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Manual Chapter : Configuring High-Speed Remote Logging of Protocol Security Events

Applies To:

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BIG-IP AFM

  • 15.1.9, 15.1.8
Manual Chapter

Configuring High-Speed Remote Logging of Protocol Security Events

Overview: Logging remote protocol security events

You can configure the BIG-IP system to log information about Protocol Security events and send the log messages to remote high-speed log servers.
The Advanced Firewall Manager™ (AFM™) must be licensed and provisioned before you can configure Protocol Security event logging.
This illustration shows the association of the configuration objects for remote high-speed logging.
Association of remote high-speed logging configuration objects
Associations between remote high-speed logging configuration objects

Task summary

Perform these tasks to configure Protocol Security event logging on the BIG-IP system.
Enabling remote high-speed logging impacts BIG-IP system performance.

About the configuration objects of remote protocol security event logging

When configuring remote high-speed logging of Protocol Security events, it is helpful to understand the objects you need to create and why, as described here:
Object
Reason
Applies to
Pool of remote log servers
Create a pool of remote log servers to which the BIG-IP system can send log messages.
Creating a pool of remote logging servers.
Destination (unformatted)
Create a log destination of Remote High-Speed Log type that specifies a pool of remote log servers.
Creating a remote high-speed log destination.
Destination (formatted)
If your remote log servers are the ArcSight, Splunk, IPFIX, or Remote Syslog type, create an additional log destination to format the logs in the required format and forward the logs to a remote high-speed log destination.
Creating a formatted remote high-speed log destination.
Publisher
Create a log publisher to send logs to a set of specified log destinations.
Creating a publisher.
DNS Logging profile
Create a custom DNS Logging profile to define the data you want the BIG-IP system to include in the DNS logs and associate a log publisher with the profile.
Creating a custom Protocol Security logging profile.
Protected object (virtual server)
Associate a custom DNS profile with a protected object to define how the BIG-IP system logs the DNS traffic that the protected object processes.
Configuring a protected object for Protocol Security event logging.

Create a pool of remote logging servers

Before creating a pool of log servers, gather the IP addresses of the servers that you want to include in the pool. Ensure that the remote log servers are configured to listen to and receive log messages from the BIG-IP system.
Create a pool of remote log servers to which the BIG-IP system can send log messages.
  1. At the top of the screen, click
    Configuration
    .
  2. On the Main tab, click
    Local Traffic
    Pools
    .
    The Pool List screen opens.
  3. Click
    Create
    .
    The New Pool screen opens.
  4. In the
    Name
     field, type a unique name for the pool.
  5. Using the
    New Members
     setting, add the IP address for each remote logging server that you want to include in the pool:
    1. Type an IP address in the
      Address
       field, or select a node address from the
      Node List
      .
    2. Type a service number in the
      Service Port
       field, or select a service name from the list.
      Typical remote logging servers require port
      514
      .
    3. Click
      Add
      .
  6. Click
    Finished
    .

Create a remote high-speed log destination

Before creating a remote high-speed log destination, ensure that at least one pool of remote log servers exists on the BIG-IP system.
Create a log destination of the
Remote High-Speed Log
 type to specify that log messages are sent to a pool of remote log servers.
  1. On the Main tab, click
    System
    Logs
    Configuration
    Log Destinations
    .
    The Log Destinations screen opens.
  2. Click
    Create
    .
  3. In the
    Name
     field, type a unique, identifiable name for this destination.
  4. From the
    Type
     list, select
    Remote High-Speed Log
    .
    If you use log servers such as Remote Syslog, Splunk, or ArcSight, which require data be sent to the servers in a specific format, you must create an additional log destination of the required type, and associate it with a log destination of the
    Remote High-Speed Log
     type. With this configuration, the BIG-IP system can send data to the servers in the required format.
    The BIG-IP system is configured to send an unformatted string of text to the log servers.
  5. From the
    Pool Name
     list, select the pool of remote log servers to which you want the BIG-IP system to send log messages.
  6. From the
    Protocol
     list, select the protocol used by the high-speed logging pool members.
  7. Click
    Finished
    .

