Veeam collector

Configuration requirements

To run this collector, there are some configurations detailed below that you need to consider.

Configuration	Details
System requirements	OS 64-bit versions. OS - Microsoft Windows Server 2022. Local or remote installation of the Microsoft SQL Server 2019.

More information

Refer to the Vendor setup section to know more about these configurations.

Overview

Veeam Backup & Replication is a comprehensive data protection and disaster recovery solution. With Veeam Backup & Replication, you can create image-level backups of virtual, physical, and cloud machines and restore from them.

Devo collector features

Feature	Details
Allow parallel downloading (`multipod`)	`Not allowed`
Running environments	`Collector server` `On-premise`
Populated Devo events	`Table`
Flattening preprocessing	`No`

Data sources

Data source	Description	API endpoint	Collector service name	Devo table	Available from release
BackUp Server Data	Returns a resource representation of a collection of backup servers connected to Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager.	`/query?type=BackupServer`	`backup_server_data`	`backup.veeam.backup_replication.backupserverdata`	`v1.0.0-beta1`

Vendor setup

There are some minimum requirements that are needed to set up the collector. In order to retrieve the data, you need to set up the wizard for Veeam Backup & Replication.

Install Veeam Software Product on your machine, you can download it here.
Mount the installation image to the machine you plan to install it.
If you plan to install Veeam Backup on a virtual machine, use built tools of the virtualization management software to mount the installation image to the virtual machine.
After you mount the image or insert the disk, Autorun will open a splash screen with installation options.
If Autorun is not available or disabled run the Setup.exe file from the image or disk.
In the Standalone components section of the splash screen, click Install Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager.
Before installing the product, the setup will analyze the prerequisites and prompt to install. NET Framework if it is missing on the machine. Click OK to install this component. After you install the component you will need to reboot the computer.
Read and accept the license agreement. Select the agreements and 3rd party components checkboxes.
Download the license file form here. Request the trial key.
To install a license click Browse and select a valid license file for Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager.
At the program features step of the wizard you can select what Enterprise Manager components to install on the machine and specify the installation folder.
At the System configuration check step of the wizard, the setup wizard checks if all prerequisite software is installed on your machine. If required software components are missing, the setup wizard will offer to install them.
At the Default Configuration step of the wizard, you can select to install Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager with default installation settings or specify custom installation settings.
Specify Service Account Settings, and select Local System account.
After successful installation, you will see the Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager dashboard
below.

Minimum configuration required for basic pulling

Although this collector supports advanced configuration, the fields required to retrieve data with basic configuration are defined below.

This minimum configuration refers exclusively to those specific parameters of this integration. There are more required parameters related to the generic behavior of the collector. Check setting sections for details.

Setting	Details
`<api_base_url_value>`	This parameter is the URL of the Veeam instance.
`<username_value>`	The Veeam username.
`<password_value>`	The Veeam password.

See the Accepted authentication methods section to verify what settings are required based on the desired authentication method.

Accepted authentication methods

Authentication method	Username	Password
Username/Password	REQUIRED	REQUIRED

Run the collector

Once the data source is configured, you can either send us the required information if you want us to host and manage the collector for you (Cloud collector), or deploy and host the collector in your own machine using a Docker image (On-premise collector).

Collector services detail

This section is intended to explain how to proceed with specific actions for services.

Events service

Verify data collection

Once the collector has been launched, it is important to check if the ingestion is performed in a proper way. To do so, go to the collector’s logs console.

This service has the following components:

Component	Description
Setup	The setup module is in charge of authenticating the service and managing the token expiration when needed.
Puller	The setup module is in charge of pulling the data in a organized way and delivering the events via SDK.

