Collect VMware vCenter logs

Supported in:

Google secops SIEM

This document explains how to ingest VMware vCenter logs to Google Security Operations using the Bindplane agent.

VMware vCenter is a server management platform that generates JSON and syslog messages for virtual machine operations, host management, authentication, and configuration changes.

Before you begin

Make sure you have the following prerequisites:

• A Google SecOps instance
• Windows Server 2016 or later, or Linux host with systemd
• Network connectivity between the Bindplane agent and the VMware vCenter server
• If running behind a proxy, ensure firewall ports are open per the Bindplane agent requirements
• Privileged access to the VMware vCenter Server Management web UI

Get Google SecOps ingestion authentication file

1. Sign in to the Google SecOps console.
2. Go to SIEM Settings > Collection Agents.
3. Download the Ingestion Authentication File.

4. Save the file securely on the system where Bindplane will be installed.

   Note: This JSON file contains credentials for authenticating the Bindplane agent to Google SecOps.

Get Google SecOps customer ID

1. Sign in to the Google SecOps console.
2. Go to SIEM Settings > Profile.

3. Copy and save the Customer ID from the Organization Details section.

   Note: The customer ID is required for configuring the Bindplane agent exporter.

Install the Bindplane agent

Install the Bindplane agent on your Windows or Linux operating system according to the following instructions.

Windows installation

1. Open Command Prompt or PowerShell as an administrator.

2. Run the following command:

   msiexec /i "https://github.com/observIQ/bindplane-agent/releases/latest/download/observiq-otel-collector.msi" /quiet
   

3. Wait for the installation to complete.

4. Verify the installation by running:

   sc query observiq-otel-collector
   

   The service should show as RUNNING.

Linux installation

1. Open a terminal with root or sudo privileges.

2. Run the following command:

   sudo sh -c "$(curl -fsSlL https://github.com/observiq/bindplane-agent/releases/latest/download/install_unix.sh)" install_unix.sh
   

3. Wait for the installation to complete.

4. Verify the installation by running:

   sudo systemctl status observiq-otel-collector
   

   The service should show as active (running).

Additional installation resources

For additional installation options and troubleshooting, see the Bindplane agent installation guide.

Configure the Bindplane agent to ingest syslog and send to Google SecOps

Locate the configuration file

• Linux:

  sudo nano /opt/observiq-otel-collector/config.yaml
  

• Windows:

  notepad "C:\Program Files\observIQ OpenTelemetry Collector\config.yaml"
  

Edit the configuration file

• Replace the entire contents of config.yaml with the following configuration:

  receivers:
      udplog:
          listen_address: "0.0.0.0:514"
  
  exporters:
      chronicle/vmware_vcenter:
          compression: gzip
          creds_file_path: '/etc/bindplane-agent/ingestion-auth.json'
          customer_id: '<customer_id>'
          endpoint: malachiteingestion-pa.googleapis.com
          log_type: VMWARE_VCENTER
          raw_log_field: body
  
  service:
      pipelines:
          logs/vmware_vcenter_to_chronicle:
              receivers:
                  - udplog
              exporters:
                  - chronicle/vmware_vcenter
  

Configuration parameters

Replace the following placeholders:

• Receiver configuration:

  • listen_address: IP address and port to listen on:
    • 0.0.0.0 to listen on all interfaces (recommended)
    • Port 514 is the standard syslog port (requires root on Linux; use 1514 for non-root)

• Exporter configuration:

  • creds_file_path: Full path to ingestion authentication file:
    • Linux: /etc/bindplane-agent/ingestion-auth.json
    • Windows: C:\Program Files\observIQ OpenTelemetry Collector\ingestion-auth.json
  • customer_id: Customer ID copied from the Google SecOps console
  • endpoint: Regional endpoint URL:
    • US: malachiteingestion-pa.googleapis.com
    • Europe: europe-malachiteingestion-pa.googleapis.com
    • Asia: asia-southeast1-malachiteingestion-pa.googleapis.com
    • See Regional Endpoints for complete list

