Director
Overview
VirtualMetric Director™ is the core orchestration and data processing engine of the DataStream platform, designed to manage high-volume log ingestion, processing, and routing with enterprise-grade performance and reliability. It serves as the central command center that coordinates devices, pipelines, routes, and targets to create comprehensive data processing workflows.
Director handles everything from simple syslog collection to complex multi-protocol data ingestion scenarios, providing real-time processing capabilities, advanced routing logic, and seamless integration with various storage and analysis systems. Its architecture supports both standalone deployments and distributed enterprise environments with built-in scalability and fault tolerance.
Synopsis
vmetric-director [OPTIONS]
Options
The following command line options are available.
General Options
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
-compare-version | - | Compare with specified version |
-config | - | Run configuration wizard |
-config-path | - | Path to a single configuration file (skips recursive configuration folder scan) |
-example | - | Show configuration examples |
-export | - | Export in specified format |
-license | - | Show license information |
-license-info | - | Show active airgapped license file |
-path | - | Specify configuration file or directory path |
-validate | - | Validate configuration files |
-version | - | Display version information |
Operating Modes
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
-cert | - | Show proxy TLS certificate; add -export to write cert.pem/ca.pem |
-console | - | Run in console monitoring mode |
-dcr | - | Generate Data Collection Rule (DCR) |
-generator | - | Generate test data |
-mode | director | Operating mode (director, supervisor, console, pipeline, generator, update, restart, sentinel, snmpwalk, dcr, ocsf, cert) |
-ocsf | - | Generate OCSF schema |
-pipeline | - | Execute pipeline processing mode |
-restart | - | Restart service via detached child |
-sentinel | - | Run network discovery and monitoring |
-snmpwalk | - | Perform SNMP device discovery |
-supervisor | - | Run in supervisor mode |
-update | - | Run update process |
Service Management
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
-agentless | - | Run without installing as a service |
-background | - | Run in background mode |
-info | - | Display service information |
-service | - | Service operation (install, uninstall, start, stop, restart) |
-service-name | - | Custom service name for installation |
-stop | - | Stop the running process |
-vpc | - | Display product code |
Pipeline Operations
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
-name | - | Pipeline name for processing |
-definition_id | - | Pipeline definition identifier |
-diff | - | Show differences between actual and expected output |
-expected | - | Expected output file for validation |
-extended | - | Show extended processing information |
-input | - | Input data file or JSON string |
-json | - | Export pipeline results as JSON |
-output | - | Output file for processed data |
-output-style | basic | Pipeline output display style |
-visualize | - | Display pipeline processing visualization |
Console Monitoring
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
-debug-level | - | Set debug verbosity level (1-5) |
-filter | - | Filter console output by keywords |
Sentinel Options
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
-autodiscovery | - | Enable automatic network discovery |
-auxiliary | - | Use auxiliary discovery tables |
-basic | - | Use basic discovery tables |
Network Discovery
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
-snmp-community | - | SNMP community string |
-snmp-deviceid | - | SNMP device identifier |
-snmp-host | - | Target SNMP host address |
-snmp-oid | .1.3 | Starting OID for SNMP walk |
-snmp-port | 161 | SNMP port number |
-snmp-version | 2c | SNMP version (1, 2c, 3) |
DCR Operations
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
-dcr-name | - | Name of the Data Collection Rule |
-dcr-description | - | Description of the Data Collection Rule |
-table-names | - | Comma-separated list of table names to include |
OCSF Operations
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
-max-depth | -1 | Maximum depth for OCSF profile generation |
-profiles | - | Comma-separated list of OCSF profiles to include |
-schema-name | - | Name of the OCSF schema |
-schema-version | - | Version of the OCSF schema |
Data Generation
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
-address | 127.0.0.1:514 | Target address for generated data |
-count | 1000 | Number of messages to generate |
-duration | 300 | Total generation duration (seconds) |
-filepath | - | File path for file-based operations |
-interval | 1 | Interval between messages (seconds) |
-message | VirtualMetric Test Message | Message content |
-now | - | Generate messages immediately |
-protocol | syslog | Protocol for data generation (syslog, tcp, udp, http, netflow, vmf) |
-severity | Error | Syslog severity level |
Utility Options
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
-pfx2pem | - | Convert PFX certificate to PEM format |
Common Uses
The following are the valid switch combinations for the indicated tasks:
General Tasks
-
Display version information:
vmetric-director -version -
Show example configuration:
vmetric-director -example -
Run configuration tool:
vmetric-director -config [config_file_path] -
Compare version:
vmetric-director -compare-version [version_string] -
Convert PFX certificate to PEM:
vmetric-director -pfx2pem [certificate_path] -
Validate configuration:
vmetric-director -validate
Service Management
-
Install service:
vmetric-director -service install [-service-name custom_name] [-path installation_path] -
Uninstall service:
vmetric-director -service uninstall [-service-name custom_name] -
Start service:
vmetric-director -service start [-service-name custom_name] -
Stop service:
vmetric-director -service stop [-service-name custom_name] -
Restart service:
vmetric-director -service restart [-service-name custom_name] -
Run in background (without service):
vmetric-director -background [-mode director|supervisor] -
Run in agentless mode:
vmetric-director -agentless [-mode director|supervisor] -
Show service information:
vmetric-director -info [-mode director|supervisor] -
Show product code:
vmetric-director -vpc [-mode director|supervisor] -
Stop running process:
vmetric-director -stop [-mode director|supervisor]
Operational Modes
-
Console mode:
vmetric-director -mode console [-filter filter_string] [-debug-level level]-or-
vmetric-director -console [-filter filter_string] [-debug-level level] -
Pipeline mode:
vmetric-director -mode pipeline -name [pipeline_name] [-path path] [-definition_id id] [-input input_file] [-output output_file] [-expected expected_file] [-filter filter] [-diff] [-validate] [-visualize] [-extended] [-json]-or-
vmetric-director -pipeline -name [pipeline_name] [-path path] [-definition_id id] [-input input_file] [-output output_file] [-expected expected_file] [-filter filter] [-diff] [-validate] [-visualize] [-extended] [-json] -
Generator mode:
vmetric-director -mode generator [-protocol syslog|tcp|udp|http|netflow|vmf] [-address target_address] [-severity level] [-message message_text] [-count message_count] [-interval seconds] [-duration seconds] [-now] [-filepath file_path]-or-
vmetric-director -generator [-protocol syslog|tcp|udp|http|netflow|vmf] [-address target_address] [-severity level] [-message message_text] [-count message_count] [-interval seconds] [-duration seconds] [-now] [-filepath file_path] -
Sentinel mode:
vmetric-director -mode sentinel [-autodiscovery] [-basic] [-auxiliary]-or-
vmetric-director -sentinel [-autodiscovery] [-basic] [-auxiliary] -
SNMPWalk mode:
vmetric-director -mode snmpwalk -snmp-deviceid [device_id] -snmp-host [host] [-snmp-port port] [-snmp-version 1|2c|3] [-snmp-community community_string] [-snmp-oid oid]-or-
vmetric-director -snmpwalk -snmp-deviceid [device_id] -snmp-host [host] [-snmp-port port] [-snmp-version 1|2c|3] [-snmp-community community_string] [-snmp-oid oid] -
Update mode:
vmetric-director -mode update-or-
vmetric-director -update -
Restart mode:
vmetric-director -mode restart-or-
vmetric-director -restart -
Supervisor mode:
vmetric-director -mode supervisor-or-
vmetric-director -supervisor -
Cert mode:
vmetric-director -mode cert [-export directory]-or-
vmetric-director -cert [-export directory] -
DCR mode:
vmetric-director -mode dcr [-dcr-name name] [-dcr-description description] [-table-names table1,table2]-or-
vmetric-director -dcr [-dcr-name name] [-dcr-description description] [-table-names table1,table2] -
OCSF mode:
vmetric-director -mode ocsf [-schema-name name] [-schema-version version] [-profiles profile1,profile2] [-max-depth depth]-or-
vmetric-director -ocsf [-schema-name name] [-schema-version version] [-profiles profile1,profile2] [-max-depth depth] -
Director mode (default):
vmetric-director-or-
vmetric-director -mode director-or-
vmetric-director -director
Protocol-Specific Generator Tasks
The following can be used to simulate various log streaming protocols:
-
Syslog generator:
vmetric-director -mode generator -protocol syslog -address 127.0.0.1:514 -severity Error -message "Test Message" -count 1000 -interval 1 -duration 300 -
TCP generator:
vmetric-director -mode generator -protocol tcp -address 127.0.0.1:9000 -message "Test Message" -count 1000 -interval 1 -duration 300 -
UDP generator:
vmetric-director -mode generator -protocol udp -address 127.0.0.1:514 -message "Test Message" -count 1000 -interval 1 -duration 300 -
HTTP generator:
vmetric-director -mode generator -protocol http -address http://127.0.0.1:8080/logs -message "Test Message" -count 1000 -interval 1 -duration 300 -
Netflow generator:
vmetric-director -mode generator -protocol netflow -address 127.0.0.1:2055 -count 1000 -interval 1 -duration 300 -
VMF generator:
vmetric-director -mode generator -protocol vmf -filepath input.json -message "Test Message" -count 1000 -interval 1 -duration 300