for the incident based on the selected alert. If you selected
more than one alert, Sentinel populates the incident values based on the first alert you selected.
Specify the required information, and click Escalate. For more information about the incident
parameters, see Section 16.2, “Creating Incidents,” on page 135.
NOTE: If you try to escalate the same alerts to the same incident again, an error is displayed and
the Escalate button is disabled. Click Cancel to cancel the escalation and escalate the alerts to
a different incident.
For more information about viewing and managing incidents in the Sentinel Control Center, see
Section 16.3, “Managing Incidents,” on page 136.
6.2
Analyzing Alert Dashboards
The alert dashboard provides a high-level overview of the alerts in your organization. It enables you
to analyze and study common patterns in alerts, such as types of alerts, geographical locations from
where the alerts originated, oldest open alerts, and alerts that took longest time to close.
For example, you are a Security Operations Center manager in a multi-tenant environment, and you
want to analyze and investigate alerts in detail and also understand how your team is handling the
alerts. You can perform the following analysis in the alert dashboard:
 Investigate Alerts: You can view the alerts generated over time, number of open alerts versus
closed alerts, top correlation rules generating the most number of alerts, oldest open alerts, any
spikes in alerts at a specific time range, and so on.
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 Monitor team performance:
 The type of alerts the team has been working on
 How the alert load is distributed among top owners
 Time taken to close alerts of specific priorities
 Find the team member owning the most number of alerts
 Team members that took longest to investigate alerts
 Monitor performance against tenant service-level agreement (SLA): You can view alerts
from various tenants, analyze the most number of alerts from a specific tenant, time taken to
investigate or close alerts for a specific tenant compared to other tenants, and so on.
The Alert dashboard provides a customizable and an easy-to-configure interface that helps you to
view and investigate alerts in detail.
To create or view alerts in the dashboard, you must either be an administrator or have the permission
to manage alerts. Depending on the alert permissions and the tenant you belong to, Sentinel displays
the relevant alerts in the dashboard.
6.2.1
Creating the Alert Dashboard
To create the alert dashboard:
1 In the Sentinel Web console, click Dashboards > Alert > click the Create alert dashboard icon.
The Alert dashboard view opens in a new window. For information about analyzing alerts, see
Section 6.2.2, “Analyzing Alerts,” on page 90.
2 (Optional) Customize the default dashboard to suit your requirements. For more information
about customizing the alert dashboard, see Section 6.2.3, “Customizing the Alert Dashboard,”
on page 91.
3 Click the Save icon to save the customized dashboard.
6.2.2
Analyzing Alerts
The Alert dashboard provides some pre-configured panels that provide information about alerts such
as the following:
 Overview: Displays a time series chart that shows alerts generated in Sentinel over time. You
can inspect the time series charts for any spikes, which can indicate increase in attacks in your
organization. You can drag and select the time period when the spike occurred to zoom into the
alerts. As you select the specific time range, Sentinel filters the dashboard for alerts in the
selected time range. Also, you can find out the geographical locations from where the alerts
originated.
To view geographical locations from where the alerts originated, ensure that the
IpToCountry.csv file is populated by using the Generic IP Geolocation Collector. For more
information, see the Generic IP Geolocation Collector on the Sentinel Plug-ins Website (https://
www.netiq.com/support/sentinel/plugins/).
 Alert Load: Provides information about the alerts at a granular level such as the following:
 Topmost alerts in your enterprise
 Alert distribution among top alert owners
 Total number of alerts in individual alert states
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 Number of alerts received from each tenant
 Total number of alerts based on priority
 Performance rows: Provides statistical information about how efficiently alerts are investigated
and closed based on priority, correlation rule, alert owners, and tenants.
 Details: Provides detailed alerts information such as the oldest open alerts, number of times the
duplicate alerts were rolled up, and all alert fields.
The alert dashboard displays all alerts in your local Sentinel server. To view alerts from other Sentinel
servers, you need to view the alerts in the Alert Views. For more information, see Section 6.1,
“Viewing and Triaging Alerts in Alert Views,” on page 85. The alert dashboard displays only distinct
alerts. Duplicate alerts are rolled up to a single distinct alert. For more information about the rolling up
of duplicate alerts, see “Configuring Alert Creation” in the NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.
To view the alert dashboard:
1 In the Sentinel Web Console, click Dashboards > Alert.
2 Select the desired alert dashboard and click the Open alert dashboard icon.
3 As you visualize and monitor alerts, you can perform the following activities in the alert
dashboard:
 Mouse over specific areas in the charts to view more information.
 Select desired areas in the chart to filter the alert data. As you select a specific area in the
chart, Sentinel filters the alerts in rest of the charts and tables in the dashboard. Click
Filtering to remove the applied filters and go back to the unfiltered view.
4 (Optional) You can customize the default view and save the dashboard. For information about
customizing the dashboard, see “Customizing the Alert Dashboard” on page 91.
5 (Conditional) To perform various operations on alerts such as closing an alert, assigning alerts to
a user, and so on, see Section 6.1.2, “Viewing Alerts,” on page 86.
6.2.3
Customizing the Alert Dashboard
Sentinel leverages Kibana, a browser-based analytics and search dashboard, that helps you to
visualize and analyze data. The dashboard is divided into rows and panels. You can create rows and
add panels as required to display various charts.You can drag and drop the rows or panels to arrange
them on the dashboard. You can also configure the size, style, and type of panels for a row. For more
information, see rows and panels in Kibana documentation. As you visualize and monitor alerts, you
can customize the alert dashboard as follows:
 Apply multiple filters to refine the alert data using the Query and Filter options. For more
information about queries and filters, see queries and filters in Kibana documentation.
 Customize the rows and panels according to your requirements, for example, drag and drop the
panels to arrange them on the dashboard. Click Configure Dashboard > Rows tab to arrange,
create, or remove rows in the dashboard. For example, if you have to view the tenant specific
information frequently, move the tenant performance row to the top or if you do not want to view
the detailed tables, you can remove the Details row.
 Click the configure option in the panels to customize the size and style of panels.
 Add markers in the time series panel to display additional information such as owners, severity,
and so on.
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6.3
Troubleshooting
This section lists issues, which may occur when viewing alerts, along with the solution to resolve the
issues.
6.3.1
Unable to View Alerts in the Dashboard and Alert Views
The alert dashboard and the charts in the alert view do not refresh or display new alerts. However, the
table in the alert view displays the newly generated alerts. This issue could happen because of a
corrupt alert index. For more information, see “Unable to View Alerts in the Dashboard and Alert
Views” in the NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.
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Analyzing Trends in Data
7
The following sections describe how the Sentinel Security Intelligence feature analyzes trends in data
and how to use the Security Intelligence feature.
 Section 7.1, “Overview,” on page 93
 Section 7.2, “Creating a Dashboard,” on page 96
 Section 7.3, “Understanding the Dashboard Interface,” on page 97
 Section 7.4, “Creating Baselines,” on page 98
 Section 7.5, “Configuring Anomaly Detection,” on page 99
 Section 7.6, “Viewing Anomaly Events,” on page 101
 Section 7.7, “Managing Dashboards,” on page 103
 Section 7.8, “Troubleshooting,” on page 104
7.1
Overview
The Correlation capability in Sentinel provides security analysis with the ability to look for “known
knowns” occurring within the enterprise in real time. Sentinel provides another way to analyze data by
looking for the “known unknowns” in the events generated within the enterprise.
This second type of analysis is called Security Intelligence in Sentinel. It allows you to perform
anomaly-based analysis so you can find deviations from the normal trends of your enterprise.
A key aspect in looking for deviations depends upon the nature of input data. Input data is typically a
collection of various instances, records, or points. Each data instance itself consists of attributes that
define the type of input. Examples of different types of input data within the SIEM domain are:
 Spatial (location of various entities)
 Graphical (relation between the various entities)
 Sequences (time series)
The Security Intelligence feature in Sentinel focuses on statistical analysis of time series data to
enable analysts to identify and analyze anomalies either by an automated statistical engine or by
visual representation of the statistical data for manual interpretation. The following concepts
collectively define the Security Intelligence feature in Sentinel:
 Section 7.1.1, “Terminology,” on page 93
 Section 7.1.2, “How Security Intelligence Works,” on page 95
 Section 7.1.3, “Permissions for Security Intelligence,” on page 96
7.1.1
Terminology
The following terminology is used with Security Intelligence:
Security Intelligence: The feature that allows you to create dashboards with baselines that define
what is normal in your network. An analysis of the real-time data lets you see if there are any
anomalies, and an e-mail is sent to notify someone that anomalies are occurring.
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Dashboard: Displays data matching a particular filter, categorizes data using a particular classifier,
and looks for particular anomalies as specified in the dashboard’s set of anomaly rule definitions. This
is not just a front-end Web interface, but also a back-end engine because it is always looking for
anomalies, even if the Web interface is not open.
Classifier: Determines the categories displayed in the dashboard.
Filter: Determines the scope of events displayed in the dashboard.
MongoDB: A database that stores the Security Intelligence data.
Category: A class or division of events with shared characteristics as defined by the classifier.
Anomaly: Something that deviates from what is standard, normal, or expected when compared to
the user’s selected baseline.
Anomaly Definition: A set of principles, configurable by a user, that describes the threshold and
circumstances as defined in the anomaly rules.
Chart: The graph in the dashboard that depicts the statistical data and baseline.
Time Slider: The Web interface component that allows a user to quickly visualize and navigate the
time range of data.
Breakdown: The Web interface component that displays the top ten values of a select number of
event fields to show a user details on the most prevalent event values in the data they are viewing.
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7.1.2
How Security Intelligence Works
The following diagram depicts how the Security Intelligence feature works.
Figure 7-1 How Security Intelligence Works
Message Bus
4
1
Sentinel
Web
Interface
Baseline
Filter
Anomaly
Classifier
5
7
Dashboard
8
Anomaly
Detection
E-mail
Recipient
2
Anomaly
Detection
Engine
Segment of
Data
3
6
Security
Intelligence
Database
Days
1. A user creates a dashboard in the Sentinel Web interface.
2. The dashboard consists of a filter and classifier that create a segment of data from the
normalized events in the message bus.
3. The segment of data is stored in the MongoDB database for up to 28 days.
4. The user then defines a baseline of normal activity for the environment.
5. The user creates anomaly definitions to look for real-time events that are occurring outside of the
defined baseline.
6. The anomaly engine analyzes the events in the MongoDB database.
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7. This information is displayed in the dashboard.
8. If an anomaly is detected, an anomaly event is generated (e-mail can be sent with the
information about the anomaly).
7.1.3
Permissions for Security Intelligence
The Security Intelligence option is displayed in the Web interface if the user has one of the following
permissions:
 Manage and View Security Intelligence Dashboards
 View Security Intelligence Dashboards
A user is assigned these permissions while creating a role. For more information, see “Creating
Roles”in the NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.
Using the Security Intelligence option, you can view, create, and manage dashboards.
7.2
Creating a Dashboard
1 Log in to the Sentinel Web interface as a user with the Manage and View Security Intelligence
Dashboards permission.
2 On the left side of the page, click Security Intelligence > Dashboards > Create.
The Create Dashboard page opens in a new tab.
3 Use the following information to create the dashboard:
Name: Specify a unique name for the dashboard.
Classifier: Select the classifier that determines the categories displayed in the dashboard. The
options are:
 Taxonomy Outcome
 Device Activity
 Tag Activity
 Http
 Exploit
Filter: Specify a filter to determine the scope of events displayed in the dashboard, or select a
predefined filter. By default it displays the (sev:[0 TO 5]) filter.
To search for an event field, specify the short name of the field, a colon, and the value. For
example, notnull: xdastaxname displays all events. For more information, see Chapter 4,
“Configuring Filters,” on page 47.
Data retention period: Select how long the data for the dashboards should be retained.
By default the Security Intelligence MongoDB database retains the data for 4 weeks.
Load historical data: Select this option to view historical data, which provides more context
when analyzing the data.
4 Click Create dashboard.
The newly created empty dashboard is displayed because it has not had time to collect any data.
After few minutes, you can see the event data in the dashboard.
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7.2.1
Creating a Dashboard by Using a Filter
You can use a filter search query as a dashboard filter and create a dashboard. For more information
on creating a dashboard by using a filter, see Section 3.4.6, “Creating a Dashboard,” on page 42.
7.3
Understanding the Dashboard Interface
The dashboard displays the analysis of the data.
Chart: The graph displays the events, the anomalies, and the baseline.
Compared to: Displays the types of baselines for comparison with the flowing data. Baseline is the
referenced line that is displayed in blue color, whereas the actual events that are flowing in to the
system is displayed in brown. You can compare the flowing data to the following:
 Moving Average: Data that is flowing in to the system is compared to the average of the data.
 Previous Day: If you have one day data stored in Security Intelligence database (MongoDB),
then you can compare the flowing data with the previous day data.
 Previous Week: If you have one week of data stored in Security Intelligence database
(MongoDB), then you can compare the flowing data with the previous week data.
 Create Baseline: Allows you to create a custom baseline You must have at least a week’s worth
of data before you can create a baseline. For more information on creating a custom baseline,
see Section 7.4, “Creating Baselines,” on page 98.
Time range: Displays the time range between which we can see the data. When you create a
dashboard, the Time range shows Hour. It then displays Day and Week as you have one day or one
week data stored in Security Intelligence database (MongoDB). The Hour option does not appear, if
the Security Intelligence database (MongoDB) have 28 days of data.
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Show Events: Displays the list of events for the selected time range in the Sentinel Web interface.
The total events in the Sentinel Web interface matches with the total events in the dashboard.
However, the total events count in the Sentinel Web interface does not match with the total events in
the dashboard in the following cases:
 If the leftmost and rightmost time point on the dashboard are included. To match the events in
the dashboard and Sentinel Web interface, select the time point between the leftmost and
rightmost time point on the dashboard.
 By default, Sentinel includes internal audit events in the dashboard search results. To exclude
the internal events, create a dashboard by using the filter (sev:[0 TO 5]) -st:A -st:I st:Y. For more information, see Section 7.2.1, “Creating a Dashboard by Using a Filter,” on
page 97.
Time Slider: The time slider allows you to change the amount of information displayed in the
dashboard. It allows you to zoom in or zoom out for a specific time period. As you move the time
slider, the graph changes accordingly.
Time Slider Data Summaries: Below the graph, a summary of the time slider data is displayed. The
data that is
Anomalies: Displays the anomalies that have occurred during the lifetime of the dashboard. To view
the details of the anomaly, you can click on anomaly name. This displays the anomaly detail page.
Categories: The Categories panel on the right of the dashboard displays the categories of the
current time range at the current level of the dashboard. It provides the ability to drill down and find
more information about the categories of events. This section displays lines identifying changes from
the baseline indicators of the categories. You can sort the category list by percent change, reference
count or current count.
Clicking a specific category in the list on the right displays the data for just that category. It changes
the main graph to show the events in that category list. The totals in the main section changes to
reflect the current category. It also displays the following sections in the bottom of the main panel.
 Category anomalies: Displays anomalies happened in the current time window for the selected
category.
 Category breakdown: Displays the attributes of the selected category. Only top 10 values of
the selected category are displayed in the UI. You can click any value under the Top 10 Values
list to view the list of events in the Sentinel Web interface.
The Categories list on the right changes to Subcategories and displays attributes of the
selected category. You can sort them as per your requirement.
7.4
Creating Baselines
You can create a baseline to use for anomaly detection. You must have at least a week’s worth of
data before you can create a baseline.
1 Click the desired dashboard under the dashboard heading.
2 Click the option displayed in the Compare to field.
or
Click Show dashboard details.
3 Click Create baseline.
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4 Read the confirmation message, then click Create.
5 After the baseline is created if you want to update the baseline with more amount of data then
you can click Regenerate baseline.
After the baseline is created, you can use it to create an anomaly definition as described in
Section 7.5, “Configuring Anomaly Detection,” on page 99.
7.5
Configuring Anomaly Detection
After you create a baseline, you can configure anomalies to use with the information gathered in the
dashboard. This allows you to receive alerts when events occur outside of the baseline.
 Section 7.5.1, “Creating an Anomaly Definition,” on page 99
 Section 7.5.2, “Deploying an Anomaly Definition,” on page 100
 Section 7.5.3, “Undeploying an Anomaly Definition,” on page 100
 Section 7.5.4, “Managing Anomalies,” on page 101
7.5.1
Creating an Anomaly Definition
1 Log in to the Sentinel Web interface as a user with the Manage Dashboard permission.
2 Click the desired dashboard under the dashboard heading, then click Configure anomaly
detection.
3 Click Create anomaly definition.
The Anomaly detection definition details screen is displayed.
4 Use the following information to create the anomaly definition:
Anomaly name: Specify a unique name for the anomaly.
Comparison type: Select and define the anomaly type. The options are:
 Threshold: When the number of a specific type of events exceeds a specified limit,
Sentinel triggers an anomaly event. For example, if you set the threshold for login failures to
five and if more than five failed logins occur, Sentinel triggers an anomaly event.
 Moving Average: Moving averages are calculated over a specific period of time. All
averages in that period are recalculated to remove noise and deviations which results in the
moving average. Sentinel triggers an anomaly event if the moving average deviates from
the normal averages. For example, in the holiday seasons, the internet traffic for ecommerce websites might spike which might result in abnormal average compared to the
rest of the year. Sentinel triggers an anomaly event indicating the deviation in the moving
average.
 Ratio: Provides a comparison between the number of different types of events. If the ratio
of a specific event type compared to the other type exceeds beyond a specified limit,
Sentinel triggers an anomaly event. For example, if a significant number of events were
reported for viruses as compared to network attacks.
 Historical: Provides a comparison of the number of current events with the events received
in the past. For Example, if the historical data reports the number of invalid logins per day in
the range of 100-150 and if the current number of invalid logins is1000, Sentinel triggers an
anomaly event.
 Baseline: Provides a comparison to an established baseline. A baseline is usually the
accepted or agreed upon values of event data. You must have a custom baseline to use this
option. For more information, Section 7.4, “Creating Baselines,” on page 98. If there is a
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deviation from the baseline, Sentinel triggers an anomaly event. For example, if the event
stream baseline is 1000 per second and if the event stream rate increases or decreases,
Sentinel triggers an anomaly event.
As per your requirement, you can select the Comparison type and specify the anomaly
definition.
Anomaly description: Specify a description for the anomaly. The description is displayed in the
anomaly event.
Anomaly state: Define the state of the anomaly by selecting any one of the following:
 Always active: You can use this option to keep the anomaly definition active always and
trigger when the specified anomaly definition is met.
 Only active for selected days and times: You can use this option to define the specific
times for anomaly definition to trigger. When you select this option, it displays a default time
grid. You can change the time grid and specify different time periods for the same anomaly
definition by holding the Ctrl key.
NOTE: The timing that is displayed in the time grid is the local time.
Notification information: Select the information to define the notification information.
 Severity: Select the severity of the notification. The options are 0 to 5.
 After this anomaly definition fires: Specify the notification time gap to send e-mail or
events after an anomaly triggers.
Optionally send notification via e-mail after the anomaly triggers: Fill in the following fields
to send an e-mail when the anomaly triggers.
