Ecosyste.ms: Awesome

An open API service indexing awesome lists of open source software.

Awesome Lists | Featured Topics | Projects

https://github.com/brexhq/substation

Substation is a cloud-native, event-driven data pipeline toolkit built for security teams.
https://github.com/brexhq/substation

aws data-engineering data-processing etl go security serverless

Last synced: 3 months ago
JSON representation

Substation is a cloud-native, event-driven data pipeline toolkit built for security teams.

Awesome Lists containing this project

README 

        
# Substation



![Substation Banner](.github/media/substation_banner.png)



Substation is a toolkit for routing, normalizing, and enriching security event and audit logs.






[Releases][releases]   |   [Docs][docs]   |   [Quickstart][quickstart]   |   [Announcement (2022)][announcement]   |   [v1.0 Release (2024)][v1_release]






## At a Glance



Substation is inspired by data pipeline systems like Logstash and Fluentd, but is built for modern security teams:



- **Extensible Data Processing**: Build data processing pipeline systems and microservices using out-of-the-box applications and 100+ data transformation functions, or create your own written in Go.

- **Route Data Across the Cloud**: Conditionally route data to, from, and between AWS cloud services, including S3, Kinesis, SQS, and Lambda, or to any HTTP endpoint.

- **Bring Your Own Schema**: Format, normalize, and enrich event logs to comply with the Elastic Common Schema (ECS), Open Cybersecurity Schema Framework (OCSF), or any other schema.

- **Unlimited Data Enrichment**: Use external APIs to enrich event logs affordably and at scale with enterprise and threat intelligence, or build a microservice that reduces spend in expensive security APIs.

- **No Servers, No Maintenance**: Deploys as a serverless application in your AWS account, launches in minutes using Terraform, and requires no maintenance after deployment.

- **Runs Almost Anywhere**: Create applications that run on most platforms supported by Go and transform data consistently across laptops, servers, containers, and serverless functions.

- **High Performance, Low Cost**: Transform 100,000+ events per second while keeping cloud costs as low as a few cents per GB. Vendor solutions, like [Cribl](https://cribl.io/cribl-pricing/) and [Datadog](https://www.datadoghq.com/pricing/?product=observability-pipelines#products), can cost up to 10x more.



All of these data pipeline and microservice systems, and many more, can be built with Substation:



![Example Substation architectures](.github/media/substation_architecture.png)



## Transforming Event Logs



Substation excels at formatting, normalizing, and enriching event logs. For example, Zeek connection logs can be transformed to comply with the Elastic Common Schema:



Original Event

Transformed Event



```json

{

  "ts": 1591367999.430166,

  "uid": "C5bLoe2Mvxqhawzqqd",

  "id.orig_h": "192.168.4.76",

  "id.orig_p": 46378,

  "id.resp_h": "31.3.245.133",

  "id.resp_p": 80,

  "proto": "tcp",

  "service": "http",

  "duration": 0.25411510467529297,

  "orig_bytes": 77,

  "resp_bytes": 295,

  "conn_state": "SF",

  "missed_bytes": 0,

  "history": "ShADadFf",

  "orig_pkts": 6,

  "orig_ip_bytes": 397,

  "resp_pkts": 4,

  "resp_ip_bytes": 511

}

```



```json

{

  "event": {

    "original": {

      "ts": 1591367999.430166,

      "uid": "C5bLoe2Mvxqhawzqqd",

      "id.orig_h": "192.168.4.76",

      "id.orig_p": 46378,

      "id.resp_h": "31.3.245.133",

      "id.resp_p": 80,

      "proto": "tcp",

      "service": "http",

      "duration": 0.25411510467529297,

      "orig_bytes": 77,

      "resp_bytes": 295,

      "conn_state": "SF",

      "missed_bytes": 0,

      "history": "ShADadFf",

      "orig_pkts": 6,

      "orig_ip_bytes": 397,

      "resp_pkts": 4,

      "resp_ip_bytes": 511

    },

    "hash": "af70ea0b38e1fb529e230d3eca6badd54cd6a080d7fcb909cac4ee0191bb788f",

    "created": "2022-12-30T17:20:41.027505Z",

    "id": "C5bLoe2Mvxqhawzqqd",

    "kind": "event",

    "category": [

      "network"

    ],

    "action": "network-connection",

    "outcome": "success",

    "duration": 254115104.675293

  },

  "@timestamp": "2020-06-05T14:39:59.430166Z",

  "client": {

    "address": "192.168.4.76",

    "ip": "192.168.4.76",

    "port": 46378,

    "packets": 6,

    "bytes": 77

  },

  "server": {

    "address": "31.3.245.133",

    "ip": "31.3.245.133",

    "port": 80,

    "packets": 4,

    "bytes": 295,

    "domain": "h31-3-245-133.host.redstation.co.uk",

    "top_level_domain": "co.uk",

    "subdomain": "h31-3-245-133.host",

    "registered_domain": "redstation.co.uk",

    "as": {

      "number": 20860,

      "organization": {

        "name": "Iomart Cloud Services Limited"

      }

    },

    "geo": {

      "continent_name": "Europe",

      "country_name": "United Kingdom",

      "city_name": "Manchester",

      "location": {

        "latitude": 53.5039,

        "longitude": -2.1959

      },

      "accuracy": 1000

    }

  },

  "network": {

    "protocol": "tcp",

    "bytes": 372,

    "packets": 10,

    "direction": "outbound"

  }

}

