Table Of Contents
Using Attack Reports
Understanding the Report Layout
General Details
Attack Statistics
Malicious Packet Statistics
Detected Anomalies
Mitigated Attacks
Spoofed Attacks
Zombie Attacks
Client Attacks
User-Defined Attacks
Malformed Packets
Zombies
Understanding the Report Parameters
Displaying Attack Reports
Exporting Attack Reports
Exporting Attack Reports Automatically
Exporting Attack Reports of All Zones
Exporting Zone Reports
Deleting Attack Reports
Using Attack Reports
This chapter describes the attack reports that the Cisco Anomaly Guard Module (Guard module) produces and contains the following sections:
•Understanding the Report Layout
•Understanding the Report Parameters
•Displaying Attack Reports
•Exporting Attack Reports
•Deleting Attack Reports
Understanding the Report Layout
The Guard module provides an attack report for each zone to help you form a comprehensive view of the attack. An attack begins when the Guard module produces the first dynamic filter and ends when no dynamic filter is in use and no new dynamic filters are added. Reports include details of the attacks that are organized into sections that describe different characteristics of the traffic flow during an attack. You can display reports of previous attacks and ongoing attacks, and you can export reports to a network server using File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Secure FTP (SFTP), or Secure Copy Protocol (SCP).
This section contains the following topics:
•General Details
•Attack Statistics
•Malicious Packet Statistics
•Detected Anomalies
•Mitigated Attacks
•Zombies
General Details
The general details section of the attack report includes general information about an attack.
Table 12-1 describes the fields in this section of the report.
Table 12-1 Field Descriptions in General Details Section of Attack Report
Field
|
Description
|
Report ID
|
Identification number of the report. A value of current indicates that there is an ongoing attack.
|
Attack Start
|
Date and time that the attack started.
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Attack End
|
Date and time that the attack ended. A value of Attack in progress indicates that there is an ongoing attack.
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Attack Duration
|
Duration of the attack.
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Attack Statistics
The attack statistics' section provides a general analysis of the zone traffic flow for various packets. Table 12-2 describes the packet types.
Table 12-2 Packet Types
Type
|
Description
|
Received
|
Total amount of the diverted traffic.
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Forwarded
|
Legitimate traffic that the Guard module forwarded on to the zone.
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Replied
|
Traffic that the Guard module anti-spoofing and anti-zombie mechanisms sent back to the source in a verification attempt.
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Dropped
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Traffic that the Guard module dropped.
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Malicious Packet Statistics
The malicious packets statistics' section of the attack report analyzes the packets that the Guard module dropped and sent back to the source in a verification attempt (replied). The report classifies the packets by their type (spoofed or malformed) and by the Guard module function that handled them (filter types or the rate limiter). Table 12-3 describes the different types of malicious packets.
Table 12-3 Types of Malicious Packets
Type
|
Description
|
Rate Limiter
|
Packets that were dropped because they exceeded the rate of traffic defined by the rate limit parameter of the user filters and the zone rate-limit command as allowed to be injected to the zone.
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Flex-Content Filters
|
Packets that were dropped by the flex-content filters.
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User Filters
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Packets that were dropped by the user filters.
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Dynamic Filters
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Packets that were dropped by the dynamic filters.
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Spoofed
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Packets that were identified by the Guard module as spoofed packets or packets originated by zombies and not injected to the zone. Spoofed packets are replied (bounced) packets to which no replies were received.
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Malformed
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Packets that were analyzed as malformed because of their malformed structure or due to the Guard module anti-spoofing functions.
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Detected Anomalies
The detected anomalies section of the attack report provides details of the traffic anomalies that the Guard module detected in the zone traffic. A flow is classified as being an anomaly when it requires the production of a dynamic filter. These anomalies can occur infrequently or can turn into systematic Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. The Guard clusters anomalies with the same type and flow parameters (such as source IP address and destination port) under one anomaly type. Table 12-4 describes the different types of detected anomalies.
Table 12-4 Types of Detected Anomalies
Type
|
Description
|
dns (tcp)
|
Attacking DNS-TCP protocol flow.
