Elasticsearch and Kibana

To set up visual dashboards of DMARC data, install Elasticsearch and Kibana.

Note

Elasticsearch and Kibana 6 or later are required

Installation

On Debian/Ubuntu based systems, run:

sudo apt-get install -y apt-transport-https
wget -qO - https://artifacts.elastic.co/GPG-KEY-elasticsearch | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/elasticsearch-keyring.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/elasticsearch-keyring.gpg] https://artifacts.elastic.co/packages/8.x/apt stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/elastic-8.x.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y elasticsearch kibana

For CentOS, RHEL, and other RPM systems, follow the Elastic RPM guides for Elasticsearch and Kibana.

Note

Previously, the default JVM heap size for Elasticsearch was very small (1g), which will cause it to crash under a heavy load. To fix this, increase the minimum and maximum JVM heap sizes in /etc/elasticsearch/jvm.options to more reasonable levels, depending on your server’s resources.

Make sure the system has at least 2 GB more RAM than the assigned JVM heap size.

Always set the minimum and maximum JVM heap sizes to the same value.

For example, to set a 4 GB heap size, set

-Xms4g
-Xmx4g

See https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/important-settings.html#heap-size-settings for more information.

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable elasticsearch.service
sudo systemctl enable kibana.service
sudo systemctl start elasticsearch.service
sudo systemctl start kibana.service

As of Elasticsearch 8.7, activate secure mode (xpack.security.*.ssl)

sudo vim /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml

Add the following configuration

# Enable security features
xpack.security.enabled: true
xpack.security.enrollment.enabled: true
# Enable encryption for HTTP API client connections, such as Kibana, Logstash, and Agents
xpack.security.http.ssl:
  enabled: true
  keystore.path: certs/http.p12
# Enable encryption and mutual authentication between cluster nodes
xpack.security.transport.ssl:
  enabled: true
  verification_mode: certificate
  keystore.path: certs/transport.p12
  truststore.path: certs/transport.p12

sudo systemctl restart elasticsearch

To create a self-signed certificate, run:

openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout kibana.key -out kibana.crt

Or, to create a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) for a CA, run:

openssl req -newkey rsa:4096-nodes -keyout kibana.key -out kibana.csr

Fill in the prompts. Watch out for Common Name (e.g. server FQDN or YOUR domain name), which is the IP address or domain name that you will use to access Kibana. it is the most important field.

If you generated a CSR, remove the CSR after you have your certs

rm -f kibana.csr

Move the keys into place and secure them:

sudo mv kibana.* /etc/kibana
sudo chmod 660 /etc/kibana/kibana.key

Activate the HTTPS server in Kibana

sudo vim /etc/kibana/kibana.yml

Add the following configuration

server.host: "SERVER_IP"
server.publicBaseUrl: "https://SERVER_IP"
server.ssl.enabled: true
server.ssl.certificate: /etc/kibana/kibana.crt
server.ssl.key: /etc/kibana/kibana.key

Note

For more security, you can configure Kibana to use a local network connexion to elasticsearch :

elasticsearch.hosts: ['https://SERVER_IP:9200']

=>

elasticsearch.hosts: ['https://127.0.0.1:9200']

sudo systemctl restart kibana

Enroll Kibana in Elasticsearch

sudo /usr/share/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch-create-enrollment-token -s kibana

Then access to your web server at https://SERVER_IP:5601, accept the self-signed certificate and paste the token in the “Enrollment token” field.

sudo /usr/share/kibana/bin/kibana-verification-code

Then put the verification code to your web browser.

End Kibana configuration

sudo /usr/share/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch-setup-passwords interactive
sudo /usr/share/kibana/bin/kibana-encryption-keys generate
sudo vim /etc/kibana/kibana.yml

Add previously generated encryption keys

xpack.encryptedSavedObjects.encryptionKey: xxxx...xxxx
xpack.reporting.encryptionKey: xxxx...xxxx
xpack.security.encryptionKey: xxxx...xxxx

sudo systemctl restart kibana
sudo systemctl restart elasticsearch

Now that Elasticsearch is up and running, use parsedmarc to send data to it.

Download (right-click the link and click save as) export.ndjson.

Connect to kibana using the “elastic” user and the password you previously provide on the console (“End Kibana configuration” part).

Import export.ndjson the Saved Objects tab of the Stack management page of Kibana. (Hamburger menu -> “Management” -> “Stack Management” -> “Kibana” -> “Saved Objects”)

It will give you the option to overwrite existing saved dashboards or visualizations, which could be used to restore them if you or someone else breaks them, as there are no permissions/access controls in Kibana without the commercial X-Pack.

Upgrading Kibana index patterns

parsedmarc 5.0.0 makes some changes to the way data is indexed in Elasticsearch. if you are upgrading from a previous release of parsedmarc, you need to complete the following steps to replace the Kibana index patterns with versions that match the upgraded indexes:

1. Login in to Kibana, and click on Management

2. Under Kibana, click on Saved Objects

3. Check the checkboxes for the dmarc_aggregate and dmarc_forensic index patterns

4. Click Delete

5. Click Delete on the conformation message

6. Download (right-click the link and click save as) the latest version of export.ndjson

7. Import export.ndjson by clicking Import from the Kibana Saved Objects page

Records retention

Starting in version 5.0.0, parsedmarc stores data in a separate index for each day to make it easy to comply with records retention regulations such as GDPR. For more information, check out the Elastic guide to managing time-based indexes efficiently.