Knowledge Base

Getting Started

Once NP-View Server is installed, the application will start automatically. Note that NP-Live has been Rebranded to NP-View Server.  Several of the instructions still correctly refer to NP-Live as we migrate the installation services to the new product names.

If the Linux Administrator wishes to start and stop the application, two helper scripts have been included to aid in these tasks:

• Stop : sudo /opt/np-live/stop_NP-Live.sh
• Start : sudo /opt/np-live/start_NP-Live.sh

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Upon initial start, the Welcome screen shows the configuration wizard to guide the Administrator through the remaining configuration steps which include:

1. Authentication
2. Licensing
3. Users

Configure Authentication

The following authentication options are available to configure in NP-View Server.

• Active Directory / LDAP
• Radius
• Local

Active Directory or LDAP

For Active Directory or LDAP authentication we use LDAPv3 TLS over port 389.  If the communication returns an exception, we attempt unencrypted communication. We do not support LDAPS.  Before starting, note that setup requires a dedicated Credential Binding Account (LDAP Administrator). The Credentials Binding Account must be included in at least one of the system groups for NP-View Server to query and link the users.

An example of a properly configured LDAP screen on NP-View is below:

The setup page will allow for the definition of three system groups using a Distinguished Name.  A Distinguished Name (often referred to as a DN or FDN) is a string that uniquely identifies an entry in the Directory Information Tree. The format of a DN is: CN=groupname,OU=grouptype,DC=subdomain,DC=example,DC=com.  Your domain needs to match the DC specified in your DN. For an example DN like above, the domain would be: ‘subdomain.example.com’.

For example:

ldap_group_admin = 'CN=NP-Live Admin, OU=Permissions, DC=ad, DC=np, DC=test'
ldap_group_write = 'CN=NP-Live WorkspaceAdmin, OU=Permissions, DC=ad, DC=np, DC=test'
ldap_group_read = 'CN=NP-Live Viewer, OU=Permissions, DC=ad, DC=np, DC=test'

group_translation = {'Administrator' : ldap_group_admin,
'WorkspaceAdmin' : ldap_group_write,
'Viewer' : ldap_group_read}

Reminder:   The three CN names must be unique or roles will be overlapped in NP-View resulting in features being disabled.

To find the DN on Windows, open a Windows command prompt on your Active Directory server and type the command: dsquery group -name "known group name".

Users assigned to NP-View must login once to get setup within the NP-View database for sharing and transferring of workspaces.  No users exist until after the first login.

Troubleshooting Active Directory Setup

If an error is returned when configuring Active Directory, the steps to troubleshoot are:

Step 1: From your Active Directory server, type the command below in a terminal after replacing the “CN=…” portion with the Distinguished Name of the group you’d like to check:

dsget group "CN=groupname,OU=grouptype,DC=subdomain,DC=example,DC=com" -members

Verify that the output shows the expected list of user(s) in that group. If it doesn’t, check your Active Directory group and user configuration.

Step 2: From your Active Directory server, type the command below in a terminal after replacing the “CN=…” portion with the Distinguished Name of the group you’d like to check, and also replacing USERNAME with your actual username:

dsquery * -Filter "(&(objectClass=user)(memberOf:1.2.840.113556.1.4.1941:=CN=groupname,OU=grouptype,DC=subdomain,DC=example,DC=com)(sAMAccountName=USERNAME))"

If the output is empty, verify that your user in Active Directory has the attribute sAMAccountName set. If not, set it and try the command again. Verify also that the sAMAccountName value matches your AD username value. You can also try to enter the username in the NP-View Active Directory configuration form with the format USERNAME@DOMAIN.

If the output shows the expected list of groups for that user, but NP-View still generates an error, then contact the NP support team.

Radius

Radius authentication requires your server address and secret. Once input, the user can test their connection using their personal login credentials for verification.  Note that for Radius authentication, all users are assigned to the Administrator group.

Local Authentication

NP-View Server provides an internal mechanism for the administration of users.  During setup, the screen will require the user to setup the Administration account by inputting a user ID and password.  This account will be assigned to the Administrator role and will have access to all system features. An example of a properly configured Local Auth screen on NP-View is below:

User Management

NP-View Server provides a User Management function for users assigned to the the Administrator role. It can be accessed in the user menu at the top right of the screen either on the workspace page or from within a workspace.

User Management – Active Directory or LDAP

Clicking User Management will open a window that shows the LDAP setup information. The left half of the screen allows the user to change the NP-View LDAP settings.  LDAP Auth credentials are required to update the information.  The optional email field override is used as the default email address for the Notification Manager if no email address is provided as part of the LDAP credentials.

The right half of the user management screen allows for the testing of each LDAP user and will retrieve their LDAP settings for review.

User Management – Local Authentication

Clicking User Management will open a window that shows the user related information associated with this account, their account details, and their account permissions.

From this window Administrators can edit (pencil icon), delete (x icon) or add user accounts (create new user button).

A user’s ID should be the user’s email address (this will be used for notifications) and an administrator-defined password.  Each user will need to be assigned to a role which will provide the user with system wide access.

1. Administrator – Has access to all users, workspace and system administration functions including managing users and license functions.
2. WorkspaceAdmin – Has access to all workspace administration functions.
3. Viewer – Has read only access to the system.

Reset Authentication

The Administrator can also reset the authentication method entirely by selecting the “Reset authentication system” link. “Reset authentication” only resets the authentication and does not remove any workspaces or data.  Note that workspaces are assigned to user id’s.  If the authentication method (or user id format) is changed, the workspaces will no longer be available to users.  The administrator or workspace admin must utilize the transfer workspace function to assign the legacy workspace to the new user id’s.

Password Reset

• Workspace Admin or Viewer user groups:  Contact your Administrator who can manually reset your password through the User Management function on the system menu (upper right corner).
• Admins: connect through SSH to the NP-View server and remove the file db/auth_provider.cfg inside the NP-View application folder (by default: /opt/np-live).
• Refresh the NP-View web page to show the Welcome screen and reconfigure the authentication.

License and Terms

The Administrator can Show, Upgrade or Renew their license. Licensing terms and legal disclosures are available from the system menu where user management is found.

