HP-UX Host Intrusion Detection System Version 4.2 Administration Guide

D The Agent Configuration File
This appendix describes the user-configurable options that can be modified in the HP-UX HIDS
agent configuration file, which is located in /etc/opt/ids/ids.cf. This appendix addresses
the following topics:
• “The Agent Configuration File” (page 191)
• “Forcing Active Agent to Reread Configuration File” (page 191)
• “Log File Rotation” (page 191)
• “Global Configuration” (page 192)
• “Data Source Process Configuration” (page 194)
• “Remote Communication Configuration” (page 195)
The Agent Configuration File
The HP-UX HIDS agent requires a configuration file named ids.cf, located in the directory
/etc/opt/ids. See ids.cf(4) for details. There is usually no need to modify the configuration
file; any modifications should be made with caution after reading the ids.cf man page. However,
it may be useful to understand some of the parameters and settings to aid debugging and
installation.
The configuration file contains four sections:
1. Global Configuration: Parameters that define the overall product structure. The logging and
interface parameters may be edited by the administrator. See “Global Configuration”
(page 192).
2. Correlator Configuration: Parameters related to the correlator. A parameter can be configured
to take measurements of the system call event rate. See “Correlator Process Configuration”
(page 193).
3. Data Source Process (DSP) Configuration: A section per-DSP that defines the system files
to monitor and level of kernel blocking. See “Data Source Process Configuration” (page 194).
4. Remote Communication Section: Parameters required for network communications. See
“Remote Communication Configuration” (page 195).
Forcing Active Agent to Reread Configuration File
If you make changes to the agent configuration file located in ids.cf, you must instruct the
agent process idsagent to reread the configuration information. On the system that is running
the agent:
1. Become user ids:
$ su - ids
2. Send the hangup signal to the agent process ID:
$ kill -HUP $(cat /var/opt/ids/idsagent.pid)
The idsagent process rereads the configuration file and reactivates the current surveillance
schedule, if any.
Log File Rotation
Both the IDS_ERRORFILE file and the IDS_ALERTFILE file, described in “Global Configuration”
(page 192), are designed to support log rotation. If the file names are changed on the system while
the HP-UX HIDS agent software is running, the agent software will recreate the files as defined
in Table D-1 and continue to log to the newly created files. Log rotation permits periodic archiving
of alerts or errors.
To rotate a log file, use the mv command. For example:
% mv /var/opt/ids/alert.log /home/ids/alert.log_Jan_06
The Agent Configuration File 191