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.

Network visualization via The Topology Map is the most powerful feature of NP-View.

Once you:

1. Create a workspace
2. Import configuration files
3. Import supporting meta data

NP-View’s visualization engine will process your information and create a dynamic, usable network diagram, starting you at the Home View. Workspaces are broken down into views, which you can read more about here > Manage Views.

Topology Map

Based on your imported configurations, NP-View will create a map to connect and display nodes of the following types:

• Firewalls (physical and virtual)
• Routers (physical and virtual)
• Switches
• Host-Routers
• Networks (subnets)
• Hosts
• Gateways
• Border Gateways
• VPN Tunnels
• Unmapped Hosts and Networks

Details: Each node is represented by its own individual icon on the map, and when clicked will open a details panel with information about the selected node. From each details panel devices can be assigned a category (colored text tag) and criticality (colored ring).

Risk Display: If a device has active alerts, the number of alerts will be displayed as a red circle on the device icon.

Unmapped Gateway:

• 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.

Organizing the Map

On the Topology Map, users can rearrange any object or group of objects on the canvas by simply selecting and dragging a device to a new location. Device locations can be saved with the “Save Topology” button which can be found in the top center of the screen.

• 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 segmented into zones. See more info on zone creation.

Save Topology: 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 proceed to the selected view without saving by clicking “OK”,  or they can choose “cancel” to go back and ‘Save Topology’ .

Other Topology Functions

Settings: Opens a panel with user preferences that can be set for the map. See the section below for more

Pin/ Unpin Topology: Selecting this, moving one device will cause the map to auto arrange.  This can be helpful if when importing a large number of devices, the topology map initially displays with overlapping devices

Collapse/ Expand Topology Nodes: Some Topology Maps may become visually overwhelming depending on how many nodes are present. This setting will hide end points and only display Primary devices and networks

Night Mode: Sets the map to a different color scheme

Highlight Paths: Opens the Highlight Paths menu item. See the Paths article for more.

Manage Views: Opens the Manage Views menu item. See the Manage Views article for more.

Center Map: Centers the map on the screen

Topology Settings

NP-View provides a settings menu specifically for the topology. This menu can be used to show as much or as little information as you desire on the topology map. This keeps the topology map at a level of organization that suits your use.

The topology settings menu is easily accessible from the menu in the bottom right of the topology map by clicking on the gear icon.

This will open the topology settings dialog and allow users to show or hide different types of information on the fly.

• Highlight Verified Assets – this setting enables or disables the verified assets feature.
• Collapse Nodes By Default – this setting toggles the behavior of whether or not nodes on the topology map are collapsed when the topology is rendered.
• Show Gateways with NO IP – this setting toggles the display of gateways (white gateway icons) that are defined but have no IP address assigned. The default behavior is to hide them.
• Show Networks with NO IP – this setting toggles the display of networks / interfaces (white cloud icons) that are defined but have no IP address assigned. The default behavior is to hide them.
  • Show Only Bridge Groups - Some devices define bridge groups that show up as Networks with NO IP. If a bridge group is identified in the Interfaces table, this selection will allow for the bridge groups to be displayed while the rest of the NO IP networks are hidden.
• Show Topology Elements – this setting toggles the display of topology elements that the user may wish to selectively hide for viewing or screen shots.
  • IP Addresses - Any IP address on the topology, even if it is the device name.
  • Names - Any device name that is not an IP address.
  • Categories - User assigned categories.‍
  • Criticalities - User assigned criticalities.
  • Vulnerability Shields – Icons that show vulnerabilities on nodes when scans have been imported into the workspace.
  • Risk Bubbles - Red risk bubbles that identify the number of risk alerts associated with each device.
  • Zones - User defined zones
  • Pinned Annotations - Annotation text assigned to individual nodes (Annotation icons still display)
• Show Layer 2 Connections - Display layer 2 data inferred from layer 3 devices or PCAP / Scanner files.

