Getting started with Audit Trails

If you do not have the Yandex Cloud CLI 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 parameters.

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 <prefix_in_bucket> \
     --filter-from-organisation-id <organization_ID> \
     --filter-some-cloud-ids <list_of_clouds_in_organization>
   

   Where:

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

     • It must be 2 to 63 characters long.
     • It may contain lowercase Latin letters, numbers, and hyphens.
     • It must start with a letter and cannot end with 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 new trail belongs to and for whose resources audit logs will be collected.

     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 --filter-from-organisation-id together with --filter-all-organisation-id.

   • --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 named in the --filter-from-organisation-id parameter.

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

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

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

   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.

With Terraform, you can quickly create a cloud infrastructure in Yandex Cloud and manage it using configuration files. These files store the infrastructure description written in HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL). If you change the configuration files, Terraform automatically detects which part of your configuration is already deployed, and what should be added or removed.

Terraform is distributed under the Business Source License. The Yandex Cloud provider for Terraform is distributed under the MPL-2.0 license.

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

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 = "<prefix_in_bucket>"
     }
     
     filter {
       path_filter {
         some_filter {
           resource_id   = "<organization_ID>"
           resource_type = "<parent_resource_type>"
           any_filters {
               resource_id   = "<ID_of_cloud_1>"
               resource_type = "<child_resource_type>"
           }
           any_filters {
               resource_id   = "<ID_of_cloud_2>"
               resource_type = "<child_resource_type>"
           }
         }
       }
       event_filters {
         service = "<ID_of_service_1>"
         categories {
           plane = "DATA_PLANE"
           type  = "<action_type>"
         }
         path_filter {
           any_filter {
             resource_id = "<organization_ID>"
             resource_type = "<resource_type>"
           }
         }
       }
       event_filters {
         service = "<ID_of_service_2>"
         categories {
           plane = "DATA_PLANE"
           type  = "<action_type>"
         }
         path_filter {
           any_filter {
             resource_id = "<organization_ID>"
             resource_type = "<resource_type>"
           }
         }
       }
     }
   }
   

   Where:

   • name: Name of the new trail. The naming requirements are as follows:

     • It must be 2 to 63 characters long.
     • It may contain lowercase Latin letters, numbers, and hyphens.
     • It must start with a letter and cannot end with a hyphen.

   • folder_id: ID of the folder to create the 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 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.

   • filtering_policy: Settings of the filtering policy that determines which events to collect and include in the audit logs. The policy consists of filters pertaining to different levels of events. It contains the management_events_filter and data_events_filters objects.

     • management_events_filter: Management event filter.

     • resource_scopes: Log collection scope. You can combine several scopes belonging to the same organization in one resource_scopes parameter. For example, you can collect logs from one entire cloud and only from particular folders in another cloud. Service account permissions must allow collecting logs from the specified scopes.

       • resource_id: ID of the resource for whose resources audit logs will be collected. Based on the audit log collection scope, specify the organization ID or the cloud ID in this parameter.

       • resource_type: Scope type according to the specified ID:

         • organization-manager.organization: Organization.
         • resource-manager.cloud: Cloud.
         • resource-manager.folder: Folder.

     • data_events_filters: Data event filters. You can configure several filters of this type, one filter per service. A filter for one service has the following structure:

       • service: Name of the service in which the trail will process events. You can get it from the data event reference.
       • resource_scopes: Places to collect data events from. You can configure this parameter the same way as the management event filter.
       • included_events: Collect only specified events. This is an optional parameter. If not specified, all events will be collected. To collect all events except the specified ones, replace included_events with excluded_events. These parameters are mutually exclusive.
         You can get a full list of events from the data event reference.

   For more information about the yandex_audit_trails_trail resource parameters 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 settings 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.