 E-mail address: Specify the e-mail addresses of the people who should receive notification
when the anomaly occurs. Separate multiple e-mail addresses with commas.
 Subject: Specify a subject for the e-mail.
 Message: Specify a message for the e-mail to explain the anomaly that occurred.
5 Click Save.
6 Continue with “Deploying an Anomaly Definition” on page 100.
7.5.2
Deploying an Anomaly Definition
After the anomaly definition is created, it must be deployed to be applied to the dashboard.
1 In the Sentinel Web interface, click Security Intelligence > Dashboard, then select the
dashboard where you created the anomaly definition.
2 Click Configure anomaly detection.
The Anomaly detect screen is displayed.
3 Mouse over the anomaly definition you want to deploy, then click Deploy.
You receive a message that the anomaly definition was deployed.
7.5.3
Undeploying an Anomaly Definition
To undeploy the anomaly definition:
1 In the Sentinel Web interface, click Security Intelligence > Dashboard, then select the
dashboard where you created the anomaly definition.
2 Click Configure anomaly detection.
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3 Mouse over the anomaly definition you want to undeploy, then click Undeploy.
4 Click Undeploy again to verify that you want to perform this action.
You receive a message that the anomaly definition was undeployed.
7.5.4
Managing Anomalies
You can perform the following management tasks on the anomalies:
 “Editing an Anomaly” on page 101
 “Deleting an Anomaly” on page 101
Editing an Anomaly
1 In the Sentinel Web interface, click Security Intelligence > Dashboard, then select the
dashboard where you created the anomaly definition.
2 Click Configure anomaly detection.
3 Mouse over the anomaly you want to edit, then click Edit.
4 Make any desired changes to the anomaly definition, then click Save.
Deleting an Anomaly
1 In the Sentinel Web interface, click Security Intelligence > Dashboard, then select the
dashboard where you created the anomaly definition.
2 Click Configure anomaly detection.
3 Mouse over the anomaly you want to delete, then click Delete.
4 Click Delete again to verify that you want to perform this action.
7.6
Viewing Anomaly Events
When an anomaly is detected, Sentinel generates an anomaly event. Anomaly event fields contain
detailed information about the anomaly.
To view the anomaly events:
1 In the Sentinel Web Console, in the left pane, expand Filters > My filters, click Anomaly
Events, click
.
2 To view the event field values for an anomaly event, in the search results, click All next to the
anomaly event.
The following table describes the various event fields in an anomaly event:
Anomaly Event Field
ID
Sample Value
Description
BeginTime
bgnt
2014-01-06T07:13:00.000Z
The start of the time range
when the anomaly was
detected.
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Anomaly Event Field
ID
Sample Value
Description
EndTime
endt
2014-01-06T07:17:00.000Z
The end of the time range
when the anomaly was
detected.
EventName
evt
FailedLogins:AbnormalFailed The name of the anomaly
Logins
definition.
EventTime
dt
2014-01-06T07:18:54.285Z
The time when the anomaly
event was generated.
Message
msg
abnormal failed login activity
The description in the
anomaly definition.
ObserverCategory
rv32
SIEM
For an anomaly event, this
event field is always set to
SIEM.
ObserverServiceComponent
rv150
/Create a user session/
Failure
The classifier path which
contains the categories
displayed in the dashboard.
ObserverTZ
estz
Asia/Kolkata
The time zone in which the
anomaly engine is located.
ObserverType
st
Y
For an anomaly event, the
event field is always set to Y.
SentinelProcessingComponent
rt2
AbnormalFailedLogins
The anomaly definition name.
SentinelProcessingComponentID
rv123
2F38BBCA-1A39-42A99873-D2C4CE732B0D
This is the UUID of the
dashboard which is
associated with the anomaly
definition. The UUID remains
the same even though the
dashboard name changes.
SentinelServiceComponentID
rv124
B7E6B2A7-CDB1-40A8AA33-8AE99284DE6B
This is the ID of the anomaly
definition. The ID remains the
same even though the
anomaly definition name
changes.
SentinelServiceComponentName
sres
FailedLogins
This is the dashboard name
associated with the anomaly
definition.
SentinelServiceName
res
SecurityIntelligence
For an anomaly event, this
event field is always set to
SecurityIntelligence.
Severity
sev
5
The severity in the anomaly
definition.
XDASClass
xdasclas 11
s
For an anomaly event, this
event field is always set to 11.
XDASDetail
xdasdeta 12
il
For an anomaly event, this
event field is always set to
12.
NetIQ Sentinel User Guide
Anomaly Event Field
ID
Sample Value
Description
XDASIdentifier
xdasid
13
For an anomaly event, this
event field is always set to
13.
XDASOutcome
xdasoutc 1
ome
For an anomaly event, this
event field is always set to 1.
XDASOutcomeName
xdasoutc XDAS_OUT_THRESHOLD_
omenam EXCEEDED
e
For an anomaly event, this
event field is always set to
XDAS_OUT_THRESHOLD_
EXCEEDED.
XDASProvider
xdasprov 0
For an anomaly event, this
event field is always set to 0.
XDASRegistry
xdasreg
For an anomaly event, this
event field is always set to 0.
XDASTaxonomyName
xdastaxn XDAS_AE_ANOMALY
ame
0
For an anomaly event, this
event field is always set to
XDAS_AE_ANOMALY.
For more information on anomaly event fields, click Tips in the Sentinel Web Console. For more
information on the event taxonomy and event fields, see Sentinel Taxonomy.
You can use the event field IDs to create search queries to find specific anomaly events. For
example, if you want to search for the anomaly events that were generated because of the anomaly
definition AbnormalFailedLogins, specify the following query in the Search field:
st:y AND rt2:AbnormalFailedLogins
For more information about searching for events, see Section 3.1, “Running an Event Search,” on
page 31.
7.7
Managing Dashboards
You cannot change the filter or classifier for an existing dashboard, because this changes all of the
data. If you want to change the filter or classifier, you must create a new dashboard.
However, you can perform the following management tasks on dashboards:
 Section 7.7.1, “Viewing a Dashboard,” on page 103
 Section 7.7.2, “Renaming a Dashboard,” on page 104
 Section 7.7.3, “Deleting a Dashboard,” on page 104
7.7.1
Viewing a Dashboard
1 In the Sentinel Web interface, click Security Intelligence > Dashboard, then select the
dashboard that you want to view.
2 Click Show dashboard details to see the following information about the dashboard:
 The classifiers used to create the dashboard.
 The filter used to create the dashboard.
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 When the dashboard was created.
 The amount of time data is retained for the dashboard.
7.7.2
Renaming a Dashboard
1 In the Sentinel Web interface, click Security Intelligence > Dashboard, then select the
dashboard that you want to rename.
2 Click Show dashboard details in the toolbar.
3 Click Rename in the toolbar, then rename the dashboard.
4 Click Save to save the change.
7.7.3
Deleting a Dashboard
1 In the Sentinel Web interface, click Security Intelligence > Dashboard, then select the
dashboard that you want to delete.
2 Click Show dashboard details in the toolbar.
3 Click Delete.
4 Click Delete again to verify that you want to perform this action.
7.8
Troubleshooting
 Section 7.8.1, “The Create Button Is Not Displayed,” on page 104
 Section 7.8.2, “The Main Graph and the Time Slider Are Not Synchronized,” on page 104
 Section 7.8.3, “Both Names for a Renamed Anomaly Are Displayed in the Filter,” on page 104
 Section 7.8.4, “Dashboard Date Range Not Updated to in Real Time,” on page 105
7.8.1
The Create Button Is Not Displayed
If you access the Security Intelligence feature and the Create button is not displayed, the MongoDB
database is not running. The solution is to restart the Sentinel system.
7.8.2
The Main Graph and the Time Slider Are Not Synchronized
The main graph and the time slider can display different data because of the potential differences in
granularity.
7.8.3
Both Names for a Renamed Anomaly Are Displayed in the
Filter
If an anomaly definition display name changes but the anomaly was fired in both the old name and
the new name within the selected time range, the anomaly shows two filters: the old anomaly display
name with its firing count and new anomaly display name with its firing count.
If you filter on the new anomaly, only the new anomaly name is shown in the list, but the Show x of y
anomaly message shows x as the total count of the anomaly fired under the new name and y as the
total count of the anomaly fired in both the new and old display names.
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The x will never equal y if there are events fired in both names within selected date range.
For example, assume that there is an anomaly definition of DemoDef that was renamed to DemoDefnameChanged within the selected time range and it has fired under the old name 60 times and under
the new name 180 times. In the filter drop-down list, both anomalies are displayed, showing DemoDef
(fired 60 times) and DemoDef-nameChanged (fired 180 times) for a total of 240. If you filter on
DemoDef, the filter message displays, Showing 60 of 240 anomalies. If you filter on DemoDefnameChanged, the filter message displays, Showing 180 of 240 anomalies.
7.8.4
Dashboard Date Range Not Updated to in Real Time
When the dashboard is bigger, the time granularity is bigger, so it page refreshes slowly. In another
words, the date range for the bigger display takes longer to show a difference. Even though the auto
refresh timer is the same, it might need to fire two times before you see any change in data.
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8
Visualizing and Analyzing Network Flow
Data
8
Sentinel provides a graphical representation of the statistical network flow data that helps you identify
and analyze suspicious activities in your network. You can view the network flow data in real-time for
a specific department, for a specific customer, a specific event, an IP address, or a time range.
To view and analyze the network flow data, you must first configure Sentinel for network flow data
collection. To configure network flow data collection, you must either be an administrator or have the
Send NetFlow data permission. For more information about configuring network flow data collection,
see “Visualizing Network Traffic” in the NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.
NOTE: To view the network flow data, you must have the View NetFlow data permission.
To view the NetFlow data:
1 Log in to the Sentinel Web interface as a user with the View NetFlow data permission.
2 Perform either of the following:
 To view real-time network flow data for a specific department or a tenant:
1. In the navigation panel, click Real-time Monitoring > NetFlow > Create.
2. Specify the following information:
Tenant: If you are in a multi-tenant environment, select the department or the tenant
name for which you want to view network flow data. Otherwise, select Default.
Address: Specify the IP address for which you want to view the network flow data. By
default, Sentinel provides the network flow data for the entire network.
Time Range: Specify the time range for which you want to view the network flow data.
3. Click Monitor NetFlow.
 To view network flow data for a specific event:
1. Perform a search to view the desired events.
2. In the search results, click the NetFlow icon for the Source IP address or the
Destination IP address of the event.
Sentinel provides a graphical representation the network flow data, which automatically refreshes
every 10 minutes. You can hover the mouse over the graphs to monitor the incoming and outgoing
number of bytes, packets, and flows for the specified tenant or IP address. Sentinel also helps you
analyze the network traffic by providing a summary of the top 10 hosts and top 10 ports sending data
to the specified tenant or IP address. Similarly, you can view the top 10 hosts and top 10 ports to
which the specified tenant or IP address is sending data.
If you want to analyze the data in detail for a specific time, you can take a snapshot of the graph and
analyze the data at the desired time.You can also compare the changes in the network traffic before
and after the security event.
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9
Configuring Dynamic Lists
9
Dynamic Lists are distributed list structures that can be used to store string elements, such as IP
addresses, server names, or usernames. The lists are then used within a Correlation rule for a quick
lookup to see whether an incoming event includes an element from the Dynamic List. Some
examples of Dynamic Lists include:
 Terminated user lists
 Suspicious user watchlist
 Privileged user watchlist
 Authorized ports and services list
 Authorized server list
NOTE: You must have the Manage Correlation Engine and Rules permission to create and manage
Dynamic Lists.
9.1
Creating a Dynamic List
A Dynamic List can be built using the text values for any event ID. Elements can be added to the list
manually or automatically whenever a Correlation rule fires.
Regardless of how the values were added, an element can be of the following types:
 Persistent: The element is active until it is manually removed or until the maximum list size is
reached.
 Transient: The element is active only for a specified time after being added to the list.
Dynamic Lists can be created either in the Sentinel Control Center or in the Correlation Rule Builder:
 Section 9.1.1, “Using the Sentinel Control Center to Create a Dynamic List,” on page 109
 Section 9.1.2, “Using the Correlation Rule Builder to Create a Dynamic List,” on page 110
9.1.1
Using the Sentinel Control Center to Create a Dynamic List
1 Launch the Sentinel Control Center.
1a Log in to the Sentinel Web interface:
https://<IP_Address/DNS_Sentinel_server:8443>
IP_Address/DNS_Sentinel_server is the IP address or DNS name of the Sentinel server
and 8443 is the default port for the Sentinel server.
1b In the tool bar, click Applications.
1c Click Launch Control Center.
1d Click Yes to accept the security certificate.
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1e Specify a username and password of a user that has rights to access the SCC, then click
Login.
1f Click Accept or Accept Permanently to accept the security certificate and display the
SCC.
2 Launch the Dynamic Lists window:
 (Conditional) If the Configuration menu is not enabled, click the Configuration tab, then
click the Configuration menu > Dynamic Lists or click the
icon in the toolbar.
 (Conditional) If the Configuration menu is enabled, click the Configuration menu >
Dynamic Lists or click the
icon in the toolbar.
3 Click Add.
4 Specify the Dynamic List name.
The name must start with a character. The name can contain only letters, digits, or underscores.
The name is case sensitive. You cannot change the name after the Dynamic List is created.
Therefore, specify a descriptive name.
5 To add elements, click Add.
6 Specify the list element name.
The list element names are case sensitive. You cannot change the element values after the
Dynamic List is created. Therefore, specify a descriptive element name.
7 To keep the element active until it is manually removed or until the maximum list size is reached,
select Make Persistent, then click OK.
or
To keep the element active only for a specific time, use the Transient elements life span fields
to specify how long the element remains active.
The time period can range from minutes to 90 days.
8 Specify the maximum number of elements you want in the Dynamic List.
The maximum list size can be 100,000.
9 Click OK.
9.1.2
Using the Correlation Rule Builder to Create a Dynamic List
You can create Dynamic Lists while creating a Correlation rule. This option is provided in the
Correlation Rule Builder to help you complete the rule creation process without switching to the
Sentinel Control Center, and also if you want to just create an empty Dynamic List.
1 Log in to the Sentinel Web interface.
https://<IP_Address/DNS_Sentinel_server:8443>
IP_Address/DNS_Sentinel_server is the IP address or DNS name of the Sentinel server and
8443 is the default port for the Sentinel server.
2 Select Correlation from the navigation panel.
3 In the Subrule window, click Create a new expression.
4 In the Expression Builder, select an appropriate event field from Attributes.
5 In the Operator list, select inlist or not inlist.
6 In the Value section, click Create.
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7 Specify the following information for the list:
 List name: A descriptive name for the Dynamic List. The name must start with a character.
The name can contain only letters, digits, or underscores. The name is case sensitive. You
cannot change the name after you create the Dynamic List. Therefore, specify a descriptive
name.
 Transient elements life span: The time for the element to remain active. The time can
range from 1 hour to 90 days.
 Maximum number of elements: The maximum number of elements the list should include.
8 Click OK.
The Dynamic List is created. However, you must launch the Sentinel Control Center to add elements
to the list. You can complete the Correlation rule creation process, then add elements to the list. For
more information on adding elements, see Section 9.1.1, “Using the Sentinel Control Center to
Create a Dynamic List,” on page 109.
9.2
Managing Dynamic Lists
 Section 9.2.1, “Editing a Dynamic List,” on page 111
 Section 9.2.2, “Deleting a Dynamic List,” on page 112
 Section 9.2.3, “Removing Dynamic List Elements,” on page 112
9.2.1
Editing a Dynamic List
1 Launch the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 9.1.1, “Using
the Sentinel Control Center to Create a Dynamic List,” on page 109.
2 Launch the Dynamic Lists window:
 (Conditional) If the Configuration menu is not enabled, click the Configuration tab, then
click the Configuration menu > Dynamic Lists or click the
icon in the toolbar.
 (Conditional) If the Configuration menu is enabled, click the Configuration menu >
Dynamic Lists or click the
.icon in the toolbar.
3 In the Dynamic Lists window, select the dynamic list you want to edit, then click View/Edit.
4 Make the necessary changes, then click OK.
The name cannot be changed.
NOTE: If you make changes to the transient life span on an active Dynamic List, the changes do
not apply to elements already in the list. Elements that are already in the Dynamic List retain
their original life span.
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9.2.2
Deleting a Dynamic List
You can delete only the dynamic lists that are not being used by Correlation rules or actions:
1 Launch the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 9.1.1, “Using
the Sentinel Control Center to Create a Dynamic List,” on page 109.
2 Launch the Dynamic Lists window:
 (Conditional) If the Configuration menu is not enabled, click the Configuration tab, then
click the Configuration menu > Dynamic Lists or click the
icon in the toolbar.
 (Conditional) If the Configuration menu is enabled, click the Configuration menu >
Dynamic Lists or click the
.icon in the toolbar.
3 In the Dynamic Lists window, select the dynamic list you want to delete, then click Delete.
4 Click Yes to confirm deletion.
9.2.3
Removing Dynamic List Elements
There are several ways an element can be removed from a Dynamic List:
 The element can be removed manually:
In the Dynamic List Properties window, select the element you want to delete, then click Delete.
 The element can be removed by a Correlation rule action.
 The element‘s life span can expire.
 If the maximum number of elements for a Dynamic List is reached, elements are removed from
the list to keep the list at or below the maximum list size. The transient elements are removed
from oldest to newest before any persistent elements are removed.
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10
Leveraging Identity Information
10
This section provides information about integrating Sentinel with identity management systems.
 Section 10.1, “Overview,” on page 113
 Section 10.2, “Searching and Viewing User Identities,” on page 113
10.1
Overview
Sentinel provides an integration framework to identity management systems to track the identities of
for each user account and what events those identities have performed.
This integration provides functionality on several levels:
 The Identity Browser provides the ability to look up the following information about a user:
 Contact information
 Accounts associated with that user
 Most recent authentication events
 Most recent access events
 Most recent permissions changes
 The Identity Browser lets you do a lookup from events
 Reports and Correlation rules provide an integrated view of a user's true identity, even across
multiple systems on which the user has separate accounts. For example, accounts like
COMPANY\testuser; > cn=testuser,ou=engineering,o=company, and [email protected] can
be mapped to the actual person who owns the accounts.
By displaying information about the people initiating a given action or people affected by an action,
incident response times are improved and behavior-based analysis is enabled.
NOTE: Only administrators can integrate Sentinel with identity management systems. For more
information, see “Integrating Identity Information” in the NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.
10.2
Searching and Viewing User Identities
The Identity Browser in Sentinel allows you to search and view user profiles of the identities in the
Sentinel database that have been synchronized from the identity management system. In addition to
information from the identity management system, the Identity Browser also shows recent user
activity that has been collected through the Sentinel Collectors.
10.2.1
Accessing the Identity Browser
1 Log in to the Sentinel Web interface.
2 Click People on the left side.
The Identity Browser is displayed.
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10.2.2
Performing a Search
The Identity Browser allows you to search for people to view what they have been doing. You can use
the search box or click the arrow next to the search box for more options. As you start typing the
information in the search field, the data is automatically displayed.
