Google Cloud VPC

The Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) provides networking functionality to Compute Engine virtual machine (VM) instances, Kubernetes Engine containers, and App Engine Flex. The Sumo Logic app for Google Cloud VPC provides visibility into the activities, traffic, and VPC flow in your GCP. The preconfigured dashboards provide you details on the VPC flows, source and destination IP addresses, ports, protocols, threat intel, traffic direction, and messages.

Log types

The App uses:

• Compute Engine VPC Flow Logs. These logs provide information from Compute Engine ​VMs ​for ​network ​operations ​such ​as ​Network ​monitoring, ​forensics, ​real-time security ​analysis ​and ​expense ​optimization.

Sample log messages

{
  "message": {
    "data": {
      "insertId": "h7cue3dc1fr",
      "jsonPayload": {
        "bytes_sent": "1836",
        "connection": {
          "dest_ip": "34.192.224.100",
          "dest_port": 443,
          "protocol": 6,
          "src_ip": "10.128.0.3",
          "src_port": 56552
        },
        "dest_location": {
          "city": "Ashburn",
          "continent": "America",
          "country": "usa",
          "region": "Virginia"
        },
        "end_time": "2018-01-26T12:35:10.115UTC",
        "packets_sent": "20",
        "reporter": "SRC",
        "rtt_msec": "49",
        "src_instance": {
          "project_id": "bmlabs-loggen",
          "region": "us-central1",
          "vm_name": "vm-selectstar-collector-again",
          "zone": "us-central1-c"
        },
        "src_vpc": {
          "project_id": "bmlabs-loggen",
          "subnetwork_name": "default",
          "vpc_name": "default"
        },
        "start_time": "2018-01-26T12:35:10.115UTC"
      },
      "logName": "projects/bmlabs-loggen/logs/compute.googleapis.com%2Fvpc_flows",
      "receiveTimestamp": "2018-01-26T12:35:10.115UTC",
      "resource": {
        "labels": {
          "location": "us-central1-c",
          "project_id": "bmlabs-loggen",
          "subnetwork_id": "3656133720937113003",
          "subnetwork_name": "default"
        },
        "type": "gce_subnetwork"
      },
      "timestamp": "2018-01-26T12:35:10.115UTC"
    },
    "attributes": {
      "logging.googleapis.com/timestamp": "2018-01-26T12:35:10.115UTC"
    },
    "message_id": "172581793992900",
    "messageId": "172581793992900",
    "publish_time": "2018-01-26T12:35:10.115UTC",
    "publishTime": "2018-01-26T12:35:10.115UTC"
  },
  "subscription": "projects/bmlabs-loggen/subscriptions/push-to-sumo"
}

Sample queries

Average latency (ms) by subnet ID

_collector="HTTP Source for GCP Pub/Sub" logName resource timestamp
| json "message.data.resource.type" as type
| parse regex "\"logName\":\"(?<log_name>[^\"]+)\""
| where type = "gce_subnetwork" | where log_name matches "projects/*/logs/compute.googleapis.com%2Fvpc_flows"
| json "message.data.resource" as resource | json field=resource "labels.location","labels.project_id","labels.subnetwork_id","labels.subnetwork_name" as zone,project,subnetwork_id,subnetwork_name nodrop
| json "message.data.resource.labels", "message.data.jsonPayload" as labels, payload
| json field=payload "src_instance","dest_instance" as src_instance,dest_instance nodrop
| json field=payload "src_vpc.vpc_name","dest_vpc.vpc_name" as src_vpc,dest_vpc nodrop
| json field=payload "connection.src_ip","connection.dest_ip","connection.dest_port","connection.src_port" as src_ip,dest_ip,dest_port,src_port
| json field=src_instance "project_id", "zone", "region", "vm_name" as src_project, src_zone, src_region, src_vm nodrop
| json field=dest_instance "project_id", "zone", "region", "vm_name" as dest_project, dest_zone, dest_region, dest_vm nodrop
| json field=payload "bytes_sent","rtt_msec","packets_sent"  as bytes, rtt,packets  
| timeslice 1m
| avg(rtt) as latency by _timeslice, subnetwork_id, subnetwork_name
| transpose row _timeslice column subnetwork_id,subnetwork_name

Collecting logs for Google Cloud VPC

This page describes the Sumo pipeline for ingesting logs from Google Cloud Platform (GCP) services, and provides instructions for collecting logs from Google Cloud VPC.

