+1 (Not binding) On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 6:33 PM, Urs Lerch <m...@ulerch.net> wrote: > Hi > > Since the first call a few weeks ago didn't suceed (more mentors were > asked), I would like to call a second vote for accepting the security > information and event management tool "ALOIS" for incubation in the > Apache Incubator. Thanks Christian Grobmeier we now have two mentors at > least. But any additional mentors are still warmly welcome. The full > proposal is available below and on the proposal wiki page > (http://wiki.apache.org/incubator/AloisProposal). > > Please cast your vote: > > [ ] +1, bring ALOIS into Incubator > [ ] +0, I don't care either way, > [ ] -1, do not bring ALOIS into Incubator, because... > > This vote will be open for 72 hours and, at least that's the way I > understood, only votes from the Incubator PMC are binding. > > Thanks, > Urs > > > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > = Preface = > > ALOIS is a log collection and correlation software with reporting and > alarming functionalities. It has been implemented by the Swiss company > IMSEC for a customer about five years ago. GPL-licenced, implemented in > Ruby and completely based on other OSS-licensed components, it was > designed for the open source community right from the start. Now that > the software has shown its functioning over several years in production > with the one customer and one IMSEC-internal installation, it seems to > be the right time to open it to a wider community. > > > = Abstract = > > ALOIS stands for „Advanced Logging and Intrusion Detection System“ and > is meant to be a fully implemented open source SIEM (security > information and event management) system. > > > = Proposal = > > While almost all other SIEM software, be it closed or open source, > concentrate on the technological part of security monitoring, ALOIS is > aimed to monitor the security of the content. It intends to be > pro-active in the detection of potential loss, theft, mistaken > modification or unauthorized access. ALOIS works on log messages and > thus contains all the basic functionality of a conventional SIEM, as > centralized collecting, normalizing, aggregation, analyzing and > correlating of all log messages, as well as reporting all security > related events. Therefore it can be used as any other SIEM. > > ALOIS consists of five modules interacting to ensure a scaleable > functionality of a SIEM: > > * Insink is the message sink, which is the receiving entry point for > all the different log messages into ALOIS. It is partly based on the > syslog-ng software. Insink listens for messages (UDP), waits for > messages (TCP), receives message collections (files, emails) and > pre-filters them to prevent from message flow overload. > > * Pumpy is the incoming FIFO buffer, implemented as a relational > database tables. which contain the incoming original messages (in raw > format). In a complex system setup, there may be several insink > instances, e.g. for a group of hosts, for specific types of messages, or > for high-avaliablity. > > * Prisma contains logic to split up the text of log messages into > separate fields, based on regular expressions. Actually, "prisma" is a > set of "prismi", each one prisma for one type of log message (apache, > cisco etc. Several prismi can be applied to the same message. This > allows for stacked messages, i.e. forwarded log messages contained in > compressed files contained in e-mail messages. The data retrieved form > the log messages is stored in a database called Dobby. Due to prisma > being written in Ruby, prismi can be applied interactively (when having > system access). > > * Dobby is the central log database. It should be separated from the > Pumpy database for availability and performance reasons. The current > implementation is based on MySQL. > > * The Analyzer contains the two sub-systems Lizard and Reptor. Lizard > is the analysis engine and user interface of ALOIS, implemented in Ruby > on Rails using AJAX. It allows for interactive browsing through the > collected data, exclusion/inclusion/selection of data, data sorting, > data filtering, creation of views, ad-hoc textual and graphical > reporting. Reptor allows for automatic activation of views and > comparison of these views' results to a predefined result (pattern > matching). In case of mismatch, Reptor sends the result to predefined > e-mail addresses. > > Its modular design guarantees ALOIS to scale from little to large > organizations. Since there exists a Debian package, it's easy to build a > test system or even a productive system for small environments. > > Although the software has been in productive use for a few years, there > is still a lot of desired functionality missing. The plugability of new > connected systems is given, but needs some revision. It is a given goal > of the project to allow modules in other programming language. > Furthermore, it has been discussed if parts of the existing > implementation may be replaced with other proven open source software, > e.g. the correlation engine or the web frontend. The other way round, it > has been discussed that the filter creation engine would make a good > tool for any kind of structured data, and thus could be separated from > ALOIS and standardized as a stand-alone tool. > > > = Background = > > It's not simple to know what happens in a bigger network. There's a > multitude of applications, services and appliances working together. > Many of them provide some kind of events or state information. The > network administrator needs to get hands on all of them. But they come > in many different flavors and multiple canals. Therefore, it's hard to > get the big picture. Furthermore, we have learned that it's impossible > to protect a system against all malicious attacks and to keep all the > possible faulty handling away. A monitoring of the systems to guarantee > a pro-active handling is therefore