Setting up a Windows Event Log forwarding service is not as simple as it sounds. You need to build out your infrastructure and configure the necessary settings in order for this to work correctly. The result will be improved visibility into events that happen on servers, more efficient troubleshooting, better system health tracking.,
The “configure event log forwarding in windows server 2019” is a feature that allows administrators to configure Windows Server 2016 to send events from the system and applications logs to another Windows Server 2016 or SQL Server 2016.
In all Windows contexts, event log management is an essential skill to master. Every second, activity is logged in Windows event logs, which serves as a security tool as well as a critical troubleshooting tool.
Are you not a reader? Take a look at this related video.
Managing individual server event logs becomes onerous at best if a server setup grows beyond a few machines. Fortunately, there’s a tool called Windows Event Forwarding (WEF) that can help.
Overview of Windows Event Log Forwarding
WEF is a service that collects events from numerous Windows servers and forwards them to a single location. A forwarder and a collector are the two major components of the service. A collector is a Windows server service that gathers all events sent to it by an event log forwarder.
A subscription is the “connection” between the forwarding server and the collector.
Collectors act as subscription managers, accepting events and allowing you to choose which endpoint event log alerts to collect.
Overview of the World Economic Forum’s Project
This is a project article on how to develop a project or put a solution in place. Following that, each part will be a series of cumulative stages that build on the prior.
You will learn how to put up a simple WEF implementation for this project. You’ll learn how to set up a collector and how to use a subscription to transmit events to a collector.
You’ll discover how to:
- On a Windows Server instance, set up and configure an event log collector. This is the Windows Server to which all event log forwarders will transmit their events.
- Create a GPO that, when enabled, will direct all appropriate Windows Server instances to the event collector.
- Specifying which sorts of events should be sent to the collector.
The rest of this post will teach you how to complete each stage.
Requirements for the Environment and Knowledge
Before we go any further, let’s make sure my environment is identical to yours. Before you begin, double-check that you have the necessary items:
- (2) Windows Server instances – Any Windows Server instance from 2012 R2 and above may be used. I’ll be utilizing Windows Server 2016 in this post.
- Active Directory is a directory service that allows you to
- GPO – A working knowledge of Group Policy Objects is necessary.
- WinRM- WinRM must be installed on all clients. It is not setup; it is just operating.
Configuring the Collector of Event Logs
Configuring one of your Windows Server instances as the collector is the first step. Remember that the collector is the one who gets the forwarder’s event logs.
WinRM on the Collector is enabled.
PowerShell Remoting or WinRM are used by Windows Server instances to transmit events to the collector. To begin, make sure WinRM is installed on your collection. WinRM is enabled by default on collectors running Windows Server 2012 R2 and above, although the Windows Firewall may be interfering.
On the collector, run the Enable-PSRemoting PowerShell cmdlet with no arguments. Even if PowerShell Remoting is already enabled, the relevant steps will be skipped.
To be sure, you can also run Invoke-Command -ComputerName <COLLECTORHOSTNAME> -ScriptBlock {1} from a remote computer. If you don’t receive an error, PowerShell Remoting is working.
Getting the Subscription Collector Service Up and Running
Start the subscription collector service now that PowerShell Remoting is enabled and listening. When Windows Server powers up, the subscription collector service must also start up automatically.
Open Event Viewer on the collection and choose Subscriptions. When you open the Subscriptions option for the first time, Windows will ask whether you want to start the Windows Event Log Collector Service, which may be set to start automatically. To accept, click Yes.
An example of the message is shown below.
The Windows Event Collector Service is a service that collects information about events
Congratulations! You have just set up a collector. Now is the time to create a GPO that will tell Windows Server instances to send events to the collector.
Creating the GPO for the Forwarders
The next step is to set up one or more Windows servers so that event logs are sent to the collector. Creating a GPO is the simplest method to do so. This GPO may then be applied to one or more OUs containing the servers that will be used to transmit events.
In this Project post, you’ll learn the fundamentals of setting up the appropriate settings in a GPO. However, if you want a full review of all the available choices, see the Microsoft literature.
Providing permission for the Network Service to read event logs
WEF reads and sends events from a forwarder to a collector using the Network Service account. The Network Service account does not have access to this by default. To allow it, you must first configure this ACL to allow it.
Note: The Network Service account already has access to several of the standard event logs in Windows Server, such as Application and System. The Security event log and other custom event logs, however, are not accessible to the account.
Use a GPO to provide the Network Service account permission to view event logs on event log forwarders. You’ll discover how to provide the Network Service account access to the Security event log in this article. The similar procedure will be followed for other event logs.