Save the configuration file

• After editing, save the file:
  • Linux: Press Ctrl+O, then Enter, then Ctrl+X
  • Windows: Click File > Save

Restart the Bindplane agent to apply the changes

• To restart the Bindplane agent in Linux, run the following command:

  sudo systemctl restart observiq-otel-collector
  

  1. Verify the service is running:

     sudo systemctl status observiq-otel-collector
     

  2. Check logs for errors:

     sudo journalctl -u observiq-otel-collector -f
     

• To restart the Bindplane agent in Windows, choose one of the following options:

  • Command Prompt or PowerShell as administrator:

    net stop observiq-otel-collector && net start observiq-otel-collector
    

  • Services console:

    1. Press Win+R, type services.msc, and press Enter.
    2. Locate observIQ OpenTelemetry Collector.
    3. Right-click and select Restart.

    4. Verify the service is running:

       sc query observiq-otel-collector
       

    5. Check logs for errors:

       type "C:\Program Files\observIQ OpenTelemetry Collector\log\collector.log"
       

Configure syslog in VMware vCenter

1. Sign in to the vCenter Server Management web UI.
2. Go to Syslog > Forwarding Configuration.
3. Click Configure to create a new forwarding configuration.
4. Provide the following configuration details:
   • Server address: Enter the Bindplane agent IP address.
   • Protocol: Select UDP.
   • Port: Enter the Bindplane agent port number (for example, 514).
5. Click Save.
6. Click Send Test Message to verify the configuration.

