Yes, he is LOGing to binary (I see the -b option), but he is ALERTing
to something else. If you do NOT define an alert output in your
snort.conf or on the cmd line, but use -b on the command line, you
will ALERT to /var/log/snort/alert and LOG to snort.log.########. LOG
and ALERT are two seperate facilities. One switch CANNOT affect them
both. In my previous response, my guess was that he is using "output
database: alert, blah" in his snort.conf on the second machine and
"output database: log" on the original. I just reread his post
though, and I think he is saying he sees alert data in
/var/log/messages (it's a hard post to follow), so he must of turned
on the ALERT_SYSLOG function in his snort.conf on the second machine
or is using switches not included in his original post.
Maku,
Can you send the exact cmd line switches and output of `grep '^output'
snort.conf` to the list?
Bammkkkk
On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 15:15:45 -0400, Esler, Joel - Contractor
<joel.esler@rcert-s.army.mil> wrote:
In the default setup, if you log to binary it /will not/ generate the
ascii mode, however, maku says that the log files being produced are
snort.log.###.. This is indicative of binary logging mode.
J
-----Original Message-----
From: Bamm Visscher [mailto:bamm.visscher@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2004 3:07 PM
To: Esler, Joel - Contractor
Cc: maku bex; snort-users@lists.sourceforge.net
Subject: Re: [Snort-users] confuse with alerts file
Comments inline.
On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 12:06:54 -0400, Esler, Joel - Contractor
<joel.esler@rcert-s.army.mil> wrote:
Because you are using the -b option (binary logging) it is logging
into pcap format. Remove the -b to generate an alert file. However,
-b is much more useful if you are familiar with Tcpdump or ethereal.
Joel
No, that is not correct. The -b (binary logging) option has nothing to
do with an alert file being generated. I am not sure why the output
facilities are so misunderstood, but here again is an explanation.
Snort has two output facilities: alert and log. The default plugin for
the alert facility is ALERT_FULL and the default log facility is
LOG_ASCII. ALERT_FULL is your std alert output to the /var/log/alert
file, while LOG_ASCII writes packet data in ascii format to directories
and files based on ip address/protos/ports/etc. The -b option changes
the default behavior of the log facility only (to LOG_PCAP).
-----Original Message-----
From: snort-users-admin@lists.sourceforge.net
[mailto:snort-users-admin@lists.sourceforge.net] On Behalf Of maku bex
Sent: Monday, September 27, 2004 8:06 AM
To: snort-users@lists.sourceforge.net
Subject: [Snort-users] confuse with alerts file
i'm just started with snort.....the sensor was running
fine lately.....
but sometimes.....when i'm trying to play around with
it into another
new box.....the snort itself
is not generate any output into alerts file which is
located in /var/log/snort
FYI, i usually use this configuration...
[snort.conf]
output database: log, mysql,
and i run with this command...
snort -qbID -i eth0 -c /etc/snort/snort.conf -u snort
-g snort m 007
then i cd to /var/log/snort/
what i'm confused is theres no alerts file here but
except of snort.log.smething
so i tail messages log in /var/log/ , yes the snort
can see packets
going through....
but why it not generates the alerts file like in the
1st box...?
can anyone help me out....
Sounds like you may have your database output plugin set to use the
alert facility (output database: alert VERSUS output database: log). I'd
double check that.
Bammkkkk
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