Configure Syslog Monitoring

Configure a Syslog server profile.

You can use separate profiles to send syslogs for each log type to a different server. To increase availability, define multiple servers (up to four) in a single profile.

Select
Device
Server Profiles
Syslog
.
Click
Add
and enter a
Name
for the profile.
If the firewall has more than one virtual system (vsys), select the
Location
(vsys or
Shared
) where this profile is available.
For each syslog server, click
Add
and enter the information that the firewall requires to connect to it:
Name
—Unique name for the server profile.
Syslog Server
—IP address or fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the syslog server.
If you configure an FQDN and use
UDP
transport, if the firewall cannot resolve the FQDN, the firewall uses the existing IP address resolution for the FQDN as the
Syslog Server
address.
Transport
—Select
TCP
,
UDP
, or
SSL
(TLS) as the protocol for communicating with the syslog server. For
SSL
, the firewall supports only TLSv1.2.
Port
—The port number on which to send syslog messages (default is UDP on port 514); you must use the same port number on the firewall and the syslog server.
Format
—Select the syslog message format to use:
BSD
(the default) or
IETF
. Traditionally,
BSD
format is over UDP and
IETF
format is over TCP or SSL/TLS.
Facility
—Select a syslog standard value (default is
LOG_USER
) to calculate the priority (PRI) field in your syslog server implementation. Select the value that maps to how you use the PRI field to manage your syslog messages.
(
Optional
) To customize the format of the syslog messages that the firewall sends, select the
Custom Log Format
tab. For details on how to create custom formats for the various log types, refer to the Common Event Format Configuration Guide.
Click
OK
to save the server profile.

Configure syslog forwarding for Traffic, Threat, and WildFire Submission logs.

Configure the firewall to forward logs. For more information, see Step Create a Log Forwarding profile.
Select
Objects
Log Forwarding
, click
Add
, and enter a
Name
to identify the profile.
For each log type and each severity level or WildFire verdict, select the
Syslog
server profile and click
OK
.
Assign the log forwarding profile to a security policy to trigger log generation and forwarding. For more information, See Step Assign the Log Forwarding profile to policy rules and network zones.
Select
Policies
Security
and select a policy rule.
Select the
Actions
tab and select the
Log Forwarding
profile you created.
For Traffic logs, select one or both of the
Log at Session Start
and
Log At Session End
check boxes, and click
OK
.
For detailed information about configuring a log forwarding profile and assigning the profile to a policy rule, see Configure Log Forwarding.

Configure syslog forwarding for System, Config, HIP Match, and Correlation logs.

Select
Device
Log Settings
.
For System and Correlation logs, click each Severity level, select the
Syslog
server profile, and click
OK
.
For Config, HIP Match, and Correlation logs, edit the section, select the
Syslog
server profile, and click
OK
.

(

Optional

) Configure the header format of syslog messages.

The log data includes the unique identifier of the firewall that generated the log. Choosing the header format provides more flexibility in filtering and reporting on the log data for some Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) servers.

This is a global setting and applies to all Syslog server profiles configured on the firewall.

Select
Device
Setup
Management
and edit the Logging and Reporting Settings.
Select the
Log Export and Reporting
tab and select the Syslog HOSTNAME Format:
FQDN
(default)—Concatenates the hostname and domain name defined on the sending firewall.
hostname
—Uses the hostname defined on the sending firewall.
ipv4-address
—Uses the IPv4 address of the firewall interface used to send logs. By default, this is the MGT interface.
ipv6-address
—Uses the IPv6 address of the firewall interface used to send logs. By default, this is the MGT interface.
none
—Leaves the hostname field unconfigured on the firewall. There is no identifier for the firewall that sent the logs.
Click
OK
to save your changes.

Create a certificate to secure syslog communication over TLSv1.2.

Required only if the syslog server uses client authentication. The syslog server uses the certificate to verify that the firewall is authorized to communicate with the syslog server.

Ensure the following conditions are met:

The private key must be available on the sending firewall; the keys can’t reside on a Hardware Security Module (HSM).
The subject and the issuer for the certificate must not be identical.
The syslog server and the sending firewall must have certificates that the same trusted certificate authority (CA) signed. Alternatively, you can generate a self-signed certificate on the firewall, export the certificate from the firewall, and import it in to the syslog server.
The connection to a Syslog server over TLS is validated using the Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) or using Certificate Revocation Lists (CRL) so long as each certificate in the trust chain specifies one or both of these extensions. However, you cannot bypass OCSP or CRL failures so you must ensure that the certificate chain is valid and that you can verify each certificate using OCSP or CRL.

Select
Device
Certificate Management
Certificates
Device Certificates
and click
Generate
.
Enter a
Name
for the certificate.
In the
Common Name
field, enter the IP address of the firewall sending logs to the syslog server.
In
Signed by
, select the trusted CA or the self-signed CA that the syslog server and the sending firewall both trust.
The certificate can’t be a
Certificate Authority
nor an
External Authority
(certificate signing request [CSR]).
Click
Generate
. The firewall generates the certificate and key pair.
Click the certificate Name to edit it, select the
Certificate for Secure Syslog
check box, and click
OK
.

Commit your changes and review the logs on the syslog server.

Click
Commit
.
To review the logs, refer to the documentation of your syslog management software. You can also review the Syslog Field Descriptions.

(

Optional

) Configure the firewall to terminate the connection to the syslog server upon FQDN refresh.

When you configure a syslog server profile using a FQDN, the firewall maintains its connection to the syslog server by default in the event of an FQDN name change. This is supported on PAN-OS 9.1.11 and later releases.

For example, you have replaced an existing syslog server with a new syslog server that uses a different FQDN name. If you want the firewall to connect to the new syslog server using a new FQDN name, you can configure the firewall to automatically terminate its connection to the old syslog server and establish a connection to the new syslog server using the new FQDN name.

Log in to the firewall CLI.

Configure the firewall to terminate the connection to the syslog server upon FQDN refresh.

admin>
 set syslogng fqdn-refresh yes