<s>
Octopussy	B-Protocol
,	O
also	O
known	O
as	O
8Pussy	B-Protocol
,	O
is	O
a	O
free	B-License
and	I-License
open-source	I-License
computer-software	O
which	O
monitors	O
systems	O
,	O
by	O
constantly	O
analyzing	O
the	O
syslog	B-Protocol
data	O
they	O
generate	O
and	O
transmit	O
to	O
such	O
a	O
central	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
server	O
(	O
thus	O
often	O
called	O
a	O
SIEM	O
solution	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Therefore	O
,	O
software	O
like	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
plays	O
an	O
important	O
role	O
in	O
maintaining	O
an	O
information	O
security	O
management	O
system	O
within	O
ISO/IEC	O
27001-compliant	O
environments	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Octopussy	B-Protocol
has	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
monitor	O
any	O
device	O
that	O
supports	O
the	O
syslog	B-Protocol
protocol	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
servers	B-Application
,	O
routers	B-Protocol
,	O
switches	O
,	O
firewalls	B-Application
,	O
load	B-Application
balancers	I-Application
,	O
and	O
its	O
important	O
applications	O
and	O
services	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
unlike	O
Nagios	B-Application
or	O
Icinga	B-Protocol
,	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
is	O
not	O
a	O
state-checker	O
and	O
therefore	O
problems	O
cannot	O
be	O
resolved	O
within	O
the	O
application	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
such	O
,	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
can	O
be	O
seen	O
as	O
less	O
powerful	O
than	O
other	O
popular	O
commercial	O
software	O
in	O
the	O
same	O
category	O
(	O
event	O
monitoring	B-Application
and	O
log	B-Application
analysis	I-Application
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Octopussy	B-Protocol
is	O
compatible	O
with	O
many	O
Linux	B-Application
system	O
distributions	O
like	O
Debian	O
,	O
Ubuntu	B-Operating_System
,	O
OpenSUSE	B-Operating_System
,	O
CentOS	O
,	O
RHEL	O
and	O
even	O
meta-distributions	O
as	O
Gentoo	B-Application
or	O
Arch	O
Linux	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
was	O
originally	O
designed	O
to	O
run	O
on	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
it	O
could	O
be	O
ported	O
to	O
other	O
Unix	O
variants	O
like	O
FreeBSD	B-Operating_System
with	O
minimal	O
effort	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Octopussy	B-Protocol
has	O
extensive	O
report	O
generating	O
features	O
and	O
also	O
various	O
interfaces	O
to	O
other	O
software	O
,	O
like	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
NSCA	O
(	O
Nagios	B-Application
)	O
,	O
Jabber/XMPP	B-Protocol
and	O
Zabbix	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
Octopussy	B-Protocol
is	O
licensed	O
under	O
the	O
terms	O
of	O
the	O
GNU	B-License
General	I-License
Public	I-License
License	I-License
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
is	O
free	B-License
and	I-License
open-source	I-License
software	I-License
it	O
has	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
characteristics	O
also	O
found	O
in	O
some	O
professional	O
enterprise	B-Application
applications	I-Application
like	O
Splunk	B-General_Concept
,	O
SAWMILL	B-Protocol
or	O
Kiwi	O
Syslog	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
time	O
of	O
writing	O
,	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
comes	O
with	O
the	O
following	O
set	O
of	O
features	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Comprehensive	O
service	O
definitions	O
(	O
Apache	B-Application
2	O
,	O
BIND	O
,	O
BSD	O
Kernel	O
...	O
)	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
of	O
the	O
(	O
meta	O
-	O
)	O
services	B-Operating_System
supported	O
by/known	O
by	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
are	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Apache	B-Application
2	O
,	O
BIND	O
,	O
BSD	O
Kernel	O
,	O
BSD	O
PAM	O
,	O
BSD	O
System	O
,	O
Cisco	O
Routers	B-Protocol
(	O
ASR	O
)	O
,	O
Cisco	O
Switches	O
,	O
ClamAV	O
,	O
DenyAll	O
Reverse	O
Proxy	O
,	O
DRBD	O
,	O
F5	O
BigIP	O
,	O
Fortinet	O
FW	O
,	O
HP-Tools	O
,	O
Ironport	O
MailServer	O
,	O
Juniper	O
Netscreen	O
FW	O
,	O
Juniper	O
Netscreen	O
NSM	O
,	O
LDAP	B-Protocol
,	O
Linux	B-Application
AppArmor	O
,	O
Linux	B-Application
Auditd	O
,	O
Linux	B-Application
IPTables	O
,	O
Linux	B-Application
Kernel	O
,	O
Linux	B-Application
PAM	O
,	O
Linux	B-Application
System	O
,	O
Monit	O
,	O
MySQL	B-Application
,	O
Nagios	B-Application
,	O
Neoteris/Juniper	O
FW	O
,	O
NetApp	O
NetCache	O
,	O
Postfix	O
,	O
PostgreSQL	O
,	O
Samba	O
,	O
Samhain	O
,	O
SNMPd	O
,	O
Squid	O
,	O
SSHd	O
,	O
Syslog-ng	O
,	O
TACACS	O
,	O
VMware	O
ESX(i )	O
,	O
Windows	O
Snare	O
Agent	B-Operating_System
,	O
Windows	O
System	O
,	O
Xen	O
...	O
</s>
<s>
Events	O
receivable	O
from	O
services	B-Operating_System
and	O
thus	O
processible	O
by	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
include	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
software	O
requires	O
RSYSLOG	B-Protocol
installed	O
on	O
the	O
syslog-server	O
and	O
expects	O
systems	O
that	O
are	O
monitored	O
to	O
run	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
numerous	O
available	O
syslog	B-Protocol
services	B-Operating_System
,	O
like	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
syslogd/klogd	O
,	O
RSYSLOG	B-Protocol
or	O
syslog-ng	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
software	O
further	O
depends	O
on	O
the	O
Apache	B-Application
2	I-Application
HTTP	I-Application
Server	I-Application
installed	O
,	O
with	O
Apache::ASP	O
,	O
Mod_Perl	O
and	O
Mod_SSL	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Octopussy	B-Protocol
also	O
requires	O
a	O
MySQL	B-Application
DBMS	O
(	O
actual	O
database	O
is	O
installed/copied	O
during	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
setup	O
)	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
a	O
recent	O
Perl	B-Language
interpreter	I-Language
installed	O
on	O
the	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
,	O
with	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
Perl	B-Language
modules	B-Architecture
from	O
CPAN	B-Language
(	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
Crypt::PasswdMD5	O
,	O
DBD::mysql	O
,	O
JSON	B-General_Concept
,	O
Unix::Syslog	O
,	O
XML::Simple	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
comprehensive	O
list	O
of	O
those	O
modules	B-Architecture
can	O
be	O
found	O
within	O
the	O
software	O
packages/archives	O
README.txt	O
file	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
addition	O
to	O
that	O
NSCD	B-Protocol
and	O
RRDtool	B-Language
are	O
a	O
requirement	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
RRDtool	B-Language
aids	O
in	O
the	O
creation	O
of	O
graphs	O
that	O
will	O
be	O
displayed	O
on	O
the	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
dashboard	B-Protocol
or	O
shown	O
on	O
a	O
per-device/per	O
-service	O
level	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Octopussy	B-Protocol
receives	O
syslog	B-Protocol
messages	O
via	O
syslog	B-Protocol
protocol	O
and	O
therefore	O
behaves	O
passively	O
,	O
not	O
running	O
any	O
type	O
of	O
network	O
agent	B-Operating_System
on	O
the	O
remote	O
machines	O
under	O
monitoring/surveillance	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Octopussy	B-Protocol
completely	O
conforms	O
to	O
RfC	O
3164	O
and	O
RfC	O
3195	O
of	O
the	O
IETF	O
,	O
describing	O
syslog	B-Protocol
as	O
the	O
logging	O
mechanism	O
in	O
Unix-like/BSD	O
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
software	O
is	O
driven	O
by	O
a	O
semi-stateful	O
event	O
correlation	O
engine	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
means	O
that	O
the	O
engine	O
records	O
and	O
thus	O
knows	O
its	O
internal	O
state	B-Application
,	O
but	O
only	O
uses	O
it	O
to	O
some	O
extent	O
to	O
link	O
together	O
logically	O
related	O
elements	O
for	O
the	O
same	O
device	O
,	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
draw	O
a	O
conclusion	O
(	O
i.e.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
the	O
semi-stateful	O
correlation	O
engine	O
,	O
with	O
its	O
so	O
called	O
sliding	O
window	O
(	O
a	O
shifting	O
window	O
being	O
the	O
logical	O
boundary	O
of	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
events	O
during	O
a	O
certain	O
period	O
of	O
time	O
)	O
,	O
is	O
capable	O
of	O
comparing	O
known	O
past	O
events	O
with	O
present	O
ones	O
based	O
on	O
a	O
limited	O
number	O
of	O
comparative	O
values	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Octo-Dispatcher	O
is	O
the	O
component	O
used	O
by	O
the	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
software	O
to	O
receive	O
syslog	B-Protocol
lines	O
from	O
RSYSLOG	B-Protocol
and	O
dispatch	O
them	O
into	O
device	O
directories	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Every	O
device	O
registered	O
and	O
activated	O
within	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
gets	O
its	O
syslog	B-Protocol
messages	O
assigned	O
to	O
it	O
depending	O
on	O
the	O
device	O
name	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Noteworthy	O
is	O
also	O
the	O
adjacent	O
Octo-Replay	O
component	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
the	O
program	O
used	O
by	O
the	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
software	O
to	O
replay	O
log	O
messages	O
for	O
some	O
device	O
or	O
service	O
(	O
it	O
receives	O
and	O
processes	O
recognized	O
logs	O
and	O
puts	O
them	O
back	O
into	O
the	O
incoming	O
directory	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Octo-Parser	O
and	O
Octo-Uparser	O
are	O
two	O
of	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
's	O
most	O
important	O
core	O
components	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Octo-Parser	O
is	O
the	O
program	O
used	O
by	O
the	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
software	O
to	O
parse	B-Language
logs	O
in	O
syslog	B-Protocol
format	O
for	O
each	O
device	O
registered	O
within	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
basically	O
uses	O
a	O
regex-engine	O
and	O
commences	O
pattern	O
matching	O
on	O
incoming	O
syslog	B-Protocol
messages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Octo-Uparser	O
is	O
restarted	O
every	O
time	O
device	O
's	O
services	B-Operating_System
are	O
changed	O
,	O
to	O
check	O
if	O
previously	O
received	O
"	O
unknown	O
"	O
log	O
messages	O
can	O
be	O
associated	O
with	O
a	O
service	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
some	O
cases	O
Octo-Pusher	O
is	O
also	O
called	O
in	O
advance	O
to	O
process	O
non-syslog	O
messages	O
incoming	O
from	O
some	O
devices	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
that	O
regard	O
,	O
the	O
device	O
setting	O
"	O
asynchronous	O
"	O
is	O
helpful	O
to	O
process	O
such	O
log	O
messages	O
,	O
after	O
they	O
were	O
sent	O
to	O
an	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
server	O
using	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
FTP	O
,	O
rsync	O
or	O
SSH/SCP	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
interface	O
(	O
GUI	B-Application
)	O
is	O
the	O
default	O
user-interface	O
and	O
provides	O
configuration	O
management	O
,	O
device	O
and	O
service	O
management	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
alert	O
definition	O
and	O
therefore	O
extends	O
the	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
core	O
components	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Devices	O
are	O
displayed	O
in	O
tabular	O
form	O
on	O
the	O
Devices	O
page	O
,	O
with	O
the	O
following	O
descriptors	O
as	O
a	O
minimum	O
:	O
hostname	B-Protocol
,	O
IP	B-Protocol
address	I-Protocol
,	O
log	O
type	O
,	O
device	O
model/type	O
,	O
FQDN	B-Protocol
and	O
OS	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hence	O
,	O
the	O
interface	O
(	O
Octo-Web	O
)	O
mainly	O
provides	O
access	O
to	O
other	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
core	O
components	O
like	O
Octo-Commander	O
,	O
Octo-Message-Finder	O
,	O
Octo-Reporter	O
and	O
Octo-Statistic-Reporter	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
front-end/GUI	O
is	O
written	O
in	O
Perl	B-Language
5	O
,	O
employing	O
Apache::ASP	O
to	O
structure	O
and	O
display	O
content	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
addition	O
to	O
that	O
,	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
core	O
services	B-Operating_System
can	O
also	O
be	O
accessed	O
from	O
the	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
shell	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
That	O
represents	O
a	O
convenient	O
way	O
for	O