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dns (udp)
|
Attacking DNS-UDP protocol flow.
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fragments
|
Detected flow with an unusual amount of fragmented traffic.
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http
|
Unusual HTTP traffic flow.
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ip_scan
|
Detected flow initiated from a source IP address that tried to access many zone destination IP addresses.
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other_protocols
|
Non-TCP and non-UDP attacking protocol flow.
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port_scan
|
Detected flow initiated from a source IP address that tried to access many zone ports.
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tcp_connections
|
Detected flow with an unusual number of TCP concurrent connections, with or without data.
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tcp_incoming
|
Detected flow that attacks a TCP service when the zone is a server.
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tcp_outgoing
|
Detected flow that consists of SYN-ACK flood or other packet attacks on connections initiated by the zone when the zone is the client.
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tcp_ratio
|
Detected flow with an unusual ratio between different types of TCP packets, such as a high ratio of SYN packets to FIN/RST packets.
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udp
|
Attacking UDP protocol flow.
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unauthenticated_tcp
|
Detected flow that the Guard anti-spoofing functions have not succeeded in authenticating such as an ACK flood, FIN flood, or any other flood of unauthenticated packets.
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user
|
Anomaly flow that was detected by user definitions.
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sip_udp
|
Detected VoIP1 anomaly flow that uses SIP2 over UDP to establish the VoIP sessions.
|
Mitigated Attacks
The mitigated attacks' section of the attack report details the steps that the Guard module took to mitigate the attacks. The report provides details of the timing of the mitigation and the type of mitigated attack. The Guard module defines the mitigation type according to the functions that the Guard module used to mitigate the attack. These functions indicate the attack type and subtype.
For example, if the Guard module uses a basic anti-spoofing function to mitigate an attacking flow of syn packets, the mitigated attack appears as spoofed/tcp_syn_basic where spoofed indicates the attack type and tcp_syn_basic indicates the attack subtype.
This section describes the five types of mitigated attacks in the following topics:
•Spoofed Attacks
•Zombie Attacks
•Client Attacks
•User-Defined Attacks
•Malformed Packets
Spoofed Attacks
Spoofed attacks include all traffic anomalies identified as a DDoS attack that come from a spoofed source. Table 12-5 describes the different types of spoofed attacks.
Table 12-5 Types of Spoofed Attacks
Attack Type
|
Description
|
spoofed/tcp_syn (basic)
|
Flood of SYN packets that the basic anti-spoofing functions have not succeeded in authenticating.
|
spoofed/tcp_syn (strong)
|
Flood of SYN packets that the strong anti-spoofing functions have not succeeded in authenticating.
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spoofed/tcp_syn_ack (basic)
|
Flood of syn_ack packets that the basic anti-spoofing functions have not succeeded in authenticating.
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spoofed/tcp_syn_ack (strong)
|
Flood of syn_ack packets that the strong anti-spoofing functions have not succeeded in authenticating.
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spoofed/tcp_incoming (basic)
|
Flood of traffic that the basic anti-spoofing functions have not succeeded in authenticating.
|
spoofed/ tcp_incoming (strong)
|
Flood of traffic that the strong anti-spoofing functions have not succeeded in authenticating.
|
spoofed/tcp_outgoing (strong)
|
Flood of traffic that are in response to zone-initiated connections that the strong anti-spoofing functions have not succeeded in authenticating.
|
spoofed/udp (basic)
|
Flood of UDP traffic that the basic anti-spoofing functions have not succeeded in authenticating.
|
spoofed/udp (strong)
|
Flood of UDP traffic that the strong anti-spoofing functions have not succeeded in authenticating.
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spoofed/other_protocols
|
Flood of other than TCP and UDP traffic that the Guard module anti-spoofing functions have not succeeded in authenticating.
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spoofed/tcp_fragments
|
Flood of TCP fragmented packets that the Guard module anti-spoofing functions have not succeeded in authenticating.
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spoofed/udp_fragments
|
Flood of UDP fragmented packets that the Guard module anti-spoofing mechanisms have not succeeded in authenticating.
