Collect Hillstone Firewall logs

Supported in:

This document explains how to ingest Hillstone Firewall logs to Google Security Operations using Bindplane.

Hillstone Firewall is a next-generation firewall that provides advanced threat detection and prevention capabilities, application control, intrusion prevention, and policy automation. The firewall offers comprehensive security features including real-time threat protection, unified threat management, and intelligent policy operation to protect network infrastructure from known and unknown threats.

Before you begin

Make sure you have the following prerequisites:

  • A Google SecOps instance
  • Windows Server 2016 or later, or Linux host with systemd
  • Network connectivity between the Bindplane agent and Hillstone Firewall
  • If running behind a proxy, ensure firewall ports are open per the Bindplane agent requirements
  • Privileged access to the Hillstone Firewall management console or appliance
  • Administrative credentials for the Hillstone Firewall web interface

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" /quiet

  3. Wait for the installation to complete.

  4. Verify the installation by running:

    sc query observiq-otel-collector

The service should show as RUNNING.

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)" install_unix.sh

  3. Wait for the installation to complete.

  4. Verify the installation by running:

    sudo systemctl status observiq-otel-collector

The service should show as active (running).

Additional installation resources

For additional installation options and troubleshooting, see Bindplane agent installation guide.

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

Locate the configuration file

  • Linux:

    sudo nano /opt/observiq-otel-collector/config.yaml

  • Windows:

    notepad "C:\Program Files\observIQ OpenTelemetry Collector\config.yaml"

Edit the configuration file

  • Replace the entire contents of config.yaml with the following configuration:

    receivers:
  udplog:
    listen_address: "0.0.0.0:514"

exporters:
  chronicle/hillstone_firewall:
    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: '/opt/observiq-otel-collector/ingestion-auth.json'
    customer_id: 'YOUR_CUSTOMER_ID'
    endpoint: chronicle.googleapis.com
    log_type: HILLSTONE_NGFW
    raw_log_field: body
    ingestion_labels:
      env: production
      source: hillstone_firewall

service:
  pipelines:
    logs/hillstone_to_chronicle:
      receivers:
        - udplog
      exporters:
        - chronicle/hillstone_firewall

Configuration parameters

Replace the following placeholders:

  • Receiver configuration:

    • The receiver is configured to listen on UDP port 514 on all interfaces (0.0.0.0).

  • Exporter configuration:

    • creds_file_path: Full path to the service account JSON key file (Option 1):
      • Linux: /opt/observiq-otel-collector/ingestion-auth.json
      • Windows: C:\Program Files\observIQ OpenTelemetry Collector\ingestion-auth.json
    • customer_id: Replace YOUR_CUSTOMER_ID with the Customer ID from the previous step.
    • location: 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.
    • project: Replace <PROJECT_NUMBER> with the project number from IAM & Admin > Settings.
    • endpoint: Keep set to chronicle.googleapis.com.
    • log_type: Set to HILLSTONE_NGFW exactly as shown.
    • ingestion_labels: Optional labels in YAML format (customize as needed).

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/hillstone_firewall:
    compression: gzip
    creds_file_path: '/opt/observiq-otel-collector/ingestion-auth.json'
    customer_id: 'YOUR_CUSTOMER_ID'
    endpoint: malachiteingestion-pa.googleapis.com
    log_type: HILLSTONE_NGFW
    raw_log_field: body
    ingestion_labels:
      env: production
      source: hillstone_firewall

Save the configuration file

After editing, save the file:

  • Linux: Press Ctrl+O, then Enter, then Ctrl+X
  • Windows: Click File > Save

Restart the Bindplane agent to apply the changes

  • To restart the Bindplane agent in Linux, run the following command:

    sudo systemctl restart observiq-otel-collector

    1. Verify the service is running:

        sudo systemctl status observiq-otel-collector

    2. Check logs for errors:

        sudo journalctl -u observiq-otel-collector -f

  • To restart the Bindplane agent in Windows, choose one of the following options:

    • Command Prompt or PowerShell as administrator:

      net stop observiq-otel-collector && net start observiq-otel-collector

    • Services console:

      1. Press Win+R, type services.msc, and press Enter.
      2. Locate observIQ OpenTelemetry Collector.

      3. Right-click and select Restart.

      4. Verify the service is running:

        sc query observiq-otel-collector

      5. Check logs for errors:

        type "C:\Program Files\observIQ OpenTelemetry Collector\log\collector.log"

Configure Hillstone Firewall syslog forwarding

Create a syslog server

  1. Sign in to the Hillstone Firewall web interface.
  2. Go to Log > Configuration > Syslog Server to visit the Syslog Server List page.
  3. Click New to create a new syslog server.
  4. In the Syslog Server Configuration dialog, configure the following settings:
    • Host name: Enter the IP address of the Bindplane agent host (for example, 192.168.1.100).
    • Binding: Select Virtual Router and then select a virtual router from the drop-down list, or select Source Interface and then select a source interface from the drop-down list.
    • Protocol: Select UDP from the drop-down list.
    • Port: Enter 514.
    • Log Type: Select the log types you want the syslog server to receive. Available log types include:
      • Event: System and administrative activity audits, routing and networking events.
      • Alarm: Urgent, alert, and critical severity logs.
      • Security: Security events such as attack defense and application security.
      • IPS: Network intrusion protection events.
      • Configuration: Configuration changes on command line interface.
      • Network: Network services operations such as PPPoE and DDNS.
      • Session: Session logs including protocols, source and destination IP addresses and ports.
      • NAT: NAT logs including NAT type, source and destination IP addresses and ports.
  5. Click OK to save the syslog server configuration.

Enable log forwarding for each log type

  1. Go to Log > Configuration > Log to visit the Log Configuration page.
  2. Click the tab of the log type you want to configure (for example, Event, Alarm, Security, IPS, Configuration, Network, Session, or NAT).
  3. For each log type you want to forward:
    1. Select the Enable to enable the log function.
    2. Select the Syslog server to export logs to the syslog server.
    3. In the Lowest severity drop-down list, select the lowest severity level. Logs below the severity level selected here won't be exported.
    4. Click the All syslog servers link to verify that your configured syslog server is listed.
  4. Click OK to save the settings.
  5. Repeat steps 2 through 4 for each log type you want to forward to Google SecOps.

Verify log forwarding

  1. On the Bindplane agent host, verify that syslog messages are being received:

    • Linux:
    sudo journalctl -u observiq-otel-collector -f
    • Windows:
    type "C:\Program Files\observIQ OpenTelemetry Collector\log\collector.log"

  2. Look for log entries indicating successful receipt and forwarding of Hillstone Firewall logs.

  3. After 5 to 10 minutes, verify that logs appear in the Google SecOps console.

UDM mapping table

Log Field UDM Mapping Logic
start_time_label, close_time_label, state_label, vr_label additional.fields Additional metadata fields
desc metadata.description Description of the event
metadata.event_type Type of event
metadata.product_name Product name
metadata.vendor_name Vendor name
protocol_number_src network.ip_protocol IP protocol used
receive_bytes network.received_bytes Number of bytes received
receive_packets network.received_packets Number of packets received
send_bytes network.sent_bytes Number of bytes sent
send_packets network.sent_packets Number of packets sent
session_id network.session_id Session identifier
host principal.asset.hostname Hostname of the principal asset
src_ip principal.asset.ip IP address of the principal asset
zone_val principal.cloud.availability_zone Cloud availability zone
host principal.hostname Hostname of the principal
src_ip principal.ip IP address of the principal
mac_address principal.mac MAC address of the principal
src_port principal.port Port number of the principal
ethernet_src_label principal.resource.attribute.labels Labels for principal resource attributes
id principal.user.userid User ID of the principal
dst_ip target.asset.ip IP address of the target asset
dst_ip target.ip IP address of the target
dst_port target.port Port number of the target
ethernet_dst_label target.resource.attribute.labels Labels for target resource attributes
policy target.resource.name Name of the target resource
policy target.resource.type Type of the target resource
user target.user.userid User ID of the target

Change Log

View the Change Log for this parser

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