Implementing a robust intrusion detection system is crucial for safeguarding your network infrastructure. Snort 3 represents a significant advancement in open-source network security, offering enhanced performance and flexibility. Setting it up on a stable platform like Rocky Linux provides a powerful defense mechanism against various network threats.
The process involves preparing your system by installing necessary dependencies, which often include development tools, libraries like libpcap, luajit, OpenSSL, libdnet, and others required for compiling Snort 3 from its source code. Accessing the official Snort 3 source code or a suitable package is the next step. Given that Snort 3 is frequently compiled for optimal configuration, you’ll typically download the source archive.
Building Snort 3 requires configuring the build process using commands like ./configure to specify installation paths and enable desired features. This is followed by compiling the source code with make and then installing the binaries and associated files using make install. Post-installation, crucial configuration is needed. This includes defining the network interfaces Snort will monitor in its configuration file, usually snort.lua. Setting up and updating Snort rules is fundamental; these rules are the signatures Snort uses to identify malicious activity. Proper rule placement and configuration within the snort.lua file are essential. Testing the installation using a simple command-line test run validates that Snort 3 is operational and can parse its configuration and rules. Finally, you configure Snort to run as a service, often using systemd, to ensure it starts automatically and monitors your network continuously. Deploying Snort 3 effectively on Rocky Linux establishes a vigilant watch over your network traffic, alerting you to suspicious patterns and potential intrusions.
Source: https://kifarunix.com/install-and-configure-snort-3-on-rocky-linux/