```



## Routing Data



Substation can route data to several destinations from a single process and, unlike most other data pipeline systems,

data transformation and routing are functionally equivalent -- this means that data can be transformed or routed in any order.



In this configuration, data is: 



- Written to AWS S3

- Printed to stdout

- Conditionally dropped (filtered, removed)

- Sent to an HTTPS endpoint



```jsonnet

// The input is a JSON array of objects, such as:

// [

//   { "field1": "a", "field2": 1, "field3": true },

//   { "field1": "b", "field2": 2, "field3": false },

//   ...

// ]

local sub = import 'substation.libsonnet';



// This filters events based on the value of field3.

local is_false = sub.cnd.str.eq({ object: { source_key: 'field3' }, value: 'false' });



{

  transforms: [

    // Pre-transformed data is written to an object in AWS S3 for long-term storage.

    sub.tf.send.aws.s3({ bucket_name: 'example-bucket-name' }),

    // The JSON array is split into individual events that go through 

    // the remaining transforms. Each event is printed to stdout.

    sub.tf.agg.from.array(),

    sub.tf.send.stdout(),

    // Events where field3 is false are removed from the pipeline.

    sub.pattern.tf.conditional(condition=is_false, transform=sub.tf.util.drop()),

    // The remaining events are sent to an HTTPS endpoint.

    sub.tf.send.http.post({ url: 'https://example-http-endpoint.com' }),

  ],

}

```



Alternatively, the data can be conditionally routed to different destinations:



```jsonnet

local sub = import 'substation.libsonnet';



{

  transforms: [

    // If field3 is false, then the event is sent to an HTTPS endpoint; otherwise,

    // the event is written to an object in AWS S3.

    sub.tf.meta.switch({ cases: [

      {

        condition: sub.cnd.any(sub.cnd.str.eq({ object: { source_key: 'field3' }, value: 'false' })),

        transform: sub.tf.send.http.post({ url: 'https://example-http-endpoint.com' }),

      },

      {

        transform: sub.tf.send.aws.s3({ bucket_name: 'example-bucket-name' }),

      },

    ] }),

    // The event is always available to any remaining transforms.

    sub.tf.send.stdout(),

  ],

}

```



## Configuring Applications



Substation applications run almost anywhere (laptops, servers, containers, serverless functions) and all transform functions behave identically regardless of where they are run. This makes it easy to develop configuration changes locally, validate them in a build (CI/CD) pipeline, and run integration tests in a staging environment before deploying to production.



Configurations are written in Jsonnet and can be expressed as functional code, simplifying version control and making it easy to build custom data processing libraries. For power users, configurations also have abbreviations that make them easier to write. Compare the configuration below to similar configurations for Logstash and Fluentd:



Substation

Logstash

Fluentd



```jsonnet

local sub = import 'substation.libsonnet';



{

  transforms: [

    sub.tf.obj.cp({ object: { source_key: 'src_field_1', target_key: 'dest_field_1' } }),

    sub.tf.obj.cp({ obj: { src: 'src_field_2', trg: 'dest_field_2' } }),

    sub.tf.send.stdout(),

    sub.tf.send.http.post({ url: 'https://example-http-endpoint.com' }),

  ],

}

```



```ruby

input {

  file {

    path => "/path/to/your/file.log"

    start_position => "beginning"

    sincedb_path => "/dev/null"

    codec => "json"

  }

}



filter {

  json {

    source => "message"

  }



  mutate {

    copy => { "src_field_1" => "dest_field_1" }

    copy => { "src_field_2" => "dest_field_2" }

  }

}



output {

  stdout {

    codec => rubydebug

  }



  http {

    url => "https://example-http-endpoint.com"

    http_method => "post"

    format => "json"

  }

}

```



```xml



  @type tail

  path /path/to/your/file.log

  pos_file /dev/null

  tag file.log

  format json



  @type record_transformer

  enable_ruby

  

    dest_field_1 ${record['src_field_1']}

    dest_field_2 ${record['src_field_2']}

  



  @type copy

  

    @type stdout

  

  

    @type http

    url https://example-http-endpoint.com

    http_method post

    

      @type json

    

  



