Installing dynamic Wallarm module for NGINX from Debian/CentOS repositories¶

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.

apt list wallarm-node

yum list wallarm-node

yum list wallarm-node

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

• Access to GCP storage addresses to download an actual list of IP addresses registered in allowlisted, denylisted, or graylisted countries, regions or data centers

• 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 http://repo.wallarm.com/debian/wallarm-node buster/4.4/' | 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 http://repo.wallarm.com/debian/wallarm-node bullseye/4.4/' | 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/7/4.4/x86_64/wallarm-node-repo-4.4-0.el7.noarch.rpm

sudo yum install -y epel-release
sudo rpm -i https://repo.wallarm.com/centos/wallarm-node/8/4.4/x86_64/wallarm-node-repo-4.4-0.el8.noarch.rpm

2. Install NGINX with Wallarm API Security 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

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

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 API Security 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¶

If the postanalytics module is installed on a separate server

If the initial traffic processing and postanalytics modules are installed on separate servers, it is recommended to connect these modules to the Wallarm Cloud using the same node token. The Wallarm Console UI will display each module as a separate node instance, e.g.:

The Wallarm node has already been created during the separate postanalytics module installation. To connect the initial traffic processing module to the Cloud using the same node credentials:

1. Copy the node token generated during the separate postanalytics module installation.
2. Proceed to the 4^th step in the list below.

The Wallarm node interacts with the Wallarm Cloud. To connect the filtering node to the Cloud:

1. Make sure that your Wallarm account has the Administrator role enabled in Wallarm Console.

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

   

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

   

3. Copy the generated token.

4. Run the register-node script in a system with the filtering node:

   US CloudEU Cloud

   sudo /usr/share/wallarm-common/register-node -t <NODE_TOKEN> -H us1.api.wallarm.com
   

   sudo /usr/share/wallarm-common/register-node -t <NODE_TOKEN>
   

   • <NODE_TOKEN> is the copied token value.
   • You may add -n <HOST_NAME> parameter to set a custom name for your node instance. Final instance name will be: HOST_NAME_NodeUUID.

   If the postanalytics module is installed on a separate server

   If the postanalytics module is installed on a separate server, it is recommended to use the node token generated during the separate postanalytics module installation.

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:

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¶

The Wallarm node uses the in-memory storage Tarantool. The recommended memory size for Tarantool is 75% of the total server memory. To allocate memory for Tarantool:

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

   DebianCentOSAlmaLinux, Rocky Linux or Oracle Linux 8.x

   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).

   For production environments, the recommended amount of RAM allocated for the postanalytics module is 75% of the total server memory. If testing the Wallarm node or having a small instance size, the lower amount can be enough (e.g. 25% of the total memory).

   For example:

   If testing the nodeIf deploying the node to the production environment

   SLAB_ALLOC_ARENA=0.5
   

   SLAB_ALLOC_ARENA=24
   

   Detailed recommendations about allocating memory for Tarantool are described in these instructions.

3. To apply changes, restart Tarantool:

   sudo systemctl restart wallarm-tarantool
   

Address of the separate postanalytics server¶

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¶

usermod -aG wallarm <user_name>;

sudo systemctl restart nginx

sudo systemctl restart nginx

sudo systemctl restart nginx

7. Test 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.
   

   

Settings customization¶

Dynamic Wallarm API Security 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:

• Configuration of the filtration mode

• Logging Wallarm node variables

• Using the balancer of the proxy server behind the filtering node

• 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

• Configuring dynamic DNS resolution in NGINX