1 Access the Identity Browser.
For more information, see Section 10.2.1, “Accessing the Identity Browser,” on page 113.
2 Search for a user by typing in the search box. The search box is dynamic
or
Click the arrow next to the search box to display more search fields.
You can type letters to view all identities whose first or last name starts with the letters. For
example, if you type the names Abraham, Abdullah, and so on are matched. For more
information, see Section 10.2.3, “Searching,” on page 114.
3 If you used the search box, skip to Step 5. Otherwise, specify the search value for the users you
are searching for.
For more information, about the search fields, see “Using the Search Fields” on page 115.
4 Click Search to perform the search, then click Close.
5 Click on the user name to view the information about the user.
6 Proceed to Section 10.2.4, “Viewing Profile Details,” on page 115 to view the details about the
user.
10.2.3
Searching
You can search for users by using the search box or by using the search fields.
 “Using the Search Box” on page 114
 “Using the Search Fields” on page 115
Using the Search Box
The search box automatically uses the following logic to interpret the text you enter:
 All letters and no spaces searches for the given name or surname.
 All letters and a space between letter groups searches for the given name and surname. The
surname match is a starts-with, unless there is a trailing space.
 All letters with a comma in the middle is a match of the surname and given name. The given
name match is starts-with unless there is a trailing space.
 Anything with a @ in it is a starts-with match for e-mail address.
 All digits, or letters and digits but no telephone punctuation characters is a starts-with match for
workforce ID.
 Digits in addition to a leading +, and spaces, hyphens, periods, or parentheses is a starts-with
match for a telephone number.
 Alphanumeric, or all numeric with no spaces, or all numbers with spaces is a starts-with match
for the workforce ID.
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Using the Search Fields
You can search for many values, including custom values, in the search fields. The following is a list
of the fields you can search:
 Given Name
 Surname
 Telephone
 E-mail
 Position
 Department
 Office Location Code
 Workforce ID
 Vault Name
 Customer ID
 DN
 Custom Value Name
 Custom Value
10.2.4
Viewing Profile Details
After you have performed the search, (see Section 10.2.2, “Performing a Search,” on page 114), the
user name, photo, position, department, e-mail, and telephone number are displayed.
Figure 10-1 User Information Displayed
Click Profile to see detailed information about the user and all of the accounts that belong to this
user.
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You can use the clipboard functionality to copy the data of the user’s profile and account information.
Click the clipboard icon to the left of the user’s photo and their information is now in the clipboard. You
can paste this information into a text editor.
10.2.5
Viewing Activity
You can view the recent activity of the user through the Identity Browser.
 Authentication information
 Access events
 Permission changes
Select one or more of these options, then click Show Recent Activity. The activity is displayed in the
search panel of the Sentinel Web interface.
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Manually Performing Actions on Events
1
Administrators can configure event routing rules to automatically perform specific actions on events,
as described in “Configuring Event Routing Rules” in the NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.
However, Sentinel allows users to manually perform actions on events returned in searches.
This allows users to perform the desire actions as they are viewing events.
 Section 11.1, “Accessing Event Actions,” on page 117
 Section 11.2, “Prerequisites for Executing Actions on Events,” on page 117
 Section 11.3, “Assigning Actions to Events,” on page 117
 Section 11.4, “Configuring Event Actions,” on page 118
11.1
Accessing Event Actions
To access the event actions:
1 Log in to the Sentinel Web interface as a user who is a member of one of the following roles:
 Administrator
 Incident Administrator
 Security Policy Administrator
 User
2 Click Event Actions on the left.
If Event Actions is not displayed, you do not have the proper rights to access this feature.
11.2
Prerequisites for Executing Actions on Events
In order to manually assign actions to select events, you must perform the following tasks:
 Configure Actions: You must configure the actions that can be executed for the select search
events. For more information, see “Configuring Actions” in the NetIQ Sentinel Administration
Guide.
 Configure the Integrators for the Actions: There are default actions available to perform.
However, the integrators for these actions must be configured before the actions can be
executed. For more information, see “Configuring the Default Integrators” in the NetIQ Sentinel
Administration Guide.
 Perform a Search: You must have the results of a search available in order to perform actions
on selected events. For more information about searching, see Chapter 3, “Searching Events,”
on page 31.
11.3
Assigning Actions to Events
1 Access Event Actions in the Sentinel Web interface.
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For more information, see Section 11.1, “Accessing Event Actions,” on page 117.
2 Perform a search.
If you have not performed a search, you cannot execute an action.
3 Select the events in the search to perform actions on.
4 In the Actions field, select the desired action from the drop-down box.
You can add or remove items from this list. For more information, see Section 11.4, “Configuring
Event Actions,” on page 118.
5 Click Execute.
6 In the Results field, view the results of the action.
11.4
Configuring Event Actions
Administrators can control what actions can manually performed on events.
 Section 11.4.1, “Creating a New Event Action,” on page 118
 Section 11.4.2, “Cloning an Event Action,” on page 119
 Section 11.4.3, “Moving an Event Action,” on page 119
 Section 11.4.4, “Deleting an Event Action,” on page 119
11.4.1
Creating a New Event Action
If you have imported new action plug-ins into Sentinel and you want to create an event action for the
action plug-in:
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center.
1a Log in to the Sentinel Web interface:
https://<IP_Address/DNS_Sentinel_server:8443>
IP_Address/DNS_Sentinel_server is the IP address or DNS name of the Sentinel server
and 8443 is the default port for the Sentinel server.
1b In the tool bar, click Applications.
1c Click Launch Control Center.
1d Click Yes to accept the security certificate.
1e Specify a username and password of a user that has rights to access the SCC, then click
Login.
1f Click Accept or Accept Permanently to accept the security certificate and display the
SCC.
2 Click the Configuration tab.
3 From the menu, click Configuration > Event Actions Configuration.
4 Click Add to add a new action.
5 Use the following information to create the new event action:
Name: Specify a unique name for the event action.
Description: Specify a description for the new event action.
Action: Select the desired action from the drop-down list.
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6 Click Add Action.
7 Create a new action by following the instructions in “Adding an Action” in the NetIQ Sentinel
Administration Guide.
11.4.2
Cloning an Event Action
You can clone an existing event action add give it another name.
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 11.4.1,
“Creating a New Event Action,” on page 118.
2 Click the Configuration tab.
3 On the menu, click Configuration > Event Actions Configuration.
4 Select an event action, then click Clone.
5 Change the name to a unique name, then click OK.
11.4.3
Moving an Event Action
You can display the event actions in any order. The order in the Event Actions Configuration page is
the order that is shown in the Sentinel Web interface.
To move event actions:
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 11.4.1,
“Creating a New Event Action,” on page 118.
2 Click the Configuration tab.
3 On the menu, click Configuration > Event Actions Configuration.
4 Select the event action you want to move, then click Up or Down until the event action is in the
correct location.
11.4.4
Deleting an Event Action
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 11.4.1,
“Creating a New Event Action,” on page 118.
2 Click the Configuration tab.
3 From the menu, click Configuration > Event Actions Configuration.
4 Select the event action you want to delete, then click Delete.
5 Click Yes to confirm the deletion.
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12
Configuring Tags
12
Tags are user-defined values that can be used to logically group data collection objects such as event
sources, event source servers, Collector Managers, Collector plug-ins, event routing rules, report
templates, and report results. Tags help you to filter object lists for the data collection objects and also
to augment incoming data. You can search for events, report templates, and report definitions that are
tagged with a particular tag.
NOTE: Only users in the Manage Tags role can create and manage tags.
 Section 12.1, “Overview,” on page 121
 Section 12.2, “The Tags Interface,” on page 121
 Section 12.3, “Creating a Tag,” on page 122
 Section 12.4, “Managing Tags,” on page 122
 Section 12.5, “Performing Text Searches for Tags,” on page 123
 Section 12.6, “Deleting Tags,” on page 123
 Section 12.7, “Associating Tags with Objects,” on page 124
 Section 12.8, “Viewing Tagged Events,” on page 125
12.1
Overview
You can associate objects with more than one tag. You can, for example, create tags related to
regulations (PCI) or compromised systems or network infrastructure such as routers, switches, and
firewalls. Some organizations need to define data retention or data viewing policies based on the
geographic location, so tags can be used to tag event sources based on different locations.
When ESM objects such as event sources, event servers, Collector Managers, or Collector plug-ins
are tagged, all the events from those ESM objects are tagged with that value. The tag value is placed
in a reserved variable, rv145. However, events generated before tagging the ESM objects are not
tagged. Sentinel does not perform retroactive tagging of data that is already stored because it is not
an accepted practice to modify events that are already stored.
You must have the appropriate permission to view events that are tagged with specific tags. For
example, only users in the PCI Compliance Auditor role can view events that are tagged with at least
one of the regulation-related tags such as PCI, SOX, HIPAA, NERC_CIP, FISMA, GLBA, NISPOM,
JSOX, and ISO/IEC_27002:2005.
12.2
The Tags Interface
The Tags interface lists the tags available in the system and allows you to manage the tags. You can
perform text-refined searches to find the tags that you are looking for. The interface also provides
options such as maintaining a list of favorite tags and searching tagged events.
As you mouse over a tag, you can see the icons available to manage the tag. The number next to
each tag indicates the number of objects associated with the tag. For more information on creating
new tags, see Section 12.3, “Creating a Tag,” on page 122.
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The Tag
icon is available in various parts of the Sentinel interface, which allows you to quickly add
tags to the desired data collection objects such as event sources, event source servers, Collector
Managers, Collector plug-ins, report templates, and report results. When you click the Tag
the Tags dialog box is displayed that allows you to select tags and to create new tags.
12.3
icon,
Creating a Tag
1 Log in to the Sentinel Web interface as a user in the Manage Tags role.
https://<IP_Address/DNS_Sentinel_server:8443>
IP_Address/DNS_Sentinel_server is the IP address or DNS name of the Sentinel server and
8443 is the default port for the Sentinel server.
2 Select Tags in the navigation panel on the left or click the Tag
icon in the appropriate data
object interface to which you want to associate tags.
3 Click Create.
4 Specify a name for the tag.
Tags have the following naming conventions, and a warning message is displayed if the name
you specify does not comply with the following conventions:
 Tag names should not be more than 20 characters.
 There should not be any white space as part of the tag name.
 A tag name is not case-sensitive. You cannot create two tags with identical names except
for capitalization. For example, you cannot have the tag names IDM and idm, because both
are perceived as the same name.
5 Specify an optional description for the tag.
If the tag name is available, a message is displayed.
If a tag with the same name already exists, a message is displayed indicating the name is not
unique. You must specify a different name for the tag.
6 Click Save.
12.4
Managing Tags
 Section 12.4.1, “Sorting Tags,” on page 122
 Section 12.4.2, “Adding and Removing Tags from Favorites,” on page 123
 Section 12.4.3, “Viewing and Modifying Tags,” on page 123
12.4.1
Sorting Tags
You can sort tags either based on their names or based on the number of objects associated with the
tags.
1 Log in to the Sentinel Web interface as a user in the Manage Tags role.
2 Select Tags in the navigation panel, then click More.
3 (Conditional) To sort the tags in the alphabetical order, select Sort by Name.
4 (Conditional) To sort the tags based on the number of objects associated with them, select Sort
by Count.
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The Tags are sorted according to the selection.
12.4.2
Adding and Removing Tags from Favorites
You can add your frequently used tags to the Favorites section so that it is easier to locate them and
associate them with objects. When a tag is added to the Favorites section, it is removed from the
Other section.
1 Log in to the Sentinel Web interface as a user in the Manage Tags role.
2 Select Tags in the navigation panel on the left.
3 To add or remove a tag from Favorites, select the tag, then click the Favorites
12.4.3
icon.
Viewing and Modifying Tags
You can modify only the description of a tag.The tag name cannot be modified because it might be
used to tag events and other data collection objects, and it is not an accepted practice to modify
events that are already stored. Therefore, to modify the name of a tag, you must create a new tag.
1 Log in to the Sentinel Web interface as a user in the Manage Tags role.
2 Select Tags in the navigation panel on the left.
3 Select the tag that you want to edit, and click the Edit
icon.
4 Modify the description as necessary, then click Save.
12.5
Performing Text Searches for Tags
This option is useful when you want to look for a particular tag.
1 Log in to the Sentinel Web interface as a user in the Manage Tags role.
2 Select Tags in the navigation panel on the left.
3 To search for a particular tag, specify the name or description of the tag or a keyword. To search
for multiple tags, specify the tag names separated by the space character.
The tag that matches the keyword is displayed.
12.6
Deleting Tags
1 Log in to the Sentinel Web interface as a user in the Manage Tags role.
2 Select Tags in the navigation panel on the left.
3 Select the tag that you want to delete, then click the Delete
icon.
The Sentinel tag is a system tag that tags all Sentinel internal events, and cannot be deleted.
4 Click Delete to confirm deletion.
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12.7
Associating Tags with Objects
You can associate tags with event sources, event source servers, Collector Managers, Collector
Plug-ins, event routing rules, and reports and report templates. You can add more than one tag to a
data collection object. However, the rv145 field, which stores the tag value, can hold a maximum of
256 characters. Therefore, the maximum number of tags that you can associate with an object
depends on the length of the tag name.
 Section 12.7.1, “Associating Tags with Event Routing Rules,” on page 124
 Section 12.7.2, “Associating Tags with Event Sources,” on page 124
 Section 12.7.3, “Associating Tags with Collector Managers,” on page 124
 Section 12.7.4, “Associating Tags with Event Sources Servers,” on page 124
 Section 12.7.5, “Associating Tags with Collector Plug-Ins,” on page 125
 Section 12.7.6, “Associating Tags with Report Results and Report Definitions,” on page 125
12.7.1
Associating Tags with Event Routing Rules
1 Log in to the Sentinel Web interface as a user in the administrator role.
2 Click Routing in the toolbar, then click Create.
3 Specify a name and filter criteria for the rule.
4 Click Select tag, then select the tags that you want to associate with the rule.
5 Click Set.
12.7.2
Associating Tags with Event Sources
1 Log in to the Sentinel Web interface as a user in the administrator role.
2 Select Collection > Event Sources.
3 Select the event sources that you want to associate with the tag.
4 Select the Configure
icon, then select Tags.
5 Select the tags you want to associate, then click Set.
12.7.3
Associating Tags with Collector Managers
1 Log in to the Sentinel Web interface as a user in the administrator role.
2 Select Collection > Event Sources.
3 From the Collector Managers section, select one or more of the Collector Managers that you
want to associate with the tag.
4 Select the Configure
icon, then select Tags.
5 Select the tags you want to associate, then click Set.
12.7.4
Associating Tags with Event Sources Servers
1 Log in to the Sentinel Web interface as a user in the administrator role.
2 Select Collection > Event Sources.
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3 From the Event Source Servers section, select one or more event source servers that you want
to associate with the tag.
4 Select the Configure
icon, then select Tags.
5 Select the tags you want to associate, then click Set.
12.7.5
Associating Tags with Collector Plug-Ins
1 Log in to the Sentinel Web interface as a user in the administrator role.
2 Select Collection > Event Sources.
3 From the Collector Plugins section, select one or more of the Collector plug-ins that you want to
associate with the tag.
4 Select the Configure
icon, then select Tags.
5 Select the tags you want to associate, then click Set.
12.7.6
Associating Tags with Report Results and Report
Definitions
NOTE: When a tag is set on a report definition, the report results under the report definition inherit the
tag by default. Inherited tags for a report result appear disabled in the Tag selector dialog box.
1 Log in to the Sentinel Web interface.
2 Select Reports in the navigation panel on the left.
3 Select the report result or the report definition that you want to associate with a tag.
4 Do one of the following:
 Select Tags from the more drop-down list.
 Click Edit at the bottom left pane.
5 Select one or more tags that you want to associate with selected reports.
6 Click Set.
12.8
Viewing Tagged Events
1 Log in to the Sentinel Web interface.
2 Do either of the following:
 From the Tags panel, select the tag for which you want to view events, then select Search.
 In the Search field, click the Tag
Search.
icon, select the desired tags, then click OK. Click
 In the Search field, specify rv145:<tagname> or @<tagname> as the search criteria, then
click Search.
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13
Reporting
13
Reports help you analyze events to assess your compliance regulatory requirements, security best
practices, and corporate IT policies. You can use reports to demonstrate compliance and manage
information security risk.
Reports emphasize the event data and help you analyze events such as user account visibility,
detection of possible security violations, account compromises, network security problems, and any
other undesired activities. By analyzing reports, you can configure appropriate correlation rules and
actions to prevent any possible non-compliance activities and vulnerabilities.
Consider a scenario where you have an IT policy that states to remove access rights of all employees
to information and information processing facilities upon termination of their employment. To view all
deleted, and disabled user accounts, and revoked accesses, you can run a report that displays the
desired information in a few clicks. You can also schedule the report to run periodically at specific
intervals.
You can generate various types of reports for administration and auditing purposes, including the
following:
 Administrative reports: Helps you to administer Sentinel and analyze Sentinel's internal audit
events.
 Network Security reports: Helps you to track and analyze traffic trends, network threats, and
other vulnerabilities.
 Threat Intelligence reports: Helps you to analyze complex security threats.
 Identity Tracking reports: Helps you to analyze the events associated with the user identities.
 PCI DSS reports: Helps you demonstrate that your enterprise is in compliance with PCI DSS
standards.
 ISO 27000 Series reports: Helps you to generate reports to demonstrate that your enterprise is
in compliance with ISO 27000 series standards.
This chapter provides information about the following:
 Section 13.1, “Creating Reports,” on page 127
 Section 13.2, “Scheduling Reports,” on page 128
 Section 13.3, “Working with Reports,” on page 129
 Section 13.4, “Rebranding Reports,” on page 130
13.1
Creating Reports
A report is a template that is combined at run-time with a number of criteria, such as time parameters,
user security filters, other filter criteria for the events to be displayed in the report. A single report may
have numerous associated report results. Reports can range from a simple list of events to multiple
graphs and tables.
You can manage the reports and report results in the Reports and Searches panel. To manage
reports, you must have the Manage Reports permission.
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Sentinel provides a variety of Solution Packs that enforce a specific business or technical policy.
Some of the Solution Packs are available by default when you install Sentinel. These Solution Packs
include various reports that you can use to solve your business needs.
You can also create new reports in the following ways:
 Using an Existing Report: You can create a new report based on existing reports. These
reports include predefined criteria for the events to be displayed in the report. To create a new
report, select the report based on which you want to create a new report, click Create report,
and then add additional criteria to suit your requirements.
NOTE: You can create new reports only from reports created by users in the same role as yours.
 Using a Search Query: You can save your search query as a new report. For more information,
see Section 3.4.3, “Saving a Search Query as a Report Template,” on page 38.
 Importing from Solution Packs: You can update or install new Solution Packs to get new and
updated reports. To download the new and updated Solution Packs, visit the Sentinel Plug-ins
website. For information about installing and updating solution packs, see Managing Solution
Packs in the NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.
To import new and updated reports, you must have the Import Reports permission. To import
new and updated reports, click Import Reports and Searches.
