Disclosed herein are a method, apparatus and system that authenticate a first data forwarder, of a distributed machine data acquisition and search system (MDASS), to a node that regulates traversal of a firewall that protects a protected environment within which the data forwarder operates. The authentication may be performed by using a SOCKS5 authentication process. The method further includes, only after successful completion of the SOCKS5 authentication process, establishing a first connection, through a network, between the first data forwarder and a first indexer of the distributed MDASS, where the first indexer operates outside the protected environment, and sending machine data acquired by the first data forwarder from a machine data source, to the first indexer via the first connection.