needed.. > > Therefore, more and more organizations collect and analyze all logfiles > in a centralized system, called a SIEM (security information and event > management). The technology provides two major functions for security > events from networks, systems and applications: log management and > compliance reporting (SIM – security information management) and > real-time monitoring and incident management (SEM – security event > management). > > > = Rationale = > > Why another security information and event management system? It's true, > there's already plenty of them. While the proprietary software is way > too expensive for smaller to mid-sized companies, we find that the open > source solutions are either too simple or not completely open. For > example, behind each of the well known systems “OSSIM” and “Prelude”, > there is a company that either closes central functionality for its own > business or has dual licensing and therefore asks the full copyright for > all contributed code. > > ALOIS is aimed to be totally free and open for all contributions. The > openness provided for other programming languages is certainly proof of > this. The plug-ability - yet to be further developed - is meant to > guarantee that individual needs can be realized without stressing the > whole system too much. In our opinion, the Linux kernel is a good > example that this can work very well. > > Since we are in accordance with „the Apache way“, we would be very > pleased if ALOIS could become part of the Apache community. In Addition, > the Apache Logging Services would be a perfect home for the software. > Furthermore, it's not the intention to compete with the already existing > log viewer and analyzing tool „Chainsaw“. Since Chainsaw is a relatively > easy tool, it meets a rather different need. Nevertheless, if the two > projects use synergies, both can profit. > > > = Initial Goals = > > When this project started ins 2005, there was no proven SIEM open source > software and the commercial tools were way too expensive for the needed > environment. Therefore, we decided together with a customer of ours to > implement an open source SIEM tool from scratch. Now the software has > run in a production environment for several years and has proven its > functionality and reliabilty. > > > = Current Status = > > == Meritocracy == > > As already mentioned, ALOIS is already in production use in two > organizations. All the code has been written by two persons of the same > company in a paid employment relationship. It is obvious that this is > way different from the open source approach within Apache. But > nevertheless, the two developers have always worked as a team and the > decisions were made in consensus whenever possible. But it is no secret, > that these developers have to learn to behave in an open community. > Understanding this potential problem, they already got support by a > freelance consulter, who has the corresponding experience and knowledge. > > == Community == > > Until today there is no real community, because the project hasn't been > published officially, although it had been completely published on the > web site for a couple of months (until a server relaunch). Convinced by > the concept and design of the software, we are open and hope to reach > many contributors and users. We think that it is realistic, because the > SIEM issue has yet not been resolved in the OSS space. > > == Core Developers == > > ALOIS was developed by Simon Hürliman and Flavio Pellanda, both employed > by the company IMSEC. Concerning Design and Architecture, Marcus > Holthaus, owner of IMSEC, gave his input as security specialist. Since > the beginning of this year, Urs Lerch, a doctorate on the subject of > commercial open source software development, supports the team with his > knowledge. Simon Hürlimann has left the company three years ago, but is > still active in the OSS environment (although not for ALOIS). Current > employee Daniel Lutz (a Debian Developer) has also contributed to the > project. > > == Alignment == > > Besides that we strongly believe in the „Apache way“, we think that > although that Apache hosts the Logging Services and different security > projects, there is a gap when it comes to a superordinate security view. > We therefore think it a good idea to add our SIEM project to the Apache > repository. On the other side, Apache would become an even more complete > software repository. > > > = Known Risks = > > == Orphaned products == > > Since the software is only maintained by employers of one company, there > is a severe risk of being orphaned. But, on the one hand, the company > has a sustained interest in keeping the project alive, because there are > plans to offer services on top of ALOIS, and IMSEC uses the software for > SIEM on their own systems. For this reason there exists a budget for the > development and support of ALOIS. On the other hand, we believe that > ALOIS is of great interest for other people and companies tied to IT > security. Therefore, our step to the Apache incubator is also a step to > a bigger community. > > == Inexperience with Open Source == > > While ALOIS has always been licenced under the GPL, access to the source > code, bug tracker and version control system has been restricted to > internal users for most of the time. But the company has a strong > believe in the open source movement and therefore engages its employees > to take part in the community. Furthermore, it is also a strategic > decision to build services on top of linux. > > We understand that the Apache Incubator is a great opportunity for us to > get assistance, when it comes to specific questions on the open source > development. Even more, the company has created a part time position for > the open source community work. > > == Homogenous Developers == > > Although ALOIS has been developed by employees of only one company, > there is a thorough openness. The company is designed to stay small