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Installing dynamic Wallarm module for distribution-provided NGINX

These instructions describe the steps to install Wallarm filtering node as a dynamic module for the open source version of NGINX installed from the Debian/CentOS repositories.

NGINX Open Source can be obtained from nginx.org or the default repositories of Debian/CentOS depending on your requirements, NGINX version preferences, and repository management policies. Wallarm provides packages for both nginx.org and distribution‑provided versions. This guide focuses on NGINX from Debian/CentOS repositories.

If you deploy several Wallarm nodes

All Wallarm nodes deployed to your environment must be of the same versions. The postanalytics modules installed on separated servers must be of the same versions too.

Before installation of the additional node, please ensure its version matches the version of already deployed modules. If the deployed module version is deprecated or will be deprecated soon (4.0 or lower), upgrade all modules to the latest version.

To check the version of the filtering node and the postanalytics module deployed on the same server:

apt list wallarm-node
yum list wallarm-node
yum list wallarm-node

To check the version of the filtering node and the postanalytics module deployed on different servers:

# run from the server with installed Wallarm filtering node
apt list wallarm-node-nginx
# run from the server with installed postanalytics
apt list wallarm-node-tarantool
# run from the server with installed Wallarm filtering node
yum list wallarm-node-nginx
# run from the server with installed postanalytics
yum list wallarm-node-tarantool
# run from the server with installed Wallarm filtering node
yum list wallarm-node-nginx
# run from the server with installed postanalytics
yum list wallarm-node-tarantool

Requirements

  • Access to the account with the Administrator or Deploy role and two‑factor authentication disabled in Wallarm Console for the US Cloud or EU Cloud

  • SELinux disabled or configured upon the instructions

  • Executing all commands as a superuser (e.g. root)

  • For the request processing and postanalytics on different servers: postanalytics installed on the separate server upon the instructions

  • Access to https://repo.wallarm.com to download packages. Ensure the access is not blocked by a firewall

  • Access to https://us1.api.wallarm.com:444 for working with US Wallarm Cloud or to https://api.wallarm.com:444 for working with EU Wallarm Cloud. If access can be configured only via the proxy server, then use the instructions

  • Access to the IP addresses of Google Cloud Storage listed within the link. When you allowlist, denylist, or graylist entire countries, regions, or data centers instead of individual IP addresses, the Wallarm node retrieves precise IP addresses related to the entries in the IP lists from the aggregated database hosted on Google Storage

  • Installed text editor vim, nano, or any other. In the instruction, vim is used

Installation options

The processing of requests in the Wallarm node is divided into two stages:

  • Primary processing in the NGINX-Wallarm module. The processing is not memory demanding and can be put on frontend servers without changing the server requirements.

  • Statistical analysis of the processed requests in the postanalytics module. Postanalytics is memory demanding, which may require changes in the server configuration or installation of postanalytics on a separate server.

Depending on the system architecture, the NGINX-Wallarm and postanalytics modules can be installed on the same server or on different servers.

Installation commands for both options are described in the further instructions.

Installation

1. Add Debian/CentOS repositories

sudo apt install dirmngr
curl -fsSL https://repo.wallarm.com/wallarm.gpg | sudo apt-key add -
sh -c "echo 'deb https://repo.wallarm.com/debian/wallarm-node stretch/3.6/' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/wallarm.list"
sudo apt update
sudo apt install dirmngr
curl -fsSL https://repo.wallarm.com/wallarm.gpg | sudo apt-key add -
sh -c "echo 'deb https://repo.wallarm.com/debian/wallarm-node stretch/3.6/' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/wallarm.list"
sh -c "echo 'deb https://repo.wallarm.com/debian/wallarm-node stretch-backports/3.6/' | sudo tee --append /etc/apt/sources.list.d/wallarm.list"
# for correct Wallarm node operation, uncomment the following line in /etc/apt/sources.list`:
# deb http://deb.debian.org/debian stretch-backports main contrib non-free
sudo apt update
sudo apt install dirmngr
curl -fsSL https://repo.wallarm.com/wallarm.gpg | sudo apt-key add -
sh -c "echo 'deb https://repo.wallarm.com/debian/wallarm-node buster/3.6/' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/wallarm.list"
sudo apt update
sudo apt install dirmngr
curl -fsSL https://repo.wallarm.com/wallarm.gpg | sudo apt-key add -
sh -c "echo 'deb https://repo.wallarm.com/debian/wallarm-node bullseye/3.6/' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/wallarm.list"
sudo apt update
sudo yum install -y epel-release
sudo rpm -i https://repo.wallarm.com/centos/wallarm-node/6/3.6/x86_64/Packages/wallarm-node-repo-1-6.el6.noarch.rpm
sudo yum install -y epel-release
sudo rpm -i https://repo.wallarm.com/centos/wallarm-node/7/3.6/x86_64/Packages/wallarm-node-repo-1-6.el7.noarch.rpm
sudo yum install -y epel-release
sudo rpm -i https://repo.wallarm.com/centos/wallarm-node/8/3.6/x86_64/Packages/wallarm-node-repo-1-6.el8.noarch.rpm