 Using the Sentinel SDK: You can use the Sentinel SDK to modify or write your own reports. For
more information, see the Sentinel SDK website.
13.2
Scheduling Reports
To view the report result, you must run the report. All reports have a sample report result. You can use
the sample report to preview how the actual report result looks like when you run the report. To run
the report, you must have the Run reports permission.
You can run the report immediately or schedule it to run periodically. Click the Run icon and specify
the appropriate information to schedule a report. By default, Sentinel saves the report in the PDF
format.
Reports run asynchronously.Therefore, you can simultaneously perform other tasks in the web
console while the report generation is in progress. If the Sentinel server is restarted while the report
generation is still in progress, you can either cancel or reschedule report generation. If you
reschedule the report, it runs with the same parameters that you used initially. If you schedule a report
with a relative time setting, such as Week to Date, the time period for re-running the report is based
on the current date and time and not the date and time when you initially scheduled the report.
NOTE: The report data in the PDF file will be different than the data in the reports that are run with the
Now option. The report data in the PDF file are for the time range that you specified while scheduling
a report definition. When you schedule a report definition with the Now option, the report includes
events from midnight to the time you scheduled the report definition.
13.2.1
Scheduling Reports across Sentinel Servers
You can schedule reports on Sentinel servers distributed across different geographic locations. For
more information, see “Configuring Data Federation” in the NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.
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13.2.2
Saving Reports in the CSV Format
You can also save a report in the CSV format along with the existing PDF format. This requires
additional configuration in the Sentinel server. Only users in the administrator role can perform the
additional configuration. For more information, see “Generating a Report in CSV Format” in the NetIQ
Sentinel Administration Guide.
13.3
Working with Reports
The data that you view in reports depends on the security filter applied to your role. For example, if
the security filter for your role is set to view events of severity 1 to 3, your report results will include
only those events, although the report parameters allow severity 4 and 5 events also.
As you work with reports, you can perform several tasks including the following:
 Finding Reports: Sentinel provides a large number of reports. You can use one of the following
ways to easily find the reports you are interested in:
 Using a particular keyword in the report name or description.
 Using Tags.
 Viewing reports belonging to a specific category: Scheduled or Unread.
 Grouping: To simplify report management as the number of reports grows over time, by default,
Sentinel groups the reports by Category.
You can change the grouping to None if you want to list all your reports and searches under one
heading. To change the grouping, click More options, select Group by, and then select the
necessary option.
 Tagging: You can associate reports with existing tags. When a tag is set on a report, the report
results associated with the report inherit the tag by default.
 Marking reports and searches as Favorites: You can mark the most frequently used reports
and searches as Favorites to make them easier to find. You can also store them in folders to
locate and manage them easily.
 Drilling down into the reports to further analyze the data: You can view events directly for a
report without scheduling the report. The search results provide a preview of what to expect
when you generate a report and the ability to investigate further. To view events for a report, click
Search Events.
 Sharing reports with other roles: The Share functionality allows you to share reports with
other roles and also control who can access your reports.
For example, the out-of-the-box report templates are accessible to all Sentinel users. Consider a
scenario where you have several groups in your organization such as system administrators,
database administrators. Because of the sensitivity of the audit data available in the report
results when you run the out-of-the-box report templates, you may want to ensure that these
administrators do not gain access to any unauthorized data. In such a scenario, you can restrict
the report templates visibility only to you, to users in your role, or to users in selected roles.
NOTE: Only users in the Administrator role can restrict the visibility of the out-of-the-box reports.
By default, the reports that you create or import from Solution Packs are visible only to you and
to users in the Administrator role. You can share your reports with other roles as necessary
without transferring the complete ownership of the reports.
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For example, consider a scenario where there is a dedicated audit team in your organization
whose primary job is to analyze and validate the accuracy of reports. You may want them to only
view your reports but not modify or delete reports. In such a scenario, you can share your reports
with the audit team. The audit team will only be able to view or run the reports depending on the
permission they have. However, they will not be able to modify or delete reports.
To share reports, you must have the Share reports permission. To share reports with users in
other roles, you must have the Manage roles and users permission in addition to the Share
reports permission. You can share only the reports that you create or import from Solution
Packs. You cannot share reports that other users have shared with you. To share a report, select
the report you want to share, click the Share icon, and select the relevant sharing option.
The events in the report results that users, with whom you have shared reports, can view depend
on the permission their role has. For example, if their role has permission to view only events of
severity 4 and 5, the report results include only those events.
If the user account of a report owner is deleted, reports that are set as Private are deleted. The
ownership of all the shared reports is transferred to the admin user. If that report owner had
shared any reports with you, you can no longer view those shared reports unless the admin user
shares those reports with you.
13.4
Rebranding Reports
Sentinel delivers an out-of-the-box white label report template as part of the Sentinel Core Solution
Pack. By customizing this template, you can rebrand the reports with your own header, footer, and
logo. Only users in the administrator role can customize the white label report template.
For more information about customizing the white label report template, see Rebranding Reports in
the NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.
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Viewing Compliance to Configuration
Policies
14
Sentinel is a compliance monitoring system that helps you verify whether your enterprise is compliant
with internal policies, information security standards such as PCI DSS and ISO 27000 series, and
government regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, GLBA, and FISMA.
Sentinel extends its compliance monitoring capability by integrating seamlessly with your existing
security management solutions, such as NetIQ Secure Configuration Manager (SCM). Integration
with Secure Configuration Manager helps you to assess system configurations against regulatory
requirements, security best practices, and corporate IT policies to demonstrate compliance and
manage information security risk. This integration helps you to view the security and audit information
from both Sentinel and Secure Configuration Manager in a single interface.
Sentinel is auto-configured to receive events from Secure Configuration Manager. You must
configure Sentinel to receive compliance details associated with the Secure Configuration Manager
events. For information about configuring Sentinel to receive compliance details from Secure
Configuration Manager, see “Viewing Compliance to Configuration Policies ” in the NetIQ Sentinel
Administration Guide.
14.1
Viewing Secure Configuration Manager Events
and Compliance Details
To view the compliance details, search for Secure Configuration Manager events by using the
appropriate query, for example, (sev:[0 TO 5]) AND pn:(Secure OR Configuration OR
Manager), then click the View compliance details icon associated with the event. For more
information about searching events in Sentinel, see “Searching Events” on page 31.
Compliance details provide information about compliance to configuration policies of various assets
in your IT environment based on rules configured in the Secure Configuration Manager. Compliance
details also provide information about the risk to the organization because of the non-compliance of
the assets and the validation results of security checks in the policies.
The compliance details can be based on assets, policy, or both assets and policy. The compliance
details provides information about the following:
 Introduction: This section provides information about the assets, user accounts, policy, and the
timestamp when the compliance was checked.
 Risk Analysis: This section displays charts representing the risks involved based on the
compliance status of the assets and the importance of the asset in the organization.
 Security Check Details: This section displays the validation results for security checks in the
policies.
For more information about understanding compliance details, see Understanding Report Results in
the NetIQ Secure Configuration manager User Guide.
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Viewing Change Guardian Events
15
If the Change Guardian server is configured to send its events to Sentinel, you can view Change
Guardian events in Sentinel. To verify whether Change Guardian is configured, contact your system
administrator.
To view the Change Guardian events and the event details, run a search by using the appropriate
query, for example, pn:ChangeGuardian, then click Search. For more information about searching
events in Sentinel, see “Searching Events” on page 31.
Change Guardian events indicates activities such as:
 Changes or access to critical files, platforms and systems
 Activities of privileged users
Each event provides detailed information about the file that was changed, the actual changes made
to the file, and so on. For more information about the event details, see Understanding Event
Information in the Change Guardian User Guide.
To view the event details, click the Change Guardian icon associated with the event.
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16
Configuring Incidents
16
In Sentinel, a set of related events (for example, a possible attack) can be grouped together form an
incident. An incident in open state alerts you to investigate, resolve, and close the incident. For
example, the resolution to an attack might be to close a port, block a source IP, or rebuild a machine.
Incidents are created automatically as a result of a correlation rule being triggered, or they are
created manually by a security analyst monitoring incoming data or querying past data.
 Section 16.1, “Accessing Incidents,” on page 135
 Section 16.2, “Creating Incidents,” on page 135
 Section 16.3, “Managing Incidents,” on page 136
 Section 16.4, “Adding an Incident View,” on page 138
16.1
Accessing Incidents
You access the incidents through the Sentinel Control Center. You need to have appropriate
permissions to access this tab. Only an Administrator has controls to enable or disable access to the
features of incidents for a user.
1 Log in to the Sentinel Web interface as a user with permissions to access incidents.
2 Click Applications in the toolbar.
3 Click Launch Sentinel Control Center.
4 Log in to the Sentinel Control Center as a user with permissions to access incidents.
5 Click Incidents.
The Incidents are displayed.
16.2
Creating Incidents
1 Access the Incidents tab in the Sentinel Control Center.
For more information, see Section 16.1, “Accessing Incidents,” on page 135.
2 In the menu, click Incidents > Create Incident.
or
Click the Create Incident
button in the toolbar.
3 Use the following information to create the incident:
Title: Specify the title of the incident.
State: Select the state of the incident from the drop-down list.
Severity: Select the severity of the incident from the drop-down list.
Priority: Select the priority of the incident from the drop-down list.
Category: Select the category of the incident from the drop-down list
or
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Create your own category by clicking the button next to the Category field, then click Add. You
must specify a name and a description of the new category.
Responsible: Select the user that is responsible to investigate and close the incident.
Description: Specify a description of the incident.
Resolution: Specify the steps required to resolve the incident.
4 Click Create.
The Incident ID is automatically generated after you click Create.
You can also create incidents from the Sentinel Web interface. For more information, see
Section 3.5.4, “Creating an Incident,” on page 44.
After the incident is created, proceed to Section 16.3, “Managing Incidents,” on page 136 to manage
the incident.
16.3
Managing Incidents
 Section 16.3.1, “Viewing an Incident,” on page 136
 Section 16.3.2, “Attaching Workflows to Incidents,” on page 137
 Section 16.3.3, “Adding Attachments to Incidents,” on page 137
 Section 16.3.4, “Adding Notes to Incidents,” on page 137
 Section 16.3.5, “Executing Incident Actions,” on page 137
 Section 16.3.6, “E-mailing an Incident,” on page 138
16.3.1
Viewing an Incident
1 Click Incidents in the Sentinel Control Center.
For more information, see Section 16.1, “Accessing Incidents,” on page 135.
2 From the menu, click Incidents > Display Incident View Manager
or
Click the Display Incident View Manager
button in the toolbar.
3 Select the desired Incident in the Incidents View window.
When you view an incident, you see the tabs listed below where you can perform Incident related
activities. As you investigate and remediate an Incident, additional information can be added to these
tabs.
Events: Lists events that triggered the incident, correlation rule, or alerts.
Assets: Lists assets affected by the events of this Incident.
Vulnerability: Lists asset vulnerabilities.
Advisor: Displays asset attack information.
iTRAC: Allows you to add a workflow to Incident.
History: Lists the activities performed on the current Incident.
Attachments: Allows you to add an attachment to the Incident created in the system.
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Notes: Allows you to add notes to the Incident. If the incident was created as a result of alerts
escalation, by default, this tab displays the comments associated with alerts and the reason for
escalation.
16.3.2
Attaching Workflows to Incidents
1 In the Incidents View window, select the desired Incident.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 Select a workflow from the iTRAC process drop-down list.
For more information about workflows, see Chapter 17, “Configuring iTRAC Workflows,” on
page 139.
4 Click Save.
You can attach only one workflow to an Incident.
16.3.3
Adding Attachments to Incidents
1 In the Incidents View window, select the desired Incident.
2 Click the Attachments tab, then click Add.
3 Click Browse, then navigate to the attachment and select it.
4 Specify the required information, or accept the default entries.
5 Click OK, then click Save.
You can right-click the attachment to view it or save it to your local hard drive.
16.3.4
Adding Notes to Incidents
1 In the Incidents View window, select the desired Incident.
2 Click the Notes tab, then click Add.
3 Specify your notes, then click OK.
4 Click Save to update the Incident.
To edit or delete the note, select a note in the Notes tab of the Incident window, right-click the
note, then select edit or delete.
16.3.5
Executing Incident Actions
Any configured Javascript action or iTRAC activity can be executed on an Incident.
1 In the Incidents View window, select the desired Incident.
2 In the menu, click Action > Execute Incident Action.
or
Click the Execute Incident Action button.
3 Select an Action or click the Add Action button to create a new one.
4 Click Execute.
If the action is a Javascript Action, a window opens to show the progress of the action.
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5 To add the command output to the Incident, click the Attach to Incident button.
The action output is saved and can be viewed from the Attachments tab of the Incident.
16.3.6
E-mailing an Incident
To e-mail an Incident using the preinstalled E-mail Incident action, you must have an SMTP Integrator
configured with valid connection information and with the property SentinelDefaultEMailServer set to
“true”. For more information, see the SMTP Integrator documentation available at the Sentinel Plug-in
Web site.
1 In the Incidents View window, select the desired Incident.
2 Click the Email Incident
icon.
3 Specify the required information.
4 Select which HTML attachments should be included in the mail message: the events included in
the incident, assets, vulnerabilities, Advisor attacks, incident history, attachments, and notes.
5 Click OK.
16.4
Adding an Incident View
1 Click the Incidents tab in the Sentinel Control Center.
For more information, see Section 16.1, “Accessing Incidents,” on page 135.
2 Click the Manage Views drop-down, then select Add View.
3 Specify a name in the Option Name field. Click each button (listed below) to specify the options.
 Fields: The variables of the events attached to Incidents are displayed as fields. By default,
all the fields are arranged as columns in the Incidents View. You can add or remove
columns, and arrange the order of the columns by using the up and down arrows.
 Group By: Allows you to set rules to group Incidents.
 Sort: Allows you to set rules to sort the Incidents.
 Filter: Allows you to set filters. Only Incidents that match the filter are displayed in the
Incidents View.
 Leaf Attribute: Allows you to select attributes from the list, which is displayed as the first
column in the Incidents View.
4 Click Save.
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Configuring iTRAC Workflows
17
This chapter provides information about using iTRAC workflows to automate and track incidents.
 Section 17.1, “Overview,” on page 139
 Section 17.2, “Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140
 Section 17.3, “Using the Template Manager,” on page 141
 Section 17.4, “Template Builder Interface,” on page 142
 Section 17.5, “Creating a Template,” on page 144
 Section 17.6, “Managing Templates,” on page 144
 Section 17.7, “Steps,” on page 145
 Section 17.8, “Adding Steps to a Workflow,” on page 149
 Section 17.9, “Managing Steps,” on page 150
 Section 17.10, “Transitions,” on page 153
 Section 17.11, “Activities,” on page 159
 Section 17.12, “Creating iTRAC Activities,” on page 161
 Section 17.13, “Managing Activities,” on page 162
 Section 17.14, “Managing iTRAC Roles,” on page 163
 Section 17.15, “Process Management,” on page 164
17.1
Overview
iTRAC workflows are designed to provide a simple, flexible solution for automating and tracking an
enterprise’s incident response processes. iTRAC leverages Sentinel’s internal incident system to
track security or system problems from identification (through correlation rules or manual
identification) through resolution.
Workflows can be built using manual and automated steps. Advanced features such as branching,
time-based escalation, and local variables are supported. Integration with external scripts and plugins allows for flexible interaction with third-party systems. Comprehensive reporting allows
administrators to understand and fine-tune the incident response processes.
NOTE: Access to manage iTRAC templates, activities, and processes can be enabled on a user-byuser basis by any user with the ability to change user permissions.
The iTRAC system uses three Sentinel objects that can be defined outside the iTRAC framework:
 Incident: Incidents within Sentinel are groups of events that represent an actionable security
incident, plus associated state and meta-information.
Incidents are created manually or through Correlation rules.They can be associated with a
workflow process. They can be viewed on the Incidents tab.
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 Activity: An activity is a predefined automatic unit of work, with defined inputs, command-driven
activity, and outputs (for example, automatically attaching asset data to the incident or sending
an e-mail).
Activities can be included in a workflow template and executed during workflow processes, or
they can be executed within an incident.
 Role: Sentinel users can be assigned to one or more roles. Manual steps in the workflow
processes can be assigned to a role. For more information, see Section 17.14, “Managing
iTRAC Roles,” on page 163.
iTRAC workflows have four major components that are unique to iTRAC:
 Step: A step is an individual unit of work within a workflow; including manual steps, decision
steps, command steps, mail steps, and activity-based steps. Each step displays as an icon
within a given workflow template.
 Transition: A transition defines how the workflow moves from one state (activity) to another. A
transition is determined by an analyst action, by the value of a variable, or by the amount of time
elapsed.
 Templates: A template is a design for a workflow that controls the flow of execution of a process
in iTRAC. The template consists of a network of manual and automated steps that combine
activities and criteria for transition between the steps.
Workflow templates define how an incident is responded to after a process based on that
template is instantiated. A template can be associated with many incidents.
 Processes: A process is a specific instance of a workflow template that is actively being tracked
by the workflow system. It includes all the relevant information for the instance, including the
current step in the workflow, the associated incident, the results of steps, attachments, and
notes. Each workflow process is associated to one incident.
NOTE: On a system with 16GB of RAM and 8 core CPU, you can run a maximum of 1000
processes on a single Sentinel server instance.
17.2
Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools
There are multiple tools that allow you to create iTRAC workflows in Sentinel. To access these tools:
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center.
1a Log in to the Sentinel Web interface:
https://<IP_Address/DNS_Sentinel_server:8443>
IP_Address/DNS_Sentinel_server is the IP address or DNS name of the Sentinel server
and 8443 is the default port for the Sentinel server.
1b In the toolbar, click Applications.
1c Click Launch Control Center.
1d Click Yes to accept the security certificate.
1e Specify a username and password of a user that has rights to access the SCC, then click
Login.
1f Click Accept or Accept Permanently to accept the security certificate and display the
SCC.
2 Click the iTRAC tab, then click iTRAC in the toolbar.
All of the different administrative tools are listed here.
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Process Manager: Manages the instantiated workflow processes.
Activity Manager: Defines the activities used in the iTRAC workflows.
Template Manager: Defines the templates used in the iTRAC workflows.
iTRAC Role Manager: Assigns roles that are used by the iTRAC workflows to assign work
items to groups of users.
17.3
Using the Template Manager
The Template Manager can be used to create, view, modify, copy, or delete a template. Within the
Template Manager you can add, delete, copy, view, and edit templates. Templates can be sorted into
folders for easy management
In the Template Manager, you can:
 Create new workflow templates.
 Edit or copy existing templates.
 Define workflow steps:
 Mark steps as Manual or Automated
 Include a description of a step or include instructions for iTRAC users
 Define transitions between steps:
 Transition type
 Escalation procedures
 Timeout and alert attributes
Figure 17-1 iTRAC Workflow
17.3.1
Default Templates
iTRAC is shipped with several templates to use as examples. The process and activity attributes for
these templates are set to pre-defined values. Users can modify them to suit their requirements. The
default templates are:
 AlertTimeoutExample
 TwoStepSimpleExample
 ConditionalTransitionExample
 CommandExample
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17.4
Template Builder Interface
Figure 17-2 Template Builder Interface
You see the following panes in the Template Builder window:
 Process Tree: This pane displays the steps, transitions and variables added to the template.
