Akamai DataStream 2

Streaming Akamai Edge logs to Netacea using DataStream 2 and Amazon S3

Akamai DataStream 2 log delivery to S3

To send access logs from Akamai to an Amazon S3 bucket, you can use Akamai DataStream 2, which is Akamai’s standard and recommended method for real-time log delivery. Below are the documented steps focused on setting up DataStream 2, with configuration guidance specific to delivery into a Netacea-hosted S3 bucket.

Prerequisites

To successfully stream web traffic logs to Netacea, please ensure the following:

• You have an active Akamai account with full access to the Akamai Dashboard.

• Akamai DataStream 2 is enabled.

DataStream 2 is included with content delivery and comes with no additional charge. To enable this feature, get in touch with your Akamai account team.

• You have received the necessary AWS S3 bucket details (bucket path, name, region, and credentials) from Netacea. These can be found here.

• You are aware of the minimum required dataset fields needed by Netacea for log analysis.

DataStream 2 Configuration

Please follow the Akamai documentation found here to create and activate a DataStream 2 stream, based on the following configuration:

Step 1: Configuration

Use the Configuration tab to enter basic stream details and choose any properties that you want to monitor.

Step 2: Data Set

During the Data Set configuration step, use the following minimum data set, defined by Netacea:

Required Field	Description
Request time	The time which the request was received
Bytes	The Bytes sent as part of the users' request
Client IP	The IP address from which the request was made
HTTP status codes	The HTTP status code returned by the server
Protocol type	The protocol of the response-request cycle.
Request host	The value of the host header in the request
Request method	The HTTP method of the request
Request path	The path of the requested resource
Query string	The query string of the request
User-Agent*	The user agent string sent in the header by the client
Referer*	The web page the user followed a link from
Turn around time	The elapsed time in milliseconds between when the last request header is received and the first byte of the reply is written to the client socket.
Custom field*	This field supports variables and it is required to log custom Netacea-specific fields.
True-Client-IP**	The trusted source of the original client IP
X-Forwarded-For**	Connecting IP address [array] of a client request, if proxied

*To monitor these fields you need to enable logging custom data set parameters in the Log Request Details behavior of the associated Akamai property. See Log custom parameters for more details.

** Useful for when proxies are in the line of traffic from client > origin

Ensure to select JSON as the Log format.

Step 3: Delivery

1. Select Amazon S3 as the Destination.

2. In Name, enter a human-readable description for the destination.

3. In Bucket, enter the name of the relevant S3 Bucket hosted by Netacea.

4. In Folder path, populate this with "logs/" unless otherwise instructed by Netacea.

5. In Region, enter the AWS region code where the bucket resides. This should be eu-west-1 (all lowercase) unless otherwise advised.

6. In Access key ID and Secret access key, enter the credentials provided by Netacea.

7. Click Validate & Save to validate the connection to the destination and save the configuration.

8. Ensure Push frequency is set to the lowest possible value.

Step 4: Summary and Activation

1. On the Summary tab, review all configured details carefully.

2. Once confirmed, check the Activate stream upon saving box.

3. Click Save stream to complete the setup.

Step 5: Enable the DataStream via a Rule

Activating the stream may take up to an hour. However, data will only be collected and streamed after you add and enable the DataStream behavior via a rule in your site’s property configuration.

To do this:

1. Create a new property version of your currently active property.

2. Edit the new version.

3. Under Property Configuration Settings, click +Rules to add a new rule.

4. Select the Blank Rule Template, provide a meaningful name, and click Insert Rule.

Configure the rule

• Criteria Section Add the following matching condition:

  • If Hostname is one of <hostname>

Rule Criteria

If Netacea is monitoring multiple websites, you can include multiple hostnames. Only include those that are intended to be monitored by the DataStream created earlier.

Behaviors Section

• Add a behavior to enable the DataStream created earlier.

  You can also duplicate and reuse an existing rule if appropriate.

Rule Behaviors

• Add another behavior: Log Request Details

  • Set Include Custom Log Field to on

  • Set Custom Log Field to {{user.PMUSER_NETACEA_DS2_CUSTOM_FIELD}}

Log Request Details

The DataStream and associated Rule are now created.

Repeat the above procedure for each separate website (or group of websites) that Netacea will be monitoring.

Activate the Property

When all of the DataStreams and Rules have been created, click Save and use the Activate tab to activate (deploy) your changes to the property's configuration.

Monitoring configuration will now be deployed on the property it was configured against. You can confirm the deployment is correct by:

• Requesting Netacea review internal monitoring metrics.

• Requesting Netacea validate the data content & format.

Final Steps

Once log delivery is active, notify your Netacea Solutions Engineer. This allows us to:

• Confirm receipt of data

• Validate the dataset format and completeness

• Begin analysis once a sufficient volume of data has been collected

If you require support during setup, the Netacea SE team is here to help — don’t hesitate to reach out.