administrators	O
to	O
start/stop	O
services	B-Operating_System
or	O
make	O
fundamental	O
configuration	O
changes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
RRD	B-Language
graph	B-Application
generator	O
is	O
a	O
core	O
component	O
of	O
the	O
software	O
and	O
installed	O
by	O
default	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
the	O
generation	O
of	O
such	O
graphs	O
is	O
very	O
resource	O
intensive	O
administrators	O
may	O
opt	O
to	O
disable	O
it	O
on	O
an	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
syslog	B-Protocol
server	I-Protocol
with	O
a	O
less	O
powerful	O
CPU	B-Device
and	O
a	O
low	O
amount	O
of	O
RAM	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
generated	O
RRD	B-Language
graphs	O
displays	O
the	O
activity	O
of	O
all	O
active	O
services	B-Operating_System
for	O
monitored	O
devices	O
,	O
highly	O
depending	O
on	O
the	O
specific	O
service	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
After	O
a	O
restart	O
of	O
the	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
software	O
or	O
during	O
operation	O
,	O
Octo-Dispatcher	O
and	O
Octo-Parser	O
will	O
always	O
process	O
syslog	B-Protocol
messages	O
in	O
their	O
buffer	B-General_Concept
and	O
queue	B-Operating_System
first	O
and	O
RRD	B-Language
graph	B-Application
generation	O
is	O
delayed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Octo-RRD	O
further	O
depends	O
on	O
Octo-Scheduler	O
,	O
to	O
execute	O
the	O
Octopussy::Report	O
function	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
generate	O
syslog	B-Protocol
activity	O
RRD	B-Language
graphs	O
,	O
that	O
have	O
been	O
scheduled	B-General_Concept
previously	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
is	O
a	O
plug-in/module	O
system	O
in	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
,	O
which	O
is	O
mainly	O
geared	O
towards	O
the	O
modification	O
of	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
reports	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Such	O
a	O
plug-in	B-Application
consists	O
out	O
of	O
a	O
description	O
file	O
,	O
which	O
defines	O
the	O
plug-in	B-Application
name	O
and	O
functions	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
code	O
file	O
with	O
perl	B-Language
code	O
to	O
process	O
the	O
actual	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
are	O
also	O
extensions	O
for	O
software	O
related	O
to	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
,	O
like	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
a	O
Nagios	B-Application
plug-in	B-Application
that	O
checks	O
the	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
core	O
services	B-Operating_System
(	O
i.e.	O
</s>
<s>
as	O
well	O
as	O
the	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
parser	O
states	O
and	O
log	O
partitions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
creation	O
of	O
new	O
services	B-Operating_System
and	O
service	O
patterns	O
presents	O
the	O
most	O
important	O
way	O
to	O
extend	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
without	O
making	O
changes	O
to	O
the	O
source	O
code	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
since	O
patterns	O
are	O
outlined	O
as	O
simplified	O
regular	B-Language
expressions	I-Language
,	O
administrators	O
should	O
have	O
at	O
least	O
some	O
basic	O
knowledge	O
about	O
regex	B-Language
in	O
general	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
further	O
strongly	O
recommended	O
to	O
build	O
on	O
already	O
existing	O
services	B-Operating_System
and	O
also	O
understand	O
the	O
meaning	O
of	O
a	O
message	O
objects	O
 '	O
basic	O
fields	O
,	O
which	O
are	O
message	O
ID	O
,	O
pattern	O
,	O
log	O
level	O
,	O
taxonomy	O
,	O
table	O
and	O
rank	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Usually	O
the	O
logs	O
wizard	O
is	O
used	O
to	O
search	O
the	O
system	O
for	O
unrecognized	O
syslog	B-Protocol
messages	O
per	O
device	O
to	O
generate	O
new	O
service	O
patterns	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
During	O
the	O
process	O
the	O
creation	O
of	O
patterns	O
should	O
be	O
in	O
a	O
way	O
that	O
enables	O
Octopussy	B-Protocol
to	O
distinguish	O
messages	O
based	O
on	O
their	O
severity	O
and	O
taxonomy	O
.	O
</s>
