Linux
This section provides the installation steps for the Unified Flow Collector. Many users get started using ElastiFlow with the Elastic Stack (Elasticsearch and Kibana). To install and configure both the Elastic Stack and the Unified Flow Collector, step-by-step instructions are provided for both Ubuntu/Debian and RedHat/CentOS.
The Unified Flow Collector can be installed natively on Linux. Packages are currently provided for and supported on the Linux distributions and versions listed in the following table.
| Distribution | Versions |
|---|---|
| Ubuntu/Debian | 18.04 LTS, 20.04 LTS, 22.04 LTS |
| RHEL/CentOS | 7.x, 8.x |
Ubuntu/Debian Installation (deb)
The Debian package for the Unified Flow Collector can be downloaded from here. It can be used for installation on most Debian-based systems such as Debian and Ubuntu.
Download the .deb Package
The package can be downloaded using either the wget or curl command:
wget https://elastiflow-releases.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/flow-collector/flow-collector_6.3.7_linux_amd64.deb
curl https://elastiflow-releases.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/flow-collector/flow-collector_6.3.7_linux_amd64.deb --output flow-collector_6.3.7_linux_amd64.deb
Verify the Package
Checksum Verification
To ensure the downloaded file was fully downloaded and wasn't corrupted or tampered with, you can verify the provided checksum matches.
# get checksum of the downloaded file:
sha256sum flow-collector_6.3.7_linux_amd64.deb
# verify the checksum provided from the previous command matches the checksum here:
https://elastiflow-releases.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/flow-collector/flow-collector_6.3.7_linux_amd64.deb.sha256
GPG Verification
ElastiFlow signs the Debian package with a GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) key. To verify the Debian package, download and import the ElastiFlow GPG public key:
# import public key into gpg keychain
curl -o- https://elastiflow-releases.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/elastiflow.pgp | gpg --import -
# trust the public key
echo "6A2E26EFDE24AA7A634A442ED5C0572E5D212F6B:6:" | gpg --import-ownertrust
Next, download the signature file:
curl -SLO https://elastiflow-releases.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/flow-collector/flow-collector_6.3.7_linux_amd64.deb.sig
Finally, verify the file with the signature:
gpg --verify flow-collector_6.3.7_linux_amd64.deb.sig flow-collector_6.3.7_linux_amd64.deb
Ensure that libpcap-dev is Installed
The collector requires libpcap-dev. Check if the libpcap-dev package is installed:
sudo dpkg-query -l | grep libpcap-dev
If installed, the output will look similar to the follow:
ii libpcap-dev:amd64 1.9.1-3 amd64 development library for libpcap (transitional package)
If it is not present, install it:
apt install libpcap-dev
Install the .deb Package
There are two methods to install the Unified Flow Collector package, apt or dpkg.
Install with apt
sudo apt install ./flow-collector_6.3.7_linux_amd64.deb
Install with dpkg
sudo dpkg -i flow-collector_6.3.7_linux_amd64.deb
RedHat/CentOS Installation (rpm)
The RPM package for the Unified Flow Collector can be downloaded from here. It can be used for installation on most RedHat-based systems such as RHEL and CentOS.
Download the .rpm Package
The package can be easily downloaded using wget or curl:
wget https://elastiflow-releases.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/flow-collector/flow-collector-6.3.7-1.x86_64.rpm
curl https://elastiflow-releases.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/flow-collector/flow-collector-6.3.7-1.x86_64.rpm --output flow-collector-6.3.7-1.x86_64.rpm
Verify the Package
Checksum Verification
To ensure the downloaded file was fully downloaded and wasn't corrupted or tampered with, you can verify the provided checksum matches.
# get checksum of the downloaded file:
sha256sum flow-collector-6.3.7-1.x86_64.rpm
# verify the checksum provided from the previous command matches the checksum here:
https://elastiflow-releases.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/flow-collector/flow-collector-6.3.7-1.x86_64.rpm.sha256
GPG Verification
ElastiFlow signs the RPM package with a GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) key. To verify the RPM package, download and import the ElastiFlow GPG public key:
# import public key into gpg keychain
curl -o- https://elastiflow-releases.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/elastiflow.pgp | gpg --import -
# trust the public key
echo "6A2E26EFDE24AA7A634A442ED5C0572E5D212F6B:6:" | gpg --import-ownertrust
# import public key into rpm trust store
rpm --import https://elastiflow-releases.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/elastiflow.pgp
Next, download the signature file:
curl -SLO https://elastiflow-releases.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/flow-collector/flow-collector-6.3.7-1.x86_64.rpm.sig
Finally, verify the file with the signature:
gpg --verify flow-collector-6.3.7-1.x86_64.rpm.sig flow-collector-6.3.7-1.x86_64.rpm
Ensure that libpcap-dev is Installed
The Unified Flow Collector package can be installed using yum. The collector requires that libpcap-devel also be installed.
Installing libpcap & libpcap-devel on RHEL/CentOS 7.x
wget http://mirror.centos.org/centos/7/os/x86_64/Packages/libpcap-1.5.3-12.el7.x86_64.rpm
wget http://mirror.centos.org/centos/7/os/x86_64/Packages/libpcap-devel-1.5.3-12.el7.x86_64.rpm
sudo yum install -y ./libpcap-1.5.3-12.el7.x86_64.rpm
sudo yum install -y ./libpcap-devel-1.5.3-12.el7.x86_64.rpm
Installing libpcap & libpcap-devel on RHEL/CentOS 8.x
sudo dnf --enablerepo=powertools install libpcap -y
sudo dnf --enablerepo=powertools install libpcap-devel -y
Install/Upgrade the .rpm Package
If installing the Unified Flow Collector package for the first time, i.e. NOT upgrading, run the following:
sudo yum install -y flow-collector-6.3.7-1.x86_64.rpm
If upgrading from a previously installed the Unified Flow Collector package, run the following:
sudo rpm -Uhv flow-collector-6.3.7-1.x86_64.rpm
Configuration
The Unified Flow Collector will be installed to run as a daemon manged by systemd. Configuration of the collector is provided via environment variables and, depending on the enabled options, via various configuration files which by default are located within /etc/elastiflow.
To configure the environment variables, edit the file /etc/systemd/system/flowcoll.service.d/flowcoll.conf. For details on all of the configuration options, please refer to the Configuration Reference.
At a minimum the Unified Flow Collector must point to a valid data store. Additionally, source flows need to be pointed to the Unified Flow Collector so it can pass those along to the data store. The most common installation uses Elasticsearch and Kibana as the data store.
To install and configure both the Elastic Stack and the Unified Flow Collector, step-by-step instructions are provided for both Ubuntu/Debian and RedHat/CentOS.
Running the Collector
To start the collector, execute the follow commands:
sudo systemctl daemon-reload && sudo systemctl start flowcoll.service
To ensure the collector has started and is running, execute:
sudo systemctl status flowcoll.service
The collector can be stopped using:
sudo systemctl stop flowcoll.service
If you want the collector to be started automatically when the system is booted, it must be enabled:
sudo systemctl enable flowcoll.service