Collection Process for GCP Services

The key components in the collection process for GCP services are Google Logs Export, Google Cloud Pub/Sub, and Sumo’s Google Cloud Platform (GCP) source running on a hosted collector.

The GCP service generates logs which are exported and published to a Google Pub/Sub topic through Google Cloud Loggings Log Router. You will then set up a Sumo Logic Google Cloud Platform source that subscribes to this topic and receives the exported log data.

Configuring collection for GCP uses the following process:

1. Configure a GCP source on a hosted collector. You'll obtain the HTTP URL for the source.
2. Create a topic in Google Pub/Sub and subscribe the GCP source URL to that topic.
3. Create an export of GCP logs from Google Log Router. Exporting involves writing a filter that selects the log entries you want to export, and choosing a Pub/Sub as the destination. The filter and destination are held in an object called a sink.

See the following sections for configuration instructions.

note

Logs from GCP services can be exported to any destination. Any GCP logs can be excluded from Logs router.

Configure a Google Cloud Platform Source

The Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Source receives log data from Google Pub/Sub.

note

You can use the same GCP Source to receive log data from multiple GCP services. For example, you can send logs collected from Google Cloud Application Engine, Google Cloud IAM, and Google Cloud Audit.

However, this is not recommended since you cannot define specific Source Category values to each GCP service. If you create a GCP Source for each service you can define a specific Source Category to each service.

This Source will be a Google Pub/Sub-only Source, which means that it will only be usable for log data formatted as data coming from Google Pub/Sub.

1. Classic UI. In the main Sumo Logic menu, select Manage Data > Collection > Collection.
   New UI. In the Sumo Logic top menu select Configuration, and then under Data Collection select Collection. You can also click the Go To... menu at the top of the screen and select Collection.
2. Select an existing Hosted Collector upon which to add the Source. If you do not already have a Collector you'd like to use, create one, using the instructions on Configure a Hosted Collector and Source.
3. Click Add Source next to the Hosted Collector and click Google Cloud Platform.
4. Enter a Name to display for the Source. A Description is optional.
   
5. Source Host (Optional). The Source Host value is tagged to each log and stored in a searchable metadata field called _sourceHost. Avoid using spaces so you do not have to quote them in keyword search expressions. This can be a maximum of 128 characters.
6. Source Category (Optional). The Source Category value is tagged to each log and stored in a searchable metadata field called _sourceCategory. See our Best Practices: Good Source Category, Bad Source Category. Avoid using spaces so you do not have to quote them in keyword search expressions. This can be a maximum of 1,024 characters.
7. Fields. Click the +Add Field link to add custom log metadata Fields, then define the fields you want to associate. Each field needs a name (key) and value. Look for one of the following icons and act accordingly:

• If an orange triangle with an exclamation point is shown, use the option to automatically add or enable the nonexistent fields before proceeding to the next step. The orange icon indicates that the field doesn't exist, or is disabled, in the Fields table schema. If a field is sent to Sumo that does not exist in the Fields schema or is disabled it is ignored, known as dropped.
• If a green circle with a checkmark is shown, the field exists and is already enabled in the Fields table schema. Proceed to the next step.

1. Advanced Options for Logs.
   

• Timestamp Parsing. This option is selected by default. If it's deselected, no timestamp information is parsed at all.
• Time Zone. There are two options for Time Zone. You can use the time zone present in your log files, and then choose an option in case time zone information is missing from a log message. Or, you can have Sumo Logic completely disregard any time zone information present in logs by forcing a time zone. It's very important to have the proper time zone set, no matter which option you choose. If the time zone of logs cannot be determined, Sumo Logic assigns logs UTC; if the rest of your logs are from another time zone your search results will be affected.
• Timestamp Format. By default, Sumo Logic will automatically detect the timestamp format of your logs. However, you can manually specify a timestamp format for a Source. See Timestamps, Time Zones, Time Ranges, and Date Formats for more information.

