Filebeat + netflow module , there is nothing to visualize on kibana

Hi guys , im very exited about watching netflow data on elk.
My elk is already working, I added metricbeat and can see nice graphics.
Then with similar methods , installed filebeat and enable netflow module following this docs:
https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/current/filebeat-installation-configuration.html
https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/current/filebeat-module-netflow.html

After installing module and start filebeat, i set my mikrotik device to send netflow data to my server:
So:
Firewall is open forport 2055 udp.
Netflow data is coming to server (checked with tcpdump).
filebeat is listening on server ip (cheked with netstat -tulpn)
I added multiple dashboards to kibana (Verview, Top-N ...and more).
But ...
There is no data to see.
It shows:"no result founds" or "0 sources".

If I run filebeat in debug mode I can see flows are there:

[root@deploy ~]# filebeat -e {"monitoring": {"metrics": {"beat":{"cpu":{"system":{"ticks":190,"time":{"ms":196}},"total":{"ticks":3330,"time":{"ms":3340},"value":3330},"user":{"ticks":3140,"time":{"ms":3144}}},"handles":{"limit":{"hard":262144,"soft":1024},"open":13},"info":{"ephemeral_id":"7e884b23-9870-414f-b56d-99ab6358deb9","uptime":{"ms":77186}},"memstats":{"gc_next":27563296,"memory_alloc":15497648,"memory_total":431660784,"rss":100728832},"runtime":{"goroutines":23}},"filebeat":{"events":{"active":209,"added":16340,"done":16131},"harvester":{"open_files":0,"running":0},"input":{"netflow":{"flows":16340,"packets":{"received":921}}}},"libbeat":{"config":{"module":{"running":1,"starts":1},"reloads":1,"scans":1},"output":{"events":{"acked":16131,"batches":336,"total":16131},"type":"elasticsearch"},"pipeline":{"clients":0,"events":{"active":209,"published":16340,"retry":50,"total":16340},"queue":{"acked":16131}}},"registrar":{"states":{"current":0}},"system":{"cpu":{"cores":1},"load":{"1":7.47,"15":7.26,"5":7.47,"norm":{"1":7.47,"15":7.26,"5":7.47}}}}}}

Question is:
How to debug this ? I have zero experience with elk, im just following oficial docs.
Where is data stored ? (in case of nfsen , it is easy to look for rrd files or run nfcapd in debug mode to check if it is working).
Any idea with this ?
Regards.
Leandro.

Some update.
Move from centos7 to ubuntu server.
Fresh server ... 8Gb RAM.-
Same result ...
"No results found" on all kibana dashboards.
Any idea ?

@leostereo

Lets make sure you are getting data

Go to Discover and select filebeat-* as the index pattern and make sure you have the time picker set to the correct time range and see if you see the data there.

Also in Dev Tools run

GET _cat/indices?v

You should see filebeat indices listed.

Hi , @stephenb:
Please take a look:

There is nothing related to netflow here ... perhaps there is the problem.

I think everything looks fine here.
I can also see some events related to netflow input.

Netflow data will end up in filebeat index.

That is not netflow though that looks Syslog.

Post your:

/etc/filebeat/modules.d/netflow.yml

Did you configure and enable that?

And
filebeat.yml

Please format them with the </>

https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/current/filebeat-module-netflow.html

And you enabled the module?

https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/current/filebeat-installation-configuration.html

If you are ingesting netflow you will see these fields in Discover

https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/current/exported-fields-netflow.html

You should be able to filter on

event.dataset : netflow

Module is enabled, double checked:

tecnetadmin@ubuntu-elk:~$ sudo filebeat modules list
[sudo] password for tecnetadmin: 
Enabled:
netflow
system
tecnetadmin@ubuntu-elk:~$ ls -altr /etc/filebeat/modules.d/netflow.yml 
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 212 Aug 30 16:22 /etc/filebeat/modules.d/netflow.yml

Mi netflow.yml:

tecnetadmin@ubuntu-elk:~$ cat /etc/filebeat/modules.d/netflow.yml 
# Module: netflow
# Docs: https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/7.9/filebeat-module-netflow.html

- module: netflow
  log:
    enabled: true
    var:
      netflow_host: 0.0.0.0
      netflow_port: 2055

my filebeat.yml:

sudo cat /etc/filebeat/filebeat.yml 
###################### Filebeat Configuration Example #########################

# This file is an example configuration file highlighting only the most common
# options. The filebeat.reference.yml file from the same directory contains all the
# supported options with more comments. You can use it as a reference.
#
# You can find the full configuration reference here:
# https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/index.html

# For more available modules and options, please see the filebeat.reference.yml sample
# configuration file.

# ============================== Filebeat inputs ===============================

filebeat.inputs:

- type: netflow
  max_message_size: 10KiB
  host: "0.0.0.0:2055"
  protocols: [ v5, v9, ipfix ]
  expiration_timeout: 30m
  queue_size: 8192
  detect_sequence_reset: true




# Each - is an input. Most options can be set at the input level, so
# you can use different inputs for various configurations.
# Below are the input specific configurations.

- type: log

  # Change to true to enable this input configuration.
  enabled: false

  # Paths that should be crawled and fetched. Glob based paths.
  paths:
    - /var/log/*.log
    #- c:\programdata\elasticsearch\logs\*

  # Exclude lines. A list of regular expressions to match. It drops the lines that are
  # matching any regular expression from the list.
  #exclude_lines: ['^DBG']

  # Include lines. A list of regular expressions to match. It exports the lines that are
  # matching any regular expression from the list.
  #include_lines: ['^ERR', '^WARN']

  # Exclude files. A list of regular expressions to match. Filebeat drops the files that
  # are matching any regular expression from the list. By default, no files are dropped.
  #exclude_files: ['.gz$']

  # Optional additional fields. These fields can be freely picked
  # to add additional information to the crawled log files for filtering
  #fields:
  #  level: debug
  #  review: 1

  ### Multiline options

  # Multiline can be used for log messages spanning multiple lines. This is common
  # for Java Stack Traces or C-Line Continuation

  # The regexp Pattern that has to be matched. The example pattern matches all lines starting with [
  #multiline.pattern: ^\[

  # Defines if the pattern set under pattern should be negated or not. Default is false.
  #multiline.negate: false

  # Match can be set to "after" or "before". It is used to define if lines should be append to a pattern
  # that was (not) matched before or after or as long as a pattern is not matched based on negate.
  # Note: After is the equivalent to previous and before is the equivalent to to next in Logstash
  #multiline.match: after

# ============================== Filebeat modules ==============================

filebeat.config.modules:
  # Glob pattern for configuration loading
  path: ${path.config}/modules.d/*.yml

  # Set to true to enable config reloading
  reload.enabled: false

  # Period on which files under path should be checked for changes
  #reload.period: 10s

# ======================= Elasticsearch template setting =======================

setup.template.settings:
  index.number_of_shards: 1
  #index.codec: best_compression
  #_source.enabled: false


# ================================== General ===================================

# The name of the shipper that publishes the network data. It can be used to group
# all the transactions sent by a single shipper in the web interface.
#name:

# The tags of the shipper are included in their own field with each
# transaction published.
#tags: ["service-X", "web-tier"]

# Optional fields that you can specify to add additional information to the
# output.
#fields:
#  env: staging

# ================================= Dashboards =================================
# These settings control loading the sample dashboards to the Kibana index. Loading
# the dashboards is disabled by default and can be enabled either by setting the
# options here or by using the `setup` command.
#setup.dashboards.enabled: false

# The URL from where to download the dashboards archive. By default this URL
# has a value which is computed based on the Beat name and version. For released
# versions, this URL points to the dashboard archive on the artifacts.elastic.co
# website.
#setup.dashboards.url:

# =================================== Kibana ===================================

# Starting with Beats version 6.0.0, the dashboards are loaded via the Kibana API.
# This requires a Kibana endpoint configuration.
setup.kibana:

  # Kibana Host
  # Scheme and port can be left out and will be set to the default (http and 5601)
  # In case you specify and additional path, the scheme is required: http://localhost:5601/path
  # IPv6 addresses should always be defined as: https://[2001:db8::1]:5601
  host: "0.0.0.0:5601"

  # Kibana Space ID
  # ID of the Kibana Space into which the dashboards should be loaded. By default,
  # the Default Space will be used.
  #space.id:

# =============================== Elastic Cloud ================================

# These settings simplify using Filebeat with the Elastic Cloud (https://cloud.elastic.co/).

# The cloud.id setting overwrites the `output.elasticsearch.hosts` and
# `setup.kibana.host` options.
# You can find the `cloud.id` in the Elastic Cloud web UI.
#cloud.id:

# The cloud.auth setting overwrites the `output.elasticsearch.username` and
# `output.elasticsearch.password` settings. The format is `<user>:<pass>`.
#cloud.auth:

# ================================== Outputs ===================================

# Configure what output to use when sending the data collected by the beat.

# ---------------------------- Elasticsearch Output ----------------------------
output.elasticsearch:
  # Array of hosts to connect to.
  hosts: ["0.0.0.0:9200"]

  # Protocol - either `http` (default) or `https`.
  #protocol: "https"

  # Authentication credentials - either API key or username/password.
  #api_key: "id:api_key"
  #username: "elastic"
  #password: "changeme"

# ------------------------------ Logstash Output -------------------------------
#output.logstash:
  # The Logstash hosts
  #hosts: ["localhost:5044"]

  # Optional SSL. By default is off.
  # List of root certificates for HTTPS server verifications
  #ssl.certificate_authorities: ["/etc/pki/root/ca.pem"]

  # Certificate for SSL client authentication
  #ssl.certificate: "/etc/pki/client/cert.pem"

  # Client Certificate Key
  #ssl.key: "/etc/pki/client/cert.key"

# ================================= Processors =================================
processors:
  - add_host_metadata:
      when.not.contains.tags: forwarded
  - add_cloud_metadata: ~
  - add_docker_metadata: ~
  - add_kubernetes_metadata: ~

# ================================== Logging ===================================

# Sets log level. The default log level is info.
# Available log levels are: error, warning, info, debug
#logging.level: debug

# At debug level, you can selectively enable logging only for some components.
# To enable all selectors use ["*"]. Examples of other selectors are "beat",
# "publish", "service".
#logging.selectors: ["*"]

# ============================= X-Pack Monitoring ==============================
# Filebeat can export internal metrics to a central Elasticsearch monitoring
# cluster.  This requires xpack monitoring to be enabled in Elasticsearch.  The
# reporting is disabled by default.

# Set to true to enable the monitoring reporter.
#monitoring.enabled: false

# Sets the UUID of the Elasticsearch cluster under which monitoring data for this
# Filebeat instance will appear in the Stack Monitoring UI. If output.elasticsearch
# is enabled, the UUID is derived from the Elasticsearch cluster referenced by output.elasticsearch.
#monitoring.cluster_uuid:

# Uncomment to send the metrics to Elasticsearch. Most settings from the
# Elasticsearch output are accepted here as well.
# Note that the settings should point to your Elasticsearch *monitoring* cluster.
# Any setting that is not set is automatically inherited from the Elasticsearch
# output configuration, so if you have the Elasticsearch output configured such
# that it is pointing to your Elasticsearch monitoring cluster, you can simply
# uncomment the following line.
#monitoring.elasticsearch:

# ============================== Instrumentation ===============================

# Instrumentation support for the filebeat.
#instrumentation:
    # Set to true to enable instrumentation of filebeat.
    #enabled: false

