Introduction

This document describes how to allocate to snort with the SFDataCorrelator process to perform SHA lookups on the detected files.

Prerequisites

• Protect and Malware license
• File policy using malware

Requirements

• 5.3.0 and higher
• ASA (all models)
• 7000 and 8000 series (with the exception of the "AMP" appliances)
• FTD running on ASA
• FTD running on FXOS chassis

Components Used

• Malware

The information in this document was created from the devices in a specific lab environment. All of the devices used in this document started with a cleared (default) configuration. If your network is live, ensure that you understand the potential impact of any command.

Background Information

When enabling a Access Control policy with a File policy that uses either a Malware action or "Store Files" option, a CPU (or two on larger models) can be taken away from snort.

Performance Impact 

Note: When enabling malware on lower resource appliances, the performance impact is greater.

• Latency
• Drops
• High CPU
• Lower throuhgput 

Troubleshoot

Remove the file policy from the AC Policy or disable the AC Rule using the file policy. Then reapply the AC Policy to assign snort to all avialable CPU cores.

ASA

root@Sourcefire3D:~# grep "SW\|MODEL" /etc/sf/ims.conf
SWVERSION=5.3.1
SWBUILD=152
MODEL_CLASS="3D Sensor"
MODELNUMBER=72
MODEL="ASA5545"
MODEL_TYPE=Sensor
MODELID=H

root@Sourcefire3D:~# pmtool show affinity
Received status (0):
Affinity Status
System CPU Affinity: 08 (desired: 08)
Process CPU Affinity:
Node 0:
CPU 0:
CPU 1:
SFDataCorrelator (/usr/local/sf/bin/SFDataCorrelator) (2, desired: 2)
CPU 2:
d54fff2a-37f7-11e4-a1bd-d47ac274f5bf-d01 (/var/sf/detection_engines/d54fff2a-37f7-11e4-a1bd-d47ac274f5bf/snort) (4, desired: 4)
CPU 3:
CPU 4:
d54fff2a-37f7-11e4-a1bd-d47ac274f5bf-d02 (/var/sf/detection_engines/d54fff2a-37f7-11e4-a1bd-d47ac274f5bf/snort) (10, desired: 10)
CPU 5:
d54fff2a-37f7-11e4-a1bd-d47ac274f5bf-d03 (/var/sf/detection_engines/d54fff2a-37f7-11e4-a1bd-d47ac274f5bf/snort) (20, desired: 20)
Device Affinity (0 PENDING):
kvm_ivshmem (desired: 01):
10: kvm_ivshmem (01)
Process Affinity:
SFDataCorrelator (desired: 02, actual: 02)

