Remote XPLG Installation

Owned by Omry Koschitzky
Last updated: Aug 05, 2024 by XPLG Team
3 min read

Background

While XPLG is fully functional as an agentless application, i.e.. you can install it anywhere in the environment and import logs into its platform, it is also possible to install XPLG as an agent or structure the deployment to several instances for several reasons which are specified below. If you choose to run multiple instances of XPLG in the environment, it is possible to connect the different instances over HTTP/S (XPLG to XPLG ).

When should XPLG to XPLG usage be considered?

There are several key reasons to consider installing multiple instances of XPLG to manage an environment:

  • Inaccessible network segments – Sometimes, when logs are collected from multiple network segments, there is no direct access between the location of the centralized XPLG to other network segments (for instance, different domains in Windows). 

  • Data load balancing (Map Reduce) – In cases where a regular cluster is insufficient, it is possible to manage several XPLG  instances of several separate machines, and each will be managing a selected group of logs, and on top of all instances, there will be an instance which users can access to view all logs from all instances.

  • Keeping main console on Linux in a mixed Linux/Windows environment – In case the main XPLG instance runs on Linux/Solaris, but there is a need to add logs from Windows machines (Windows event logs, logs on shared locations, Windows machines), it is mandatory to deploy a Windows instance of XPLG which will be able to manage all logs from Windows machines and connect it to the centralized XPLG instances.

  • Different data centers – Organizations which manage multiple data centers may consider an XPLG cluster/instance per data center to get optimized connectivity and performance within each data center and then connect all data centers instances to a centralized XPLG  instance for the users.

  • Need of an agent to collect data – While XPLG is completely agentless, in cases where there is no available connectivity to the sources with the standard protocols, it is recommended to install XPLG as an agent on the remote sources and collect the data from using XPLG to XPLG communication over HTTP/S protocol. The agent is also required for Log Synchronization to collect data as is from multiple sources into a central repository.

  • Need of a Forwarder - XPLG forwarder/SysLog TCP/UDP forwarder/ HTTP/HTTPS Forwarder. This option can be used when a specific environment is set to use XPLG to normalize & push data to a central XPLG .

How to install a remote XPLG ?

Remote XPLG installation is a regular installation, only with selected features activated. For example, if the remote XPLG is used only to collect data to a centralized XPLG then 'agent mode' is activated and no operations will be performed by the agent besides access to the data. In case a Map Reduce / multiple data centers deployment is required, then the remote XPLG may be fully functional and all its log processing can be done independently. If the remote XPLG is only used for Log Synchronization then 'agent mode' should be activated.

When deploying multiple remote XPLG instances, it is possible to use a silent installation in order to distributed multiple setups and then remotely configure them by using the SDK commands.

How to connect between XPLG instances?

In order to connect XPLG instances and add the remote XPLG 's log to the centralized XPLG instance, first ensure that there is communication over HTTP/S on the port which is used to run XPLG between the instances:

  1. Go to XPLG >Tools>Address Book, and add a remote XPLG account with all the required details (a user name and password are also required if security is activate on the remote XPLG ).

  2. To add logs which are configured on the remote XPLG follow information here: Adding Data to the XPLG Platform / Adding Data to XPLG

  3. To use the agent for a LogSync task, see Log Synchronization