2. Install NGINX with Wallarm packages

Request processing and postanalytics on the same server

The command installs the following packages:

  • nginx for NGINX

  • libnginx-mod-http-wallarm or nginx-mod-http-wallarm for the NGINX-Wallarm module

  • wallarm-node for the postanalytics module, Tarantool database, and additional NGINX-Wallarm packages

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends nginx wallarm-node libnginx-mod-http-wallarm
sudo apt install --no-install-recommends nginx wallarm-node libnginx-mod-http-wallarm -t stretch-backports
sudo apt install --no-install-recommends nginx wallarm-node libnginx-mod-http-wallarm
sudo apt install --no-install-recommends nginx wallarm-node libnginx-mod-http-wallarm
sudo yum install nginx wallarm-node nginx-mod-http-wallarm
sudo yum install nginx wallarm-node nginx-mod-http-wallarm
sudo yum install nginx wallarm-node nginx-mod-http-wallarm

Request processing and postanalytics on different servers

To run postanalytics and process the requests on different servers, the following packages are required:

  • wallarm-node-tarantool on the separate server for the postanalytics module and Tarantool database (installation steps are described in the instructions)

  • wallarm-node-nginx and libnginx-mod-http-wallarm/nginx-mod-http-wallarm for the NGINX-Wallarm module

The commands install packages for NGINX and for the NGINX-Wallarm module:

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends nginx wallarm-node-nginx libnginx-mod-http-wallarm
sudo apt install --no-install-recommends nginx wallarm-node-nginx libnginx-mod-http-wallarm -t stretch-backports
sudo apt install --no-install-recommends nginx wallarm-node-nginx libnginx-mod-http-wallarm
sudo apt install --no-install-recommends nginx wallarm-node-nginx libnginx-mod-http-wallarm
sudo yum install nginx wallarm-node-nginx nginx-mod-http-wallarm
sudo yum install nginx wallarm-node-nginx nginx-mod-http-wallarm
sudo yum install nginx wallarm-node-nginx nginx-mod-http-wallarm

3. Connect the Wallarm module

Copy the configuration files for the system setup:

sudo cp /usr/share/doc/libnginx-mod-http-wallarm/examples/*conf /etc/nginx/conf.d/
sudo cp /usr/share/doc/nginx-mod-http-wallarm/examples/*conf /etc/nginx/conf.d/
sudo cp /usr/share/doc/nginx-mod-http-wallarm/examples/*conf /etc/nginx/conf.d/

4. Connect the filtering node to Wallarm Cloud

The Wallarm node interacts with the Wallarm Cloud. To connect the filtering node to the Cloud, proceed with the following steps:

  1. Make sure that your Wallarm account has the Administrator or Deploy role enabled and two-factor authentication disabled in Wallarm Console.

    You can check mentioned settings by navigating to the users list in the US Cloud or EU Cloud.

    User list in Wallarm console

  2. Run the addnode script in a system with the installed Wallarm node:

    sudo /usr/share/wallarm-common/addnode -H us1.api.wallarm.com
    
    sudo /usr/share/wallarm-common/addnode
    
  3. Input the email and password for your account in Wallarm Console.

  4. Input the filtering node name or click Enter to use an automatically generated name.

    The specified name can be changed in Wallarm Console → Nodes later.

  5. Open the Wallarm Console → Nodes section in the US Cloud or EU Cloud and ensure a new filtering node is added to the list.