Configure License Key

After the authentication, the Welcome screen will guide the Administrator through reviewing the EULA and adding the license key. The license key should have been sent to you by email and also posted on the Network Perception portal. If you haven’t received a key, please send a request to support@network-perception.com. Renewed or upgraded license keys can only be installed from the home screen (not from within a workspace) by members of the Administrator group.

Additional Configuration Features

Configure Automatic Updates

NP-View Server can automatically download new releases and update itself if you select “Automatically check for updates”.  Alternatively, you can select “Update NP-View” from the upper right menu or update offline using the following steps:

1. Download the latest release from the Network Perception portal.
2. Copy the release file to the NP-View Server using SCP or WinSCP
3. Connect to the NP-View Server shell using SSH and execute the release file with the command sudo sh NP-View_server_installer.sh

Configure Shutdown and Startup Options

To speed performance on startup, NP-View terminates background processes that are running when the system is gracefully shutdown and clears out all tasks and jobs.  If any processes remain upon startup, they are also terminated. To change the configuration,

• stop the NP-View Server application.
• in the docker-compose.yml file for the manager change cancelTasksStartup=True to cancelTasksStartup=False
• in the docker-compose.yml file for the manager change clearRqStartup=True to clearRqStartup=False Note that the previous setting must also be set to True for this operation to work.
• start the NP-View Server application.

Configure User Timeout

The system can be configured automatically time out a user after a period of idle days.  The default is set to 30 days. To change the configuration,

• stop the NP-View Server application.
• in the docker-compose.yml file for the webserver\environment service, change sessionLengthDays=30 to any positive floating point number representing elapsed days. For Example:
  • 0.5 = 12 hrs
  • 1.5 = 36 hours
  • 30 = 720 hrs.
  • If set to 0, user timeout will default to 30 minutes.
• start the NP-View Server application.

Timeout for connectors is 1 day and cannot be changed. Also, the timeout value is not static and will be overwritten by the next software update. Prior to restarting after an update, the timeout needs to be reset to the value of choice.

Configure Devices within a Custom View

The system can be configured to allow for more devices within a custom view.  The default is set to 25 devices. To change the configuration:

• stop the NP-View Server application.
• in the docker-compose.yml file for the
  • services : manager : environment, change devCountLimit=25 to a positive integer.
  • services : bgmanager : environment, change devCountLimit=25 to a positive integer.
  • services : webserver : environment, change devCountLimit=25 to a positive integer.
• start the NP-View Server application.

Note: The limit is not static and will be overwritten by the next software update. Prior to restarting after an update, the limit needs to be reset to the value of choice. Note: NP has only tested the system to the default limit. Raising the limit is at the user’s risk as unintended consequences including data loss and the system exhausting system resources may occur.

Configure A Static IP Address on your Linux Server

To set a static IP address for your NP-View Server, follow the instructions in this document.

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This section describes how to update the NP-View Server application and the underlying components if the OVF was used for the initial installation.

Updating the NP-View Server Application

To update an existing NP-View Application, the steps are:

1. Download the latest release Linux Installer Release (not the .OVF) from the Dragos Portal and copy it onto your NP-view server using SCP (or WinSCP from a Windows client)
2. Login onto the NP-View server using SSH (or Putty from a Windows client)
3. Get root permissions using the command: sudo -i
4. Prior to installing the new version, it is recommended to make a backup of your database (see below)
5. Execute the new NP-View release file using the command: sh NP-View_installer.sh  (where NP-View_installer.sh is the name of the new release file downloaded in step 1).
6. Follow the guided steps of the installer, which will automatically start NP-View once the update is complete.
7. Connect to the user interface of NP-View using your web browser and check in the bottom-left corner of the home page that the version number matches the new release

Updating the NP-View Application to version 5 and above

Prerequisites

• Please update your current version of NP-View to version 4.3.5. Both Server and Desktop must be on this version before starting your upgrade.

For NP-View Server:

• Verify there is sufficient disk space for the upgrade (3x size of Redis db).
• If not follow log cleanup procedure listed in KB (~250MB possible).
• If still insufficient space, disk space will need to be added before upgrade.
• Verify all users are logged out of the system to not lose data during update.

Back-Up NP-View database

NP-View Desktop

1. Copy the 4.3.5 database folder to a safe location. This will allow you to keep a back up 4.3.5 in the case you would want to revert back to 4.3.5some text
   • C:\Users\<name>\AppData\Roaming\NP-View\db
2. Download NP-View from the portal and install.
3. Starting the application may take longer than usual as a one-time database maintenance operation is being performed.

NP-View Server

Option 1:

1. SSH as the root user to Terminal of NP-View server
   • ssh root@<ip-of-guest-os>
   • If needed sudo -i or sudo su will give you admin privileges once you are logged in.
2. Move to the NP-View (np-live) app directory
   • cd /opt/np-live
3. Stop NP-View
   • sh ./stop_NP-Live.sh
4. The db directory contains all of the NP-View data. Create a tarball of the directory
   • tar -czf np-view-v4.3.5-db-backup.tar.gz db
5. Move the file to a safe location.
   • Note: This file will allow you to revert back to 4.3.5.

Option 2 (This option is only available if your server is a VM):

• Your server admin can take a snapshot image of the server as a restore instance. This tends to be easier and quicker for most of the customers that we have worked with.

Once you have a back up and have updated to 4.3.5, please download version 5+ and follow the instructions listed in the above section "Updating the NP-View Server Application".

NP-View Server Migration

Prerequisites

• Follow the instructions above to update the NP-View CentOS server to the latest NP-View version.
• Create a VM using the latest version of the NP-View Server OVF.
• Both Servers need to be running to perform the migration.
• Users should be logged out of NP-View and close any active session before restoring.

