[INQUIRY] Wazuh Agent Compatibility and Performance Optimization for Oracle Database Appliance (ODA) X9-2 HA & X9-2L
Alija Nurfarizi
We are seeking technical validation and configuration best practices regarding the deployment of the Wazuh Agent (version 4.5.4) on Oracle Database Appliance (ODA) hardware, specifically the X9-2 HA (High Availability) and X9-2L (Single Node) models.
While Wazuh supports Oracle Linux, our client requires strict technical assurance regarding the agent’s interaction with specialized ODA functions, specifically concerning File Integrity Monitoring (FIM) overhead, log ingestion on high-transaction databases, and cluster interconnect stability.
Current Status: Pre-deployment planning, baseline configuration, and risk assessment phase.
Primary Concern: Potential I/O bottlenecks due to aggressive Syscheck (FIM) scans on database directories, and the risk of split-brain scenarios if Active Response interferes with Oracle Clusterware.
Target OS: Oracle Linux / Oracle Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK)
Agent Version: Wazuh Agent v4.5.4
Technical Inquiry & Architectural Focus Points:
We request the Wazuh Support/Engineering team to provide insights on the following ODA-specific intersections:
File Integrity Monitoring (Syscheck) & ASM: ODA heavily utilizes Automatic Storage Management (ASM). FIM scanning on Oracle datafiles, redo logs, or the raw block devices mapping to +DATA and +RECO disk groups will cause severe I/O degradation. What is the recommended syntax in ossec.conf to completely bypass ASM devices and high-frequency Oracle diagnostic (diag) directories?
Clusterware & Active Response (HA Models): For the ODA X9-2 HA, Oracle Grid Infrastructure relies on private heartbeat networks to prevent node eviction. If Wazuh’s "Active Response" module is enabled, how do we whitelist the Oracle Clusterware processes (e.g., crsd, ocssd, cssdmonitor) and interconnect IPs to ensure Wazuh does not mistakenly firewall or kill cluster communications during an anomaly?
Log Collection (localfile) Overhead: ODA generates massive volumes of audit logs (.aud, .xml) and listener logs. Does Wazuh agent v4.5.4 place any read-locks on these files during ingestion that might prevent the Oracle RDBMS from writing to them?
Resource Governance & Throttling: ODA uses a "Pay-As-You-Grow" CPU core model. To prevent the Wazuh agent from causing a "Noisy Neighbor" effect, what are the recommended agent.conf parameters to strictly throttle the agent’s CPU/RAM utilization during scheduled Rootcheck and Syscheck baseline scans?
Rootkit Detection (Rootcheck) vs. Oracle Kernel: Do Wazuh's native rootkit and policy monitoring modules safely interact with Oracle UEK and zero-downtime Ksplice updates, or should specific kernel-level checks be disabled to prevent false positives?
Requested Assistance:
Exclusion Masterlist: Please provide a validated ossec.conf exclusion template specifically designed for Oracle Database / Grid Infrastructure environments.
Performance Tuning Guide: Share documentation on optimizing Wazuh Agent v4.5.4 for high-throughput, latency-sensitive database servers.
Offline Documentation: Regarding any links you provide, our current email correspondences do not have portal access. Please export the requested documentation as offline copies (such as PDFs) and attach them here so we can review the information with our stakeholders.
Additional Notes & Communications: In the future, I would also like to include additional stakeholders in this correspondence who oversee the management of the assets, such as the aforementioned ODA servers. In the meantime, please ensure the following emails are copied on all updates:
Preferred Email: al...@protergo.id / ny...@protergo.id
Phone Contact: +62 859 0313 6977 (Indonesia)
Meeting Platforms Available: Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Webex.
Marcel Kemp
Regarding the scenario you describe:
- Why are you considering installing a v4.5.4 agent rather than the latest version of Wazuh (v4.14.4)? I recommend installing the latest version to avoid bugs that have been fixed and to benefit from improvements in many modules.
- Regarding your main concern, FIM can be configured to specifically monitor the files and directories you want, including the option to exclude certain file types.
- Therefore, I recommend adding a custom FIM configuration for the most sensitive directories that you want to be monitored at all times, whilst avoiding monitoring all directories, as this could cause performance issues.
- Initially, you shouldn’t encounter any issues when scanning databases, but if you do, you can simply exclude them in the configuration (as we do by default with .log files), thereby avoiding problems: https://documentation.wazuh.com/current/user-manual/capabilities/file-integrity/basic-settings.html#adding-exclusions
- And according to Active Response, you can also configure it to act in very specific scenarios; or, if you notice any issues and only want to use Oracle Clusterwave, you could simply disable it. However, by adjusting the settings to perform the actions you deem necessary, I don’t think you should encounter any problems: https://documentation.wazuh.com/current/user-manual/capabilities/active-response/how-to-configure.html
- Logcollector does not lock the files it reads, so it shouldn’t cause any conflicts with writes to those files: https://documentation.wazuh.com/current/user-manual/capabilities/log-data-collection/how-it-works.html
- To determine the resources the machine would need, I’d need to know your specific use cases, so I can’t give you a definitive answer. However, I can tell you that if you’re only going to install the agent, it shouldn’t consume many resources. Where you might encounter more issues is with the manager if you connect too many agents to it; for this, you could configure a multi-node cluster: