Audit event streaming for instances

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• Tier: Ultimate
• Offering: GitLab Self-Managed, GitLab Dedicated

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• Introduced in GitLab 16.1 with a flag named ff_external_audit_events. Disabled by default.
• Feature flag ff_external_audit_events enabled by default in GitLab 16.2.
• Instance streaming destinations made generally available in GitLab 16.4. Feature flag ff_external_audit_events removed.
• Custom HTTP headers UI introduced in GitLab 15.2 with a flag named custom_headers_streaming_audit_events_ui. Disabled by default.
• Custom HTTP headers UI made generally available in GitLab 15.3. Feature flag custom_headers_streaming_audit_events_ui removed.
• Improved user experience in GitLab 15.3.
• HTTP destination Name field added in GitLab 16.3.
• Functionality for the Active checkbox added in GitLab 16.5.

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Audit event streaming for instances, administrators can:

• Set a streaming destination for an entire instance to receive all audit events about that instance as structured JSON.
• Manage their audit logs in third-party systems. Any service that can receive structured JSON data can be used as the streaming destination.

Each streaming destination can have up to 20 custom HTTP headers included with each streamed event.

GitLab can stream a single event more than once to the same destination. Use the id key in the payload to deduplicate incoming data.

Audit events are sent using the POST request method protocol supported by HTTP.

[!warning] Streaming destinations receive all audit event data, which could include sensitive information. Make sure you trust the streaming destination.

Manage streaming destinations for an entire instance.

HTTP destinations

Prerequisites:

• For better security, you should use an SSL certificate on the destination URL.

Manage HTTP streaming destinations for an entire instance.

Add a new HTTP destination

Add a new HTTP streaming destination to an instance.

Prerequisites:

• Administrator access on the instance.

To add a streaming destination for an instance:

1. In the upper-right corner, select Admin.
2. Select Monitoring > Audit events.
3. On the main area, select the Streams tab.
4. Select Add streaming destination and select HTTP endpoint to show the section for adding destinations.
5. In the Name and Destination URL fields, add a destination name and URL.
6. Optional. To add custom HTTP headers, select Add header to create a new name and value pair, and input their values. Repeat this step for as many name and value pairs are required. You can add up to 20 headers per streaming destination.
7. To make the header active, select the Active checkbox. The header will be sent with the audit event.
8. Select Add header to create a new name and value pair. Repeat this step for as many name and value pairs are required. You can add up to 20 headers per streaming destination.
9. After all headers have been filled out, select Add to add the new streaming destination.

Update an HTTP destination

Prerequisites:

• Administrator access on the instance.

To update a instance streaming destination's name:

1. In the upper-right corner, select Admin.
2. Select Monitoring > Audit events.
3. On the main area, select the Streams tab.
4. Select the stream to expand.
5. In the Name fields, add a destination name to update.
6. Select Save to update the streaming destination.

To update a instance streaming destination's custom HTTP headers:

1. In the upper-right corner, select Admin.
2. Select Monitoring > Audit events.
3. On the main area, select the Streams tab.
4. Select the stream to expand.
5. Locate the Custom HTTP headers table.
6. Locate the header that you wish to update.
7. To make the header active, select the Active checkbox. The header will be sent with the audit event.
8. Select Add header to create a new name and value pair. Enter as many name and value pairs as required. You can add up to 20 headers per streaming destination.
9. Select Save to update the streaming destination.

Verify event authenticity

{{< history >}}

• Introduced in GitLab 16.1 with a flag named ff_external_audit_events. Disabled by default.
• Feature flag ff_external_audit_events enabled by default in GitLab 16.2.
• Instance streaming destinations made generally available in GitLab 16.4. Feature flag ff_external_audit_events removed.

{{< /history >}}

Each streaming destination has a unique verification token (verificationToken) that can be used to verify the authenticity of the event. This token is either specified by the Owner or generated automatically when the event destination is created and cannot be changed.

Each streamed event contains the verification token in the X-Gitlab-Event-Streaming-Token HTTP header that can be verified against the destination's value when listing streaming destinations.

Prerequisites:

• Administrator access on the instance.

To list streaming destinations for an instance and see the verification tokens:

1. In the upper-right corner, select Admin.
2. Select Monitoring > Audit events.
3. On the main area, select the Streams tab.
4. View the verification token on the right side of each item.

Update event filters

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• Event type filtering in the UI with a defined list of audit event types introduced in GitLab 16.3.

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When this feature is enabled, you can permit users to filter streamed audit events per destination. If the feature is enabled with no filters, the destination receives all audit events.

A streaming destination that has an event type filter set has a filtered ({{< icon name="filter" >}}) label.

To update a streaming destination's event filters:

1. In the upper-right corner, select Admin.
2. Select Monitoring > Audit events.
3. On the main area, select the Streams tab.
4. Select the stream to expand.
5. Locate the Filter by audit event type dropdown list.
6. Select the dropdown list and select or clear the required event types.
7. Select Save to update the event filters.

Override default content type header

By default, streaming destinations use a content-type header of application/x-www-form-urlencoded. However, you might want to set the content-type header to something else. For example, application/json.

To override the content-type header default value for an instance streaming destination, use either:

• The GitLab UI.
• The GraphQL API.

Google Cloud Logging destinations

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• Introduced in GitLab 16.5.

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Manage Google Cloud Logging destinations for an entire instance.

Prerequisites

Before setting up Google Cloud Logging streaming audit events, you must:

1. Enable Cloud Logging API on your Google Cloud project.
2. Create a service account for Google Cloud with the appropriate credentials and permissions. This account is used to configure audit log streaming authentication. For more information, see Creating and managing service accounts in the Google Cloud documentation.
3. Enable the Logs Writer role for the service account to enable logging on Google Cloud. For more information, see Access control with IAM.
4. Create a JSON key for the service account. For more information, see Creating a service account key.

