# Regularly Export SSH Replays **Scenario**: You want to export ssh replay captures from your organization on a regular basis. This document explains how to do this using the `sdm audit ssh` CLI command. Instructions are included for local export and for exporting to either AWS S3 cloud storage or Google Cloud Platform (GCP) cloud storage. For more command information, see the [sdm audit ssh](/references/cli/audit/ssh.md). ### Initial Setup Create a new Linux system user with restricted permissions to run the audit. In this example, we use `sdm`. Download and install the [Linux Installation Guide](/users/client/linux.md). {% hint style="info" %} You do not need to log into the SDM client. The admin token serves as authentication. {% endhint %} ### Create an Admin Token To create an admin token, sign into the StrongDM Admin UI and go to **Audit > API & Admin Tokens**. From there you can create an admin token with the specific rights you require, which in this case is the **Audit > SSH Captures** permission only. After you click **Create**, a dialog pops with the admin token. Copy the token, and save it for later use in `/etc/sdm-admin.token` in the format `SDM_ADMIN_TOKEN=`. This file must be owned by your user. ```bash chown sdm:sdm /etc/sdm-admin.token ``` For more details on creating admin tokens, see [Create Admin Tokens](/admin/principals/admin-tokens.md). ### Export to a JSON File Set up a script to run a periodic SSH export. In the following example SSH export script, captured SSH sessions write to a JSON document every five minutes. ```bash #!/bin/bash export SDM_ADMIN_TOKEN= START=$(date -d "5 minutes ago" '+%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:00') # start of audit slice, defaulting to 5 minutes ago FN=$(date -d "yesterday 00:00" '+%Y%m%d%H%M') # timestamp string to append to output filename END=$(date '+%Y-%m-%d%TH:%M:00') # end of audit slice, defaulting to now, at the top of the minute TARGET=/var/log/sdm # location where JSON files will be written /opt/strongdm/bin/sdm audit ssh --from "$START" --to "$END" -j > "$TARGET/ssh.$FN.json" ``` #### Add a crontab entry Although most Linux systems have locations to place scripts that run daily, weekly, or so on, the script is configured by default to run every five minutes. As such, our best bet is to place it directly into the crontab file for a user or for the system. Add this line to the crontab of your choice, modifying the interval to match what you set in the script: ```bash */5 * * * * /path/to/script.sh ``` ### Export to Cloud Storage If you [configured logging](/admin/audit/logs.md) to a cloud environment, use the following methods to extract SSH captures before or after log export. #### SSH session extraction prior to export Set up and run a periodic export in order to extract SSH sessions prior to shipping the logs to your cloud storage. The SSH captures are compressed and exported every hour. {% hint style="warning" %} This method has known limitations: if SSH sessions span log copy/delivery intervals, there may be duplicated or incomplete SSH session recordings. {% endhint %} ```bash #!/bin/bash # day, hour, minute timestamp TIMESTAMP=`date +'%Y%m%d%H%M'` # to prevent overlapping records, do 61 min ago to 1 min ago FROMTIME=`date --date="61 minutes ago" +'%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'` TOTIME=`date --date="1 minutes ago" +'%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'` SSHDIR=/path/to/save/ssh/sessions TEMPDIR=/tmp # this token needs only audit/ssh captures permission export SDM_ADMIN_TOKEN= CLOUD_LOG_NAME=strongdm-log-$TIMESTAMP.gz CLOUD_SSH_NAME=strongdm-ssh-$TIMESTAMP.gz CLOUD_PATH=://bucket/path/to/logs # change the cloud path depending on the cloud (for example, s3 or gcp); note there is no trailing slash at the end of the path export CLOUD_ACCESS_KEY_ID= export CLOUD_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY= # Ensure your environment variables are in place and gzip the data into either S3 (aws s3) or GCP (gsutil); this example uses S3 journalctl -q -o cat --since "$FROMTIME" --until "$TOTIME" -u sdm-proxy > $TEMPDIR/sdmaudit.log cd $SSHDIR; sdm ssh split $TEMPDIR/sdmaudit.log gzip $TEMPDIR/sdmaudit.log | aws s3 cp - $CLOUD_PATH/$CLOUD_LOG_NAME sdm audit ssh --from "$FROMTIME" --to "$TOTIME" | \ gzip | aws s3 cp - $CLOUD_PATH/$CLOUD_SSH_NAME ``` Configure this script to [run every hour in cron](#add-a-crontab-entry). {% hint style="info" %} If you have chosen to save your StrongDM gateway or relay logs in JSON, you need to add the `-j` option to perform this operation correctly (for example, `sdm ssh split -j $TEMPDIR/sdmaudit.log`). {% endhint %} #### SSH session extraction after export 1. To extract SSH sessions from exported logs, first determine the ID of the session you want to view. Do this by running `sdm audit ssh` with the relevant `--from` and `--to` flags, as in the following example. ```bash $ sdm audit ssh --from "2018-03-20" --to "2018-03-22" Time,Server ID,Server Name,User ID,User Name,Duration (ms),Capture ID,Hash 2018-03-21 20:51:16.098221 +0000 UTC,1334,prod-312-test,1016,Joe Admin,8572,4516ae2e-5d55-4559-a08c-8a0f514b579c,afb368770931a2aae89e6a8801b40eac44569d93 2018-03-21 20:53:01.4391 +0000 UTC,1334,prod-312-test,1016,Joe Admin,7515,fbd50897-1359-4b55-a103-68e4dafa494b,aa4aa0646469757df9f0b92fb5ca39a9c1bfd38d 2018-03-22 21:57:10.920914 +0000 UTC,1334,prod-312-test,1016,Joe Admin,10440,aa8dab30-685d-4180-a86b-bb1794d23756,aa4aa0646469757df9f0b92fb5ca39a9c1bfd38d 2018-03-22 23:16:40.170815 +0000 UTC,1334,prod-312-test,1016,Joe Admin,5433,7a8735cf-05c8-4840-89ae-42c6ad750136,883b03873229301e58fb6c9ccf1a3f584953d13c 2018-03-22 23:21:49.987304 +0000 UTC,1334,prod-312-test,1016,Joe Admin,4529,2324e5d7-398b-47cd-ace6-78b33f813e3f,883b03873229301e58fb6c9ccf1a3f584953d13c ``` 2. Next, copy the logs from the relevant timeframe back down from your cloud storage. Please note that an SSH session may span several logs, so pay attention to the duration of the session as revealed in step 1. 3. Unzip the logs and compile them into a single file. ```bash cat log1 log2 log3 > combined-logs ``` 4. Run `sdm ssh split ` to extract all SSH sessions from this log. They are named after the session ID. At this point, you can view the relevant session file (in JSON format). ```bash $ sdm ssh split combined-logs 5783cb5e-e1c8-44ba-b8ee-4bc4d8c28c7d.ssh 9d880e13-f608-4fe0-b1e7-deeb35bb9f2c.ssh ``` {% hint style="info" %} If you have chosen to save your StrongDM gateway or relay logs in JSON, you need to add the `-j` option to perform this operation correctly (for example, `sdm ssh split -j combined-logs`). {% endhint %} --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.strongdm.com/admin/audit/logs/scenarios/export-ssh.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.