ECA VM Installation
Introduction
The Eyeglass Clustered Agent (ECA) is a tool that facilitates auditing and ransomware defense through the deployment of virtual machines (VMs) across different platforms, including Hyper-V, VMware, and Mini-ECA. This guide provides step-by-step instructions for deploying the ECA VM on various environments, ensuring that the auditing of critical data is carried out efficiently, with support for both centralized and distributed cluster modes.
One key deployment option in this guide is the Mini-ECA, designed specifically for environments that require distributed cluster mode. The Mini-ECA enhances security by forwarding audit data from remote sites to a central cluster, making it particularly useful in scenarios where remote site processing is necessary due to high latency or slow WAN connections.
Deployment Scenarios
Centralized with NFS over WAN
In this setup, a central ECA cluster accesses audit data from remote PowerScale OneFS clusters over a WAN link using NFS. This configuration is ideal for metro WAN environments where latency is low.
Centralized with Remote Mini-ECA
If your WAN connection has higher latency (>10 ms RTT) or is slow, deploying a Mini-ECA at remote sites helps mitigate these issues. In this configuration, the Mini-ECA locally collects audit data via NFS and forwards it to the central ECA cluster for processing.
Mini-ECA is optional: Before proceeding with its setup, assess your environment’s network conditions to determine if Mini-ECA is necessary. Installing it in environments with low latency may lead to unnecessary configurations.
Requirements
The Eyeglass appliance is required for installation and configuration. The ECA Cluster operates in a separate group of VMs from Eyeglass.
Key Components
- Eyeglass: Responsible for taking actions on the cluster and notifying administrators.
- PowerScale Cluster: Stores the analytics database (can be the same cluster that is monitored for audit events).
- Licenses:
- Eyeglass Appliance: Requires either Data Security Agent Licenses, Easy Auditor Agent Licenses, or Performance Auditor Licenses.
- HDFS License (for Easy Auditor):
- PowerScale cluster requires an HDFS license to store the analytics database for Easy Auditor.
noteData Security deployments no longer require an HDFS pool.
System Requirements and Network Latency Considerations
Eyeglass VM Requirements
The Eyeglass appliance requires the following specifications:
- vCPU: 4 vCPU
- RAM: 24 GB RAM
- Disk: 178 GB total (38 GB OS disk + 140 GB Data disk)
- Hosts: 1 host
Machine Learning VM
When deploying ECA VMs for environments with Threat Hunting capabilities, the following configurations are recommended:
For Smaller Environments
- Number of ECA VMs: 6
- Per VM Specifications:
- vCPU: 8 CPU cores
- RAM: 36 GB
- Disk: 150 GB total storage
For Bigger Environments
- Number of ECA VMs: 9
- Per VM Specifications:
- vCPU: 12 CPU cores
- RAM: 48 GB
- Disk: 250 GB total storage
These specifications are specifically for Threat Hunting deployments. For standard ECA deployments without Threat Hunting, refer to the minimum configurations in the tables below.
ECA vSphere
The ECA appliance uses two disks: one for the OS and one for data.
- OS Disk: Requires 32 GB (default disk).
- Data Disk: Requires 120 GB. (Read the instructions below on how to create the data disk).
ECA Hyper-V
The ECA appliance uses two disks: one for the OS and one for data.
- OS Disk: Requires 38 GB (default disk).
- Data Disk: Requires 120 GB. (Read the instructions below on how to create the data disk).
OVA Install Prerequisites
The OVA file will deploy 3 VMs. To build a 6-node cluster, deploy the OVA twice and move the VMs into the first Cluster object in vCenter. Follow the instructions below to correctly move the VMs into a single vApp in vCenter.
| Configuration Item |
|---|
| see scaling section |
| vSphere 6.x or higher |
| 1x IP address on the same subnet for each node |
| Gateway |
| Network Mask |
| DNS IP |
| NTP server IP |
| IP Address of Eyeglass |
| API token from Eyeglass |
| Unique cluster name (lower case, no special characters) |
Mini-ECA
Latency Requirements
- Latency between the main ECA cluster and the remote mini ECAs must be below a ping time of 80 ms.
- Latency above 80 ms may not be supported.
Required Mounting Method
- The FSTAB method is required for mounting the cluster audit folder.
- See detailed instructions in the following section.