Installation guide
Fastvue Reporter can be up and running in as little as five minutes following this simple installation guide.
Minimum Server Requirements
Download Fastvue Reporter and install on a machine (or virtual machine) that meets our recommended requirements below.
What are the supported Windows Operating Systems?
Fastvue Reporter is designed for 64 bit Windows Server Operating Systems running Windows Server 2012 R2, or above.
Fastvue does not support Windows Desktop operating systems such as Windows 10 or 11 due to conflicts with other applications and ports.
What are the RAM and CPU requirements?
The CPU and RAM requirements vary based on the amount of log file data you’re importing, the number of reports being generated, and the alerts you’ve configured.
Here are some rough guidelines based on the number of people in your network:
| Network Size | Recommended Server Specification |
|---|---|
| Up to 100 Users | 4 CPUs/Cores, 8 GB RAM |
| 100 – 500 Users | 4 CPUs/Cores, 12 GB RAM |
| 500 – 2000 Users | 4 CPUs/Cores, 16 GB RAM |
| 2000 – 3000 Users | 8 CPUs/Cores, 32 GB RAM |
| 3000+ Users | 16 CPUs/Cores, 64 GB RAM |
This is a rough guide only, and we recommend installing on a Virtual Machine so you can scale these resources up or down as required.
What are the data storage requirements?
Recommended disk space
Every organization is different, and it only takes a particularly chatty application to drastically change the log data generated between two similarly sized networks.
Fastvue Reporter's default data retention policy is 90 days, or 90% of the available drive space at the time of installation, whichever comes first.
When setting up a new server, as a very rough rule of thumb, allocate enough disk space to store 15 MB per user per day, and use an environment where this disk can be easily adjusted in the future.
Install the free 14-day trial and let the software run for a few days. Then head to Settings > Data Storage. Here you will see how much data has been imported per day, along with a Daily Average figure.
Go to Settings > Data Storage > Settings and try increasing the number of days from the default 90, to the number of days you want to store. You'll notice the estimate underneath the edit box changes to show you the amount of hard drive space you need to allow for based on the Daily Average seen so far.
Likewise, you can change the Size policy to see the number of days the set amount of hard drive space will accommodate.
Use SSDs if possible
Fastvue Reporter uses Elasticsearch as its database. This is I/O intensive and has considerable performance benefits when running on SSD disks. Fastvue recommends SSD disks to avoid performance-related issues, especially when monitoring medium to large networks.
We don't advise installing to a network drive due to latency issues affecting the stability of our very frequent read-write operations.
Don't install to a mapped network drive, or use a mapped network drive as Fastvue Reporter’s data path, as the assigned drive letters won't exist in the system context – only the user context. If you must use a network drive, specify a UNC path such as \servername-or-ip\fastvue. But keep in mind the performance issues mentioned above, and you'll have to configure ‘full’ permissions for the Fastvue Server’s local system account.
Installation
Note: In order to import data and run reports as fast as possible, Fastvue Reporter can be resource intensive. We do not recommend installing Fastvue Reporter on a server that provides a critical services such as a Domain Controller, DNS server, or DFS server. We recommend installing on a dedicated VM (virtual machine) so you can scale the resources appropriately.
To install Fastvue Reporter:
- Double-click the downloaded setup exe on a machine that meets the above requirements.
- The installer automatically installs and configures the required pre-requisites which include .Net 4.6 and IIS (Web Server and Application Server roles). It will also install Open JDK and Elasticsearch in its own self-managed directory.
- Once the pre-requisites have been installed, proceed through the installation wizard. It will ask you for:
- Installation folder
Only application files are installed to this folder and it does not require much disk space. The default is C:\Program Files\Fastvue\{Product Name}. - Website and Virtual Directory
This is the website and sub-folder (virtual directory) within IIS to install the Fastvue Reporter website into. The default is Default Web Site.
If you have other websites installed on your server, it is a good idea to either create a new website in IIS first and install to that, or use the 'sub-directory' option and enter a name such as ‘fastvue’ or ‘reports’. This creates a contained 'virtual directory' in IIS under the main website which you can access usinghttp://yourserver/fastvue(for example). - Data Location
This is the location where all imported data, configuration and report files are stored. Specify a location with plenty of disk space. The default is C:\ProgramData\Fastvue\{Product Name}.
- Installation folder
- Navigate to the Fastvue Reporter web interface in your web browser. If you are on the server you installed, this will be
http://localhostorhttp://localhost/sub-folder-nameif you specified a sub-folder in step 3 above (replacesub-folder-namewith the actual name you specified). You can also replacelocalhostwith the server's name or IP address to access the web interface from a different machine.
Upgrading
To upgrade an earlier version of Fastvue Reporter, simply run the new installer over the top of your existing installation. The installer will pick up your existing settings, so just click next throughout the wizard without making any changes. Once installed, browse to the site and clear the browser cache by hitting ctrl + F5 (cmd + R on Mac).
Note that it can take a few minutes for data to start importing again after upgrades and restarts of the Fastvue Reporter service. You can check the database initialisation progress in Settings | Diagnostic | Database.
Automated / Silent Deployment
If you need to deploy or upgrade Fastvue Reporter silently or to multiple servers in an automated way, please see our comprehensive Reporter 4.0 PowerShell script.
Send syslog data to the Fastvue Server from Fortinet FortiGate or FortiAnalyzer
Now that Fastvue Reporter for FortiGate has been installed, you need to add configure your FortiGate(s) to send syslog data to the Fastvue server.
