Watches

How Do Watches Work?

When scanning an artifact, Xray completes the following steps for each resource added to a Watch:

1. Check existence: Xray Checks if the artifact exists in the resource
2. Check filters: Xray then checks if the artifact matches all of the filters defined for that resource.
3. Process Assigned Polices: Xray independently processes all of the policies in the Watch. For each assigned policy, Xray performs the following steps:
   
   1. Processes the rules according to priority.
   2. Checks the criteria of the rule.
   3. If the criteria are met, Xray generates a violation, the automatic actions are executed and the policy is considered as processed. There is no need to continue to the subsequent rules in the policy.
   4. If the criteria are not met, Xray continues to the next rule.
   5. In case none of the rules apply, the policy is considered as processed, and Xray continues to the next policy if one exists.

Creating a Watch

To create a new watch, click New Watch.

A Watch is created in three basic steps:

1. Providing general information
2. Specifying Resources
3. Specifying Policies

General Information

Resources

The Resources are the set of repositories and builds in the connected Artifactory services that the Watch monitors. To specify resources for the Watch, click Manage Resources.

Managing resources for a Watch involves two steps:

1. Specifying the repositories and builds to monitor
2. Applying filters to focus only on those artifacts within those repositories and builds that you are interested in. 

Specifying Resources

Move the resources you are interested in from the list of Available Resources on the left to the list of Selected Resources on the right by dragging them, or by selecting them and using the arrow icons.

Specifying All Repositories and Builds

Setting the All Repositories or All Builds checkboxes means that the Watch monitors all builds as well as all repositories that have been specified for indexing by Xray. Note that this setting will also apply to new repositories and builds that are created after the Watch is defined.

You may only specify All Repositories or All Builds if there is a permission defined providing you with global scope access (i.e., an All Resources permission) to all resources.  

Filters

The filters you define for a watch determine which artifacts in the resources specified will generate violations and under what conditions. You can define any number of filters on each of the resources specified for the watch, and it will only trigger a violation on any of the resources if an artifact meets the conditions of all of the filters defined for that resource. The following content filters are available:

• Name: Generate a violation based on an artifact's name
• Path: Generate a violation based on an artifact's path in the repository
• Package Type: Generate a violation based on an artifact's package type
• Mime Type: Generate a violation based on an artifact's MIME type
• Property: Generate a violation if an artifact is annotated with the specified property

To specify filters, select the Filters tab.

For each resource you have added to the Watch, you can now specify the filters that apply to that resource.

For example, the filter above specifies that the watch should only trigger a violation for rpm files.

Path

A Path filter uses a regular expression to specify the path of an artifact in the repository. The watch will only trigger a violation if an artifact's name matches the expression. Note that the filter does not consider the repository name to be a part of the path.

For example, the filter above specifies that the watch should only trigger a violation for artifacts that have the expressions "jfrog" in their path

Package Type

A Package Type filter specifies an artifact's package type. The watch will only trigger a violation if an artifact has the specified package type.

Mime Type 

A Mime Type filter specifies an artifact's mime type. The watch will only trigger a violation if an artifact has the specified mime type.

For example, the filter above specifies that the watch should trigger a violation for any artifact with an "application/json" mime type.

Property

A Property filter specifies a property annotating an artifact and its value. The watch will only trigger a violation if the property has the specified value.

For example, the filter above specifies that the watch should trigger a violation if an artifact with a property named "performance" has the value "false".

Assigning Policies

To assign a policy to a watch, click on Assign Policies.

From the list of Available Policies on the left, select the policies you want to apply to the Watch and drag them, or use the arrows to move them to the list of Selected Policies on the right. 

Click Assign to assign the policies to the Watch.

Editing a Watch

To edit a Watch select it from the list of Watches and go to the Settings tab.

Examining a Watch

Violations

Click on a specific watch from the main Watch module page to examine all of its defined violations. You can filter the watch violations using the search mechanism, according to text, created date, type, severity and CVE ID.

To examine the details of a violation, click the violation from the list to display the Violation Details popup. 

Ignore Rules

Ignore Rules let you specify violations that should be ignored for a Watch in order to avoid visual clutter when viewing the list of Violations. 

Creating an Ignore Rule

In the Ignore Violation popup that is displayed, select the Policies that should ignore the selected violation. You then have two options:

Ignore Once: The violation will be removed from the current list, however it will reappear in the list next time the violating artifact is scanned.

Ignore Permanently: The violation will be permanently removed from the list of violations and will appear in the Ignore Rules tab.

 Ignore Rules Tab

The Ignore Rules tab displays violations which you have chosen to ignore in the Component Details display or in the Violations tab of the Watch display. 

Apply On Existing Content

Once a Watch is created, it will scan artifacts in the specified resources when a scan-triggering event happens, and issue Violations accordingly. However, until a scan-triggering event happens, artifacts already existing in the system will not be scanned by the Watch. So, to make sure a Watch is immediately applied to the relevant artifacts, you can invoke it manually by hovering over it and selecting Apply on Existing Content.

Clicking the button pops up a dialog that lets you specify which of the resources assigned to the watch should be scanned, and a date range which defines the amount of time an artifacts needs to have resided in the target in order to be scanned.

For example, selecting "Last 7 days" will only scan artifacts that have resided in the target for the last 7 days.