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spoofed /other_protocols_fragments
|
Flood of other than TCP and UDP fragmented packets that the Guard module anti-spoofing mechanisms have not succeeded in authenticating.
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spoofed/dns_queries (strong)
|
Flood of DNS query packets that the strong anti-spoofing functions have not succeeded in authenticating.
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spoofed/dns_replies (basic)
|
Flood of DNS packets that are in response to zone-initiated connections that the basic anti-spoofing functions have not succeeded in authenticating.
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spoofed/dns_replies (strong)
|
Flood of DNS packets that are in response to zone-initiated connections that the strong anti-spoofing functions have not succeeded in authenticating.
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spoofed/sip
|
Flood of SIP over UDP packets that the basic anti-spoofing functions have not succeeded in authenticating.
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Zombie Attacks
Zombie attacks include traffic anomalies identified as a DDoS attack originated by zombies. Table 12-6 describes the different types of zombie attacks.
Table 12-6 Types of Zombie Attacks
Attack Type
|
Description
|
zombie/http
|
Flood of HTTP traffic from many sources that were identified as nonspoofed, but the Guard module anti-zombie functions have not succeeded in authenticating.
|
Client Attacks
Client attacks include all nonspoofed traffic anomalies. Table 12-7 describes the different types of client attacks.
Table 12-7 Types of Client Attacks
Attack Type
|
Description
|
client_attack/tcp_connections
|
Flow with an unusual number of TCP concurrent connections with or without data.
|
client_attack/http
|
Flood of HTTP traffic flow.
|
client_attack/tcp_ incoming
|
Flood that attacks a TCP service when the zone is a server.
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client_attack/tcp_outgoing
|
Flood from an attacking authenticated IP connections that the zone initiated.
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client_attack /unauthenticated_tcp
|
Flood of ACKs, FINs, any other packets without a TCP handshake, or TCP connections that the Guard module anti-spoofing functions have not succeeded in authenticating.
|
client_attack/dns (udp)
|
Flood from an attacking DNS-UDP protocol flow.
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client_attack/dns (tcp)
|
Flood from an attacking DNS-TCP protocol flow.
|
client_attack/udp
|
Flood from an attacking UDP protocol flow.
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client_attack/other_protocols
|
Flood from a non-TCP/UDP attacking protocol flow.
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client_attack/fragments
|
Flood of fragmented traffic.
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client_attack/user
|
Flood that a user-defined dynamic filter identified.
|
User-Defined Attacks
User-defined attacks include all anomalies handled by the user filters. The user filters can either function by default or you can configure them manually. See Chapter 8 "Configuring Policy Templates and Policies" for more information. Table 12-8 describes the different types of user-defined attacks.
Table 12-8 Types of User-Defined Attacks
Attack Type
|
Description
|
user_defined/ user_filter_rate_limit
|
Flood that was dropped because it exceeded the rate limit defined for a user filter.
|
user_defined/ user_drop_filters
|
Flood that was dropped by user filters.
|
user_defined/rate_limit
|
Flood that was dropped due to one of the following:
•It exceeded the rate limit defined for a user filter.
•It exceeded the rate limit defined by the zone rate-limit command.
•It exceeded the internal rate limit defined for unauthenticated TCP RST packets or unauthenticated DNS zone transfer packets.
|
user_defined/ flex_content_filter
|
Flood that was dropped by the flex-content filters.
|
Malformed Packets
Malformed packets include all traffic anomalies identified as consisting of maliciously malformed packets. Table 12-9 describes the different types of malformed packets.
Table 12-9 Types of Malformed Packets
Attack Type
|
Description
|
malformed_packets /packets_to_proxy_ip
|
Flood that attacks a Guard module proxy IP address.
|
malformed_packets /dns_anti_spoofing_algo
|
Flood of malformed packets due to the operation of the Guard module DNS anti-spoofing functions.
|
malformed_packets /dns (queries)
|
Flood of malformed DNS packets.
|
malformed_packets /dns (short_queries)
|
Flood of short DNS queries.
|
malformed_packets /dns (replies)
|
Flood of malformed DNS replies.
