Deployment of the Wallarm node Docker image to AWS¶

This quick guide provides the steps to deploy the Docker image of the NGINX-based Wallarm node to the Amazon cloud platform using the Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS).

The instructions limitations

These instructions do not cover the configuration of load balancing and node autoscaling. If setting up these components yourself, we recommend that you review an appropriate part of the AWS instructions.

Requirements¶

AWS account and user with the admin permissions
AWS CLI 1 or AWS CLI 2 properly installed and configured
Access to the account with the Administrator or Deploy role and two‑factor authentication disabled in Wallarm Console for the EU Cloud or US Cloud

Options for the Wallarm node Docker container configuration¶

The filtering node configuration parameters should be passed to the deployed Docker container in one of the following ways:

In the environment variables. This option allows for the configuration of only basic filtering node parameters. Most directives cannot be configured through environment variables.
In the mounted configuration file. This option allows full filtering node configuration via any directives. With this configuration method, environment variables with the filtering node and Wallarm Cloud connection settings are also passed to the container.

Deploying the Wallarm node Docker container configured through environment variables¶

To deploy the containerized Wallarm filtering node configured only through environment variables, the AWS Management Console and AWS CLI are used.

Sign in to the AWS Management Console → the Services list → Elastic Container Service.
Proceed to cluster creation by the button Create Cluster:
1. Select the template EC2 Linux + Networking.
2. Specify the cluster name, for example: wallarm-cluster.
3. If required, set other settings following the AWS instructions.
4. Save the cluster.
Save the sensitive data used for the filtering node and Wallarm Cloud connection setup in the AWS Secrets Manager or AWS Systems Manager → Parameter Store. Sensitive data includes the following environment variables:
- <DEPLOY_USER>: email to the Deploy or Administrator user account in Wallarm Console.
- <DEPLOY_PASSWORD>: password to the Deploy or Administrator user account in Wallarm Console.
In these instructions, sensitive data is stored in the AWS Secrets Manager.
Access to the sensitive data storage

To allow the Docker container to read the encrypted sensitive data, please ensure the AWS settings meet the following requirements:
- Sensitive data is stored in the region used to run the Docker container.
- The IAM policy SecretsManagerReadWrite is attached to the user specified in the executionRoleArn parameter of the task definition. More details on the IAM policies setup →

Create the following local JSON file with the task definition (task definition sets the Docker container operating scenario):

If you use the Wallarm EU CloudIf you use the Wallarm US Cloud

{
    "executionRoleArn": "arn:aws:iam::<AWS_ACCOUNT_ID>:role/ecsTaskExecutionRole",
    "containerDefinitions": [
        {
            "memory": 128,
            "portMappings": [
           {
               "hostPort": 80,
               "containerPort": 80,
               "protocol": "tcp"
           }
       ],
       "essential": true,
       "environment": [
           {
               "name": "NGINX_BACKEND",
               "value": "<HOST_TO_PROTECT_WITH_WALLARM>"
           }
       ],
       "secrets": [
           {
               "name": "DEPLOY_PASSWORD",
               "valueFrom": "arn:aws:secretsmanager:<SECRETS_MANAGER_AWS_REGION>:<AWS_ACCOUNT_ID>:secret:<SECRET_NAME>:<DEPLOY_PASSWORD_PARAMETER_NAME>::"
           },
           {
               "name": "DEPLOY_USER",
               "valueFrom": "arn:aws:secretsmanager:<SECRETS_MANAGER_AWS_REGION>:<AWS_ACCOUNT_ID>:secret:<SECRET_NAME>:<DEPLOY_USER_PARAMETER_NAME>::"
           }
       ],
       "name": "wallarm-container",
       "image": "registry-1.docker.io/wallarm/node:3.6.2-1"
       }
   ],
   "family": "wallarm-api-security-node"
   }

