Install a Security Cloud Control Connector to Support an SEC Using Your VM Image

The Security Cloud Control Connector VM is a virtual machine on which you install an SEC. The purpose of the Security Cloud Control Connector is solely to support an SEC for Cisco Security Analytics and Logging (SaaS) customers.

This is the first of three steps you need to complete in order install and configure your Secure Event Connector (SEC). After this procedure, you need to complete the following procedures:

Before you begin

  • Purchase the Cisco Security and Analytics Logging, Logging and Troubleshootinglicense, you may also purchase the Logging Analytics and Detection and Total Network Analytics and Monitoring licenses to apply Secure Cloud Analytics to the events.

    If you would rather, you can request a trial version of Security Analytics and Logging by logging in to Security Cloud Control, and on the main navigation bar, choose Events & Logs > Events > Event Logging and click Request Trial.

  • Security Cloud Control requires strict certificate checking and does not support a Web/Content Proxy between the Security Cloud Control Connector and the Internet.

  • The Security Cloud Control Connector must have full outbound access to the Internet on TCP port 443.

  • Review Connect to Firewall in Security Cloud Control using Secure Device Connectorto ensure proper network access for the Security Cloud Control Connector.

  • VMware ESXi host installed with vCenter web client or ESXi web client.

    Note
    We do not support installation using the vSphere desktop client.

  • ESXi 5.1 hypervisor.

  • Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 24.04.

  • System requirements for a VM to host only a Security Cloud Control Connector and an SEC:

    • CPU: Assign 4 CPUs to accommodate the SEC.

    • Memory: Assign 8 GB of memory for the SEC.

    • Disk Space: 64 GB

  • Users performing this procedure should be comfortable working in a Linux environment and using the vi visual editor for editing files.

  • Gather this information before you begin the installation:

    • Static IP address you want to use for your Security Cloud Control Connector.

    • Passwords for the root and Security Cloud Control users that you create during the installation process.

    • The IP address of the DNS server your organization uses.

    • The gateway IP address of the network the Security Cloud Control Connector address is on.

    • The FQDN or IP address of your time server.

  • The Security Cloud Control Connector virtual machine is configured to install security patches on a regular basis and in order to do this, opening port 80 outbound is required.

  • Before you get started: Do not copy and paste the commands in this procedure into your terminal window, type them instead. Some commands include an "n-dash" and in the cut and paste process, these commands can be applied as an "m-dash" and that may cause the command to fail.

Procedure

Step 1

Log on to Security Cloud Control.

Step 2

From the left pane, Administration > Secure Connectors.

Step 3

Click the icon and then click Secure Event Connector.

Step 4

Using the link provided, copy the SEC Bootstrap Data in step 2 of the "Deploy an On-Premises Secure Event Connector" window.

Step 5

Once installed, configure basic networking such as specifying the IP address for the Security Cloud Control Connector, the subnet mask, and gateway.

Step 6

Configure a DNS (Domain Name Server) server.

Step 7

Configure a NTP (Network Time Protocol) server.

Step 8

Install an SSH server for easy interaction with Security Cloud Control Connector's CLI.

Step 9

Install the AWS CLI package (https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/awscli-install-linux.html)

Note

Do not use the --user flag.

Step 10

Install the Docker CE packages (https://docs.docker.com/install/linux/docker-ce/centos/#install-docker-ce)

Note

Use the "Install using the repository" method.

Step 11

Start the Docker service and enable it to start on boot:

[root@sdc-vm ~]# systemctl start docker
 [root@sdc-vm ~]# systemctl enable docker 
Created symlink from /etc/systemd/system/multiuser.target.wants/docker.service to /usr/lib/systemd/system/docker.service.

Step 12

Create two users: Security Cloud Control and sdc. The Security Cloud Control user will be the one you log-into to run administrative functions (so you don't need to use the root user directly), and the sdc user will be the user to run the Security Cloud Control Connector docker container.

[root@sdc-vm ~]# useraddSecurity Cloud Control
 [root@sdc-vm ~]# useradd sdc –d /usr/local/Security Cloud Control

Step 13

Configure the sdc user to use crontab:

[root@sdc-vm ~]# touch /etc/cron.allow
[root@sdc-vm ~]# echo "sdc" >> /etc/cron.allow

Step 14

Set a password for the Security Cloud Control user.

[root@sdc-vm ~]# passwd Security Cloud Control 
Changing password for user Security Cloud Control. 
New password: <type password>  
Retype new password: <type password> 
passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully.

Step 15

Add the Security Cloud Control user to the "wheel" group to give it administrative (sudo) privileges.

