Installation requirements for BMC Defender Server
Disk space requirements are highly dependent on the average message length and expected message volume per day. For example:
- 1 day, with an average message length of 900 characters and 50,000,000 million messages, requires 50 GB per day.
- 30 days of logging the messages takes 1.5 TB of drive space.
- 180 days of archiving the messages take 270 GB of drive space.
Three categories of data are saved by the system:
- Logs—Logs contain the raw data ingested by the system. Each message can be a maximum of 2,000 bytes. By default, log data is saved in the main installation directory, but high-volume systems can assign the logs to an alternate drive. You can change the path on Messages > Config > Parms tab.
- Catalogs—Catalogs contain index information for the system. The data is frequently accessed and must stay on the same disk as the installation directory. Catalogs usually take less than 10% of the space required by the logs.
- Archives—Archives are compressed back ups of the daily log data. By default, log data is saved in the main installation directory, but high-volume systems can assign the archives to an alternate drive. This path can be altered on the Messages > Config > Parms tab. Archives are approximately 3% of the size of a daily log and are rarely accessed.
You can configure the number of days to retain data on the Messages > Config > Parms tab.
You can add or expand disk drives to allow for more storage space.
Software requirements
Ensure your system meets the following software requirements:
- Any supported Microsoft Windows operating system – stand-alone or on a virtual machine
- Web browser such as Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer
- Apache server (provided with installation)
- (Optional) Microsoft Excel
- Adobe Acrobat Reader, for viewing some electronic documentation files
Security and access requirements
A user must have administrative rights on the server platform to install and configure the software.
The following table summarizes all the service ports that can be used by the system. The system administrator should verify that firewalls permit communication between the agent and the manager.
Designated port numbers depend on specific options that you might have installed at your site:
Protocol | Port | Service | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
TCP | 80 | HTTP Server | Used by BMC Defender Server to listen for web browser requests |
TCP | 443 | Secure HTTP | Used by BMC Defender Server to listen for HTTPS requests |
UDP | 514 | Syslog Receiver | Used by BMC Defender Server to listen for syslog messages |
UDP | 162 | SNMP Trap Receiver | (Optional) Used by BMC Defender Server to listen to SNMP traps |
TCP | 55514 | Remote Agent Config | (Optional but recommended) Used by BMC Defender Agent for Windows to listen for remote configuration requests |
TCP | 51462 | Tunnel Receiver | (Optional) Used by BMC Defender Server to listen for tunneled messages from agents |
Additional requirements
Ensure that your system meets the following additional requirements:
Requirement | Description |
|---|---|
Syslog messages | To receive syslog messages from Windows platforms, you must install BMC Defender Agent for Windows on each client platform. This is a standard part of the installation software. To receive syslog messages from UNIX systems, root access to the client platform is required to configure the standard syslog.conf configuration file. |
Windows event logs | Install BMC Defender Agent for Windows on the client servers and workstations as described in Installing BMC Defender Agent for Windows. |
SNMP traps | Set the trap destination for the server, workstation or device to point to the server. |
Application logs | Install and configure BMC Defender Agent for Windows on the client platforms. |
The logs directory can consume large amounts of disk space. For this reason, it is common to relocate the logs directory to a separate dedicated disk. For best results, the disk should not be a network server, which can dramatically slow down the CO-syslog.exe process.
You specify the location of the new syslog data directory on the Messages > Config > Parms tab of the web interface. For instance, the administrator can specify an auxiliary disk, such as the D: drive.
Where to go from here
Plan your deployment strategy.
Install BMC Defender Server or examine more detailed instructions in the Installing section.