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AlienVault® USM Appliance™

Microsoft SQL Server through NXLog

When you configure Microsoft SQL Server to send log data to USM Appliance, you can use the MSSQL Server NXLog plugin to translate the raw log data into normalized events for analysis.

Device Details
Vendor Microsoft
Device Type Database server
Connection Type Syslog
Data Source Name mssql-nxlog
Data Source ID 1849

Integrating Microsoft SQL Server and NXLog

Before you configure Microsoft SQL Server to send logs to USM Appliance through NXLog, you must have enabled the SQL Server Audit feature and send audit results to the Windows Application Log. You also need to have the IP Address of the USM Appliance Sensor.

Create a Server Audit and Database Audit Specification

You can use SQL Server Management Studio or Transact-SQL to perform this task. Should you need detailed step-by-step assistance, please refer to the Microsoft documentation.

To use the SQL Server Management Studio

  1. Create a new server audit

    1. In Object Explorer, expand the Security folder, right-click the Audits folder, and select New Audit.
    2. In the Audit destination list, select Application Log.
    3. Select the other options as needed and click OK.
  2. Create a database-level audit specification

    1. In Object Explorer, expand the database you want to send log to USM Appliance.
    2. Expand the Security folder, right-click the Database Audit Specifications folder and select New Database Audit Specification.
    3. In the Audit list, select the audit you created in the previous step.
    4. Select the other options as needed and click OK.

Configure NXLog on Windows

To send log data through NXLog to USM Appliance



  2. Open the nxlog.conf file in a text editor.
  3. Update the root path of your NXLog installation.

    1. Locate the following lines:

      #define ROOT C:\Program Files\nxlog


  4. Enter the USM Appliance Sensor IP address.

    1. Locate the following line:

      define OUTPUT_DESTINATION_ADDRESS <USM-Appliance-Sensor-IP>

  5. Uncomment the section between MSSQL-NXLOG and /MSSQL-NXLOG.


  6. Save the file.
  7. Start or restart the NXLog service.

Plugin Enablement

For plugin enablement information, see Enable Plugins.

If enabling the plugin on assets, you will find it listed as Microsoft : SQL Server : NXLog.

Enabling the mssql-nxlog plugin from asset

Additional Resources and Troubleshooting

NXLog documentation on forwarding and storing logs

For troubleshooting, refer to the vendor documentation:

NXLog documentation on troubleshooting