CentOS Migration to Ubuntu for NP-View Server

1. Use backup and restore script.
   • sudo -i (This should take you to the root folder)
     • Enter credentials if prompted.
   • To run shell script: /opt/NP-Live/NP-View_backupand_restore.sh
     • There will be 3 options when using the script.
       • Backup
       • Restore
       • Exit
   • The script will check disk space when creating the backup.
   • The script will notify you if the storage is full and stop running.
2. Move the CentOS tar file to the Ubuntu server’s root directory.
   • sudo -i (This should take you to the root folder)
   • Enter credentials if prompted.
   • To run shell script: /opt/NP-Live/NP-View_backupand_restore.sh
     • Select restore
     • The script gives a final warning before running.
     • The script checks if the docker containers are running.
3. Once the script is completed it will notify you.
   • Connect to the web interface and verify data is transferred.
   • If you are unable to connect to the web interface restart NP-View service once the upgrade is complete.

Get Version API call

To check the version update your server URL to the following

https://<np-view_server_address>/version

Backing up the NP-View Server Database Manually

1. Stop the NP-View Server (you can use the script /opt/np-live/stop_nplive.sh)
2. From the NP-View Server folder (by default: /opt/np-live/, run the command: tar -zcf db_backup_$(date '+%Y_%m_%d').tgz db (this command may take few minutes to complete)
3. Run the new release installer, which will update the containers and then launch NP-View Server

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Updating Linux Ubuntu and Docker

(Version 5 and up installation with the OVF)

We will be providing update packages for Ubuntu and Docker. Please go to the following page for more information:

https://www.network-perception.com/kb/ubuntu-and-docker-update-packages

Updating Linux CentOS Ubuntu and Docker

‍CentOS is now EOL as of June 30, 2024. We highly recommend customers to transition to Ubuntu.

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If the OVF was used for the initial installation, that package included the CentOS 7 operating system and Docker. These applications must be updated separately from the NP-View Server Application using the below instructions. The instructions cover NP-View Servers that have internet access and those that do not have internet access.

Updating when the NP-View server has internet access:

– stop NP-View
cd /opt/np-live/
./stop_NP-Live.sh

– run all updates
yum update -y

– reboot server
reboot

Updating when the NP-View server does not have internet access:

If NP-View server is installed in an environment that does not have internet access, a separate Centos 7 server with Docker that has internet access is required to create the update package. All commands below are case sensitive.

Network-Perception uses this mirror for CentOS updates and this mirror for Docker updates

Centos 7 that is online:

– make sure you are root
sudo su -

– create packages directory
cd /root/
mkdir packages
cd packages

– download all packages
yum list installed | awk {'print $1; }' | tail -n +3 | xargs yumdownloader

– you should see docker included in the output list.

– compress archive (capital -C is important)
tar czf /root/packages.tar.gz *.rpm -C /root/packages/

– Copy packages.tar.gz to the offline server. The user can use the below command to scp:
scp packages.tar.gz root@ipAddress:/root/

Centos 7 that is offline running NP-View:

– make sure you are root
sudo su -
– stop NP-View
cd /opt/np-live/
./stop_NP-Live.sh

– create directory and extract the archive
cd /root/
mkdir packages/
mv packages.tar.gz packages/
cd packages/
tar -xf packages.tar.gz

– install all updates:
yum -y localinstall *.rpm

– reboot server
reboot

– now everything is up to date on the offline server.

If you get any docker swarm errors:

– make sure you are root
sudo su -

– leave and join swarm cluster
docker swarm leave --force && docker swarm init

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Network mapping provides the Networking Team (Network Engineer, Network Security) with capabilities that allow users to:

• Visualize an accurate topology of the network architecture
• Identify and label critical cyber assets and critical network zones
• Easily review which devices are protecting which network zones

Visualize Topology

NP-View can be used to discover your network topology and the underlying control plane, including layer-2 and layer-3 configurations. Without leaving the topology map, you can review many aspects of the network’s design including Firewalls, Routers, Switches, Gateways, Networks, VPNs, Hosts and more.

Critical Assets and Zones

Each asset can be tagged with categories and criticalities as well as grouped into zones making it easy to review which devices are protecting which network zones.

Details On-demand

Selecting a node in the topology map will interactively display an information panel with detailed data about that node.

Firewall ruleset review provides Network Engineers, Network Security, and Compliance Analysts with functionality for:

• Easy review of firewall access rules and object groups using the Access Rules and Object Groups reports.
• Automatic identification of configuration risks using the Risks and Warnings report.
• Validating recent policy modifications as part of a configuration change review process using the Change Tracking report.

How to Review Access Rules

An independent review of firewall policies has to be periodically conducted to ensure that network access rules are correctly implemented and documented. It is important because lack of access rule review leads to unexpected network access vulnerabilities.

• Frequency: each time firewall policies are changed, and at least once a quarter
• How to do it:
  • Step 1: given a workspace populated with network device configurations, open the Access Rule table from the main menu (top left)
  • Step 2: leverage the “Column Search” feature or the “Compare” feature to show the rules in scope of your verification
    • For instance, filter the “Device” column to only show rules for a specific device, or filter the “Binding (ACL)” column to only show rules bound to a specific interface, or use the “Compare” feature to only show rules added or removed recently
  • Step 3: review values for the source, destination, service, binding, risk, and description of each rule in scope
    • The “Description” column captures comment, description, or justification from the device configuration
    • The “Risk” and “Risk Criticality” columns are populated by NP-View during the automated risk analysis
  • Step 4: to identify rules that are not justified, sort the table by “Description”. Empty values will be shown at the bottom.
  • Step 5: to document your review process, double click on the “Comment” or “Comment Status” cells to add your own comment. The comment status can be either “Verified” or “To Review” or “To Revise”
  • Step 6: to save an evidence of your review process, export the table to Excel using the export options in the top right corner of the table

Access Rules Table

The Access Rules report provides the users with complete details on each Access Rule with the ability to add justifications and actions.

Object Groups

The Object Groups report provides the users with complete details on each Object Group with the ability to add justifications and actions.

Risks and Warnings

As modifications are made to the network, the Network Perception default Policies and Requirements identify potential risks.  The Risks and Warnings report provides the users with a summary of the potential risks and their criticality with the ability to add actions and comments.

Change Tracking

As modifications are made to the network and the updated configuration files are imported, the changes are logged in the Change Tracking table.

Segmentation verification provides the Networking Team and Audit Team with capabilities that allows users to:

• Assess correctness of network segmentation
• Identify risky network connectivity paths
• Understand exposure of vulnerable assets

Network Segmentation Accuracy

NP-View be used to verify the accuracy of your network segmentation.

The connectivity matrix which is available from the device info panel can be used to verify open ports between devices.

Inbound and outbound connections can be verified for each network using the highlight paths function.

Identifying Risky Connectivity Paths

Using industry best practices, Network Perception automatically identifies potential risks related to network configurations. Using the Network Perception  Connectivity Path analysis, the user can review each of the highlighted risks and make a judgment on action.

Exposure of Vulnerable Assets – Vulnerability Analytics

NP-View provides your security team with a single pane of glass for reviewing network vulnerability exposure. With the addition of scanner data or data from a vulnerability data service, vulnerabilities can be tracked across your network.

Topology Display of Vulnerabilities

When scanned data has been added to a workspace, and a topology view is built that also includes that scan data, nodes on the topology of that view will be marked with a shield indicating the presence of vulnerabilities.

These shields can be toggled on and off using the topology settings menu.

Device Panel Display of Vulnerabilities

Firewalls, Gateways, and Hosts may contain vulnerability and service information imported from scans. Clicking on any of these nodes in a View that contains vulnerability information, will display it in the info panel that opens over the main menu.

Clicking on the Vulnerabilities link will present a pop out with the vulnerability details.

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Performing a regular review of your compliance metrics is important for your organization.  Performing the review manually is time consuming and tedious. Audit assistance provides the Compliance Team (Auditor, Compliance Officer, Compliance Analyst, and Consultants) with capabilities that allow users to:

• Verify compliance with cybersecurity regulations and best practices through Policy Review.
• Seamlessly store evidence for compliance review with Change Tracking.
• Easily prepare compliance reports using the Audit Assistants listed below:

Workspace Report (Standard)

The Workspace Report assistant is available within each workspace and will generate a report for a specific view that includes detailed information about configuration files that were imported and parsed including:

• Configuration assessment report including risk alerts
• Ports and Interfaces
• Access rules
• Object groups
• Path analysis

Industry Best Practice (Premium)

The Best Practice assistant requires a license to activate. This report is available within each workspace to generate a report for a specific view that includes the following topics:

• Parser Warnings and potential misconfigurations
• Unused Object Groups
• Access Rules missing a justification
• Unnamed nodes
• NP Best Practice Policies on access rules and CiS Benchmarks that have identified potential risks
• ACL’s with no explicit deny by default rule

NERC CIP Compliance (Premium)

The NERC CIP assistant requires a license to activate this function and guides the user through the steps required to create a report covering CIP-005 requirements. The NERC CIP audit assistant is only available within a NERC-CIP workspace and allows audit teams to classify BES cyber assets as High, Medium, and Low based on the standards. We have added a category for untrusted (Internet, Corp, etc.) to tag non BES assets. NP-View allows compliance teams to collect and report evidence related to the following requirements:

• CIP-002 – BES Cyber System Categorization; impact rating and 15-month review
• CIP-003 – Security Management Control; cyber security policy
• CIP-005 – Electronic Security Perimeter; remote access management
• CIP-007 – System Security Management; ports and services
• CIP-010 – Change Management and Vulnerability; configuration change management, configuration monitoring, vulnerability assessment

A demo workspace for the NERC CIP audit assistant is included with the software.  To see the audit assistant in action, follow these steps:

1. Click on the demo workspace to build the topology.
2. Create a custom view by selecting all of the firewalls, right click, Create View from Selection and give it a name.
3. Once the view is generated, select Manage Zones from the left manu and click on the Auto Generate Zones button.
   • Red zones represent your high criticality assets.
   • Orange zones represent your medium criticality assets.
   • Yellow zones represent your low criticality assets.
   • Gray zones represent your untrusted assets.
4. On the left menu, select Summary Reports and the NERC-CIP Compliance Report
5. Click through the wizard, the defaults will represent the selections suggested by the auto group function.
6. Click Generate Report to view the report in a new tab.

Overview

In NP-View there are three levels of segmentation that can be used to organize your assets. From the most general to most specific these are:

1. Workspaces: Contain a group of devices
2. Views: Segments the devices present in a workspace into multiple views
3. Zones: Segments the devices present in a view into multiple visual zones

This article will focus on Views and the different functionality around them.

Home View

• After creating a workspace and uploading 1 or more configuration files, NP-View will automatically generate the Home View.
• The Home View presents a high level overview of the primary devices within the workspace (Firewalls, Routers, and Switches).  It is the starting point for all workspaces.
• To view assets connected to the primary devices as well as path analysis a new view must be created. (All views other than the home view will contain all the assets connected to the selected primary devices along with path analysis data.

Manage Views

Manage Views: All View related functions can be accessed from the main menu under Manage Views and can be opened from:

1. The main menu
2. With the shortcut key “V”
3. From the view navigation bar at the top of the map
4. Right click on a node or group and using the right-click menu

Creating a View

When opening Manage Views in a workspace that contains only the Home View, you cannot edit the Home View, so a new view will need to be created.

1. Open Manage Views
2. Select Create New View
3. Name the View
4. Choose the Devices and/or Auxiliary Data to include in the new view
5. Choose whether or not to include external paths (This can provide a more complete picture but significantly increases build time, and is not always necessary)
6. Create View
7. The view will be created in the background allowing continued use of the home view until the analysis has completed and the view has been built.
8. Once completed, the topology map will switch to the newly created view with the view details.

Note: Devices can be connected by a solid or dotted line. A solid line indicates evidence of a direct connection. A dotted path represents a connection that is inferred from the information provided (e.g., a layer 2 connection). Additional configuration data is required to convert inferred to direct connections.

Editing View

Existing views can be updated by opening Edit mode

• Select the desired View
• Click the kebab menu
• Select Edit

From this point you can

• Rename the view
• Add or Remove devices from the view
• Change Path Analysis used (will reprocess the view and topology)
• Delete the view – Select the Trashcan from the kebab menu (only the view will be removed, not data will be deleted)

View Navigation

Navigation between views can be accessed in 2 ways

1. From the topology: by opening the View Navigation dropdown
2. From Manage Views by opening the menu navigating to manage views and selecting a View.

