It seems like your browser didn't download the required fonts. Please revise your security settings and try again.
Barracuda Web Application Firewall

30-Day Evaluation Guide - Barracuda Web Application Firewall

  • Last updated on

Use this article as a sample road map for setting up and testing the Barracuda Web Application Firewall in your organization's environment:

eval_guide.png

Step 1. Evaluate Deployment Options

Before you install the Barracuda Web Application Firewall, determine the deployment option that best suits your environment. The Barracuda Web Application Firewall recommends One-Arm Reverse Proxy deployment for the evaluation process. This deployment enables you to perform functionality testing with minimal disruption to the production traffic.

Deployment Options for Hardware Appliances

The Barracuda Web Application Firewall supports both Reverse Proxy (One-Arm Proxy Deployment or Two-Arm Proxy Deployment) and Bridge-Path. For more detailed information, see Choosing Your Deployment.

Deployment Options for Virtual Appliances

The Barracuda Web Application Firewall Vx supports only Reverse Proxy (One-Arm Proxy Deployment or Two-Arm Proxy Deployment).

Step 2. Deploy the Barracuda Web Application Firewall and Complete the Initial Setup

Complete one of the following sets of instructions based on your deployment:

Hardware Appliances
Virtual Appliances

Step 3. Add Services and Default Security Policy

After you install the Barracuda Web Application Firewall based on your deployment mode, go to the BASIC > Services page and add HTTP or HTTPS services. For more information on creating a service, see Step 2: Configuring a Service.

If deployed as a Two-Arm Proxy, all production and test traffic to the web applications goes via the Barracuda Web Application Firewall. If deployed as a One-Arm Proxy, you can have separate paths for production and test traffic. The production path bypasses the Barracuda Web Application Firewall so that there is no disruption. You can generate test traffic by browsing the application via the service created on the Barracuda Web Application Firewall. Test traffic should contain few attacks and some normal traffic.

A newly configured service uses the default security policy, typically with mode set to Passive. Policy violations are logged but not blocked in passive mode.

Change the mode to Active to log and block attacks. All attacks are logged in the BASIC > Web Firewall Logs page. For any blocked request that should have been allowed (false positive), navigate to the BASIC > Web Firewall Logs page and use the one-click policy tuner to fine tune the policies. For more information, refer to Step 5. Fine Tune Security Policies.

Step 4. Review Logs

The Barracuda Web Application Firewall applies rules to traffic and generates a log of rule violations, viewable in the BASIC > Web Firewall Logs page.

The Barracuda Web Application Firewall provides the following logs:

  • Web Firewall Logs - Displays the details of the attacks on the web application. For a description of attacks, see Attacks Description - Action Policy.
  • Access Logs - Logs all requests that are made to the configured service(s).
  • Audit Logs - Monitors and logs all changes made to the system by the administrator.
  • System Logs - Logs all error reports, system alerts, diagnostic messages, and status messages of the Barracuda Web Application Firewall from the hardware and software components.
  • Network Firewall Logs - Logs all network traffic passing through the interfaces (WAN, LAN and MGMT) matching the configured network ACL rule.

For information on how to configure the syslog server and export all logs, see How to Export Logs from the Barracuda Web Application Firewall.

You can use the web firewall logs to evaluate rule violations, and when warranted, create exceptions to the rule violated. Exceptions can apply globally if you modify the security policy, i.e. the security policy affects all services. For a description of attacks, see Attacks Description - Action Policy.

Step 5. Fine Tune Security Policies

You can evaluate the logs and fine tune the web firewall policies in the BASIC > Web Firewall Logs page. You can step through the logs and identify false positives, if any, and use the Fix button to fine tune the policy.

For more information on how to tune security policies using web firewall logs, see Tuning Security Rules Using Web Firewall Logs.

Step 6. Configure Notification Alert Policies

You can enable notification alerts to send email notifications to the administrator when certain events occur in the module(s) or the configured threshold is exceeded. You can select single or multiple modules and set the severity level requiring email notification alerts. You can also set the threshold limit for the hardware components, attack categories, and each attack type under service(s).

To enable notification alerts for the modules(s), go to the BASIC > Notifications > Notification Configuration section. Select the modules and severity level, and then click Save.

To enable notification alerts for the hardware components, attack categories, and attack types per service, go to the BASIC > Notifications > Global Threshold/Service Threshold section. Set the threshold limit, and then click Save.

For more information, see Configuring Notifications.

Step 7. View Reports

You can configure and generate reports of various types in the BASIC > Reports page. You can generate a one-time report or configure the Barracuda Web Application Firewall to automatically generate the reports on an hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly basis.

In the BASIC > Reports page, you can generate the following reports:

  • Security Reports - Web attack prevention activity performed by the Barracuda Web Application Firewall.
  • Administrator Audit Reports - Server details and the login/logout activities performed by different user roles.
  • Traffic Reports - Web traffic activities monitored by the Barracuda Web Application Firewall.
  • Config Summary Reports - Barracuda Web Application Firewall features such as Load Balancing, Rate Control, Learning, etc., details of installed certificates, user accounts and their privileges, and profiles and access control rules associated with the service.
  • PCI Reports - PCI compliance details on the Barracuda Web Application Firewall.

For more information, see Reporting.

Step 8. Configure Syslog Server(s)

You can configure the syslog server(s) and transmit logs (access logs, audit logs, web firewall logs, system logs, and network firewall logs) to your syslog server(s). You can configure a maximum of three (3) syslog servers. 

The Barracuda Web Application Firewall initiates the connection and transmits logs to the available syslog server(s).

To configure a syslog server:

  1. Go to the ADVANCED > Export Logs page.
  2. In the Syslog section, click Add Syslog Server.
  3. In the Add Syslog Server window:
    • Enter the details of the syslog server (IP address and Port).
    • Select the connection type (UDP, TCP or SSL).
    • Select whether to validate syslog server certificate or not.
    • Select whether you want the Barracuda Web Application Firewall to present certificate while connecting to the syslog server or not.
    • Click Add.

For more information, refer to the online help button.