Audit Logging
This feature requires HashiCorp Cloud Platform (HCP) or self-managed Consul Enterprise. Refer to the enterprise feature matrix for additional information.
With Consul Enterprise v1.8.0+, audit logging can be used to capture a clear and actionable log of authenticated events (both attempted and committed) that Consul processes via its HTTP API. These events are then compiled into a JSON format for easy export and contain a timestamp, the operation performed, and the user who initiated the action.
Audit logging enables security and compliance teams within an organization to get greater insight into Consul access and usage patterns.
Complete the Capture Consul Events with Audit Logging tutorial to learn more about Consul's audit logging functionality,
For detailed configuration information on configuring the Consul Enterprise's audit logging, review the Consul Audit Log documentation.
Example Configuration
Audit logging must be enabled on every agent in order to accurately capture all
operations performed through the HTTP API. To enable logging, add
the audit
stanza to the agent's configuration.
Note: Consul only logs operations which are initiated via the HTTP API. The audit log does not record operations that take place over the internal RPC communication channel used for agent communication.
The following example configures a destination called "My Sink". Since rotation is enabled,
audit events will be stored at files named: /tmp/audit-<TIMESTAMP>.json
. The log file will
be rotated either every 24 hours, or when the log file size is greater than 25165824 bytes
(24 megabytes).
Example Audit Log
In this example a client has issued an HTTP GET request to look up the ssh
service in the /v1/catalog/service/
endpoint.
Details from the HTTP request are recorded in the audit log. The stage
field
is set to OperationStart
which indicates the agent has begun processing the
request.
The value of the payload.auth.accessor_id
field is the accessor ID of the
ACL token which issued the request.
After the request is processed, a corresponding log entry is written for the HTTP
response. The stage
field is set to OperationComplete
which indicates the agent
has completed processing the request.