Snipe-IT logs

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This document explains how to ingest Snipe-IT logs to Google Security Operations using Google Cloud Storage. Snipe-IT is an open-source IT asset management system that tracks hardware, software licenses, accessories, consumables, and other IT assets throughout their lifecycle.

Before you begin

Ensure that you have the following prerequisites:

  • A Google SecOps instance
  • A GCP project with Cloud Storage API enabled
  • Permissions to create and manage GCS buckets
  • Permissions to manage IAM policies on GCS buckets
  • Permissions to create Cloud Run functions, Pub/Sub topics, and Cloud Scheduler jobs
  • Privileged access to the Snipe-IT tenant

Collect Snipe-IT prerequisites (API token and base URL)

  1. Sign in to Snipe-IT.
  2. Open your user menu (top-right avatar) and click Manage API keys.
  3. Click Create New Token:
    • Name/Label: Enter a descriptive label (for example, Google SecOps export).
  4. Click Generate.
  5. Copy the API token (it will be shown only once). Store it securely.
  6. Determine your API base URL, typically: https://<your-domain>/api/v1
    • Example: https://snipeit.example.com/api/v1

Create Google Cloud Storage bucket

  1. Go to the Google Cloud Console.
  2. Select your project or create a new one.
  3. In the navigation menu, go to Cloud Storage > Buckets.
  4. Click Create bucket.
  5. Provide the following configuration details:

    Setting Value
    Name your bucket Enter a globally unique name (for example, snipe-it-logs)
    Location type Choose based on your needs (Region, Dual-region, Multi-region)
    Location Select the location (for example, us-central1)
    Storage class Standard (recommended for frequently accessed logs)
    Access control Uniform (recommended)
    Protection tools Optional: Enable object versioning or retention policy
  6. Click Create.

Create service account for Cloud Run function

The Cloud Run function needs a service account with permissions to write to GCS bucket.

Create service account

  1. In the GCP Console, go to IAM & Admin > Service Accounts.
  2. Click Create Service Account.
  3. Provide the following configuration details:
    • Service account name: Enter snipeit-assets-to-gcs-sa.
    • Service account description: Enter Service account for Cloud Run function to collect Snipe-IT logs.
  4. Click Create and Continue.
  5. In the Grant this service account access to project section:
    1. Click Select a role.
    2. Search for and select Storage Object Admin.
    3. Click + Add another role.
    4. Search for and select Cloud Run Invoker.
    5. Click + Add another role.
    6. Search for and select Cloud Functions Invoker.
  6. Click Continue.
  7. Click Done.

These roles are required for:

  • Storage Object Admin: Write logs to GCS bucket and manage state files
  • Cloud Run Invoker: Allow Pub/Sub to invoke the function
  • Cloud Functions Invoker: Allow function invocation

Grant IAM permissions on GCS bucket

Grant the service account write permissions on the GCS bucket:

  1. Go to Cloud Storage > Buckets.
  2. Click your bucket name.
  3. Go to the Permissions tab.
  4. Click Grant access.
  5. Provide the following configuration details:
    • Add principals: Enter the service account email (for example, snipeit-assets-to-gcs-sa@PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com).
    • Assign roles: Select Storage Object Admin.
  6. Click Save.

Create Pub/Sub topic

Create a Pub/Sub topic that Cloud Scheduler will publish to and the Cloud Run function will subscribe to.

  1. In the GCP Console, go to Pub/Sub > Topics.
  2. Click Create topic.
  3. Provide the following configuration details:
    • Topic ID: Enter snipeit-assets-trigger.
    • Leave other settings as default.
  4. Click Create.

Create Cloud Run function to collect logs

The Cloud Run function is triggered by Pub/Sub messages from Cloud Scheduler to fetch hardware assets from Snipe-IT API and writes them to GCS.

  1. In the GCP Console, go to Cloud Run.
  2. Click Create service.
  3. Select Function (use an inline editor to create a function).
  4. In the Configure section, provide the following configuration details:

    Setting Value
    Service name snipeit-assets-to-gcs
    Region Select region matching your GCS bucket (for example, us-central1)
    Runtime Select Python 3.12 or later
  5. In the Trigger (optional) section:

    1. Click + Add trigger.
    2. Select Cloud Pub/Sub.
    3. In Select a Cloud Pub/Sub topic, choose the topic (snipeit-assets-trigger).
    4. Click Save.
  6. In the Authentication section:

    1. Select Require authentication.
    2. Check Identity and Access Management (IAM).
  7. Scroll down and expand Containers, Networking, Security.

