pike Module

Bogdan-Andrei Iancu

   Voice Sistem SRL

Edited by

Bogdan-Andrei Iancu

   Copyright © 2003 FhG FOKUS
     __________________________________________________________________

   Table of Contents

   1. Admin Guide

        1. Overview
        2. Dependencies

              2.1. Kamailio Modules
              2.2. External Libraries or Applications

        3. Parameters

              3.1. sampling_time_unit (integer)
              3.2. reqs_density_per_unit (integer)
              3.3. remove_latency (integer)
              3.4. pike_log_level (integer)

        4. Functions

              4.1. pike_check_req()

        5. MI Commands

              5.1. pike_list

   2. RPC calls

        1. pike.top

   3. Developer Guide

   List of Examples

   1.1. Set sampling_time_unit parameter
   1.2. Set reqs_density_per_unit parameter
   1.3. Set remove_latency parameter
   1.4. Set pike_log_level parameter
   1.5. pike_check_req usage
   3.1. Tree of IP addresses

Chapter 1. Admin Guide

   Table of Contents

   1. Overview
   2. Dependencies

        2.1. Kamailio Modules
        2.2. External Libraries or Applications

   3. Parameters

        3.1. sampling_time_unit (integer)
        3.2. reqs_density_per_unit (integer)
        3.3. remove_latency (integer)
        3.4. pike_log_level (integer)

   4. Functions

        4.1. pike_check_req()

   5. MI Commands

        5.1. pike_list

1. Overview

   The pike module keeps trace of all (or selected ones) incoming
   request's IP source and blocks the ones that exceed the limit. It works
   simultaneously for IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.

   The module does not implement any actions on blocking - it just simply
   reports that there is high traffic from an IP; what to do, is the
   administator decision (via scripting).

2. Dependencies

   2.1. Kamailio Modules
   2.2. External Libraries or Applications

2.1. Kamailio Modules

   The following modules must be loaded before this module:
     * No dependencies on other Kamailio modules.

2.2. External Libraries or Applications

   The following libraries or applications must be installed before
   running Kamailio with this module loaded:
     * None.

3. Parameters

   3.1. sampling_time_unit (integer)
   3.2. reqs_density_per_unit (integer)
   3.3. remove_latency (integer)
   3.4. pike_log_level (integer)

3.1. sampling_time_unit (integer)

   Time period in seconds used for sampling (or the sampling accuracy).
   The smaller the better, but slower. If you want to detect peeks, use a
   small one. To limit the access (like total number of requests on a long
   period of time) to a proxy resource (a gateway for example), use a
   bigger value of this parameter.

   IMPORTANT: a too small value may lead to performance penalties due to
   timer process overloading.

   Default value is “2”.

   Example 1.1. Set sampling_time_unit parameter
...
modparam("pike", "sampling_time_unit", 10)
...

3.2. reqs_density_per_unit (integer)

   How many requests should be allowed per sampling_time_unit before
   blocking all the incoming request from that IP. Practically, the
   blocking limit is between ( let's have x=reqs_density_per_unit) x and
   3*x for IPv4 addresses and between x and 8*x for IPv6 addresses.

   Default value is 30.

   Example 1.2. Set reqs_density_per_unit parameter
...
modparam("pike", "reqs_density_per_unit", 30)
...

3.3. remove_latency (integer)

   Speciies for how long the IP address will be kept in memory after the
   last request from that IP address. It's a sort of timeout value, in
   seconds. Note that it is not the duration to keep the IP in state
   'blocked'. An IP is unblocked next occurence of 'sampling_time_unit'
   that does not exceed 'reqs_density_per_unit'. Keeping an IP in memory
   results in faster reaching of blocked state -- see the notes about the
   limits of getting to state 'blocked'.

   Default value is 120.

   Example 1.3. Set remove_latency parameter
...
modparam("pike", "remove_latency", 130)
...

3.4. pike_log_level (integer)

   Syslog log level to be used by module to auto report the blocking (only
   first time) and unblocking of IPs detected as source of floods.

   Default value is 1 (L_WARN).

   Example 1.4. Set pike_log_level parameter
...
modparam("pike", "pike_log_level", -1)
...

4. Functions

   4.1. pike_check_req()

4.1.  pike_check_req()

   Process the source IP of the current request and return false if the IP
   was exceeding the blocking limit.

   Return codes:
     * 1 (true) - IP is not to be blocked or internal error occured.

Warning
       IMPORTANT: in case of internal error, the function returns true to
       avoid reporting the current processed IP as blocked.
     * -1 (false) - IP is source of flooding, previously detected
     * -2 (false) - IP is detected as a new source of flooding - first
       time detection

   This function can be used from REQUEST_ROUTE.

   Example 1.5. pike_check_req usage
...
if (!pike_check_req()) { exit; };
...

5. MI Commands

   5.1. pike_list

5.1.  pike_list

   Lists the nodes in the pike tree.

   Name: pike_list

   Parameters: none

   MI FIFO Command Format:
                :pike_list:_reply_fifo_file_
                _empty_line_

Chapter 2. RPC calls

   Table of Contents

   1. pike.top

1.  pike.top

   Pike.top behaves like a 'top' command and shows source IP addresses of
   incoming requestes to pike_check_req() function.

   The IP list is sorted by sum of leaf hits (prev and curr) descending
   and in second level by hits.

   Some IPs could be marked as HOT depending on theirs request rates.

   pike.top command takes one string parameter which specifies what kind
   of nodes you are interested in. Possible values are HOT or ALL. If no
   argument is given, it behaves as HOT was used.

   Marking nodes HOT is done on server side, client only presents given
   data and make some postprocessing like sorting.

   Output of this command is a simple dump of ip_tree nodes marked as
   ip-leafs.

Chapter 3. Developer Guide

   One single tree (for both IPv4 and IPv6) is used. Each node contains a
   byte, the IP addresses stretching from root to the leafs.

   Example 3.1. Tree of IP addresses
           / 193 - 175 - 132 - 164
tree root /                  \ 142
          \ 195 - 37 - 78 - 163
           \ 79 - 134

   To detect the whole address, step by step, from the root to the leafs,
   the nodes corresponding to each byte of the ip address are expanded. In
   order to be expended a node has to be hit for a given number of times
   (possible by different addresses; in the previous example, the node
   “37” was expended by the 195.37.78.163 and 195.37.79.134 hits).

   For 193.175.132.164 with x= reqs_density_per_unit:
     * After first req hits -> the “193” node is built.
     * After x more hits, the “175” node is build; the hits of “193” node
       are split between itself and its child--both of them gone have x/2.
     * And so on for node “132” and “164”.
     * Once “164” build the entire address can be found in the tree. “164”
       becomes a leaf. After it will be hit as a leaf for x times, it will
       become “RED” (further request from this address will be blocked).

   So, to build and block this address were needed 3*x hits. Now, if reqs
   start coming from 193.175.132.142, the first 3 bytes are already in the
   tree (they are shared with the previous address), so I will need only x
   hits (to build node “142” and to make it “RED”) to make this address
   also to be blocked. This is the reason for the variable number of hits
   necessary to block an IP.

   The maximum number of hits to turn an address red are (n is the
   address's number of bytes):

   1 (first byte) + x (second byte) + (x / 2) * (n - 2) (for the rest of
   the bytes) + (n - 1) (to turn the node to red).

   So, for IPv4 (n = 4) will be 3x and for IPv6 (n = 16) will be 9x. The
   minimum number of hits to turn an address red is x.
