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
ECA Hyper-V
The ECA appliance uses two disks: one for the OS and one for data.
- OS Disk: Requires 20 GB (default disk).
- Data Disk: Requires 80 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.
Network Impact Calculation
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To calculate the bandwidth requirement, you need to know the audit event rate for the cluster.
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Run the following command to get the average disk operations per PowerScale OneFS node:
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Command:
isi statistics query current --nodes=all --stats=node.disk.xfers.rate.sum -
This command returns the average per node at the bottom of the results. Use this value in the calculation below.
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Calculate the network bandwidth by taking the following steps:
- Take the average per node and multiply by the number of nodes.
- Example: If the command reports an average of 2200 and there are 7 nodes:
2200 * 7 = 15,400
- Example: If the command reports an average of 2200 and there are 7 nodes:
- Divide this number by the ratio of audit events to disk transfers (1.83415365 in this case).
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Example:
15,400 / 1.83415365 = 8396 events/second
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- Take the average per node and multiply by the number of nodes.
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Use the following calculation to compute the required network bandwidth to forward events to the central site for processing:
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Given: 5 Mbps of network traffic @ 1000 events/sec
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Example for 8396 events/sec:
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(8396 / 1000) * 5 Mbps = 40 Mbps
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infothe required network bandwidth is 40 Mbps to handle the audit event traffic.
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ECA Cluster Sizing and Performance Considerations
ECA clusters can consist of 3 to 12 nodes or more, depending on the following factors:
- The applications running on the cluster.
- The number of events generated per second.
- The number of cluster nodes producing audit events.
Minimum ECA Node Configurations
The supported minimum configurations for all ECA deployments are listed below.
New applications or releases with features that require additional resources may necessitate expanding the ECA cluster to handle multiple clusters or new application services.
- PowerScale Only
- VAST Only
- Qumulo Only
- VAST and Qumulo Only
| Environment Size | Number of VM Nodes Required | ESX Hosts to Split VM Workload and Ensure High Availability | ECA Node VM Size | Network Latency NFS Mount For Ransomware Defender & Easy Auditor | EZA DB Network Latency Between ECA and Storing the DB | Host Hardware Configuration Requirements |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| <18K events per second | - 1 VM for Core Agent (Eyeglass) - 6 ECA VMs | 26 | 4 x vCPU, 16G Ram, 30G OS partition + 80G disk | < 10 ms RTT | < 5 ms RTT | 2 socket CPU 2000 GHZ or greater, Disk IO latency average read and write < 20 ms |
| >18K events per second | - 1 VM for Core Agent (Eyeglass) - 9 ECA VMs | 36 | 4 x vCPU, 16G Ram, 30G OS partition + 80G disk | < 10 ms RTT | < 5 ms RTT | 2 socket CPU 2000 GHZ or greater, Disk IO latency average read and write < 10 ms |
| Large node count clusters >20 nodes | - 1 VM for Core Agent (Eyeglass) - 9 ECA VMs (20-30 nodes) / 12 ECA VMs (>30 nodes) | 36 | 4 x vCPU, 16G Ram, 30G OS partition + 80G disk | < 10 ms RTT | < 5 ms RTT | 2 socket CPU 2000 GHZ or greater, Disk IO latency average read and write < 10 ms |
| Environment Size | Number of VM Nodes Required | ESX Hosts to Split VM Workload and Ensure High Availability | ECA Node VM Size | Network Latency NFS Mount For Ransomware Defender & Easy Auditor | EZA DB Network Latency Between ECA and Storing the DB | Host Hardware Configuration Requirements |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| <18K events per second | - 1 VM for Core Agent (Eyeglass) - 3 ECA VMs - 1 VM audit database | 26 | 4 x vCPU, 16G Ram, 30G OS partition + 80G disk | 2 socket CPU 2000 GHZ or greater, Disk IO latency average read and write < 10 ms | ||
| >18K events per second | - 1 VM for Core Agent (Eyeglass) - 6 ECA VMs - 1 VM audit database | 36 | 4 x vCPU, 16G Ram, 30G OS partition + 80G disk | 2 socket CPU 2000 GHZ or greater, Disk IO latency average read and write < 10 ms | ||
| Large node count clusters >20 CNodes | - 1 VM for Core Agent (Eyeglass) - 9 ECA VMs - 1 VM audit database | 36 | 4 x vCPU, 16G Ram, 30G OS partition + 80G disk | 2 socket CPU 2000 GHZ or greater, Disk IO latency average read and write < 10 ms |
It is recommended to allocate more resources for the TA responsible for receiving events from Qumulo, as a single TA will be handling the entire event load.
| Environment Size | Number of VM Nodes Required | ESX Hosts to Split VM Workload and Ensure High Availability | ECA Node VM Size | Network Latency NFS Mount For Ransomware Defender & Easy Auditor | EZA DB Network Latency Between ECA and Storing the DB | Host Hardware Configuration Requirements |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| <18K events per second | - 1 VM for Core Agent (Eyeglass) - 3 VMs for ECA - 1 VM audit database (after 4.0) | 26 | 4 x vCPU, 16G Ram, 30G OS partition + 80G disk | 2 socket CPU 2000 GHZ or greater, Disk IO latency average read and write < 10 ms | ||
| >18K events per second | - 1 VM for Core Agent (Eyeglass) - 6 ECA VMs - 1 VM audit database | 36 | 4 x vCPU, 16G Ram, 30G OS partition + 80G disk | 2 socket CPU 2000 GHZ or greater, Disk IO latency average read and write < 10 ms |
It is recommended to allocate more resources for the TA responsible for receiving events from Qumulo, as a single TA will be handling the entire event load.