1. Processing Rules. Configure any desired filters, such as allowlist, denylist, hash, or mask, as described in Create a Processing Rule.
2. When you are finished configuring the Source, click Save.

Configure a Pub/Sub Topic for GCP

You need to configure a Pub/Sub Topic in GCP and add a subscription to the Source URL that belongs to the Sumo Logic Google Cloud Platform Source you created. Once you configure the Pub/Sub, you can export data from Google Logging to the Pub/Sub. For example, you can export Google App Engine logs, as described on Collect Logs for Google App Engine.

1. Create a Pub/Sub Topic in GCP. Refer to the Google Cloud documentation for the latest configuration steps.
2. Create a Pub/Sub subscription to the Source URL that belongs to the Sumo Logic Google Cloud Platform Source you created. See Google Cloud documentation for the latest configuration steps.
   • Use a Push Delivery Method to the Sumo Logic Source URL. To determine the URL, navigate to the Source on the Collection page in Sumo Logic and click Show URL.

Limitations

Google limits the volume of data sent from a Topic. Our testing resulted in the following data limits:

Topics	Megabytes per second	Payload size
One	18 MBps (1.5 TB/day)	100 KB
One	6 MBps (0.5 TB/day)	2.5 KB

note

These limits may vary based on your setup and are based on our previous tests.

We recommend the following:

• Shard messages across topics within the above data limits.
• Ask GCP to increase the allowable capacity for the topic.

Create export of Google Cloud VPC logs from Google Logging

In this step you export logs to the Pub/Sub topic you created in the previous step.

1. Go to Logging and click Logs Router.
   
2. Click Create Sink.
   
3. As part of Create logs routing sink, add the following information.
   1. Enter a Sink Name. For example, gce-vm-instance.
   2. Select Cloud Pub/Sub as the Sink Service.
   3. Set Sink Destination to the Pub/Sub topic you created in the Google Cloud Platform Source procedure. For example, "pub-sub-logs".
   4. In Choose logs to include in sink section for resource_type, replace "<resource_variable>" with "gce_subnetwork".
   5. Click Create Sync.

note

By default, GCP logs are stored within Cloud Logging, but you can configure Log Router to exclude them as detailed here without affecting the export to Sumo Logic as outlined above.

Installing the Google Cloud VPC app

Now that you have set up collection for Google Cloud VPC, install the Sumo Logic App to use the pre-configured searches and dashboards that provide visibility into your environment for real-time analysis of overall usage.

To install the app, do the following:

note

Next-Gen App: To install or update the app, you must be an account administrator or a user with Manage Apps, Manage Monitors, Manage Fields, Manage Metric Rules, and Manage Collectors capabilities depending upon the different content types part of the app.

1. Select App Catalog.
2. In the 🔎 Search Apps field, run a search for your desired app, then select it.
3. Click Install App.
   note

   Sometimes this button says Add Integration.

4. Click Next in the Setup Data section.
5. In the Configure section of your respective app, complete the following fields.
   1. Field Name. If you already have collectors and sources set up, select the configured metadata field name (eg _sourcecategory) or specify other custom metadata (eg: _collector) along with its metadata Field Value.
6. Click Next. You will be redirected to the Preview & Done section.

Post-installation

Once your app is installed, it will appear in your Installed Apps folder, and dashboard panels will start to fill automatically.

Each panel slowly fills with data matching the time range query received since the panel was created. Results will not immediately be available but will be updated with full graphs and charts over time.

Viewing Google Cloud VPC dashboards

All dashboards have a set of filters that you can apply to the entire dashboard. Use these filters to drill down and examine the data to a granular level.

• You can change the time range for a dashboard or panel by selecting a predefined interval from a drop-down list, choosing a recently used time range, or specifying custom dates and times. Learn more.
• You can use template variables to drill down and examine the data on a granular level. For more information, see Filtering Dashboards with Template Variables.
• Most Next-Gen apps allow you to provide the scope at the installation time and are comprised of a key (_sourceCategory by default) and a default value for this key. Based on your input, the app dashboards will be parameterized with a dashboard variable, allowing you to change the dataset queried by all panels. This eliminates the need to create multiple copies of the same dashboard with different queries.