Users & Groups

For NP-View server, each user will be assigned to one of three user groups:

1. Administrator
   • Can create, view and edit workspaces
   • Has access to all users’ workspaces – including other administrators
   • Can share, transfer or export all workspaces
2. Workspace Admin
   • Can create, view and edit workspaces
   • Workspace Admins have access to their own workspaces, and to ones that are shared with them.
   • Can share, transfer or export their own workspace workspace and export workspaces shared with them.
3. Viewer
   • Viewers have no authoring capability and can only view workspaces that have been shared with them by Administrators or Workspace Admin’s

For local authentication, the group assignment is made when the user is created.

For Active Directory / LDAP, the assigned group is made in the authentication server.

For Radius, all users are assigned to the Administrator group.

The Verified Assets feature was introduced in version 5.1.0 and is designed to use Auxiliary data to verify inferred assets identified from configuration files.

The following auxiliary data files, when added to a view, can be used to verify assets:

• ARP files
• Vulnerability Scanners files
• Claroty CDT

Auxiliary data files that are not used for verification are:

• Host files
• Multi-Homed Host files

Once a view is created with auxiliary data and the Asset Verification feature is enable in topology settings,

The topology will display the verified assets in blue as shown below:

When clicking on a specific asset, the info panel will display the files where the asset was identified and the verified files highlighted in blue.

Additionally, Asset Inventory will also display the verified files in the 'Created by' column and if the asset is verified or not.

Asset verification only applies to endpoints. Assets in asset inventory that are not endpoints (Firewall, Router, Switch, Gateway) will me marked as N/A in the verified column.

Clicking on the file name in the 'Created by' column will display the configuration or auxiliary data file in a popup window.

Summary

This article will provide a brief overview of the concept of workspaces in NP-View and then describe the different functions that are available for workspaces, across roles and products.

Workspaces: What are they?

In NP-View, the Workspace is the highest level of segmentation that can be applied to a group of devices for analysis and visualization. Each workspace can be thought of as an individual file, similar to a text document in a word processor.

After logging in, the first screen you will see is the Home Page.

On this page, workspaces are illustrated by individual tiles which display their title, and the compliance framework that was selected when creating that workspace. In the image below we can see that there is a workspace named demo that was made within a NERC-CIP framework.

Workspaces are sorted by the characters in their names using standard Linux conventions:

1. whitespace
2. integer
3. special char
4. uppercase [A-Z]
5. underscore (possibly other special chars)
6. lowercase [a-z]

Creating a Workspace

Administrators and Workspace Admin’s have permission to create New Workspaces.

1. On the Home Page click “Add a New Workspace”.
2. A dialog will open that allows you to name* the new workspace and to select a compliance framework for it.**
   1. *A workspace name may only contain alphanumeric, underscore, or hyphen characters. It must have at least 3 characters and no more than 24.
   2. **The selection of the compliance framework enables or disables compliance-specific features and reports available within the workspace.
3. Creating a New Workspace or opening an Existing Workspace will open the Workspace canvas
4. Once the Workspace is created or opened you can import configuration files and analyze them.

Workspace Support Functions

Every Workspace has three support functions accessible on the Home Page in the upper right corner of each workspace tile.

1. Edit – Clicking the pencil will allow you to rename the workspace.
2. Share – Clicking the arrow provides access to
   1. Export – download a copy of the workspace (in a compressed format .npx file)
   2. Transfer – change ownership of a workspace to another user
   3. Share – allow access to a workspace
3. Delete – Clicking the X deletes the workspace and removes all related data

1. Edit

• Administrators and Workspace Admin’s only
• Clicking on the pencil will enter edit mode.
• User’s can change the name, click save, and rename; or click the x to cancel the rename

2.Export

• Administrators and Workspace Admin’s only
• Using Export
  • Once export is selected, a background task will be initiated to create a downloadable image (.npx file).
    • This process can take several minutes depending on the complexity of the workspace.
  • Once processing is complete, the user can return to this screen and download the image.
    • The user also has the ability to delete the image from the server.