Setup output

A successful run has the following output messages for the setup module:

INFO VeeamBackupManagerDataPullerSetup(veeam_backup_manager_collector,veeam_backup_manager_collector_input#111,backup_server_data#predefined) -> Puller Setup Started
INFO VeeamBackupManagerDataPullerSetup(veeam_backup_manager_collector,veeam_backup_manager_collector_input#111,backup_server_data#predefined) -> Requesting RestSvcSessionId from the Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager
INFO VeeamBackupManagerDataPullerSetup(veeam_backup_manager_collector,veeam_backup_manager_collector_input#111,backup_server_data#predefined) -> Successfully generated new access token.
INFO VeeamBackupManagerDataPullerSetup(veeam_backup_manager_collector,veeam_backup_manager_collector_input#111,backup_server_data#predefined) -> requesting Backup Server data from Veeam endpoint: to check credential permissions
INFO VeeamBackupManagerDataPullerSetup(veeam_backup_manager_collector,veeam_backup_manager_collector_input#111,backup_server_data#predefined) -> The credentials provided in the config file has the required permissions to fetch users info
INFO VeeamBackupManagerDataPullerSetup(veeam_backup_manager_collector,veeam_backup_manager_collector_input#111,backup_server_data#predefined) -> The token/header/authentication is defined
INFO VeeamBackupManagerDataPullerSetup(veeam_backup_manager_collector,veeam_backup_manager_collector_input#111,backup_server_data#predefined) -> The token/header/authentication is valid
INFO VeeamBackupManagerDataPullerSetup(veeam_backup_manager_collector,veeam_backup_manager_collector_input#111,backup_server_data#predefined) -> An unauthorized request is made successfully to Veeam Server
INFO VeeamBackupManagerDataPullerSetup(veeam_backup_manager_collector,veeam_backup_manager_collector_input#111,backup_server_data#predefined) -> An unauthorized request has been sent to Veeam server
INFO VeeamBackupManagerDataPullerSetup(veeam_backup_manager_collector,veeam_backup_manager_collector_input#111,backup_server_data#predefined) -> Finalizing the execution of setup()

Puller output

A successful initial run has the following output messages for the puller module:

Note that the PrePull action is executed only one time before the first run of the Pull action.

INFO MainThread -> [INPUT] VeeamBackupServerDataPuller(veeam_backup_manager_collector,veeam_backup_manager_collector_input#111,backup_server_data#predefined) - Starting thread
WARNING VeeamBackupServerDataPuller(veeam_backup_manager_collector,veeam_backup_manager_collector_input#111,backup_server_data#predefined) -> Waiting until setup will be executed
INFO VeeamBackupServerDataPuller(veeam_backup_manager_collector,veeam_backup_manager_collector_input#111,backup_server_data#predefined) -> PrePull Started
INFO VeeamBackupServerDataPuller(veeam_backup_manager_collector,veeam_backup_manager_collector_input#111,backup_server_data#predefined) -> PrePull terminated
INFO VeeamBackupServerDataPuller(veeam_backup_manager_collector,veeam_backup_manager_collector_input#111,backup_server_data#predefined) -> Pull Started
INFO VeeamBackupServerDataPuller(veeam_backup_manager_collector,veeam_backup_manager_collector_input#111,backup_server_data#predefined) -> No new data found.
INFO VeeamBackupServerDataPuller(veeam_backup_manager_collector,veeam_backup_manager_collector_input#111,backup_server_data#predefined) -> Statistics for this pull cycle (@devo_pulling_id=1656421259.276966): Number of requests performed: 1; Number of events received: 0; Number of duplicated events filtered out: 0; Number of events generated and sent: 0 ; Average of events per second: 0.
INFO VeeamBackupServerDataPuller(veeam_backup_manager_collector,veeam_backup_manager_collector_input#111,backup_server_data#predefined) -> The data is up to date!

After a successful collector’s execution (that is, no error logs found), you will see the following log message:

INFO VeeamBackupServerDataPuller(veeam_backup_manager_collector,veeam_backup_manager_collector_input#111,backup_server_data#predefined) -> Statistics for this pull cycle (@devo_pulling_id=1656421259.276966): Number of requests performed: 1; Number of events received: 0; Number of duplicated events filtered out: 0; Number of events generated and sent: 0 ; Average of events per second: 0.

The value @devo_pulling_id is injected in each event to group all events ingested by the same pull action. You can use it to get the exact events downloaded in that Pull action in Devo’s search window.

