Running Docker NGINX‑based image¶

The Wallarm NGINX-based filtering node can be deployed as a Docker container. The Docker container is fat and contains all subsystems of the filtering node.

The functionality of the filtering node installed inside the Docker container is completely identical to the functionality of the other deployment options.

Requirements¶

• Access to the account with the Administrator role in Wallarm Console in the US Cloud or EU Cloud

• Access to https://us1.api.wallarm.com if working with US Wallarm Cloud or to https://api.wallarm.com if working with EU Wallarm Cloud. Please ensure the access is not blocked by a firewall

Options for running the container¶

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.

Run the container passing the environment variables¶

To run the container:

1. Open Wallarm Console → Nodes in the US Cloud or EU Cloud and create the node of the Wallarm node type.

   

2. Copy the generated token.

3. Run the container with the created node:

   US CloudEU Cloud

   docker run -d -e WALLARM_API_TOKEN='XXXXXXX' -e NGINX_BACKEND='example.com' -e WALLARM_API_HOST='us1.api.wallarm.com' -p 80:80 wallarm/node:4.4.5-1
   

   docker run -d -e WALLARM_API_TOKEN='XXXXXXX' -e NGINX_BACKEND='example.com' -p 80:80 wallarm/node:4.4.5-1
   

You can pass the following basic filtering node settings to the container via the option -e:

The command does the following:

• Creates the file default with minimal NGINX configuration and passes filtering node configuration in the /etc/nginx/sites-enabled container directory.

• Creates files with filtering node credentials to access the Wallarm Cloud in the /etc/wallarm container directory:

  • node.yaml with filtering node UUID and secret key
  • private.key with Wallarm private key

• Protects the resource http://NGINX_BACKEND:80.

Run the container mounting the configuration file¶

You can mount the prepared configuration file to the Docker container via the -v option. The file must contain the following settings:

• Filtering node directives

• NGINX settings

To run the container:

1. Open Wallarm Console → Nodes in the US Cloud or EU Cloud and create the node of the Wallarm node type.

   

2. Copy the generated token.

3. Run the container with the created node:

   US CloudEU Cloud

   docker run -d -e WALLARM_API_TOKEN='XXXXXXX' -e WALLARM_API_HOST='us1.api.wallarm.com' -v /configs/default:/etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default -p 80:80 wallarm/node:4.4.5-1
   

   docker run -d -e WALLARM_API_TOKEN='XXXXXXX' -v /configs/default:/etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default -p 80:80 wallarm/node:4.4.5-1
   

   • The -e option passes the following required environment variables to the container:

     Environment variable	Description	Required
     WALLARM_API_TOKEN	Wallarm node token. Using one token for several installations You can use one token in several installations regardless of the selected platform. It allows logical grouping of node instances in the Wallarm Console UI. Example: you deploy several Wallarm nodes to a development environment, each node is on its own machine owned by a certain developer.	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

   • The -v option mounts the directory with the configuration file default to the /etc/nginx/sites-enabled container directory.

     See an example of the mounted 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;
         }
     }
     

     Mounting other configuration files

     The container directories used by NGINX:

     • /etc/nginx/conf.d — common settings
     • /etc/nginx/sites-enabled — virtual host settings
     • /var/www/html — static files

     If required, you can mount any files to the listed container directories. The filtering node directives should be described in the /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default file.

The command does the following:

• Mounts the file default into the /etc/nginx/sites-enabled container directory.

• Creates files with filtering node credentials to access Wallarm Cloud in the /etc/wallarm container directory:

  • node.yaml with filtering node UUID and secret key
  • private.key with Wallarm private key

• Protects the resource http://example.com.

Logging configuration¶

The logging is enabled by default. The log directories are:

• /var/log/nginx — NGINX logs

• /var/log/wallarm — Wallarm node logs

To configure extended logging of the filtering node variables, please use these instructions.

By default, the logs rotate once every 24 hours. To set up the log rotation, change the configuration files in /etc/logrotate.d/. Changing the rotation parameters through environment variables is not possible.

Monitoring configuration¶

To monitor the filtering node, there are Nagios‑compatible scripts inside the container. See details in Monitoring the filtering node.

Example of running the scripts:

docker exec -it <WALLARM_NODE_CONTAINER_ID> /usr/lib/nagios/plugins/check_wallarm_tarantool_timeframe -w 1800 -c 900

docker exec -it <WALLARM_NODE_CONTAINER_ID> /usr/lib/nagios/plugins/check_wallarm_export_delay -w 120 -c 300

• <WALLARM_NODE_CONTAINER_ID> is the ID of the running Wallarm Docker container. To get the ID, run docker ps and copy the proper ID.

Testing Wallarm node operation¶

1. Send the request with test Path Traversal attack to a protected resource address:

   curl http://localhost/etc/passwd
   

2. Open Wallarm Console → Events section in the US Cloud or EU Cloud and make sure the attack is displayed in the list.
   

   

Configuring the use cases¶

The configuration file mounted to the Docker container should describe the filtering node configuration in the available directive. Below are some commonly used filtering node configuration options:

• Configuration of the filtration mode

• Logging Wallarm node variables

• Limiting the single request processing time in the directive wallarm_process_time_limit

• Limiting the server reply waiting time in the NGINX directive proxy_read_timeout

• Limiting the maximum request size in the NGINX directive client_max_body_size