Policy Map

Policy Map is an interactive report tool that aggregates the allowed traffic through your Fireboxes and shows that allowed traffic in a visualization of the traffic flows. Each traffic flow is defined by the unique path a connection takes internally through the device as it is processed by policies and configuration settings on the device. The thickness of a traffic flow ribbon indicates how much traffic is included in that traffic flow: thicker ribbons have more bytes or connections. The color of the ribbons and nodes indicate the type and disposition of the traffic:

  • Interfaces — Blue
  • Policies — Orange
  • Disposition — Green (Allow), Red (Deny)
  • Applications and Application categories — Purple
  • Web Audit categories — Purple
  • Subscription Services — Yellow
  • Viruses, DLP rules, APT Blocker — Yellow

Policy Map includes many options to filter and pivot on the data in the traffic flows, and to further explore the details of the traffic flows. You can see information for a single Firebox, FireCluster, or a group of devices in Policy Map for the date and time range you select.

From Policy Map, you can see:

  • Subscription Services activity
  • Application activity through policies
  • Policies in use
  • Policies that use the most bandwidth
  • Interfaces in use
  • Connections between active interfaces

The Policy Map diagrams show visualizations of multiple key concepts at the same time:

  • Links between nodes show how the data flows
  • Size of links and nodes show the number of bytes or connections
  • Color of links show the disposition of the connections (Allowed or Denied)

You can also see more detailed information about the data in the Policy Map in tool-tips and popup dialog boxes.

About Policy Map Types

From the Policy Map page, you can select one of the Policy Map types to specify the information that is included in the traffic flow. Each map type includes different data nodes. For each map type, you can pivot the data to further refine the details included in the Policy Map. Pivot options are only available if the log messages from your device, cluster, or group include data for that pivot option.

 
Map Types

Column Node Descriptions

 Pivots
Policy Audit The default Policy Map type. Includes all connections aggregated by Source Interface, Firewall Policy, Disposition, and Destination Interface. Bytes, Connections
Subscription Services Includes all connections for the Subscription Services enabled on your devices or groups, aggregated by Source Interface, Firewall Policy, Subscription Service, Disposition, and Destination Interface. Byte, Connections
Web Audit Includes connections that are aggregated by Source Interface, Firewall Policy, WebBlocker Category, and Disposition. Connections
Application Control Includes connections that are aggregated by Source Interface, Firewall Policy, Application Category, Disposition, and Destination Interface. Byte, Connections
Intrusions (IPS) Includes connections that are aggregated by Source Interface, Firewall Policy, Severity Level, Disposition, and Destination Interface. Connections
Advanced Malware (APT) Includes connections that are aggregated by Source Interface, Firewall Policy, Threat Level, Disposition, and Destination Interface. Connections
Data Loss Violations (DLP) Includes connections that are aggregated by Source Interface, Firewall Policy, Rule Name, Disposition, and Destination Interface. Connections
Virus (GAV) Includes connections that are aggregated by Source Interface, Protocol, Virus Name, Disposition, and Firewall Policy. Connections

View Traffic Flows

To view the traffic flows on your Firebox, FireCluster, or group of devices:

  1. Select Home > Devices or Home > Groups.
    The Devices or Groups page opens.
  2. Select a device or group in the list.
    If the Firebox or group has only a logging connection to Dimension, the Executive Dashboard page opens.
    If the Firebox or group has a management connection to Dimension, the Device Summary page opens.
  3. From the Start and End drop-down list calendars, select the start and end dates to include in the report data, then click Apply.
  4. On the Tools tab, select Policy Map.
    The Policy Map page opens, with the Policy Audit map type selected by default.
  5. To change the information in the map, from the map type drop-down list at the top-right of the page, select an option:
    • Policy Audit
    • Subscription Services
    • Web Audit
    • Application Control
    • Intrusions (IPS)
    • Advanced Malware (APT)
    • Data Loss Violations (DLP)
    • Virus (GAV)

    Screen shot of the Policy Map map type drop-down list

  6. From the pivot drop-down list at the top right of the page, select an available pivot option:
    • Bytes
    • Connections

    Screen shot of the Policy Map pivot drop-down list

  7. Review the information in the Policy Map.

For more information about how to use the interactive features in Policy Map, see the next section.