3. Workspace Import

• Administrators and Workspace Admin’s can import previously saved workspace files.
  • By dragging and dropping the file on to the Home Page or into an open workspace.
• If a user loads the backup workspace onto the workspaces page, it will be processed as if it is a new workspace. The name will be prepopulated but can be changed and while the compliance type is requested, the type may change to that of the saved workspace.
• If a user loads a backup workspace into an existing workspace, the workspace contents will be replaced with the contents of the uploaded image and the workspace compliance type may be changed to the compliance types saved with the workspace.
• When a workspace file is imported, processing of the risk policies is required and may take several minutes for the topology to render.
• Workspaces exported from NP-View Professional Desktop can be shared with users of NP-View Professional Server (licensing rules apply).

Workspace Collaboration (Server Only)

Administrator and Workspace Admin’s have access to two workspace collaboration functions.

1. Share workspace
2. Transfer workspace

4. Share Workspace

• Administrators and Workspace Admin’s can share a workspace with
  • all users of the same type
  • or to individual users
• The shared users existing roles apply to the shared workspace
• If a workspace is shared with a user, the workspace cannot be transferred to the shared user.
• The workspace must first be unshared prior to attempting the transfer.
• From the Home Page
  • Administrators can use the dropdown selector to view and share workspaces of all users
  • Workspace Admins can only view and share workspaces they have created

5. Transfer Workspace

• Administrator and Workspace Admin’s can transfer a workspace to another Administrator or Workspace Admin
• The transferred user’s role applies to the transferred workspace
• Administrators can transfer workspaces of all users
• Workspace Admins can only view and transfer workspaces they have created

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The following table is a comprehensive list of supported devices. The instructions provided in the table can be used to manually extract data from the device for import. While we do our best to support the below devices, it is impossible for us to test the parsers with every possible device configuration combination. If errors occur during device import, Network Perception is committed to working with our customers to resolve their specific parsing issues.

Note that Network Perceptions device support policy follows that of the manufacturer.  When a manufacturer ends support for a product, so does Network Perception.  End of support devices are not removed from NP-View but will not be upgraded if issues arise.

Supported Devices with Vendor Partnership

The devices in this list are actively tested in our lab to support the most current versions of the manufacturer software. Network Perception has an active partnership with these vendors for software and support.

Supported Devices with no Vendor Partnership

The devices in this list are actively tested in our lab to support the most current versions of the manufacturer software.

Historical Devices

The devices in this list were developed based on customer provided configuration files.  We are no longer actively developing these parsers but they are supported for break/fix and require customers sanitized config files to assist with the debug of issues.

Additional Instructions

Palo Alto Panorama & NGFW

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Panorama

If Panorama is used to centrally manage policies, the access rules and object groups can be retrieved from these devices in XML format (we do not support the import of unstructured text files). If using the Panorama connector, the required files will automatically be downloaded:through 6.2 ended September 2023. Please note that no upgrades to these parsers will be made.

The Panorama file will only contain centrally managed access rules and object groups.

Locally defined access rules and object groups cannot be retrieved from Panorama and must be retrieved from each NGFW. Please follow the instructions below to export directly from the Next Gen FireWall using API.

Palo Alto Firewalls will ALWAYS have a V-sys even if one has not been configured it will default to vsys1.

The “mapping_config” file is required which can only be retrieved through the API using the “show devices connected” command.  The name of the file is “named_mapping_config.xml” where the named prefix needs to match the device name as shown in the UI when the running_config.xml is imported alone. All files should be imported at the same time. Please see instructions below:

The below links are to the Panorama documentation for the required commands with examples. The links provide you with commands to run directly in the Panorama CLI. The images we provided are for using Postman or web browser use.

Get API Key

Get Panorama and device bundle Configuration

Get device mapping config

Once both the “<panorama_server>_running_config.xml” and <panorama_server >_mapping_config.xml” are gathered, please import them together in NP-View.

Next Gen Firewall (NGFW)

If using the PanOS connector is used to download files, the required files will automatically be downloaded:

The configuration information from the NGFW may be contained in several .xml files, <device-name>_merged_config.xml and <device-name>.vsys(n)_pushed_policy.xml.  There can be one vsys file per virtual interface. The naming of these files is important for the parser to merge them during import.  All files from a single firewall must be imported at the same time and in .xml format (we do not support the import of unstructured text files).  If any of the files are missing, improperly named or formatted, an error message will state that ‘File parsed but ruleset and topology were empty, aborting’ meaning they could not be linked to the other associated files.

