> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://cortex-docs.paloaltonetworks.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://cortex-docs.paloaltonetworks.com/microsoft-azure-manual-onboarding/azure-manual-onboarding-guide/azure-manual-onboarding-subscription-scope/phase-4-audit-logs.md).

# Phase 4: Audit Logs

Module: AUDIT\_LOGS

The Audit Logs pipeline routes the subscription Activity Log to an Azure Event Hub. The Cortex Collector authenticates as a per-customer User-Assigned Managed Identity (UAMI) via workload identity federation, and uses an Azure Storage Account to checkpoint Event Hub partition offsets.

Note: The namespace and Event Hub must belong to the specific Azure subscription being onboarded. Cross-subscription or centralized logging is not currently supported.

### 4.1 Create the user-assigned managed identity (UAMI)

The UAMI is the workload identity assumed by the Cortex Collector. Because authentication relies on workload identity federation, there are no secrets to rotate.

```shell
az identity create \
    --resource-group "<RG_NAME>" \
    --name "<AUDIT_UAMI_NAME>" \
    --location "<LOCATION>" \
    --tags managed_by=paloaltonetworks

# Capture the two identifiers needed below
export AUDIT_UAMI_CLIENT_ID=$(az identity show \
    --resource-group "<RG_NAME>" \
    --name "<AUDIT_UAMI_NAME>" --query clientId -o tsv)
export AUDIT_UAMI_PRINCIPAL_ID=$(az identity show \
    --resource-group "<RG_NAME>" \
    --name "<AUDIT_UAMI_NAME>" --query principalId -o tsv)

echo "AUDIT_UAMI_CLIENT_ID=${AUDIT_UAMI_CLIENT_ID}"
echo "AUDIT_UAMI_PRINCIPAL_ID=${AUDIT_UAMI_PRINCIPAL_ID}"
```

Where:

* `<RG_NAME>` is your chosen resource group name (e.g. cortex-platform-rg)
* `<AUDIT_UAMI_NAME>` is your chosen UAMI name (e.g., cortex-audit-uami).
* `<LOCATION>` is the Azure region where you want to create your User-Assigned Managed Identity (UAMI) (e.g. eastus)

Note:

* The clientId is the application ID used by Cortex to authenticate via workload identity federation
* The principalId is the unique object ID used to bind Azure RBAC role assignments

This command will output a value for AUDIT\_UAMI\_CLIENT\_ID and AUDIT\_UAMI\_PRINCIPAL\_ID. You will need to provide these values in the coming phases.

### 4.2 Configure workload identity federation for the UAMI

Configure workload identity federation to allow the Cortex Collector's Google Service Account to authenticate as the UAMI:

```shell
az identity federated-credential create \
    --resource-group "<RG_NAME>" \
    --identity-name "<AUDIT_UAMI_NAME>" \
    --name "cortex-audit-federated-cred" \
    --issuer "https://accounts.google.com" \
    --subject "<COLLECTOR_SA_UNIQUE_ID>" \
    --audiences "<AUDIENCE>"
```

Where:

* `<RG_NAME>` is your chosen resource group name (e.g. cortex-platform-rg)
* `<AUDIT_UAMI_NAME>` is your chosen UAMI name (e.g., cortex-audit-uami).
* `<COLLECTOR_SA_UNIQUE_ID>` is the unique ID of the Cortex Collector's Google service account, obtained from the identifiers file
* `<AUDIENCE>` is the value obtained from the identifiers file (always api://AzureADTokenExchange for commercial Azure)

### 4.3 Create the storage account

The Cortex Collector uses a dedicated storage account to manage Event Hub checkpoints and maintain data continuity during restarts.

```shell
az storage account create \
    --resource-group "<RG_NAME>" \
    --name "<STORAGE_ACCOUNT_NAME>" \
    --location "<LOCATION>" \
    --sku Standard_LRS \
    --kind StorageV2 \
    --https-only true \
    --min-tls-version TLS1_2 \
    --allow-blob-public-access false \
    --allow-cross-tenant-replication false \
    --default-action Deny \
    --bypass AzureServices \
    --assign-identity \
    --tags managed_by=paloaltonetworks

# Allow-list the Cortex Collector egress IPs (one call per IP)
for ip in $(echo "<COLLECTOR_ALLOWED_IPS>" | tr ',' ' '); do
  az storage account network-rule add \
    --resource-group "<RG_NAME>" \
    --account-name "<STORAGE_ACCOUNT_NAME>" \
    --ip-address "$ip"
done

# Apply blob-service properties (versioning, retention, change-feed)
az storage account blob-service-properties update \
    --resource-group "<RG_NAME>" \
    --account-name "<STORAGE_ACCOUNT_NAME>" \
    --enable-delete-retention true \
    --delete-retention-days 7 \
    --enable-change-feed true \
    --enable-versioning true
```

Where:

* `<RG_NAME>` is your chosen resource group name (e.g. cortex-platform-rg)
* `<STORAGE_ACCOUNT_NAME>` is your chosen name for the storage account
* `<LOCATION>` is the Azure region where you want to create your storage account (e.g. eastus)
* `<COLLECTOR_ALLOWED_IPS>` is comma-separated list of Cortex Collector egress IPs, obtained from the identifiers file

### 4.4 Grant the UAMI Storage Blob Data Contributor role on the storage account

```shell
STORAGE_ACCOUNT_ID=$(az storage account show \
    --resource-group "<RG_NAME>" \
    --name "<STORAGE_ACCOUNT_NAME>" --query id -o tsv)

az role assignment create \
    --role "Storage Blob Data Contributor" \
    --assignee-object-id "${AUDIT_UAMI_PRINCIPAL_ID}" \
    --assignee-principal-type ServicePrincipal \
    --scope "${STORAGE_ACCOUNT_ID}"
```

Where:

* `<RG_NAME>` is your chosen resource group name (e.g. cortex-platform-rg)
* `<STORAGE_ACCOUNT_NAME>` is your chosen name for the storage account

### 4.5 Create and secure the Event Hubs namespace

```shell
az eventhubs namespace create \
    --resource-group "<RG_NAME>" \
    --name "<EH_NAMESPACE>" \
    --location "<LOCATION>" \
    --sku Standard \
    --capacity 1 \
    --enable-auto-inflate true \
    --maximum-throughput-units 20 \
    --tags managed_by=paloaltonetworks

# Allow-list the Cortex Collector egress IPs
for ip in $(echo "<COLLECTOR_ALLOWED_IPS>" | tr ',' ' '); do
  az eventhubs namespace network-rule-set ip-rule add \
    --resource-group "<RG_NAME>" \
    --namespace-name "<EH_NAMESPACE>" \
    --ip-rule ip-address="$ip" action=Allow
done

# Lock the namespace down to Cortex Collector IPs + trusted Azure services
az eventhubs namespace network-rule-set update \
    --resource-group "<RG_NAME>" \
    --namespace-name "<EH_NAMESPACE>" \
    --default-action Deny \
    --enable-trusted-service-access true
```

Where:

* `<RG_NAME>` is your chosen resource group name (e.g. cortex-platform-rg)
* `<EH_NAMESPACE>` is your chosen namespace name
* `<LOCATION>` is the Azure region where you want to create your namespace (e.g. eastus)
* `<COLLECTOR_ALLOWED_IPS>` is comma-separated list of Cortex Collector egress IPs, obtained from the identifiers file

### 4.6 Create the Event Hub

```shell
az eventhubs eventhub create \
    --resource-group "<RG_NAME>" \
    --namespace-name "<EH_NAMESPACE>" \
    --name "<EH_NAME>" \
    --partition-count 20 \
    --cleanup-policy Delete \
    --retention-time-in-hours 168
```

Where:

* `<RG_NAME>` is your chosen resource group name (e.g. cortex-platform-rg)
* `<EH_NAMESPACE>` is your chosen namespace name
* `<EH_NAME>` is your chosen Event Hub name (e.g., cortex-activity-logs).

### 4.7 Create an authorization rule on the namespace

```shell
az eventhubs namespace authorization-rule create \
    --resource-group "<RG_NAME>" \
    --namespace-name "<EH_NAMESPACE>" \
    --name "<EH_NAMESPACE_AUTH_RULE>" \
    --rights Listen Send
```

Where:

* `<RG_NAME>` is your chosen resource group name (e.g. cortex-platform-rg)
* `<EH_NAMESPACE>` is your chosen namespace name
* `<EH_NAMESPACE_AUTH_RULE>` is your chosen rule name (e.g., CortexEventHubNamespaceAuthRule)

### 4.8 Create the consumer group

```shell
az eventhubs eventhub consumer-group create \
    --resource-group "<RG_NAME>" \
    --namespace-name "<EH_NAMESPACE>" \
    --eventhub-name "<EH_NAME>" \
    --name "<EH_CONSUMER_GROUP>"
```

Where:

* `<RG_NAME>` is your chosen resource group name (e.g. cortex-platform-rg)
* `<EH_NAMESPACE>` is your chosen namespace name
* `<EH_NAME>` is your chosen Event Hub name (e.g., cortex-activity-logs)
* `<EH_CONSUMER_GROUP>` is your chosen consumer group name (e.g., cortex-cg)

### 4.9 Grant the UAMI Azure Event Hubs Data Receiver role on the namespace

```shell
EH_NAMESPACE_ID=$(az eventhubs namespace show \
    --resource-group "<RG_NAME>" \
    --name "<EH_NAMESPACE>" --query id -o tsv)

az role assignment create \
    --role "Azure Event Hubs Data Receiver" \
    --assignee-object-id "${AUDIT_UAMI_PRINCIPAL_ID}" \
    --assignee-principal-type ServicePrincipal \
    --scope "${EH_NAMESPACE_ID}"
```

Where:

* `<RG_NAME>` is your chosen resource group name (e.g. cortex-platform-rg)
* `<EH_NAMESPACE>` is your chosen namespace name

### 4.10 Route the subscription Activity Log to the Event Hub

Create a subscription-level diagnostic setting that forwards administrative Activity Log entries to the Event Hub.

```shell
EH_AUTH_RULE_ID=$(az eventhubs namespace authorization-rule show \
    --resource-group "<RG_NAME>" \
    --namespace-name "<EH_NAMESPACE>" \
    --name "<EH_NAMESPACE_AUTH_RULE>" --query id -o tsv)

cat > /tmp/cortex-diag-logs.json << 'EOF'
[{"category": "Administrative", "enabled": true}]
EOF

az monitor diagnostic-settings subscription create \
    --name "cortex-activity-logs-export" \
    --location "<LOCATION>" \
    --event-hub-name "<EH_NAME>" \
    --event-hub-auth-rule "${EH_AUTH_RULE_ID}" \
    --logs "@/tmp/cortex-diag-logs.json"
```

Where:

* `<RG_NAME>` is your chosen resource group name (e.g. cortex-platform-rg)
* `<EH_NAMESPACE>` is your chosen namespace name
* `<EH_NAMESPACE_AUTH_RULE>` is your chosen rule name (e.g., CortexEventHubNamespaceAuthzRule)
* `<LOCATION>` is the Azure region where you want to create your subscription diagnostic setting (e.g. eastus)
* `<EH_NAME>` is your chosen Event Hub name (e.g., cortex-activity-logs).


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