Connect Microsoft Sentinel to Amazon Web Services to ingest AWS service log data

This tab explains how to configure the AWS S3 connector using one of two methods:

• Automatic setup (Recommended)
• Manual setup

Prerequisites

• You must have write permission on the Microsoft Sentinel workspace.

• Install the Amazon Web Services solution from the Content Hub in Microsoft Sentinel. For more information, see Discover and manage Microsoft Sentinel out-of-the-box content.

• Install PowerShell and the AWS CLI on your machine (for automatic setup only):

  • Installation instructions for PowerShell
  • Installation instructions for the AWS CLI (from AWS documentation)

• Make sure that the logs from your selected AWS service use the format accepted by Microsoft Sentinel:

  • Amazon VPC: .csv file in GZIP format with headers; delimiter: space.
  • Amazon GuardDuty: json-line and GZIP formats.
  • AWS CloudTrail: .json file in a GZIP format.
  • CloudWatch: .csv file in a GZIP format without a header. If you need to convert your logs to this format, you can use this CloudWatch lambda function.

Automatic setup

To simplify the onboarding process, Microsoft Sentinel has provided a PowerShell script to automate the setup of the AWS side of the connector - the required AWS resources, credentials, and permissions.

The script:

• Creates an OIDC web identity provider, to authenticate Microsoft Entra ID users to AWS. If a web identity provider already exists, the script adds Microsoft Sentinel as an audience to the existing provider.

• Creates an IAM assumed role with the minimal necessary permissions, to grant OIDC-authenticated users access to your logs in a given S3 bucket and SQS queue.

• Enables specified AWS services to send logs to that S3 bucket, and notification messages to that SQS queue.

• If necessary, creates that S3 bucket and that SQS queue for this purpose.

• Configures any necessary IAM permissions policies and applies them to the IAM role created above.

For Azure Government clouds, a specialized script creates a different OIDC web identity provider, to which it assigns the IAM assumed role.

Instructions

To run the script to set up the connector, use the following steps:

1. From the Microsoft Sentinel navigation menu, select Data connectors.

2. Select Amazon Web Services S3 from the data connectors gallery.

   If you don't see the connector, install the Amazon Web Services solution from the Content Hub in Microsoft Sentinel.

3. In the details pane for the connector, select Open connector page.

4. In the Configuration section, under 1. Set up your AWS environment, expand Setup with PowerShell script (recommended).

5. Follow the on-screen instructions to download and extract the AWS S3 Setup Script (link downloads a zip file containing the main setup script and helper scripts) from the connector page.

   Note

   For ingesting AWS logs into an Azure Government cloud, download and extract this specialized AWS S3 Gov Setup Script instead.

6. Before running the script, run the aws configure command from your PowerShell command line, and enter the relevant information as prompted. See AWS Command Line Interface | Configuration basics (from AWS documentation) for details.

7. Now run the script. Copy the command from the connector page (under "Run script to set up the environment") and paste it in your command line.

8. The script prompts you to enter your Workspace ID. This ID appears on the connector page. Copy it and paste it at the prompt of the script.

   

9. When the script finishes running, copy the Role ARN and the SQS URL from the script's output (see example in first screenshot below) and paste them in their respective fields in the connector page under 2. Add connection (see second screenshot below).

   

   

10. Select a data type from the Destination table drop-down list. This tells the connector which AWS service's logs this connection is being established to collect, and into which Log Analytics table it stores the ingested data. Then select Add connection.

Manual setup

We recommend using the automatic setup script to deploy this connector. If for whatever reason you don't want to take advantage of this convenience, follow the steps below to set up the connector manually.

1. Set up your AWS environment as described in Set up your Amazon Web Services environment to collect AWS logs to Microsoft Sentinel.

2. In the AWS console:

   1. Enter the Identity and Access Management (IAM) service and navigate to the list of Roles. Select the role you created above.

