Getting started with Audit Trails

If you do not have the Yandex Cloud command line interface yet, install and initialize it.

The folder specified in the CLI profile is used by default. You can specify a different folder using the --folder-name or --folder-id parameter.

1. View the description of the CLI command for creating a trail:

   yc audit-trails trail create --help
   

2. Run the command to create a trail to collect management event audit logs in the organization:

   yc audit-trails trail create \
     --name <trail_name> \
     --description "<trail_description>" \
     --service-account-id <service_account_ID> \
     --destination-bucket <bucket_name> \
     --destination-bucket-object-prefix <bucket_prefix> \
     --filter-from-organisation-id <organization_ID> \
     --filter-some-cloud-ids <list_of_clouds_in_the_organization>
   

   Where:

   • --name: Name of the trail being created.
     The name format requirements are as follows:

     • The name must be from 3 to 63 characters long.
     • It may contain lowercase Latin letters, numbers, and hyphens.
     • The first character must be a letter and the last character cannot be a hyphen.

   • --description: Description of the trail to distinguish it from other trails, e.g., --description "My very first trail". This is an optional parameter.

   • --service-account-id: ID of the service account that the trail will use to upload audit log files to the bucket.

     Based on the audit log collection scope, the service account must have the audit-trails.viewer role for the organization, cloud, or folder whose audit logs the trail will collect.

   • --destination-bucket: Name of the bucket to upload audit logs to.
     To get a list of buckets in the default folder, run the yc storage bucket list CLI command.

   • --destination-bucket-object-prefix: Prefix to assign to the objects with audit logs in the bucket. It is an optional parameter used in the full name of the audit log file.

     Note

     Use a prefix to store audit logs and third-party data in the same bucket. Do not use the same prefix for logs and other bucket objects because that may cause logs and third-party objects to overwrite each other.

   • --filter-from-organisation-id: ID of the organization the trail being created belongs to and for whose resources audit logs will be collected. You can get the organization ID in the Yandex Cloud Organization console or using the yc organization-manager organization list CLI command.

     When using the --filter-from-organisation-id parameter, you also need to set cloud IDs in the --filter-some-cloud-ids parameter.

     You cannot use the --filter-from-organisation-id parameter together with the --filter-all-organisation-id parameter.

   • --filter-some-cloud-ids: List of IDs of the clouds for whose resources the trail will collect audit logs. Use this parameter only if the --filter-from-organisation-id parameter is set.

     The clouds specified in the parameter must belong to the organization set in the --filter-from-organisation-id parameter.

     If you need to collect audit logs from all clouds belonging to the organization, use the --filter-all-organisation-id parameter.

   • --filter-all-organisation-id: ID of the organization the trail being created belongs to and for whose resources audit logs will be collected from all clouds.

     You can get the organization ID in the Yandex Cloud Organization console or using the yc organization-manager organization list CLI command.

     You cannot use the --filter-all-organisation-id parameter together with the --filter-from-organisation-id parameter.

   Result:

   done (1s)
   id: cnpe0gldjeq0********
   folder_id: b1g9d2k0itu4********
   created_at: "2024-03-31T16:54:56.187Z"
   updated_at: "2024-03-31T16:54:56.187Z"
   name: sample-trail
   description: My very first trail
   destination:
     object_storage:
       bucket_id: at-destination-bucket
       object_prefix: sample-trail-audit-logs
   service_account_id: ajeee339l4m5********
   status: ACTIVE
   filter:
     path_filter:
       root:
         some_filter:
           resource:
             id: bpfaidqca8vd********
             type: organization-manager.organization
           filters:
             - any_filter:
                 resource:
                   id: b1glti4eser3********
                   type: resource-manager.cloud
             - any_filter:
                 resource:
                   id: b1gssd27h7ra********
                   type: resource-manager.cloud
     event_filter: {}
   cloud_id: b1glti4eser3********
   

   For more information about the yc audit-trails trail create command, see the CLI reference.

Terraform allows you to quickly create a cloud infrastructure in Yandex Cloud and manage it using configuration files. Configuration files store the infrastructure description in the HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL). Terraform and its providers are distributed under the Business Source License.

For more information about the provider resources, see the documentation on the Terraform website or the mirror.

If you change the configuration files, Terraform automatically detects which part of your configuration is already deployed, and what should be added or removed.

If you don't have Terraform, install it and configure the Yandex Cloud provider.