  8. Go to the Security tab:

    • Service account: Select the service account (snipeit-assets-to-gcs-sa).
  9. Go to the Containers tab:

    1. Click Variables & Secrets.
    2. Click + Add variable for each environment variable:
    Variable Name Example Value
    GCS_BUCKET snipe-it-logs
    GCS_PREFIX snipeit/assets
    SNIPE_BASE_URL https://snipeit.example.com/api/v1
    SNIPE_API_TOKEN your-api-token
    PAGE_SIZE 500
    MAX_PAGES 200
  10. Scroll down in the Variables & Secrets tab to Requests:

    • Request timeout: Enter 600 seconds (10 minutes).
  11. Go to the Settings tab in Containers:

    • In the Resources section:
      • Memory: Select 512 MiB or higher.
      • CPU: Select 1.
    • Click Done.
  12. Scroll to Execution environment:

    • Select Default (recommended).
  13. In the Revision scaling section:

    • Minimum number of instances: Enter 0.
    • Maximum number of instances: Enter 100 (or adjust based on expected load).
  14. Click Create.

  15. Wait for the service to be created (1-2 minutes).

  16. After the service is created, the inline code editor opens automatically.

Add function code

  1. Enter main in Function entry point
  2. In the inline code editor, create two files:

    • First file: main.py:

          import functions_framework
          from google.cloud import storage
          import json
          import os
          import urllib3
          from datetime import datetime, timezone
          import urllib.parse
      
          # Initialize HTTP client
          http = urllib3.PoolManager()
      
          # Initialize Storage client
          storage_client = storage.Client()
      
          @functions_framework.cloud_event
          def main(cloud_event):
              """
              Cloud Run function triggered by Pub/Sub to fetch hardware assets from Snipe-IT API and write to GCS.
      
              Args:
                  cloud_event: CloudEvent object containing Pub/Sub message
              """
      
              # Get environment variables
              bucket_name = os.environ.get('GCS_BUCKET')
              prefix = os.environ.get('GCS_PREFIX', 'snipeit/assets')
              base_url = os.environ.get('SNIPE_BASE_URL', '').rstrip('/')
              token = os.environ.get('SNIPE_API_TOKEN')
              page_size = int(os.environ.get('PAGE_SIZE', '500'))
              max_pages = int(os.environ.get('MAX_PAGES', '200'))
      
              if not all([bucket_name, base_url, token]):
                  print('Error: Missing required environment variables')
                  return
      
              try:
                  # Get GCS bucket
                  bucket = storage_client.bucket(bucket_name)
      
                  # Fetch and write pages
                  ts = datetime.now(timezone.utc)
                  offset = 0
                  page = 0
                  total = 0
      
                  headers = {
                      'Authorization': f'Bearer {token}',
                      'Accept': 'application/json',
                      'Content-Type': 'application/json'
                  }
      
                  while page < max_pages:
                      # Fetch page from Snipe-IT API
                      params = {
                          'limit': page_size,
                          'offset': offset,
                          'sort': 'id',
                          'order': 'asc'
                      }
                      qs = urllib.parse.urlencode(params)
                      url = f"{base_url}/hardware?{qs}"
      
                      print(f'Fetching page {page} from {url}')
      
                      response = http.request('GET', url, headers=headers, timeout=60.0)
      
                      if response.status != 200:
                          print(f'Error: API returned status {response.status}')
                          break
      
                      data = json.loads(response.data.decode('utf-8'))
      
                      # Get rows from response (Snipe-IT uses 'rows' field)
                      rows = data.get('rows', [])
                      total_available = data.get('total', 0)
      
                      # Write page to GCS
                      blob_name = f"{prefix}/{ts.strftime('%Y/%m/%d')}/snipeit-hardware-{page:05d}.json"
                      blob = bucket.blob(blob_name)
                      body = json.dumps(data, separators=(',', ':')).encode('utf-8')
                      blob.upload_from_string(body, content_type='application/json')
      
                      print(f'Wrote page {page} with {len(rows)} rows to {blob_name}')
      
                      total += len(rows)
      
                      # Check if we've reached the end
                      # Snipe-IT returns empty rows array when no more data
                      if len(rows) == 0:
                          print(f'No more results (empty rows array)')
                          break
      
