Synapse Quickstart ##################

Get started using Synapse Open-Source to start a Cortex_ and try it out!

Installing Docker

To run the Docker containers included with this Quickstart, you will need to make sure you have installed Docker Desktop. Follow the instructions at Get Docker_ before trying to execute any of the following commands.

Installing Synapse

Download the Quickstart ZIP file from the github repo_ and unzip it to your host filesystem.

Starting a Cortex

Windows

Double-click cortex.bat from your file explorer to initialize the Cortex and start up a shell that you can use to execute commands.

MacOS (Intel Chip or Apple Chip)

Double-click cortex.command from your file explorer to initialize the Cortex and start up a shell that you can use to execute commands.

Linux

Execute cortex.sh from your terminal to initialize the Cortex and start up a shell that you can use to execute commands.

Check Your Work

To make sure your Cortex is running, lets run the Storm CLI, manually add a node, and quit.

Execute the storm CLI from the linux root shell::

root@77c281dcf338:/# python -m synapse.tools.storm cell:///vertex/storage

Welcome to the Storm interpreter!

Local interpreter (non-storm) commands may be executed with a ! prefix:
    Use !quit to exit.
    Use !help to see local interpreter commands.

storm>

Manually add an inet:user node::

storm> [ inet:user=visi ]
..
inet:user=visi
        .created = 2021/08/25 15:06:29.227
complete. 1 nodes in 22 ms (45/sec).
storm>

Quit the storm CLI::

storm> !quit
o/
root@77c281dcf338:/#

Using Synapse Tools

Once you have your Cortex started, you should be able to execute Synapse Tools_, such as storm or csvtool from the shell prompt. ::

python -m synapse.tools.storm cell:///vertex/storage

Any files present in the data directory will be mapped into the folder /data/ within the shell and running Docker container. This will allow you to edit Storm scripts, import csv files, and have an easy way to map files from your host into the Docker container.

Examples from our Blog

Using Csvtool to Ingest Data

In using csvtool_, we demonstrate using csvtool to import and export data from a Cortex. The examples used in the Vertex Project blog shared here have been included in the /data/blogs/using-csvtool folder mapped into the running Docker container.

::

cd /data/blogs/using-csvtool
python -m synapse.tools.csvtool --csv-header --cortex cell:///vertex/storage ingest.storm ingest.csv

Test your ingest

From the Storm CLI, you can now query the data to make sure the nodes were created.

Example #1

Use the following storm command to display the newly added inet:dns:a records::

storm> inet:dns:a

Here's what you should see as a result::

inet:dns:a=('bbc-news.org', '207.180.214.158')
        .created = 2021/08/24 11:54:33.958
        .seen = ('2019/04/15 07:16:09.364', '2019/04/24 07:31:37.271')
        :fqdn = bbc-news.org
        :ipv4 = 207.180.214.158
inet:dns:a=('theguardiannews.org', '12.131.129.89')
        .created = 2021/08/24 11:54:33.941
        .seen = ('2016/09/20 13:10:12.000', '2016/09/20 13:10:12.001')
        :fqdn = theguardiannews.org
        :ipv4 = 12.131.129.89
inet:dns:a=('theguardiannews.org', '32.210.118.89')
        .created = 2021/08/24 11:54:33.954
        .seen = ('2015/12/17 00:00:00.000', '2015/12/17 18:17:55.000')
        :fqdn = theguardiannews.org
        :ipv4 = 32.210.118.89
inet:dns:a=('bbc-news.org', '192.64.119.28')
        .created = 2021/08/24 11:54:33.960
        .seen = ('2019/04/18 19:04:01.000', '2019/04/19 07:31:27.360')
        :fqdn = bbc-news.org
        :ipv4 = 192.64.119.28
inet:dns:a=('theguardiannews.org', '5.135.183.154')
        .created = 2021/08/24 11:54:33.951
        .seen = ('2015/12/11 10:57:12.000', '2015/12/14 10:59:15.000')
        :fqdn = theguardiannews.org
        :ipv4 = 5.135.183.154
inet:dns:a=('bbc-news.org', '217.160.182.197')
        .created = 2021/08/24 11:54:33.961
        .seen = ('2015/05/03 10:31:14.000', '2015/05/03 10:31:14.001')
        :fqdn = bbc-news.org
        :ipv4 = 217.160.182.197
inet:dns:a=('theguardiannews.org', '31.210.118.89')
        .created = 2021/08/24 11:54:33.953
        .seen = ('2015/12/18 09:25:42.000', '2016/12/09 10:59:08.000')
        :fqdn = theguardiannews.org
        :ipv4 = 31.210.118.89
inet:dns:a=('nato-news.com', '185.82.202.174')
        .created = 2021/08/24 11:54:33.955
        .seen = ('2015/10/10 00:00:00.000', '2016/09/28 05:30:53.000')
        :fqdn = nato-news.com
        :ipv4 = 185.82.202.174
complete. 8 nodes in 9 ms (888/sec).

.. _Cortex: https://synapse.docs.vertex.link/en/latest/synapse/glossary.html#cortex .. _the github repo: https://github.com/vertexproject/synapse-quickstart/archive/refs/heads/main.zip .. _Get Docker: https://docs.docker.com/get-docker/ .. _Tools: https://synapse.docs.vertex.link/en/latest/synapse/userguides/index_tools.html#tools .. _using csvtool: https://vertex.link/blogs/using-csvtool/