    # Environment in which filebeat is running on (eg: staging, production, etc.)
    #environment: ""

    # APM Server hosts to report instrumentation results to.
    #hosts:
    #  - http://localhost:8200

    # API Key for the APM Server(s).
    # If api_key is set then secret_token will be ignored.
    #api_key:

    # Secret token for the APM Server(s).
    #secret_token:


# ================================= Migration ==================================

# This allows to enable 6.7 migration aliases
#migration.6_to_7.enabled: true

Finally:
Regarding, filter returns:
**event.dataset : netflow** doesn't match any options

I can also verified 3 more things:
Service is listening at port 2055 , packet from my exporter are coming to server , and firewall is disabled:

sudo netstat -tulpn | grep 2055
udp6       0      0 :::2055                 :::*                                8473/filebeat       
tecnetadmin@ubuntu-elk:~$ 
tecnetadmin@ubuntu-elk:~$ sudo tcpdump -i any port 2055 -qnvv
tcpdump: listening on any, link-type LINUX_SLL (Linux cooked v1), capture size 262144 bytes
23:51:32.440924 IP (tos 0x0, ttl 255, id 40995, offset 0, flags [none], proto UDP (17), length 1476)
    172.30.6.1.2055 > 172.30.6.113.2055: [no cksum] UDP, length 1448
23:51:32.440991 IP (tos 0x0, ttl 255, id 40996, offset 0, flags [none], proto UDP (17), length 1476)
    172.30.6.1.2055 > 172.30.6.113.2055: [no cksum] UDP, length 1448
23:51:32.440997 IP (tos 0x0, ttl 255, id 40997, offset 0, flags [none], proto UDP (17), length 1476)
    172.30.6.1.2055 > 172.30.6.113.2055: [no cksum] UDP, length 1448
23:51:32.441001 IP (tos 0x0, ttl 255, id 40998, offset 0, flags [none], proto UDP (17), length 1476)
    172.30.6.1.2055 > 172.30.6.113.2055: [no cksum] UDP, length 1448
23:51:32.441005 IP (tos 0x0, ttl 255, id 40999, offset 0, flags [none], proto UDP (17), length 1476)
    172.30.6.1.2055 > 172.30.6.113.2055: [no cksum] UDP, length 1448
23:51:32.441010 IP (tos 0x0, ttl 255, id 41000, offset 0, flags [none], proto UDP (17), length 1476)
    172.30.6.1.2055 > 172.30.6.113.2055: [no cksum] UDP, length 1448
23:51:32.441014 IP (tos 0x0, ttl 255, id 41001, offset 0, flags [none], proto UDP (17), length 1476)
    172.30.6.1.2055 > 172.30.6.113.2055: [no cksum] UDP, length 1448
23:51:32.441017 IP (tos 0x0, ttl 255, id 41002, offset 0, flags [none], proto UDP (17), length 1476)
    172.30.6.1.2055 > 172.30.6.113.2055: [no cksum] UDP, length 1448
^C
8 packets captured
15 packets received by filter
7 packets dropped by kernel
tecnetadmin@ubuntu-elk:~$ sudo ufw status
Status: inactive

Thanks for your help.
Again.
Leo.

EDIT that suggestion was not correct...let me look a little more...

@leostereo

Yes try taking out the netflow input section from the filebeat.yml and just leave the netflow.yml module.

Where did you enter that, in Discover in the search bar just enter
event.dataset : netflow

MMM ...didn work.
Removed the input section (keeping the -type: log)
And restart filebeat, kibana and elasticsearch.
Still can not see the index.

I will try removing all the input section ... lets see.
Leo.

Yes good idea (take everything out but netflow module) that will help isolate then you can see if filebeat is shipping any data.. And you are sure the netflow devices are pointing to this box with filebeat on it?

Ok , this is working now.
I change the exporter device and now I can see data on neflow dashboard.
I dont know why original exporter didnt work with filebeat netflow module.
Same data is propperly parsed with nfcapd.
Thanks @stephenb for your help.
Leandro.

1 Like

Cool... Can you confirm that you only needed to configure the module or did you have to configure the input as well... I am curious?

Sure !!.
Only module configuration is enough.
Thanks.

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