| Environment Size | Number of VM Nodes Required | ESX Hosts to Split VM Workload and Ensure High Availability | ECA Node VM Size | Network Latency NFS Mount For Ransomware Defender & Easy Auditor | EZA DB Network Latency Between ECA and Storing the DB | Host Hardware Configuration Requirements |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| <18K events per second | - 1 VM for Core Agent (Eyeglass) - 6 VMs for ECA nodes - 1 VM audit database (after 4.0) | 26 | 4 x vCPU, 16G Ram, 30G OS partition + 80G disk | 2 socket CPU 2000 GHZ or greater, Disk IO latency average read and write < 10 ms | ||
| >18K events per second | - 1 VM for Core Agent (Eyeglass) - 9 ECA VMs - 1 VM audit database | 36 | 4 x vCPU, 16G Ram, 30G OS partition + 80G disk | 2 socket CPU 2000 GHZ or greater, Disk IO latency average read and write < 10 ms | ||
| Large node count clusters >20 VAST CNodes | - 1 VM for Core Agent (Eyeglass) - 12 ECA VMs - 1 VM audit database | 36 | 4 x vCPU, 16G Ram, 30G OS partition + 80G disk | 2 socket CPU 2000 GHZ or greater, Disk IO latency average read and write < 10 ms |
ECA Appliance Platforms
VMware OVA and Microsoft Hyper-v VHDX are available appliance platforms.
Low Event Rate Environments
Contact support for reduced footprint configuration with 3 VMs only for low event rate environments.
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OVA Resource Limits: The OVA default sets a resource limit of 18000 MHz, shared by all ECA VM nodes in the cluster. This limit can be increased if the audit event load requires more CPU processing. Consult support before making any changes in VMware.
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Real-Time Distributed Processing: ECA clusters must operate in the same Layer 2 subnet with low latency between VMs. Splitting VMs across data centers is not supported. The only supported distributed mode is the Mini-ECA deployment architecture covered in this guide.
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Resource Requirements for Additional Applications: Unified Data Security, Easy Auditor, and Performance Auditor require additional resources beyond event rate sizing requirements. Add 4 GB of RAM and 2 additional vCPUs per ECA node. High event rates may require further resource increases. Consult the EyeGlass Scalability table for RAM upgrade requirements.
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Audit Data Retention: Retaining audit data for more than 1 year increases database size, requiring at least 3 additional ECA VMs to maintain performance. Data retention longer than 365 days requires extra resources and VMs.
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High Availability (HA) Requirements: For HA, multiple physical hosts are required. ECA clusters with 3 VMs can tolerate N-1 VM failures, clusters with 6 VMs can tolerate N-2 failures, and larger clusters tolerate N-3 failures.
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OneFS 8.2 or Later: Customers using OneFS 8.2 or later must disable directory open and directory close events to reduce the audit rate and the ECA VM footprint.
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VMware Settings: Storage vMotion, SDRS, and DRS should be disabled, as ECA VMs are real-time processing systems.
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Archiving GZ Files: To maintain performance, old gz files collected on OneFS nodes must be archived. Performance degrades when the gz file count exceeds 5000. Follow the procedures provided, or use the auto-archive feature in OneFS 9.x.
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Database Save Rates: Database save rates exceeding 1000 events per second per ECA node require additional database VMs to handle save operations efficiently.
IP Connection and Pool Requirements for Analytics database Requires HDFS on the Cluster (Easy Auditor)**

ECA Cluster Network Bandwidth Requirements to PowerScale OneFS (Data Security, Easy Auditor, Performance Auditor)
Each ECA node processes audit events and writes data to the Analytics Database using HDFS on the same network interface. Therefore, the combined TX (Transmit) and RX (Receive) data flow constitutes the peak bandwidth requirement per node.
Below is a table that provides minimum bandwidth requirements per ECA VM based on an example calculation for HDFS Bandwidth. This includes estimates and guidelines for Analytics Database network bandwidth access to PowerScale OneFS.
| Product Configuration | Audit Event rate Per Second | Peak Bandwidth requirement - Events per second per ECA cluster (input NFS Reading events from PowerScale OneFS to ECA cluster) | Peak Bandwidth requirement - Audit data Writes Mbps per ECA cluster (output HDFS writing events) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data Security only | 2000 evts | Input to ECA → 50 Mbps | Out of ECA ← \< 150 Mbps |
| Unified Ransomware and Easy Auditor - Steady state storing events | > 4000 evts | Input to ECA → 125 Mbps | Out of ECA ← 500 Mbps - 1.2 Gbps |
| Easy Auditor Analysis Reports (long running reports) | NA | Input to ECA (HDFS from PowerScale OneFS) ← 800 Mbps - 1.5 Gbps while report runs |
Hyper-V or VMware Requirements
VMware ESX Host Compute Sizing for ECA nodes (Data Security, Easy Auditor, Performance Auditor)
For VMware environments with DRS and SDRS, it is best practice to exempt the ECA and vApp from dynamic relocation. This is because ECA is a real-time application with time synchronization requirements between VMs for processing and database operations.
While DRS movement of running VMs can negatively affect these processes, it is acceptable to migrate VMs for maintenance purposes as needed.
| Number of active concurrent Users per cluster ¹ | ECA VM per Physical Host Recommendation | Estimated Events Guideline |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 1000 | 1 Host | =5000 * 1.25 = 6,250 events per second |
| 5000 - 10000 | 2 Host | =10,000 * 1.25 = 12,500 events per second |
| > 10000 | 3 Host | = Number of users * 1.25 events/second |
Active TCP connection with file IO to the cluster.