An example of properly named files is below:

• Chicago-IL-100-FW1_merged_config.xml
• Chicago-IL-100-FW1.vsys1_pushed_policy.xml
• Chicago-IL-100-FW1.vsys2_pushed_policy.xml

NOTE: If the NGFW is an unmanaged/standalone Palo Alto device it will not have a pushed_policy file. In this situation, the configuration .xml file can be downloaded directly from the firewall and loaded into NP-View.  The file name need not be changed when loading the file from a standalone firewall.

To manually export configuration files from an unmanaged firewall:

If the NGFW is managed by a Panorama, the API will be required to secure the necessary files:

Get API Key

Get PANos Firewall full configuration

Get Managed Firewall configuration

Virtual Routers (vrf) – Experimental Support

Virtual router (vrf) is a software-based routing framework in Palo Alto NGFW that allows the host machine to perform as a typical hardware router over a local area network. NP-View has added the experimental capability to detect Virtual Routers from Palo Alto devices (NGFW or Panorama) and present them in the Connector or Manual Import device selection screens. Virtual Routers will be treated the same as physical routers and will require a device license.

This feature is disabled by default and must be enabled prior to importing configurations containing virtual routers.

To enable the feature the NP-View Server admin will need to make a change to a system variable.

• Stop the NP-View Server application.
• in the docker-compose.yml file, change the enableVirtualRouters=False to enableVirtualRouters=True in three places within the file.
• start the NP-View Server application.

For Desktop

• Close the NP-View application.
• In the file C:\Users\<username >\AppData\Roaming\NP-View\config.ini add enableVirtualRouters=True
• Restart the NP-View application

Once enabled, the user will be presented with the option to select virtual routers from the connector in the device selection or upon manual import.

SonicWall

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We support .exp files as the default SonicWall file format for v5.9 and v6.X of the SonicOS.

The main UI allows for export of the encoded .exp file as such:

To extract the file via command line, then the command to export is

export current-config sonicos ftp ftp://[USERNAME]:[PASSWORD]@[FTP IP/URL]/sonicwall.exp

Where the username/password/FTP IP or URL must be changed. The file “sonicwall.exp” will then be saved at the FTP location. As this file is encoded, there’s no way to echo or cat the data.

Requesting Support for New Devices

The above list of supported hardware has been lab and field tested.  Newer versions generally work unless their is a major platform or API upgrade.  Please contact support@network-perception.com if you wish to get more information on parsers, request support for a particular device or are interested on co-developing a solution.

NP-View includes a utility to automatically retrieve network device configuration files on a schedule. The connector types supported in NP-View Server are below:

Configuration Managers

For retrieving config files from network management systems. For each connector, the user can select the devices to be uploaded for monitoring.

Direct Device Connection

For retrieving config files directly from the network device.

Volume Shares

For retrieving config files that are uploaded to a common collection repository.

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Additional Connector Information‍

Checkpoint

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For the connector to work CheckPoint devices, the API setting need to be enabled in the SmartConsole.  See the image below for settings and commands to restart the API.

Samba

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Network Perception suggests the following when setting up the SMB connection.

1. Create a read-only user in Active Directory or on the SMB server.
2. Determine the available share (Get-SMBShare” in Windows PowerShell) or create a new one.
3. Share the SMB folder containing the Configuration files with the read-only user. For example:

1. If using the date folder and recursive search feature, clicking “See Current Date Folder” will retrieve most recent folder, in YYYYMMDD format, in the “Current Root Folder” f field. For example:

Optional fields:

1. Path to Root Folder – Directory you want to be the root folder relative to your default SMB root folder.
2. Recursive Search – Whether or not to search recursively starting at the connector’s root folder.
3. Name Filter – Filters file/directory names based on given regex statements. Any file/directory that fully matches ANY given regex statement will be included in result.
4. File Decryption Key – a PGP key can also be provided if the files retrieved have been encrypted.

If during the connector test, access is denied, the following settings should be verified and may need to be changed for the SMB to work as expected.

Running PowerShell as administrator

Input command Get-SmbServerConfiguration

Verify that EncryptData is set to false

If set to true, run command “Set-SmbServerConfiguration -EncryptData 0”

Verify SmbServerHardeningLevel is set to 0

If not set to 0, run command “Set-SmbServerConfiguration -SmbServerNameHardeningLevel 0”

Microsoft recommended default is off (0). More information about these settings can be found on the Microsoft website.

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If you have a system for which you need a connector or if you encounter a technical issue, please contact support@network-perception.com.

This document relates to NP-View Desktop and Server version 6.0 and later.

Connectors automate the secure retrieval of configuration files from firewalls, routers, switches, and network device configuration managers. NP-View Desktop and Server can host one or more connectors that securely retrieves configuration files manually (desktop and server) or at the specified frequency (server only).

To access the connector function, use the system menu in the upper right corner of NP-View and select 'Manage connectors'

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The connector function consists of several key features.

• Password manager to reuse and manage passwords across multiple connectors.
• Workflow for creating groups and connectors.
• Automated data collection and download.
• Flexible scheduling (Server only).
• Runtime and scheduling status (Server Only).

The connector function supports the files devices listed on the connectors page.

Add Credentials

To get started, the user must first create one or more credentials. Credentials are used to access the devices and can be used for one or more devices. This provides for the ability to manage multiple devices with one set of credentials. Click the 'Add New Credential button to display the input section. Credentials are segregated by device type. Select the device type and input the required fields.

Once filled in, select the save button and the credential will be saved and displayed in the 'Credentials' box. Clicking on the credential will allow the user to edit the credential.

At this time, Deleting a credential is not supported.

Create Groups

Once credentials have been created, the user can proceed to creating a Connector Group.

Select the '+' in the 'Groups' section to display the add groups function. Fill in the group name, notes and select a schedule (server only). For desktop, only the 'On Demand' function will be displayed.

Once saved, the user can click on the connector group name in the 'Groups' panel to enter edit mode or select the three dots to the right of the name for individual group options.

Pull to run all associated connectors and delete to remove the group. Note that only empty group can be deleted.

Scheduling Groups

Groups can retrieve data on a schedule, when setting up or editing a connector group, the user can set a schedule.

The user has multiple options for scheduling the connector; monthly, weekly, and daily with flexible day of week and time options. We recommend that connectors be run at night to provide maximum resources for processing the data. When a connector group is scheduled, the next run status will be presented in the 'Groups' panel

and on the 'Processes' tab

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Add Connectors

Once a group has been created, the user can add connectors to the group. In the connectors section, select the '+' to present the add connector function.

Proceed to select the connector type and fill in the required fields.

Next fill in the optional fields.

Filling in the name of a context will only fetch the data for that one context, leaving blank will fetch all contexts.

Selecting one ore more worspaces to deliver the fetched data. If left blank, the data will be retrieved for manual download.

The user can then test the connector to verify the credentials and/or save the connector.

Once saved, the user can click on the connector name in the 'Connectors' panel to invoke edit mode. Clicking on the tree dots next to the connector name provides individual connector options.

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Manual Data Pull

Data from individual connectors can be retrieved manually by selecting the 'pull' option from the menu above. When selecting pull, the connector status will proceed to 'in progress'

and the processes tab will also display the progress status.

Once data has been pulled, the user can selectively download the most current data set from the connector panel.

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Deleting Workspaces

If a connector is designated to deliver data to workspace and a user deletes the workspace, the connector will automatically be updated to reflect the workspace deletion.

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In version 6.0, a new connector function was introduced. for new connector users, it is recommended to use the new connector function. The connector access has been moved from the +Import function to the system menu.

Connectors automate the secure retrieval of configuration files from firewalls, routers, switches, and network device configuration managers. NP-View Server can host one or more connectors that securely retrieves configuration files at the specified frequency. By default, connectors are accessible through HTTPS on port TCP/8443 of the NP-View server and is isolated for security purposes.