{
    "executionRoleArn": "arn:aws:iam::<AWS_ACCOUNT_ID>:role/ecsTaskExecutionRole",
    "containerDefinitions": [
        {
            "memory": 128,
            "portMappings": [
           {
               "hostPort": 80,
               "containerPort": 80,
               "protocol": "tcp"
           }
       ],
       "essential": true,
       "environment": [
           {
               "name": "WALLARM_API_HOST",
               "value": "us1.api.wallarm.com"
           },
           {
               "name": "NGINX_BACKEND",
               "value": "<HOST_TO_PROTECT_WITH_WALLARM>"
           }
       ],
       "secrets": [
           {
               "name": "DEPLOY_PASSWORD",
               "valueFrom": "arn:aws:secretsmanager:<SECRETS_MANAGER_AWS_REGION>:<AWS_ACCOUNT_ID>:secret:<SECRET_NAME>:<DEPLOY_PASSWORD_PARAMETER_NAME>::"
           },
           {
               "name": "DEPLOY_USER",
               "valueFrom": "arn:aws:secretsmanager:<SECRETS_MANAGER_AWS_REGION>:<AWS_ACCOUNT_ID>:secret:<SECRET_NAME>:<DEPLOY_USER_PARAMETER_NAME>::"
           }
       ],
       "name": "wallarm-container",
       "image": "registry-1.docker.io/wallarm/node:3.6.2-1"
       }
   ],
   "family": "wallarm-api-security-node"
   }

<AWS_ACCOUNT_ID>: your AWS account ID.
The environment object sets the environment variables that should be passed to the Docker container in a text format. The set of available environment variables is described in the table below. It is recommended to pass the variables DEPLOY_USER and DEPLOY_PASSWORD in the secrets object.

The secret object sets the environment variables that should be passed to the Docker container as the links to the sensitive data storage. The format of values depends on the selected storage (see more details in the AWS Secrets Manager or AWS Systems Manager → Parameter Store documentation).

It is recommended to pass the variables DEPLOY_USER and DEPLOY_PASSWORD in the secrets object.

Environment variable	Description	Required
`DEPLOY_USER`	Email to the Deploy or Administrator user account in Wallarm Console.	Yes
`DEPLOY_PASSWORD`	Password to the Deploy or Administrator user account in Wallarm Console.	Yes
`NGINX_BACKEND`	Domain or IP address of the resource to protect with the Wallarm solution.	Yes
`WALLARM_API_HOST`	Wallarm API server: `us1.api.wallarm.com` for the US Cloud `api.wallarm.com` for the EU Cloud By default: `api.wallarm.com`.	No
`WALLARM_MODE`	Node mode: `block` to block malicious requests `safe_blocking` to block only those malicious requests originated from graylisted IP addresses `monitoring` to analyze but not block requests `off` to disable traffic analyzing and processing By default: `monitoring`. Detailed description of filtration modes →	No
`WALLARM_APPLICATION`	Unique identifier of the protected application to be used in the Wallarm Cloud. The value can be a positive integer except for `0`. Default value (if the variable is not passed to the container) is `-1` which indicates the default application displayed in Wallarm Console → Settings → Application. More details on setting up applications → Support for the variable `WALLARM_APPLICATION` The variable `WALLARM_APPLICATION` is supported only starting with the Docker image of version `3.4.1-1`.	No
`TARANTOOL_MEMORY_GB`	Amount of memory allocated to Tarantool. The value can be an integer or a float (a dot `.` is a decimal separator). By default: 0.2 gygabytes.	No
`DEPLOY_FORCE`	Replaces an existing Wallarm node with a new one if an existing Wallarm node name matches the identifier of the container you are running. The following values can be assigned to a variable: `true` to replace the filtering node `false` to disable the replacement of the filtering node Default value (if the variable is not passed to the container) is `false`. The Wallarm node name always matches the identifier of the container you are running. Filtering node replacement is helpful if the Docker container identifiers in your environment are static and you are trying to run another Docker container with the filtering node (for example, a container with a new version of the image). If in this case the variable value is `false`, the filtering node creation process will fail.	No
`NGINX_PORT`	Sets a port that NGINX will use inside the Docker container. This allows avoiding port collision when using this Docker container as a sidecar container within a pod of Kubernetes cluster. Default value (if the variable is not passed to the container) is `80`. Syntax is `NGINX_PORT='443'`.	No

All configuration file parameters are described in the AWS documentation.

