Collect Citrix Analytics logs

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This document explains how to ingest Citrix Analytics logs to Google Security Operations using Amazon S3.

Before you begin

Make sure you have the following prerequisites:

  • Google SecOps instance
  • Privileged access to Citrix Analytics for Performance tenant
  • Privileged access to AWS (S3, IAM, Lambda, EventBridge)

Collect Citrix Analytics prerequisites

  1. Sign in to the Citrix Cloud Console.
  2. Go to Identity and Access Management > API Access.
  3. Click Create Client.
  4. Copy and save in a secure location the following details:
    • Client ID
    • Client Secret
    • Customer ID (located in the Citrix Cloud URL or IAM page)
    • API Base URL: https://api.cloud.com/casodata

Configure AWS S3 bucket and IAM for Google SecOps

  1. Create Amazon S3 bucket following this user guide: Creating a bucket
  2. Save bucket Name and Region for future reference (for example, citrix-analytics-logs).
  3. Create a user following this user guide: Creating an IAM user.
  4. Select the created User.
  5. Select the Security credentials tab.
  6. Click Create Access Key in the Access Keys section.
  7. Select Third-party service as the Use case.
  8. Click Next.
  9. Optional: add a description tag.
  10. Click Create access key.
  11. Click Download CSV file to save the Access Key and Secret Access Key for later use.
  12. Click Done.
  13. Select the Permissions tab.
  14. Click Add permissions in the Permissions policies section.
  15. Select Add permissions.
  16. Select Attach policies directly
  17. Search for and select the AmazonS3FullAccess policy.
  18. Click Next.
  19. Click Add permissions.

Configure the IAM policy and role for S3 uploads

  1. In the AWS console, go to IAM > Policies > Create policy > JSON tab.

  2. Enter the following policy:

    {
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Sid": "AllowPutObjects",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "s3:PutObject",
      "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::citrix-analytics-logs/*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "AllowGetStateObject",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "s3:GetObject",
      "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::citrix-analytics-logs/citrix_analytics/state.json"
    }
  ]
}
    • Replace citrix-analytics-logs if you entered a different bucket name.

  3. Click Next > Create policy.

  4. Go to IAM > Roles > Create role > AWS service > Lambda.

  5. Attach the newly created policy.

  6. Name the role CitrixAnalyticsLambdaRole and click Create role.

Create the Lambda function

  1. In the AWS Console, go to Lambda > Functions > Create function.
  2. Click Author from scratch.

  3. Provide the following configuration details:

    Setting Value
    Name CitrixAnalyticsCollector
    Runtime Python 3.13
    Architecture x86_64
    Execution role CitrixAnalyticsLambdaRole

  4. After the function is created, open the Code tab, delete the stub and enter the following code (CitrixAnalyticsCollector.py):

    import os
import json
import uuid
import datetime
import urllib.parse
import urllib.request
import boto3
import botocore

CITRIX_TOKEN_URL_TMPL = "https://api.cloud.com/cctrustoauth2/{customerid}/tokens/clients"
DEFAULT_API_BASE = "https://api.cloud.com/casodata"

s3 = boto3.client("s3")

def _http_post_form(url, data_dict):
    """POST form data to get authentication token."""
    data = urllib.parse.urlencode(data_dict).encode("utf-8")
    req = urllib.request.Request(url, data=data, headers={
        "Accept": "application/json",
        "Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded",
    })
    with urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=30) as response:
        return json.loads(response.read().decode("utf-8"))

def _http_get_json(url, headers):
    """GET JSON data from API endpoint."""
    req = urllib.request.Request(url, headers=headers)
    with urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=60) as response:
        return json.loads(response.read().decode("utf-8"))

def get_citrix_token(customer_id, client_id, client_secret):
    """Get Citrix Cloud authentication token."""
    url = CITRIX_TOKEN_URL_TMPL.format(customerid=customer_id)
    payload = {
        "grant_type": "client_credentials",
        "client_id": client_id,
        "client_secret": client_secret,
    }
    token_response = _http_post_form(url, payload)
    return token_response["access_token"]