The first time an administrator accesses the connectors, they are required to define a Connector group name and a secure passphrase. The Connector group name will be used to create the encrypted connector file store. Connector information is encrypted at rest and in transit using a passphrase protected PGP key. Only the connector owners know the passphrase and the passphrase is never stored. Once initiated, connectors run in the background collecting network information.  If the NP-View server is restarted, the connector owner is required to re-authenticate and restart the connectors. Connector owners can create multiple connector groups and each will require their own login. Once created, the user can select from the list of available connectors when logging in.

The connector page contains five main options.

The buttons from left to right are:

• + Add New Connector
• bulk start all connectors (see bulk start parameters below)
• bulk stop all connectors
• delete the connector (user must be logged into the connector group to delete)
• exit the connector group.

Add Connector

To add a new connector, select “+Add New Connector”  button and a list of available connectors is presented. Connector options are: Cloud Providers, Configuration Managers,  Direct Devices and Volume Shares

Upon selecting the Connector type to add, the user is requested to fill in connection information. Connector information varies by vendor.  The connector configuration for a Palo Alto device is as follows:

The user must enter a Connector name (no spaces), host name, and credentials.  The user can then verify the credentials are correct with the “Test credentials” button.  The user can setup the polling cycle and provide the workspaces to deliver the resultant information.

Polling Cycles are:

• On demand
• Daily
• Weekly
• Bi-Weekly
• Monthly

Configuration Management Systems

For Configuration Management Systems and file Shares, additional information may be required.  The user can retrieve a list of files from the device and filter the results.  To include specific files, put them in the include list field.  To exclude files, put them in the exclude list field.  If both lists are used, include list filter will be applied first and the exclude list filter to the results of the include list filter. If the share is PGP encrypted, a PGP Public key will be required.

Workspaces must be added to the connector for data to be transferred and displayed in the workspace.  If workspaces are added after a connector is setup, data will not be sent to the workspace until the next scheduled import and a configuration change is identified.  Creating workspaces before connectors facilitates faster visualization of data.

Connector Tile

Once the connector is added, a tile is added to the connectors home page.

Connector tiles are sorted by the characters in their names using standard Linux conventions:

1. whitespace
2. integer
3. special char
4. uppercase [A-Z]
5. underscore (possibly other special chars)
6. lowercase [a-z]

From the tile, the user can:

• manually activate the connector for a one time data pull
• run / pause the connector
• edit the connector
• copy the connector
• delete the connector.

The tile banner will show in three colors:

• red – connector failed
• blue – connector scheduled to run
• gray – connector paused

Click the start / pause button to restart a failed or paused connector, note that a connector may take several minutes to change the banner color.

Connectors + Samba (SMB) Access Error

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This error can be caused by two communication scenarios between Linux and Window. Either SMB encryption is enabled on the Server or SPN target name validation level is enabled (or both). To check which of these features is causing the issue, Run PowerShell on the Windows Server as administrator and run the following command:

Get-SmbServerConfiguration

If EncryptData = True, it can be disabled using:

Set-SmbServerConfiguration -EncryptData 0

If SmbServerNameHardeningLevel is set to any value other than the default of 0 run:

Set-SmbServerConfiguration -SmbServerNameHardeningLevel 0

to restore the default.

Help Center

The Help Center can be found on the system menu on the upper right corner of the topology.

The Help Center will display warnings or errors identified during the import of device files.

The information in the help center is designed to provide information for the tech support team to help diagnose the issues.

There are many types of possible errors including:

1. Invalid file formats (e.g., .gif or .png)
2. Improperly formatted files (files exported as text but loaded into a word processors where extra characters are added before saving).
3. Incomplete set of files (many devices require more than one file for import this includes Palo Alto and IP tables)
4. Misconfigured files where rules or objects are undefined.

As every customer has a different environment and possible device configurations are endless.  We sometimes run into a situation where the parser cannot handle the device as configured.  When this happens, we request the customer to sanitize the config file on the NP Poral and upload the file for debug purposes.  Support from our customers is important for us to quickly remediate parsing issues unique to a device or specific file.

The Help Center provides a download for the error log which can be submitted to technical support through the support portal.

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