New in 5.0 [Release Notes] we’ve included:

1. Now you can load and work with the details of a view without loading the view on the map
   1. Views are only loaded on the topology if the Play button is selected
   2. View details only are loaded if the row itself is clicked
2. Views build and rebuild in the background allowing you to continue work while a view is being generated

Limitations

Devices per view are limited by the product purchased as outlined below:

• Desktop: 15 devices per view
• Server : 25 devices per view

The above limitations also depend on the size and complexity of the configuration files and the specifications of the system.  Lower powered system may reduce the capability to support the above limits. YMMV.

Overview

In NP-View there are three levels of segmentation that can be used to organize your assets. From the most general to most specific these are:

1. Workspaces: Contain a group of devices
2. Views: Segments the devices present in a workspace into multiple views
3. Zones: Segments the devices present in a view into multiple visual zones

This article will focus on Zones and the different functionality around them.

Zones – Defined

Zones in NP-View are the most granular form of segmentation that is offered. Zones are visual markers that group nodes together. They can be created by user’s on demand, or through the Auto Generate Zones function in Manage Zones, on the main menu. Zones can be named and assigned a criticality.

Below is an example of a Zone with a High Criticality, named EMS-Backup.

Adding Zones

Adding, Editing, and Deleting Zones can be done

1. Manually – From the Topology
2. Automatically – From the Main Menu >> Manage Zones

Manually – The Topology

1. Hold Shift
2. Select a group of nodes
3. The Multi-Selection panel will open over the main menu
4. In the middle of the panel there is a Save Selection as Zone segment
5. Give the grouping a name and criticality
6. Create Zone
7. The Zone will appear on the Topology

Automatically – Manage Zones

From the Main Menu Manage Zones can be accessed. This is the primary place to work with Zones in NP-View. From Manage Zones you can Autogenerate Zones based on keywords found in the section below.

Manage Zones from menu

Auto generate zones only available if no zones have been created.

Zones will be automatically named and color coded based on asset keywords.

Once Zones have been generated they will appear on the map and each zone will be listed in manage zones. Clicking any zone, either on the Topology or from Manage Zones will open the details for the Zone

Edit/ Delete Zones

Once created, zones can be manually reclassified or deleted by clicking inside the zone space and selecting the appropriate option from the menu. If some devices are not properly included in a zone, the devices can be selected and manually (or right clicked on and added to a zone).

Once automatic zones are created, the Auto Generate Zones function is disabled until all zones are deleted.

For manual zone creation, the user can select two or more objects from the topology map and the zone panel will display.

From the panel, the user can create a zone, name it and assign a criticality. The user can also assign tags and criticalities to the selected devices.

For existing zones, the user can add / remove nodes from zones, edit the name or criticality or delete the selected zones.

Selecting a zone name displays the details for the zone. The user can rename the zone or reassign the criticality.  They can also perform a zone analysis of inbound and outbound paths.

Right clicking on any topology object will allow for the addition or removal of an object from a zone.

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When was it introduced?

• Beginning with NP-View Version 5.0 (release notes) users will now have access to a new feature called the NAT Rules Report.

What does it do?

• Displays all information available for NAT Rules on the selected Device.

Where is the Routes Report located?

Available from a selected Firewall’s Information Panel

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Network visualization is the most powerful feature of NP-View.  Create a workspace, import configuration files and supporting meta data, and NP-View’s visualization function will process the information into a usable network diagram.

Home View

The Home View shows the user a high level overview of the primary devices within a workspace (Firewalls, Routers and Switches).

The home view is the starting point for all workspaces. Devices can be connected by a solid or dotted line. A solid line indicates evidence of a direct connection.

From the home view, the user can:

1. Select a single device (left click) to view details on the information panel.
2. Select multiple devices and create zones. See more info on zone creation.
3. Select one or more devices and create a view. See more info on view creation.

When objects are moved on the topology map, the ‘Save Topology’ button will become active.  Multiple objects can be moved prior to saving the topology.

If the user attempts to switch views before saving, a notification will be presented as follows:

The user can either cancel the operation and then select ‘Save Topology’ or proceed to the selected view without saving.  Selecting OK can also be used as an undo function.

Topology Network Map

From the topology view, the user can rearrange the objects on the canvas by selecting and dragging a device to a new location. Device location can be saved with the “Save Topology” button.

Devices can be assigned a category (colored text tag) and criticality (colored ring).

If a device has active alerts, the number of alerts is displayed in the top-right corner (red circle).

If a device has user entered comments pertaining to this device, the number of comments is displayed in the top-left corner (blue circle).

Multiple devices can be selected by holding the shift key down (the cursor changes to a + sign) and dragging the mouse to make the selection.  The Ctrl key can be used to select / deselect individual devices. Once selected, the devices can be assigned to a common category or criticality.  Alternatively, the devices can be assigned to a of zone. See more info on zone creation.

Unmapped hosts and networks indicate IP addresses that are external to the topology and could not be connected to primary networks. For a given networking device (e.g., a firewall), primary networks constitute the IP ranges defined by its interfaces. In other words, all the networks a device faces are called primary. Nonetheless, the device’s ruleset can refer to arbitrary IP spaces, not necessarily those within primary ranges. Consequently, NP-View identifies those external/unknown IP spaces as hosts, networks, or ranges, as defined in the config, and places them behind the Unmapped gateway.

Additional topology features include expand / collapse a node, auto arrange peers in a circle and pin / unpin a specific node. These features are available when clicking on a node and using the kebab menu on the info panel.

Tip: When importing a devices, the topology map attempts to place each node in an unused slot but may overlap nodes and paths.  By selecting unpin, moving one device, selecting center and then pin, the map will auto arrange.  For topologies with over 100 nodes, the hosts will automatically be collapsed to make the map easier to read. Each collapsed network can be individually expanded or the entire map can be expanded but for very large workspaces, this may take some time to expand.

Firewall Device Information

For Firewalls, Routers and Switches, when selecting a device, the device attributes will be displayed on the left device information menu.

