Feed Configuration
Feed Synchronization Interval
The default configuration for the Anchore Engine will download vulnerability data from Anchore’s feed service every 21,600 seconds (6hours).
For most users the only configuration option that is typically updated is the feed synchronization interval - the time interval (in seconds) at which the feed sync is run.
.....
cycle_timers:
...
feed_sync: 14400
Feed Settings
Feed sync configuration is set in the config.yaml file used by policy engine service. The services.policy_engine.vulnerabilities.sync.data section
of the configuration file in the policy engine’s container controls the behavior of feed syncs done by that particular container. Ensure this config is synchronized between containers if you are running more than one policy engine. This is usually handled for you by Helm Charts on Kubernetes, for example.
The Anchore Engine will default to downloading feed data from Anchore’s feed service hosted at https://ancho.re/v1/service/feeds and running in AWS in the us-west-2 region.
By default, Anchore Engine will only sync the non-grype feeds enabled in the config section shown below. Setting additional feed types to true or false will enable or disable, respectively, synchronization of the specified feed.
services:
...
policy_engine:
...
vulnerabilities:
...
sync:
...
data:
grypedb:
enabled: true
url: ${ANCHORE_GRYPE_DB_URL}
packages:
enabled: true
url: ${ANCHORE_FEEDS_URL}
Note: As shown above, Anchore Engine’s default is now Grype. The Grype feed is the default, and the only one that Anchore Engine syncs.
Read Timeout
Under rare circumstances you may see syncs failing with errors to fetch data due to timeouts. This is typically due to load on the feed service, network issues, or some other temporary condition. However, if you want to increase the timeout to improve the likelihood of success, modify the read_timeout_seconds of the feeds configuration:
feeds:
...
read_timeout_seconds: 180
Controlling Which Feeds and Groups are Synced
Note: The package and nvd data feeds are large, resulting in the initial sync taking some time.
During initial feed sync, you can always query the progress and status of the feed sync using the anchore-cli.
anchore@93d6977e2061 anchore-engine]$ anchore-cli system feeds list
Feed Group LastSync RecordCount
github github:composer 2020-03-27T22:19:57.328440 78
github github:gem 2020-03-27T22:19:59.069349 333
github github:java 2020-03-27T22:20:03.393652 432
github github:npm 2020-03-27T22:20:09.422600 653
github github:nuget 2020-03-27T22:20:16.628054 50
github github:python 2020-03-27T22:20:17.754270 250
nvdv2 nvdv2:cves 2020-03-27T20:42:13.104384 141090
vulnerabilities alpine:3.10 2020-03-27T19:47:27.188488 1725
vulnerabilities alpine:3.11 2020-03-27T19:47:42.467000 1904
vulnerabilities alpine:3.3 2020-03-27T19:47:59.309026 457
vulnerabilities alpine:3.4 2020-03-27T19:48:03.531092 681
vulnerabilities alpine:3.5 2020-03-27T19:48:09.396503 875
vulnerabilities alpine:3.6 2020-03-27T19:48:17.029289 1051
vulnerabilities alpine:3.7 2020-03-27T19:48:27.230411 1395
vulnerabilities alpine:3.8 2020-03-27T19:48:39.811189 1486
vulnerabilities alpine:3.9 2020-03-27T19:48:53.472895 1558
vulnerabilities amzn:2 2020-03-27T19:49:08.039725 320
vulnerabilities centos:5 2020-03-27T19:49:19.232142 1347
vulnerabilities centos:6 2020-03-27T19:49:45.948061 1393
vulnerabilities centos:7 2020-03-27T19:50:16.913685 1004
vulnerabilities centos:8 2020-03-27T19:50:47.762328 199
vulnerabilities debian:10 2020-03-27T19:50:56.298579 22407
vulnerabilities debian:11 2020-03-27T19:55:05.935002 19443
vulnerabilities debian:7 2020-03-27T19:58:55.500030 20455
vulnerabilities debian:8 2020-03-27T20:01:58.427061 23481
vulnerabilities debian:9 2020-03-27T20:05:20.356754 22507
vulnerabilities debian:unstable 2020-03-27T20:09:37.909305 23701
vulnerabilities ol:5 2020-03-27T20:12:55.707457 1245
vulnerabilities ol:6 2020-03-27T20:13:25.500670 1504
