Install and configure the Content Pack for SOAR System Logs

The Splunk App for Content Packs enables you to access content packs, preview their contents, and install them in your environment. The Splunk App for Content Packs includes the Content Pack for SOAR System Logs provided you are using ITSI version 4.11.4 or higher.

Installation and configuration overview

Follow these high-level steps to configure the content pack:

1. Install the content pack on your search head.
2. Configure SOAR services.
3. Tune KPI threshold levels.
4. Configure alerting and notification settings.

Prerequisites

• Perform all the steps in Satisfy requirements for configuring SOAR System Logs.
• Install and configure the IT Service Intelligence (ITSI). See About Splunk ITSI in the Install and Upgrade Manual.
• Create a full backup of your ITSI environment in case you need to uninstall the content pack later. See Create a full backup of ITSI.

Install the Content Pack for SOAR System Logs

Install the content pack from the Splunk App for Content Packs. The Content Pack for SOAR System Logs is included in the Splunk App for Content Packs.

Install the content pack from the Splunk App for Content Packs

To install the Content Pack for SOAR System Logs, you have to install the Splunk App for Content Packs. To install the Splunk App for Content Packs in your environment, see the Splunk App for Content Pack installation instructions.

After you install the Splunk App for Content Packs, follow these steps to configure the Content Pack for SOAR System Logs:

1. From the ITSI main navigation bar, click Configuration > Data Integrations.
2. Select Add content packs or Add structure to your data depending on your version of ITSI.
3. Select the Content Pack for SOAR System Logs content pack.
4. Review what's included in the content pack and click Proceed.
5. Configure the content pack settings.

   Setting	Description
   Choose which objects to install	For a first-time installation, select the items you want to install and deselect any you're not interested in. For an upgrade, the installer identifies which objects from the content pack are new and which ones already exist in your environment from a previous installation. You can selectively choose which objects to install from the new version, or install them all.
   Choose a conflict resolution rule for the objects you install	For upgrades or subsequent installs, decide what happens to duplicate objects introduced from the content pack. Choose from the following options: Install as new - Objects are installed and any existing identical objects in your environment remain intact. Replace existing - Existing identical objects are replaced with those from the new installation. Any changes you previously made to these objects are overwritten.
   Import as enabled	Select whether to install objects as enabled or to leave them in their original state. It's recommended that you import objects as disabled to ensure your environment doesn't break from the addition of new content. This setting only applies to services, correlation searches, and aggregation policies. All other objects such as KPI base searches and saved searches are installed in their original state regardless of which option you choose.
   Add a prefix to your new objects	Optionally, append a custom prefix to each object installed from the content pack. For example, you might prefix your objects with CP- to indicate they came from a content pack. This option can help you locate and manage the objects post-install.
   Backfill service KPIs	Optionally backfill your ITSI environment with the previous seven days of KPI data. Consider enabling backfill if you want to configure adaptive thresholding and Predictive Analytics for the new services. This setting only applies to KPIs and not service health scores.

6. When you've completed your selections, click Install selected.
7. Click Install to confirm the installation. When the installation completes you can view all objects that were successfully installed in your environment. A green checkmark on the Data Integrations page shows any other content packs you have installed.

Configure SOAR services

This content pack ships with the following services:

• Splunk App for SOAR - OS Metrics
• Splunk App for SOAR - System Health

Splunk App for SOAR - OS Metrics

The Splunk App for SOAR - OS Metrics service uses entity filtering to filter entities to it. For more information about entity filtering, see Split and filter a KPI by entities in ITSI in the Service Insights manual.

Perform the following steps to create a SOAR service for OS monitoring:

1. In ITSI, click Configuration > Services.
2. Open the Splunk App for SOAR - OS Metrics service.
3. Click the Entities tab.
4. In the Alias host matches field, list each of the SOAR servers you plan to monitor.
5. Review the list of matched entities and make sure you see one entity for each SOAR server.
6. Click Save to save the service configuration.

For more information about configuring entity rules, see Define entity rules for a service in ITSI in the Service Insights manual.

Splunk App for SOAR - System Health

The Splunk App for SOAR - System Health service is for application-level KPIs.

Tune KPI thresholds

After you configure your SOAR services, you must tune the thresholds within each SOAR KPI to meet the specifics of your environment. It's best to do this when you have at least a week's worth of data in your SOAR environment.

First, review every KPI to determine whether it may be helpful in identifying if your SOAR service is degraded. If the KPI doen't turn out to be a good indicator of service degradation, it's best to remove it to keep your implementation simple. This also makes it easier to find the information that will help lead you to the insight you're looking for.

Review and refine every KPI threshold to ensure the best accuracy of service health scores and creation of notable events. Use the following resources to configure KPI thresholds:

• For regular thresholding instructions, see Configure KPI thresholds in ITSI.
• For more advanced thresholding options, see Overview of advanced thresholding in ITSI.

Configure alerting and notification settings

Configure ITSI to send you alerts when one or more KPIs are experiencing a sustained degradation.

• To generate a notable event when search results meet specific conditions, see Generate events with correlation searches in ITSI.
• To group these notable events into episodes to organize them in Episode Review, see Overview of aggregation policies in ITSI.

Next steps

Now that you've completed the installation and configuration steps, continue to Use the Content Pack for SOAR System Logs.