Special Topics Guide-Database Tuning

revision 2.0

McAfee IntruShield IPS

IntruShield Security Manager (ISM) version 4.1

McAfee Network Protection

Industry-leading intrusion prevention solutions

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Copyright 2001 - 2008 McAfee, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Issued SEPTEMBER 2007 / Database Tuning Guide

700-1563-00 / 2.0 - English

Contents
Preface ..................................................................................... iv
About this Guide............................................................................................................................iv Audience .......................................................................................................................................iv Conventions used in this guide .....................................................................................................iv Related Documentation.................................................................................................................vi Contacting Technical Support........................................................................................................vi

Chapter 1 Managing your IntruShield Security Manager Database .................................................................................... 1

Managing the availability of the data in your database.................................................................. 1 Changing your database password ............................................................................................... 1

Capacity planning ...................................................................... 3

Alert and packet log sizes.............................................................................................................. 3 Determining average alert rateweekly....................................................................................... 3 Database sizing requirements ....................................................................................................... 4 Database alert threshold - reaching capacity................................................................................. 5

Database maintenance and tuning............................................. 7

Deleting alerts and packet Logs from the database using purge.bat............................................ 8 Packet log database table indexing for MySQL databases ........................................................... 9 Database tuning ............................................................................................................................ 9

Database backup and recovery................................................ 11

Database archival ........................................................................................................................ 11 Protecting your backups.............................................................................................................. 12

Index ........................................................................................ 13

iii

Preface
This preface provides a brief introduction to McAfee IntruShield IPS, discusses the information in this document, and explains how this document is organized. It also provides information such as the supporting documents for this guide and how to contact McAfee Technical Support.

About this Guide

This guide presents database sizing and tuning recommendations regarding the number of alert and packet logs generated by your IntruShield IPS.

Audience
This guide is intended for use by network technicians responsible for maintaining the IntruShield Security Manager (ISM) and analyzing and disseminating the resulting data. It is assumed that you are familiar with IPS-related tasks, the relationship between tasks, and the commands necessary to perform particular tasks.

Conventions used in this guide

This document uses the following typographical conventions:

iv

Convention

Example

Terms that identify fields, buttons, The Service field on the Properties tab specifies the tabs, options, selections, and name of the requested service. commands on the User Interface (UI) are shown in Arial Narrow bold font. Menu or action group selections are indicated using a right angle bracket. Procedures are presented as a series of numbered steps. Names of keys on the keyboard are denoted using UPPER CASE. Text such as syntax, keywords, and values that you must type exactly are denoted using Courier New font. Select My Company > Admin Domain > View Details.

1. On the Configuration tab, click Backup. Press ENTER. Type: setup and then press ENTER.

Variable information that you must Type: sensor-IP-address and then press ENTER. type based on your specific situation or environment is shown in italics. Parameters that you must supply are shown enclosed in angle brackets. Information that you must read before beginning a procedure or that alerts you to negative consequences of certain actions, such as loss of data is denoted using this notation. Information that you must read to prevent injury, accidents from contact with electricity, or other serious consequences is denoted using this notation. Notes that provide related, but non-critical, information are denoted using this notation. set sensor ip <A.B.C.D>

Caution:

Warning:

Note:

Related Documentation
The following documents and on-line help are companions to this guide. Refer to IntruShield IPS Quick Reference Card for more information on these guides. IntruShield Manager Installation Guide IntruShield 3.1 to 4.1 Upgrade Guide IntruShield Getting Started Guide IntruShield Quick Tour IntruShield Planning & Deployment Guide IntruShield Sensor 1200 Product Guide IntruShield Sensor 1400 Product Guide IntruShield Sensor 2600 Product Guide IntruShield Sensor 2700 Product Guide IntruShield Sensor 3000 Product Guide IntruShield Sensor 4000 Product Guide IntruShield Sensor 4010 Product Guide IntruShield Configuration Basics Guide Administrative Domain Configuration Guide Manager Server Configuration Guide Policies Configuration Guide Sensor Configuration Guideusing CLI Sensor Configuration Guideusing ISM Sensor Configuration Guideusing ISM Wizard Alerts & System Health Monitoring Guide ISM Reports Guide IntruShield User-Defined Signatures Developer's Guide IntruShield Troubleshooting Guide IntruShield Attack Description Guide IntruShield Special Topics Guide Best Practices Denial-of-Service Sensor High Availability Custom Roles Creation In-line Sensor Deployment Virtualization IntruShield Gigabit Optical Fail-Open Bypass Kit Guide IntruShield Gigabit Copper Fail-Open Bypass Kit Guide

Contacting Technical Support

If you have any questions, contact McAfee for assistance:

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Online
Contact McAfee Technical Support http://mysupport.mcafee.com. Registered customers can obtain up-to-date documentation, technical bulletins, and quick tips on McAfee's 24x7 comprehensive KnowledgeBase. In addition, customers can also resolve technical issues with the online case submit, software downloads, and signature updates.