Users can add steps or variables, and edit or remove steps, variables and transitions.
To perform an action on a step, variable, or transition:
 Expand the relevant group in the tree.
 Select and right-click an existing attribute.
 Select the action you want to perform.
 Process: This is the main GUI for viewing and creating a Workflow template. For more
information on creating a Workflow template, see “Section 17.5, “Creating a Template,” on
page 144”.
 Quick Edit: Select a step or transition to see its properties. This pane allows you to edit process
attributes.
To edit the details of steps by using Quick Edit:
1. Click the Process Attribute value in the Quick Edit Pane.
The attribute values are highlighted, indicating Edit Mode.
2. Modify the value and click anywhere outside the Quick Edit frame to save the new value.
 Messages: This pane displays messages if steps or transitions are incomplete. You must
resolve any issues listed here before saving the template.
 Overview: This pane displays an overview of the entire template.
 Step Palette: There are four types of steps in the Step Palette. You can drag and drop the steps
into the Process pane.
 Decision step
 Mail step
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 Manual step
 Command step
 Activities: The activities added in the Activity Manager are shown in this pane and can be
added to a workflow template. The user can also add, edit and remove activities. For more
information, see Section 17.13, “Managing Activities,” on page 162.
IMPORTANT: Use caution when editing or deleting an Activity that is already in use.
The following icons are used in the Template Builder to represent the steps:
Table 17-1 Template Builder Icons
Icon
Description
Start Step: All workflow templates have a start step.
Decision Step: This step provides different execution paths depending on the value
of a variable defined in a previous step.
Mail Step: This step sends a pre-written e-mail.
Manual Step: This step indicates that manual work must be performed, often outside
the Sentinel system (For example, telephoning the owner of the affected system or
analyzing the results of a scan).
Activity Step: This step is a predefined set of activities.
Command Step: This step executes a command or script on the iTRAC workflow
server, which is usually installed in the same place as the Data Access Service (DAS).
The output of the command can be stored in a string variable and used as input to a
decision step.
End Step: This step signifies the completion of a workflow process.
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17.5
Creating a Template
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 In the toolbar, click iTRAC > Template Manager.
4 Click Add to display the iTRAC Template Builder window.
5 In the Process Details window, provide a name and description (optional) of the template, then
click OK.
6 Drag and drop a step from the Step Palette or an activity from the Activities pane into the
Process window.
7 Add as many steps and activities as needed to create the template.
8 Right-click the step where you need to add transition, then click Add Transition.
The transition is added after the selected step.
NOTE: Any step (except for the end step) can have one or more exit transition lines. A decision
step must have at least two exit lines.
9 Right-click each final step in the template, then click Add End Transition.
10 Look at the message pane at the bottom of the iTRAC Template Builder to find any messages
with warnings or errors about incomplete steps, then fix any problems you find.
11 When the template is complete, click File > Save.
or
Click the Save button to save the template.
17.6
Managing Templates
After creating a template, you can modify, copy, or delete it.
 Section 17.6.1, “Viewing or Editing a Template,” on page 144
 Section 17.6.2, “Copying a Template,” on page 145
 Section 17.6.3, “Deleting a Template,” on page 145
17.6.1
Viewing or Editing a Template
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 In the toolbar, click iTRAC > Template Manager.
3 Select a template, then click View/Edit to display the Template Builder.
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17.6.2
Copying a Template
One way to create a new workflow template is to copy one of the default templates and modify it.
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 In the toolbar, click iTRAC > Template Manager.
4 Select a template, then click Copy to display the Template Builder with the copied template
5 Specify a new name, then edit the template.
17.6.3
Deleting a Template
If you delete a template, any instantiated workflow processes that are based on that template finish
normally.
To delete a template:
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 In the toolbar, click iTRAC > Template Manager.
4 Select a template, then click Delete.
5 Click Yes to confirm you want to delete the template.
17.7
Steps
Steps are the basic components of a template. Every template must have a start step and an end
step. The start step exists by default. You can also add the following types of steps to a template:
 Section 17.7.1, “Start Step,” on page 145
 Section 17.7.2, “Manual Steps,” on page 146
 Section 17.7.3, “Decision Steps,” on page 147
 Section 17.7.4, “Mail Steps,” on page 147
 Section 17.7.5, “Command Steps,” on page 147
 Section 17.7.6, “Activity Steps,” on page 148
 Section 17.7.7, “End Step,” on page 149
17.7.1
Start Step
Every workflow template must have one start step. The transition from a start step is always
unconditional.
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17.7.2
Manual Steps
This type of step indicates that manual work must be performed. Every manual step in a template
must be assigned to a role. The users in that role are notified through a worklist item when an
instantiated workflow process reaches the manual step. When a user accepts the worklist item, it is
removed from the queues of the other users in that role. For more information about worklists and
stepping through a workflow process, see Section 18.2, “Understanding the Work Item Summary
Interface,” on page 169.
The description of the step should indicate what work needs to be performed. The user is expected to
perform that work and then acknowledge completion.
A manual step includes the following attributes:
 Name of step
 Role
 Variables
 Delete
 Add
 Description
Variables
The user can also be asked to set one or more variables to appropriate values. Four variable types
can be assigned to manual steps: Integer, Boolean, String, and Float. The variable can be set to an
explicit default value during the step definition, or the user can set the value at run-time as part of the
workflow process. The value can be optional or required.
The value of the variable can be used as part of a conditional transition to determine the path the
workflow follows. It can also be used later as part of a conditional transition from a decision step to
determine the workflow path.
NOTE: If the value is to be used later as part of a decision step, it should be marked Required.
For example, an integer variable can be set by the user to hold the event rate. Output transitions from
the manual step can be defined so that if the event rate is greater than 500, one path is followed, and
another path is followed if the event rate is less than 500.
To create a variable:
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 In the toolbar, click iTRAC > Template Manager.
4 Click the Add button in upper left corner to open a new template.
or
Select an existing template, then click View/Edit.
5 Right-click Variables in the Process Tree, then select the type of variable to add.
6 Use the following information to define the selected variable:
Name: Specify a name for the variable.
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Variable Type: Select the variable type. The options are:
 INTEGER
 BOOLEAN
 FLOAT
 STRING
Default Value: Specify a default value for the selected variable. The Boolean variable has only
the options of True or False.
Description: (Optional) Specify a description for the variable.
7 Click OK to save the variable.
From a manual step, you can set conditional, unconditional, timeout, or alert transitions.
17.7.3
Decision Steps
This type of step selects different exit transitions, depending on the values of variables defined in
prior steps. See Section 17.7.2, “Manual Steps,” on page 146 for the available variable types. The
decision step itself is very simple; you can edit only the step name and description. The workflow path
is determined by the transitions.
From a decision step, you can set conditional and else transitions. Every decision step must have an
else transition and at least one conditional transition. The else transition leads to a workflow path that
is followed if none of the criteria for the conditional transitions are met.
17.7.4
Mail Steps
This step sends a pre-written e-mail. A mail step includes the following attributes:
 Name of step
 To addressee
 From addressee
 Subject of e-mail
 Body of e-mail
From a mail step, you can set a conditional, unconditional, timeout, alert, or error transition. An error
transition should always be included so error conditions can be handled properly.
NOTE: If the first step of a workflow fails without an error transition, the iTRAC process cannot
proceed.
17.7.5
Command Steps
A command step executes an operating system command or script (shell, batch, Perl and so on). The
name of the command can be explicitly provided or set as a string variable, and parameters can be
passed in the same manner. Output from the command can also be placed back into a string variable.
A command step includes the following attributes:
 Name of step
 Description
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 Command (Can be explicit or variable-driven)
 Arguments (Can be explicit or variable-driven)
 Output Variable
NOTE: The command (a script file that refers to the command) must be stored in the /opt/novell/
sentinel/bin/actions directory on the iTRAC workflow server. Symbolic links are not supported
Variables
The command output can also be used to set a variable to the appropriate values. Command steps
must use String variable types.
The value of the variable can be used as part of a conditional transition to determine the path the
workflow follows. It can also be used later as part of a decision step to determine the workflow path.
For example, a command step can return a value of 0 for failure and 1 for success. This output can be
assigned to a variable, and then a conditional transition or a decision step can use this value to
determine which workflow path to take.
The command and its arguments can each be specified explicitly by the person designing the
workflow or can be set as a string variable. If either the command or the argument is set as a String
variable, there must be a previous step in the template where the variable is set to a String value.
From a command step, you can set conditional, unconditional, timeout, alert, or error transitions. An
error transition should always be included so error conditions can be handled properly.
NOTE: If the first step of a workflow fails without an error transition, the iTRAC process cannot
proceed.
17.7.6
Activity Steps
An activity step is a type of automated step that can be used in a workflow template. Activity steps are
created in the Activity Manager and can consist of internal Sentinel operations or external scripted
operations. After activity steps are created, the user can select from a library of these activities and
include them into a workflow. For more information on creating each type of predefined activity, see
Section 17.12, “Creating iTRAC Activities,” on page 161.
An activity step includes the following attributes:
 Name
 Description
 Activity Assignment
From an activity step, you can set conditional, unconditional, timeout, alert, or error transitions. An
error transition should always be included so error conditions can be handled properly.
NOTE: If the first step of a workflow fails without an error transition, the iTRAC process cannot
proceed.
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17.7.7
End Step
Every workflow template must have an end step to complete every branch of the workflow path.
17.8
Adding Steps to a Workflow
Steps can be added to a workflow by using the Step Palette or by right-clicking in the Process Builder.
When you add steps to a workflow, a yellow entry field indicates an invalid entry.
 Section 17.8.1, “Adding a Step from the Step Palette,” on page 149
 Section 17.8.2, “Adding a Step in the Process Builder,” on page 149
 Section 17.8.3, “Adding an Activity Step,” on page 150
 Section 17.8.4, “Adding an End Step,” on page 150
17.8.1
Adding a Step from the Step Palette
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 In the toolbar, click iTRAC > Template Manager.
4 Click the Add button in upper left corner to open a new template.
or
Select an existing template, then click View/Edit.
5 Drag and drop a step from the Step Palette.
6 Right-click the step, then select Edit Step.
7 Edit the details of the step, then click Save.
17.8.2
Adding a Step in the Process Builder
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 In the toolbar, click iTRAC > Template Manager.
4 Select an existing template, then click View/Edit.
5 Right-click an existing step in the Process Builder, then click Insert New.
6 Select the type of step you want to add:
 Manual
 Command Step
 Mail Step
 Decision Step
7 Edit the details of the step, then click Save.
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17.8.3
Adding an Activity Step
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 In the toolbar, click iTRAC > Template Manager.
4 Select an existing template, then click View/Edit.
5 Drag and drop an activity from the Activity Pane to the Process Builder.
17.8.4
Adding an End Step
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 In the toolbar, click iTRAC > Template Manager.
4 Select an existing template, then click View/Edit.
5 Right-click the last step with no transition, then select Add End Transition.
17.9
Managing Steps
Steps can be copied, edited, or deleted.
 Section 17.9.1, “Copying a Step,” on page 150
 Section 17.9.2, “Modifying a Step,” on page 151
 Section 17.9.3, “Editing a Manual Step,” on page 151
 Section 17.9.4, “Editing a Decision Step,” on page 151
 Section 17.9.5, “Editing a Mail Step,” on page 152
 Section 17.9.6, “Editing a Command Step,” on page 152
 Section 17.9.7, “Deleting a Step,” on page 152
17.9.1
Copying a Step
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 In toolbar, click iTRAC > Template Manager.
4 Select an existing template, click View/Edit.
5 Right-click an existing step, then select Copy Step.
The step window opens in edit mode with all the attributes of the selected step.
6 Specify a name for the new step.
7 Edit step attributes as necessary, then click OK.
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17.9.2
Modifying a Step
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 In the toolbar, click iTRAC > Template Manager.
4 Select an existing template, then click View/Edit.
5 Right-click an existing step, then select Edit Step.
6 Edit the step attributes, then click OK.
17.9.3
Editing a Manual Step
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 In the toolbar, click iTRAC > Template Manager.
4 Select an existing template that contains a manual step, then click View/Edit.
5 Right-click the manual step, then select Edit Step.
6 Change the name for the step.
7 Attach a role to this step by selecting a role from the drop-down list.
For more information on roles, see Section 17.14, “Managing iTRAC Roles,” on page 163.
8 Click Associate to associate a variable, then select the variable from the list or create new
variables to be associated.
9 Set a default value for the variable as desired.
10 Check Read-Only, if this variable is to be forced to the default value.
11 Click the Description tab, then provide a description for this step.
12 Click Preview to preview the step you created.
13 Click OK to save the step.
17.9.4
Editing a Decision Step
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 In the toolbar, click iTRAC > Template Manager.
4 Select an existing template that contains a decision step, then click View/Edit.
5 Right-click a decision step, then select Edit Step.
6 Change the name of the step.
7 Click the Description tab to provide a description for this step.
8 Click OK to save the step.
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17.9.5
Editing a Mail Step
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 In the toolbar, click iTRAC > Template Manager.
4 Select an existing template that contains a mail step, then click View/Edit.
5 Right-click a mail step, then select Edit Step.
6 Change the name of the step.
7 Specify the To and From e-mail addresses, then specify a subject for the e-mail in the General
tab.
8 Click the Body tab, then compose the e-mail message.
9 Click OK to save the step.
17.9.6
Editing a Command Step
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 In the toolbar, click iTRAC > Template Manager.
4 Select an existing template that contains a command step, then click View/Edit.
5 Right-click a command step, then select Edit Step.
6 Change the name for this step.
7 Specify the path and name of the command or script to execute relative to the /opt/novell/
sentinel/bin/actions directory.
8 (Conditional) Select Use Variables, if you want to run a command or script referenced in a
variable that is populated during the workflow process.
9 Specify any command line arguments to pass to the command or script.
10 (Conditional) Select Use Variables, if you want to run a command or script referenced in a
variable that is populated during the workflow process.
11 Specify a variable to hold output from the command or script.
Any standard output is placed into these variables.
12 Click the Description tab to provide a description for this step.
13 Click OK to save the step.
17.9.7
Deleting a Step
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 In the toolbar, click iTRAC > Template Manager.
4 Select an existing template, then click View/Edit.
5 Right-click an existing step, then select Delete Step.
6 In the Alert Message window, select Yes to confirm deletion.
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17.10
Transitions
Transitions are used to connect steps. There are several types of transitions:
 Unconditional
 Conditional
 Timeout
 Alert
 Else
 Error
A transition can have the following attributes:
 Name
 Description
 Destination: The step where the transition links
 Expression
 Timeout Values
Different steps have different properties and therefore they are associated with different transition
types.
Table 17-2 Steps and Valid Transitions
Step Type
 Decision
Valid Transitions
 Conditional
 Else
 Manual
 Unconditional
 Timeout
 Alert
 Command
 Unconditional
 Mail
 Timeout
 Activity
 Alert
 Error
17.10.1
Unconditional Transitions
An unconditional transition must always be used from a start step. Manual, command, activity, and
mail steps can also have unconditional transitions. The only parameter for an unconditional transition
is the next step.
The transition is carried out when the current step is completed (unless a timeout transition is
configured and the timeout period elapses).
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To add an unconditional transition:
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 In the toolbar, click iTRAC > Template Manager.
4 Select an existing template, then click View/Edit.
5 Right-click an existing step, then select Add Transition.
6 Use the following information to create the unconditional transition:
Name: Specify a name for the transition that is displayed in the Process Builder.
Type: Select Unconditional for the transition type.
Destination: Select the next step in the workflow for the unconditional transition.
Description: Specify a description for the transition.
7 Click OK to save the transition.
17.10.2
Conditional Transitions
Select an exit path based on an expression using iTRAC variables set in a manual or command step.
You can add conditional transitions only from a decision step to any other step.
When you create a conditional transition, the conditional expressions can be based on comparing a
variable that is populated during the workflow process to a specific value or to another variable
populated during the workflow process. Multiple conditional expressions can be combined or nested
using the AND and OR operators.
To add a conditional transition:
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 Select an existing template, then click View/Edit.
4 Right-click an existing decision step, then select Add Transition.
5 Use the following information to create the conditional transition:
Name: Specify a name for the conditional transition.
Type: Select Conditional for the transition type.
Destination: Select the next step in the workflow for the conditional transition.
Expression: Create an expression for the conditional transition. See Section 17.10.3, “Creating
an Expression,” on page 155 for instructions.
Description: Specify a description for the conditional transition.
6 Click OK to save the conditional transition.
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17.10.3
Creating an Expression
Each conditional transition contains an expression that defines the condition. Use the following
procedure to create a transition:
1 Verify you have completed Step 2 through Step 4.
2 Click Set to create the expression.
3 Click EXP to add the first expression.
The evaluation expression is an expression that evaluates to True or False during the workflow
process.
4 Use the following information to define the expression:
Relations: Select how the expression compares the conditional transition:
 Variables and Variable: Compares a variable to another variable.
 Variables and Values: Compares a variable to a constant value.
Attribute: Select a variable from the drop-down list or create a new one if desired.
Condition: Select a condition from the drop-down list.
The condition list varies depending on the type of attribute variable chosen.
 Boolean: The options are:
 equals
 not equals
 Float: The options are:
 is exactly
 is not
 is <
 is <=
 is >
 is >=
 Integer: The options are:
 is exactly
 is not
 is <
 is <=
 is >
 is >=
 String: The options are:
 startsWith
 endsWith
 equals
 equalsIgnorecase
 matches
 is empty
 is not empty
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Value: Either select an existing value or define a new value.
5 Click OK.
6 If a second expression is desired, select the root folder
7 Repeat Step 3 through Step 5 as needed.
8 To nest expressions or to use the OR operator, click the appropriate operator button, then drag
and drop expressions onto that operator.
By default, all expressions at the root level are separated by AND operators.
9 When the expression is complete, click OK.
You can edit or delete an existing expression by using the Edit and Delete buttons in the
Expression window.
10 Continue with Step 5 on page 154 to finish creating the conditional transition.
17.10.4
Else Transitions
An else transition leads to a path that is taken from a decision step when the criteria for the
conditional transitions are not met. This transition only applies to decision steps, and every decision
step must have an else transition. The workflow path with the else transition is only followed if none of
the criteria for the conditional transitions is met.
You can add else transitions only from a decision step to any other step.
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 Select an existing template, then click View/Edit.
4 Right-click an existing Decision step, then select Add Transition.
5 Use the following information to create the else transition:
Name: Specify a name for the else transition.
Type: Select Else for the transition type.
Destination: Select the next step in the workflow for the else transition.
Description: Specify a description for the else transition.
6 Click OK to save the else transition.
17.10.5
Timeout Transitions
A timeout transition leads to a path that is taken when a user-specified amount of time (minutes,
hours, or days) elapses after a base time, which is either step_activated_time or step_accepted_time.
