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Deploy the ExtraHop packetstore in AWS

In this guide, you will learn how to launch the ExtraHop packetstore AMI in your Amazon Web Services (AWS) environment.

Your environment must meet the following requirements to deploy a virtual packetstore in AWS:
  • An AWS account
  • Access to the Amazon Machine Image (AMI) of the ExtraHop Trace appliance
  • An Extrahop packetstore product key
  • An AWS instance type that most closely matches the packetstore VM size, as follows:
    Packetstore Supported Instance Types
    ETA 1150v m4.xlarge, m4.2xlarge
    Tip:You can resize your instance without redeploying the packetstore. See the AWS documentation for details.

Before you begin

The Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) of ExtraHop appliances are not publicly shared. Before you can start the deployment procedure, you must send your AWS account ID to support@extrahop.com. Your account ID will be linked to the ExtraHop AMI.
  1. Sign in to AWS with your user name 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 ExtraHop packetstore AMI and click Launch.
  7. Select one of the following supported instance types:
    Instance Type Details
    m4.xlarge Recommended for most installations.
    m4.2xlarge Select m4.2xlarge if you need greater throughput. The cost for this instance is higher than for m4.xlarge.
  8. Click the Network drop-down list and select the default setting or one of the VPCs for your organization.
  9. (Optional): Click the IAM role drop-down list and select an IAM role.
  10. From the Shutdown behavior drop-down list, select Stop.
  11. Select the Protect against accidental termination checkbox.
  12. Click Next: Add Storage.
  13. In the Size (GiB) field for the root volume, type the size of the storage volume. The minimum packetstore size is 1000 GiB (1 TB) and the maximum datastore size is 2047 GiB (2 TB).
  14. From the Volume Type drop-down menu, select either Magnetic or General Purpose SSD (GP2). If you specify a size greater than 1024 GiB, you must select General Purpose SSD (GP2). GP2 provides better storage performance, although at a higher cost.
  15. Click Next: Add Tags.
  16. Click Add Tag.
  17. In the Value field, type a name for the instance.
  18. Click Next: Configure Security Group.
  19. Select an existing security group or create a new security group with the required ports.
  20. Click Add Rule and add the following ports:
    Type Port Range
    SSH 22
    Custom TCP 443
    Custom TCP 2003
    Custom UDP 2003

    TCP ports 22, and 443 are required to administer the ExtraHop system. TCP and UDP port 2003 is required for the packet forwarder.

  21. Click Review and Launch.
  22. Select the boot volume option you selected in step 14 and then click Next.
    Note:If you select Make General Purpose (SSD)...(recommended), you will not see this step on subsequent instance launches.
  23. 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 Instances.
  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 an address or hostname for the ExtraHop system that is accessible from your environment.

Next steps

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