Installing a Data Aggregator in Hyper-V

Important: Stellar Cyber recommends that you deploy an aggregator using a Modular Sensor with the Aggregator feature enabled in its Sensor Profile rather than using the purpose-built aggregator image. Installation of aggregators using the purpose-built images is officially a deprecated feature, although the images are still available.

You can install a data aggregator on a Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machine. To install you must:

Preparing

This process requires a Microsoft Hyper-V environment on a Windows server. Windows Server 2016 is the tested version.

Click to see the minimum system requirements for installing a data aggregator.

To prepare for the installation:

  1. Open firewall ports.

  2. Contact Stellar Cyber support (support@stellarcyber.ai) for login credentials.

  3. Using those credentials, download the image from https://acps.stellarcyber.ai/release/4.3.7/datasensor/aella-device-agg-4.3.7.vhdx.

Installation links point to the most recent release. To download a different version, simply substitute the version you want for the version specified in the link.

Creating A Virtual Switch

The first step is to create a virtual switch through which the VM will communicate.

Use our example as a guideline, as you might be using a different software version.

Start the Hyper-V manager and open the Virtual Switch Manager from the right-hand sidebar. Select Create Virtual Switch then choose External Network. The resulting display is shown in the following image.

The next step is to select the physical network port that is to be used to connect to the outside world. The result will look similar to the sample in the following image.

Creating a New VM

Return to the Hyper-V manager and select Action | New | Virtual Machine....

Specify a name for the new aggregator. This can be any legal VM name but it is recommended to adopt a site convention so that the name identifies the aggregator. The screen will look similar to the following image.

Enter the Generation parameter. The guest Operating System is a 64-bit OS so "Generation 1" is a good choice as shown in the following image.

Next assign memory according to the aggregator's expected workload, as stated in Virtual Appliance Sizing Specifications.

Configure the Management network interface. You may either enter a static IP or configure using a DHCP server. This is the interface that will be used for the aggregator to send its Interflow data records to the data processor. The networking is selected as in the following image.

Connect the Virtual Disk image that was downloaded in the site preparation mentioned above. In the dialog box use the Use existing option as shown in the following image. If the image was placed in a different location adjust the Location field appropriately.

At this point the creation of the VM is complete and it should appear in the Hyper-V Manager screen in a manner similar to the following image.

Changing the Processor Setting

Before activating the VM it needs to have the proper number of CPU cores allocated to it. Select the VM in the list and click Settings | Processor menu options. In the resulting dialog box change the number of processors according to the aggregator's expected workload, as stated in Virtual Appliance Sizing Specifications.

Adding an Interface

The aggregator requires a connection to the virtual switch that we created in the first steps. Click Add Hardware | Network Adapter as shown in the following image. Note that you can only add a network adapter to the VM while it is powered off.

After the interface is created, select the virtual switch that was created in the first steps of this procedure.

Then expand the associated network adapter and click Advanced Features. Set the mirroring mode of the aggregator to Destination. This is shown in the following image.

When you have finished adding the interface, power the VM back on.

Connecting the Aggregator to the DP

To connect to the DP:

  1. Log in to your new aggregator . The default username/password is aella/changeme. You are immediately prompted to change the password.

  2. Change the password.

    After you change the password, your session closes automatically. When you log back in with your new credentials, the prompt changes to DataSensor>.

  3. Set IP parameters for the management port. You can use either a static IP address or a DHCP server, if available.

    Stellar Cyber recommends using a static IP address for ease of troubleshooting.

    The commands are as follows:

    Configuration Type

    Commands
    Static IP

    Substitute your own IP parameters for those shown in bold.

    set interface management ip 192.168.14.100/255.255.255.0

    set interface management gateway 192.168.14.1

    set interface management dns 8.8.8.8

    DHCP  set interface management ip dhcp

  4. Verify the IP settings with the show interfaces command.

  5. Set the host name. The host name is displayed in Stellar Cyber and should be unique for each sensor:

    set hostname <new hostname>

  6. If necessary, set the proxy HTTP server:

    set proxy http://<proxy IP address:port>

  7. If this aggregator is associated with a specific Tenant, use the set tenant_id <Tenant ID> command to specify the name of that tenant. For example:

    set tenant_id MyTenant

  8. Use the set cm command to specify the IP address to reach the management interface of the Data Processor. For a DP cluster, this is the IP address of the DL-master's management interface. For a single DP deployment, this is simply the DP's management IP address. You can specify either an IP address or a hostname. For example:

    set cm 192.168.44.10

    or:

    set cm example.company.com

    If you specify a hostname rather than an IP address, the system attempts to verify the hostname with the DNS server. If the DNS server is not reachable, the system reports the error and lets you either proceed with the configured hostname or quit. This way, you can specify a hostname for the set cm destination in an offline environment without access to a DNS server.

  9. Verify your settings with the show cm command. You should see the IP address of the DP listed as the CM Controller and the Status should be Established.
  10. Log out with the quit command.

The aggregator automatically contacts the DP to register itself.

Authorize the Aggregator

You must authorize the aggregator when it appears in the network.

You can authorize multiple aggregators at a time. So if you're installing multiple aggregators, install them all, then authorize them all at once.

Configure Sensors to Use the Aggregator

After you install the aggregator, you can configure sensors to use the aggregator.