Restart the persistence

This collector does not implement persistence because its services are of type Snapshot.

Troubleshooting

This collector has different security layers that detect both an invalid configuration and abnormal operation. This table will help you detect and resolve the most common errors.

Error type	Error ID	Error message	Cause	Solution
SetupError	1	`api_base_url must be specified`	The `api_base_url` setting is missing.	Make sure the `api_base_url` setting is present under the `events` service in your configuration.
	2	`api_base_url not of expected type: str`	The `api_base_url` setting has a type other than string.	Make sure the `api_base_url` setting is a string.
	3	`api_base_url must match one of two regexes: [...]`	The `api_base_url` setting does not follow the expected format.	Make sure your `api_base_url` has this format: `http[s]://{ip_address_or_domain}{:optional_port}`
	4	`Required setting, credentials not found in user configuration`	There is no `credentials` section in your input settings.	Make sure there is a `credentials` section under the `threatquotient_data_puller` input in your configuration.
	5	`Required setting, credentials not of expected type: dict`	The `credentials` section is empty or has a simple type (is not an object).	Make sure the `credentials` section has a `username` and `password` fields.
	6	`Required setting, username not found in user configuration`	The `username` setting is missing.	Make sure the `username` setting from the `credentials` section has a value.
	7	`Required setting, username not of expected type: str`	The `username` setting has a type other than string.	Make sure the `username` setting from the `credentials` section is a string.
	8	`Required setting, password not found in user configuration`	The `password` setting is missing.	Make sure the `password` setting from the `credentials` section has a value.
	9	`Required setting, password not of expected type: str`	The `password` setting has a type other than string.	Make sure the `password` setting from the `credentials` section is a string.
	10	`Optional setting, verify_host_ssl_cert not of expected type: bool`	The `verify_host_ssl_cert` setting has a type other than boolean.	Make sure the `verify_host_ssl_cert` setting is a boolean value (`true`/`false`).
	11	`event_fetch_limit_in_items must be greater than or equal to [...] and less than equal to [...]`	The `event_fetch_limit_in_items` setting has a value too low or too high for the specified limits.	Make sure the `event_fetch_limit_in_items` setting is an integer ranged between the specified limits.
	12	`devo_tag_map must have an entry named "default"`	This error is not expected to happen in a regular flow.	This needs to be troubleshooted by the colllector’s developers.
	13	`Required setting, reset_persistence_auth not of expected type: str`	The `reset_persistence_auth` setting has a value, but its type is other than string.	Make sure the `reset_persistence_auth` setting is a string.
	14	`Required setting, historical_poll_datetime not of expected type: str`	The `historical_poll_datetime` setting has a type other than string.	Make sure the `historical_poll_datetime` setting is a string.
	15	`historical_poll_datetime does not match expected format [...]`	The `historical_poll_datetime` setting does not look like a valid date.	Make sure the `historical_poll_datetime` setting meets the mentioned format (a reference of this representation can be found here).
	16	`Please enter valid date for historical_poll_datetime less than or equal to one year`	The `historical_poll_datetime` setting is a date older than one year.	Make sure the `historical_poll_datetime` setting does not represent a date older than one year.
	17	`Please enter valid date for historical_poll_datetime less than or equal to the current date`	The `historical_poll_datetime` setting is a future date.	Make sure the `historical_poll_datetime` setting does not represent a future date.
InitVariablesError	100	`Unexpected status code when fetching ThreatQuotient JWT: [...]`	When a token was retrieved, the response had an unexpected error code.	Make sure your credentials are correct.
	101	`Unexpected status code when fetching ThreatQuotient client_id: [...]`	The collector is having issues connecting to the ThreatQ instance.	Make sure you have properly configured the `api_base_url` setting and that you can access the `{api_base_url}/assets/js/config.js` URL.
	102	`Cannot parse client_id from ThreatQuotient server`	The collector was expecting to find the Client’s ID, but could not find it. This is likely because the ThreatQ has been upgraded and the collector does not support it.	This needs to be troubleshooted by the colllector’s developers.
ApiError	400	`Unexpected status code when fetching ThreatQuotient events: [...]`	This error happens when the collector tries to fetch the ThreatQ events from its REST API.	In this error you will find the HTTP error code as long as the response’s text. This information should be enough to understand why is the error happening. Otherwise, please contact support.

