# Auditbeat - how to exclude outbound socket data

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/auditbeat-how-to-exclude-outbound-socket-data/205457>\
**Category:** Beats\
**Tags:** auditbeat\
**Created:** [October 28, 2019, 12:21pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/auditbeat-how-to-exclude-outbound-socket-data/205457 "2019-10-28T12:21:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ethrbunny](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/ethrbunny/32/34603_2.png) [@ethrbunny](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ethrbunny)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2019, 12:21pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/auditbeat-how-to-exclude-outbound-socket-data/205457/1 "2019-10-28T12:21:45Z")

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Im hoping to reduce the amount of data that auditbeat is sending me for a specific host. Host in question is producing 5-10x more than any others. Is running zabbix-server so there are lots of outbound sockets. From the data it appears that these account for the majority of the logged data (95+%).

I see these entries in _auditbeat.reference.yml_

```
- module: system
  datasets:
    - socket # Opened and closed sockets

```

How would I set _auditbeat.yml_ to not log this data?

Is there a preferred way to reduce the data volume?

---

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**Author:** ![andrewkroh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/andrewkroh/32/3784_2.png) [@andrewkroh](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/andrewkroh)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2019, 12:59pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/auditbeat-how-to-exclude-outbound-socket-data/205457/2 "2019-10-28T12:59:49Z")

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What version of Auditbeat are you running? Is it 7.4.0+ with the updated system/socket dataset that produces flows? This one might be producing less events because it should produce only one event when a flow ends.

And to filter you could add a drop\_event processor that looks at `network.direction: outbound`.

```auto
auditbeat.modules:
- module: system
  datasets: [socket]
  processors:
  - drop_event.when.equals.network.direction: outbound

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ethrbunny](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/ethrbunny/32/34603_2.png) [@ethrbunny](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ethrbunny)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 10:46am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/auditbeat-how-to-exclude-outbound-socket-data/205457/3 "2019-10-29T10:46:04Z")

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Yes 7.4.x - I have puppet set to install whatever the latest, greatest version is.

I'll try this setting. TY.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 10:46am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/auditbeat-how-to-exclude-outbound-socket-data/205457/4 "2019-11-19T10:46:07Z")

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