vulnerabilities ol:7 2020-03-27T20:14:03.279049 1121
vulnerabilities ol:8 2020-03-27T20:14:37.144376 157
vulnerabilities rhel:5 2020-03-27T20:14:43.707760 7237
vulnerabilities rhel:6 2020-03-27T20:16:59.010218 6805
vulnerabilities rhel:7 2020-03-27T20:18:09.917886 5846
vulnerabilities rhel:8 2020-03-27T20:19:12.650326 1428
vulnerabilities ubuntu:12.04 2020-03-27T20:19:28.540257 14948
vulnerabilities ubuntu:12.10 2020-03-27T20:21:27.080478 5652
vulnerabilities ubuntu:13.04 2020-03-27T20:23:09.806360 4127
vulnerabilities ubuntu:14.04 2020-03-27T20:23:40.672987 21176
vulnerabilities ubuntu:14.10 2020-03-27T20:27:27.221192 4456
vulnerabilities ubuntu:15.04 2020-03-27T20:28:05.360075 5877
vulnerabilities ubuntu:15.10 2020-03-27T20:28:53.416816 6513
vulnerabilities ubuntu:16.04 2020-03-27T20:29:51.105326 18288
vulnerabilities ubuntu:16.10 2020-03-27T20:33:29.612544 8647
vulnerabilities ubuntu:17.04 2020-03-27T20:35:33.512059 9157
vulnerabilities ubuntu:17.10 2020-03-27T20:36:39.141950 7936
vulnerabilities ubuntu:18.04 2020-03-27T20:37:35.077867 12547
vulnerabilities ubuntu:18.10 2020-03-27T20:39:20.097963 8397
vulnerabilities ubuntu:19.04 2020-03-27T20:40:18.628869 8664
vulnerabilities ubuntu:19.10 2020-03-27T20:41:20.828796 7327
Note: The Grype feed is the only feed that will be synced. It will contain the records from all the other groups. It is not possible to include or exclude groups from the Grype feed.
Using the Config File to Include/Exclude Feeds at System Bootstrap
The most common way to set which feeds are synced is in the config.yaml for the policy engine. By default, the grypedb and packages feeds are synced to provide good vulnerability matching support for a variety of linux distros and application package types. Normally it will not be necessary to modify that set.
To disable a feed or enable a disabled feed, modify the config.yaml’s feeds section to:
feeds:
selective_sync:
enabled: true
feeds:
grypedb: true
packages: true
Those boolean values can be used to enable/disable the feeds. Note that changes will require a restart of the policy engine to take effect and setting a feed to ‘false’ will not remove any data or show in the API/CLI, it will simply skip updates during sync operations.
Using the CLI to Configure Feeds
Disabling an Entire Feed
An entire feed can be disabled. This means that all the feed’s groups will no longer be updated and no new groups will be synced either on subsequent sync operations. This does not, however, remove any existing data nor will it remove the feed or feed group metadata records.
Example:
[anchore@93d6977e2061 anchore-engine]$ anchore-cli system feeds config github --disable
Feed Group LastSync RecordCount
github(disabled) github:composer 2020-03-27T22:19:57.328440 78
github(disabled) github:gem 2020-03-27T22:19:59.069349 333
github(disabled) github:java 2020-03-27T22:20:03.393652 432
github(disabled) github:npm 2020-03-27T22:20:09.422600 653
github(disabled) github:nuget 2020-03-27T22:20:16.628054 50
github(disabled) github:python 2020-03-27T22:20:17.754270 250
The feed can be enabled again using a similar command and on the next sync operation its data will be updated. Example:
[anchore@93d6977e2061 anchore-engine]$ anchore-cli system feeds config github --enable
Feed Group LastSync RecordCount
github github:composer 2020-03-27T22:19:57.328440 78
github github:gem 2020-03-27T22:19:59.069349 333
github github:java 2020-03-27T22:20:03.393652 432
github github:npm 2020-03-27T22:20:09.422600 653
github github:nuget 2020-03-27T22:20:16.628054 50
github github:python 2020-03-27T22:20:17.754270 250
[anchore@93d6977e2061 anchore-engine]$ anchore-cli system feeds sync
WARNING: This operation should not normally need to be performed except when the anchore-engine operator is certain that it is required - the operation will take a long time (hours) to complete, and there may be an impact on anchore-engine performance during the re-sync/flush.
