NetDefendOS Rule Sets
Finally, rules which are defined by the administrator in the various rule sets are used for actually
implementing NetDefendOS security policies. The most fundamental set of rules are the IP Rules,
which are used to define the layer 3 IP filtering policy as well as carrying out address translation and
server load balancing. The Traffic Shaping Rules define the policy for bandwidth management, the
IDP Rules control the behavior of the intrusion prevention engine and so on.
1.2.3. Basic Packet Flow
This section outlines the basic flow in the state-engine for packets received and forwarded by
NetDefendOS. The following description is simplified and might not be fully applicable in all
scenarios, however, the basic principles will be valid for all NetDefendOS deployments.
1.
An Ethernet frame is received on one of the Ethernet interfaces in the system. Basic Ethernet
frame validation is performed and the packet is dropped if the frame is invalid.
2.
The packet is associated with a Source Interface. The source interface is determined as follows:
•
If the Ethernet frame contains a VLAN ID (Virtual LAN identifier), the system checks for a
configured VLAN interface with a corresponding VLAN ID. If one is found, that VLAN
interface becomes the source interface for the packet. If no matching interface is found, the
packet is dropped and the event is logged.
•
If the Ethernet frame contains a PPP payload, the system checks for a matching PPPoE
interface. If one is found, that interface becomes the source interface for the packet. If no
matching interface is found, the packet is dropped and the event is logged.
•
If none the above is true, the receiving Ethernet interface becomes the source interface for
the packet.
3.
The IP datagram within the packet is passed on to the NetDefendOS Consistency Checker. The
consistency checker performs a number of sanity checks on the packet, including validation of
checksums, protocol flags, packet length and so on. If the consistency checks fail, the packet
gets dropped and the event is logged.
4.
NetDefendOS now tries to lookup an existing connection by matching parameters from the
incoming packet. A number of parameters are used in the match attempt, including the source
interface, source and destination IP addresses and IP protocol.
If a match cannot be found, a connection establishment process starts which includes steps
from here to 9 below. If a match is found, the forwarding process continues at step 10 below.
5.
The Access Rules are evaluated to find out if the source IP address of the new connection is
allowed on the received interface. If no Access Rule matches then a reverse route lookup will
be done in the routing tables.
In other words, by default, an interface will only accept source IP addresses that belong to
networks routed over that interface. A reverse lookup means that we look in the routing tables
to confirm that there is a route where if this network is the destination then the same interface
could be used.
If the Access Rule lookup or the reverse route lookup determine that the source IP is invalid,
then the packet is dropped and the event is logged.
6.
A route lookup is being made using the appropriate routing table. The destination interface for
the connection has now been determined.
7.
The IP rules are now searched for a rule that matches the packet. The following parameters are
part of the matching process:
1.2.3. Basic Packet Flow
Chapter 1. NetDefendOS Overview
20
Summary of Contents for NetDefend DFL-260E
Page 27: ...1 3 NetDefendOS State Engine Packet Flow Chapter 1 NetDefendOS Overview 27...
Page 79: ...2 7 3 Restore to Factory Defaults Chapter 2 Management and Maintenance 79...
Page 146: ...3 9 DNS Chapter 3 Fundamentals 146...
Page 227: ...4 7 5 Advanced Settings for Transparent Mode Chapter 4 Routing 227...
Page 241: ...5 4 IP Pools Chapter 5 DHCP Services 241...
Page 339: ...6 7 Blacklisting Hosts and Networks Chapter 6 Security Mechanisms 339...
Page 360: ...7 4 7 SAT and FwdFast Rules Chapter 7 Address Translation 360...
Page 382: ...8 3 Customizing HTML Pages Chapter 8 User Authentication 382...
Page 386: ...The TLS ALG 9 1 5 The TLS Alternative for VPN Chapter 9 VPN 386...
Page 439: ...Figure 9 3 PPTP Client Usage 9 5 4 PPTP L2TP Clients Chapter 9 VPN 439...
Page 450: ...9 7 6 Specific Symptoms Chapter 9 VPN 450...
Page 488: ...10 4 6 Setting Up SLB_SAT Rules Chapter 10 Traffic Management 488...
Page 503: ...11 6 HA Advanced Settings Chapter 11 High Availability 503...
Page 510: ...12 3 5 Limitations Chapter 12 ZoneDefense 510...
Page 533: ...13 9 Miscellaneous Settings Chapter 13 Advanced Settings 533...