1. In the configuration file, describe the parameters of the trail that will collect audit events of the organization's resources:

   resource "yandex_audit_trails_trail" "basic_trail" {
     name = "<trail_name>"
     folder_id   = "<folder_ID>"
     description = "<trail_description>"
   
     labels = {
       key = "value"
     }
   
     service_account_id = "<service_account_ID>"
   
     storage_destination {
       bucket_name   = "<bucket_name>"
       object_prefix = "<bucket_prefix>"
     }
   
     filter {
       path_filter {
         some_filter {
           resource_id   = "<organization_ID>"
           resource_type = "<parent_resource_type>"
           any_filters {
               resource_id   = "<cloud_1_ID>"
               resource_type = "<child_resource_type>"
           }
           any_filters {
               resource_id   = "<cloud_2_ID>"
               resource_type = "<child_resource_type>"
           }
         }
       }
       event_filters {
         service = "<service_1_ID>"
         categories {
           plane = "DATA_PLANE"
           type  = "<action_type>"
         }
         path_filter {
           any_filter {
             resource_id = "<organization_ID>"
             resource_type = "<resource_type>"
           }
         }
       }
       event_filters {
         service = "<service_2_ID>"
         categories {
           plane = "DATA_PLANE"
           type  = "<action_type>"
         }
         path_filter {
           any_filter {
             resource_id = "<organization_ID>"
             resource_type = "<resource_type>"
           }
         }
       }
     }
   }
   

   Where:

   • name: Name of the trail being created. The name format requirements are as follows:

     • The name must be from 3 to 63 characters long.
     • It may contain lowercase Latin letters, numbers, and hyphens.
     • The first character must be a letter and the last character cannot be a hyphen.

   • folder_id: ID of the folder to create a trail in.

   • description: Description of the trail to distinguish it from other trails, e.g., My very first trail. This is an optional parameter.

   • labels: List of labels in key=value format. This is an optional parameter.

   • service_account_id: ID of the service account that the trail will use to upload audit log files to the bucket.

     Based on the audit log collection scope, the service account must have the audit-trails.viewer role for the organization, cloud, or folder whose audit logs the trail will collect.

   • storage_destination: Structure describing the target bucket.

     • bucket_name: Name of the bucket to upload audit logs to.
       To get a list of buckets in the default folder, run the yc storage bucket list CLI command.

     • object_prefix: Prefix to assign to the objects with audit logs in the bucket. It is an optional parameter used in the full name of the audit log file.

       Note

       Use a prefix to store audit logs and third-party data in the same bucket. Do not use the same prefix for logs and other bucket objects because that may cause logs and third-party objects to overwrite each other.

   • filter: Structure describing how the trail processes events. It contains the path_filter and event_filters objects.

     • path_filter: Structure describing how the trail processes management (control plane) events. It may contain a single some_filter object or a single any_filter object. If the path_filter object is missing in the configuration, the trail will not process control plane events.

     • event_filters: Structure describing how the trail processes data (data plane) evens. If the event_filters object is missing in the configuration, the trail will not process data plane events. A single event_filters section is used to configure data plane audit log processing for a single Yandex Cloud service. To configure the trail processing of data plane events for multiple services, specify the event_filters parameter in the configuration as many times as you need.

       • service: ID of the service whose events the trail will process.
         The possible values include:

         • dns
         • kms
         • lockbox
         • mdb.mongodb
         • mdb.mysql
         • mdb.postgresql
         • storage

       • categories: Structure describing the type of events to collect.

         • plane: Event plane. For data plane events, specify DATA_PLANE.
         • type: Type of resource event action. The possible values are READ and WRITE.

       • path_filter: Structure describing how the trail processes data (data plane) events. It may contain a single some_filter object or a single any_filter object.

   For more information about the parameters of the yandex_audit_trails_trail resource in Terraform, see the provider documentation.

2. Create resources:

   1. In the terminal, change to the folder where you edited the configuration file.

   2. Make sure the configuration file is correct using the command:

      terraform validate
      

      If the configuration is correct, the following message is returned:

      Success! The configuration is valid.
      

   3. Run the command:

      terraform plan
      

      The terminal will display a list of resources with parameters. No changes are made at this step. If the configuration contains errors, Terraform will point them out.

   4. Apply the configuration changes:

      terraform apply
      

   5. Confirm the changes: type yes in the terminal and press Enter.

   Terraform will create all the required resources. You can check the new resources and their configuration using the management console or this CLI command:

   yc audit-trails trail get <trail_name>
   

Use the create REST API method for the Trail resource or the TrailService/Create gRPC API call.