Install Splunk Stream

This topic shows you how to install and upgrade Splunk Stream in both single instance and distributed Splunk Enterprise environments. For an overview of these deployment environments, see Deployment architectures in this manual.

Splunk Stream components

The Splunk Stream install package includes the following components:

• splunk_app_stream: Provides configuration management for the streamfwd binary. It also provides stream forwarder management tools, filters for fine-tuning data capture, pre-defined streams, and dashboards for analysis of network events and flow data.
• Splunk_TA_stream: Provides data ingestion and forwarding capabilities. Splunk_TA_stream includes the Stream forwarder (streamfwd) binary. streamfwd is the core component of Splunk_TA_stream and provides passive capture of network data. The TA contains both search and index time props and is required on indexers for searching and parsing.
• Independent Stream forwarder: The Splunk Stream installation package includes an independent Stream forwarder install package (splunkstreamfwd.tgz) that is not deployed with splunk_app_stream and Splunk_TA_stream. Splunk App for Stream generates a curl command that you can use to install the independent Stream forwarder on any compatible Linux machine. See Deploy Independent Stream Forwarder in this manual.

Install Splunk Stream on a single instance

You can install Splunk Stream on a single Splunk Enterprise instance. In a single-instance deployment, one Splunk Enterprise instance serves as both search head and indexer.

1. Go to http://splunkbase.com/app/1809/.
2. Click Download. The splunk-stream_<latest_version>.tgz installation package downloads to your local host.
3. Log into Splunk Web.
4. Click Manage Apps > Install app from file.
5. Upload the splunk-stream_<latest_version>.tgz installer file.
6. Restart Splunk Enterprise (if prompted).
   This installs splunk_app_stream and splunk_TA_stream in $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps.
7. Run the set_permissions.sh script to set permissions for Splunk_TA_stream. For details, see Set Splunk_TA_stream permissions on this page.

Install Splunk Stream in a distributed environment

You can install Splunk Stream in any distributed Splunk Enterprise environment. For information on Splunk Stream distributed deployment architectures, see Distributed deployment in this manual.

Splunk Stream version 6.5.0 and later supports search head clusters. See Deploy Stream on a search head Cluster in this manual.

Install Splunk Stream on search heads

1. Go to http://splunkbase.com/app/1809/.
2. Click Download. The splunk-stream_<latest_version>.tgz installation package downloads to your local host.
3. Log into Splunk Web.
4. Click Manage Apps > Install app from file.
5. Upload the splunk-stream_<latest_version>.tgz installer file.
6. Restart Splunk Enterprise (if prompted).
   This installs splunk_app_stream and Splunk_TA_stream in $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps. It also installs a copy of Splunk_TA_stream in $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/deployment-apps.
7. Repeat steps 3-6 on all search heads.

Configure deployment server to distribute Splunk_TA_stream to universal forwarders

When you install Splunk Stream on search heads, it installs a copy of Splunk_TA_stream in the $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/deployment-apps directory. This is a pre-configured copy of Splunk_TA_stream that you can deploy to universal forwarders using the deployment server.

For instructions on how to setup the deployment server to distribute Splunk_TA_stream to universal forwarders, see Plan a deployment in Updating Splunk Enterprise Instances.

Set Splunk_TA_stream permissions

During installation, Stream automatically puts the NIC in promiscuous mode. This requires you to run Splunk_TA_stream with SUID root permissions.

To set permissions for Splunk_TA_stream:

On Linux and OSX, run the set_permissions.sh script in the Splunk_TA_stream directory, as follows:

cd $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/Splunk_TA_stream
sudo ./set_permissions.sh

On Windows, you must either run Splunk Enterprise as Administrator, or install WinPcap as a stand-alone package on the target machine. See Windows installation considerations on this page.

Enable SSL certificate validation

You can enable certificate validation for SSL connections to Splunk_TA_stream to verify the identity of splunk_app_stream servers. To enable certificate validation, set the appropriate parameters in inputs.conf:

1. Edit $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/Splunk_TA_stream/local/inputs.conf.
2. Set the following parameters:

sslVerifyServerCert = true
* Enables server (splunk_app_stream) certificate validation on client (streamfwd) side.

rootCA = <path>
* Points to the file name of the root CA certificate file. If the "sslVerifyServerCert" parameter 
  is set to true, "rootCA" must show the full path to the root CA certificate file. If this 
  parameter is left empty or points to a non-existent file, certificate validation does not occur.

sslCommonNameToCheck = <commonName>
* Allows for overriding common name value to compare against the certificate CN. If this
  parameter is left blank, the fully qualified host name of the splunk_app_stream server is 
  verified against the CN in the server certificate. For the certificate CN, the following 
  Common Name formats are supported: *.app.splunk.com OR streamapp.app.splunk.com.