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malformed_packets /src_ip_equals_dst_ip
|
Flood of packets with the zone IP address as their source and destination.
|
malformed_packets /zero_header_field
|
Flood of packets in which the destination port, source port, protocol, or source IP address field in the header illegally equals zero.
|
malformed_packets /sip_bad_header
|
Flood of SIP over UDP packets with a malformed header.
|
Zombies
Zombie attacks include traffic anomalies identified as a DDoS attack originated by zombies. The Guard module attack report displays a table listing zombies that are current attacking the zone. Use the show reports details and show zombies commands to display the list of currently attacking zombies.
Note This report section is available only when you enter the show reports details and show zombies commands
See Table 12-15 for information about the fields in the show zombies command output.
Understanding the Report Parameters
This section describes the aspects of the traffic flow that relate to each section of the report.
Table 12-10 describes the fields for Attack Statistics and Malicious Packet Statistics.
Table 12-10 Field Descriptions for Attack Statistics
Field
|
Description
|
Total Packets
|
Total number of attack packets.
|
Average pps
|
Average traffic rate in packets per seconds.
|
Average bps
|
Average traffic rate in bits per seconds.
|
Max. pps
|
Maximum traffic rate measured in packets per seconds.
|
Max. bps
|
Maximum traffic rate measured in bits per seconds.
|
Percentage
|
Number of forwarded, replied, and dropped packets as a percentage of the total received packets.
|
Table 12-11 describes the flow statistics for Detected Anomalies and Mitigated Attacks.
Table 12-11 Field Descriptions for Flow Statistics
Field
|
Description
|
ID
|
Identifier of the detected anomaly.
|
Start time
|
Date and time that the anomaly was detected.
|
Duration
|
Duration of the anomaly in hours, minutes, and seconds.
|
Type
|
Type of anomaly or mitigated attack.
|
Triggering rate
|
Anomaly traffic rate that exceeded the policy threshold.
|
% Threshold
|
Indicates the percentage by which the triggering rate is above the policy threshold.
|
Flow
|
Specifies the anomaly flow and mitigated attack flow. The characteristics include the protocol number, source IP address, source port, destination IP address, and destination port. It indicates whether or not the traffic is fragmented. A value of any indicates that there is both fragmented and nonfragmented traffic.
|
An asterisk (*),which is used as a wildcard, for one of the parameters indicates one of the following:
•The value is undetermined.
•More than one value was measured for the anomaly parameter.
A number sign (#) followed by a number, for any of the parameters indicates the number of values measured for that parameter.
The Guard module may display a value of notify on the right side of the flow description. A value of notify indicates that the Guard module produces a notification for the type of traffic that the row describes. The Guard module does not take an action if the value is notify.
Displaying Attack Reports
You can display a list of attack reports for any specific zone or a more detailed report for a specific attack by using the following command in zone configuration mode:
show reports [sub-zone-name] [current | report-id] [details]
Table 12-12 provides the arguments and keywords for the show reports command.
Table 12-12 Arguments and Keywords for the show reports Command
Parameter
|
Description
|
sub-zone-name
|
(Optional) Name of a subzone that was created from the zone. See the "Understanding Subzones" section for more information.
|
current
|
(optional) Displays the report of the attack that is in progress.
The number of bits and packets is not displayed for an ongoing attack. In reports of an attack in progress, the packets and bits fields have a value of zero (0).
|
report-id
|
(Optional) Identification number of the report.
|
details
|
(Optional) Displays the details of the flows and attacking zombies.
|
The following example shows how to view a list of all attacks on the zone:
user@GUARD-conf-zone-scannet# show reports
Table 12-13 describes the fields in the show reports command output.
Table 12-13 Field Descriptions for the show reports Command Output
Field
|
Description
|
Report ID
|
Report identification number. A value of current indicates that there is an ongoing attack.
|
Attack Start
|
Date and time that the attack started.
|
Attack End
|
Date and time that the attack ended. A value of Attack in progress indicates that there is an ongoing attack.
|
Attack Duration
|
Duration of the attack.
|
Attack Type
|
Type of mitigated attack. Possible values are as follows:
•client_attack—All nonspoofed traffic anomalies.
