Web Server Load Balancing with NGINX Plus

Navigation

NGINX Documentation

Using NGINX App Protect with NGINX Controller

Take the steps in this guide to deploy NGINX App Protect as a datapath instance for use with NGINX Controller App Security.

Note: Refer to the NGINX Controller Technical Specifications guide to find out which distributions are supported for use with NGINX Controller and NGINX Controller Agent.

Setup

Before proceeding, you should review the Prerequisites, Platform Security Considerations and User Permissions sections of the NGINX App Protect Admin Guide.

Install NGINX App Protect

Note: If a version of NGINX App Protect prior to 3.0 is required, please contact the NGINX Sales team to assist with this configuration.

CentOS 7.4+

  1. If you already have NGINX packages in your system, back up your configs and logs:

     sudo cp -a /etc/nginx /etc/nginx-plus-backup
 sudo cp -a /var/log/nginx /var/log/nginx-plus-backup

  2. Create the /etc/ssl/nginx/ directory:

     sudo mkdir -p /etc/ssl/nginx

  3. Log in to the NGINX Customer Portal and download the following two files:

     nginx-repo.key
 nginx-repo.crt

  4. Copy the above two files to the CentOS server’s /etc/ssl/nginx/ directory. Use an SCP client or another secure file transfer tool to perform this task.

  5. Install prerequisite packages:

     sudo yum install ca-certificates epel-release wget

  6. Add NGINX Plus repository:

     sudo wget -P /etc/yum.repos.d https://cs.nginx.com/static/files/nginx-plus-7.repo

  7. Install NGINX App Protect package app-protect-23+3.332.0, which includes NGINX Plus 23 and NGINX App Protect 3.0:

     sudo yum install app-protect-23+3.332.0

  8. Check the NGINX binary version to ensure that you have NGINX Plus installed correctly:

     sudo nginx -v

  9. Configure SELinux as appropriate per your organization’s security policies. App Protect applies the prebuilt SELinux policy module during the installation. If you encounter any issues, check the Troubleshooting Guide.

    Note: NGINX Controller has specific requirements regarding SELinux configuration.

  10. Start the NGINX service:

    sudo systemctl start nginx

  11. Verify NGINX Plus and BD processes are running:

    ps -ef | grep nginx  
ps -ef | grep bd

  12. To upgrade your signature package to the latest version and obtain the best protection, refer to Updating App Protect Attack Signatures.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4+

  1. If you already have NGINX packages in your system, back up your configs and logs:

     sudo cp -a /etc/nginx /etc/nginx-plus-backup
 sudo cp -a /var/log/nginx /var/log/nginx-plus-backup

  2. Create the /etc/ssl/nginx/ directory:

     sudo mkdir -p /etc/ssl/nginx

  3. Log in to the NGINX Customer Portal and download the following two files:

     nginx-repo.key
 nginx-repo.crt

  4. Copy the above two files to the RHEL server’s /etc/ssl/nginx/ directory. Use an SCP client or another secure file transfer tool to perform this task.

  5. Install prerequisite packages:

     sudo yum install ca-certificates wget

  6. Add NGINX Plus repository by downloading the file nginx-plus-7.repo to /etc/yum.repos.d:

     sudo wget -P /etc/yum.repos.d https://cs.nginx.com/static/files/nginx-plus-7.repo

  7. Enable Yum repositories to pull App Protect dependencies:

    • Download the file dependencies.repo to /etc/yum.repos.d:

        sudo wget -P /etc/yum.repos.d https://cs.nginx.com/static/files/dependencies.repo

    • If you have a RHEL subscription:

        sudo yum-config-manager --enable rhui-REGION-rhel-server-optional rhui-REGION-rhel-server-releases rhel-7-server-optional-rpms

    • If you don’t have a RHEL subscription, you can pull the dependencies from the CentOS repository.

      Create a new repository, centos.repo, in /etc/yum.repos.d/ with the content:

        [centos]
  name=CentOS-7
  baseurl=http://ftp.heanet.ie/pub/centos/7/os/x86_64/
  enabled=1
  gpgcheck=1
  gpgkey=http://ftp.heanet.ie/pub/centos/7/os/x86_64/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-7

  8. Install NGINX App Protect package app-protect-23+3.332.0, which includes NGINX Plus 23 and NGINX App Protect 3.0:

     sudo yum install app-protect-23+3.332.0

  9. Check the NGINX binary version to ensure that you have NGINX Plus installed correctly:

     sudo nginx -v

  10. Configure SELinux as appropriate per your organization’s security policies. App Protect applies the prebuilt SELinux policy module during the installation. If you encounter any issues, check the Troubleshooting Guide.

    Note: NGINX Controller has specific requirements regarding SELinux configuration.

  11. Start the NGINX service:

    sudo systemctl start nginx

  12. Verify NGINX Plus and BD processes are running:

    ps -ef | grep nginx  
ps -ef | grep bd

  13. To upgrade your signature package to the latest version and obtain the best protection, refer to Updating App Protect Attack Signatures.

