ZyXEL P-660HW-T1 v2 User Guide - Page 167

Half-Open Sessions

Page 167 highlights

P-660HW-T v2 User's Guide If your network is slower than average for any of these factors (especially if you have servers that are slow or handle many tasks and are often busy), then the default values should be reduced. You should make any changes to the threshold values before you continue configuring firewall rules. 10.10.2 Half-Open Sessions An unusually high number of half-open sessions (either an absolute number or measured as the arrival rate) could indicate that a Denial of Service attack is occurring. For TCP, "halfopen" means that the session has not reached the established state-the TCP three-way handshake has not yet been completed (see Figure 79 on page 140). For UDP, "half-open" means that the firewall has detected no return traffic. The ZyXEL Device measures both the total number of existing half-open sessions and the rate of session establishment attempts. Both TCP and UDP half-open sessions are counted in the total number and rate measurements. Measurements are made once a minute. When the number of existing half-open sessions rises above a threshold (max-incomplete high), the ZyXEL Device starts deleting half-open sessions as required to accommodate new connection requests. The ZyXEL Device continues to delete half-open requests as necessary, until the number of existing half-open sessions drops below another threshold (maxincomplete low). When the rate of new connection attempts rises above a threshold (one-minute high), the ZyXEL Device starts deleting half-open sessions as required to accommodate new connection requests. The ZyXEL Device continues to delete half-open sessions as necessary, until the rate of new connection attempts drops below another threshold (one-minute low). The rate is the number of new attempts detected in the last one-minute sample period. 10.10.2.1 TCP Maximum Incomplete and Blocking Time An unusually high number of half-open sessions with the same destination host address could indicate that a Denial of Service attack is being launched against the host. Whenever the number of half-open sessions with the same destination host address rises above a threshold (TCP Maximum Incomplete), the ZyXEL Device starts deleting half-open sessions according to one of the following methods: • If the Blocking Time timeout is 0 (the default), then the ZyXEL Device deletes the oldest existing half-open session for the host for every new connection request to the host. This ensures that the number of half-open sessions to a given host will never exceed the threshold. • If the Blocking Time timeout is greater than 0, then the ZyXEL Device blocks all new connection requests to the host giving the server time to handle the present connections. The ZyXEL Device continues to block all new connection requests until the Blocking Time expires. Chapter 10 Firewall Configuration 167

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P-660HW-T v2 User’s Guide
Chapter 10 Firewall Configuration
167
If your network is slower than average for any of these factors (especially if you have servers
that are slow or handle many tasks and are often busy), then the default values should be
reduced.
You should make any changes to the threshold values before you continue configuring
firewall rules.
10.10.2
Half-Open Sessions
An unusually high number of half-open sessions (either an absolute number or measured as
the arrival rate) could indicate that a Denial of Service attack is occurring. For TCP, "half-
open" means that the session has not reached the established state-the TCP three-way
handshake has not yet been completed (see
Figure 79 on page 140
). For UDP, "half-open"
means that the firewall has detected no return traffic.
The ZyXEL Device measures both the total number of existing half-open sessions and the rate
of session establishment attempts. Both TCP and UDP half-open sessions are counted in the
total number and rate measurements. Measurements are made once a minute.
When the number of existing half-open sessions rises above a threshold (
max-incomplete
high
), the ZyXEL Device starts deleting half-open sessions as required to accommodate new
connection requests. The ZyXEL Device continues to delete half-open requests as necessary,
until the number of existing half-open sessions drops below another threshold (
max-
incomplete low
).
When the rate of new connection attempts rises above a threshold (
one-minute high
), the
ZyXEL Device starts deleting half-open sessions as required to accommodate new connection
requests. The ZyXEL Device continues to delete half-open sessions as necessary, until the rate
of new connection attempts drops below another threshold (
one-minute low
). The rate is the
number of new attempts detected in the last one-minute sample period.
10.10.2.1
TCP Maximum Incomplete and Blocking Time
An unusually high number of half-open sessions with the same destination host address could
indicate that a Denial of Service attack is being launched against the host.
Whenever the number of half-open sessions with the same destination host address rises above
a threshold (
TCP Maximum Incomplete
), the ZyXEL Device starts deleting half-open
sessions according to one of the following methods:
If the
Blocking Time
timeout is 0 (the default), then the ZyXEL Device deletes the oldest
existing half-open session for the host for every new connection request to the host. This
ensures that the number of half-open sessions to a given host will never exceed the
threshold.
If the
Blocking Time
timeout is greater than 0, then the ZyXEL Device blocks all new
connection requests to the host giving the server time to handle the present connections.
The ZyXEL Device continues to block all new connection requests until the
Blocking
Time
expires.