5. Update Wallarm node configuration

Main configuration files of NGINX and Wallarm filtering node are located in the directories:

  • /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf with NGINX settings

  • /etc/nginx/conf.d/wallarm.conf with global filtering node settings

    The file is used for settings applied to all domains. To apply different settings to different domain groups, use the file default.conf or create new configuration files for each domain group (for example, example.com.conf and test.com.conf). More detailed information about NGINX configuration files is available in the official NGINX documentation.

  • /etc/nginx/conf.d/wallarm-status.conf with Wallarm node monitoring settings. Detailed description is available within the link

  • /etc/default/wallarm-tarantool or /etc/sysconfig/wallarm-tarantool with the Tarantool database settings

Request filtration mode

By default, the filtering node is in the status off and does not analyze incoming requests. To enable requests analysis, please follow the steps:

  1. Open the file /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf:

    sudo vim /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf
    
  2. Add the line wallarm_mode monitoring; to the https, server or location block:

Example of the file /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf
server {
    # port for which requests are filtered
    listen       80;
    # domain for which requests are filtered
    server_name  localhost;
    # Filtering node mode
    wallarm_mode monitoring;

    location / {
        root   /usr/share/nginx/html;
        index  index.html index.htm;
    }

    error_page   500 502 503 504  /50x.html;
    location = /50x.html {
        root   /usr/share/nginx/html;
    }
}

When operating in the monitoring mode, the filtering node searches attack signs in requests but does not block detected attacks. We recommend keeping the traffic flowing via the filtering node in the monitoring mode for several days after the filtering node deployment and only then enable the block mode. Learn recommendations on the filtering node operation mode setup →

Memory

Postanalytics module on the separate server

If you installed the postanalytics module on a separate server, then skip this step as you already have the module configured.

The Wallarm node uses the in-memory storage Tarantool. To allocate memory for Tarantool:

  1. Open the Tarantool configuration file in the editing mode:

    sudo vim /etc/default/wallarm-tarantool
    
    sudo vim /etc/sysconfig/wallarm-tarantool
    
    sudo vim /etc/sysconfig/wallarm-tarantool
    
  2. Specify memory size in GB in the SLAB_ALLOC_ARENA directive. The value can be an integer or a float (a dot . is a decimal separator).

    Learn more about amount of required resources here. Note that for testing environments you can allocate lower resources than for the production ones.

  3. To apply changes, restart Tarantool:

    sudo systemctl restart wallarm-tarantool
    

Address of the separate postanalytics server

NGINX-Wallarm and postanalytics on the same server

If the NGINX-Wallarm and postanalytics modules are installed on the same server, then skip this step.

Add postanalytics server addresses to the file /etc/nginx/conf.d/wallarm.conf:

upstream wallarm_tarantool {
    server <ip1>:3313 max_fails=0 fail_timeout=0 max_conns=1;
    server <ip2>:3313 max_fails=0 fail_timeout=0 max_conns=1;

    keepalive 2;
    }

    # omitted

wallarm_tarantool_upstream wallarm_tarantool;
  • max_conns value must be specified for each of the upstream Tarantool servers to prevent the creation of excessive connections.

  • keepalive value must not be lower than the number of the Tarantool servers.

  • The # wallarm_tarantool_upstream wallarm_tarantool; string is commented by default - please delete #.

Other configurations

To update other NGINX and Wallarm node configurations, use the NGINX documentation and the list of available Wallarm node directives.

6. Restart NGINX

Providing user with root permission

If you are running NGINX as a user that does not have root permission, then add this user to the wallarm group using the following command:

usermod -aG wallarm <user_name>;

where <user_name> is the name of the user without root permission.

sudo systemctl restart nginx
sudo systemctl restart nginx
sudo systemctl restart nginx

7. Test Wallarm node operation

  1. Send the request with test SQLI and XSS attacks to the protected resource address:

    curl http://localhost/?id='or+1=1--a-<script>prompt(1)</script>'
    
  2. Open the Wallarm Console → Attacks section in the US Cloud or EU Cloud and ensure attacks are displayed in the list.
    Attacks in the interface

Settings customization

The dynamic Wallarm module with default settings is installed for NGINX from the Debian/CentOS repositories. To customize Wallarm node settings, use the available directives.

Common customization options: