How to userspace l7 filter on Ubuntu
L7-filter is a classifier for Linux's Netfilter that identifies packets based on application layer data. It can classify packets as Kazaa, HTTP , Jabber, Citrix, Bittorrent, FTP , Gnucleus, eDonkey2000, etc., regardless of port. It complements existing classifiers that match on IP address, port numbers and so on. L7 filter is usefull if you want to limit or monitor different network protocols in your network. This article assumes that you have the basic knowledge how to use the terminal and set up a linux router.
This how to describes the step by step installation of Userspace L7 filter on Ubuntu Linux.
Installation
1. Method:
Add my PPA to you repository
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kuscsik/ubuntu hardy main deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/kuscsik/ubuntu hardy main
and install l7-filter-userspace l7-protocols
2. Method:
- Add the universe repositories to your sources list.
- Install some necessary packages
sudo apt-get install g++ build-essential
sudo apt-get install libnetfilter-conntrack-dev libnetfilter-conntrack1 libnetfilter-queue-dev libnetfilter-queue1 - Download the source package of userspace l7 filter and the archive of the protocol definitions .
- Unpack the protocol definitions and install it by
sudo make install
- Unpack the userspace l7 filter, compile and install it
tar -xzf l7-filter-userspace-v0.4.tar.gz
cd l7-filter-userspace-v0.4/
sudo ./configure
sudo make - Load a necessary kernel module and add to the automatically loaded modules
sudo modprobe ip_conntrack_netlink
sudo bash -c "echo ip_conntrack_netlink >> /etc/modules"
Testing
Let assume that you have a Ubuntu server with two network devices with WAN device eth0 and LAN device eth1 . With iptables we redirect forwarded packages to the userspace
sudo iptables -A FORWARD -j NFQUEUE --queue-num 0
Create a l7 config file in your favorite editor
sudo vi /etc/l7_filter.conf
and add some protocols
ssh 5
bittorrent 6
The list of all supported protocols can be found here . From the config we can read that l7 filter will assign the mark 5 to the packets of ssh protocol and it will sign with mark 6 the bittorrent packets.
Start l7 filter in debuging model7-filter -vv -f /etc/l7_filter.conf
On your LAN client run a bittorrent session or make an ssh connection to an external server. If everything goes fine l7-filter will recognize your traffic and inform you trough the standard output.
Usage
Now, we are able to mark the connections. The next step is to set up the traffic control. For this you can use the HTB packet sheduller.
[to be improved...]
You can set up the start of l7-filter automatically by adding a line to /etc/rc.local
nohup /usr/local/bin/l7-filter -f /etc/l7-filter.conf &
Warning! This is a dangerous solution on a production server. If the program terminates unexpectedly your users will be cut off from the internet. You should set up some kind of monitoring for the l7-filter process.
You will notice, that the filter uses significant amount of system resources. You can save some computation time and memory by improving the forwarding rule.
For example, if you plan to shape the outgoing peer-to-peer connections it is a good idea to add some port specific selection to the userspace redirection rulesudo iptables -A FORWARD -i eth0 -p tcp --dport 1024: -j NFQUEUE --queue-num 0
which will pass to the filter only the packets targeting higher ports than 1024.
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you have any question or comments don't hesitate to drop me a message.
Please read the home page of Layer 7 Userspace
http://l7-filter.sourceforge.net/HOWTO-userspace
Especially the section why it is a bad idea to use the packet filtering for service blocking.