Really perform a manual feed data sync/flush? (y/N)y
Feed Group Status Records Updated Sync Duration
github github:composer success 0 0.59s
github github:gem success 0 0.47s
github github:java success 0 0.60s
github github:npm success 0 0.52s
github github:nuget success 0 0.45s
github github:python success 0 0.50s
nvdv2 nvdv2:cves success 0 0.68s
vulnerabilities alpine:3.10 success 0 0.56s
vulnerabilities alpine:3.11 success 0 0.50s
...
Disabling Specific Feed Groups
For a more granular approach, you can disable a single group within a feed.
Using the CLI to Delete Feed Data
Deleting and Entire Feed
Deleting feed data
[anchore@93d6977e2061 anchore-engine]$ anchore-cli system feeds delete github
[anchore@93d6977e2061 anchore-engine]$ anchore-cli system feeds list
Feed Group LastSync RecordCount
nvdv2 nvdv2:cves 2020-03-28T00:03:34.079006 141090
vulnerabilities alpine:3.10 2020-03-28T00:03:32.065414 1725
vulnerabilities alpine:3.11 2020-03-28T00:03:32.685733 1904
vulnerabilities alpine:3.3 2020-03-28T00:02:03.906147 457
vulnerabilities alpine:3.4 2020-03-28T00:02:03.160375 681
vulnerabilities alpine:3.5 2020-03-28T00:02:04.693883 875
vulnerabilities alpine:3.6 2020-03-28T00:02:06.155002 1051
vulnerabilities alpine:3.7 2020-03-28T00:02:06.717063 1395
vulnerabilities alpine:3.8 2020-03-28T00:02:07.329353 1486
vulnerabilities alpine:3.9 2020-03-28T00:02:05.434095 1558
vulnerabilities amzn:2 2020-03-28T00:02:08.671245 320
vulnerabilities centos:5 2020-03-28T00:02:09.375775 1347
vulnerabilities centos:6 2020-03-28T00:02:10.061647 1393
vulnerabilities centos:7 2020-03-28T00:02:10.656073 1004
vulnerabilities centos:8 2020-03-28T00:02:11.268366 199
vulnerabilities debian:10 2020-03-28T00:03:33.244902 22414
vulnerabilities debian:11 2020-03-28T00:02:11.914975 19450
vulnerabilities debian:7 2020-03-28T00:02:12.732607 20455
vulnerabilities debian:8 2020-03-28T00:02:13.759757 23488
vulnerabilities debian:9 2020-03-28T00:02:07.960085 22514
vulnerabilities debian:unstable 2020-03-28T00:02:14.585239 23708
vulnerabilities ol:5 2020-03-28T00:02:15.882825 1245
vulnerabilities ol:6 2020-03-28T00:02:15.368850 1504
vulnerabilities ol:7 2020-03-28T00:02:17.334177 1121
vulnerabilities ol:8 2020-03-28T00:02:18.057855 157
vulnerabilities rhel:5 2020-03-28T00:02:18.748398 7237
vulnerabilities rhel:6 2020-03-28T00:02:16.548115 6805
vulnerabilities rhel:7 2020-03-28T00:03:20.039569 5846
vulnerabilities rhel:8 2020-03-28T00:03:21.424688 1428
vulnerabilities ubuntu:12.04 2020-03-28T00:03:30.795672 14948
vulnerabilities ubuntu:12.10 2020-03-28T00:03:20.686089 5652
vulnerabilities ubuntu:13.04 2020-03-28T00:03:22.630122 4127
vulnerabilities ubuntu:14.04 2020-03-28T00:03:23.376621 21176
vulnerabilities ubuntu:14.10 2020-03-28T00:03:24.059663 4456
vulnerabilities ubuntu:15.04 2020-03-28T00:03:22.070692 5877
vulnerabilities ubuntu:15.10 2020-03-28T00:03:24.656382 6513
vulnerabilities ubuntu:16.04 2020-03-28T00:03:26.013850 18288
vulnerabilities ubuntu:16.10 2020-03-28T00:03:25.370678 8647
vulnerabilities ubuntu:17.04 2020-03-28T00:03:27.278963 9157