Debian 9

  1. If you already have NGINX packages in your system, back up your configs and logs:

     sudo cp -a /etc/nginx /etc/nginx-plus-backup
 sudo cp -a /var/log/nginx /var/log/nginx-plus-backup

  2. Create the /etc/ssl/nginx/ directory:

     sudo mkdir -p /etc/ssl/nginx

  3. Log in to the NGINX Customer Portal and download the following two files:

     nginx-repo.key
 nginx-repo.crt

  4. Copy the above two files to the Debian server’s /etc/ssl/nginx/ directory. Use an SCP client or another secure file transfer tool to perform this task.

  5. Install apt utils:

     sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https lsb-release ca-certificates wget

  6. Download and add the NGINX signing key:

     sudo wget https://cs.nginx.com/static/keys/nginx_signing.key && sudo apt-key add nginx_signing.key

  7. Add NGINX Plus repository:

     printf "deb https://plus-pkgs.nginx.com/R23/debian `lsb_release -cs` nginx-plus\n" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nginx-plus.list

  8. Download the apt configuration to /etc/apt/apt.conf.d:

     sudo wget -P /etc/apt/apt.conf.d https://cs.nginx.com/static/files/90nginx

  9. Update the repository and install the NGINX App Protect packages and the NGINX Plus 23 package:

     sudo apt-get update
 sudo apt-get install app-protect-compiler=6.3.6-1~stretch
 sudo apt-get install app-protect-engine=6.3.6-1~stretch
 sudo apt-get install app-protect-plugin=3.332.0-1~stretch
 sudo apt-get install nginx-plus-module-appprotect=23+3.332.0-1~stretch
 sudo apt-get install app-protect=23+3.332.0-1~stretch

  10. Check the NGINX binary version to ensure that you have NGINX Plus installed correctly:

    sudo nginx -v

  11. Start the NGINX service:

    sudo systemctl start nginx

  12. Verify NGINX Plus and BD processes are running:

    ps -ef | grep nginx  
ps -ef | grep bd

  13. To upgrade your signature package to the latest version and obtain the best protection, refer to Updating App Protect Attack Signatures.

Debian 10

Using NGINX App Protect with NGINX Controller isn’t supported on Debian 10.

Ubuntu 18.04

  1. If you already have NGINX packages in your system, back up your configs and logs:

     sudo cp -a /etc/nginx /etc/nginx-plus-backup
 sudo cp -a /var/log/nginx /var/log/nginx-plus-backup

  2. Create the /etc/ssl/nginx/ directory:

     sudo mkdir -p /etc/ssl/nginx

  3. Log in to the NGINX Customer Portal and download the following two files:

     nginx-repo.key
 nginx-repo.crt

  4. Copy the above two files to the Ubuntu server’s /etc/ssl/nginx/ directory. Use an SCP client or another secure file transfer tool to perform this task.

  5. Install apt utils:

     sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https lsb-release ca-certificates wget

  6. Download and add the NGINX signing key:

     sudo wget https://cs.nginx.com/static/keys/nginx_signing.key && sudo apt-key add nginx_signing.key

  7. Add NGINX Plus repository:

     printf "deb https://plus-pkgs.nginx.com/R23/ubuntu `lsb_release -cs` nginx-plus\n" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nginx-plus.list

  8. Download the apt configuration to /etc/apt/apt.conf.d:

     sudo wget -P /etc/apt/apt.conf.d https://cs.nginx.com/static/files/90nginx

  9. Update the repository and install the NGINX App Protect packages and the NGINX Plus 23 package:

     sudo apt-get update
 sudo apt-get install app-protect-compiler=6.3.6-1~bionic
 sudo apt-get install app-protect-engine=6.3.6-1~bionic
 sudo apt-get install app-protect-plugin=3.332.0-1~bionic
 sudo apt-get install nginx-plus-module-appprotect=23+3.332.0-1~bionic
 sudo apt-get install app-protect=23+3.332.0-1~bionic

  10. Check the NGINX binary version to ensure that you have NGINX Plus installed correctly:

    sudo nginx -v

  11. Start the NGINX service:

    sudo systemctl start nginx

  12. Verify NGINX Plus and BD processes are running:

    ps -ef | grep nginx  
ps -ef | grep bd

  13. To upgrade your signature package to the latest version and obtain the best protection, refer to Updating App Protect Attack Signatures.

Ubuntu 20.04

Using NGINX App Protect with NGINX Controller isn’t supported on Ubuntu 20.04.

Alpine

Using NGINX App Protect with NGINX Controller isn’t supported on Alpine.

Add NGINX App Protect to NGINX Controller

If this NGINX Plus instance is already managed by Controller, restart the Agent after NGINX App Protect is installed.

Otherwise, complete the tasks in the NGINX Controller Add an NGINX App Protect Instance guide.

Using App Security with NGINX Controller

Note: When configuring NGINX App Protect as a datapath instance for NGINX Controller App Security, you should not modify the nginx.conf file. The nginx.conf file will be automatically updated when enabling WAF on a Component in NGINX Controller.

Refer to the following NGINX Controller user guides for further information about NGINX Controller App Security:

previous ←

Administration Guide

next →

Configuration Guide

Navigation

Need help from NGINX directly?

free trial contact us today