The device panel will be displayed with the appropriate label. The device type is defined by heuristics.  If the device is misclassified, clicking on the drop down allows the user to reclassify the device as a firewall, router or switch.

The user can also assign a category and a device criticality. Additional information includes being able to review multiple version of configuration files and compare them with the diff viewer. Configuration files must have the same name for the diff viewer to identify and compare files.

A risk assessment grade is assigned for each firewall based on the number of open risks and warnings and their associated criticality.

The connectivity matrix shows all of the connections for the selected firewall and the IP rules for each connection. This is only available from within a custom view.

Risks and Warnings shows the active risks, warnings and the criticality for the selected device.

Access Rules shows the rules for the selected device with the ability to compare two sets of rules and display the differences.

Object groups shows the object groups for the selected device.

A summary of the number of routes and a table of the interfaces are also displayed.

Administrators and Workspace Admin’s can delete devices from the workspace using the delete option under the tree dot menu.

Host Information

For hosts, the following is displayed:

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Users can assign a host icon, category and a criticality.

Display inbound / outbound connectivity paths as well as displaying stepping stone analysis.  Inbound and outbound connections are filtered to show the exact match for a given path. In some cases, no inbound or outbound paths will be displayed. (See below)

Display the services loaded from PCAP files.

Display vulnerabilities loaded from Vulnerability Scanner files.

Custom Views

Custom views are used to organize devices and analyze the paths between the devices. Path analysis and stepping stone analysis is only available from within a custom view. Additional information on custom view creation can be found here.

Network & Gateway Information

For networks and gateways, the panel to the left will be displayed.

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Users can assign a category and a criticality.

Additional information includes being able to review the IP address of the connected hosts.

The user can also search the config file for the device.

Display inbound connectivity / outbound paths as well as displaying stepping stone analysis. When selecting Inbound or Outbound, all paths are highlighted in gray, selecting a specific protocol will highlight the path in orange.

Connectivity Paths

When displaying the device menu for a specific device, clicking on the arrow (>) will expand the inbound and outbound connections.  Clicking on any service or IP will highlight the path on the topology map.  Source objects are designated by blue circles (Src) and destination objects are highlighted by red circles (Dest).

Additional path information is shown including the rule associated with the path.  Clicking on the blue text will invoke the access rules with the associated information.  The user can also add a comment if required.
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Stepping Stone Analysis

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Stepping Stone Analysis is available on custom views for Networks and Endpoints. Click any node that is not a Firewall/ Router/ Switch and open the info panel.

Find the Accordion section named "Stepping Stone Analysis" and open to reveal options.

Run as Source or Run as Destination.

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The colors reflect how many hops a way another node is from communicating with the analyzed node. The pie slices on the analyzed node show the distribution of nodes per number of hops.

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Path Block Analysis – Troubleshooting Path Blocking Issues

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The above sections describe the different types of Path Analysis available in NP-View that will give information about connections in the Topology. But what if we want to confirm that a connection is blocked? For this NP-View offers Path Block Analysis.

Path Block Analysis allows a user to take two hosts/ two networks/ or one host and one network and to troubleshoot if the connection between is blocked, and if so why.

Open a Topology View that is not the Home View and select two nodes you wish to Troubleshoot Path Blocks on. When the two nodes are selected, right click on one of them and select “Troubleshoot Path Blocking Issue”

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A dialog will slide out of the right side of the screen. The Source and Destination of the selected nodes will be entered and can be swapped. Protocol and Port are pre-populated and cannot be changed. Path Block analysis always searches using IP/any. Clicking Start will begin the analysis.

Path Block Found

When a Path Block is found the dialog will have a red notification, and the Blocked Paths window on the left side of the screen will be populated with the block information, including the reason why traffic is blocked. This information is not stored and will be erased as soon as ESC is pressed.

Path Block Not Found

When a Path Block is not found the dialog will present a green notification. The Blocked Paths window on the left side of the screen will be populated with a message that no blocks were found.

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NP-View can import auxiliary data from third party systems to enrich and augment analysis.  The data files listed below are supported and can be manually imported using drag and drop or through a shared network drive connector. We recommend importing configuration files first or at the same time as the auxiliary data files or a system error may occur. If auxiliary data is input after configuration files are processed, the auxiliary data will need to be added to a new or existing custom view(s) to be displayed

Host Files

Hosts can be identified from multiple sources including configuration files, network scan files, ARP tables, and hostname files. Once network device configuration files have been imported, one can import additional files to add metadata to the workspace. A hostname file is a simple text file with two columns: IP address and hostname separate by a tab.

Aux Data Loading Example

Note: This example applies to the loading of any Aux data file but is specific to creating and loading a host file.

First, load a firewall into a workspace and create a custom view with the firewall.

Notice that four hosts are not named.  To fix this, create a host file, named hosts.txt, to enrich the information.

The host file will add a name tied to each of the hosts and also includes hosts not currently displayed.

Let's use
172.30.90.50 Alice
172.30.90.51 Bob
172.30.90.42 Wendy
172.30.91.80 Sam
172.30.91.81 Carl
Note: Make sure any hosts added to the file do not conflict with firewall interfaces or they will be merged into the firewall.

Save the host file, and import it into the workspace.

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Once processed, proceed to the “Manage Views” menu and select a new or existing view to add Auxiliary data to.

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Below the Select Devices box, is the Auxiliary Data box.

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Choose any of the Auxiliary Data files you've added previously. (This image is not reflective of the example but to illustrate that users may select several Aux files).

For our example a user would see a single file called hosts.txt that would contain the names we've added.

Once the the view is created the updated assets will be displayed on the topology and in the Asset Inventory (on the main menu).

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To see how the previous example can be used as a repeatable process let's update those names again, with corrections.

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First, update the Host file again. In this scenario, we rename “Carl” to “Carly” and “Sam” to “Sammy”. The updated file is as follows:

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172.30.90.50 Alice
172.30.90.51 Bob
172.30.90.42 Wendy
172.30.91.80 Sammy
172.30.91.81 Carly

Load the file into the workspace and the custom views where auxiliary data has been applied. This will update the workspace.