[root@sdc-vm ~]# usermod -aG wheelSecurity Cloud Control
 [root@sdc-vm ~]#

Step 16

When Docker is installed, there is a user group created. Depending on the version of CentOS/Docker, this may be called either "docker" or "dockerroot". Check the /etc/group file to see which group was created, and then add the sdc user to this group.


 [root@sdc-vm ~]# grep docker /etc/group 
docker:x:993:
[root@sdc-vm ~]# 
[root@sdc-vm ~]# usermod -aG docker sdc 
[root@sdc-vm ~]#

Step 17

If the /etc/docker/daemon.json file does not exist, create it, and populate with the contents below. Once created, restart the docker daemon.

Note

Make sure that the group name entered in the "group" key matches the group you found in the /etc/group file.

 [root@sdc-vm ~]# cat /etc/docker/daemon.json 
{
 "live-restore": true, 
 "group": "docker" 
} 
[root@sdc-vm ~]# systemctl restart docker 
[root@sdc-vm ~]#

Step 18

If you are currently using a vSphere console session, switch over to SSH and log in as the Security Cloud Control user. Once logged in, change to the sdc user. When prompted for a password, enter the password for the Security Cloud Control user.

[Security Cloud Control@sdc-vm ~]$ sudo su sdc 
[sudo] password for Security Cloud Control: <type password for Security Cloud Control user > 
[sdc@sdc-vm ~]$

Step 19

Change directories to /usr/local/Security Cloud Control.

Step 20

Create a new file called bootstrapdata and paste the bootstrap data from Step 1 of the deployment wizrd into this file. Save the file. You can use vi or nano to create the file.

Step 21

The bootstrap data comes encoded in base64. Decode it and export it to a file called extractedbootstrapdata

 [sdc@sdc-vm ~]$ base64 -d /usr/local/Security Cloud Control/bootstrapdata > /usr/local/Security Cloud Control/extractedbootstrapdata 
[sdc@sdc-vm ~]$

Run the cat command to view the decoded data. The command and decoded data should look similar to this: 

[sdc@sdc-vm ~]$ cat /usr/local/Security Cloud Control/extractedbootstrapdata 
Security Cloud Control_TOKEN="<token string>" 
Security Cloud Control_DOMAIN="www.defenseorchestrator.com" 
Security Cloud Control_TENANT="<tenant-name>" 
<Security Cloud Control_URL>/sdc/bootstrap/Security Cloud Control_acm="https://www.defenseorchestrator.com/sdc/bootstrap/tenant-name/<tenant-name-SDC>" 
ONLY_EVENTING="true"

Step 22

Run the following command to export the sections of the decoded bootstrap data to environment variables.


[sdc@sdc-vm ~]$ sed -e 's/^/export /g' extractedbootstrapdata > secenv && source secenv 
[sdc@sdc-vm ~]$

Step 23

Download the bootstrap bundle from Security Cloud Control.

 [sdc@sdc-vm ~]$ curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $Security Cloud Control_TOKEN" "$Security Cloud Control_BOOTSTRAP_URL" -o $Security Cloud Control_TENANT.tar.gz 
100 10314 100 10314 0 0 10656 0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 10654 
[sdc@sdc-vm ~]$ ls -l /usr/local/Security Cloud Control/*SDC 
-rw-rw-r--. 1 sdc sdc 10314 Jul 23 13:48 /usr/local/Security Cloud Control/Security Cloud Control_<tenant_name>

Step 24

Extract the Security Cloud Control Connector tarball, and run the bootstrap_sec_only.sh file to install the Security Cloud Control Connector package.

 [sdc@sdc-vm ~]$ tar xzvf /usr/local/Security Cloud Control/tenant-name-SDC 
<snipped – extracted files> 
[sdc@sdc-vm ~]$ 
[sdc@sdc-vm ~]$ /usr/local/Security Cloud Control/bootstrap/bootstrap_sec_only.sh 
[2018-07-23 13:54:02] environment properly configured 
download: s3://onprem-sdc/toolkit/prod/toolkit.tar to toolkit/toolkit.tar 
toolkit.sh 
common.sh 
es_toolkit.sh 
sec.sh 
healthcheck.sh 
troubleshoot.sh 
no crontab for sdc 
-bash-4.2$ crontab -l 
*/5 * * * * /usr/local/Security Cloud Control/toolkit/es_toolkit.sh upgradeEventing 2>&1 >> /usr/local/Security Cloud Control/toolkit/toolkit.log 
0 2 * * * sleep 30 && /usr/local/Security Cloud Control/toolkit/es_toolkit.sh es_maintenance 2>&1 >> /usr/local/Security Cloud Control/toolkit/toolkit.log 
You have new mail in /var/spool/mail/sdc

What to do next

Continue to Additional Configuration for SDCs and Security Cloud Control Connectors Installed on a VM You Created .