Configure Vector to read from /var/log/auth.log file and parse each entry using regular expressions and categorizing events. Output the transformed logs to the console in JSON format.
3. Centralize your authentication logs by setting up a new source on Better Stack, choosing Vector as the integration platform, and copying the Source token for subsequent steps.
4. Modify your /etc/vector/vector.yaml configuration file to incorporate Better Stack as a log forwarding destination using HTTP method with JSON encoding. Ensure that you have auth strategy set to “bearer” and provide the source token in the URI field.
5. Create a comprehensive dashboard on Better Stack by selecting Linux Authentication Logs source from Presets menu, creating a chart using SQL expression option, renaming or removing it as needed.
6. Select metrics to query based on the structure of log entries, such as failed login attempts and successful login events with authentication methods and SSH signatures. Add these fields to the Logs & Metrics section in your source advanced settings for dashboard queries.
7. Set up alerts using Better Stack’s Alerting feature to notify you when certain conditions are met, such as a high number of failed login attempts or suspicious activity from a specific IP address.
8. Use Vector’s filtering and transformation capabilities to enrich your logs with additional context and metadata, making it easier to identify patterns and anomalies in your authentication data.
9. Regularly review and analyze your authentication logs using Better Stack’s visualization tools to gain insights into user behavior and security trends over time.
10. Use Vector’s integration capabilities to send alerts directly to other systems or services, such as Slack or PagerDuty, for faster response times in critical situations.

In simpler terms:
Vector is a tool that helps you monitor your Linux authentication logs by reading from the /var/log/auth.log file and parsing each entry using regular expressions. It categorizes events based on certain criteria and outputs transformed logs to the console in JSON format. By centralizing these logs through Better Stack, you can create comprehensive dashboards with charts that help identify patterns and anomalies over time. You can also set up alerts for specific conditions such as high numbers of failed login attempts or suspicious activity from a particular IP address. Vector’s filtering and transformation capabilities allow you to enrich your logs with additional context and metadata, making it easier to analyze them in detail. Overall, this setup provides an efficient way to monitor and analyze Linux authentication logs for improved security and user behavior insights.