Micro agent configurations

This article describes the different types of configurations that the micro agent supports. Customers can configure the micro agent to fit the needs of their devices, and network environments.

The micro agent's behavior is configured by a set of module twin properties. You can configure the micro agent to best suit your needs. For example, you can turn off certain events to minimize power consumption, and reduce other resource usage.

After any change in configuration, the collector will immediately send all unsent event data. After the data is sent, the changes will be applied, and collectors will be restarted as needed.

General configuration

Define the frequency in which messages are sent for each priority level. All values are required.

Default values are as follows:

Frequency Time period (in minutes)
Low 1440 (24 hours)
Medium 120 (2 hours)
High 30 (.5 hours)

To reduce resource consumption on the device, each priority should be set as a multiple of the one below it. For example, High: 60 minutes, Medium: 120 minutes, Low: 480 minutes.

The syntax for configuring the frequencies is as follows:

"CollectorsCore_PriorityIntervals" : "<High>,<Medium>,<Low>"

For example:

"CollectorsCore_PriorityIntervals" : "30,120,1440"

Collector types and properties

Configure the micro agent using the following collector-specific properties and settings:

Baseline collector-specific settings

Setting Name Setting options Description Default
Baseline_Disabled True/False Disables the Baseline collector. False
Baseline_MessageFrequency Low/Medium/High Defines the frequency in which to send Baseline events. Low
Baseline_GroupsDisabled A list of Baseline group names, separated by a comma.

For example: Time Synchronization, Network Parameters Host
Defines the full list of Baseline group names that should be disabled. Null
Baseline_ChecksDisabled A list of Baseline check IDs, separated by a comma.

For example: 3.3.5,2.2.1.1
Defines the full list of Baseline check IDs that should be disabled. Null

System Information collector-specific settings

Setting Name Setting options Description Default
SystemInformation_Disabled True/False Disables the System Information collector. False
SystemInformation_MessageFrequency Low/Medium/High Defines the frequency in which to send System Information events. Low
SystemInformation_HardwareVendor string Set hardware vendor information. None
SystemInformation_HardwareModel string Set hardware model information. None
SystemInformation_HardwareSerialNumber string Set hardware serial number information. None
SystemInformation_FirmwareVendor string Set firmware vendor information. None
SystemInformation_FirmwareVersion string Set firmware version information. None

SBoM collector-specific settings

Setting Name Setting options Description Default
SBoM_Disabled True/False Disables the SBoM collector. False
SBoM_MessageFrequency Low/Medium/High Defines the frequency in which to send SBoM events. Low

Heartbeat collector-specific settings

Setting Name Setting options Description Default
Heartbeat_Disabled True/False Disables sending the Heartbeat event. False
Heartbeat_MessageFrequency Low/Medium/High Defines the frequency in which to send Heartbeat events. Low

Login collector-specific settings

Setting Name Setting options Description Default
Login_Disabled True/False Disables the Login collector. False
Login_MessageFrequency Low/Medium/High Defines the frequency in which to send Login events. Medium
Login_UsePAM True/False Use a PAM module to gather login events. Without PAM, the agent uses a combination of reading UTMP and Syslog to gather login events. If the system doesn't have UTMP or Syslog enabled, using PAM is an option, but will require additional configuration to work properly. For more information, see Configure Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) to audit sign-in events False

IoT Hub module-specific settings

Setting Name Setting options Description Default
IothubModule_MessageTimeout Positive integer, including limits Defines the number of minutes to retain messages in the outbound queue to the IoT Hub, after which point the messages are dropped. 2880 (=2 days)

Network Activity collector-specific settings

Setting Name Setting options Description Default
NetworkActivity_Disabled True/False Disables the Network Activity collector. False
NetworkActivity_MessageFrequency Low/Medium/High Defines the frequency in which to send Network Activity events. Medium
NetworkActivity_Devices A list of the network devices separated by a comma.

For example eth0,eth1
Defines the list of network devices (interfaces) that the agent will use to monitor the traffic.

If a network device isn't listed, the network raw events won't be recorded for the missing device.
eth0
NetworkActivity_CacheSize Positive integer The number of Network Activity events (after aggregation) to keep in the cache between send intervals. Beyond that number, older events will be dropped (lost). 256
NetworkActivity_PacketBufferSize Positive integer Configure the buffer size (in bytes) that will be used to capture packets for a single device per direction (incoming or outcoming traffic). 2097152 (=2MB)

Process collector-specific settings

Setting Name Setting options Description Default
Process_Disabled True/False Disables the Process collector. False
Process_MessageFrequency Low/Medium/High Defines the frequency in which to send Process events. Medium
Process_PollingInterval Positive Integer Defines the polling interval in microseconds. This value is used when the Process_Mode is in Polling mode. 100000 (=0.1 second)
Process_Mode 1 = Auto
2 = Netlink
3= Polling
Determines the Process collector mode. In Auto mode, the agent first tries to enable the Netlink mode.

If that fails, it will automatically fall back / switch to the Polling mode.
1
Process_CacheSize Positive integer The number of Process events (after aggregation) to keep in the cache between send intervals. Beyond that number, older events will be dropped (lost). 256

Log collector-specific settings

Setting Name Setting options Description Default
LogCollector_Disabled True/False Disables the Logs collector. False
LogCollector_MessageFrequency Low/Medium/High Defines the frequency in which to send Log events. Low

File system collector-specific settings

Setting Name Setting options Description Default
FileSystem_Disabled True/False Disables the file system collector. False
FileSystem_MessageFrequency Low/Medium/High Defines the frequency in which to send file system events. Low
FileSystem_Recursive True/False If set to true, monitors all directories under the given path. True
FileSystem_Paths Paths to monitor.

For example: /path/to/monitor, /another/path/to/monitor
Defines which paths to monitor, more than one path can be monitored. Null
FileSystem_CacheSize Positive integer The number of File system events (after aggregation) to keep in the cache between send intervals. Beyond that number, older events will be dropped (lost). 256

Peripheral collector-specific settings

Setting Name Setting options Description Default
Peripheral_Disabled True/False Disables the peripheral collector. False
Peripheral_MessageFrequency Low/Medium/High Defines the frequency in which to send peripheral events. Low
Peripheral_CacheSize Positive integer The number of peripheral events (after aggregation) to keep in the cache between send intervals. Beyond that number, older events will be dropped (lost). 256

Statistics collector-specific settings

Setting Name Setting options Description Default
Statistics_Disabled True/False Disables the statistics collector. False
Statistics_MessageFrequency Low/Medium/High Defines the frequency in which to send statistics events. Low
Statistics_CacheSize Positive integer The number of statistics events (after aggregation) to keep in the cache between send intervals. Beyond that number, older events will be dropped (lost). 256

Next steps

For more information, see: