Collect ExtraHop Reveal(x) DNS logs

Parser Version: 1.0

Supported in:

This document explains how to ingest ExtraHop Reveal(x) DNS logs to Google Security Operations using Bindplane. ExtraHop Reveal(x) provides passive DNS monitoring capabilities that capture and analyze all DNS transactions across the network. Organizations use Reveal(x) to detect DNS-based threats such as tunneling, domain generation algorithms (DGA), and data exfiltration through deep packet inspection of DNS traffic.

Before you begin

Make sure you have the following prerequisites:

  • A Google SecOps instance.
  • Windows Server 2016 or later, or a Linux host with systemd.
  • If running behind a proxy, ensure firewall ports are open per the Bindplane agent requirements.
  • Privileged access to the ExtraHop Reveal(x) Administration page.
  • Network connectivity between the ExtraHop sensor and the Bindplane agent host on the configured syslog port.

Get Google SecOps credentials for the Bindplane agent

To authenticate the Bindplane agent to Google SecOps, choose one of the following methods:

  • New deployments: Use the Chronicle API (Option 1).
  • Legacy deployments: Continue using the ingestion authentication file (Option 2) until the Ingestion API is discontinued on July 20, 2027.
  1. Sign in to the Google Cloud console and select the Google Cloud project that is linked to your Google SecOps instance.
  2. Go to IAM & Admin > Service Accounts.
  3. Click Create service account.
  4. Provide the following configuration details:
    • Service account name: Enter a name for the account (for example, bindplane-ingest).
    • Service account description: Enter a description (for example, Bindplane agent log ingestion).
  5. Click Create and continue.
  6. In the Grant this service account access to project section, click Select a role and select Chronicle Editor.
  7. Click Continue, and then click Done.
  8. Click the service account you created, and then go to the Keys tab.
  9. Click Add key > Create new key.
  10. Select JSON and click Create. The key file is downloaded to your computer.
  11. Save the key file as ingestion-auth.json in the Bindplane collector directory (/opt/observiq-otel-collector/ingestion-auth.json on Linux or C:\Program Files\observIQ OpenTelemetry Collector\ingestion-auth.json on Windows), or update creds_file_path in config.yaml to match the path where you save it.
  12. Go to IAM & Admin > Settings and copy the Project number. You'll need it for the exporter configuration.

Option 2: Download the ingestion authentication file (legacy)

  1. Sign in to the Google SecOps console.
  2. Go to SIEM Settings > Collection Agents.
  3. Download the ingestion authentication file.
  4. Save the file securely on the system where the Bindplane agent will be installed.

Get Google SecOps customer ID

  1. Sign in to the Google SecOps console.
  2. Go to SIEM Settings > Profile.
  3. Copy and save the Customer ID from the Organization Details section.

Install the Bindplane agent

Install the Bindplane agent on your Windows or Linux operating system according to the following instructions.

Windows installation

  1. Open Command Prompt or PowerShell as an administrator.

  2. Run the following command:

    msiexec /i "[https://github.com/observIQ/bindplane-agent/releases/latest/download/observiq-otel-collector.msi](https://github.com/observIQ/bindplane-agent/releases/latest/download/observiq-otel-collector.msi)" /quiet

Linux installation

  1. Open a terminal with root or sudo privileges.

  2. Run the following command:

    sudo sh -c "$(curl -fsSlL [https://github.com/observiq/bindplane-agent/releases/latest/download/install_unix.sh](https://github.com/observiq/bindplane-agent/releases/latest/download/install_unix.sh))" install_unix.sh

Additional installation resources

For additional installation options, see the Bindplane agent installation guide.

Configure the Bindplane agent to ingest syslog and send to Google SecOps

  1. Access the configuration file:

    • Linux: sudo systemctl status observiq-otel-collector
    • Windows: C:\Program Files\observIQ OpenTelemetry Collector\config.yaml