   2. Copy the ARN to your clipboard.

   3. Enter the Simple Queue Service, select the SQS queue you created, and copy the URL of the queue to your clipboard.

3. In Microsoft Sentinel, select Data connectors from the navigation menu.

4. Select Amazon Web Services S3 from the data connectors gallery.

   If you don't see the connector, install the Amazon Web Services solution from the Content Hub in Microsoft Sentinel. For more information, see Discover and manage Microsoft Sentinel out-of-the-box content.

5. In the details pane for the connector, select Open connector page.

6. Under 2. Add connection:

   1. Paste the IAM role ARN you copied two steps ago into the Role to add field.
   2. Paste the URL of the SQS queue you copied in the last step into the SQS URL field.
   3. Select a data type from the Destination table drop-down list. This tells the connector which AWS service's logs this connection is being established to collect, and into which Log Analytics table it stores the ingested data.
   4. Select Add connection.

   

Known issues and troubleshooting

Known issues

• Different types of logs can be stored in the same S3 bucket, but shouldn't be stored in the same path.

• Each SQS queue should point to one type of message. If you want to ingest GuardDuty findings and VPC flow logs, set up separate queues for each type.

• A single SQS queue can serve only one path in an S3 bucket. If you're storing logs in multiple paths, each path requires its own dedicated SQS queue.

Troubleshooting

Learn how to troubleshoot Amazon Web Services S3 connector issues.

This tab explains how to configure the AWS CloudTrail connector. The process of setting it up has two parts: the AWS side and the Microsoft Sentinel side. Each side's process produces information used by the other side. This two-way authentication creates secure communication.

Prerequisites

• You must have write permission on the Microsoft Sentinel workspace.
• Install the Amazon Web Services solution from the Content Hub in Microsoft Sentinel. For more information, see Discover and manage Microsoft Sentinel out-of-the-box content.

Connect AWS CloudTrail

Setting up this connector has two steps:

• Create an AWS assumed role and grant access to the AWS Sentinel account
• Add the AWS role information to the AWS CloudTrail data connector

Create an AWS assumed role and grant access to the AWS Sentinel account

1. In Microsoft Sentinel, select Data connectors from the navigation menu.

2. Select Amazon Web Services from the data connectors gallery.

   If you don't see the connector, install the Amazon Web Services solution from the Content Hub in Microsoft Sentinel. For more information, see Discover and manage Microsoft Sentinel out-of-the-box content.

3. In the details pane for the connector, select Open connector page.

4. Under Configuration, copy the Microsoft account ID and the External ID (Workspace ID) to your clipboard.

5. In a different browser window or tab, open the AWS console. Follow the instructions in the AWS documentation for creating a role for an AWS account.

   • For the account type, instead of This account, choose Another AWS account.

   • In the Account ID field, enter the number 197857026523 (or paste it—the Microsoft account ID you copied in the previous step—from your clipboard). This number is Microsoft Sentinel's service account ID for AWS. It tells AWS that the account using this role is a Microsoft Sentinel user.

   • In the options, select Require external ID (do not select Require MFA). In the External ID field, paste your Microsoft Sentinel Workspace ID that you copied in the previous step. This identifies your specific Microsoft Sentinel account to AWS.

   • Assign the AWSCloudTrailReadOnlyAccess permissions policy. Add a tag if you want.

   • Name the role with a meaningful name that includes a reference to Microsoft Sentinel. Example: "MicrosoftSentinelRole".

Add the AWS role information to the AWS CloudTrail data connector

1. In the browser tab open to the AWS console, enter the Identity and Access Management (IAM) service and navigate to the list of Roles. Select the role you created above.

2. Copy the ARN to your clipboard.

3. Return to your Microsoft Sentinel browser tab, which should be open to the Amazon Web Services data connector page. In the Configuration section, paste the Role ARN into the Role to add field and select Add.

   

4. To use the relevant schema in Log Analytics for AWS events, search for AWSCloudTrail.

   Important

   As of December 1, 2020, the AwsRequestId field has been replaced by the AwsRequestId_ field (note the added underscore). The data in the old AwsRequestId field will be preserved through the end of the customer's specified data retention period.