Welcome to the documentation for Fleet, the lightweight management platform for laptops and servers.
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Fleetd is the bundle of agents that includes:
graph LR;
tuf["<a href=https://theupdateframework.io/>TUF</a> file server<br>(default: <a href=https://tuf.fleetctl.com>tuf.fleetctl.com</a>)"];
fleet_server[Fleet<br>Server];
subgraph Fleetd
orbit[orbit];
desktop[Fleet Desktop<br>Tray App];
osqueryd[osqueryd];
desktop_browser[Fleet Desktop<br> from Browser];
end
orbit -- "Fleet Orbit API (TLS)" --> fleet_server;
desktop -- "Fleet Desktop API (TLS)" --> fleet_server;
osqueryd -- "osquery<br>remote API (TLS)" --> fleet_server;
desktop_browser -- "My Device API (TLS)" --> fleet_server;
orbit -- "Auto Update (TLS)" --> tuf;
Capability | Status |
---|---|
Secure autoupdate for osquery | ✅ |
Secure autoupdate for Orbit | ✅ |
Configurable update channels | ✅ |
Full osquery flag customization | ✅ |
Package tooling for macOS .pkg |
✅ |
Package tooling for Linux .deb |
✅ |
Package tooling for Linux .rpm |
✅ |
Package tooling for Windows .msi |
✅ |
Manage/update osquery extensions | ✅ |
Fleetd is typically deployed via OS-specific packages. Tooling is provided with this repository to generate installation packages.
Fleetd currently supports building packages on macOS and Linux.
Before building packages, clone or download this repository and install Go.
Building Windows packages requires Docker to be installed.
macOS - .pkg
package generation with (optional) notarization and codesigning - Persistence via launchd
.
Linux - .deb
(Debian, Ubuntu, etc.) & .rpm
(RHEL, CentOS, etc.) package generation - Persistence via systemd
.
Windows - .msi
package generation - Persistence via Services.
Use fleetctl package
to run the packaging tools.
The only required parameter is --type
, use one of deb
, rpm
, pkg
, or msi
.
Configure osquery to connect to a Fleet (or other TLS) server with the --fleet-url
and --enroll-secret
flags.
A minimal invocation for communicating with Fleet:
fleetctl package --type deb --fleet-url=fleet.example.com --enroll-secret=notsosecret
This will build a .deb
package configured to communicate with a Fleet server at fleet.example.com
using the enroll secret notsosecret
.
When the Fleet server uses a self-signed (or otherwise invalid) TLS certificate, package with the --insecure
or --fleet-certificate
options.
The following command-line flags allow you to configure an osquery installer further to communicate with a specific Fleet instance.
Flag | Options |
---|---|
--type | Required - Type of package to build. Options: pkg (macOS),msi (Windows), deb (Debian based Linux), rpm (RHEL, CentOS, etc.) |
--fleet-desktop | Include Fleet Desktop. |
--enroll-secret | Enroll secret for authenticating to Fleet server |
--fleet-url | URL (host:port ) of Fleet server |
--fleet-certificate | Path to server certificate bundle |
--identifier | Identifier for package product (default: com.fleetdm.orbit ) |
--version | Version for package product (default: 0.0.3 ) |
--insecure | Disable TLS certificate verification (default: false ) |
--service | Install osquery with a persistence service (launchd, systemd, etc.) (default: true ) |
--sign-identity | Identity to use for macOS codesigning |
--notarize | Whether to notarize macOS packages (default: false ) |
--disable-updates | Disable auto updates on the generated package (default: false) |
--osqueryd-channel | Update channel of osqueryd to use (default: stable ) |
--orbit-channel | Update channel of Orbit to use (default: stable ) |
--desktop-channel | Update channel of desktop to use (default: stable ) |
--update-url | URL for update server (default: https://tuf.fleetctl.com ) |
--update-roots | Root key JSON metadata for update server (from fleetctl updates roots) |
--use-system-configuration | Try to read --fleet-url and --enroll-secret using configuration in the host (currently only macOS profiles are supported) |
--enable-scripts | Enable script execution (default: false ) |
--debug | Enable debug logging (default: false ) |
--verbose | Log detailed information when building the package (default: false) |
--help, -h | show help (default: false ) |
In addition to the command-line flags, the following environment variables can alter the behaviour of fleetd.
