If you use Windows, you will want to monitor Windows Events. The recent distribution of OpenTelemetry (OTel) Collector makes it much easier to monitor with OpenTel. You can utilize this receiver either in conjunction with any OTel collector: including the OpenTelemetry Collector, but in this article we will be using observIQ’s distribution of the collector. Windows Events Below are steps to get up and running quickly with the distribution. We will be shipping Windows Event logs to a popular backend: Ops. You can find out more on the . Google Cloud GitHub page What Signals Matter? Windows Events logs record many different operating system processes, application activity, and account activity. Some relevant log types you will want to monitor include: Application Status This contains information about applications installed or running on the system. If an application crashes, these logs may contain an explanation for the crash. Security Logs These logs contain information about the system’s audit and authentication processes. For example, if a user attempts to log into the system or use administrator privileges. System Logs These logs contain information about Windows-specific processes, such as driver activity. All of the above categories can be gathered with the Windows Events receiver – so let’s get started. Before you Begin If you don’t already have an OpenTelemetry collector built with the latest Windows Events receiver installed, you’ll need to do that first. The distribution of the OpenTelemetry Collector we’re using today includes the Windows Events receiver (and many others) and can be installed with the . one-line installer here For Linux To install using the installation script, you run: sudo sh -c "$(curl -fsSlL https://github.com/observiq/observiq-otel-collector/releases/latest/download/install_unix.sh)" install_unix.sh To install directly with the appropriate package manager, head to . installing on Linux For Windows To install the collector on Windows run the Powershell command below to install the MSI with no UI. msiexec /i "https://github.com/observIQ/observiq-otel-collector/releases/latest/download/observiq-otel-collector.msi" /quiet Alternatively, for an interactive installation . After downloading the MSI, double-click the download to open the installation wizard and follow the instructions to configure and install the collector. download the latest MSI For more installation information see . installing on Windows For macOS To install using the installation script, you run: sudo sh -c "$(curl -fsSlL https://github.com/observiq/observiq-otel-collector/releases/latest/download/install_macos.sh)" install_macos.sh For more installation guidance, see . installing on macOS For Kubernetes To deploy the collector on Kubernetes, further documentation can be found at the observiq-otel-collector-k8s repository. Configuring the Windows Events Receiver Now the distribution is installed, let’s navigate to your OpenTelemetry configuration file. If you’re using the observIQ Collector, you’ll find it at the following location: C:\Program Files\observIQ OpenTelemetry Collector\config.yaml (Windows) Edit the configuration file to include the Windows Events receiver as shown below: receivers:
    windowseventlog:
        channel: application You can edit the specific output by adding/editing the following directly below the receiver name and channel: {
    "channel": "Application",
    "computer": "computer name",
    "event_id":
    {
        "id": 10,
        "qualifiers": 0
    },
    "keywords": "[Classic]",
    "level": "Information",
    "message": "Test log",
    "opcode": "Info",
    "provider":
    {
        "event_source": "",
        "guid": "",
        "name": "otel"
    },
    "record_id": 12345,
    "system_time": "2022-04-15T15:28:08.898974100Z",
    "task": ""
} Configuring the Log Fields You can adjust the following fields in the configuration to adjust what types of logs you want to ship: Field Default Description channel required The windows event log channel to monitor max_reads 100 On first startup, where to start reading logs from the API. Options are beginning or end start_at end Number of client connections (excluding connections from replicas) poll_interval 1s The interval at which the channel is checked for new log entries. This check begins again after all new bodies have been read. attributes {} A map of key: value pairs to add to the entry's attributes. resource {} A map of key: value pairs to add to the entry's resource. operators [] An array of operators. See below for more details converter { max_flush_count: 100, flush_interval: 100ms, worker_count: max(1,runtime.NumCPU()/4) } A map of key: value pairs to configure the [entry.Entry][entry_link] to [pdata.LogRecord][pdata_logrecord_link] converter, more info can be found [here][converter_link] Operators Each operator performs a simple responsibility, such as parsing a timestamp or JSON. Chain together operators to process logs into the desired format. Every operator has a type. Every operator can be given a unique id. If you use the same type of operator more than once in a pipeline, you must specify an id. Otherwise, the id defaults to the value of type. Operators will output to the next operator in the pipeline. The last operator in the pipeline will emit from the receiver. Optionally, the output parameter can be used to specify the id of another operator to which logs will be passed directly. Only parsers and general-purpose operators should be used. As you can see, this distribution makes it much simpler to work with OpenTelemetry collector— with a single-line installer, integrated receivers, exporter, and processor pool—and will help you implement OpenTelemetry standards wherever it is needed in your systems. Also published here. Lead image developed with stable diffusion.

Collecting and Shipping Windows Events Logs with OpenTelemetry

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