Alternatively, if you are using FortiAnalyzer, you can forward the FortiGate logs from FortiAnalyzer to your Fastvue Server.
Using the FortiGate GUI
- In FortiGate’s web interface, go to Log & Report > Log Settings
- Toggle Event logging to All
- Optional: If you want to report on internal traffic, toggle Local traffic logging to All
- Toggle Syslog logging to Enable
- In the IP address/FQDN option, enter your Fastvue Reporter server's IP or FQDN.
- Scroll down and click Apply to save the settings.
If you already have a syslog server specified, use the CLI method below to configure the syslogd2, syslogd3 or syslogd4 settings.
Using the FortiGate CLI
Log into the CLI and enter the following commands:
config log syslogd setting
set status enable
set facility user
set port 514
set server {IP or FQDN of the Fastvue server}
set format default
set mode reliable
end
You can configure up to four syslog servers on FortiGate. Just replace ‘syslogd’ with syslogd2, sylsogd3 or syslogd4 on the first line to configure each syslog server.
Forward logs from FortiAnalyzer
- Log into FortiAnalyzer and go to System Settings > Advanced > Log Forwarding
- Click Create New and give the Log Forwarding a name such as 'Fastvue Reporter'
- In the Remote Server Type dropdown, select Syslog
- In the Server FQDN/IP edit box, enter the IP address or FQDN of your Fastvue Reporter server.
- In the Server Port field, enter the port that Fastvue Reporter is listening on for syslog data. This is usually 514, unless you have other syslog tools installed on the Fastvue Reporter server that are occupying this port.
- Enable the Reliable Connection option to send syslog over TCP instead of UDP.
- Under Device Filters, select Specify to include or exclude specific FortiGate devices. To forward logs from all FortiGates, select All ADOMs + All Devices.
- Leave the remaining options unchecked unless you need to exclude specific log types or events. At a minimum, forward the FortiGate Traffic and UTM Log Types to the Fastvue Reporter server.
- Click OK to save the Log Forwarding configuration.
Using the CLI (example):
config system log-forward
edit 1
set mode forwarding
set fwd-max-delay realtime
set server-name "Fastvue Reporter"
set server-addr "your.fastvue.server.ip.or.fqdn"
set server-port 514
set fwd-server-type syslog
set fwd-reliable enable
config device-filter
edit 1
set adom "root"
set device "FGVMXXXXXXXXXXXX"
next
end
set signature 464152496823944XXXX
next
end
Configure forward, local and anomaly traffic logging
These logging features should be enabled by default, but make sure forward and local traffic as well as anomalies are being logged with the following CLI commands:
config log syslogd filter
set forward-traffic enable
set local-traffic enable
set anomaly enable
set severity information
endConfigure logging of all urls and referrer urls
The logging of referrer URLs was introduced in FortiOS 5.4, which is a great feature for Internet usage analysis, and FortiOS 6.0 introduced ‘extended logging’ that adds useful HTTP headers to the logs. Unfortunately, you need to enable these features per web filter profile. This is also done at the CLI:
config webfilter profile
edit {name-of-profile}
set web-content-log enable
set extended-log enable
set web-extended-all-action-log enable
-- repeat for all web filter profiles --
endIf you are using proxy-based web filter profiles, also enable the additional web-filter-referer-log option (this option is not required or available for flow-based profiles):
config webfilter profile
edit {name-of-profile}
set web-filter-referer-log enable
-- repeat for all proxy-based web filter profiles --
endChange Allowed Web Filter Categories to Monitor
In order for FortiGate to log the details of allowed web traffic, you need to change any web categories from Allow to the Monitor action in your Web Filter Profiles.
To do this:
- In FortiGate's Web UI, go to Security Profiles > Web Filter
- Under the FortiGuard Category Based Filter section, select all web filter categories currently set to Allow. Hold shift or control / cmd to select multiple categories at once.
- Change the action to Monitor by clicking the Monitor action button at the top of the table, or by right-clicking and selecting Monitor.
- Save the changes and repeat for any other Web Filter Profiles in use.
Add a Source
Add your firewall as a Source in Fastvue Reporter. This can be done on the start page that is presented after installation, or by going to Settings | Sources and clicking Add Source.
If your firewall is sending syslog data on port 514, click into the dropdown and wait a few seconds. The dropdown will populate with the name and/or IP of the device(s) sending syslog traffic to the Fastvue Server. Simply select your firewall from the list and click Add Source.
If your firewall is sending syslog data on a different port (such as 50514 if using the Linux / Docker version), Fastvue Reporter will not automatically display your firewall in the dropdown list. In this case, manually enter your firewall's IP and your selected syslog port into the options provided, then click Add Source.
Note: If entering your firewall and port manually, make sure the IP is the one your Fastvue Server is receiving syslog data from. This could be the IP of the internal LAN interface on your firewall, or if you have intermediate devices routing syslog traffic, it could be the interface IP of the last hop.
If you're unsure, you can a 'dummy' source with an invalid name (such as 'dummy') but specify the custom syslog port your firewall is sending syslog data on. Fastvue Reporter will then start listening on the port specified. You can then click Add Source again, and the dropdown list should populate with any device sending syslog data on your custom syslog port.
It may take 10-20 seconds before the first records are imported. You can watch the records and dates imported in Settings | Sources. Once records start importing, you can go to the Dashboard tab to see your network traffic.
Enjoy
Now you can try out the many features of Fastvue Reporter!