```



## Deploying to AWS



Substation includes Terraform modules for securely deploying data pipelines and microservices in AWS. These modules are designed for ease of use, but are also flexible enough to support managing complex systems. This configuration deploys a data pipeline that is capable of receiving data from API Gateway and storing it in an S3 bucket:



resources.tf

node.tf



```tcl

# These resources are deployed once and are used by all Substation infrastructure.



# Substation resources can be encrypted using a customer-managed KMS key.

module "kms" {

  source = "build/terraform/aws/kms"



  config = {

    name   = "alias/substation"

  }

}



# Substation typically uses AppConfig to manage configuration files, but

# configurations can also be loaded from an S3 URI or an HTTP endpoint.

module "appconfig" {

  source = "build/terraform/aws/appconfig"



  config = {

    name = "substation"

    environments = [{ name = "example" }]

  }

}



module "ecr" {

  source = "build/terraform/aws/ecr"

  kms    = module.kms



  config = {

    name         = "substation"

    force_delete = true

  }

}



resource "random_uuid" "s3" {}



module "s3" {

  source = "build/terraform/aws/s3"

  kms    = module.kms



  config = {

    # Bucket name is randomized to avoid collisions.

    name = "${random_uuid.s3.result}-substation"

  }



  # Access is granted by providing the role name of a

  # resource. This access applies least privilege and

  # grants access to dependent resources, such as KMS.

  access = [

    # Lambda functions create unique roles that are

    # used to access resources.

    module.node.role.name,

  ]

}

```



```tcl

# Deploys an unauthenticated API Gateway that forwards data to the node.

module "node_gateway" {

  source = "build/terraform/aws/api_gateway/lambda"

  lambda = module.node



  config = {

    name = "node_gateway"

  }



  depends_on = [

    module.node

  ]

}



module "node" {

  source = "build/terraform/aws/lambda"

  kms       = module.kms  # Optional

  appconfig = module.appconfig  # Optional



  config = {

    name        = "node"

    description = "Substation node that writes data to S3."

    image_uri   = "${module.ecr.url}:latest"

    image_arm   = true



    env = {

      "SUBSTATION_CONFIG" : "https://localhost:2772/applications/substation/environments/example/configurations/node"

      "SUBSTATION_DEBUG" : true

      # This Substation node will ingest data from API Gateway. More nodes can be 

      # deployed to ingest data from other sources, such as Kinesis or SQS.

      "SUBSTATION_LAMBDA_HANDLER" : "AWS_API_GATEWAY"

    }

  }



  depends_on = [

    module.appconfig.name,

    module.ecr.url,

  ]

}

```



## Getting Started



You can run Substation on:



- [Docker](https://substation.readme.io/docs/try-substation-on-docker)

- [macOS / Linux](https://substation.readme.io/docs/try-substation-on-macos-linux)

- [AWS](https://substation.readme.io/docs/try-substation-on-aws)



### Development



[VS Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/devcontainers/containers) is the recommended development environment for Substation. The project includes a [development container](.devcontainer/Dockerfile) that should be used to develop and test the system. Refer to the [development guide](CONTRIBUTING.md) for more information.



### Testing



The development container is used to test the system locally and in the cloud. If don't use VS Code, then you should run the development container from the command line:



```sh

git clone https://github.com/brexhq/substation.git && cd substation && \

docker build -t substation-dev .devcontainer/ && \

docker run -v $(pwd):/workspaces/substation/  -w /workspaces/substation -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock -it substation-dev

```



To try the system locally, run this from the [examples](examples) directory:

```sh

sh .devcontainer/post_start.sh && \

cd examples && \

make -s quickstart

```



To try the system in the cloud, choose an [AWS example](examples/terraform/aws) to deploy:

```sh

sh .devcontainer/post_start.sh && \

cd examples && \

aws configure && \

make -s check && \

make -s build && \

make -s deploy EXAMPLE=terraform/aws/dynamodb/cdc

```



After testing is complete, the cloud deployment should be destroyed:

```sh

make -s destroy EXAMPLE=terraform/aws/dynamodb/cdc

```



**We do not recommend managing cloud deployments from a local machine using the examples Makefile. Production deployments should use a CI/CD pipeline with a remote state backend, such as Terraform, to manage infrastructure.**



## Licensing



Substation and its associated code is released under the terms of the [MIT License](LICENSE).



[releases]:https://github.com/brexhq/substation/releases "Substation Releases"

[docs]:https://substation.readme.io/docs "Substation Documentation"

[quickstart]:https://substation.readme.io/recipes/1-minute-quickstart "Substation Quickstart"

[announcement]:https://medium.com/brexeng/announcing-substation-188d049d979b "Substation Announcement Post"

[v1_release]:https://medium.com/brexeng/releasing-substation-v1-0-4d0314cbc45b "Substation v1.0 Release Post"