wazuh-ossec Installation Guide Installation Guide

wazuh-ossec is a free and open-source host intrusion detection. OSSEC provides host-based intrusion detection system

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 2+ cores

RAM: 2GB minimum

Storage: 10GB for logs

Network: Agent protocol

Operating System:

Linux: Any modern distribution (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, openSUSE)

macOS: 10.14+ (Mojave or newer)

Windows: Windows Server 2016+ or Windows 10

FreeBSD: 11.0+

Network Requirements:

Port 1514 (default wazuh-ossec port)

Auth on 1515

Dependencies:

See official documentation for specific requirements

System Access: root or sudo privileges required

This guide supports installation on:

RHEL 8/9 and derivatives (CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux)

Debian 11/12

Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 LTS

Arch Linux (rolling release)

Alpine Linux 3.18+

openSUSE Leap 15.5+ / Tumbleweed

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15+

macOS 12+ (Monterey and later)

FreeBSD 13+

Windows 10/11/Server 2019+ (where applicable)

bash

# Install EPEL repository if needed
sudo dnf install -y epel-release

# Install wazuh-ossec
sudo dnf install -y wazuh_ossec

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now wazuh-ossec

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=1514/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
wazuh-ossec --version

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install wazuh-ossec
sudo apt install -y wazuh_ossec

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now wazuh-ossec

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 1514

# Verify installation
wazuh-ossec --version

bash

# Install wazuh-ossec
sudo pacman -S wazuh_ossec

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now wazuh-ossec

# Verify installation
wazuh-ossec --version

bash

# Install wazuh-ossec
apk add --no-cache wazuh_ossec

# Enable and start service
rc-update add wazuh-ossec default
rc-service wazuh-ossec start

# Verify installation
wazuh-ossec --version

bash

# Install wazuh-ossec
sudo zypper install -y wazuh_ossec

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now wazuh-ossec

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=1514/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
wazuh-ossec --version

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install wazuh_ossec

# Start service
brew services start wazuh_ossec

# Verify installation
wazuh-ossec --version

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install wazuh_ossec

# Enable in rc.conf
echo 'wazuh-ossec_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service wazuh-ossec start

# Verify installation
wazuh-ossec --version

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install wazuh_ossec

# Or using Scoop
scoop install wazuh_ossec

# Verify installation
wazuh-ossec --version

bash

# Create configuration directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/wazuh_ossec

# Set up basic configuration
# See official documentation for detailed configuration options

# Test configuration
wazuh-ossec --version

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable wazuh-ossec

# Start service
sudo systemctl start wazuh-ossec

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop wazuh-ossec

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart wazuh-ossec

# Check status
sudo systemctl status wazuh-ossec

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u wazuh-ossec -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add wazuh-ossec default

# Start service
rc-service wazuh-ossec start

# Stop service
rc-service wazuh-ossec stop

# Restart service
rc-service wazuh-ossec restart

# Check status
rc-service wazuh-ossec status

bash

# Enable in /etc/rc.conf
echo 'wazuh-ossec_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service wazuh-ossec start

# Stop service
service wazuh-ossec stop

# Restart service
service wazuh-ossec restart

# Check status
service wazuh-ossec status

bash

# Using Homebrew services
brew services start wazuh_ossec
brew services stop wazuh_ossec
brew services restart wazuh_ossec

# Check status
brew services list | grep wazuh_ossec

powershell

# Start service
net start wazuh-ossec

# Stop service
net stop wazuh-ossec

# Using PowerShell
Start-Service wazuh-ossec
Stop-Service wazuh-ossec
Restart-Service wazuh-ossec

# Check status
Get-Service wazuh-ossec

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream wazuh_ossec_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:1514;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name wazuh_ossec.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name wazuh_ossec.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/wazuh_ossec.example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/wazuh_ossec.example.com.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://wazuh_ossec_backend;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

apache

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName wazuh_ossec.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://wazuh_ossec.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName wazuh_ossec.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/wazuh_ossec.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/wazuh_ossec.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:1514/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:1514/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend wazuh_ossec_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/wazuh_ossec.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend wazuh_ossec_backend

backend wazuh_ossec_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server wazuh_ossec1 127.0.0.1:1514 check

bash

# Set appropriate permissions
sudo chown -R wazuh_ossec:wazuh_ossec /etc/wazuh_ossec
sudo chmod 750 /etc/wazuh_ossec

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=1514/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Enable SELinux policies (if applicable)
sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

See official documentation for database configuration requirements.

bash

# Basic system tuning
echo 'net.core.somaxconn = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
echo 'net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

bash

# Check service status
sudo systemctl status wazuh-ossec

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u wazuh-ossec -f

# Monitor resource usage
top -p $(pgrep wazuh_ossec)

bash

#!/bin/bash
# Basic backup script
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/wazuh_ossec"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/wazuh_ossec-backup-$DATE.tar.gz" /etc/wazuh_ossec /var/lib/wazuh_ossec

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR/wazuh_ossec-backup-$DATE.tar.gz"

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop wazuh-ossec

# Restore from backup
tar -xzf /backup/wazuh_ossec/wazuh_ossec-backup-*.tar.gz -C /

# Start service
sudo systemctl start wazuh-ossec

1. Service won't start:

bash

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u wazuh-ossec -n 100
sudo tail -f /var/log/wazuh_ossec/wazuh_ossec.log

# Check configuration
wazuh-ossec --version

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/wazuh_ossec

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 1514

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 1514

# Check firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

3. Performance issues:

bash

# Check resource usage
top -p $(pgrep wazuh_ossec)

# Check disk I/O
iotop -p $(pgrep wazuh_ossec)

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 1514

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  wazuh_ossec:
    image: wazuh_ossec:latest
    ports:
      - "1514:1514"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/wazuh_ossec
      - ./data:/var/lib/wazuh_ossec
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

# RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/AlmaLinux
sudo dnf update wazuh_ossec

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade wazuh_ossec

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu wazuh_ossec

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade wazuh_ossec

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update wazuh_ossec

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade wazuh_ossec

# Always backup before updates
tar -czf /backup/wazuh_ossec-pre-update-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc/wazuh_ossec

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart wazuh-ossec

Regular Maintenance

bash

# Log rotation
sudo logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/wazuh_ossec

# Clean old logs
find /var/log/wazuh_ossec -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete

# Check disk usage
du -sh /var/lib/wazuh_ossec

Official Documentation: https://docs.wazuh_ossec.org/

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/wazuh_ossec/wazuh_ossec

Community Forum: https://forum.wazuh_ossec.org/

Best Practices Guide: https://docs.wazuh_ossec.org/best-practices

---

Note: This guide is part of the HowToMgr collection. Always refer to official documentation for the most up-to-date information.

1. Prerequisites

2. Supported Operating Systems

3. Installation

RHEL/CentOS/Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux

Debian/Ubuntu

Arch Linux

Alpine Linux

openSUSE/SLES

macOS

FreeBSD

Windows

Initial Configuration

Basic Configuration

5. Service Management

systemd (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, openSUSE)

OpenRC (Alpine Linux)

rc.d (FreeBSD)

launchd (macOS)

Windows Service Manager

Advanced Configuration

Reverse Proxy Setup

nginx Configuration

Apache Configuration

HAProxy Configuration

Security Configuration

Basic Security Setup

Database Setup

Performance Optimization

System Tuning

Monitoring

Basic Monitoring

9. Backup and Restore

Backup Script

Restore Procedure

6. Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Integration Examples

Docker Compose Example

Maintenance

Update Procedures

Regular Maintenance

Additional Resources

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