Register the task definition based on the JSON configuration file by using the aws ecs register‑task‑definition command:
```
aws ecs register-task-definition --cli-input-json file://<PATH_TO_JSON_FILE>/<JSON_FILE_NAME>
```
- <PATH_TO_JSON_FILE>: path to the JSON file with the task definition on the local machine.
- <JSON_FILE_NAME>: name and extension of the JSON file with the task definition.
Run the task in the cluster by using the aws ecs run-task command:
```
aws ecs run-task --cluster <CLUSTER_NAME> --launch-type EC2 --task-definition <FAMILY_PARAM_VALUE>
```
- <CLUSTER_NAME>: name of the cluster created in the first step. For example, wallarm-cluster.
- <FAMILY_PARAM_VALUE>: name of the created task definition. The value should correspond to the family parameter value specified in the JSON file with the task definition. For example, wallarm-api-security-node.
Open the AWS Management Console → Elastic Container Service → cluster with the running task → Tasks and ensure the task is displayed in the list.
Test the filtering node operation.

Deploying the Wallarm node Docker container configured through the mounted file¶

To deploy the containerized Wallarm filtering node configured through environment variables and mounted file, the AWS Management Console and AWS CLI are used.

In these instructions, the configuration file is mounted from the AWS EFS file system. You can review other methods for mounting the file in the AWS documentation.

To deploy the container with environment variables and configuration file mounted from AWS EFS:

Sign in to the AWS Management Console → the Services list → Elastic Container Service.
Proceed to cluster creation by the button Create Cluster:
- Template: EC2 Linux + Networking.
- Cluster name: wallarm-cluster (as an example).
- Provisioning Model: On-Demand Instance.
- EC2 instance type: t2.micro.
- Number of instances: 1.
- EC2 AMI ID: Amazon Linux 2 Amazon ECS-optimized AMI.
- Key pair: key pair for SSH connection to the instance. You will need to connect to the instance via SSH to upload the configuration file to the storage.
- Other settings can be left as default. When changing other settings, it is recommended to follow the instructions on AWS EFS setup.
Configure the AWS EFS storage following steps 2-4 of the AWS instructions.

In the 4^th step of AWS instructions, create the configuration file default and place the file in the directory that stores the files for mounting by default. The file default should cover the filtering node configuration. An example of the file with minimal settings:

server {
    listen 80 default_server;
    listen [::]:80 default_server ipv6only=on;
    #listen 443 ssl;

    server_name localhost;

    #ssl_certificate cert.pem;
    #ssl_certificate_key cert.key;

    root /usr/share/nginx/html;

    index index.html index.htm;

    wallarm_mode monitoring;
    # wallarm_application 1;

    location / {
            proxy_pass http://example.com;
            include proxy_params;
    }
}

Set of filtering node directives that can be specified in the configuration file →

Save the sensitive data used for the filtering node and Wallarm Cloud connection setup in the AWS Secrets Manager or AWS Systems Manager → Parameter Store. Sensitive data includes the following environment variables:
- <DEPLOY_USER>: email to the Deploy or Administrator user account in Wallarm Console.
- <DEPLOY_PASSWORD>: password to the Deploy or Administrator user account in Wallarm Console.
In these instructions, sensitive data is stored in the AWS Secrets Manager.
Access to the sensitive data storage

To allow the Docker container to read the encrypted sensitive data, please ensure the AWS settings meet the following requirements:
- Sensitive data is stored in the region used to run the Docker container.
- The IAM policy SecretsManagerReadWrite is attached to the user specified in the executionRoleArn parameter of the task definition. More details on the IAM policies setup →

Create the following local JSON file with the task definition (task definition sets the Docker container operating scenario):

If you use the Wallarm EU CloudIf you use the Wallarm US Cloud

{
    "executionRoleArn": "arn:aws:iam::<AWS_ACCOUNT_ID>:role/ecsTaskExecutionRole",
    "containerDefinitions": [
        {
            "memory": 128,
            "portMappings": [
           {
               "hostPort": 80,
               "containerPort": 80,
               "protocol": "tcp"
           }
       ],
       "essential": true,
       "mountPoints": [
           {
               "containerPath": "/etc/nginx/sites-enabled",
               "sourceVolume": "default"
           }
       ],
       "secrets": [
           {
               "name": "DEPLOY_PASSWORD",
               "valueFrom": "arn:aws:secretsmanager:<SECRETS_MANAGER_AWS_REGION>:<AWS_ACCOUNT_ID>:secret:<SECRET_NAME>:<DEPLOY_PASSWORD_PARAMETER_NAME>::"
           },
           {
               "name": "DEPLOY_USER",
               "valueFrom": "arn:aws:secretsmanager:<SECRETS_MANAGER_AWS_REGION>:<AWS_ACCOUNT_ID>:secret:<SECRET_NAME>:<DEPLOY_USER_PARAMETER_NAME>::"
           }
       ],
       "name": "wallarm-container",
       "image": "registry-1.docker.io/wallarm/node:3.6.2-1"
       }
   ],
   "volumes": [
       {
           "name": "default",
           "efsVolumeConfiguration": {
               "fileSystemId": "<EFS_FILE_SYSTEM_ID>",
               "transitEncryption": "ENABLED"
           }
       }
   ],
   "family": "wallarm-api-security-node"
   }

{
    "executionRoleArn": "arn:aws:iam::<AWS_ACCOUNT_ID>:role/ecsTaskExecutionRole",
    "containerDefinitions": [
        {
            "memory": 128,
            "portMappings": [
           {
               "hostPort": 80,
               "containerPort": 80,
               "protocol": "tcp"
           }
       ],
       "essential": true,
       "mountPoints": [
           {
               "containerPath": "<PATH_FOR_MOUNTED_CONFIG>",
               "sourceVolume": "<NAME_FROM_VOLUMES_OBJECT>"
           }
       ],
       "environment": [
           {
               "name": "WALLARM_API_HOST",
               "value": "us1.api.wallarm.com"
           }
       ],
       "secrets": [
           {
               "name": "DEPLOY_PASSWORD",
               "valueFrom": "arn:aws:secretsmanager:<SECRETS_MANAGER_AWS_REGION>:<AWS_ACCOUNT_ID>:secret:<SECRET_NAME>:<DEPLOY_PASSWORD_PARAMETER_NAME>::"
           },
           {
               "name": "DEPLOY_USER",
               "valueFrom": "arn:aws:secretsmanager:<SECRETS_MANAGER_AWS_REGION>:<AWS_ACCOUNT_ID>:secret:<SECRET_NAME>:<DEPLOY_USER_PARAMETER_NAME>::"
           }
       ],
       "name": "wallarm-container",
       "image": "registry-1.docker.io/wallarm/node:3.6.2-1"
       }
   ],
   "volumes": [
       {
           "name": "<VOLUME_NAME>",
           "efsVolumeConfiguration": {
               "fileSystemId": "<EFS_FILE_SYSTEM_ID>",
               "transitEncryption": "ENABLED"
           }
       }
   ],
   "family": "wallarm-api-security-node"
   }