vulnerabilities ubuntu:17.10 2020-03-28T00:03:26.605719 7936
vulnerabilities ubuntu:18.04 2020-03-28T00:03:27.845497 12547
vulnerabilities ubuntu:18.10 2020-03-28T00:03:28.482261 8397
vulnerabilities ubuntu:19.04 2020-03-28T00:03:31.400152 8664
vulnerabilities ubuntu:19.10 2020-03-28T00:03:29.122119 7327
[anchore@93d6977e2061 anchore-engine]$ anchore-cli system feeds sync
WARNING: This operation should not normally need to be performed except when the anchore-engine operator is certain that it is required - the operation will take a long time (hours) to complete, and there may be an impact on anchore-engine performance during the re-sync/flush.
Really perform a manual feed data sync/flush? (y/N)y
Feed Group Status Records Updated Sync Duration
nvdv2 nvdv2:cves success 0 0.81s
vulnerabilities alpine:3.10 success 0 0.54s
vulnerabilities alpine:3.11 success 0 0.60s
vulnerabilities alpine:3.3 success 0 0.59s
vulnerabilities alpine:3.4 success 0 0.75s
vulnerabilities alpine:3.5 success 0 0.95s
vulnerabilities alpine:3.6 success 0 0.57s
vulnerabilities alpine:3.7 success 0 0.59s
vulnerabilities alpine:3.8 success 0 0.51s
vulnerabilities alpine:3.9 success 0 1.34s
vulnerabilities amzn:2 success 0 0.52s
vulnerabilities centos:5 success 0 0.64s
vulnerabilities centos:6 success 0 0.80s
vulnerabilities centos:7 success 0 0.82s
vulnerabilities centos:8 success 0 0.58s
vulnerabilities debian:10 success 0 0.47s
vulnerabilities debian:11 success 0 0.58s
vulnerabilities debian:7 success 0 0.64s
vulnerabilities debian:8 success 0 0.71s
vulnerabilities debian:9 success 0 0.76s
vulnerabilities debian:unstable success 0 0.78s
vulnerabilities ol:5 success 0 0.65s
vulnerabilities ol:6 success 0 0.68s
vulnerabilities ol:7 success 0 0.69s
vulnerabilities ol:8 success 0 0.68s
vulnerabilities rhel:5 success 0 0.76s
vulnerabilities rhel:6 success 0 0.49s
vulnerabilities rhel:7 success 0 0.61s
vulnerabilities rhel:8 success 0 0.89s
vulnerabilities ubuntu:12.04 success 0 0.76s
vulnerabilities ubuntu:12.10 success 0 0.60s
vulnerabilities ubuntu:13.04 success 0 0.65s
vulnerabilities ubuntu:14.04 success 0 0.59s
vulnerabilities ubuntu:14.10 success 0 1.01s
vulnerabilities ubuntu:15.04 success 0 0.70s
vulnerabilities ubuntu:15.10 success 0 0.60s
vulnerabilities ubuntu:16.04 success 0 0.82s
vulnerabilities ubuntu:16.10 success 0 0.57s
vulnerabilities ubuntu:17.04 success 0 0.61s
vulnerabilities ubuntu:17.10 success 0 0.51s
vulnerabilities ubuntu:18.04 success 0 0.60s
vulnerabilities ubuntu:18.10 success 0 0.60s
vulnerabilities ubuntu:19.04 success 0 0.61s
vulnerabilities ubuntu:19.10 success 0 0.60s
Deleting Specific Feed Groups
[anchore@93d6977e2061 ~]$ anchore-cli system feeds config --disable vulnerabilities --group centos:5
Group LastSync RecordCount
centos:5(disabled) 2020-03-28T00:22:57.113534 1347
[anchore@93d6977e2061 ~]$ anchore-cli system feeds delete vulnerabilities --group centos:5
Group LastSync RecordCount
centos:5(disabled) pending 0
Restoring Deleted Data
If you want to get data back, simply enable the feed and/or group and run a feed sync manually or wait for the next scheduled sync.