Overview

This dashboard includes insights on incoming and outgoing source IP addresses, top 10 external IPs by traffic, VPC flows, source and destination VMs, and traffic trends by subnetwork, project, and VPC. The dashboard provides a concise overview of network performance and data flow patterns for informed decision-making.

VPC Activity

This dashboard tracks network metrics like traffic trends, packets, and latency over the last hour. It shows trends in traffic and packets by Subnetwork ID, Source/Destination VM, and average latency by Subnetwork ID, Source/Destination VPC. Additionally, it visualizes VPC flows by source/destination IP address and port, aiding in monitoring network activity effectively.

Advanced metrics

This dashboard provides insights on message frequency, data transfer rates, packet transmission, and latency trends over the last hour. It includes visualizations such as outliers in messages per minute, trends in total bytes per minute, and packets sent per minute. Additionally, it displays box plots for total bytes, packets, and latency, offering a comprehensive view of the data distribution within the specified timeframe.

Security and Direction

This dashboard lists malicious IPs (source and destination) with threat level and location. This dashboard can be used for traffic direction distribution and traffic activity by subnetwork ID, and project and time comparison of VPC flow logs.

Upgrade/Downgrade the Google Cloud VPC app (Optional)

To update the app, do the following:

note

Next-Gen App: To install or update the app, you must be an account administrator or a user with Manage Apps, Manage Monitors, Manage Fields, Manage Metric Rules, and Manage Collectors capabilities depending upon the different content types part of the app.

1. Select App Catalog.
2. In the Search Apps field, search for and then select your app.
   Optionally, you can identify apps that can be upgraded in the Upgrade available section.
3. To upgrade the app, select Upgrade from the Manage dropdown.
   1. If the upgrade does not have any configuration or property changes, you will be redirected to the Preview & Done section.
   2. If the upgrade has any configuration or property changes, you will be redirected to the Setup Data page.
   3. In the Configure section of your respective app, complete the following fields.
      1. Field Name. If you already have collectors and sources set up, select the configured metadata field name (eg _sourcecategory) or specify other custom metadata (eg: _collector) along with its metadata Field Value.
   4. Click Next. You will be redirected to the Preview & Done section.

Post-update

Your upgraded app will be installed in the Installed Apps folder and dashboard panels will start to fill automatically.

note

See our Release Notes changelog for new updates in the app.

To revert the app to a previous version, do the following:

1. Select App Catalog.
2. In the Search Apps field, search for and then select your app.
3. To version down the app, select Revert to < previous version of your app > from the Manage dropdown.

Uninstalling the Google Cloud VPC app (Optional)

To uninstall the app, do the following:

1. Select App Catalog.
2. In the 🔎 Search Apps field, run a search for your desired app, then select it.
3. Click Uninstall.

Create monitors for GCP load balancer app

From your App Catalog:

1. From the Sumo Logic navigation, select App Catalog.
2. In the Search Apps field, search for and then select your app.
3. Make sure the app is installed.
4. Navigate to What's Included tab and scroll down to the Monitors section.
5. Click Create next to the pre-configured monitors. In the create monitors window, adjust the trigger conditions and notifications settings based on your requirements.
6. Scroll down to Monitor Details.
7. Under Location click on New Folder.
   note

   By default, monitor will be saved in the root folder. So to make the maintenance easier, create a new folder in the location of your choice.

8. Enter Folder Name. Folder Description is optional.
   tip

   Using app version in the folder name will be helpful to determine the versioning for future updates.

9. Click Create. Once the folder is created, click on Save.

GCP VPC alerts

These alerts are VPC flow log based.

Alert Name	Alert Description and Conditions	Default Alert Condition	Default Recover Condition
Google Cloud VPC - Access from Highly Malicious Sources Alert	This alert gets triggered when an VPC is accessed from highly malicious IP addresses.	Count >= 1	Count < 1
Google Cloud VPC - Latency Alert	This alert is triggered when latency of any subnetwork goes above threshold value (default is 1000 ms)	Count >= 1	Count < 1
Google Cloud VPC - Total traffic Alert	This alert is triggered when the total traffic (in MB) for a subnetwork is greater then the threshold value (Default is 2GB)	Count >= 1	Value < 1