def fetch_odata_entity(entity, when_utc, top, headers, api_base):
    """Fetch data from Citrix Analytics OData API with pagination."""
    year = when_utc.year
    month = when_utc.month
    day = when_utc.day
    hour = when_utc.hour

    base_url = f"{api_base.rstrip('/')}/{entity}?year={year:04d}&month={month:02d}&day={day:02d}&hour={hour:02d}"
    skip = 0

    while True:
        url = f"{base_url}&$top={top}&$skip={skip}"
        data = _http_get_json(url, headers)
        items = data.get("value", [])

        if not items:
            break

        for item in items:
            yield item

        if len(items) < top:
            break

        skip += top

def read_state_file(bucket, state_key):
    """Read the last processed timestamp from S3 state file."""
    try:
        obj = s3.get_object(Bucket=bucket, Key=state_key)
        content = obj["Body"].read().decode("utf-8")
        state = json.loads(content)
        timestamp_str = state.get("last_hour_utc")
        if timestamp_str:
            return datetime.datetime.fromisoformat(timestamp_str.replace("Z", "+00:00")).replace(tzinfo=None)
    except botocore.exceptions.ClientError as e:
        if e.response["Error"]["Code"] == "NoSuchKey":
            return None
        raise
    return None

def write_state_file(bucket, state_key, dt_utc):
    """Write the current processed timestamp to S3 state file."""
    state_data = {"last_hour_utc": dt_utc.isoformat() + "Z"}
    s3.put_object(
        Bucket=bucket, 
        Key=state_key,
        Body=json.dumps(state_data, separators=(",", ":")),
        ContentType="application/json"
    )

def write_ndjson_to_s3(bucket, key, records):
    """Write records as NDJSON to S3."""
    body_lines = []
    for record in records:
        json_line = json.dumps(record, separators=(",", ":"), ensure_ascii=False)
        body_lines.append(json_line)

    body = ("n".join(body_lines) + "n").encode("utf-8")
    s3.put_object(
        Bucket=bucket, 
        Key=key, 
        Body=body, 
        ContentType="application/x-ndjson"
    )

def lambda_handler(event, context):
    """Main Lambda handler function."""

    # Environment variables
    bucket = os.environ["S3_BUCKET"]
    prefix = os.environ.get("S3_PREFIX", "").strip("/")
    state_key = os.environ.get("STATE_KEY") or f"{prefix}/state.json"
    customer_id = os.environ["CITRIX_CUSTOMER_ID"]
    client_id = os.environ["CITRIX_CLIENT_ID"]
    client_secret = os.environ["CITRIX_CLIENT_SECRET"]
    api_base = os.environ.get("API_BASE", DEFAULT_API_BASE)
    entities = [e.strip() for e in os.environ.get("ENTITIES", "sessions,machines,users").split(",") if e.strip()]
    top_n = int(os.environ.get("TOP_N", "1000"))
    lookback_minutes = int(os.environ.get("LOOKBACK_MINUTES", "75"))

    # Determine target hour to collect
    now = datetime.datetime.utcnow()
    fallback_target = (now - datetime.timedelta(minutes=lookback_minutes)).replace(minute=0, second=0, microsecond=0)

    last_processed = read_state_file(bucket, state_key)
    if last_processed:
        target_hour = last_processed + datetime.timedelta(hours=1)
    else:
        target_hour = fallback_target

    # Get authentication token
    token = get_citrix_token(customer_id, client_id, client_secret)
    headers = {
        "Authorization": f"CwsAuth bearer={token}",
        "Citrix-CustomerId": customer_id,
        "Accept": "application/json",
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
    }

    total_records = 0

    # Process each entity type
    for entity in entities:
        records = []

        for row in fetch_odata_entity(entity, target_hour, top_n, headers, api_base):
            enriched_record = {
                "citrix_entity": entity,
                "citrix_hour_utc": target_hour.isoformat() + "Z",
                "collection_timestamp": datetime.datetime.utcnow().isoformat() + "Z",
                "raw": row
            }
            records.append(enriched_record)