Phone
Technical Support is available 7:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. PST Monday-Friday. Extended 24x7 Technical Support is available for customers with Gold or Platinum service contracts. Global phone contact numbers can be found at McAfee Contact Information http://www.mcafee.com/us/about/contact/index.html page. Note: McAfee requires that you provide your GRANT ID and the serial number of your system when opening a ticket with Technical Support. You will be provided with a user name and password for the online case submission.

vii

CHAPTER 1

Managing your IntruShield Security Manager Database

Network security is an ongoing process that requires a long-term plan for archiving and maintaining your database for the alerts and packet logs generated by your deployed IntruShield sensors. Archiving this information is necessary for historical analysis of alerts that may help you better protect your network in the future. All sizing estimates are based on tests of various alert/log generation frequencies. Multiple frequency and file size parameters are offered to help you better prepare your database for long-term maintenance. Tip: This guide only addresses the MySQL database.

Managing the availability of the data in your database

As alerts and packet logs gradually accumulate in your database, the disk space allotted to your IntruShield processes will require thoughtful planning and maintenance to keep up with the frequency and size of incoming data. Depending on your archiving needs, it is essential that you understand the database space required to maintain an efficient system. One question to ask yourself is: If my sensors generate one alert every ten seconds for a year, how much database space will I need to maintain all of these alerts? With that question in mind, the following topics are presented to help you get the most out of your IntruShield Security Manager (ISM) and database: Capacity planning (on page 3): Ensure that resource requirements are met for optimal performance. Database maintenance and tuning (on page 7): Perform regular database tuning to ensure optimal performance. Database backup and recovery (on page 11): Backup and archive to protect against hardware/software failure.

Changing your database password

You can change your IntruShield database password using the standalone Database Admin tool. Note that this is not the MySQL Root password. Note: ISM has to be stopped when the password is being changed. To change your IntruShield database password:

1 2 3

Navigate to <IntruShield install directory>\bin. Execute the dbadmin.bat file. The standalone tool opens. Select Maintenance > Password Change.

Figure 1: Changing the Manager password

Enter the current and new passwords in their respective fields. Ensure that you do not leave the password fields blank or reenter the current password as the new password again. Confirm the new password by entering it in the Confirm password field. Click OK. Enter the MySQL Root Password (that you specified during ISM installation). Click OK.

5 6 7 8

CHAPTER 2

Capacity planning
One of the first tasks to complete when you are deploying the IntruShield IPS is the installation and setup of your database. The database houses the alert and packet log data generated by your IntruShield sensors. The integrity and availability of this data is essential to a complete IntruShield IPS experience. Every network has slight architectural differences that make each deployment unique. When deploying a network IPS, you must take into consideration the following factors when planning the capacity of your database:
Aggregate Alert and Packet Log Volume From All Sensors: What is the volume in your network? A higher volume will require additional storage capacity. Lifetime of Alert And Packet Log Data: How long should you archive an alert? Maintaining your data for a long period of time (for example, one year) will require additional storage capacity to accommodate both old and new data. The following subsections provide useful information for determining the necessary capacity for alerts and packet logs in your database.

Alert and packet log sizes

Alert frequency is the first factor to consider when planning database capacity. This is separate from packet log frequency since not every alert has an accompanying packet log by default. (Only TCP- and UDP-based attacks generate packet logs by default; you must manually set packet logging for all other Exploit attacks.) To help you plan your capacity needs, the following statistics have been determined from lab and live environment testing (based on 30,000,000 alerts): Alert with no packet log = 200 bytes (average) Alert with packet log = 650 bytes (average) Space for packet logs must also be allocated in your database. The frequency of generated logs is typically less than that of alerts, but a packet log is generally larger in size than an alert. The average size of a packet log is approximately 450 bytes (based on 30,000,000 logs).

Determining average alert rateweekly

A good reference point for determining your required database capacity based on the volume of alerts and packet logs is to find the average alert rate for a week, then multiply by a longer time frame such as 12 weeks, one year (52 weeks), and so forth. To do this, generate an Executive Summary Report using a one-week time horizon.

1 2 3

Click Reports from the ISM Home page. Select Executive Summary Report. Fill in the following fields to determine the average weekly alert rate:
Admin Domain: select the root admin domain (default). Sensor: select ALL SENSORS (default if you have more than one sensor). Alert Severity: make sure all three severities (Low, Medium, High) are checked. When all three are selected, Informational alerts are also included. Alert State: select View All Alerts. Both acknowledged and unacknowledged alerts are included for the specified time frame. Time Range: Choose Select alerts in the past: 1 Week(s). You do not need to adjust the Ending time fields. Get summary of: You do not have to adjust this field. Report Format: select a view of the report information from the following: HTML, PDF and Save as CSV.

Click Run Report once all of the above fields are set. This report displays your alert data in a presentation-style format (that is, tables and colored pie charts). The first pie chart details the Total Alerts Per Sensor. Simply add the totals from each sensor to determine the amount for one week.

Database sizing requirements

Based on the average size of an alert without packet, the following graph and table are provided to help you determine the database size required to store alert data for one year based on the number of alerts generated by your IntruShield sensors over a one week period. Note 1: For comparison, generation of 10,000 alerts per week is low, while 1,000,000 alerts per week is high. If you are generating 1,000,000 alerts per week, it is recommended that you check your applied IntruShield policies to determine if you are applying a policy that is an exact match for your protected network environment.

Note 2: The following graph and table estimate size based on alerts both with and without associated packet logs. Thus, the size of alert data has been estimated from both lab and live environments.

Figure 2: Database Sizing - Graphical View Alerts/Week DB Size (One Year) in GB

10,000 50,000 100,000 200,000 500,000 1,000,000 30,000,000

0.3 1.7 3.3 6.7 16.7 33.4 1002

Database alert threshold - reaching capacity

By default, the ISM determines alert capacity based on the pre-defined limit of 30,000,000 alerts. When varying percentages of this capacity is reached, a system fault is raised alerting you of the reached threshold. System faults are raised at 50%, 70%, and 90% of the capacity to let you know that you are approaching the 30,000,000 alert threshold. You can view and configure this threshold by opening the ISMs System Configuration interface, selecting the Manager resource (in the Resource Tree), clicking the Maintenance tab, then clicking the Disk Space Maintenance action. This is seen in configuration steps as Manager > Maintenance > Disk Space Maintenance.

Note 1: This threshold is purely for capacity planning purposes and does not reconfigure the size of your database. Note 2: If you are upgrading from 4.1 to later versions, then your previous set alert threshold capacity is retained.

CHAPTER 3

Database maintenance and tuning

Once you have determined the necessary database capacity for archiving your alerts and packet logsas well as other IntruShield-generated logs and filesyou should consider a maintenance plan that keeps your database performing at an optimal level. Deleting old, unwanted alerts, packet log entries, and other files (for example, backups, saved reports) ensures adequate capacity for future data. For database maintenance, IntruShield offers two solutions: File Maintenance action (Manager > Maintenance > File Maintenance). This action enables you to set a schedule by which IntruShield-generated logs and files are deleted from your ISM and database. File maintenance allows you to delete IntruShield data that has reached a set age (number of days old). Data is deleted according to a weekly schedule; this time, seen as Recur every: [day] and Scheduler operation time [Hr:Min], must be enabled to operate. If you plan to use Manager > Maintenance > Disk Space Maintenance to delete alert and packet log data, McAfee recommends entering a value such as 90, as in 90 daysin the Delete Alerts Older than field. This allows for long-term analysis of alerts and packet logs without over burdening your database with millions of records, which may affect long-term and overall database performance. By setting the value to 90 days, all alerts and packet logs older than 90 days are deleted at the scheduled time every day. Suppose you set a value of 90 days for the Delete Alerts older than field and a value of 10000 for the Max Alert Capacity field. Then at the scheduled time, ISM deletes all alerts that are older than 90 days and then checks if the number of alerts and packet logs is less than or equal to 10000. If it is more than 10000 then it deletes the oldest alerts and packet logs until the number is less than or equal to 10000. You can also delete alerts in the the Alert Manager. This, however, only marks alerts for deletion in the database. To permanently delete these alerts from the database, you need to use the DB Purge feature in the dbadmin.bat utility or the purge.bat utility. Scheduled alert and packet log purge as part of Disk Space Maintenance (Manager > Maintenance > Disk Space Maintenance) has no effect on the alerts marked for deletion. Deleting alerts marked for deletion is a timeconsuming process. Therefore, to delete alerts marked for deletion that are less than the age specified in the Delete Alerts older than field, you need to use either the dbadmin.bat or the the purge.bat utility and manually delete these alerts. Also, note that the Manager has to be stopped to run the dbadmin.bat.

Note: Entering a very large value (such as 500, as in 500 days) is not recommended due to the capacity required to archive 500 days worth of alerts. Your requirements will determine the number of days you need to maintain alerts. If you must keep alerts for several hundred days, ensure that you have the necessary hard drive space on your ISM server, or back up your alert tables regularly as outlined in Database backup and recovery (on page 11).

Tip: You can use the purge.bat utility or the dbadmin.bat utility for alert and packet log data maintenance. Thus, if possible, do not schedule disk space maintenance with respect to alert and packet logs. Purge.bat utility: Provided with your ISM installation is the alert and packet log data maintenance utility, purge.bat ($IntruShield\bin\purge.bat). This utility enables on-demand deletion of alerts and packet log data from your database. Alerts and packet logs can be deleted that are older than a specified number of days, or if they have been marked for deletion via the Alert Manager tool. Using purge.bat, you can also automatically start the database tuning utility, dbtuning.bat, immediately after the purge is completed. This utility ensures your database is properly maintained for optimal continued use. For more information on running purge.bat, see Deleting alerts and packet Logs from the database using purge.bat (on page 8). For more information on database tuning, see Database tuning (on page 9).

Deleting alerts and packet Logs from the database using purge.bat
As detailed in Database maintenance and tuning (on page 7), an alternative to using the Disk Maintenance action for alert and packet log deletion is to delete these files using purge.bat. To do this, do the following: 1 2 Stop the ISM service. Do one of the following: Open your IntruShield installation folder and run purge.bat:
$IntruShield\bin\purge.bat.

Open a DOS prompt and type the following: C:\IntruShield\bin\purge.bat 3 Answer the following questions:
a.

Is the ISM Down Or Off-Line (Y/N)?

Note: The ISM service must be disabled prior to using purge.bat. If the service is not disabled, the purge will not continue.
b.

Do You Wish To Perform DB Tuning After The Purge Operation (Y/N)?

Tip: You can perform DB tuning separately from the purge operation. For more on DB tuning, see Database tuning (on page 9).
c. d.

Please Enter The Age Of Alerts And PacketLog Data To Delete (Num Days). For example, to delete alerts/packet logs older than 90 days, type 90. Please Enter The Number of Days Of Data To Delete At A Time (Days Increments)?

Note: Incremental purging is available only on MySQL database installations. Incremental purging is useful in cases where log data is large. In cases where purging is aborted, data that has already been purged is not recovered.
e.

Do You Wish To Purge Alerts/PacketLogs That Have Been 'Marked For Delete' Through The Alert Manager? [This Operation Will Increase The Amount Of Time The Purge Operations Takes To Complete] (Y/N)?

f.

You are about to delete Alerts And PacketLog Data Older Than {X} Days. You Have Selected To [INCLUDE/EXCLUDE] 'Marked For Delete' Alerts/Packet Log Entries. Are you sure you want to proceed (Y/N)?

Re-start the ISM service after completion.

Packet log database table indexing for MySQL databases

For maximum efficiency with a MySQL database, we suggest that you use the SQL command shown below to index the iv_packetlog table in the database. This improves performance during alert and packet log deletion, reducing the amount of time your system is offline when you perform database cleanup tasks. Note that the index process is time-consuming, and your system will be non-operational for the duration of the indexing process. Issue the following SQL command from the MySQL command line: alter table iv_packetlog add index (creationTime);

Database tuning
Over time, a relational database can experience performance issues if the data is not re-tuned on a recurring basis. By regularly diagnosing, repairing, and tuning your database internals, you can ensure optimal database performance. McAfee provides a set of ISM interface actions (Manager > Database Tuning) and a standalone utility, called dbadmin.bat, to maintain database performance. Note: You can also use dbtuning.bat to tune your IntruShield database. However, McAfee strongly encourages you to use dbadmin.bat for all your database administration tasks. The database tuning feature does the following: Defragments tables where rows/columns are split or have been deleted Re-sorts indexes Updates index statistics Computes query optimizer statistics Checks and repairs tables On a regular basis (minimum recommendation: one month), perform database tuning on your ISM server. Completion time is dependent on the number of alerts/packet logs in the database and the performance of your ISM servers physical hardware platform. Note: When you perform off-line database tuning, you must shut down the ISM service for proper performance. McAfee recommends scheduling this downtime for whenever you plan to re-tune the database. Your sensors can continue to operate and generate alerts because of built-in alert buffers. Tip: See TBM44 in the Technical Support KnowledgeBase.

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CHAPTER 4

Database backup and recovery

Protecting your database against hardware and software failures is essential for ensuring the availability and integrity of configuration and/or forensic data. IntruShield provides backup functionality under the Manager > Backup within the ISMs Configuration page, or through a standalone tool called the Database Backup and Restore Tool ($IntruShield\bin\dbadmin.bat). Note: You can also use dbbackup.bat to back up and restore data. However, McAfee strongly encourages you to use dbadmin.bat for all your database administration tasks. For more information on the Database Backup and Restore Tool, see Backing up your IntruShield data via the standalone tool, Manager Server Configuration Guide. In the ISM, backups can be performed by a set schedule (Backup Scheduler) or on demand (Backup Now). The standalone tool can also perform backups, and is the only area wherein restoration of a backup can be executed. When performing a backup, you can back up the following tables (Backup Types):
All Tables: back up all information, including configurations, alerts, and audits. This option is not enabled by default due to disk space consideration. When backing up All Tables, use the Backup Now action.

Tip: Saving your All Tables settings monthly is strongly recommended.

Config Tables: back up only tabled information relating to configured tasks. This option is enabled by default to occur every Saturday night. This is set within the Backup Scheduler action.

Tip: Saving your configuration settings weekly is strongly recommended.

Audit and Alert Tables: back up only information on user activity and alert

information. Backing up this data is useful for offline analysis. This option is not
enabled by default. Use the Backup Now action.

Note: For more information on all Backup tab actions, see Backing up and restoring data, Manager Server Configuration Guide.

Database archival
Archiving your database is also recommended for protection against hardware and software failures. Once saved, the archival is available for future or third-party (such as Crystal Reports) retrieval. Note: An archived database can be sent to Technical Support in the event of database issues.

11

McAfee recommends archiving your database to one of the following for added redundancy of system data, and to save ISM server disk space: A network-mapped drive CD-ROM/ DVD-ROM Multi-disc RAID storage on ISM server Database Replication Secure FTP

Protecting your backups

To ensure the availability of a backup, McAfee recommends the following testing backup restoration on a staging or non-production ISM server on a systematic basis. To ensure the integrity of backups, McAfee recommends creating a digital fingerprint of all backup files using one-way hash functions such as MD5/SHA 1 to detect tampering. The following are general rules for protecting your backups: Avoid creating additional database user accounts. Block remote access to the database. Restrict access to physical data files in the database install directory.

12

H
hash functions........................................................ 12

Index
A
Age Of Alerts ............................................................ 8 alert frequency ......................................................... 3 alert threshold capacity ............................................ 5 average alert rate ..................................................... 3

I
iv_packetlog table .................................................... 9

M
Multi-disc RAID storage ......................................... 11 MySQL ..................................................................... 1 MySQL Root password ............................................ 1

B
Backup Now ........................................................... 11 built-in alert buffers................................................... 9

O
off-line database tuning............................................ 9

C
capacity planning ..................................................... 3 crystal reports......................................................... 11

P
packet log................................................................. 3 packet log sizes ....................................................... 3 purge.bat utility..................................................... 7, 8

D
database alert threshold........................................... 5 database archival ................................................... 11 database backup restoration.................................. 12 database password .................................................. 1 database performance ............................................. 9 database replication ............................................... 11 database sizing ........................................................ 4 database space........................................................ 1 database tuning........................................................ 9 dbadmin.bat ....................................................... 9, 11 dbbackup.bat.......................................................... 11 dbtuning.bat ............................................................. 9 digital fingerprint..................................................... 12 Disk Space Maintenance ..................................... 5, 7

Q
query optimizer statistics.......................................... 9

S
scheduler operation time.......................................... 7

F
File Maintenance action ........................................... 7