Note: If certificate validation is enabled, and validation fails either because the certificate is not valid OR because the common names do not match, streamfwd will not connect to the splunk_app_stream server.

Configure indexer receiving port for Stream data

1. On indexers, go to Settings > Forwarding and Receiving.
2. Click Configure Receiving.
3. Click New. Enter the receiving port number. For example, port 9997.
4. Click Save.

Manually install Splunk_TA_stream on remote universal forwarders

If you want to collect network data from one or more remote servers, and you are not using the deployment server, you can manually install Splunk_TA_stream on universal forwarders on each server, as follows:

1. Install Splunk Stream as described in Install Splunk Stream in a distributed environment on this page.
   This installs splunk_app_stream and Splunk_TA_stream in $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps. This also installs a version of Splunk_TA_stream in $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/deployment-apps.
2. Copy Splunk_TA_stream from $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/deployment-apps into $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps on each universal forwarder.
3. Verify Splunk_TA_stream configuration on each universal forwarder as follows:
   1. Verify that Splunk_TA_stream/local/inputs.conf specifies the correct location of splunk_app_stream. For example:

      [streamfwd://streamfwd]
      splunk_stream_app_location = https://localhost:8000/en-us/custom/splunk_app_stream/
      stream_forwarder_id = 
      disabled = 0
      

   2. Verify that Splunk_TA_stream/local/streamfwd.conf is configured to collect data from the appropriate network interface.
      Note: By default streamfwd.conf collects data from all network interfaces. For detailed streamfwd.conf configuration information, see Configure Stream forwarder in this manual.
4. Restart Splunk Enterprise.

Install Independent Stream Forwarder

Splunk Stream supports independent Stream forwarder (streamfwd) installation on compatible Linux machines. For instructions, see Deploy independent Stream forwarder in this manual.

Upgrade Splunk Stream

Upgrade Splunk Stream in Splunk Web, as follows:

1. Open Splunk Enterprise.
2. In the top left menu, click Manage Apps.
3. Click Install app from file.
4. Click Choose file and browse to the latest version of the splunk-stream_<latest_version>.tgz installer file.
5. Select the Upgrade app checkbox. This overwrites the current version of the app.
6. Click Upload.
7. Restart Splunk Enterprise (if prompted). This upgrades the following directories:

• splunk_app_stream in $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps.
• Splunk_TA_stream in $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps.
• Splunk_TA_stream in $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/deployment-apps.

Note: This process does not upgrade Splunk_TA_stream unless the installer package includes a new version of the TA. Otherwise, the installer upgrades splunk_app_stream only.

Manually upgrade Splunk_TA_stream

When you upgrade Splunk Stream, Splunk_TA_stream is automatically upgraded on the server on which Splunk Stream is installed. However, Splunk_TA_stream is not automatically upgraded on universal forwarders. If your Stream deployment includes additional universal forwarders and you are not using the deployment server, you must manually upgrade Splunk_TA_stream on each universal forwarder (or use another mechanism to install the TA, such as Puppet or Chef).

To manually upgrade Splunk_TA_stream to the latest version:

1. Make a backup of the Splunk_TA_stream directory:

   mv $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/Splunk_TA_stream Splunk_TA_stream.bak
   

2. Copy the Splunk_TA_stream directory from the new splunk_app_stream tarball:

   cp -r $TARBALL_DIR/install/Splunk_TA_stream $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/
   

3. Copy over the old local configuration directory:

   cp –r Splunk_TA_stream.bak/local $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/Splunk_TA_stream/
   

4. Remove temp directory:

   rm –rf Splunk_TA_stream.bak
   

5. Restart Splunk.

   cd $SPLUNK_HOME/bin
   ./splunk restart
   

Windows installation considerations

Splunk Stream uses the WinPcap driver to capture packets on Windows systems. Due to a flaw in the WinPcap security model, installing Stream on Windows allows all local users to use WinPcap for packet sniffing.

See https://wiki.wireshark.org/CaptureSetup/CapturePrivileges.

On Windows systems, Splunk Stream supports the Admin role only.