UDM mapping table

Log Field	UDM Mapping	Logic
Access Mask	principal.process.access_mask	Converted to decimal from hexadecimal.
Account Domain	principal.administrative_domain
Account Name	principal.user.userid
ApplicationProtocol	additional.fields
Authentication Package	security_result.about.resource.name
Client Address	principal.ip,, principal.asset.ip	Parsed as IP.
Client Port	principal.port	Converted to integer.
cmd	target.process.command_line
date	timestamp	Parsed as yyyy-MM-dd and merged with time as yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss to when, parsed as date.
date_time	timestamp	Parsed as date with RFC 3339, TIMESTAMP_ISO8601, SYSLOGTIMESTAMP formats.
desc	metadata.description
eventid	metadata.product_event_type	Merged with task as eventid - task.
host_name	principal.hostname,, principal.asset.hostname
http_method	network.http.method
ip	target.ip,, target.asset.ip
kv_data1		Parsed as key-value pairs.
kv_data2		Parsed as key-value pairs.
kv_msg1.cipher	network.tls.cipher
kv_msg1.ctladdr	intermediary.labels
kv_msg1.daemon	security_result.about.labels
kv_msg1.from	network.email.from	If mail_from does not contain @ then appended with @local.
kv_msg1.msgid	network.email.mail_id
kv_msg1.proto	security_result.about.labels
kv_msg1.relay	intermediary.hostname,, intermediary.ip	Parsed as (HOSTNAME)? [IP] or HOSTNAME, if relay_domain is present then set to intermediary.hostname, if relay_ip is present then merged to intermediary.ip.
kv_msg1.size	network.sent_bytes	Converted to unsigned integer.
kv_msg1.stat	security_result.summary
kv_msg1.verify	security_result.description,, security_result.action	If kv_msg1.verify is FAIL then security_result.action set to BLOCK.
kv_msg1.version	network.tls.version
labels.log_type	metadata.product_event_type
labels.net.host.ip	principal.ip,, principal.asset.ip
labels.net.host.port	principal.port
labels.net.peer.ip	target.ip,, target.asset.ip
labels.net.peer.port	target.port
labels.net.transport	network.ip_protocol	If labels.net.transport is TCP then TCP.
level	security_result.severity	If level is INFO/Informational/DEBUG/info/Information then INFORMATIONAL, if level is ERROR/error then ERROR, if level is WARNING then LOW.
log.file.path	target.process.file.full_path
logName	security_result.category_details
Logon Account	principal.user.userid
Logon Type	extensions.auth.mechanism	If logon_type is 2/Interactive then INTERACTIVE, if logon_type is 3/8 then NETWORK, if logon_type is 4 then BATCH, if logon_type is 5 then SERVICE, if logon_type is 7 then UNLOCK, if logon_type is 9 then NEW_CREDENTIALS, if logon_type is 10 then REMOTE_INTERACTIVE, if logon_type is 11 then CACHED_INTERACTIVE, else MECHANISM_UNSPECIFIED.
mail_from	network.email.from	If mail_from does not contain @ then appended with @local.
mail_to	network.email.to	If mail_to does not contain @ then appended with @local.
message		Parsed with grok patterns.
namespace	principal.namespace
port	target.port	Converted to integer.
process_id	target.process.pid
providername	principal.application
Relative Target Name	target.file.full_path
resource.labels.project_id	src.cloud.project.id
resource.type	src.labels
response_status	network.http.response_code	Converted to integer.
sec_desc	security_result.description
Security ID	target.user.windows_sid
security_result_action_detail	security_result.action_details
server_name	target.hostname,, target.asset.hostname
Share Name	target.resource.name
Source Network Address	principal.ip,, principal.asset.ip	Parsed as IP.
Source Port	principal.port	Converted to integer.
summary	security_result.summary
target_host	target.hostname,, target.asset.hostname
target_url	target.url
target_userid	target.user.userid
time	timestamp	Parsed as HH:mm:ss and merged with date as yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss to when, parsed as date.
upn_name	intermediary.url
URL	target.url
User ID	target.user.windows_sid
user_id	principal.user.userid
UserAgent	network.http.user_agent