Step_activated_time is the time that iTRAC activates this step within the workflow process.
Step_accepted_time is the time when a user accepts, or takes ownership, of the worklist item for this
step. If the timeout period passes without the step being completed, control moves to the next step.
Timeout transitions can be set for a manual step or a command step. Step_accepted_time is only
relevant for manual steps and should not be selected for a command step.
This transition is represented by a red line.
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To add a timeout transition:
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 Select an existing template, then click View/Edit.
4 Right-click an existing manual or command step, then select Add Transition.
5 Use the following information to create the timeout transition:
Name: Specify a name for the timeout transition.
Type: Select Timeout for the transition type.
Destination: Select the next step in the workflow for the timeout transition.
Timeout Details: Click Set to specify the timeout details:
 Time: Specify the timeout value.
 Unit: Select the unit of the timeout value. The options are:
 Minutes
 Hours
 Days
 Base Time: Select the base time to use with the timeout transition.
 Step Accepted Time: The time that iTRAC activates this step within the workflow
process
 Step Activated Time: The time when a user accepts, or takes ownership, of the
worklist item for this step.
Description: Specify a description for the timeout transition.
6 Click OK to save the timeout transition.
17.10.6
Alert Transitions
An alert transition leads to a path that is taken when a user-specified amount of time (minutes, hours,
or days) elapses after step_activated_time or step_accepted_time. At this point, the workflow process
is usually escalated to a user who can intervene and take action.
Step_activated_time is the time that iTRAC activates this step within the workflow process.
Step_accepted_time is the time when a user accepts (or takes ownership) of the worklist item for this
step.
If the alert time period passes without the step being completed, the workflow process branches into
two active paths. The original step remains active for user intervention. The alert path is also initiated.
For example, the alert path might escalate the workflow process to the attention of a supervisor,
although the main path is still open and the original owner still has the option to complete the worklist
item. Another example is that if a command is taking too long to run, you might want to alert an
analyst to investigate the delay or possibly run the command manually.
Alert transitions can be set for a manual step or a command step. Step_accepted_time is only
relevant for manual steps and should not be selected for a command step.
This transition is represented by a yellow line.
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To add an alert transition:
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 Select an existing template, then click View/Edit.
4 Right-click an existing manual or command step, then select Add Transition.
5 Use the following information to create the alert transition:
Name: Specify a name for the alert transition.
Type: Select Alert for the transition type.
Destination: Select the next step in the workflow for the alert transition.
Alert Details: Click Set to specify the alert details:
 Time: Specify the alert value.
 Unit: Select the unit of the alert value. The options are:
 Minutes
 Hours
 Days
 Base Time: Select the base time to use with the alert transition.
 Step Accepted Time: The time that iTRAC activates this step within the workflow
process
 Step Activated Time: The time when a user accepts, or takes ownership, of the
worklist item for this step.
Description: Specify a description for the alert transition.
6 Click OK to save the alert transition.
17.10.7
Error Transition
An error transition leads to a path that is taken if an automated step cannot successfully finish. Error
transitions can be used for command, mail, and activity steps (for example, if a command step fails to
execute).
Error transitions should typically lead to some kind of notification. For example, an error transition
might lead to a manual step in which the user is instructed to manually run a process that previously
failed.
The error transition is taken only if the iTRAC call to the command, mail, or activity step fails. If there
is an internal error with the command script or the mail server fails, this does not satisfy the conditions
for an error transition.
To add an error transition:
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 Select an existing template, then click View/Edit.
4 Right-click an existing command, mail, or activity step, then select Add Transition.
5 Use the following information to create the error transition:
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Name: Specify a name for the error transition.
Type: Select Error for the transition type.
Destination: Select the next step in the workflow for the error transition.
Description: Specify a description for the error transition.
6 Click OK to save the error transition.
17.10.8
Managing Transitions
After creating a transition, you can edit or delete the transition.
 “Editing a Transition” on page 159
 “Deleting a Transition” on page 159
Editing a Transition
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 In the toolbar, click iTRAC > Template Manager.
4 Select an existing template, then click View/Edit.
5 Double-click an existing transition line.
6 Edit the transition as needed.
7 Click OK to save the changes.
Deleting a Transition
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 In the toolbar, click iTRAC > Template Manager.
4 Select an existing template, then click View/Edit.
5 Right-click an existing step, then select Remove Transition.
6 Click Yes to confirm the deletions of the transition.
17.11
Activities
An activity is very similar to a command step, except that activities are reusable and cannot use input
or output variables. The activities pane shows a library of user-defined, reusable activities that can
reduce the amount of configuration necessary when building templates.
Activities are exported or imported as .xml files. These files can be exported or imported from one
system to another.
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iTRAC activities can be used in iTRAC templates to define a workflow step, or they can be manually
executed from within an incident. Sentinel provides three types of actions that can be used to build
activities:
 Section 17.11.1, “Incident Command Activity,” on page 160
 Section 17.11.2, “Incident Internal Activity,” on page 160
 Section 17.11.3, “Incident Composite Activity,” on page 160
17.11.1
Incident Command Activity
An incident command activity enables you to launch a specific command with or without arguments.
The following fields from the incident associated with the workflow process can be used as input to
the command:
 DIP [Target IP]
 DIP: Port
 RT1 (IDSAttackName)
 SIP [Initiator IP]
 SIP: Port
 Text (incident information in name value pair format)
The command (a script file that refers to the command) must be stored in the /opt/novell/
sentinel/bin/actions directory on the Sentinel server.
17.11.2
Incident Internal Activity
An incident internal activity enables you to email and attach information from the Sentinel database to
the incident associated with the workflow process. Each of these options has a prerequisite:
 Vulnerability for the Initiator IP address (SIP) or the Target IP address (DIP): Requires that
you run a vulnerability scanner and bring the results of the scan into Sentinel by using a
Vulnerability (or information) Collector
 Advisor attack-related data: Requires the purchase and installation of the optional Advisor
data subscription service.
 Asset data: Requires that you run an asset management tool such as NMAP and bring the
results into Sentinel by using an Asset Collector.
To send mail messages from within the Sentinel Control Center, you must have an SMTP integrator
that is configured with connection information and with the SentinelDefaultEMailServer property set to
True.
17.11.3
Incident Composite Activity
An incident composite activity enables you to combine one or more existing commands and internal
activities.
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17.12
Creating iTRAC Activities
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 In the toolbar, click iTRAC > Activity Manager.
4 Select an existing activity, then click View/Edit.
or
Click the Add button to create a new activity.
5 Use the following information to define the activity type:
Type: Select the activity type you want to create:
 Incident Command Activity
 Incident Composite Activity
 Incident Internal Activity
Usage: The Usage field is populated with the type of activity you selected.
Name: Specify a name for the activity
Description: Specify a description for the activity.
6 Configure the necessary settings for the type of activity you chose:
Incident Command Activity: Use the following information to create the incident command
activity:
 Command: Specify the command the activity performs.
 Arguments: Select the type of arguments for this command. The options are:
 None
 Incident Output
 Custom
Incident Composite Activity: Select one or more of the activities to create a composite activity.
The options are:
 CollectionActivity
 EraditionaActivity
 ContainmentActivity
Incident Internal Activity: Configure the incident internal activity to e-mail the output to a
specific address and attach the output to the incident associated with the workflow process.
 Mail and Attach: Select whether you want to e-mail the vulnerability and Advisor data.
 Mail Details: Specify the details of the e-mail that will be sent. You must define the To,
From, and Subject fields.
7 View and confirm the details you chose in the Summary page, then click Finish.
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17.13
Managing Activities
After creating an activity, you can modify, import or export it.
 Section 17.13.1, “Editing an Activity,” on page 162
 Section 17.13.2, “Exporting an Activity,” on page 162
 Section 17.13.3, “Importing an Activity,” on page 162
17.13.1
Editing an Activity
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 In the toolbar, click iTRAC > Activity Manager.
4 Select activity you want to edit, then click View/Edit.
5 Edit information in General, Attachments and Mail tabs.
6 Click OK to save the changes.
17.13.2
Exporting an Activity
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 In the toolbar, click iTRAC > Activity Manager.
4 Click Import/Export.
5 Use the following information to export the activity:
Action: Select Export Activity.
File Name: Click Explore, then browse to and select the file you want to export this information
to.
File Path: This is automatically populated when you select the export file.
6 Click Next.
7 Select one or more activities to be exported.
8 Click Next, then click Finish.
17.13.3
Importing an Activity
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 In the toolbar, click iTRAC > Activity Manager.
4 Click Import/Export.
5 Use the following information to import the .xml file that contains the activity:
Action: Select Import Activity.
File Name: Click Explore, then browse to and select the file you want to import.
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File Path: This is automatically populated when you select the import file.
6 Click Next.
The list of activities is displayed.
7 Click Next, then click Finish.
17.14
Managing iTRAC Roles
Sentinel users can be assigned to one or more roles. Manual steps in the workflow processes can be
assigned to a role.
 Section 17.14.1, “Adding a Role,” on page 163
 Section 17.14.2, “Deleting a Role,” on page 163
 Section 17.14.3, “Viewing the Role Details,” on page 163
17.14.1
Adding a Role
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 In the menu bar, click iTRAC > iTRAC Role Manager.
4 Click Add Role.
5 Specify a unique name for the role.
6 Click Add to specify which users must be members of this role.
7 Click OK.
17.14.2
Deleting a Role
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 In the menu bar, click iTRAC > iTRAC Role Manager.
4 Right-click the role you want to delete, click Delete Role.
5 Click Yes to confirm deletion.
17.14.3
Viewing the Role Details
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 In the menu bar, click iTRAC > iTRAC Role Manager.
4 Right-click the role for which you want to view details, click iTRAC Role Details.
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17.15
Process Management
Process management allows you to view the incident’s progress in the workflow or terminate a
workflow process.
Process execution is the time period during which the process is operational, with process instances
being created and managed.
When an iTRAC process is executed or instantiated in the iTRAC server, a process instance is
created, managed, and eventually terminated by the iTRAC server in accordance with the process
definition. As the process progresses towards completion or termination, it executes various activities
defined in the workflow template based on the criteria for the transitions between them. The iTRAC
workflow server processes manual and automatic steps differently.
An iTRAC process must be created with a single associated incident; there is therefore a one-to-one
match between iTRAC processes and incidents. Not all incidents are attached to a process. Only one
incident can be associated to an iTRAC process instance.
 Section 17.15.1, “Instantiating a Process,” on page 164
 Section 17.15.2, “Automatic Step Execution,” on page 164
 Section 17.15.3, “Manual Step Execution,” on page 165
 Section 17.15.4, “Display Status,” on page 165
 Section 17.15.5, “Displaying the Status of a Process,” on page 165
 Section 17.15.6, “Changing Views in Process Manager,” on page 166
 Section 17.15.7, “Starting or Terminating a Process,” on page 166
17.15.1
Instantiating a Process
An iTRAC process can be instantiated in the iTRAC server by associating an incident to an iTRAC
process by any of the following three methods
 Associating an iTRAC process to the incident at the time of incident creation
 Associating an iTRAC process to incident after an incident has been created
 Associating an iTRAC process to an incident through correlation
For more information on associating a process to an incident, see Chapter 16, “Configuring
Incidents,” on page 135.
17.15.2
Automatic Step Execution
When the process instance executes an automatic activity step, command step, or mail step, it
executes the associated activity or command defined in the template and stores the result in process
variables. It then transitions to the next step in the iTRAC template.
For example, an activity might be defined to ping a server. When this activity is executed in a
workflow process, the activity runs and attaches the results to the associated incident.
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17.15.3
Manual Step Execution
On encountering a manual step, the iTRAC server sends out notifications in the form of work items to
the assigned resource. If the step was assigned to a role, a work item is sent to all users within the
role. The iTRAC server then waits for the user to complete the work item before proceeding to the
next activity.
For more information, see Section 18.2, “Understanding the Work Item Summary Interface,” on
page 169.
17.15.4
Display Status
The Display Status option monitors the progress of a process. As the process instance progresses
from one activity, the user can track the progress visually by clicking the Refresh button. The process
monitor also provides an audit trail of all the actions performed by the iTRAC server when executing
the process.
Activities that are running, completed, or terminated are represented by the following icons.
Table 17-3 Display Status Icons
Icon
Description
Indicates that the activity is running.
Indicates that the activity is completed.
Indicates that the activity is terminated.
17.15.5
Displaying the Status of a Process
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 In the toolbar, click iTRAC > Display Process Manager.
4 Click the down-arrow on the Switch Views button to select a view or create a new view.
5 In the Process Manager window, right-click a process, then select Actions > Display Status.
The current step is highlighted in red.
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6 To close, click the X in the upper right corner.
17.15.6
Changing Views in Process Manager
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
3 In the toolbar, click iTRAC > Display Process Manager.
4 Click the Manage View drop-down list, then select Edit Current View.
5 Change the following options to change your current view:
 Fields
 Group by
 Sort
 Filter
 Leaf Attribute
6 Click Apply, then click Save.
17.15.7
Starting or Terminating a Process
1 Access the Sentinel Control Center. For more information, see Step 1 in Section 17.2,
“Accessing the iTRAC Administration Tools,” on page 140.
2 Click the iTRAC tab.
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3 In the toolbar, click iTRAC > Display Process Manager.
4 In the Process View Manager window, right-click a process, then select Actions > Start
Process or Terminate Process.
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18
Managing Work Items
18
 Section 18.1, “Overview,” on page 169
 Section 18.2, “Understanding the Work Item Summary Interface,” on page 169
 Section 18.3, “Viewing a Work Item,” on page 170
 Section 18.4, “Processing a Work Item,” on page 171
 Section 18.5, “Managing Work Items Of Other Users,” on page 171
18.1
Overview
A work item is a workflow task assigned to a particular user or role in the iTRAC application. The
individual activities to be performed to complete an iTRAC process are listed as work items in Work
Item Summary in the Sentinel Control Center. For more information on iTRAC processes, see
Chapter 17, “Configuring iTRAC Workflows,” on page 139. You can access the work items from any
tab in the Sentinel Control Center.
NOTE: To have access to a work item, you must assign it to you or acquire the work item
management permission. If you have the work item management permission, you can manage work
items of other users.
18.2
Understanding the Work Item Summary Interface
The Work Item Summary lists the work items allocated to a user as an individual and as a member of
a group. It can be used as an incident workflow to-do list for a user who is a part of the incident
response process. In the Work Item Summary, you can access the work items and perform different
tasks:
 View the details of a work item
 Process the work item to complete the task
In the Work Item Summary, work items are grouped by current user and by other users with similar
roles. The following example is for a user who is a member of the Admin, Analyst, Jr Analyst, and
Admin Asst groups.
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Figure 18-1 Work Item Summary Example 1
The following example is for a user who is a member of the Analyst group who has a process
assigned to his role (group).
Figure 18-2 Work Item Summary Example 2
18.3
Viewing a Work Item
1 In the Work Item Summary, click the yellow or green bar.
A work item list for the group or the current user displays and shows the name and ID of the
incident, the workflow process name, and the step name and description
2 Double-click any work item and click View Details.
The Work Item Details window appears and shows the process details, including any detailed
instructions included by the iTRAC workflow developer and any variables that need to be set in
the step.
3 Click Process Overview to view an overview of the entire iTRAC process.
4 Click Incident to view the details of the associated incident.
5 To take responsibility for this work item, click Acquire. Otherwise, click Cancel.
NOTE: Any changes to the incident from this page must be saved. There is a Save button on the
toolbar and a Save button at the bottom of the page.
The information on the Process Details and Process Overview tabs is defined by the iTRAC
workflow designer. For more information on creating workflow templates, see Chapter 17,
“Configuring iTRAC Workflows,” on page 139.
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18.4
Processing a Work Item
A work item can be accessed from any part of the main tabbed Sentinel Control Center interface.
 You can process a work item in a group even if you have logged in as a different user. However,
you cannot acquire a step if you have logged in as a different user.
 The work item remains with the user of a group who has acquired it.
 Consecutive steps are dependent. If two consecutive steps are assigned to the same role, the
user who acquires the first step is also assigned the second step.
 Non-consecutive steps are independent. For example, if a workflow proceeds from steps that are
assigned to the Tier 1 Analyst group to the Tier 2 Analyst group and then back to the Tier 1
Analyst group, the third step is available to the entire Tier 1 Analyst group. It is not assigned to
the individual user who handled the first step.
To process a work item, you must accept and complete the work item:
1 In the Work Item Summary, click the yellow or green bar. A work item list for the group or the
current user displays.
2 To assign an iTRAC process to you, select the process and click Acquire.
The Work Item Summary changes from yellow to green.
NOTE: When you acquire (accept) a work item, it is removed from the queues of all other users
in the same role. The work item can be returned to the group by clicking Release.
3 Click View Details.
The current step within a work item is highlighted in red.
4 To take action on the step, click the Process Details tab.
Depending on the type of variable (Integer, String, Boolean and Float) in a manual step, you can
click the down-arrow and select a value. If needed, you can add comments or add an
attachment.
In all other cases, the steps are automatic.
5 Click Complete to complete the process.
Completing the work item signals the completion of the task to the iTRAC server. The updateable
variables from the work item are processed by the server to move to the next step, which depends on
how the workflow is defined. The work item is removed from the user’s worklist and appears in the
worklist of the individual or role associated with the next step in the process.
18.5
Managing Work Items Of Other Users
The Administration function allows an administrative user to release a work item from a specific user
back to everyone in a role. This is beneficial if a work item is in already in process but the assigned
user cannot complete the work.
1 Log in into Sentinel as a user with iTRAC – Manage Work Items Of Other Users user rights.
2 In the Summary pane, click View work items.
3 In the Work Items window, set the following:
 User: Name of the user that has acquired the process
 Group: Name of the group that the user belongs to. In this example, the user belongs to the
Analyst group.
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 Owner: Select <All> (all processes acquired or not), me (acquired processes), or Group
(un-acquired processes).
 Process: Name of the process.
In this example, all processes are acquired by jr1, who belongs to the Analyst group.
4 To release the work item, select the work item and click Release. Release changes to Acquire
(not available).
In this example, only a member of the Analyst group can acquire this work item.
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A
Search Query Syntax
A
Sentinel uses the Lucene query language for searching events. This section provides an overview of
how to use the Lucene query language to perform searches in Sentinel. For more advanced features,
see Apache Lucene - Query Parser Syntax.
For information on the event fields in Sentinel, click Tips on the top right corner in the Sentinel Web
interface. A table is displayed that lists the event names and their IDs.
 Section A.1, “Basic Search Query,” on page 173
 Section A.2, “Wildcards in Search Queries,” on page 178
 Section A.3, “The notnull Query,” on page 180
 Section A.4, “Tags in Search Queries,” on page 180
 Section A.5, “Regular Expression Queries,” on page 181
 Section A.6, “Range Queries,” on page 181
 Section A.7, “IP Addresses Query,” on page 182
A.1
Basic Search Query
A basic query is a search for a value on a field. The syntax is as follows:
msg:<value>
The field name (msg) is separated from the value by a colon.