About the Internal-Policy Traffic Flow

When you review traffic flows in Policy Map, you might see the Internal-Policy traffic flow. Unlike the other traffic flows in Policy Map, this traffic flow does not show connections through one policy (or protocol). Instead, the Internal-Policy traffic flow includes this traffic:

  • IPSec traffic that uses the ESP or AH protocol
  • Any traffic to or from a cluster interface in a FireCluster
  • Traffic through a GRE tunnel from localhost to an IPSec tunnel
  • UDP traffic from localhost port 68 to destination port 67 (DHCP)
  • UDP traffic from destination port 67 to localhost port 68 (DHCP)
  • Traffic to or from an interface with the GRE protocol

Though the Internal-Policy traffic flow appears in Policy Map when traffic through the device meets these conditions, Internal-Policy does not appear in the list of policies for your device.

If the settings change for any of the items that appear in the Internal-Policy traffic flow, the appearance of the traffic flow also changes. For example, if you disable an IPSec tunnel on your device, traffic and protocols for that IPSec traffic are no longer included in the Internal-Policy traffic flow.

Use Policy Map Interactive Features

After you have selected the map type and pivot options for a Policy Map, you can use the interactive features in Policy Map to see the details about the flow of traffic through your device, FireCluster, or group. Each Policy Map includes a data flow for each policy that is in use and a column for each node included in the traffic flow. The columns (nodes) included in each Policy Map depend on the map type you select.

See Policy Map Information

At the top of the Policy Map page, the map type, the number of flows, bytes, and connections that are included in the map type you selected appear.

Each link ribbon between columns shows how the data flows through each column. The size of each ribbon and column indicate the number of bytes or connections for that node. The disposition of the connections (Allowed or Denied) is indicated by the color of the ribbon or column.

Screen shot of the Policy Audit Policy Map

 

See the Traffic Flow

To see the flow of traffic through the policies defined on your Firebox, FireCluster, or group, place your mouse cursor over a link ribbon in Policy Map.

Screen shot of the Policy Audit Policy Map page, with a single flow highlighted

The flow of the traffic is illuminated in the map and an informational popup dialog box appears, with these details:

  • The Flow ID number
  • The number of flows for the selected traffic
  • The number of connections for the traffic flow

 

See the Traffic Flow Details

  1. To see details about the nodes in each traffic flow, place your mouse cursor over each column that the ribbon flows through.
  2. To see more information about a particular node, click the node.

Screen shot of the Policy Audit flow details

The dialog box that appears includes:

  • The number of connections through the selected node for the selected traffic flow.
  • Some nodes also include the number of bytes sent through the traffic flow.
  • An option to filter Policy Map on the selected node in the traffic flow.
  • An option to change the Policy Map view to include only the connections from the selected traffic flow and node.

 

Filter Policy Map

To see only the information from a selected node in a policy flow, you can filter Policy Map on that node in the traffic flow.

In the dialog box, adjacent to Filter on, click the blue link text.
Policy Map is filtered on the selected traffic flow.

Screen shot of the Policy Map filtered view

 

View Connections for the Policy Flow

To see only the connections from a selected node in a policy flow, you can filter Policy Map on the connections for that node in the traffic flow.

  1. In the dialog box, adjacent to View connections, click the blue link text.
    The connections list for the selected traffic flow appears.

Screen shot of the Policy Map connections list

  1. To navigate to a certain area in the list, click a section of the bar chart display.
    The list scrolls to the area of the chart you selected.
  2. To close the connections list, at the top right of the list, click the Close List icon.

 

Clear Policy Map Filter and Connection Views

To clear all filters and connections from the Policy Map display, in the breadcrumbs at the top of the Policy Map page, click Policy Map.
The Policy Map page appears for the map type you selected.

Screen shot of the Policy Audit Policy Map page

Print Policy Map

From your web browser, you can print the Policy Map page. If you can generate a PDF file from your browser, you can also export your current view of the Policy Map page as a PDF. Because each web browser has different menu options, you must use the correct procedure for your web browser. For more information, see the documentation or Help provided with your web browser.

For example, to print Policy Map from Chrome:

  1. Click the Chrome Menu button and select Print.
    Or, press Ctrl + P on your keyboard.
    The Print page opens.
  2. Specify the print options.
    To print a PDF, make sure to select a printer that can generate  PDF file.
  3. Click Print.
  4. To print a PDF, specify a file name and location to save your PDF.

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