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Note: Host data can come from multiple sources, also hosts can appear and disappear from the network. Host data is treated as replacement data for adding and deleting hosts over time.

Note: If for some reason a device has multiple names retrieved from multiple different file types, the additional names will be displayed in the Alias column of the Asset Inventory.

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Network and Vulnerability Scanner Files

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The output from network and vulnerability scanners can be imported into a workspace to add CVE information, hosts, attributes, and port information to the topology map. We support version 1.0 <?xml version=”1.0″ ?> of the below scanners:

• Nmap – Use command nmap -oX
• Rapid 7 Nexpose,
• Tenable Nessus – Export the .nessus scan in XML format.

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When exporting the report, it should be saved using the XML format to properly import into NP-View. The data extracted and imported depends on the scanner used and the data available on the network.  Below is a list of data NP-View attempts to import.

• hostnames
• addresses
• interfaces
• local interface IP’s
• local interface names
• mac
• domains
• parent
• operating systems
• vlan

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Multi-Home Host Files

Multi-Home hosts are endpoints that have multiple network interfaces. If NP-View identifies hosts with multiple interfaces, the host will be duplicated on the topology with each IP address. For example, the host called 'dual-homed' can be seen three times on the map below.

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To resolve this, a 'multi_home_host.txt' file can be manually generated and loaded into NP-View as auxiliary data.

The file must be named 'multi_home_host.txt' and be of the following format:

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192.168.135.115 dual-homed

192.168.135.114 dual-homed

192.168.135.113 dual-homed

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Where the first field is the IP address and the second field is the name of the host.

When importing the 'multi_home_host.txt' and adding it to a view, the hosts will be connected as follows:

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Note: The file can be named as *_multi_home_host.txt -where- *_ is anything preceding multi_home_host.txt.

For example:

tuesday_multi_home_host.txt

web_server_multi_home_host.txt

the_big_kahuna_multi_home_host.txt

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Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)

ARP files can be used to add hosts as well as MAC addresses for the hosts.  The following formats are supported:

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Cisco

Use commashow arp to export the ARP table.  The file format will be as follows:

<hostname># show arp  

outside 10.0.0.100 d867.da11.00c1 2  

inside 192.168.1.10 000c.295b.5aa2 21  

inside 192.168.1.12 000c.2933.561c 36  

inside 192.168.1.14 000c.2ee0.2b81 97

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Cisco ARP Example

Using the data set from the Hosts example, a simple ARP table has been created in the Cisco format.

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Distribution# show arp    

inside 172.30.90.50 d867.da11.00c1 2    

inside 172.30.90.51 000c.295b.5aa2 21    

inside 172.30.90.42 000c.2933.561c 36    

inside 172.30.91.80 000c.2ee0.2b81 97  

inside 172.30.91.81 000c.2ecc.2b82 95

Distribution#

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Loading this data into NP-View will add the MAC addresses to each host which is visible in Asset inventory.

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Windows

Use arp -a > arp_table.txt to export the ARP table.  The file format will be:

Interface: 192.168.86.29 --- 0x6  

Internet Address      Physical Address      Type  

192.168.86.1          88-3d-24-76-49-f2     dynamic    

192.168.86.25         50-dc-e7-4b-13-40     dynamic    

192.168.86.31         1c-fe-2b-30-78-e5     dynamic    

192.168.86.33         8c-04-ba-8c-dc-4d     dynamic

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Linux

Use arp -a > arp_table.txt to export the ARP table.  The file format will be:

? (172.18.0.3) at 02:42:ac:12:00:03 [ether] on br-d497989bc64d

? (192.168.135.200) at 00:0c:29:f6:47:bb [ether] on ens160

? (172.17.0.2) at <incomplete> on docker0

? (192.168.135.178) at 00:0c:29:f3:e2:6b [ether] on ens160

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Palo Alto

Use show arp all to export the ARP table.  The file format will be:

maximum of entries supported : 2500

default timeout: 1800 seconds

total ARP entries in table : 3

total ARP entries shown : 3

status: s - static, c - complete, e - expiring, i - incomplete

interface ip address hw address port status ttl

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ethernet1/1 192.0.2.10 00:0c:29:ac:30:19 ethernet1/1 c 295

ethernet1/2 198.51.100.10 00:0c:29:d7:67:09 ethernet1/2 c 1776

ethernet1/3 203.0.113.10 00:0c:29:b9:19:c9 ethernet1/3 c 1791

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Route Tables

Route files are a special case in that they provide ruleset-specific enrichment data whereas the other auxiliary files listed above provide topology-specific enrichment data.

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Route table – Cisco

The output of the command show route on Cisco devices can be imported into NP-View with associated configuration files.  For VRF’s, use the command show ip route vrf *. Cisco route files are handled a bit differently than the rest of the aux data as they are integrated upon import and are not considered as aux data when creating a view. Naming of the route files are not important as long as they are unique. The first row of the route file contains the <device name># command to link the route table with the correct device.

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PCAP

IN V6.0 and later, PCAP and PCAPng files can be used to enrich the topology map. NP-View will add endpoints with IP's, MAC addresses and services to the topology map within a view. The max PCAP size is 200 MB per file.

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NP-View releases are divided into two groups:

• Release Candidates introduce new features and go through the full QA process once a quarter.  The rollout of release candidates is staged to ensure product quality.
• General Releases are release candidates that have gone through field testing and any critical issues resolved before releasing to the general population. General releases typically lag release candidates by a month or more.

Release candidates generally following the below schedule: January, April, July and October

General releases do not follow a fixed schedule since they are driven by field testing and support requests.

Below is the list of releases and the features / fixes in each release. Only the most current release available to a customer will be posted on the portal.  

If you have any question, please contact us at support@network-perception.com.

The release notes are also available from within the NP-View application. By clicking the version number in the lower left hand corner of the workspace screen,

the release notes can be viewed.

