KB – Sufficient security processes available

Affects product

  • ●
    Airlock WAF

Question or problem

Depending on the Airlock WAF's hardware profile, more or less security gate processes can be started. The amount of security gate processes limits the number of concurrent requests that can be handled.

When requests of a web application take much longer to process by the back-end, resources on Airlock WAF are bound much longer than usual. Therefore, lesser concurrent requests can be handled with the same amount of security gate processes.

  • Ressources are bound much longer in web applications with the characteristics listed below:
  • ●
    Exchange ActiveSync
  • ●
    Exchange Outlook Anywhere
  • ●
    Web application with WebSockets
  • ●
    Web application with NTLM passthrough
  • ●
    Web application with long-running requests
  • ●
    Web application with huge file upload
  • ●
    ...
Calculate the required number of security gate processes

Calculate whether Airlock WAF has enough security gate processes available to handle the expected traffic.

Procedure-related prerequisites

  • ●
    None.

Calculation

Variable
Example value
Explanation
MaxProc
2048
Maximal available security gate processes.
MaxProc used
430
Maximal currently used security gate processes.
Number of proc per user
2
Number of processes required per user for this web application. It has been determined from the analysis of the web application.
Number of concurrent users
250
Expected number of users for this web application.
Required MaxProc
<RESULT>
Result of the calculation telling the minimum of available security gate processes.
  • 1.
    Apply the following formula:

    • <Required MaxProc> = 2 × (<MaxProc used> + (<Number of proc per user> × <Number of concurrent users>))

    • Check the following:
    • ●
      Good: The calculated Required MaxProc ≤ MaxProc.
    • ●
      Bad: If the calculated Required MaxProc ≥ MaxProc, get in contact with Airlock support to discuss suitable hardware upgrade.
Maximal available security gate processes.

Procedure-related prerequisites

  • ●
    None.

Instruction

  • 1.
    Go to: Application Firewall >> Expert Settings >> Security Gate / Apache.
  • 2.
    Select ON to enable the Security Gate Expert Settings.
  • 3.
    Click on default settings file.
  • 4.
    Search in the Generated Config view for MaxProcs.
    • MaxProcs                        "2048"

    The value behind MaxProcs specifies the maximum number of security processes.

Maximal currently used security gate processes.

Procedure-related prerequisites

  • ●
    None.

Instruction

  • 1.
    Go to: Application Firewall >> Log & Report >> System Monitor.
  • 2.
    Click on the SG Processes system graphic.
  • 3.
    Search for the highest Max value in the bottom line of the graphics.

    • This shows the maximum number of started security gate processes with the current load and configuration.