1. Open a command prompt and type wevtutil gl security into it. This will provide you a variety of details about the Security event log. The SDDL channelAccess is the part to pay attention to.
An example of the SDDL you’ll need for the Security event log may be seen below. The permissions specified on the event log are represented by the channelAccess line. Copy the highlighted SDDL and store it someplace so you may add it to a GPO later.
SDDL channelAccess
2. Use the Group Policy Management Console to create a GPO. Navigate to Computer Configuration Policies Administrative Templates Windows Components Event Forwarding and configure the target subscription manager from inside the GPO.
3. On the collector, set the value for the target subscription manager to the WinRM endpoint. You will format the Server as follows:
Server=http://<FQDN of the collector>:5985/wsman/SubscriptionManager/WEC,Refresh=60
At the end of the collection endpoint, take note of the Refresh interval. The Refresh interval specifies how often clients should check to see whether new subscriptions have become available.
4. Paste the SDDL you copied from wevtutil gl security into the setting Computer Configuration Policies Administrative Templates Windows Components Event Log Service Security Configure log access.
This SDDL will take priority over any other permissions for the event log that have been established.
For the Security event log, you can see a sample of what your GPO would look like below.
Configure the GPO setting for log access
5. After you’ve established the GPO, you can either connect it to an existing OU containing the Windows servers you want to deliver event logs from, or you may build a new OU and attach the GPO to it. Any AD computer account you add to this OU will now create a collector subscription.
Subscriptions may be set up in a variety of ways.
While configuring WEF to collect all events for all Windows servers in an Active Directory is a directory service that allows you to domain may seem like a good idea, it’s not. You must be selective and only forward events that are important to you. Filtering out the noise from what matters is where WEF demonstrates its true value.
Let’s work through Subscriptions may be set up in a variety of ways. for the Security Event log.
Since you’ve already created the GPO and linked it to an Active Directory is a directory service that allows you to OU containing the Windows servers you’d like to send events from, the event sources are already set up
- Open the Windows Event Viewer on the collector and right-click on Subscriptions, then establish a subscription.
Creating a subscription to an event log
2. Select the Source computer initiated option and then click Select Computer Groups, as shown below. This is where you’ll choose which machines you want to route events to.
Creating a source for the event log
Selecting AD Groups is a useful tip. “Domain Controllers,” for example, will automatically fill any machines in the group. When you install a new server, you don’t have to choose individual PCs.
3. Next, choose the events you want to advance. Select Security in the query filter, as shown below, to pass events from the Security event log to the collector.
Choosing which Windows events should be sent
4. After selecting the Security log, you may further refine your search by entering the event ID, keywords, users, and machines, as shown below.
Windows event filtering
5. To leave the Query Filter, click OK.
6. In the Subscription Properties box, choose Advanced. Select Minimize Latency from the drop-down menu. This option ensures that the collector receives events as quickly as possible, as well as assisting it in catching up if it falls behind.
Minimize Latency is a setting that reduces the amount of time it takes for
WEF Configuration Verification
Once WEF is configured, check the Source Computers column on the main Subscriptions page to determine whether the forwarders have really checked in.
Subscriptions to the Event Log
To ensure that everything is functioning, check the Event Forwarding Plugin Operational log under Applications and Services on the client. If anything goes wrong with Kerberos or firewalls, you’ll get detailed messages here.
The event EventLog-ForwardingPlugin
All that remains is to locate a low-value client, wipe the Security log, and check whether an alert is generated.
Your Recommendations
You learnt how to set up a basic WEF subscription in this project. You:
- Create a collector for the event.
- To generate a subscription on several Windows Server forwarders, I used a GPO.
- Set up a WEF subscription to transmit just particular events.
- I made sure that the WEF subscription was sending events as quickly as feasible.
WEF is a little complex to set up at first, but once it’s up and running, you should have few issues and maintenance concerns.
The “windows event forwarding non domain” is a feature that allows Windows Server 2016 to forward events it receives from the local machine to another computer. This can be helpful in troubleshooting and monitoring tasks.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I configure Windows event log forwarding?
A: 1. Open Event Viewer 2. On the left side, select Forwarding and Name resolution 3. Click on Add under Forward These Events To 4. Select A Log File 5. Lastly, click Apply
How do I redirect Event Viewer logs?
A: In order to redirect Event Viewer logs, you will need to create a text file where the following information is found.
How do I setup a Windows event collector server?
A: For starters, there are two ways to set up a Windows event collector server. You can either use the EventCollector PowerShell cmdlet from within your script and then save it as an executable file before running it or you can create one batch file that runs all of these commands in order, saving them as text files.
Related Tags
- windows event log forwarding syslog
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