F5 Configuring BIG-IP AFM: Advanced Firewall Manager

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F5 Configuring BIG-IP AFM: Advanced Firewall Manager

This course uses lectures and hands-on exercises to give participants real-time experience in setting up and configuring the BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) system.
Students are introduced to the AFM user interface, stepping through various options that demonstrate how AFM is configured to build a network firewall and to detect and protect against DoS (Denial of Service) attacks. Reporting and log facilities are also explained and used in the course labs. Further Firewall functionality and additional DoS facilities for DNS and SIP traffic are discussed.

Course Topics

- Configuration and management of the BIG-IP AFM system
- AFM Network Firewall concepts
- Network firewall options and modes
- Network firewall rules, policies, address/port lists, rule lists and schedules
- IP Intelligence facilities of dynamic black and white lists, IP reputation database and dynamic IP shunning.
- Detection and mitigation of DoS attacks
- Event logging of firewall rules and DoS attacks
- Reporting and notification facilities
- DoS Whitelists
- DoS Sweep/Flood
- DNS Firewall and DNS DoS
- SIP DoS
- Port Misuse
- Network Firewall iRules
- Various AFM component troubleshooting commands

Course Outline

Chapter 1: Setting up the BIG-IP System

Introducing the BIG-IP System
Initially Setting Up the BIG-IP System
Archiving the BIG-IP System Configuration
Leveraging F5 Support Resources and Tools

Chapter 2: AFM Overview and Network Firewall

AFM Overview
AFM Availability
AFM and the BIG-IP Security Menu
Explaining F5 Terminology
Network Firewall
Contexts
Modes
Packet Processing
Rules and Direction
Rules Contexts and Processing
Inline Rule Editor
Configuring Network Firewall
Network Firewall Rules and Policies
Network Firewall Rule Creation
Identifying Traffic by Region with Geolocation
Identifying Redundant and Conflicting Rules
Identifying Stale Rules
Prebuilding Firewall Rules with Lists and Schedules
Rule Lists
Address Lists
Port Lists
Schedules
Network Firewall Policies
Policy Status and Management
Other Rule Actions
Redirecting Traffic with Send to Virtual
Checking Rule Processing with Packet Tester
Examining Connections with Flow Inspector

Chapter 3: Logs

Event Logs
Logging Profiles
Limiting Log Messages with Log Throttling
Enabling Logging in Firewall Rules
BIG-IP Logging Mechanisms
Log Publisher
Log Destination
Filtering Logs with the Custom Search Facility
Logging Global Rule Events
Log Configuration Changes
QKView and Log Files
SNMP MIB
SNMP Traps

Chapter 4: IP Intelligence

Chapter 5: DoS Protection

Denial of Service and DoS Protection Overview
Device DoS Protection
Configuring Device DoS Protection
Variant 1 DoS Vectors
Variant 2 DoS Vectors
Automatic Threshold Configuration
Variant 3 DoS Vectors
Device DoS Profiles
DoS Protection Profile
Dynamic Signatures
Dynamic Signatures Configuration
DoS iRules

Chapter 6: Reports

AFM Reporting Facilities Overview
Examining the Status of Particular AFM Features
Exporting the Data
Managing the Reporting Settings
Scheduling Reports
Examining AFM Status at High Level
Mini Reporting Windows (Widgets)
Building Custom Widgets
Deleting and Restoring Widgets
Dashboards

Chapter 7: DoS White Lists

Bypassing DoS Checks with White Lists
Configuring DoS White Lists
tmsh options
Per Profile Whitelist Address List

Chapter 8: DoS Sweep Flood Protection

Isolating Bad Clients with Sweep Flood
Configuring Sweep Flood

Chapter 9: IP Intelligence Shun

Overview
Manual Configuration
Dynamic Configuration
IP Intelligence Policy
tmsh options
Extending the Shun Feature
Route this Traffic to Nowhere – Remotely Triggered Black Hole
Route this Traffic for Further Processing – Scrubber

Chapter 10: DNS Firewall

Chapter 11: DNS DoS

Overview
DNS DoS
Configuring DNS DoS
DoS Protection Profile
Device DoS and DNS

Chapter 12: SIP DoS

Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
Transactions and Dialogs
SIP DoS Configuration
DoS Protection Profile
Device DoS and SIP

Chapter 13: Port Misuse

Overview
Port Misuse and Service Policies
Building a Port Misuse Policy
Attaching a Service Policy
Creating a Log Profile

Chapter 14: Network Firewall iRules

Overview
iRule Events
Configuration
When to use iRules
More Information

What you will learn

Course Objectives

Configure and manage an AFM system
Configure AFM Network Firewall in a positive or negative security model
Configure Network Firewall to allow or deny network traffic using rules based on protocol, source, destination, geography, and other predicate types
Prebuild firewall rules using lists and schedule components
Enforce firewall rules immediately or test them using policy staging
Use Packet Tester and Flow Inspector features to check network connections against your security configurations for Network Firewall, IP intelligence and DoS features
Configure various IP Intelligence features to identify, record, allow or deny access by IP address
Configure the Device DoS detection and mitigation feature to protect the BIG-IP device and all applications from multiple types of attack vectors
Configure DoS detection and mitigation on a per-profile basic to protect specific applications from attack
Use DoS Dynamic Signatures to automatically protect the system from DoS attacks based on long term traffic and resource load patterns
Configure and use the AFM local and remote log facilities
Configure and monitor AFM’s status with various reporting facilities
Export AFM system reports to your external monitoring system directly or via scheduled mail
Allow chosen traffic to bypass DoS checks using Whitelists
Isolate potentially bad clients from good using the Sweep Flood feature
Isolate and re-route potentially bad network traffic for further inspection using IP Intelligence Shun functionality
Restrict and report on certain types of DNS requests using DNS Firewall
Configure, mitigate, and report on DNS based DoS attacks with the DNS DoS facility
Configure, mitigate, and report on SIP based DoS attacks with the SIP DoS facility
Configure, block, and report on the misuse of system services and ports using the Port Misuse feature
Build and configure Network Firewall rules using BIG-IP iRules
Be able to monitor and do initial troubleshooting of various AFM functionality

Audience profile

This course is intended for system and network administrators responsible for the configuration and ongoing administration of a BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) system.