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¶
-
Active GCP account
-
Compute Engine API enabled
-
Access to the account with the Administrator role and two‑factor authentication disabled in Wallarm Console for the US Cloud or EU Cloud
-
Access to the IP addresses below for downloading updates to attack detection rules and API specifications, as well as retrieving precise IPs for your allowlisted, denylisted, or graylisted countries, regions, or data centers
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.
-
Get Wallarm token of the appropriate type:
-
Set the local environment variable with the Wallarm node token to be used to connect the instance to the Wallarm Cloud:
-
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:5.0.3-1
<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 taghttp-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 ofWALLARM_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 theDeploy
role. Sets thegroup
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 Cloudapi.wallarm.com
for the EU Cloud
api.wallarm.com
.No WALLARM_MODE
Node mode: block
to block malicious requestssafe_blocking
to block only those malicious requests originated from graylisted IP addressesmonitoring
to analyze but not block requestsoff
to disable traffic analyzing and processing
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 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: 1 gygabytes.No NGINX_PORT
Sets a port that NGINX will use inside the Docker container.
Starting from the Docker image4.0.2-1
, thewallarm-status
service automatically runs on the same port as NGINX.
Default value (if the variable is not passed to the container) is80
.
Syntax isNGINX_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 istrue
, enabling the functionality.No -
All parameters of the
gcloud compute instances create-with-container
command are described in the GCP documentation.
-
Open the GCP Console → Compute Engine → VM instances and ensure the instance is displayed in the list.
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.
-
Get Wallarm token of the appropriate type:
-
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 taghttp-server
opening port 80 is assigned to the instance.- All parameters of the
gcloud compute instances create
command are described in the GCP documentation.
-
Open the GCP Console → Compute Engine → VM instances and ensure the instance is displayed in the list and is in the RUNNING status.
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Connect to the instance via SSH following the GCP instructions.
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Install the Docker packages in the instance following the instrauctions for an appropriate operating system.
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Set the local environment variable with the Wallarm node token to be used to connect the instance to the Wallarm Cloud:
-
In the instance, create the directory with the file
default
containing the filtering node configuration (for example, the directory can be named asconfigs
). 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 →
-
Run the Wallarm node Docker container by using the
docker run
command with passed environment variables and mounted configuration file:<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/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. -
-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 ofWALLARM_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 Cloudapi.wallarm.com
for the EU Cloud
api.wallarm.com
.No WALLARM_LABELS
Available starting from node 4.6. Works only if
WALLARM_API_TOKEN
is set to API token with theDeploy
role. Sets thegroup
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)
Testing the filtering node operation¶
-
Open the GCP Console → Compute Engine → VM instances and copy the instance IP address from the External IP column.
If the IP address is empty, please ensure the instance is in the RUNNING status.
-
Send the request with the test Path Traversal attack to the copied address:
-
Open Wallarm Console → Attacks in the US Cloud or EU Cloud and make sure the attack is displayed in the list.
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.