•malformed_packets—All traffic anomalies identified as consisting of maliciously malformed packets.
•spoofed—Traffic anomalies identified as a DDoS attack coming from a spoofed source.
•user_defined—All anomalies handled by the user filters. The user filters can either function by default or be user configured.
•zombie—Traffic anomalies identified as having been originated by zombies.
•hybrid—An attack made up of several attacks with different characteristics.
•traffic_anomaly—An anomaly that was only detected for a short period of time and did not require mitigation.
|
Peak Malicious Traffic
|
Sum of the number of the following types of packets:
•Packets that the Guard module identified as part of an attack and dropped.
•Packets to which the Guard module sent replies to the initiating client in order to verify whether they are part of authentic traffic or part of an attack.
|
The following example shows how to display the report of the current attack on the zone:
user@GUARD-conf-zone-scannet# show reports current
The attack report displays the following output. For more information about the different sections, see the "Understanding the Report Layout" section.
Malicious Packets Statistics:
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To display a more detailed report on flows of the detected anomalies and the mitigated attacks, and to display a list of zombies attacks, use the details option.
Table 12-14 describes the flow fields in the detailed report.
Table 12-14 Field Descriptions of Flows in Detailed Report
Field
|
Description
|
Detected Flow
|
Flow that caused the production of the dynamic filter. The detected flow may indicate a specific source port for a specific source IP address. The flow characteristics include the protocol number, source IP address, source port, destination IP address, destination port, and an indication of whether the traffic is fragmented or not. A value of any indicates that there is both fragmented and nonfragmented traffic.
|
Action Flow
|
Flow that was addressed by the dynamic filter. The action flow may indicate all source ports for the specified source IP address. The action flow may have a wider range than the detected flow.
The flow characteristics include the protocol number, source IP address, source port, destination IP address, destination port, and an indication of whether the traffic is fragmented or not. A value of any indicates that there is both fragmented and nonfragmented traffic.
|
Table 12-15 describes the fields in the detailed report about zombie attacks.
Table 12-15 Field Descriptions for Zombie Attacks Table
Field
|
Description
|
IP
|
Zombie IP address.
|
Start Time
|
Date and time that the zombie connection was initially identified.
|
Duration
|
Duration of the zombie attack.
|
#Requests
|
Number of HTTP get requests sent by the zombie.
|
Note If there are no zombie attacks, "Report doesn't exist" appears under the Zombies heading in the report.
Exporting Attack Reports
You can export attack reports to a network server for monitoring and diagnostic capabilities. You can export attack reports in text format or in Extensible Markup Language (XML) format.
This section contains the following topics:
•Exporting Attack Reports Automatically
•Exporting Attack Reports of All Zones
•Exporting Zone Reports
Exporting Attack Reports Automatically
You can configure the Guard module to export attack reports in XML format. The Guard module exports the reports of any one of the zones when an attack on the zone ends. The XML schema is described in the ExportedReports.xsd file which you can download from the Software Center at http://www.cisco.com/public/sw-center/.
To configure the Guard module to export attack reports automatically, use the following command in configuration mode:
export reports file-server-name
The file-server-name argument specifies the name of a network server to which you export the files that you configure by using the file-server command. If you configure the network server for Secure FTP (SFTP) or Secure Copy (SCP), you must configure the SSH key that the Guard module uses for SFTP and SCP communication. See the "Exporting Files Automatically" section for more information.
The following example shows how to automatically export reports (in XML format) at the end of an attack to a network server:
user@GUARD-conf# export reports Corp-FTP-Server
Exporting Attack Reports of All Zones
You can export the attack reports of all zones in text or XML format by entering one of the following commands in global mode:
•copy reports [details] [xml] ftp server full-file-name [login] [password]
•copy reports [details] [xml] file-server-name dest-file-name
Table 12-16 provides the arguments and keywords for the copy reports command.