Add a new Google Cloud Logging destination

Prerequisites:

• Administrator access on the instance.

To add Google Cloud Logging streaming destinations to an instance:

1. In the upper-right corner, select Admin.
2. Select Monitoring > Audit events.
3. On the main area, select the Streams tab.
4. Select Add streaming destination and select Google Cloud Logging to show the section for adding destinations.
5. Enter a random string to use as a name for the new destination.
6. Enter the Google project ID and Google client email from the previously-created Google Cloud service account key.
7. Enter the Google private key from the previously-created Google Cloud service account key. It should be in PEM format, and start with -----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----. Do not upload the entire JSON key.
8. Enter a random string to use as a log ID for the new destination. You can use this later to filter log results in Google Cloud.
9. Select Add to add the new streaming destination.

Update a Google Cloud Logging destination

Prerequisites:

• Administrator access on the instance.

To update Google Cloud Logging streaming destinations to an instance:

1. In the upper-right corner, select Admin.
2. Select Monitoring > Audit events.
3. On the main area, select the Streams tab.
4. Select the Google Cloud Logging stream to expand.
5. Enter a random string to use as a name for the destination.
6. Enter the Google project ID and Google client email from previously-created Google Cloud service account key to update the destination.
7. Enter a random string to update the log ID for the destination. You can use this later to filter log results in Google Cloud.
8. Select Add a new private key and enter a Google private key to update the private key.
9. Select Save to update the streaming destination.

AWS S3 destinations

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• Introduced in GitLab 16.7 with a flag named allow_streaming_instance_audit_events_to_amazon_s3. Disabled by default.
• Feature flag allow_streaming_instance_audit_events_to_amazon_s3 removed in GitLab 16.8.

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Manage AWS S3 destinations for entire instance.

Prerequisites

Before setting up AWS S3 streaming audit events, you must:

1. Create a access key for AWS with the appropriate credentials and permissions. This account is used to configure audit log streaming authentication. For more information, see Managing access keys.
2. Create a AWS S3 bucket. This bucket is used to store audit log streaming data. For more information, see Creating a bucket

Add a new AWS S3 destination

Prerequisites:

• Administrator access on the instance.

To add AWS S3 streaming destinations to an instance:

1. In the upper-right corner, select Admin.
2. Select Monitoring > Audit events.
3. On the main area, select the Streams tab.
4. Select Add streaming destination and select AWS S3 to show the section for adding destinations.
5. Enter a random string to use as a name for the new destination.
6. Enter the Access Key ID, Secret Access Key, Bucket Name, and AWS Region from previously-created AWS access key and bucket to add to the new destination.
7. Select Add to add the new streaming destination.

Update an AWS S3 destination

Prerequisites:

• Administrator access on the instance.

To update an AWS S3 streaming destination to an instance:

1. In the upper-right corner, select Admin.
2. Select Monitoring > Audit events.
3. On the main area, select the Streams tab.
4. Select the AWS S3 stream to expand.
5. Enter a random string to use as a name for the destination.
6. To update the destination, enter the Access Key ID, Secret Access Key, Bucket Name, and AWS Region from the previously-created AWS access key and bucket.
7. Select Add a new Secret Access Key and enter an AWS Secret Access Key to update the Secret Access Key.
8. Select Save.

List streaming destinations

Prerequisites:

• Administrator access on the instance.

To list the streaming destinations for an instance:

1. In the upper-right corner, select Admin.
2. Select Monitoring > Audit events.
3. On the main area, select the Streams tab.
4. Select the stream to expand.

Activate or deactivate streaming destinations

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• Introduced in GitLab 18.2.

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You can temporarily deactivate audit event streaming to a destination without deleting the destination configuration. When a streaming destination is deactivated:

• Audit events stop streaming to that destination immediately.
• The destination configuration is preserved.
• You can reactivate the destination at any time.
• Other active destinations continue to receive events.

Deactivate a streaming destination

Prerequisites:

• Administrator access on the instance.

To deactivate a streaming destination:

1. In the upper-right corner, select Admin.
2. Select Monitoring > Audit events.
3. On the main area, select the Streams tab.
4. Select the stream to expand.
5. Clear the Active checkbox.
6. Select Save.

The destination stops receiving audit events.

Activate a streaming destination

To reactivate a previously deactivated streaming destination:

1. In the upper-right corner, select Admin.
2. Select Monitoring > Audit events.
3. On the main area, select the Streams tab.
4. Select the stream to expand.
5. Select the Active checkbox.
6. Select Save.

The destination resumes receiving audit events immediately.

Delete streaming destinations

Delete streaming destinations for an entire instance. When the last destination is successfully deleted, streaming is disabled for the instance.

Prerequisites:

• Administrator access on the instance.

To delete streaming destinations on an instance:

1. In the upper-right corner, select Admin.
2. Select Monitoring > Audit events.
3. On the main area, select the Streams tab.
4. Select the stream to expand.
5. Select Delete destination.
6. To confirm, select Delete destination.

Delete only custom HTTP headers

Prerequisites:

• Administrator access on the instance.

To delete only the custom HTTP headers for a streaming destination:

1. In the upper-right corner, select Admin.
2. Select Monitoring > Audit events.
3. On the main area, select the Streams tab.
4. To the right of the item, select Edit ({{< icon name="pencil" >}}).
5. Locate the Custom HTTP headers table.
6. Locate the header that you wish to remove.
7. To the right of the header, select Delete ({{< icon name="remove" >}}).
8. Select Save.

Related topics

• Audit event streaming for top-level groups