<AWS_ACCOUNT_ID>: your AWS account ID.
<PATH_FOR_MOUNTED_CONFIG>: directory of the container to mount the configuration file to. Configuration files can be mounted to the following container directories used by NGINX:
- /etc/nginx/conf.d — common settings
- /etc/nginx/sites-enabled — virtual host settings
- /var/www/html — static files
The filtering node directives should be described in the /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default file.
<NAME_FROM_VOLUMES_OBJECT>: name of the volumes object containing the configuration of the mounted file AWS EFS storage (the value should be the same as <VOLUME_NAME>).
<VOLUME_NAME>: name of the volumes object that contains the configuration of the mounted file AWS EFS storage.
<EFS_FILE_SYSTEM_ID>: ID of the AWS EFS file system containing the file that should be mounted to the container. ID is displayed in the AWS Management Console → Services → EFS → File systems.
The environment object sets the environment variables that should be passed to the Docker container in a text format. The set of available environment variables is described in the table below. It is recommended to pass the variables DEPLOY_USER and DEPLOY_PASSWORD in the secrets object.

The secret object sets the environment variables that should be passed to the Docker container as the links to the sensitive data storage. The format of values depends on the selected storage (see more details in the AWS Secrets Manager or AWS Systems Manager → Parameter Store documentation).

It is recommended to pass the variables DEPLOY_USER and DEPLOY_PASSWORD in the secrets object.

Environment variable	Description	Required
`DEPLOY_USER`	Email to the Deploy or Administrator user account in Wallarm Console.	Yes
`DEPLOY_PASSWORD`	Password to the Deploy or Administrator user account in Wallarm Console.	Yes
`WALLARM_API_HOST`	Wallarm API server: `us1.api.wallarm.com` for the US Cloud `api.wallarm.com` for the EU Cloud By default: `api.wallarm.com`.	No
`DEPLOY_FORCE`	Replaces an existing Wallarm node with a new one if an existing Wallarm node name matches the identifier of the container you are running. The following values can be assigned to a variable: `true` to replace the filtering node `false` to disable the replacement of the filtering node Default value (if the variable is not passed to the container) is `false`. The Wallarm node name always matches the identifier of the container you are running. Filtering node replacement is helpful if the Docker container identifiers in your environment are static and you are trying to run another Docker container with the filtering node (for example, a container with a new version of the image). If in this case the variable value is `false`, the filtering node creation process will fail.	No

All configuration file parameters are described in the AWS documentation.

Register the task definition based on the JSON configuration file by using the aws ecs register‑task‑definition command:
```
aws ecs register-task-definition --cli-input-json file://<PATH_TO_JSON_FILE>/<JSON_FILE_NAME>
```
- <PATH_TO_JSON_FILE>: path to the JSON file with the task definition on the local machine.
- <JSON_FILE_NAME>: name and extension of the JSON file with the task definition.
Run the task in the cluster by using the aws ecs run-task command:
```
aws ecs run-task --cluster <CLUSTER_NAME> --launch-type EC2 --task-definition <FAMILY_PARAM_VALUE>
```
- <CLUSTER_NAME>: name of the cluster created in the first step. For example, wallarm-cluster.
- <FAMILY_PARAM_VALUE>: name of the created task definition. The value should correspond to the family parameter value specified in the JSON file with the task definition. For example, wallarm-api-security-node.
Open the AWS Management Console → Elastic Container Service → cluster with the running task → Tasks and ensure the task is displayed in the list.
Test the filtering node operation.

Testing the filtering node operation¶

In the AWS Management Console, open the running task and copy the container IP address from the field External Link.

If the IP address is empty, please ensure the container is in the RUNNING status.

Send the request with test SQLI and XSS attacks to the copied address:

curl http://<COPIED_IP>/?id='or+1=1--a-<script>prompt(1)</script>'

Open the Wallarm Console → Events section in the EU Cloud or US Cloud and ensure attacks are displayed in the list.

Details on errors that occurred during the container deployment are displayed in the task details in the AWS Management Console. If the container is unavailable, please ensure required filtering node parameters with correct values are passed to the container.