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Dnsmasq

Linux dnsmasq is a linux daemon that provides a DNS server, a DHCP server, and a TFTP server. For purposes of this app only the DHCP server operation is of interest.

Rule Function

The purpose of this rule is to parse the assigned IP address and assigned hostname from the DHCP assignment (DHCPACK) messages.

Vendor Documentation

Log Source Details

Item Value
Vendor any linux distribution
Device Type linux OS
Supported Software Version(s) all
Collection Method Syslog
Configurable Log Output? no
Log Source Type linux syslog
Exceptions N/A

Log Types

The log format is a standard linux kernel syslog log message. The message itself consists of space separated fields indicating:

  • The DHCP operation occurring
  • Network interface
  • IP address
  • MAC address
  • Hostname

Parsed Metadata Fields

The fields parsed from the dnsmasq messages are: the assigned IP address, and the assigned hostname.

DHCPACK(<interface>) <IP address> <MAC address> <hostname>

The user tags set are:

  • DNSmasq DHCP Assigned IP - set to <IP address> above
  • DNSmasq DHCP Assigned Hostname - set to <hostname> above
  • DNSmasq DHCP IP -> Hostname - set to <IP address> -> <hostname>

High-Cardinality (HC) Tags

The number of both unique DHCP IP addresses available to be assigned, and the unique hostnames to accompany those IP addresses, are expected to be within normal cardinality limits. Therefore designating any tags as high-cardinality is unnecessary. There are none.

Log Examples

Successful DHCP IP address assignment response

DHCPACK(enp0s3) 192.168.254.101 08:00:55:66:77:88 dhcpnine