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Configure rsyslog to send syslog to SIEM server running TLS

Intro
You have to dig a little to find out about this somewhat obscure topic. You want to send syslog output, e.g., from the named daemon, to a syslog server with beefed up security, such that it requires the use of TLS so traffic is encrypted. This is how I did that.

The details
This is what worked for me:

...
# DrJ fixes - log local0 to DrJ's dmz syslog server - DrJ 5/6/20
# use local0 for named's query log, but also log locally
# see https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-server-73/bind-queries-log-to-remote-syslog-server-4175
669371/
# @@ means use TCP
$DefaultNetstreamDriver gtls
$DefaultNetstreamDriverCAFile /etc/ssl/certs/GlobalSign_Root_CA_-_R3.pem
$ActionSendStreamDriver gtls
$ActionSendStreamDriverMode 1
$ActionSendStreamDriverAuthMode anon
 
local0.*                                @@(o)14.17.85.10:6514
#local0.*                               /var/lib/named/query.log
local1.*                                -/var/log/localmessages
#local0.*;local1.*                      -/var/log/localmessages
local2.*;local3.*                       -/var/log/localmessages
local4.*;local5.*                       -/var/log/localmessages
local6.*;local7.*                       -/var/log/localmessages

The above is the important part of my /etc/rsyslog.conf file. The SIEM server is running at IP address 14.17.85.10 on TCP port 6514. It is using a certificate issued by Globalsign. An openssl call confirms this (see references).

Other gothcas
I am running on a SLES 15 server. Although it had rsyslog installed, it did not support tls initially. I was getting a dlopen error. So I figured out I needed to install this module:

rsyslog-module-gtls

References and related
How to find the server’s certificate using openssl. Very briefly, use the openssl s_client submenu.

The rsyslog site itself probably has the complete documentation. Though I haven’t looked at it thoroughly, it seems very complete.

Want to know what syslog is? Howtoneywork has this very good writeup: https://www.howtonetwork.com/technical/security-technical/syslog-server/