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Deployment of the Wallarm Docker Image to GCP

This quick guide provides the steps to deploy the Docker image of the NGINX-based Wallarm node to the Google Cloud Platform using the component Google Compute Engine (GCE).

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 read the appropriate GCP documentation.

Use cases

Among all supported Wallarm deployment options, Wallarm deployment on Google Compute Engine (GCE) using the Docker image is recommended in these use cases:

  • If your applications leverage a microservices architecture, and are already containerized and operational on GCE.

  • If you require fine-grained control over each container, the Docker image excels. It affords a greater level of resource isolation than typically possible with traditional VM-based deployments.

Requirements

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, you can use the GCP Console or gcloud CLI. In these instructions, gcloud CLI is used.

  1. Get Wallarm token of the appropriate type:

    1. Open Wallarm Console → Settings → API tokens in the US Cloud or EU Cloud.
    2. Find or create API token with the Node deployment/Deployment usage type.
    3. Copy this token.
    1. Open Wallarm Console → Nodes in the US Cloud or EU Cloud.
    2. Do one of the following:
      • Create the node of the Wallarm node type and copy the generated token.
      • Use existing node group - copy token using node's menu → Copy token.

  2. Set the local environment variable with the Wallarm node token to be used to connect the instance to the Wallarm Cloud:

    export WALLARM_API_TOKEN='<WALLARM_API_TOKEN>'

  3. Create the instance with the running Docker container by using the gcloud compute instances create-with-container command:

    gcloud compute instances create-with-container <INSTANCE_NAME> \
    --zone <DEPLOYMENT_ZONE> \
    --tags http-server \
    --container-env WALLARM_API_TOKEN=${WALLARM_API_TOKEN} \
    --container-env NGINX_BACKEND=<HOST_TO_PROTECT_WITH_WALLARM> \
    --container-env WALLARM_API_HOST=us1.api.wallarm.com \
    --container-image registry-1.docker.io/wallarm/node:6.1.0

    gcloud compute instances create-with-container <INSTANCE_NAME> \
    --zone <DEPLOYMENT_ZONE> \
    --tags http-server \
    --container-env WALLARM_API_TOKEN=${WALLARM_API_TOKEN} \
    --container-env NGINX_BACKEND=<HOST_TO_PROTECT_WITH_WALLARM> \
    --container-image registry-1.docker.io/wallarm/node:6.1.0
    • <INSTANCE_NAME>: name of the instance, for example: wallarm-node.
    • --zone: zone that will host the instance.
    • --tags: instance tags. Tags are used to configure the availability of the instance for other resources. In the present case, the tag http-server opening port 80 is assigned to the instance.
    • --container-image: link to the Docker image of the filtering node.

    • --container-env: environment variables with the filtering node configuration (available variables are listed in the table below). Please note that it is not recommended to pass the value of WALLARM_API_TOKEN explicitly.

      Environment variable Description Required
      WALLARM_API_TOKEN Wallarm node or API token. Yes
      WALLARM_LABELS

      Available starting from node 4.6. Works only if WALLARM_API_TOKEN is set to API token with the Deploy role. Sets the group label for node instance grouping, for example:

      WALLARM_LABELS="group=<GROUP>"

      ...will place node instance into the <GROUP> instance group (existing, or, if does not exist, it will be created).

      		 Yes (for API tokens)
      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 →      		 No
      SLAB_ALLOC_ARENA (TARANTOOL_MEMORY_GB NGINX Node 5.x and earlier) Amount of memory allocated to wstore. The value can be a float (a dot . is a decimal separator). By default: 1.0 (1 gygabyte). No
      NGINX_PORT Sets a port that NGINX will use inside the Docker container.

      Starting from the Docker image 4.0.2-1, the wallarm-status service automatically runs on the same port as NGINX.

      Default value (if the variable is not passed to the container) is 80.

      Syntax is NGINX_PORT='443'.      		 No
      WALLARM_STATUS_ALLOW Custom CIDRs that are allowed to access the /wallarm-status endpoint from outside the Docker container. Example value: 10.0.0.0/8. If you need to pass several values, use a comma , as a separator. To access the service externally, use the Docker container's IP, specifying the /wallarm-status endpoint path. No
      DISABLE_IPV6 The variable with any value except for an empty one deletes the listen [::]:80 default_server ipv6only=on; line from the NGINX configuration file which will stop NGINX from IPv6 connection processing.

      If the variable is not specified explicitly or has an empty value "", NGINX processes both IPv6 and IPv4 connections.      		 No
      WALLARM_APIFW_ENABLE This setting toggles API Specification Enforcement on or off, available from release 4.10 onwards. Please note that activating this feature does not substitute for the required subscription and configuration through the Wallarm Console UI.

      Its default value is true, enabling the functionality.      		 No
      WALLARM_APID_ONLY (5.3.7 and higher) In this mode, attacks detected in your traffic are blocked locally by the node (if enabled) but not exported to Wallarm Cloud. Meanwhile, API Discovery and some other features remain fully functional, detecting your API inventory and uploading it to the Cloud for visualization. This mode is for those who want to review their API inventory and identify sensitive data first, and plan controlled attack data export accordingly. However, disabling attack export is rare, as Wallarm securely processes attack data and provides sensitive attack data masking if needed. More details
      By default: false.      		 No

    • All parameters of the gcloud compute instances create-with-container command are described in the GCP documentation.