Create a formatted remote high-speed log destination

Ensure that at least one remote high-speed log destination exists on the BIG-IP system.
Create a formatted logging destination to specify that log messages are sent to a pool of remote log servers, such as Remote Syslog, Splunk, or IPFIX servers.
  1. On the Main tab, click
    System
    Logs
    Configuration
    Log Destinations
    .
    The Log Destinations screen opens.
  2. Click
    Create
    .
  3. In the
    Name
     field, type a unique, identifiable name for this destination.
  4. From the
    Type
     list, select a formatted logging destination, such as
    Remote Syslog
    ,
    Splunk
    , or
    IPFIX
    .
    The Splunk format is a predefined format of key value pairs.
    The BIG-IP system is configured to send a formatted string of text to the log servers.
  5. If you selected
    Remote Syslog
    , then from the
    Syslog Format
     list select a format for the logs, and then from the
    High-Speed Log Destination
     list, select the destination that points to a pool of remote Syslog servers to which you want the BIG-IP system to send log messages.
    For logs coming from Access Policy Manager (APM), only the BSD Syslog format is supported.
  6. If you selected
    Splunk
     or
    IPFIX
    , then from the
    Forward To
     list, select the destination that points to a pool of high-speed log servers to which you want the BIG-IP system to send log messages.
  7. Click
    Finished
    .

Create a publisher

Ensure that at least one destination associated with a pool of remote log servers exists on the BIG-IP system.
Create a publisher to specify where the BIG-IP system sends log messages for specific resources.
  1. On the Main tab, click
    System
    Logs
    Configuration
    Log Publishers
    .
    The Log Publishers screen opens.
  2. Click
    Create
    .
  3. In the
    Name
     field, type a unique, identifiable name for this publisher.
  4. For the
    Destinations
     setting, select a destination from the
    Available
     list, and click
    <<
     to move the destination to the
    Selected
     list.
    If you are using a formatted destination, select the destination that matches your log servers, such as Remote Syslog, Splunk, or ArcSight.
  5. Click
    Finished
    .

Create a custom Protocol Security logging profile

Create a logging profile to log Protocol Security events for the traffic handled by the protected object to which the profile is assigned.
You can configure logging profiles for HTTP and DNS security events on Advanced Firewall Manager, and FTP and SMTP security events on Application Security Manager.
  1. On the Main tab, click
    Security
    Event Logs
    Logging Profiles
    .
    The Logging Profiles list screen opens.
  2. Click
    Create
    .
    The Create New Logging Profile screen opens.
  3. Select the
    Protocol Security
     check box.
  4. In the HTTP, FTP, and SMTP Security area, from the
    Publisher
     list, select the publisher that the BIG-IP system uses to log HTTP, FTP, and SMTP Security events.
  5. In the DNS Security area, from the
    Publisher
     list, select the publisher that the BIG-IP system uses to log DNS Security events.
  6. Select the
    Log Dropped Requests
     check box, to enable the BIG-IP system to log dropped DNS requests.
  7. Select the
    Log Filtered Dropped Requests
     check box, to enable the BIG-IP system to log DNS requests dropped due to DNS query/header-opcode filtering.
    The system does not log DNS requests that are dropped due to errors in the way the system processes DNS packets.
  8. Select the
    Log Malformed Requests
     check box to enable the BIG-IP system to log malformed DNS requests.
  9. Select the
    Log Rejected Requests
     check box to enable the BIG-IP system to log rejected DNS requests.
  10. Select the
    Log Malicious Requests
     check box to enable the BIG-IP system to log malicious DNS requests.
  11. From the
    Storage Format
     list, select how the BIG-IP system formats the log.
    Option
    Description
    None
    Specifies the default format type in which the BIG-IP system logs messages to a remote Syslog server, for example:
    "management_ip_address","bigip_hostname","context_type","context_name","src_ip","dest_ip","src_port","dest_port","vlan","protocol","route_domain","acl_rule_name","action","drop_reason
    Field-List
    Allows you to:
    • Select, from a list, the fields to be included in the log.
    • Specify the order the fields display in the log.
    • Specify the delimiter that separates the content in the log. The default delimiter is the comma character.
    User-Defined
    Allows you to:
    • Select, from a list, the fields to be included in the log.
    • Cut and paste, in a string of text, the order the fields display in the log.
  12. Click
    Finished
    .
Assign this custom Protocol Security Logging profile to a protected object.

Logging DoS/DDoS Events for a Protected Object

Assign a logging profile to a protected object when you want the system to log DoS events.
  1. On the Main tab, click
    Security
    DoS Protection
    Protected Objects
    .
  2. Click the name of the protected object for which you want to log DoS events.
    The Properties pane opens on the right.
  3. In the Network & General area, for
    Logging Profiles
    , move the logging profile to assign from the Available list into the Selected list.
    You can create, and modify log publishers in
    System
    Logs
    Configuration
    Log Publishers
    .
  4. Click
    Save
    .
The system logs DoS events for the protected object.
You can review DoS event logs at
Security
Event Logs
DoS
and select the type of DoS event log to view.
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