For an entire feed, here is an example of removal and re-adding it:
[anchore@93d6977e2061 ~]$ anchore-cli system feeds config github --disable
Feed Group LastSync RecordCount
github(disabled) github:composer 2020-03-28T01:08:58.652868 78
github(disabled) github:gem 2020-03-28T01:08:59.179493 333
github(disabled) github:java 2020-03-28T01:08:59.699348 432
github(disabled) github:npm 2020-03-28T00:34:48.167115 653
github(disabled) github:nuget 2020-03-28T01:12:01.116613 50
github(disabled) github:python 2020-03-28T01:08:58.083361 250
[anchore@93d6977e2061 ~]$ anchore-cli system feeds delete github
[anchore@93d6977e2061 ~]$ anchore-cli system feeds config github --enable
[anchore@93d6977e2061 ~]$ anchore-cli system feeds sync
WARNING: This operation should not normally need to be performed except when the anchore-engine operator is certain that it is required - the operation will take a long time (hours) to complete, and there may be an impact on anchore-engine performance during the re-sync/flush.
Really perform a manual feed data sync/flush? (y/N)y
Feed Group Status Records Updated Sync Duration
github github:composer success 78 1.64s
github github:gem success 333 4.48s
github github:java success 432 6.07s
github github:npm success 653 7.39s
github github:nuget success 50 1.10s
github github:python success 250 3.34s
nvdv2 nvdv2:cves success 0 60.90s
vulnerabilities alpine:3.10 success 0 0.52s
vulnerabilities alpine:3.11 success 0 0.47s
vulnerabilities alpine:3.3 success 0 0.56s
vulnerabilities alpine:3.4 success 0 0.46s
vulnerabilities alpine:3.5 success 0 0.52s
vulnerabilities alpine:3.6 success 0 0.54s
vulnerabilities alpine:3.7 success 0 60.76s
vulnerabilities alpine:3.8 success 0 0.54s
vulnerabilities alpine:3.9 success 0 0.54s
vulnerabilities amzn:2 success 0 0.49s
vulnerabilities centos:5 success 0 0.47s
vulnerabilities centos:6 success 0 0.49s
vulnerabilities centos:7 success 0 0.48s
vulnerabilities centos:8 success 0 0.53s
vulnerabilities debian:10 success 0 0.62s
vulnerabilities debian:11 success 0 0.50s
...
For a single feed group, here is an example of removal and re-adding it:
[anchore@93d6977e2061 ~]$ anchore-cli system feeds config --enable vulnerabilities --group centos:5
Group LastSync RecordCount
centos:5 pending 0
[anchore@93d6977e2061 ~]$ anchore-cli system feeds sync
WARNING: This operation should not normally need to be performed except when the anchore-engine operator is certain that it is required - the operation will take a long time (hours) to complete, and there may be an impact on anchore-engine performance during the re-sync/flush.
Really perform a manual feed data sync/flush? (y/N)y
Feed Group Status Records Updated Sync Duration
...
vulnerabilities centos:5 success 1347 27.41s
...
With these controls you can better customize the data set that anchore stores in the database. However, note that this should not normally be necessary and modifying feed groups & data has implications on the sets of distros and types of artifacts Anchore can match vulnerabilities against.
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