For example, to search for a phrase that includes the word “authentication,” you can specify the
search query as follows:
msg:authentication
Or, to search for events of severity 5, you can specify the search query as follows:
sev:5
If the value has spaces or other delimiters in it, you should use quotation marks. For example:
msg:"value with spaces"
Sentinel classifies event fields as either tokenized fields or non-tokenized fields. A tokenized field is
indexed and is searched differently than a non-tokenized field.
 Section A.1.1, “Case Insensitivity,” on page 174
 Section A.1.2, “Special Characters,” on page 174
 Section A.1.3, “Operators,” on page 174
 Section A.1.4, “The Default Search Field,” on page 175
 Section A.1.5, “Tokenized Fields,” on page 176
 Section A.1.6, “Non-Tokenized Fields,” on page 178
Search Query Syntax
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A.1.1
Case Insensitivity
Indexing and searching in Sentinel is not case-sensitive. For example, the following queries are all
equivalent:
msg:AdMin
msg:admin
msg:ADMIN
A.1.2
Special Characters
If you include special characters as part of a search, the special characters must be escaped. These
characters are as follows:
+ - && || ! ( ) { } [ ] ^ " ~ * ? : \ /
Use “ \” before the character you want to escape. For example, to search for ISO/IEC_27002:2005 in
the rv145 (Tag) field, use the following query:
rv145:ISO\/IEC_27002\:2005
You can also use quotation marks around the query:
rv145:"ISO/IEC_27002:2005"
If the value contains quotation marks, you must escape it by using the “\” character instead of
quotation marks. For example, to search for “system “mail” service” in the initiatorservicename
field, you must specify the query as follows:
sp:"system \"mail\" service"
For more information on quoting wildcard characters, see Section A.2.2, “Quoted Wildcards,” on
page 179.
A.1.3
Operators
Lucene supports AND, OR, and NOT Boolean operators, which allow words to be combined. Boolean
operators must be always capitalized.
 “OR Operator” on page 174
 “AND Operator” on page 175
 “NOT Operator” on page 175
 “Operator Precedence” on page 175
OR Operator
The OR operator is the default conjunction operator. If there is no Boolean operator between two
clauses, the OR operator is used. The OR operator links two clauses and finds a matching event if
either of the clauses is satisfied. The symbol || can be used in place of the word OR. For example,
consider the following query:
sun:admin OR dun:admin
This query finds events whose initiator username or target username is “admin.” The following query
produces the same result because OR is used by default:
sun:admin dun:admin
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AND Operator
The AND operator links two clauses and finds a matching event only if both clauses are satisfied. The
symbol && can be used in place of the word AND. For example, consider the following query:
sun:admin AND dun:tester
This query finds events whose initiator username is admin and the target username is tester.
NOT Operator
The NOT operator excludes events that match the clause after the NOT. The symbol ! can be used in
place of the word NOT. For example, consider the following query:
sev:[0 TO 5] NOT st:I NOT st:A NOT st:P
This query matches all events whose severity is between 0 and 5, but excludes those whose sensor
type is I (internal), A (audit), or P (performance); that is, it excludes Sentinel internal events.
The NOT operator cannot be used by itself because it is a way to exclude events from a set that has
been found by other search terms. For example, consider the following query:
NOT st:I NOT st:A NOT st:P
This query might seem like it should return all events where the sensor type is not I, A, or P. However,
it is an invalid query because a query cannot begin with the NOT operator.
Operator Precedence
Parentheses can be used in the usual way to change operator precedence. They can be nested to
any depth, as shown in the following examples:
(sun:admin OR dun:admin) AND (sip:10.0.0.1 OR sip:10.0.0.2)
((sun:admin OR dun:admin) AND (sip:10.0.0.1 OR sip:10.0.0.2)) OR (msg:user AND
evt:authentication)
A.1.4
The Default Search Field
Lucene uses a default search field, which is the field that is searched if no field is specified. In
Sentinel, _data is the default search field. By default, the default search field is a concatenation of the
following event fields:
evt,msg,sun,iuid,dun,tuid,sip,sp,dip,dp,rv42,shn,rv35,rv41,dhn,rv45,obsip,sn,obsdo
m,obssvcname,ttd,ttn,rv36,fn,ei,rt1,rv43,rv40,isvcc
The default search field is indexed and searched as a tokenized field. The result is that you can
search for words that might appear in any event field.
You can also customize the set of event fields that are concatenated in the default search field by
adding the indexedlog.datafield.ids property in the configuration.properties file. For more
information, see Customizing the Default Search Field in the NetIQ Sentinel Administration Guide.
For example, suppose you have two non-tokenized fields in an event, sun (initiatorusername) and
dun (targetusername). The sun field has the following value:
report-administrator
The dun field has the following value:
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175
system-tester
The _data field contains the concatenation of these fields separated by a single space character:
report-administrator system-tester
Because the _data field is a tokenized field, the words “report,” “administrator,” “system,” and “tester”
are indexed and searchable. The following queries would find this event:
report
_data:report
report-administrator
_data:report-administrator
report tester
In addition, the following queries also find this event:
sun:report-administrator
dun:system-tester
A.1.5
Tokenized Fields
Fields that are classified as tokenized fields are parsed into individual words for indexing. Therefore,
a search occurs only on words within the field value. Characters that are considered to be word
delimiters are not searchable, nor are words that are considered to be stop words. Lucene removes
extremely common words to save disk space and speed up searching. These words are ignored in
search filters. Currently, the following stop words are removed:
 a
 an
 and
 are
 as
 at
 be
 but
 by
 for
 if
 in
 into
 is
 it
 no
 not
 of
 on
 or
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 such
 that
 the
 their
 then
 there
 these
 they
 this
 to
 was
 will
 with
When it does a search, Lucene examines all of the words in a field and tries to match words in the
search value. For example, suppose that you specify a search for messages containing the following
value:
msg:"user-authentication failed on the server"
The words that are parsed within this value are “user,” “authentication,” “failed,” and “server.” These
are the only search words that would match this value. “On” and “the” are omitted because they are
stop words.
The value has the hyphen character (-) between some words. Hyphens are treated as word
delimiters, so Lucene does not search for hyphens. Consider, the following query:
msg:"user-authentication"
The results might not be exactly what you expect. The query search value matches the value, but not
because it is matching the hyphen. It matches because Lucene first parses the words in the search
value and identifies the words “user” and “authentication.” Lucene then matches those words against
values that have the words “user” and “authentication” with no intervening words in between. This
query would also match the following value, even though there is no hyphen between “user” and
“authentication”:
user authentication has failed on the server
Consider the following query:
msg:"failed on server"
This query has the stop word, "on," which is ignored. However, the stop word does affect the relative
positioning that is expected to be between words when evaluating a value to see if it matches. The
“failed on server” search matches any phrase where the words “failed” and “server” are separated by
exactly one word. It does not matter what the word is because the separating word is a stop word and
is ignored. Thus, the above query would match all of the following:
failed on server
failed-on server
failed a server
failed-a-server
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177
Proximity indicators created by using the ~ character followed by a value, make this more
complicated. The query dictates an expected distance between words. In the “failed on server” query,
the expected distance between “failed” and “server” is one word. The proximity indicator specifies
how much variance there can be from the expected distance. For example, consider the following
query, where a proximity indicator of one (~1) is specified:
msg:"failed on server"~1
This query indicates that the distance between “failed” and “server” could be plus or minus one from
the expected distance, which is one because of the stop word “on.” Thus, the distance could be 1, 11 (0), or 1+1 (2). Thus, all of the following would match:
failed on server
failed on the server
failed finance server
As of Lucene version 3.1, word parsing is done according to word break rules outlined in the Unicode
Text Segmentation algorithm. For more information, see Unicode Text Segmentation.
For information on tokenized fields in Sentinel, in the Sentinel Web interface click Tips on the top
right corner of the Sentinel Web interface. A table is displayed that lists all the event fields and
whether an event field is searchable or not.
A.1.6
Non-Tokenized Fields
Fields that are classified as non-tokenized fields are parsed fully for indexing. Thus, a search occurs
on full field values. For example, to search events whose initiatoruserfullname (iufname) field has the
value “Bob White”, you must specify the query as follows:
iufname:"Bob White"
A.2
Wildcards in Search Queries
Sentinel supports wildcards in search values but not in regular expressions:
 The asterisk (*) matches zero or more characters.
 The questions mark (?) matches any one character.
For example:
 adm*test: Matches admtest, ADMTEST, admintest, adMINtEst (note the lack of case
sensitivity).
 adm?test: Matches adm1test and AdMatest. Does not match admtest or ADMINTEST because
it must have exactly one character between "adm" and "test."
 Section A.2.1, “Wildcards in Tokenized Fields,” on page 179
 Section A.2.2, “Quoted Wildcards,” on page 179
 Section A.2.3, “Leading Wildcards,” on page 179
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A.2.1
Wildcards in Tokenized Fields
Wildcards are applied differently to tokenized fields and non-tokenized fields. Wildcards for tokenized
fields match only words that were parsed from the value and not the entire value. For example, if you
specify the search query msg:authentication*failed to search for the message The user
authentication has failed on the server, it does not return the events with this message. This
is because “*” does not match anything between “authentication” and “failed.” However, it matches
any words that begin with “authentication” and end with “failed.” For example, it returns results if any
of the following words are used: “authenticationhasfailed,” “authenticationuserfailed,” and
“authenticationserverfailed.” For tokenized fields, all matching that uses wildcard searches is done on
the words within the value and not on the full value.
A.2.2
Quoted Wildcards
 “Tokenized Fields” on page 179
 “Non-Tokenized Fields” on page 179
Tokenized Fields
When wildcards are quoted, they are not treated as wildcards, but as word delimiters. For example,
consider the following query:
msg:"user* fail*"
The search value "user* fail*" is parsed into two words, “user” and “fail.” The semantic is "find any
event where the msg field contains “user” AND “fail” words in that order, and there are no intervening
words between them.” Thus, it does not match the following value:
The user authentication has failed on the server.
This is because the wildcard is not treated as a wildcard but as a word delimiter.
Non-Tokenized Fields
When wildcards are quoted, they are treated as literal characters to search. For example, if the query
is: sun:"adm*," it returns the following values:
adm*
ADM* (case-insensitive)
The query does not return the following values:
admin
ADMIN
A.2.3
Leading Wildcards
Leading wildcards are not valid in searches because Lucene does not allow the * or ? characters to
be the first character of a search value. For example, the following queries are invalid:
 sun:*adm* The semantic is “find any event whose initiator username value contains the letters
a, d, and m in sequence.“
 sun:*tester The semantic is “find any event whose initiatorusername value ends with “tester.”
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179
 sun:* The semantic is “find any event whose initiator username field is non-empty.”
Because this is an important type of query, Sentinel provides an alternative way to accomplish
this. For more information, see Section A.3, “The notnull Query,” on page 180.
A.3
The notnull Query
You might need to find events where some field is present, or non-empty. For example, to find all
events that have a value in the sun field, you can specify the query as sun:*
The query does not return the expected results because Lucene does not support wildcards to be the
first character of a search value. However, Sentinel provides an alternate solution. For every event,
Sentinel creates a special field called notnull. The notnull field is a list of all fields in the event that are
not null (not empty). For example, if there is an event that has values in the evt, msg, sun, and xdasid
fields, the notnull field contains the following value:
evt msg sun xdasid
The notnull field is a tokenized field, so the following kinds of queries are possible:
 notnull:sun Finds all events whose sun field has a value.
 notnull:xdas* Finds all events where any field beginning with the name "xdas" has a value.
When a notnull field is added in Lucene, creating, indexing, and storing this field adds a cost to
processing each event as CPU needs to create and index the field and it also requires additional
storage space. If you want to disable storing the list of non-empty fields in the notnull field, set the
following property in the /etc/opt/novell/sentinel/config/configuration.properties file:
indexedlog.storenotnull=false
Save the file and restart the Sentinel server. All events received after this property was set do not
have a notnullfield associated.
NOTE: If you disable the notnull field, do not use the notnull field in search filters, rule filters, or
policy filters because the results might be incorrect and unpredictable.
A.4
Tags in Search Queries
The Tag field (rv145) is a tokenized field that has special parsing rules for words. The parsing rules
enable you to search on tags that include non-alphanumeric characters. However, the only word
delimiters are white space characters such as the blank and the tab. This is because tags do not
include white space in their names. For example, the following queries find the event if the event is
tagged with the ISO/IEC_27002:2005 tag and the NIST_800-53 tag:
rv145:"ISO/IEC_27002:2005"
rv145:"iso/iec_27002:2005"
rv145:"ISO/IEC_27002*"
rv145:nist_*
The slash (/), hyphen (-), and colon (:) characters are significant in the search value because, unlike
other tokenized fields, the parsing rules for rv145 do not treat them as a word delimiter. Also, the
search is not case sensitive.
The following queries would not find the event:
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rv145:"ISO IEC_27002 2005"
rv145:"iso *"
A.5
Regular Expression Queries
Regular expression queries allow you to search events that match a pattern. For example, to search
for an initiator user name that ends with the character "a”, you can specify the search query as
follows:
sun:/.*a/
If you need to include special characters in your query, you must escape special characters by
preceding them with the backslash (\) character. For example, to search for an initiator user name
that ends with the character “$”, you can specify the search query as follows:
sun:/.*\$/
For more information about using special characters, see Section A.1.2, “Special Characters,” on
page 174.
NOTE: Regular expression queries utilize significantly more system resources than other kinds of
queries because they are unable to leverage the more efficient data structures available in the index.
Executing regular expression queries take longer than other kinds of queries and potentially pull
system resources from other components of the system. Therefore, use regular expression queries
carefully and narrow the breadth of the search as much as possible by using time range and nonregular expression criteria terms.
A.6
Range Queries
Range queries allow you to find events where a field value is between a lower bound and an upper
bound. Range queries can be inclusive or exclusive of the upper and lower bounds. Whether a
particular value falls in the specified range is based on lexicographic character sorting. Inclusive
ranges are denoted by square brackets []. Exclusive ranges are denoted by curly brackets {}.
For example, consider the following query:
sun:[admin TO tester]
This query finds events whose sun field has values between admin and tester, inclusive. Note that
"TO" is capitalized.
However, if you change the query as follows:
sun:{admin TO tester}
The query now finds all events whose sun field is between admin and tester, not including admin and
tester.
Some event fields such as sev and xdasid are numeric. In Sentinel, range queries on numeric fields
are based on numeric sorting and not on lexicographic character sorting. For example, consider the
following query:
xdasid:[1 TO 7]
This query returns events whose xdasid value is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7. If the range evaluation was
based on lexicographic sorting, it would incorrectly match 10, 101, 100001, 200, and so on.
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A.7
IP Addresses Query
There are several extensions that Sentinel has implemented for searching on IP addresses.
Specifically, there are a number of convenient ways to specify IP address ranges. These are
explained in the following sections:
 Section A.7.1, “CIDR Notation,” on page 182
 Section A.7.2, “Wildcards in IP Addresses,” on page 182
A.7.1
CIDR Notation
Sentinel supports the Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) notation as a search value for IP
address fields such as sip (initiator IP) and dip (target IP) for specifying an IP address range. The
notation uses a combination of an IP address and a mask, as follows:
"xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/n"
In this notation, n is the number of high order bits in the value to match. For example, consider the
following query:
sip:"10.0.0.0/24"
This query returns events whose sip field is an IPv4 address ranging from 10.0.0.0 to 10.0.0.255.
The same notation works for IPv6 addresses. For example, consider the following query:
sip:"2001:DB8::/48"
This query returns events whose sip field is an IPv6 address ranging from 2001:DB8:: to
2001:DB8:0:FFFF:FFFF:FFFF:FFFF:FFFF.
A.7.2
Wildcards in IP Addresses
You can use only the asterisk character (*) in the IP address search values to specify ranges of IP
addresses. You cannot use the question mark (?) character.
In IPv4 addresses, an asterisk (*) can be used at any of the positions in the quad format. In IPv6
addresses, an asterisk (*) can be used between colons to specify a 16-bit segment. For example, all
of the following queries are valid on the sip field:
sip:10.*.80.16
sip:10.02.*.*
sip:10.*.80.*
sip:CAFE:*::FEED
sip:CAFE:*:FADE:*::FEED
If an asterisk (*) is used in one of the quad positions in an IPv4 address or between colons in an IPv6
address, it cannot be combined with other digits. For example, all of the following queries are invalid:
sip:10.*7.80.16
sip:10.10*.80.16
sip:CAFE:FA*::FEED
sip:CAFE:*DE::FEED
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Because the question mark (?) is not allowed, the following queries are invalid:
sip:10.10?.80.16
sip:10.?.80.16
sip:CAFE:FA??::FEED
sip:CAFE:??DE::FEED
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B
Correlation Rule Expression Syntax
B
Correlation rules are written to match specific events or sequences of events by using field
references, comparison and match operators on the field contents, and operations on sets of events.
The Correlation Engine loads the rule definition and uses the rules to evaluate, filter, and store events
in memory that meet the criteria specified by the rule. Depending on the rule definition, a correlation
rule might fire according to several different criteria:
 The value of one field or multiple fields matches
 The comparison of an incoming event to past events
 The number of occurrences of similar events within the specified time period
 One or more subrules firing
 One or more subrules firing in a particular order
 An event that matches the first subrule is not followed by an event that matches the second
subrule within the specified time period
This section provides a basic overview of how to build Correlation rules and the various parameters
required to build a rule.
 Section B.1, “Event Fields,” on page 185
 Section B.2, “Event Operations,” on page 186
 Section B.3, “Operators,” on page 194
 Section B.4, “Order of Operators,” on page 195
B.1
Event Fields
All operations function on event fields, which can be referred to by their names or by their IDs within
the rule expression. For a full list of event field names and their IDs, in the Sentinel Web interface,
click Tips on the top right corner of the Sentinel Web interface.
The event field name or its ID must also be combined with a prefix to designate whether the event
field is part of the current event (e) or a past event that is stored in memory. For the Window operator,
the stored events are prefixed with (w).
Examples:
e.dip (Destination IP for the current event)
w.dip (Destination IP for any stored event)
IMPORTANT: If you rename an event field by using the Event Configuration utility in the Sentinel
Control Center, use the new name when writing rules. In all cases, rules are stored internally with the
fixed IDs and the names are translated dynamically when viewed.
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B.2
Event Operations
Event operations evaluate, compare, and count events. Each operation works on a set of events,
receiving a set of events as input and returning a set of events as output. The current event
processed by a rule often has a special meaning within the language semantics. The current event is
always part of the set of events output by the operation unless the set is empty. If an input set of an
operation is empty, then the operation is not evaluated.
The individual correlation operations evaluate sets of events and, if matches are produced, generates
sets of corresponding events. You can chain together multiple correlation operations by using the flow
operator. The most common use of a chain construct is to begin a chain with a filter to select a subset
of events. The subset is then grouped by operations, such as Trigger, or by cross-event comparisons,
such as Window. For more information on the flow operator, see Section B.3.1, “Flow Operator,” on
page 194.
<operation 1> [flow <operation N> ...]
<operation 1> is a fully-specified operation.
