Zone Protection CPS Calculations - Make ZERO sense

[johnlinkowsky]

I have been collecting CPS (total, TCP, UDP, IP) via OIDs using PRTG for ~6 weeks.  I have all the data I need (I think).  However, the DoS Zone Protection best practice documentation leaves a LOT to be desired as it's not clear.

If anyone has tried to setup zone protection (SYN, UDP, IP, etc.) flood protection, and understand HOW to actually calculate the proper CPS for:  Alarm, Activate, Maximum settings please explain the following:

• Alarm Rate —Set 15-20% above the average zone CPS rate to accommodate normal fluctuations.

  * This I believe I have, as I used the total CPS + 20% higher
• Activate —Set just above the zone’s peak CPS rate to begin dropping connections to mitigate floods.

  * What does this even mean??  What is "just above" the zones peak CPS rate?  Peak rate per day?  Per hour?  Per decade? Per what??  Makes zero sense.

• Maximum —Set to 80-90% of firewall capacity. Account for other resource-consuming features. Crossing this threshold blocks new connections until the CPS rate falls below the threshold.

* How do we figure out the FW capacity??  PA5280 - what is the Maximum FW capacity of what?  CPS?  The only settings for each FW are:  Maximum Sessions, and New Connections per second  

Also - the activate MUST be different for UDP, IP, ICMP, etc.  How are THOSE configured?

I hope someone has done this successfully and can share their wisdom, as the documentation and TAC isn't very helpful.  They just provide the links to the documents about best practices, etc.  Not helpful.

Thank you.

[SteveCantwell]

John,

send me a PM (and confirm your account is set up for PMs) and I will send you a zoom link