  2. Edit the config.yaml file as follows:

    receivers:
  udplog:
    listen_address: "0.0.0.0:514"

exporters:
  chronicle/extrahop_dns:
    protocol: https
    # Region of your instance, for example us, europe, asia-southeast1
    location: <LOCATION>
    # Project number of the Google Cloud project linked to the instance
    project: '<PROJECT_NUMBER>'
    compression: gzip
    creds_file_path: '/path/to/ingestion-authentication-file.json'
    customer_id: '<CUSTOMER_ID>'
    endpoint: chronicle.googleapis.com
    log_type: 'EXTRAHOP_DNS'
    raw_log_field: body
    ingestion_labels:

service:
  pipelines:
    logs/extrahop_dns_to_chronicle:
      receivers:
        - udplog
      exporters:
        - chronicle/extrahop_dns
  • Replace <CUSTOMER_ID> with the actual customer ID.
  • Update /path/to/ingestion-authentication-file.json to the path where the service account key file (Option 1) was saved.
  • Replace <LOCATION> with the region of your Google SecOps instance (for example, us, europe, or asia-southeast1). The exporter prefixes chronicle.googleapis.com with this value. See Regional Endpoints for the complete list.
  • Replace <PROJECT_NUMBER> with the project number from IAM & Admin > Settings.

Legacy ingestion API exporter

  • If you use the ingestion authentication file from Option 2, replace the exporters block with the following. Set creds_file_path to the path to the ingestion authentication file, and if your instance is outside the US, replace malachiteingestion-pa.googleapis.com with your regional endpoint (for example, europe-malachiteingestion-pa.googleapis.com).

    exporters:
  chronicle/extrahop_dns:
    compression: gzip
    creds_file_path: '/path/to/ingestion-authentication-file.json'
    customer_id: '<CUSTOMER_ID>'
    endpoint: malachiteingestion-pa.googleapis.com
    log_type: 'EXTRAHOP_DNS'
    raw_log_field: body
    ingestion_labels:

Restart the Bindplane agent to apply the changes

  • To restart the Bindplane agent in Linux, run: sudo systemctl restart observiq-otel-collector
  • To restart the Bindplane agent in Windows, use the Services console or run: cmd net stop observiq-otel-collector && net start observiq-otel-collector

Configure ExtraHop Reveal(x) Open Data Stream for DNS syslog forwarding

Add a syslog Open Data Stream target

  1. Sign in to the ExtraHop Administration page.
  2. In the System Configuration section, click Open Data Streams.
  3. Click Add Target and select Syslog.
  4. Provide the following configuration details:
    • Name: Enter a descriptive name (e.g., Google SecOps-DNS).
    • Host: Enter the IP address of the Bindplane agent host.
    • Port: 514.
    • Protocol: UDP.
  5. Click Test to verify connectivity, then click Save.

Create a trigger to export DNS transactions

  1. Click the System Settings icon and select Triggers.
  2. Click Create.
  3. Provide the following configuration details:
    • Name: DNS Syslog Export.
    • Events: Select DNS_REQUEST and DNS_RESPONSE.

  4. In the Editor pane, enter the following trigger script:

    var obj = {
    eh_event: "dns",
    client_ip: Flow.client.ipaddr.toString(),
    server_ip: Flow.server.ipaddr.toString(),
    client_port: Flow.client.port,
    server_port: Flow.server.port,
    qname: DNS.qname,
    qtype: DNS.qtype
};

if (event === "DNS_RESPONSE") {
    obj.dns_type = "response";
    obj.rcode = DNS.errorNum;
    obj.answers = JSON.stringify(DNS.answers);
} else {
    obj.dns_type = "request";
    obj.opcode = DNS.opcode;
}

Remote.Syslog("Chronicle-DNS").info(JSON.stringify(obj));

  5. Click Save.

Assign the trigger to devices

  1. Open the trigger you created.
  2. In the Assignments section, click Assign.
  3. Select the relevant devices or device groups and click Assign.

UDM mapping table

Log Field UDM Mapping Logic
answers network.dns.answers Parsed from raw field.
dst target.ip Raw mapping.
dpt target.port Raw mapping.
host principal.hostname Raw mapping.
proto network.ip_protocol Raw mapping.
qname network.dns.questions.name Raw mapping.
qtype network.dns.questions.type Raw mapping.
rcode network.dns.response_code Raw mapping.
src principal.ip Raw mapping.
spt principal.port Raw mapping.
ttl network.dns.answers.ttl Raw mapping.
N/A metadata.log_type Set to EXTRAHOP_DNS.
N/A metadata.product_name Set to Reveal(x) DNS.
N/A metadata.vendor_name Set to ExtraHop.

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