  4. Open the GCP Console → Compute Engine → VM instances and ensure the instance is displayed in the list.

  5. 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, you should create the instance, locate the filtering node configuration file in this instance file system and run the Docker container in this instance. You can perform these steps via the GCP Console or gcloud CLI. In these instructions, gcloud CLI is used.

  1. Get Wallarm token of the appropriate type:

    1. Open Wallarm Console → Settings → API tokens in the US Cloud or EU Cloud.
    2. Find or create API token with the Node deployment/Deployment usage type.
    3. Copy this token.
    1. Open Wallarm Console → Nodes in the US Cloud or EU Cloud.
    2. Do one of the following:
      • Create the node of the Wallarm node type and copy the generated token.
      • Use existing node group - copy token using node's menu → Copy token.

  2. Create the instance based on any operating system image from the Compute Engine registry by using the gcloud compute instances create comand:

    gcloud compute instances create <INSTANCE_NAME> \
    --image <PUBLIC_IMAGE_NAME> \
    --zone <DEPLOYMENT_ZONE> \
    --tags http-server
    • <INSTANCE_NAME>: name of the instance.
    • --image: name of the operating system image from the Compute Engine registry. The created instance will be based on this image and will be used to run the Docker container later. If this parameter is omitted, the instance will be based on the Debian 10 image.
    • --zone: zone that will host the instance.
    • --tags: instance tags. Tags are used to configure the availability of the instance for other resources. In the present case, the tag http-server opening port 80 is assigned to the instance.
    • All parameters of the gcloud compute instances create command are described in the GCP documentation.

  3. Open the GCP Console → Compute Engine → VM instances and ensure the instance is displayed in the list and is in the RUNNING status.

  4. Connect to the instance via SSH following the GCP instructions.

  5. Install the Docker packages in the instance following the instrauctions for an appropriate operating system.

  6. Set the local environment variable with the Wallarm node token to be used to connect the instance to the Wallarm Cloud:

    export WALLARM_API_TOKEN='<WALLARM_API_TOKEN>'

  7. In the instance, create the directory with the file default containing the filtering node configuration (for example, the directory can be named as configs). 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 →

  8. Run the Wallarm node Docker container by using the docker run command with passed environment variables and mounted configuration file:

    docker run -d -e WALLARM_API_TOKEN=${WALLARM_API_TOKEN} -e WALLARM_LABELS='group=<GROUP>' -e WALLARM_API_HOST='us1.api.wallarm.com' -v <INSTANCE_PATH_TO_CONFIG>:<DIRECTORY_FOR_MOUNTING> -p 80:80 wallarm/node:6.1.0

    docker run -d -e WALLARM_API_TOKEN=${WALLARM_API_TOKEN} -e WALLARM_LABELS='group=<GROUP>' -v <INSTANCE_PATH_TO_CONFIG>:<CONTAINER_PATH_FOR_MOUNTING> -p 80:80 wallarm/node:6.1.0
    • <INSTANCE_PATH_TO_CONFIG>: path to the configuration file created in the previous step. For example, configs.

    • <DIRECTORY_FOR_MOUNTING>: 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/http.d — virtual host settings
      • /var/www/html — static files

      The filtering node directives should be described in the /etc/nginx/http.d/default.conf file.

    • -p: port the filtering node listens to. The value should be the same as the instance port.

    • -e: environment variables with the filtering node configuration (available variables are listed in the table below). Please note that it is not recommended to pass the value of WALLARM_API_TOKEN explicitly.

      Environment variable Description Required
      WALLARM_API_TOKEN Wallarm node or API token. 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_LABELS

      Available starting from node 4.6. Works only if WALLARM_API_TOKEN is set to API token with the Deploy role. Sets the group label for node instance grouping, for example:

      WALLARM_LABELS="group=<GROUP>"

      ...will place node instance into the <GROUP> instance group (existing, or, if does not exist, it will be created).

      		 Yes (for API tokens)
      SLAB_ALLOC_ARENA (TARANTOOL_MEMORY_GB NGINX Node 5.x and earlier) Amount of memory allocated to wstore. The value can be a float (a dot . is a decimal separator). By default: 1.0 (1 gygabyte). No
      WALLARM_APID_ONLY (5.3.7 and higher) In this mode, attacks detected in your traffic are blocked locally by the node (if enabled) but not exported to Wallarm Cloud. Meanwhile, API Discovery and some other features remain fully functional, detecting your API inventory and uploading it to the Cloud for visualization. This mode is for those who want to review their API inventory and identify sensitive data first, and plan controlled attack data export accordingly. However, disabling attack export is rare, as Wallarm securely processes attack data and provides sensitive attack data masking if needed. More details
      By default: false.      		 No

  9. Test the filtering node operation.

Testing the filtering node operation

  1. Open the GCP Console → Compute Engine → VM instances and copy the instance IP address from the External IP column.

    Settig up container instance

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

  2. Send the request with the test Path Traversal attack to the copied address:

    curl http://<COPIED_IP>/etc/passwd

  3. Open Wallarm Console → Attacks in the US Cloud or EU Cloud and make sure the attack is displayed in the list.
    Attacks in UI

  4. Optionally, [test][link-docs-check-operation] other aspects of the node functioning.

Details on errors that occurred during the container deployment are displayed in the View logs instance menu. If the instance is unavailable, please ensure required filtering node parameters with correct values are passed to the container.