Environment variable | Options |
---|---|
FLEET_PREVENT_SCRIPT_TEMPDIR_DELETION | If set to a non-empty value, prevents deletion of the temporary directory where the scripts being executed are stored. Those are located in the temporary directory of the system, under a sub-directory starting with fleet- . |
Fleet Desktop is a menu bar icon available on macOS, Windows, and Linux that gives your end users visibility into the security posture of their machine.
You can include Fleet Desktop in the orbit package by including the --fleet-desktop
option.
Fleetd uses the concept of "update channels" to determine the version of Orbit, Fleet Desktop, osquery, and any extensions (extension support coming soon) to run. This concept is modeled from the common versioning convention for Docker containers.
Configure update channels for Fleetd and osqueryd with the --orbit-channel
, --desktop-channel
and --osqueryd-channel
flags when packaging.
Channel | Versions |
---|---|
4 |
4.x.x |
4.6 |
4.6.x |
4.6.0 |
4.6.0 |
Additionally, stable
and edge
are special channel names. The stable
channel will provide the most recent osquery version that Fleet deems to be stable. When a new version of osquery is released, it's added to the edge
channel for beta testing. Fleet then provides input to the osquery TSC based on testing. After the version is declared stable by the osquery TSC, Fleet will promote the version to stable
ASAP.
Fleetd's packager can automate the codesigning and notarization steps to allow the resulting package to generate packages that appear "trusted" when installed on macOS hosts. Signing and notarization are supported only on macOS hosts.
For signing, a "Developer ID Installer" certificate must be available on the build machine (generation instructions). Use security find-identity -v
to verify the existence of this certificate and make note of the identifier provided in the left column.
For notarization, valid App Store Connect credentials must be available on the build machine. Set these in the environment variables AC_USERNAME
and AC_PASSWORD
. It's common to configure this via app-specific passwords. Some organizations (notably those with Apple Enterprise Developer Accounts) may also need to specify AC_TEAM_ID
. This value can be found on the Apple Developer "Membership" page under "Team ID."
Build a signed and notarized macOS package with an invocation like the following:
[email protected] AC_PASSWORD=llpk-sije-kjlz-jdzw fleetctl package --type=pkg --fleet-url=fleet.example.com --enroll-secret=63SBzTT+2UyW --sign-identity 3D7260BF99539C6E80A94835A8921A988F4E6498 --notarize
This process may take several minutes, as the notarization process completes on Apple's servers.
After successful notarization, the generated "ticket" is automatically stapled to the package.
If the logger_path
configuration is set to filesystem
, Fleetd will store osquery's "result" and
"status" logs to the following directories:
Fleetd supports using TLS client certificates for authentication to the Fleet server and TUF server. This functionality is licensed under the Fleet EE License. Usage requires a current Fleet EE subscription.
The mTLS feature requires Orbit to be version v1.10.0 or greater and
fleetctl
v4.31.0 or greater.
When generating the packages, use the following flags:
fleetctl package \
[...]
--fleet-tls-client-certificate=fleet-client.crt \
--fleet-tls-client-key=fleet-client.key \
--update-tls-client-certificate=update-client.crt \
--update-tls-client-key=update-client.key \
[...]
The certificates must be in PEM format.
The client certificates can also be pushed to existing installations by placing them in the following locations:
/opt/orbit/fleet_client.crt
/opt/orbit/fleet_client.key
/opt/orbit/update_client.crt
/opt/orbit/update_client.key
C:\Program Files\Orbit\fleet_client.crt
C:\Program Files\Orbit\fleet_client.key
C:\Program Files\Orbit\update_client.crt
C:\Program Files\Orbit\update_client.key
If using Fleet Desktop, you may need to specify an alternative host for the "My device" URL (in the Fleet tray icon). Such alternative host should not require client certificates on the TLS connection.
fleetctl package
[...]
--fleet-desktop \
--fleet-desktop-alternative-browser-host=fleet-desktop.example.com \
[...]
If this setting is not used, you will need to configure client TLS certificates on devices' browsers.
You can use the --debug
option in fleetctl package
to generate installers in "debug mode." This mode increases the verbosity of logging for orbit and osqueryd (log DEBUG level).
Orbit is an osquery runtime and autoupdater that is bundled in Fleetd. With Orbit, it's easy to deploy osquery, manage configurations, and stay up to date. Orbit eases the deployment of osquery connected with a Fleet server and is a (near) drop-in replacement for osquery in a variety of deployment scenarios.
Orbit is the recommended agent for Fleet. But Orbit can be used with or without Fleet, and Fleet can be used with or without Orbit.
General information and flag documentation can be accessed by running orbit --help
.
