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Deploy an ExtraHop sensor in AWS

The following procedure guides you through the deployment process of the sensor AMI to monitor your Amazon Web Services (AWS) environment.

After you deploy the sensor in AWS, configure AWS traffic mirroring or remote packet capture (RPCAP) to forward traffic from remote devices to your virtual sensor. AWS traffic mirroring is configurable for all instance sizes and is the preferred method of sending AWS traffic to the EDA 6100v and 8200v sensors.

Important:If your deployment includes a console, the following workflow ensures the best performance for initial device synchronization. First, connect all sensors to the console, then configure network traffic forwarding to the sensors.

System requirements

Your environment must meet the following requirements to deploy a virtual ExtraHop sensor in AWS:

  • An AWS account
  • Access to the Amazon Machine Image (AMI) of the ExtraHop sensor
  • The sensor product key
  • An AWS instance type that most closely matches the virtual ExtraHop sensor size, as follows:
    Sensors Recommended Instance Type
    EDA 1000v m5.large (2 vCPU and 8 GB RAM)
    Reveal(x) EDA 1100v c5.xlarge (4 vCPU and 8 GB RAM)
    EDA 2000v c5.2xlarge (8 vCPU and 16 GB RAM)
    EDA 6100v m5.4xlarge (16 vCPU and 64 GB RAM)

    c5.9xlarge (36 vCPU and 72 GB RAM)*
    Reveal(x) EDA 8200v c5n.9xlarge (36 vCPU and 96 GB RAM)
    Note:Whenever possible, locate the sensor within the same cluster placement group as the devices that are forwarding traffic. This best practice optimizes the quality of feed that the sensor receives.

    *Recommended when the EDA 6100v cannot be deployed in the same cluster placement group as the monitored traffic. The c5.9xlarge instance has a higher cost, but is more resilient in environments where data feed fidelity is critical.

    Important:AWS enforces a session limit of 10 sessions for VPC traffic mirroring; however, the session limit can be increased for sensors running on a c5 dedicated host. We recommend the c5 dedicated host for EDA 8200v and EDA 6100v instances that require a larger session limit. Contact AWS support to request the session limit increase.
  • (Optional) A storage disk for deployments that include precision packet capture. Refer to the AWS documentation for instructions to add a disk.
    • For the EDA 1000v, 1100v, and 2000v add a disk with up to 250 GB capacity.
    • For the EDA 6100v and 8200v, add a disk with up to 500 GB capacity.

Create the ExtraHop instance in AWS

The Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) for ExtraHop sensors are available in the AWS Marketplace. You can create an ExtraHop instance in AWS from one of these AMIs.
  1. Sign in to AWS with your username and password.
  2. Click EC2.
  3. In the left navigation panel, under Images, click AMIs.
  4. Above the table of AMIs, change the Filter from Owned by Me to Private Images.
  5. In the filter box, type ExtraHop and then press ENTER.
  6. Select the checkbox next to the appropriate ExtraHop sensor AMI and click Launch.
  7. Select a supported instance type for the sensor you are deploying.
  8. Click Next: Configure Instance Details.
  9. Click the Network drop-down list and select one of the VPCs for your organization.
  10. From the Shutdown behavior drop-down list, select Stop.
  11. Click the Protect against accidental termination checkbox.
  12. Click the IAM role drop-down list and select an IAM role.
    Note:If you are deploying a flow sensor (EFC 1291v), this should be the IAM role created in the Deploy an ExtraHop Flow Sensor with AWS guide.
  13. If you launched into a VPC and want to have more than one interface, scroll down to the Network Interfaces section and click Add Device to add additional interfaces to the instance.
    Note:If you have more than one interface, make sure that each interface is on a different subnet.
  14. On the Configure Instance Details page, click Next: Add Storage. The recommended storage capacities are listed below.
    Sensor Storage Capacity
    EDA 1000v 61 GiB
    EDA 1100v 61 GiB
    EDA 2000v 276 GiB
    EDA 6100v 1000 GiB
    EDA 8200v 2000 GiB
  15. Change the Size (GiB) field for the root volume to the value recommended in the table above for your sensor. From the Volume Type drop-down list, select General Purpose SSD (gp2).
  16. (Optional): Add a new volume for a precision packet capture disk.


  17. Click Next: Tag Instance.
  18. In the Value field, enter a name for the instance.
  19. Click Next: Configure Security Group.
  20. On the Configure Security Group page, follow the procedure below with the table that follows to create a new security group or add ports to an existing group. If you already have a security group with the required ports for ExtraHop, you can skip this step.
    1. Select either Create a new security group or Select an existing security group. If you choose to edit an existing group, select the group you want to edit. If you choose to create a new group, enter a Security group name and Description.
    2. Click the Type drop-down list, and select a protocol type. Type the port number in the Port Range field.
    3. For each additional port needed, click the Add Rule button. Then click the Type drop-down list, select a protocol type, and type the port number in the Port Range field.
    The following ports need to be open for the ExtraHop AWS instance:

    TCP ports 22, 80, and 443 inbound to the ExtraHop system: These ports are required to administer the ExtraHop system.

    TCP port 443 outbound to ExtraHop Cloud Services: Add the current ExtraHop Cloud Services IP address. For more information, see Configure your firewall rules.