and > therefore works with several independent partners. Furthermore, its > employees work in geographically different parts of the country. > Therefore, it is no new experience for the developers to work in a > distributed environment and argue rather than to command. Already today > the employees are enforced to document all face-to-face communication in > the internal wiki. Sketches are photographed and stored in the project's > digital folder. > > == Reliance on Salaried Developers == > > Until today all the development of ALOIS has been made in a paid > emplyoment. Therefore we know that this brings a significant danger. > Since it is our stated aim to encourage participation and recruit > commiters, we hope to eliminate this risk as soon as possible. > Furthermore, the employees of IMSEC are all open source enthusiasts and > are in one way or another active in the community. Although we have no > certainty, there is good indication that the current commiters would > continue their work on ALOIS, even if they wouldn't be paid for it. > > == Relationships with Other Apache Products == > > The Apache Logging Service would be a perfect home for ALOIS as a > centralized logging collection and analyzing tool. Furthermore, we think > that we could share part of the code with the Chainsaw subproject, since > both need similar functionality in the web frontend. Since it is our > statet aim to replace our own code with proofen open source libraries, > we are open for any collaboration with other projects. For example, the > replacement of the MySQL with a NoSQL database might be useful for > performance reasons; therefore HBase is a good candidate. > > == An Excessive Fascination with the Apache Brand == > > The Apache brand is in fact for its own a very good reason to join the > Incubator. But much more our desire to become part of the Apache > Incubator is our strong believe in open source software in general and > in the „Apache way“ in particular. We would love to learn from the > experience and knowledge of the foundation's members and participants, > which is an important part of the brand as well. The foundation has > shown many times, that it has the processes and people to succeed in > launching a project. We would be very proud to be part of this success > story. > > > = Documentation = > > The documentation is rather weak and scattered. It has mainly been > maintained on a wiki and is open to improvement. Since we are totally > aware that this is a killer for a successfull open source project, we > have already started an internal project with its own budget to improve > this shortcomming. Once the project has been launched, writing a blog or > open a forum are other possibilities we already thought of. > > Furthermore, as the employees are used to work in a geographycally > distributed environment, a lot of the internal communication happens in > a chat. Thus, opening a new chat channel for the community is scheduled. > (To document the discussions for all those who were off-line, we would > send the logs daily to the mailing list.) > > > = Initial Source = > > Although the initial source comes from a project for a customer. it has > an open source licence since the beginning. Therefore it doesn't have > any propriatary code in it. A thorough revision before releasing it to a > public repository is recommend and is also in planning. > > The initial source will be a snapshot of the version control system, > accompanied by a related debian package. > > > = Source and Intellectual Property Submission Plan = > > ALOIS is currently under a GPL licence. Since there are only two > contributors so far, both from the same company, there is no problem to > re-licence the code and contribute it to Apache. The commitment of the > company's owner has been granted. > > > = External Dependencies = > > So far, no external dependencies are known. As mentioned before, a > thorough revision of the codebase is in planning. There it can be > controlled, that no other licence is affected by the code. > > > = Cryptography = > > ALOIS does not involve cryptographic code. > > > = Required Resources = > > == Mailing lists == > > The following mailing lists will be required: > > * alois-private > * alois-dev > * alois-commits > * alois-users > > == Subversion Directory == > > https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/incubator/alois > > == Issue Tracking == > > JIRA ALOIS (ALOIS) > > == Other Resources == > > We would like to open a chat channel. If this isn't possible within the > infrastructure of Apache, we would love to do this in our own already > existing infrastructure. > > > = Initial Commiters = > > * NAME EMAIL AFFILIATION CLA > * Flavio Pellanda flavio.pellanda at logintas dot ch IMSEC no > * Urs Lerch mail at ulerch dot net IMSEC yes > * Daniel Lutz daniel.lutz at logintas dot ch IMSEC no > * Marcus Holthaus marcus.holthaus at imsec dot ch IMSEC no > > > = Sponsors = > > == Champion == > > * Scott Deboy <sdeboy at apache dot org> > > == Nominated Mentors == > > * Scott Deboy <sdeboy at apache dot org> > * Christian Grobmeier <grobmeier at apache dot org> > > == Sponsoring Entity == > > The Incubator PMC (requested) >
-- Thanks - Mohammad Nour Author of (WebSphere Application Server Community Edition 2.0 User Guide) http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247585.html - LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mnour - Blog: http://tadabborat.blogspot.com ---- "Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving" - Albert Einstein "Writing clean code is what you must do in order to call yourself a professional. There is no reasonable excuse for doing anything less than your best." - Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship "Stay hungry, stay foolish." - Steve Jobs --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: general-unsubscr...@incubator.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: general-h...@incubator.apache.org