Collector operations

This section is intended to explain how to proceed with the specific operations of this collector.

Verify collector operations

Initialization

The initialization module is in charge of setup and running the input (pulling logic) and output (delivering logic) services and validating the given configuration.

A successful run has the following output messages for the initializer module:

INFO MainThread -> (CollectorMultithreadingQueue) standard_queue_multithreading -> max_size_in_messages: 10000, max_size_in_mb: 1024, max_wrap_size_in_items: 100
WARNING MainThread -> [INTERNAL LOGIC] DevoSender::_validate_kwargs_for_method__init__ -> The <address> does not appear to be an IP address and cannot be verified: collector-us.devo.io
WARNING MainThread -> [OUTPUT] OutputLookupSenders -> <threshold_for_using_gzip_in_transport_layer> setting has been modified from 1.1 to 1.0 due to this configuration increases the Lookup sender performance.
WARNING MainThread -> [INTERNAL LOGIC] DevoSender::_validate_kwargs_for_method__init__ -> The <address> does not appear to be an IP address and cannot be verified: collector-us.devo.io
INFO MainThread -> [OUTPUT] OutputMultithreadingController(threatquotient_collector) -> Starting thread
INFO MainThread -> [OUTPUT] DevoSender(standard_senders,devo_sender_0) -> Starting thread
INFO MainThread -> [OUTPUT] DevoSenderManagerMonitor(standard_senders,devo_1) -> Starting thread (every 600 seconds)
INFO MainThread -> [OUTPUT] DevoSenderManager(standard_senders,manager,devo_1)(devo_1) -> Starting thread
INFO MainThread -> [OUTPUT] DevoSender(lookup_senders,devo_sender_0) -> Starting thread
INFO MainThread -> [OUTPUT] DevoSenderManagerMonitor(lookup_senders,devo_1) -> Starting thread (every 600 seconds)
INFO MainThread -> [OUTPUT] DevoSenderManager(lookup_senders,manager,devo_1)(devo_1) -> Starting thread
INFO MainThread -> InitVariables Started
INFO MainThread -> start_time_value initialized
INFO MainThread -> verify_host_ssl_cert initialized
INFO MainThread -> event_fetch_limit_in_items initialized
INFO MainThread -> InitVariables Terminated
INFO MainThread -> [INPUT] InputMultithreadingController(threatquotient_collector) - Starting thread (executing_period=300s)
INFO MainThread -> [INPUT] InputThread(threatquotient_collector,threatquotient_data_puller#111) - Starting thread (execution_period=600s)
INFO MainThread -> [INPUT] ServiceThread(threatquotient_collector,threatquotient_data_puller#111,events#predefined) - Starting thread (execution_period=600s)
INFO MainThread -> [SETUP] ThreatQuotientDataPullerSetup(threatquotient_collector,threatquotient_data_puller#111,events#predefined) - Starting thread
INFO MainThread -> [INPUT] ThreatQuotientDataPuller(threatquotient_collector,threatquotient_data_puller#111,events#predefined) - Starting thread

Events delivery and Devo ingestion

The event delivery module is in charge of receiving the events from the internal queues where all events are injected by the pullers and delivering them using the selected compatible delivery method.

A successful run has the following output messages for the initializer module:

INFO OutputProcess::SyslogSenderManagerMonitor(standard_senders,sidecar_0) -> Number of available senders: 1, sender manager internal queue size: 0
INFO OutputProcess::SyslogSenderManagerMonitor(standard_senders,sidecar_0) -> enqueued_elapsed_times_in_seconds_stats: {}
INFO OutputProcess::SyslogSenderManagerMonitor(standard_senders,sidecar_0) -> Sender: SyslogSender(standard_senders,syslog_sender_0), status: {"internal_queue_size": 0, "is_connection_open": True}
INFO OutputProcess::SyslogSenderManagerMonitor(standard_senders,sidecar_0) -> Standard - Total number of messages sent: 44, messages sent since "2022-06-28 10:39:22.511671+00:00": 44 (elapsed 0.007 seconds)
INFO OutputProcess::SyslogSenderManagerMonitor(internal_senders,sidecar_0) -> Number of available senders: 1, sender manager internal queue size: 0
INFO OutputProcess::SyslogSenderManagerMonitor(internal_senders,sidecar_0) -> enqueued_elapsed_times_in_seconds_stats: {}
INFO OutputProcess::SyslogSenderManagerMonitor(internal_senders,sidecar_0) -> Sender: SyslogSender(internal_senders,syslog_sender_0), status: {"internal_queue_size": 0, "is_connection_open": True}
INFO OutputProcess::SyslogSenderManagerMonitor(internal_senders,sidecar_0) -> Internal - Total number of messages sent: 1, messages sent since "2022-06-28 10:39:22.516313+00:00": 1 (elapsed 0.019 seconds)

By default, these information traces will be displayed every 10 minutes.

Sender services

The Integrations Factory Collector SDK has 3 different senders services depending on the event type to delivery (internal, standard, and lookup). This collector uses the following Sender Services:

Sender services	Description
`internal_senders`	In charge of delivering internal metrics to Devo such as logging traces or metrics.
`standard_senders`	In charge of delivering pulled events to Devo.

Sender statistics

Each service displays its own performance statistics that allow checking how many events have been delivered to Devo by type:

Logging trace

Description

Number of available senders: 1

Displays the number of concurrent senders available for the given Sender Service.

sender manager internal queue size: 0

Displays the items available in the internal sender queue.

This value helps detect bottlenecks and needs to increase the performance of data delivery to Devo. This last can be made by increasing the concurrent senders.

Total number of messages sent: 44, messages sent since "2022-06-28 10:39:22.511671+00:00": 21 (elapsed 0.007 seconds)

Displayes the number of events from the last time and following the given example, the following conclusions can be obtained:

44 events were sent to Devo since the collector started.
The last checkpoint timestamp was 2022-06-28 10:39:22.511671+00:00.
21 events where sent to Devo between the last UTC checkpoint and now.
Those 21 events required 0.007 seconds to be delivered.

By default these traces will be shown every 10 minutes.

Check memory usage

To check the memory usage of this collector, look for the following log records in the collector which are displayed every 5 minutes by default, always after running the memory-free process.

The used memory is displayed by running processes and the sum of both values will give the total used memory for the collector.
The global pressure of the available memory is displayed in the global value.
All metrics (Global, RSS, VMS) include the value before freeing and after previous -> after freeing memory

INFO InputProcess::MainThread -> [GC] global: 20.4% -> 20.4%, process: RSS(34.50MiB -> 34.08MiB), VMS(410.52MiB -> 410.02MiB)
INFO OutputProcess::MainThread -> [GC] global: 20.4% -> 20.4%, process: RSS(28.41MiB -> 28.41MiB), VMS(705.28MiB -> 705.28MiB)

Differences between RSS and VMS memory usage:

RSS is the Resident Set Size, which is the actual physical memory the process is using
VMS is the Virtual Memory Size which is the virtual memory that process is using

Enable/disable the logging debug mode

Sometimes it is necessary to activate the debug mode of the collector's logging. This debug mode increases the verbosity of the log and allows you to print execution traces that are very helpful in resolving incidents or detecting bottlenecks in heavy download processes.

To enable this option you just need to edit the configuration file and change the debug_status parameter from false to true and restart the collector.
To disable this option, you just need to update the configuration file and change the debug_status parameter from true to false and restart the collector.

For more information, visit the configuration and parameterization section corresponding to the chosen deployment mode.

Change log for v1.x.x

Release

Released on

Release type

Details

Recommendations

v1.0.0-beta1

30 Nov 2022

NEW FEATURE

New Features

Released the first BETA version of the Veeam collector with the following service:

BackUp Server Data: Returns a resource representation of a collection of backup servers connected to Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager.

Recommended version