Orbit generally expects root permissions to be able to create and access its working files.
To get root level permissions:
Prefix orbit
commands with sudo
(sudo orbit ...
) or run in a root shell.
Run Powershell or cmd.exe with "Run as administrator" and start orbit
commands from that shell.
Run an osqueryi
shell with orbit osqueryi
or orbit shell
.
Use the --fleet-url
and --enroll-secret
flags to connect to a Fleet server.
For example:
orbit --fleet-url=https://localhost:8080 --enroll-secret=the_secret_value
Use --fleet_certificate
to provide a path to a certificate bundle when necessary for osquery to verify the authenticity of the Fleet server (typically when using a Windows client or self-signed certificates):
orbit --fleet-url=https://localhost:8080 --enroll-secret=the_secret_value --fleet-certificate=cert.pem
Add the --insecure
flag for connections using otherwise invalid certificates:
orbit --fleet-url=https://localhost:8080 --enroll-secret=the_secret_value --insecure
Orbit can be used as a near drop-in replacement for osqueryd
, enhancing standard osquery with autoupdate capabilities. Orbit passes through any options after --
directly to the osqueryd
instance.
For example, the following would be a typical drop-in usage of Orbit:
orbit -- --flagfile=flags.txt
Orbit can be used to remotely deploy and manage osquery extensions. This saves the time and energy required to maintain extensions using a separate tool like Munki or an MDM solution.
To execute orbit from source directly, run the following command:
go run github.com/fleetdm/fleet/v4/orbit/cmd/orbit \
--dev-mode \
--disable-updates \
--root-dir /tmp/orbit \
--fleet-url https://localhost:8080 \
--insecure \
--enroll-secret Pz3zC0NMDdZfb3FtqiLgwoexItojrYh/ \
-- --verbose
Or, using a flagfile.txt
for osqueryd:
go run github.com/fleetdm/fleet/v4/orbit/cmd/orbit \
--dev-mode \
--disable-updates \
--root-dir /tmp/orbit \
-- --flagfile=flagfile.txt --verbose
The fleetctl package
command generates installers by fetching the targets/executables from a TUF repository.
To generate an installer that contains an Orbit built from source, you need to set up a local TUF repository.
The following document explains how you can generate a TUF repository and installers that use it: tools/tuf/test.
Any features listed here are not recommended for use in production environments
Using fleetd
without enrolling Orbit
Only available in fleetd v1.15.1 on Linux and macOS
It is possible to generate a fleetd package that does not connect to Fleet by omitting the --fleet-url
and --enroll-secret
flags when building a package.
This can be useful in situations where you would like to test using fleetd
to manage osquery updates while still managing osquery command-line flags and extensions locally
but can result in a large volume of error logs. In fleetd v1.15.1, we added an experimental feature to reduce log chatter in this scenario.
Applying the environmental variable "FLEETD_SILENCE_ENROLL_ERROR"=1
on a host will silence fleetd enrollment errors if a --fleet-url
is not present.
This variable is read at launch and will require a restart of the Orbit service if it is not set before installing fleetd
v1.15.1.
Orbit captures and streams osqueryd's stdout/stderr into its own stdout/stderr output. These are the log destinations for each platform:
/var/log/syslog
on Debian systems and /var/log/messages
on CentOS)./private/var/log/orbit/orbit.std{out|err}.log
.C:\Windows\system32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\FleetDM\Orbit\Logs\orbit-osquery.log
(the log file is rotated).
Users will need administrative permissions on the host to access these log destinations.Use the "Add or remove programs" dialog to remove Orbit.
Uninstall the package with the corresponding package manager:
sudo apt remove fleet-osquery -y
sudo rpm -e fleet-osquery-X.Y.Z.x86_64
Run the cleanup script.
Create an issue to report a bug or request a feature.
fleetctl preview
already running:# With fleetctl in your $PATH
# Generate a macOS installer pointed at your local Fleet
fleetctl package --type=pkg --fleet-url=localhost:8412 --insecure --enroll-secret=YOUR_FLEET_ENROLL_SECRET_HERE
With fleetctl preview running, you can find your Fleet enroll secret by selecting the "Add hosts" button on the Hosts page in the Fleet UI.
An installer configured to point at your Fleet instance has now been generated.
Now run that installer (double click, on a Mac) to enroll your own computer as a host in Fleet. Refresh after several seconds (≈30s), and you should now see your local computer as a new host in Fleet.
If you notice something we've missed or could be improved on, please follow this link and submit a pull request to the Fleet repo.
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