	metadata.event_type	Set to STATUS_UPDATE if msg contains API_HEALTH. or JobDispatcher, set to USER_LOGIN if msg contains logged in as and target_userid is not empty, set to SCAN_HOST if msg contains Leave Validate., set to NETWORK_UNCATEGORIZED if msg contains Getting IP Address from host, set to RESOURCE_WRITTEN if msg contains Wrote vpxd health, set to NETWORK_HTTP if has_principal and has_target are true and application_protocol is not empty, set to PROCESS_LAUNCH if process_id and cmd are not empty, set to USER_UNCATEGORIZED if user_id is not empty or eventid is 4776, set to USER_LOGIN if eventid is 4624/4768/4769, set to USER_LOGOUT if eventid is 4634/4647, set to USER_RESOURCE_ACCESS if eventid is 5145, set to STATUS_UPDATE if host_name is not empty, set to GENERIC_EVENT otherwise.
	extensions.auth.type	Set to MACHINE if eventid is 4624/4768/4769.
	metadata.log_type	Set to VMWARE_VCENTER.
	metadata.vendor_name	Set to VMWARE.
	metadata.product_name	Set to VCENTER.
	security_result.action	Set to ALLOW if response_status is 200 or action is Allow.
r_name	event.idm.read_only_udm.principal.resource.name	Mapped from changelog
ppid	event.idm.read_only_udm.principal.process.pid	Mapped from changelog
p_ip	event.idm.read_only_udm.principal.ip	Mapped from changelog
p_ip	event.idm.read_only_udm.principal.asset.ip	Mapped from changelog
p_port	event.idm.read_only_udm.principal.port	Mapped from changelog
i_ip	event.idm.read_only_udm.intermediary.ip	Mapped from changelog
i_ip	event.idm.read_only_udm.intermediary.asset.ip	Mapped from changelog
i_port	event.idm.read_only_udm.intermediary.port	Mapped from changelog
t_ip	event.idm.read_only_udm.target.ip	Mapped from changelog
t_ip	event.idm.read_only_udm.target.asset.ip	Mapped from changelog
o_ip	event.idm.read_only_udm.observer.ip	Mapped from changelog
o_ip	event.idm.read_only_udm.observer.asset.ip	Mapped from changelog
o_port	event.idm.read_only_udm.observer.port	Mapped from changelog
tls_details	event.idm.read_only_udm.network.tls.version_protocol	Mapped from changelog
duration	event.idm.read_only_udm.network.session_duration.seconds	Mapped from changelog
r_bytes	event.idm.read_only_udm.network.received_bytes	Mapped from changelog
s_bytes	event.idm.read_only_udm.network.sent_bytes	Mapped from changelog
response_flag	event.idm.read_only_udm.additional.fields	Mapped from changelog
unknown_metric_2	event.idm.read_only_udm.additional.fields	Mapped from changelog
unknown_metric_1	event.idm.read_only_udm.additional.fields	Mapped from changelog
http_path	event.idm.read_only_udm.additional.fields	Mapped from changelog
pusername	event.idm.read_only_udm.principal.user.user_display_name	Mapped from changelog
puserid	event.idm.read_only_udm.principal.user.userid	Mapped from changelog
log_level	event.idm.read_only_udm.security_result.severity	Mapped from changelog
response_code	event.idm.read_only_udm.network.http.response_code	Mapped from changelog
http_details	event.idm.read_only_udm.network.http.user_agent	Mapped from changelog
http_details	event.idm.read_only_udm.network.http.parsed_user_agent	Mapped from changelog
t_url	event.idm.read_only_udm.target.url	Mapped from changelog
hmethod	event.idm.read_only_udm.network.http.method	Mapped from changelog
p_log_id	event.idm.read_only_udm.metadata.product_log_id	Mapped from changelog
meta_description	event.idm.read_only_udm.metadata.description	Mapped from changelog
p_event_type	event.idm.read_only_udm.metadata.product_event_type	Mapped from changelog
p_hostname	event.idm.read_only_udm.principal.hostname	Mapped from changelog
p_hostname	event.idm.read_only_udm.principal.asset.hostname	Mapped from changelog
c_timestamp	event.idm.read_only_udm.metadata.collected_timestamp	Mapped from changelog
action	event.idm.read_only_udm.additional.fields	Mapped from changelog
conn_id	event.idm.read_only_udm.additional.fields	Mapped from changelog
facility	event.idm.read_only_udm.additional.fields	Mapped from changelog
process	event.idm.read_only_udm.additional.fields	Mapped from changelog
tenant	event.idm.read_only_udm.additional.fields	Mapped from changelog
duration_ms	event.idm.read_only_udm.additional.fields	Mapped from changelog
provider	event.idm.read_only_udm.additional.fields	Mapped from changelog
provider_type	event.idm.read_only_udm.additional.fields	Mapped from changelog
cor_id	event.idm.read_only_udm.metadata.product_log_id	Mapped from changelog
inter_ip	event.idm.read_only_udm.intermediary.ip	Mapped from changelog
tls_cipher	event.idm.read_only_udm.network.tls.cipher	Mapped from changelog
event_status	event.idm.read_only_udm.security_result.summary	Mapped from changelog
file_path	event.idm.read_only_udm.target.file.full_path	Mapped from changelog
target_userid	event.idm.read_only_udm.target.user.userid	Mapped from changelog
open_connections	event.idm.read_only_udm.additional.fields	Mapped from changelog
total_connections	event.idm.read_only_udm.additional.fields	Mapped from changelog
channel_id	event.idm.read_only_udm.additional.fields	Mapped from changelog
line_number	event.idm.read_only_udm.additional.fields	Mapped from changelog
timestamps'	read_only_udm.metadata.event_timestamp	Mapped from changelog
event_name'	event.idm.read_only_udm.metadata.product_event_type	Mapped from changelog
srcip	event.idm.read_only_udm.principal.ip and event.idm.read_only_udm.principal.asset.ip	Mapped from changelog
usrName	event.idm.read_only_udm.target.user.userid	Mapped from changelog
user_agent	event.idm.read_only_udm.network.http.user_agent	Mapped from changelog
LEEF_version_label	event.idm.read_only_udm.additional.fields	Mapped from changelog
msg	event.idm.read_only_udm.metadata.description	Mapped from changelog
opID	event.idm.read_only_udm.additional.fields	Mapped from changelog
sub	event.idm.read_only_udm.additional.fields	Mapped from changelog
api_invocations	additional.fields	Mapped from changelog
response_details	target.resource.attribute.labels	Mapped from changelog
usr_agnt	network.http.user_agent	Mapped from changelog
ver_proto	network.tls.version	Mapped from changelog
DeviceUUID	metadata.product_log_id	Mapped from changelog
InstanceId	target.asset_id	Mapped from changelog
EventPriority	security_result.severity	Mapped from changelog
AccessControlRuleAction	security_result_action	Mapped from changelog
SrcIP	principal.ip	Mapped from changelog
DstIP	target.ip	Mapped from changelog
ICMPType", "ICMPCode", "IngressInterface", "EgressInterface", "WebApplication", "DNSQuery", "DNSRecordType", "DNSResponseType", "DNS_TTL", "service.type", "log.syslog.facility.code", "log.syslog.facility.name", "log.syslog.severity.code","log.syslog.severity.name", "log.syslog.priority	additional.fields	Mapped from changelog
IngressZone	principal.location.name	Mapped from changelog
EgressZone	target.location.name	Mapped from changelog
ACPolicy	security_result.rule_labels	Mapped from changelog
AccessControlRuleName	security_result.rule_name	Mapped from changelog
NAPPolicy	security_result.rule_labels	Mapped from changelog
InitiatorPackets	network.sent_packets	Mapped from changelog
ResponderPackets	network.received_packets	Mapped from changelog
InitiatorBytes	network.sent_bytes	Mapped from changelog
ResponderBytes	network.received_bytes	Mapped from changelog
FirstPacketSecond" and "ConnectionID	security_result.about.labels	Mapped from changelog
Client	target.labels	Mapped from changelog
ClientVersion	target.platform_version	Mapped from changelog
ReferencedHost	target.hostname	Mapped from changelog
HTTPResponse	network.http.response_code	Mapped from changelog
ApplicationProtocol	network.application_protocol	Mapped from changelog
host1.ip	principal.ip	Mapped from changelog
version	metadata.product_version	Mapped from changelog
principal_ip1	principal.ip	Mapped from changelog
principal_ip2	principal.ip	Mapped from changelog
target_ip1	target.ip	Mapped from changelog
target_ip2	target.ip	Mapped from changelog
principal_port	principal.port	Mapped from changelog
target_port	target.port	Mapped from changelog
Client port	principal.port	Mapped from changelog
Source port	principal.port	Mapped from changelog
insertId	metadata.product_log_id	Mapped from changelog
@fields.host	principal.hostname	Mapped from changelog
@fields.facility	principal.resource.type	Mapped from changelog
@fields.company_name	principal.user.company_name	Mapped from changelog
@fields.privatecloud_id	principal.cloud.project.id	Mapped from changelog
@fields.privatecloud_name	principal.cloud.project.name	Mapped from changelog
@fields.procid	principal.process.pid	Mapped from changelog
@fields.region_id	principal.location.country_or_region	Mapped from changelog
@version	principal.platform_version	Mapped from changelog
basedn_group_iden	target.user.group_identifiers	Mapped from changelog
get_error	intermediary.labels	Mapped from changelog
ssh_proto	network.application_protocol	Mapped from changelog
file_path	target.process.file.full_path	Mapped from changelog

Change Log

View the Change Log for this parser

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