7000 and 8000 Series

root@8250a-sftac:~# grep "SW\|MODEL" /etc/sf/ims.conf 
SWVERSION=5.3.0
SWBUILD=571
MODEL_CLASS="3D Sensor"
MODELNUMBER=63
MODEL="3D8250"
MODEL_TYPE=Sensor
MODELID=C
root@8250a-sftac:~# pmtool show affinity
Received status (0):
Affinity Status
System CPU Affinity: fffff0 (desired: fffff0)
Process CPU Affinity:
Node 0:
CPU 0:
CPU 2:
SFDataCorrelator (/usr/local/sf/bin/SFDataCorrelator) (c, desired: c)
CPU 4:
3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813-d01 (/var/sf/detection_engines/3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813/snort) (10, desired: 10)
CPU 6:
3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813-d03 (/var/sf/detection_engines/3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813/snort) (40, desired: 40)
CPU 8:
3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813-d05 (/var/sf/detection_engines/3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813/snort) (100, desired: 100)
CPU 10:
3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813-d07 (/var/sf/detection_engines/3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813/snort) (400, desired: 400)
CPU 12:
3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813-d09 (/var/sf/detection_engines/3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813/snort) (1000, desired: 1000)
CPU 14:
3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813-d10 (/var/sf/detection_engines/3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813/snort) (4000, desired: 4000)
CPU 16:
3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813-d02 (/var/sf/detection_engines/3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813/snort) (10000, desired: 10000)
CPU 18:
3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813-d04 (/var/sf/detection_engines/3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813/snort) (40000, desired: 40000)
CPU 20:
3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813-d06 (/var/sf/detection_engines/3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813/snort) (100000, desired: 100000)
CPU 22:
3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813-d08 (/var/sf/detection_engines/3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813/snort) (400000, desired: 400000)
Node 1:
CPU 1:
CPU 3:
SFDataCorrelator (/usr/local/sf/bin/SFDataCorrelator) (c, desired: c)
CPU 5:
3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813-d11 (/var/sf/detection_engines/3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813/snort) (20, desired: 20)
CPU 7:
3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813-d12 (/var/sf/detection_engines/3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813/snort) (80, desired: 80)
CPU 9:
3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813-d13 (/var/sf/detection_engines/3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813/snort) (200, desired: 200)
CPU 11:
3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813-d14 (/var/sf/detection_engines/3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813/snort) (800, desired: 800)
CPU 13:
3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813-d15 (/var/sf/detection_engines/3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813/snort) (2000, desired: 2000)
CPU 15:
3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813-d16 (/var/sf/detection_engines/3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813/snort) (8000, desired: 8000)
CPU 17:
3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813-d17 (/var/sf/detection_engines/3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813/snort) (20000, desired: 20000)
CPU 19:
3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813-d18 (/var/sf/detection_engines/3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813/snort) (80000, desired: 80000)
CPU 21:
3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813-d19 (/var/sf/detection_engines/3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813/snort) (200000, desired: 200000)
CPU 23:
3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813-d20 (/var/sf/detection_engines/3a3b8424-c8d3-11e4-98f5-1d2068538813/snort) (800000, desired: 800000)
Endpoint CPUs:
c0e1: 0 (desired: -1)
c1e1: 1 (desired: -1)
Process Affinity:
SFDataCorrelator (desired: 0c, actual: 0c)

FTD

On any of the FTD platforms, the previous pmtool show affnity command can run from the initial '>' prompt after SSH access. For example:

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> pmtool show affinity
Received status (0):

Affinity Status

System CPU Affinity: 0 (desired: 0)

Process CPU Affinity:
 CPU 0:
 CPU 1:
 65a99306-360b-11e7-a8f4-5671cccf5a71-d01 (/ngfw/var/sf/detection_engines/65a99306-360b-11e7-a8f4-5671cccf5a71/snort) (?, desired: 1,5)
 CPU 2:
 65a99306-360b-11e7-a8f4-5671cccf5a71-d02 (/ngfw/var/sf/detection_engines/65a99306-360b-11e7-a8f4-5671cccf5a71/snort) (?, desired: 2,6)
 CPU 3:
 65a99306-360b-11e7-a8f4-5671cccf5a71-d03 (/ngfw/var/sf/detection_engines/65a99306-360b-11e7-a8f4-5671cccf5a71/snort) (?, desired: 3,7)
 CPU 4:
 CPU 5:
 65a99306-360b-11e7-a8f4-5671cccf5a71-d01 (/ngfw/var/sf/detection_engines/65a99306-360b-11e7-a8f4-5671cccf5a71/snort) (?, desired: 1,5)
 CPU 6:
 65a99306-360b-11e7-a8f4-5671cccf5a71-d02 (/ngfw/var/sf/detection_engines/65a99306-360b-11e7-a8f4-5671cccf5a71/snort) (?, desired: 2,6)
 CPU 7:
 65a99306-360b-11e7-a8f4-5671cccf5a71-d03 (/ngfw/var/sf/detection_engines/65a99306-360b-11e7-a8f4-5671cccf5a71/snort) (?, desired: 3,7)

In troubleshoot files, the pmtool show affnity command output is in the command-outputs directory. The name of the file is: usr-local-sf-bin-pmtool show affinity.output

The output can be quite long if run on a troubleshoot from a larger appliance. Here are some grep commands to give you a clear indication of how many CPU's are allocated to the snort and SFDataCorrelator processes.

[user@tex command-outputs]$ grep snort usr-local-sf-bin-pmtool\ show\ affinity.output |wc -l
46

[user@tex command-outputs]$ grep "/SFDataC" usr-local-sf-bin-pmtool\ show\ affinity.output |wc -l
2

The previous output is from the current largest device (FPR-9300 SM-44). As you can see, there are 46 CPU's allocated to snort and two allocated to SFDataCorrelator (since Malware Policy is enabled).

Note: TS Analysis cannot correctly display the entire DE performance graphs in these scenarios