Installing Snort on Ubuntu 22.04

Snort is a popular open-source intrusion detection system (IDS) that monitors network traffic to identify and alert on suspicious activity. It can be used for both real-time intrusion detection and offline packet analysis. In this guide, we will walk you through the process of installing Snort on Ubuntu 22.04.

Step 1: Update the System

Before starting the installation, it's important to update the system packages to their latest versions. Open a terminal and execute the following commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y

Step 2: Install Prerequisites

Snort requires a few prerequisite packages to be installed. Use the following command to install them:

sudo apt install -y build-essential libpcap-dev libpcre3-dev libdumbnet-dev bison flex zlib1g-dev liblzma-dev openssl libssl-dev ethtool

Step 3: Download and Compile Snort

Download the latest stable version of Snort from the official website or using the following command:

wget https://www.snort.org/downloads/snort/snort-2.x.x.x.tar.gz

Replace "2.x.x.x" with the version number you want to install.

Extract the downloaded file using the following command:

tar -xvf snort-2.x.x.x.tar.gz

Change to the extracted directory:

cd snort-2.x.x.x

Configure the build and compile Snort:

./configure --enable-sourcefire --enable-ipv6 --enable-targetbased --prefix=/usr/local/snort
make
sudo make install

Step 4: Configure Snort

Create the Snort configuration directory:

sudo mkdir /etc/snort

Copy the default configuration file to the Snort directory:

sudo cp /usr/local/snort/etc/*.conf* /etc/snort

Edit Snort configuration file (snort.conf) using your preferred text editor:

sudo nano /etc/snort/snort.conf

Modify the necessary settings according to your requirements.

Step 5: Test Snort Installation

Ensure Snort is working correctly by running it in test mode:

sudo snort -T -c /etc/snort/snort.conf

If everything is configured correctly, you should see a message indicating that the test is successful.

Step 6: Start Snort

To start Snort with your custom configuration, use the following command:

sudo snort -c /etc/snort/snort.conf -i [interface]

Replace "[interface]" with the name of the network interface you want Snort to monitor.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed and configured Snort on Ubuntu 22.04.