Table 12-16 Arguments and Keywords for the copy reports Command
Parameter
|
Description
|
details
|
(Optional) Exports details of flow and attacking source IP addresses.
|
xml
|
(Optional) Exports the report in XML format. See the xsd file released with the version for a description of the XML schema (you can download the xsd files that accompany the version from www.cisco.com). By default, reports are exported in text format.
|
ftp
|
Exports the attack reports to a network server using FTP.
|
server
|
IP address of the network server.
|
full-file-name
|
Full name of the file. If you do not specify a path, the server saves the file in your home directory.
|
login
|
(Optional) Server login name.
The login argument is optional when you define an FTP server. When you do not enter a login name, the FTP server assumes an anonymous login and does not prompt you for a password.
|
password
|
(Optional) Password for the remote FTP server.
|
file-server-name
|
Name of a network server that you defined by using the file-server command.
The network server must be an FTP server. You cannot export attack reports to a network server using SFTP or SCP.
See the "Exporting Files Automatically" section for more information.
|
dest-file-name
|
Name of the file. The Guard module appends the name of the file to the path that you defined for the network server by using the file-server command.
|
The following example shows how to copy a list of all attacks handled by the Guard module (in text format) to an FTP server at IP address 10.0.0.191 by using login name user1 and password password1:
user@GUARD# copy reports ftp 10.0.0.191 agmreports.txt user1 password1
The following example shows how to copy a list of all attacks handled by the Guard module (in text format) to a network server that was defined by using the file-server command:
user@GUARD# copy reports Corp-FTP-Server AttackReports.txt
Exporting Zone Reports
You can copy the attack reports of a specific zone to an FTP server by using one of the following commands in global mode:
•copy zone zone-name reports [current | report-id] [xml] [details] ftp server full-file-name [login] [password]
•copy zone zone-name reports [current | report-id] [xml] [details] file-server-name dest-file-name
Table 12-17 describes the arguments and keywords for the copy zone reports command.
Table 12-17 Arguments and Keywords for the copy zone reports Command
Parameter
|
Description
|
zone zone-name
|
Specifies the name of an existing zone.
|
current
|
(Optional) Exports an ongoing attack report (if applicable).
The default is to export all zone reports.
|
report-id
|
(Optional) ID of an existing report. The Guard module exports the report with the specified ID number. To view the details of the zone attack reports, use the show zone reports command.
The default is to export all zone reports.
|
xml
|
(Optional) Exports the report in XML format. See the xsd file that was released with the version for a description of the XML schema (you can download the xsd files that accompany the version from www.cisco.com). The default is to export reports in text format.
|
details
|
(Optional) Exports details about the flow and attacking source IP addresses.
|
ftp
|
Exports the attack reports to a network server using FTP.
|
server
|
IP address of the server and path.
|
login
|
(Optional) Server login name.
The login argument is optional when you define an FTP server. When you do not enter a login name, the FTP server assumes an anonymous login and does not prompt you for a password.
|
password
|
(Optional) Password for the remote FTP server.
|
file-server-name
|
Name of a network server. You must configure the network server using the file-server command.
The network server must be an FTP server. You cannot export reports to a network server using SFTP or SCP.
See the "Exporting Files Automatically" section for more information.
|
dest-file-name
|
Name of the file. The Guard module appends the name of the file to the path that you defined for the network server by using the file-server command.
|
The following example shows how to copy all attack reports of the zone to an FTP server at IP address 10.0.0.191 by using login name user1 and password password1:
user@GUARD# copy zone scannet reports ftp 10.0.0.191 ScannetCurrentReport.txt user1
password1
The following example shows how to copy the current attack report (in XML format) to a network server that was defined by using the file-server command:
user@GUARD# copy zone scannet reports current xml Corp-FTP-Server AttackReport-5-10-05.txt
Deleting Attack Reports
You can delete old attack reports to free disk space.
To delete attack reports, use the following command in zone configuration mode:
no reports report-id
The report-id argument specifies the ID of an existing report. Enter an asterisk (*) to delete all attack reports. To view the details of the zone attack reports, use the show zone reports command.
Note You cannot delete the attack report of an ongoing attack.
The following example shows how to delete all the zone attack reports:
user@GUARD-conf-zone-scannet# no reports *