4-2
User Guide for Cisco Security MARS Local Controller
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Chapter 4 Configuring Firewall Devices
Cisco Firewall Devices (PIX, ASA, and FWSM)
Note
To be monitored by MARS, the Cisco ASA, PIX 7.0, and FWSM device types have the following
two requirements: each context requires a unique routable IP address for sending syslog
messages to MARS, and each context must have a unique name (h domain name).
2.
Configure the Cisco firewall device to publish its syslog events to MARS.
For Cisco ASA, PIX 7.0, and FWSM device types, you must configure the admin context and each
security context.
Note
MARS uses syslog events to discover information about the network topology. It uses SNMP to
discover CPU utilization and related information.
3.
Within MARS, define the Cisco firewall device by providing the administrative connection
information.
Note
Before you can add an FWSM module in a switch, you must add and configure the base module
(the Cisco switch) in MARS. For more information,
Cisco Switch Devices, page 3-9
.
For Cisco ASA, PIX 7.0, and FWSM, the basic device type represents the admin context. However
you must also define or discover each security context and any installed Advanced Inspection and
Prevention (AIP) modules running IPS 5.0.
To configure MARS to accept syslog event data and to pull device configurations settings from a Cisco
firewall device, you must perform the following tasks:
•
Bootstrap the Cisco Firewall Device, page 4-2
•
Add and Configure a Cisco Firewall Device in MARS, page 4-8
Bootstrap the Cisco Firewall Device
You should configure your Cisco firewall devices to act as reporting devices and manual mitigation
devices because they perform multiple roles on your network. MARS can benefit from the proper
configuration of specific features:
•
IDS/IPS signature detection.
While it does not boast the most efficient or comprehensive set of
signatures, the built-in IDS and IPS signature matching features of the Cisco firewall device can be
critical in detecting an attempted attack.
•
Accept/Deny Logs.
The logging of accepted as well as denied sessions aids in false positive
analysis.
•
Administrative Access.
Administrative access ensure MARS access to several key pieces of data:
–
Route and ARP tables
, which aid in network discovery and MAC address mapping.
–
NAT and PAT translation tables
, which aid in address resolution and attack path analysis,
exposing the real instigator of attacks.
–
OS Settings
, from which MARS determines the correct ACLs to block detected attacks, which
paste into a management session with the Cisco firewall device.