            # Write in batches to avoid memory issues
            if len(records) >= 1000:
                s3_key = f"{prefix}/{entity}/year={target_hour.year:04d}/month={target_hour.month:02d}/day={target_hour.day:02d}/hour={target_hour.hour:02d}/part-{uuid.uuid4().hex}.ndjson"
                write_ndjson_to_s3(bucket, s3_key, records)
                total_records += len(records)
                records = []

        # Write remaining records
        if records:
            s3_key = f"{prefix}/{entity}/year={target_hour.year:04d}/month={target_hour.month:02d}/day={target_hour.day:02d}/hour={target_hour.hour:02d}/part-{uuid.uuid4().hex}.ndjson"
            write_ndjson_to_s3(bucket, s3_key, records)
            total_records += len(records)

    # Update state file
    write_state_file(bucket, state_key, target_hour)

    return {
        "statusCode": 200,
        "body": json.dumps({
            "success": True,
            "hour_collected": target_hour.isoformat() + "Z",
            "records_written": total_records,
            "entities_processed": entities
        })
    }

  5. Go to Configuration > Environment variables > Edit > Add new environment variable.

  6. Enter the following environment variables, replacing with your values:

    Key Example value
    S3_BUCKET citrix-analytics-logs
    S3_PREFIX citrix_analytics
    STATE_KEY citrix_analytics/state.json
    CITRIX_CLIENT_ID your-client-id
    CITRIX_CLIENT_SECRET your-client-secret
    API_BASE https://api.cloud.com/casodata
    CITRIX_CUSTOMER_ID your-customer-id
    ENTITIES sessions,machines,users
    TOP_N 1000
    LOOKBACK_MINUTES 75

  7. After the function is created, stay on its page (or open Lambda > Functions > CitrixAnalyticsCollector).

  8. Select the Configuration tab.

  9. In the General configuration panel click Edit.

  10. Change Timeout to 5 minutes (300 seconds) and click Save.

Create an EventBridge schedule

  1. Go to Amazon EventBridge > Scheduler > Create schedule.
  2. Provide the following configuration details:
    • Recurring schedule: Rate (1 hour)
    • Target: your Lambda function CitrixAnalyticsCollector
    • Name: CitrixAnalyticsCollector-1h
  3. Click Create schedule.

Optional: Create read-only IAM user & keys for Google SecOps

  1. In the AWS Console. go to IAM > Users > Add users.
  2. Click Add users.
  3. Provide the following configuration details:
    • User: secops-reader
    • Access type: Access key — Programmatic access
  4. Click Create user.
  5. Attach minimal read policy (custom): Users > secops-reader > Permissions > Add permissions > Attach policies directly > Create policy.

  6. In the JSON editor, enter the following policy:

    {
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": ["s3:GetObject"],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::citrix-analytics-logs/*"
    },
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": ["s3:ListBucket"],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::citrix-analytics-logs"
    }
  ]
}

  7. Set the name to secops-reader-policy.

  8. Go to Create policy > search/select > Next > Add permissions.

  9. Go to Security credentials > Access keys > Create access key.

  10. Download the CSV (these values are entered into the feed).

Configure a feed in Google SecOps to ingest Citrix Analytics logs

  1. Go to SIEM Settings > Feeds.
  2. Click + Add New Feed.
  3. In the Feed name field, enter a name for the feed (for example, Citrix Analytics Performance logs).
  4. Select Amazon S3 V2 as the Source type.
  5. Select Citrix Analytics as the Log type.
  6. Click Next.
  7. Specify values for the following input parameters:
    • S3 URI: s3://citrix-analytics-logs/citrix_analytics/
    • Source deletion options: Select deletion option according to your preference.
    • Maximum File Age: Include files modified in the last number of days. Default 180 Days.
    • Access Key ID: User access key with access to the S3 bucket.
    • Secret Access Key: User secret key with access to the S3 bucket.
    • Asset namespace: The asset namespace.
    • Ingestion labels: The label applied to the events from this feed.
  8. Click Next.
  9. Review your new feed configuration in the Finalize screen, and then click Submit.

Need more help? Get answers from Community members and Google SecOps professionals.