    (Optional) TCP/UDP ports 2003-2034 inbound to the ExtraHop system from the AWS VPC: If you are not configuring AWS traffic mirroring, you must open a port (or a range of ports) for the packet forwarder to forward RPCAP traffic from your AWS VPC resources. For more information, see Packet Forwarding with RPCAP.

    UDP port 53 outbound to your DNS server: UDP port 53 must be open so the sensor can connect to the ExtraHop licensing server.

  21. Click Review and Launch.
  22. Select Make General Purpose (SSD)... and click Next.
    Note:If you select Make General Purpose (SSD)..., then you will not see this step on subsequent instance launches.
  23. Scroll down to review the AMI details, instance type, and security group information, and then click Launch.
  24. In the pop-up window, click the first drop-down list and select Proceed without a key pair.
  25. Click the I acknowledge… checkbox and then click Launch Instance.
  26. Click View Instances to return to the AWS Management Console.
    From the AWS Management Console, you can view your instance on the Initializing screen. Under the table, on the Description tab, you can find the IP address or hostname for the ExtraHop system that is accessible from your environment.
  27. Register your ExtraHop system.

Next steps

  • (Recommended) Configure AWS traffic mirroring to copy network traffic from your EC2 instances to a high-performance ERSPAN/VXLAN/GENEVE interface on your sensor.
    Tip:If your deployment requires more than 15 Gbps of throughput, divide your traffic mirroring sources across two high-performance ERSPAN/VXLAN/GENEVE interfaces on the EDA 8200v.
  • Review the Sensor and console post-deployment checklist.

Create a traffic mirror target

Complete these steps for each ENI you created.

  1. Return to the AWS Management Console.
  2. From the top menu, click Services.
  3. In the Networking & Content Delivery section, click VPC.
  4. In the left pane, under Traffic Mirroring, click Mirror Targets.
  5. Click Create traffic mirror target and complete the following fields:
    Option Description
    Name tag (Optional) Type a descriptive name for the target.
    Description (Optional) Type a description for the target.
    Target type Select Network Interface.
    Target Select the ENI you previously created.
  6. Click Create.
Note the Target ID for each ENI. You will need the ID when you create a traffic mirror session.

Create a traffic mirror filter

You must create a filter to allow or restrict traffic from your ENI traffic mirror sources to your ExtraHop system. We recommend the following filtering rules to help avoid mirroring duplicate frames from peer EC2 instances that are in a single VPC to the sensor.

  • All outbound traffic is mirrored to the sensor, whether the traffic is sent from one peer device to another on the subnet or if the traffic is sent to a device outside of the subnet.
  • Inbound traffic is only mirrored to the sensor when the traffic is from an external device. For example, this rule ensures that an app server request is not mirrored twice: once from the sending app server and once from the database that received the request.
  • Rule numbers determine the order in which the filters are applied. Rules with lower numbers, such as 100, are applied first.
Important:These filters should only be applied when mirroring all of the instances in a CIDR block.
  1. In the AWS Management Console, in the left pane under Traffic Mirroring, click Mirror Filters.
  2. Click Create traffic mirror filter and complete the following fields:
    Option Description
    Name tag Type a name for the filter.
    Description Type a description for the filter.
    Network services Select the amazon-dns checkbox.
  3. In the Inbound rules section, click Add rule and then complete the following fields:
    Option Description
    Number Type a number for the rule, such as 100.
    Rule action Select reject from the drop-down list.
    Protocol Select All protocols from the drop-down list.
    Source CIDR block Type the CIDR block for the subnet.
    Destination CIDR block Type the CIDR block for the subnet.
    Description (Optional) Type a description for the rule.
  4. In the Inbound rules section, click Add rule again and then complete the following fields:
    Option Description
    Number Type a number for the rule, such as 200.
    Rule action Select accept from the drop-down list.
    Protocol Select All protocols from the drop-down list.
    Source CIDR block Type 0.0.0.0/0.
    Destination CIDR block Type 0.0.0.0/0.
    Description (Optional) Type a description for the rule.
  5. In the Outbound rules section, click Add rule and then complete the following fields:
    Option Description
    Number Type a number for the rule, such as 100.
    Rule action Select accept from the drop-down list.
    Protocol Select All protocols from the drop-down list.
    Source CIDR block: Type 0.0.0.0/0.
    Destination CIDR block: Type 0.0.0.0/0.
    Description (Optional) Type a description for the rule.
  6. Click Create.

Create a traffic mirror session

You must create a session for each AWS resource that you want to monitor. You can create a maximum of 500 traffic mirror sessions per sensor.

Important:To prevent mirror packets from being truncated, set the traffic mirror source interface MTU value to 54 bytes less than the traffic mirror target MTU value for IPv4 and 74 bytes less than the traffic mirror target MTU value for IPv6. For more information about configuring the network MTU value, see the following AWS documentation: Network Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) for Your EC2 Instance.
  1. In the AWS Management Console, in the left pane, under Traffic Mirroring, click Mirror Session.
  2. Click Create traffic mirror session and complete the following fields:
    Option Description
    Name tag (Optional) Type a descriptive name for the session.
    Description (Optional) Type a description for the session
    Mirror source Select the source ENI. The source ENI is typically attached to the EC2 instance that you want to monitor.
    Mirror target Select the traffic mirror target ID generated for the target ENI.
    Session number Type 1.
    VNI Leave this field empty.
    Packet length Leave this field empty.
    Filter From the drop-down menu, select the ID for the traffic mirror filter you created.
  3. Click Create.
Last modified 2024-04-01