In the above example, the output from one operation is treated as input to the next operation, much
like the UNIX pipe operator. The last operation in a chain's output causes the whole rule to fire,
generating a correlated event.
 Section B.2.1, “Filter Operation,” on page 186
 Section B.2.2, “Trigger Operation,” on page 189
 Section B.2.3, “Window Operation,” on page 190
 Section B.2.4, “Gate Operation,” on page 192
 Section B.2.5, “Sequence Operation,” on page 192
 Section B.2.6, “Sequence Timeout Operation,” on page 193
 Section B.2.7, “Distinct Operation,” on page 194
B.2.1
Filter Operation
A filter consists of evaluation expressions that evaluate the current event from the real-time event
stream. It compares the event field values with user-specified values by using a wide set of
comparison and match operators. If a match is found, the output set is the matched event, and then
the filter resets.
The syntax for the filter operation is:
<filter expression> ::= "filter("<evaluation expression 1> [NOT|AND|OR <evaluation
expression 2>] […] [NOT|AND|OR <evaluation expression n>]")"
<evaluation expression 1..N> is an expression constructed of one event field
reference (name or ID) and a comparison or match operator.
<evaluation expression> ::= "e." <event_name | event_ID> <comparison operator |
match operator> <user_specified_value>
Multiple evaluation expressions can be combined by using the standard Boolean operators (AND,
OR, and NOT) and grouping parentheses.
For example, the following rule detects whether the current event has a severity of 4 and the event
name contains either “FW” or “Comm.”
filter(e.sev = 4 and (e.evt match regex ("FW") or e.evt match regex ("Comm")))
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The filter operation supports the following operators:
 “Boolean Operators” on page 187
 “Standard Arithmetic Operators” on page 187
 “Match Regex Operator” on page 187
 “Match Subnet Operator” on page 188
 “Inlist and Not Inlist Operators” on page 188
 “Isnull Operator” on page 188
Boolean Operators
Filter expressions can be combined by using the Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT. The filter
Boolean operator precedence (from the highest to the lowest precedence) is described in the
following table:
Table B-1 Boolean Operators
Operator
Meaning
Operator Type
Associativity
NOT
logical NOT
unary
None
AND
logical AND
binary
left to right
OR
logical OR
binary
left to right
Standard Arithmetic Operators
Standard arithmetic operators can be used to build a condition that compares the value of an event ID
and a user-specified value, which is either a numeric value or a string field. The standard arithmetic
operators in Sentinel are =, <, >, !=, <=, and >=.
Examples:
filter(e.sev > 3)
filter(e.BeginTime < 1179217665)
filter(e.iufname != “Administrator”)
Match Regex Operator
The match regex operator is used to match an event field value by using standard regular
expressions. This operator is used only for string type tags.
Examples:
Match the exact phrase (case sensitive):
filter(e.evt match regex ("LoginUser"))
Match the exact phrase (not case sensitive):
filter(e.evt match regex ("(?i)^TeSt EvenT$"))
The value includes the phrase (not case sensitive):
filter(e.evt match regex ("(?i)EsT EVen"))
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For more information on the match regex operator, see Regular Expressions.
Match Subnet Operator
The match subnet operator is used to match event field IP addresses to a subnet in standard CIDR
notation. This operator is used only for IP address fields.
Example:
filter(e.dip match subnet (10.0.0.1/22))
filter(e.sip = 10.0.0.1 or e.sip=10.0.0.2) and (e.dpint=80)
For more information on CIDR notation, see CIDR.
Inlist and Not Inlist Operators
The inlist operator is used to perform a lookup on an existing dynamic list of string values. This
operator returns TRUE if the event field value is present in the list. The dynamic list name and the list
elements names are case sensitive. When you specify the dynamic list name and list elements
names, ensure that you match the case for the lookup to work properly. For more information on
Dynamic Lists, see Chapter 9, “Configuring Dynamic Lists,” on page 109.
For example, the following expression is used to evaluate whether the source IP address of the
current event is present in a Dynamic List named MailServerList. If the source IP address is present
in this list, the expression evaluates to TRUE.
filter(e.sip inlist MailServerList)
As another example, this filter expression combines the NOT operator and the inlist operator. This
expression evaluates to TRUE if the source IP address is not present in the Dynamic List named
MailServerList.
filter(not (e.sip inlist MailServerList))
The following expression is used to evaluate whether the event name of the current event equals “File
Access” and the InitiatorUserName is not present in a Dynamic List named AuthorizedUsers. If both
conditions are true for the current event, the expression evaluates to TRUE.
filter(e.evt="File Access" and not(e.sun inlist AuthorizedUsers))
Isnull Operator
The isnull operator returns TRUE if the event field value is equal to null. For example:
Filter(isnull(e.sip))
Output Sets
 The output of this expression is either the empty set (if the evaluation expression evaluates to
FALSE) or a set containing the current event (if the evaluation expression evaluates to TRUE).
 If the filter is the last or only operation of a correlation rule, the output set of the filter is used to
construct a correlated event.The input event that matched the filter is associated with the
correlated event.
 If the filter is not the last operation of a correlation rule (that is, if the filter is followed by a flow
operator), the output set of a filter is used as the input set to other operations through the flow
operator.
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Additional Information
The filter operator can be used to compare event field values with other event field values within the
same event. For example:
filter(e.sip=e.dip)
B.2.2
Trigger Operation
The trigger operation counts a number of events for a specified duration. The trigger command
defines a threshold count of events within a time condition and applies an optional discriminator that
splits events into unique buckets on which to apply the threshold count and time window conditions.
Trigger itself does not apply any filtering. Every event that enters the trigger function is put in a bucket
and is counted. If you want to use trigger on certain type of events, you must prefilter the events and
then flow that output to trigger.
Syntax
<trigger expression> ::= "trigger("<threshold count>","<evaluation
period>","discriminator ("<list of event fields>")")"
<threshold count> is an integer value specifying the number of events in a single bucket that are
necessary for the rule to fire.
<evaluation period> indicates the duration for which old events are kept in the bucket and counted
towards the threshold. The duration can be seconds (s), minutes (m), hours (h), and days (d.).
discriminator (<list of event fields>) specifies the set of fields to use to segregate each event into its
unique bucket. All fields are logically combined to define the bucket.
For example, the following rule detects if 5 events with the same source IP address happen within 10
seconds.
trigger(5,10,discriminator(e.sip))
Note that the discriminator is used to split the input stream of events into distinct buckets where all
events in a bucket have identical data for the specified fields (SourceIP in the example above.)
Multiple fields can be used to create buckets where all events in a single bucket have, for example,
the same SourceIP and TargetUserName. However, you cannot count across multiple buckets. For
example, you cannot use the Trigger operation to detect conditions where a source system contacts
N distinct target systems.
Output Sets
 If the specified count is reached within the specified duration, a set of events containing all of the
events maintained by the trigger is output.
 When receiving a new input set of events, a trigger first discards the outdated events (events that
have been maintained for more than the duration) and then inserts the current event. If the
number of resulting events is greater than or equal to the specified count, the trigger outputs a
set containing all of the events.
 If a trigger is the last operation (or the only operation) of a correlation rule, then the output set of
the trigger is used to construct a correlated event. The raw events associated with the correlated
events are the trigger operation output set of events with the current event listed first.
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B.2.3
Window Operation
The Window operation compares the current event to a set of past events that are stored in a window
that is defined as part of the Window operation. Window allows you to temporarily store events of
interest and then use the data within those stored events to filter the incoming raw events.
For example, suppose you want to detect if someone attempts to log in to an account several times
and fails, but then guesses that password and succeeds in logging in. You would collect the failed
login events and store them in the window, then compare new successful login events against those
stored events and match the username. If a match is found, then the user first failed to log in and then
did so successfully. Any event field can be matched against any other event field for more
sophisticated correlations.
How the Window Operation Works
The incoming raw stream of events is split before it arrives at the window operation:
 Storage filter (w.event tag): One stream of raw events is matched against the storage filter
and, if any events match, they are placed in the window. Note that the current event is not part of
this stream (that is, this stream is delayed by one event.) Events in the window are referred to
with the “w.” prefix, which can be interpreted as "the set of events in the window."
 Evaluation filter (e.event tag): The other stream of raw events is filtered and then passed, one
at a time, into the Window operation. Each event (the current event) is matched against the set
of events stored in the window by using the defined comparison expression. The current event
passing into the Window operation is referred to with the “e.” prefix, which can be interpreted as
"the current event."
You can define two filters for the Window operation to constrain resource usage. You define the first
filter within the Window operation itself to set the storage filter. You define the second filter as a prefix
to the Window operation using a standard in-line filter that sets the evaluation filter. These filters are
optional, but recommended.
To ensure that the current event does not match itself in cases where the comparison operator is
matching on the same field and a single event would match both the evaluation and storage filters,
the set of events in the window does not include the current event.
NOTE: It is critical to design your storage and evaluation filters carefully to minimize resource usage
by the Window operation. The window stores the event UUID and any fields necessary for
comparison for all events that match the storage filter. Therefore, constraining the set of matched
events is important to reduce memory use.
Syntax
The syntax is as follows:
<window expression> ::= "window(" <comparison expression> "," <storage filter> ","
<storage_time_period> ")"
<comparison expression> matches a current event field against a field in the set of past events stored
in the window. The standard comparison operators are supported.
<comparison expression> ::= "w." <event_ID | event_name> <comparison operator> "e."
<event_ID | event_name>
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Multiple comparison expressions can be combined by using the standard Boolean AND, OR, and
NOT operators. Note that it is also possible to compare stored event fields against literals, in which
case the Window operation ignores the contents of the current event and always copies it to the
output as long as an event that matches the literal is in the window.
<storage filter> is an embedded filter expression that defines the storage filter. All events that match
this filter are stored in the window for later comparison until they expire.
<storage filter> ::= <filter_rule>
<filter_ rule> is a simple expression using the filter operator. For more information, see Section B.2.1,
“Filter Operation,” on page 186.
<storage_time_period> is the total time for which a single event is stored in the window. The storage
time period can be seconds (s), minutes (m), hours (h), and days (d.)
<storage_time_period> ::= <1 or more digits> "s" | "m" | "h" | "d"
Examples
The following rule detects whether the current event has a source IP address that matches the source
IP address of an event that happened within the past 60 seconds, with the past events limited to
those whose source IP address is within the specified subnet. This Window would typically be
preceded by an evaluation filter to restrict the set of events evaluated by the Window.
window(w.sip = e.sip, filter(e.sip match subnet (10.0.0.10/22),60)
As another example, the following rule is a domino type of rule. An attacker exploits a vulnerable
system and uses it as an attack platform. This Window would typically be preceded by an evaluation
filter to restrict the set of events evaluated by the Window.
filter(e.XDASTaxonomyName = "XDAS_AE_IDS_PROBE" OR e.XDASTaxonomyName =
"XDAS_AE_IDS_PENETRATE") flow window((e.sip = w.dip AND e.dp = w.dp AND e.evt =
w.evt), filter(e.XDASTaxonomyName = "XDAS_AE_IDS_PROBE" OR e.XDASTaxonomyName =
"XDAS_AE_IDS_PENETRATE"), 1h)
The following rule identifies a potential security breach after a denial of service attack. The rule fires if
the destination of a denial of service attack has a service stopped within 60 seconds of the attack.
filter(e.rv51="Service" and e.rv52="Stop") flow window (e.sip = w.dip,
filter(e.XDASTaxonomyName = "XDAS_AE_DOS"), 60)
Output Sets
 If the Window operation matches a current event against the window based on the comparison
expression, the output set is the incoming event plus all matching past events
 If no events in the window match the current event, the output set is empty.
 If a window is the last or only operation of a correlation rule, the output set of the window is used
to construct a correlated event. The raw events associated with the correlated events are the
window operation output set of events with the current event first.
Additional Information
 All window simple evaluation expressions must include an event ID in the form w.[event_ID].
 Every event coming in to the Correlation Engine that passes the storage filter is put into the
window of past events except for the most recent, or current, event.
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 If no storage filter expression is defined, all events coming into the Correlation Engine are stored
by the window. With extremely high event rates or long duration storage time period, this might
require a large amount of memory.
 To minimize memory usage, only the relevant parts of the past events, not all event ID values,
are maintained in memory.
B.2.4
Gate Operation
The Gate operation is used to combine multiple subrules together to detect conditions where several
distinct activities happen within a given time period. The order in which each activity occurred is not
considered.
The gate operation is made up of one or more nested subrules and can be configured to fire if some,
any, or all of the subrules fire within a specified time. The subrules can be a simple rule or another
Composite rule. For more information on Composite rules, see “Composite Rule” on page 57.
Syntax
<gate expression> ::= "gate("<subrule 1>","<subrule 2>","<subrule
n>","<mode>","<evaluation period>","discriminator ("<list of event fields>")")"
<subrule 1...N> rules are the rule definitions for 1 to n subrules. Each subrule is an independent,
valid, correlation rule.
<mode> can be one of the subrules that must be triggered for the Gate operation to trigger.
<evaluation period> indicates the time period over which the specified number of subrules must fire in
order for the whole Gate rule to fire.
discriminator (<list of fields>) acts similar to the discriminator in the Trigger operation. The output from
each subrule is placed into unique buckets based on the data in the fields specified in this
discriminator. The <mode> count and <evaluation period> is then applied to each bucket separately.
For example, the following rule is a typical perimeter security IDS inside/outside rule:
filter(e.sev > 3) flow gate(filter(e.sn = "in"), filter(e.sn = "out"), all, 60s,
discriminator(e.dip, e.evt))
B.2.5
Sequence Operation
Sequence rules are similar to gate rules, except that all subrules must fire in sequence for the overall
Sequence operation to fire.
The subrules can be a simple rule or another Composite rule.
Syntax
Syntax:
<sequence expression> ::= "sequence("<subrule 1>","<subrule 2>","<subrule
n>","<evaluation period>","discriminator("<list of event fields>")")"
<subrule 1..N> are the rule definitions for 1 to n subrules. Each subrule is an independent, valid,
correlation rule.
<evaluation period> is a time period expressed in seconds (s), minutes (m), or hours (h).
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discriminator (<list of fields>) acts similar to the discriminator in the Trigger operation; the output from
each subrule is placed into unique buckets based on the data in the fields specified in this
discriminator. The <evaluation period> is then applied to each bucket separately.
For example, this rule detects three failed logins by a particular user in 10 minutes followed by a
successful login by the same user.
sequence (filter(e.evt="failed logins") flow trigger(3, 600, discriminator(e.sun,
e.dip)), filter(e.evt="goodlogin"), 600, discriminator(e.sun, e.dip))
B.2.6
Sequence Timeout Operation
A Sequence Timeout rule fires only when an event that matches the first subrule is not followed by an
event that matches the second subrule in a specified time frame. A Sequence Timeout rule has two
subrules.
Each subrule can be a simple rule or complex rule such as Sequence rule, Composite rule or a
Sequence Timeout rule itself.
Syntax
<sequence_timeout expression> ::= "sequence_timeout("<subrule 1>","<subrule
2>","<evaluation period>","discriminator("<list of event fields>")")"
<subrule 1> and <subrule 2> are the two subrule definitions. Each subrule is an independent and
valid correlation rule.
<evaluation period> is a time period expressed in seconds (s), minutes (m), or hours (h).
discriminator (<list of fields>) acts similar to the discriminator in the Trigger operation. The output from
each subrule is placed into unique buckets based on the data in the fields specified in this
discriminator. The <evaluation period> is then applied to each bucket separately.
For example, the rule detects a scenario where the server is stopped but did not start again within an
interval of 5 minutes.
sequence_timeout(filter(e.evt="service stopped"), filter(e.evt="service started"),
300)
Similarly, the following rule detects three failed logins with the same user ID from three different
source IPs in 60 seconds, but not followed by locking the user account in the specified time frame.
sequence_timeout(filter(e.evt="LoginFailed") flow trigger(3, 60,
discriminator(e.sun, distinct e.sip)), filter(e.evt="AccountLocked"), 70)
NOTE: It is critical to design the first subrule carefully to minimize resource usage by the Sequence
Timeout operation. To fire a Sequence Timeout rule, events matching the first subrule are stored in
memory from the time they arrive till the rule duration expires. Extremely high event rates or longer
rule duration may require a large amount of memory. So constraining the set of matched events for
the first subrule is important to reduce memory use.
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B.2.7
Distinct Operation
The Distinct operation considers only the unique values in events. You can use this operation in
scenarios where you need to differentiate scans versus flood type attacks. In flood type attacks the
overall quantity is important, with scans the overall unique information disseminated is important.
The following are some examples where you can use the Distinct operation:
You want a rule to trigger if five events have unique source IP addresses but the same destination IP
address within a 10 second period. You can create a free-form rule as follows:
trigger(5,10, discriminator(e.dip, distinct e.sip))
You want a rule to trigger if three severity 5 events occur from distinct combination of initiator IP
addresses and initiator users within a 60 second period. You can create a free-form rule as follows:
filter(e.sev = 5) flow trigger(3, 60, discriminator(distinct e.sip, distinct
e.sun))
You want a rule to trigger if three severity 5 events occur from the same initiator IP address but
distinct initiator users within a 60 second period. You can create a free-form rule as follows:
filter(e.sev = 5) flow trigger(3, 60, discriminator(e.sip, distinct e.sun))
You want a rule to trigger if three severity 5 events occur from the same initiator user but distinct
initiator IP addresses within a 60 second period. You can create a free-from rule as follows:
filter(e.sev = 5) flow trigger(3, 60, discriminator(distinct e.sip, e.sun))
B.3
Operators
Operators are used to transition between operations or expressions. The following fundamental
operators are used between operations:
 Section B.3.1, “Flow Operator,” on page 194
 Section B.3.2, “Union Operator,” on page 194
 Section B.3.3, “Intersection Operator,” on page 195
B.3.1
Flow Operator
The output set of events of the left side operation is the input set of events for the right side operation.
Flow is typically used to transition from one correlation operation to the next.
For example:
filter(e.sev = 5) flow trigger(3, 60)
The output of the filter operation is the input of the trigger operation. The trigger only counts 3 events
with severity equal to 5.
B.3.2
Union Operator
The union operator is the union of the left side operation output set and the right side operation output
set. The resulting output set contains events from either the left side operation output set or the right
side operation output set, without duplicates.
For example:
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filter(e.sev = 5) union filter(e.sip = 10.0.0.1)
is equivalent to
filter(e.sev = 5 or e.sip = 10.0.0.1)
B.3.3
Intersection Operator
The intersection operator is the intersection of the left side operation output set and the right side
operation output set. The resulting output set contains events that are common to both the left side
operation output set and the right side operation output set without duplicates.
For example:
filter(e.sev = 5) intersection filter(e.sip = 10.0.0.1)
is equivalent to
filter(e.sev = 5 and e.sip = 10.0.0.1)
B.4
Order of Operators
The operator precedence (from the highest to the lowest) is as follows:
Table B-2 Operator Precedence
Operator
Meaning
Operator Type
Associativity
flow
The output set becomes the input set
binary
left to right
intersection
Set intersection (remove duplicates)
binary
left to right
union
Set union (remove duplicates)
binary
left to right
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