NP-View Desktop and Server – 2024

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NP-View Desktop and Server – 2023

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NP-View Desktop and Server – 2022

For customers who have installed the Ubuntu version of the NP-View OVF, this package is designed to update Docker and Ubuntu to the following versions:

- Docker version 27.1.2, build d01f264

- Kernel version 5.15.0-118-generic

- Ubuntu version Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS

To see the complete package details, click here:

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Download the update package, click here

Verify the checksum: 7D510280D6901502B7210EADC284B351F49C0AE6F40D9030A99C5A6A17B6444F

Installation Instructions

Have all users log out of NP-View Server as the update will disrupt their system use.

SSH into the NP-View server

sudo su -

cd /root/

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Make an updates folder at the path of your choice.

mkdir updates

cd updates

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Copy update-packages-08-14-24.zip to the updates folder on the np-view server

unzip update-packages-08-14-24.zip

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Install all packages

export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive && dpkg -i *.deb

reboot

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.zip and .deb files can be removed after reboot.

sudo su -

cd /root/

cd updates

rm *.deb *.zip

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When we improve a data or analysis feature or fix an issue, the improvement may not be visible until new data is ingested, or another action is taken.

New Data or Warnings identified during file parsing

When we improve a parser, upon next import, we will apply the new rules and import the new or corrected data. Only the workspace where the new file(s) are imported (manual or connector) will receive the new data. All views, in that workspace, that contain the imported device(s), will be updated with the new data.
No other workspaces will be impacted.

The impact of this is that some workspaces will have the new data, some will not, resulting in data discrepancies across workspaces. Additionally, only the devices being imported will contain the new or updated data within a view.

To ensure the entire workspace is current, users can manually re-import data into their existing workspace. Alternatively the user can clone an existing connector to pull data into the workspace (Note: connectors perform a checksum to see if a file has already been imported and ignore it if we have imported it already.)

Data created during Merge / Analyze

When we improve merge (topology generation) or analyze (path creation), upon next import or the creation of a new view, we will apply the new rules. Only the views, in that workspace, that contain the new file(s), will be merged and analyzed.  All other views will not be impacted.

The impact is that some workspaces and views will have new analysis results, some will not, resulting in data discrepancies across views and workspaces.

To ensure the entire workspace is current, users can manually re-import data into their existing views or create new views.

Risks and Warnings

When we improve risk alerts, upon next import, we will apply the new policies and requirements. Only the workspace where the new file(s) are imported (manual or connector) will receive updated risks. Upon import and after the views are updated, the risk alerts will be updated. No other workspaces will be impacted.

The impact is that some workspaces will have new risk alerts, some will not, resulting in data discrepancies across workspaces.

To ensure the entire workspace is current, users can manually re-import data into their existing views or users can reset the risks for any workspace in the Policy manager which will remove all current risks and rerun the risks for that workspace.

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Overview

This section provides a primer on how to review firewall rulesets from three vendors: Cisco,  Check Point, and Palo Alto.

Cisco Ruleset Overview

An access control list (ACL) is used to filter network traffic. For an ACL to take effect, it must be bound to an interface on the device. Packets are then matched against the ACLs bound to that interface to determine whether to forward or drop a packet. A MAC, IPv4 and IPv6 ACL can be bound to each interface. Multiple ACL of the same protocol cannot be bound to the same interface, they must be combined to accomplish the desired effect.

Object Groups for ACLs lets you classify users, devices, or protocols into groups and apply those groups to access control lists (ACLs) to create access control policies for those groups. This lets you use object groups instead of individual IP addresses, protocols, and ports, which are used in conventional ACLs.

The image below helps depict the interaction between Object Groups, Access Groups, Rules and Interfaces.

The Object Groups, Access Groups, Rules and Interfaces. are combined into a configuration file as shown below:

NP-View reads device configuration files and can be used to review and verify the ruleset configuration using the Access Rules feature.  An example is below:

Check Point Ruleset Overview

Check Point segments security management into multiple virtual domains. Security policies can be created and privately maintained per Domain. The image below helps depict the high level interaction between domains and the domain server.

Some security rules can be enforced for all Domains. Global policies can serve as security templates with rules that are applied to many Domains, and their individualized security policies. The Security Gateway is the engine that enforces the organization\’s security policy, is an entry point to the LAN, and is managed by the Security Management Server.

The interaction between domain policies, global policies and the security gateway is depicted below. Note that Global Domain rules can be run before the local Domain rules or after the local Domain rules as cleanup.

NP-View reads device configuration files and can be used to review and verify the ruleset configuration using the Access Rules feature.  An example is below:

Palo Alto Ruleset Overview

Device groups enables grouping based on network segmentation, geographic location, organizational function, or any other common aspect of firewalls that require similar policy configurations. Using device groups, the user can configure policy rules and the objects they reference. Devices can be organized hierarchically, with shared rules and objects at the top, and device group-specific rules and objects at subsequent levels. This enables the creation of a hierarchy of rules that enforce how firewalls handle traffic. The image below depicts the high level interaction between device groups, subgroups and firewalls.

This can be further broken down into the virtual system. A virtual system is an independent (virtual) firewall instance that can be separately managed within a physical firewall with its own Security policy, interfaces, and administrators.

Device Groups on Panorama allow you to centrally manage firewall policies. You create policies on Panorama either as Pre Rules or Post Rules; Pre Rules and Post Rules allow you to create a layered approach for implementing policy. You can define Pre rules and Post rules in a shared context, as shared policies for all managed firewalls, or in a device group context, to make the rules specific to a device group. Because you define Pre rules and Post Rules on Panorama and then push them from Panorama to the managed firewalls, you are able to view the rules on the managed firewalls but you can edit the Pre Rules and Post Rules only in Panorama.

• Pre Rules—Rules that are added to the top of the rule order and are evaluated first. You can use pre-rules to enforce the Acceptable Use Policy for an organization.
• Post Rules—Rules that are added at the bottom of the rule order and are evaluated after the pre-rules and rules that are locally defined on the firewall. Post-rules typically include rules to deny access to traffic based on the App-ID™, User-ID™, or Service.
• Default Rules—Rules that specify how the firewall handles traffic that does not match any Pre Rules, Post Rules, or local firewall rules.

NP-View reads device configuration files and can be used to review and verify the ruleset configuration using the Access Rules feature.  An example is below:

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