Network Configuration¶
All of this configuration will happen automatically if you choose Yes, configure /etc/network/interfaces in the Setup wizard. If for some reason you need to configure /etc/network/interfaces manually, you can do the following.
NOTE! You may lose network connectivity during this process! Have a backup plan if attempting over SSH!
Stop Network Manager:
sudo /etc/init.d/network-manager stop
Prevent Network Manager from starting at next boot:
sudo mv /etc/init/network-manager.conf /etc/init/network-manager.conf.DISABLED
Next, configure your network interfaces in /etc/network/interfaces.
Management interface¶
You’ll want a management interface (preferably connected to a dedicated management network) using either DHCP OR preferably static IP.
Sniffing interface(s)¶
You’ll want one or more interfaces dedicated to sniffing (no IP address). NIC offloading functions such as tso, gso, and gro should be disabled to ensure that Snort/Suricata/Zeek get an accurate view of the traffic (see https://blog.securityonion.net/2011/10/when-is-full-packet-capture-not-full.html).
Sample /etc/network/interfaces¶
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
# Management interface using DHCP
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp
# OR
# Management interface using STATIC IP (instead of DHCP)
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.14
gateway 192.168.1.1
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.1.0
broadcast 192.168.1.255
dns-nameservers 192.168.1.1 192.168.1.2
# AND one or more of the following
# Connected to TAP or SPAN port for traffic monitoring
auto eth1
iface eth1 inet manual
up ifconfig $IFACE -arp up
up ip link set $IFACE promisc on
down ip link set $IFACE promisc off
down ifconfig $IFACE down
post-up for i in rx tx sg tso ufo gso gro lro; do ethtool -K $IFACE $i off; done
post-up echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv6/conf/$IFACE/disable_ipv6
# You probably don't need to enable or edit the following setting,
# but it is included for completeness.
# Note that 4096 is just an example and your NIC may have a different maximum rx size.
# To determine the maximum rx setting for your NIC: ethtool -g ethX
# Also note that increasing beyond the default may result in inconsistent traffic:
# https://taosecurity.blogspot.com/2019/04/troubleshooting-nsm-virtualization.html
# post-up ethtool -G $IFACE rx 4096
/etc/resolv.conf:Restart networking:
sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart
If you already had sensors running on these interfaces, you should restart them:
sudo so-sensor-restart
For more information on network configuration in Ubuntu, please see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/NetworkConfigurationCommandLine/Automatic.
Wireless interfaces¶
Security Onion is designed to use wired interfaces. We don’t recommend or support wireless interfaces. If you absolutely must use a wireless interface for your management interface, you may be able to make it work by removing it from /etc/network/interfaces and restarting the network manager service. For more information, please see https://groups.google.com/d/topic/security-onion/aC4psdszC58/discussion.