                      # Also check if we've fetched all available records
                      if offset + len(rows) >= total_available:
                          print(f'Reached end of data (offset {offset + len(rows)} >= total {total_available})')
                          break
      
                      page += 1
                      offset += page_size
      
                  print(f'Successfully processed {page + 1} pages with {total} total objects')
      
              except Exception as e:
                  print(f'Error processing logs: {str(e)}')
                  raise
          ```
      
    • Second file: requirements.txt:

      functions-framework==3.*
      google-cloud-storage==2.*
      urllib3>=2.0.0
      
  3. Click Deploy to save and deploy the function.

  4. Wait for deployment to complete (2-3 minutes).

Create Cloud Scheduler job

Cloud scheduler publishes messages to the Pub/Sub topic at regular intervals, triggering the Cloud Run function.

  1. In the GCP Console, go to Cloud Scheduler.
  2. Click Create Job.
  3. Provide the following configuration details:

    Setting Value
    Name snipeit-assets-to-gcs-hourly
    Region Select same region as Cloud Run function
    Frequency 0 * * * * (every hour, on the hour)
    Timezone Select timezone (UTC recommended)
    Target type Pub/Sub
    Topic Select the topic (snipeit-assets-trigger)
    Message body {} (empty JSON object)
  4. Click Create.

Schedule frequency options

  • Choose frequency based on log volume and latency requirements:

    Frequency Cron Expression Use Case
    Every 5 minutes */5 * * * * High-volume, low-latency
    Every 15 minutes */15 * * * * Medium volume
    Every hour 0 * * * * Standard (recommended)
    Every 6 hours 0 */6 * * * Low volume, batch processing
    Daily 0 0 * * * Historical data collection

Test the scheduler job

  1. In the Cloud Scheduler console, find your job.
  2. Click Force run to trigger manually.
  3. Wait a few seconds and go to Cloud Run > Services > snipeit-assets-to-gcs > Logs.
  4. Verify the function executed successfully.
  5. Check the GCS bucket to confirm logs were written.

Retrieve the Google SecOps service account

Google SecOps uses a unique service account to read data from your GCS bucket. You must grant this service account access to your bucket.

Get the service account email

  1. Go to SIEM Settings > Feeds.
  2. Click Add New Feed.
  3. Click Configure a single feed.
  4. In the Feed name field, enter a name for the feed (for example, Snipe-IT logs).
  5. Select Google Cloud Storage V2 as the Source type.
  6. Select Snipe-IT as the Log type.
  7. Click Get Service Account. A unique service account email is displayed, for example:

    chronicle-12345678@chronicle-gcp-prod.iam.gserviceaccount.com
    
  8. Copy this email address for use in the next step.

Grant IAM permissions to the Google SecOps service account

The Google SecOps service account needs Storage Object Viewer role on your GCS bucket.

  1. Go to Cloud Storage > Buckets.
  2. Click your bucket name.
  3. Go to the Permissions tab.
  4. Click Grant access.
  5. Provide the following configuration details:
    • Add principals: Paste the Google SecOps service account email.
    • Assign roles: Select Storage Object Viewer.
  6. Click Save.

Configure a feed in Google SecOps to ingest Snipe-IT logs

  1. Go to SIEM Settings > Feeds.
  2. Click Add New Feed.
  3. Click Configure a single feed.
  4. In the Feed name field, enter a name for the feed (for example, Snipe-IT logs).
  5. Select Google Cloud Storage V2 as the Source type.
  6. Select Snipe-IT as the Log type.
  7. Click Next.
  8. Specify values for the following input parameters:

    • Storage bucket URL: Enter the GCS bucket URI with the prefix path:

      gs://snipe-it-logs/snipeit/assets/
      
      • Replace:

        • snipe-it-logs: Your GCS bucket name.
        • snipeit/assets: Prefix/folder path where logs are stored.
    • Source deletion option: Select the deletion option according to your preference:

      • Never: Never deletes any files after transfers (recommended for testing).
      • Delete transferred files: Deletes files after successful transfer.
      • Delete transferred files and empty directories: Deletes files and empty directories after successful transfer.

    • Maximum File Age: Include files modified in the last number of days. Default is 180 days.

    • Asset namespace: The asset namespace.

    • Ingestion labels: The label to be applied to the events from this feed.

  9. Click Next.

  10. Review your new feed configuration in the Finalize screen, and then click Submit.

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