Getting Started

This is a crisp and precise integration guide that will facilitate the integration of ShieldSquare - Real-time Bot Management Solution for Web Apps, Mobile & APIs at the application level using our Ruby on Rails SDK. Please login and download the connectors from here

Prerequisites

Ruby version >=2.0 and Rails >= 3

Integrating ShieldSquare in Monitor Mode

ShieldSquare integration in the monitor mode is divided into 3 simple steps

Integrate the Code
Verify Integration
Move changes to production

Integrate the Code

On integrating the code, the SDK will start making API calls to ShieldSquare solution and the response received is in the form of a response code. The response code directly indicates the action to be taken based on the incoming request. All API calls made to ShieldSquare, (in monitor mode) by default would be asynchronous in nature, based on the compatibility of the website platform. In case your website platform does not support asynchronous calls, please reach out to support for further assistance.

Please follow the below-outlined steps to integrate the code in Monitor Mode:

Set the configuration file
Integrating the API call to the code
Integrating the JS call to the code

1. Installation :

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'ss2', :git => 'https://bitbucket.org/ss2ast/ror_v2.0', :tag => 'v3.1.0'

Run the bundle command to install the gem.

After you install the gem, run the generator:

rails generate ss2:install

The generator prompts for the following details to create ss2_config.rb:

a) Server name - It lists down the available ShieldSquare servers. Please choose the server closest to your region by selecting the option.

b) Sid - Enter the Subscriber Id available in your shield square account - https://admin.shieldsquare.com/subscriber_details/. Copy the Sandbox Id if it is Monitor mode or the Production Id for Active mode

Once the above options are entered ss2_config.rb will be created inside config/initializers folder.

2. Set the configuration file:

Change 1

Open thess2_config.rbfile and replace theconfig.sidparameter with your Sandbox ID. Refer the below snapshot

config.sid = “Your Sandbox ID”
config.mode = “Monitor”
config.async_http_post = true
config.timeout_value = 100
config._ipaddr = "auto"
config.ss2_domain = 'ss_sa.shieldsquare.net'
config.domain_ttl = 3600
config.domain_cache_file = '/tmp/'
config.deployment_number = '1234'

Change 2

Replace the config.ss2_domainin the ss2_config.rb file parameter with the ShieldSquare endpoint nearest to your server. Refer to the below snapshot.

Example :If your server is located in the US, config.ss2_domain = 'ss_scus.shieldsquare.net';

Note: Add the below line to the above configuration file for backward compatibility. If you are a new customer, ignore this line.
config.js_url='/getData'

In order to understand the function and use of each of the parameters listed in the ss2_config.rb file, refer to the below table.

Parameter	Description	Type	Required

Parameter	Description	Type	Required
_sid	This holds the subscriber id of the user and can be obtained by clicking on the Subscriber id details link on the dashboard. Choose Sandbox Id as you are integrating for the very first time Important Note: Sandbox ID is meant for only testing and verification purposes and requests sent using this ID will not be persisted by ShieldSquare Service.	Alphanumeric	Yes
_mode	Sets the mode of the operation depending on the mode of activation. Set value to ‘Monitor’ in this case.	String	Yes
_async_http_post	This Boolean parameter is used to post the data asynchronously. In the Monitor mode, this has to be set as ‘true’.	Boolean	Yes
_timeout_value	This parameter indicates the time limit after which an API call has to be timed out. No synchronous API call would block for more than the value specified to this parameter. Important Note: To know the optimum value to be set as timeout, run this jar file on your server and note the value. Refer to the guide for detailed steps to achieve the same.Download the ‘jar’ file.The jar may take about 15 minutes to run before it gives an output.	A numeric value (measured in milliseconds)	Yes
_ipaddress	This is set to the HTTP header which indicates the IP address of the user. The default value is “auto”.	String	Yes
_js_url	Set the _js_url to relative URL at which the “getData” file has been placed on the site. This file will collect the JavaScript data send it to the ShieldSquare site. You can find the getData file in the downloaded connector folder. Quick Tip: The Relative path of “www.example.com/ShieldSquare/getData” is “/ShieldSquare/getData”. The simplest solution to work around this complexity is to place all the connector files in the root folder and set the _js_url parameter to “/getData”. Important Note: This parameter is only used for backward compatibility. Kindly ignore.	String	Yes
_ss2_domain	Select the ShieldSquare server closest to the website's server and assign it to the _ss2_domain property. Available options are: US – ss_scus.shieldsquare.net India/Asia – ss_sa.shieldsquare.net Australia – ss_au.shieldsquare.net Europe – ss_ew.shieldsquare.net Quick Tip:To help you find out our nearest servers use thisJar file. For other locations, refer to this Link.For further assistance, please reach us at botmanager_support@radware.com	String	Yes
_domain_cache_file	This parameter is the path to a cache file which stores the resolved IP of the _ss2_domain. The default path is "/tmp/" Important Note: To use this feature your application server [Apache/Nginx] should have write access to the folder specified above.	String	No
_domain_ttl	This parameter indicates the time after which _domain_cache_file is reloaded. The default time is 3600 seconds Important Note: To disable the caching feature, set the value as -1	Numeric value (measured in seconds)	No
_deployment_number	Identifier denoting different families of configuration settings in your servers	String	Yes

3. Integrate the API call to your code:

After making changes to the ss2_config.rb file parameters, the API code snippet needs to be added to the common header file of your website. The code snippet to be included is shown below:

Once the code is inserted, the validate request function ( highlighted in the above code) takes the userid, call type, pid as inputs to process requests. Each of the parameters of the validate request function are defined below:

Parameter	Description

Parameter

Description

UserId

Set the user-name/user-id of the logged-in visitors to shieldsquare_userid.

CallType

The value of shieldsquare_calltype determines the type of the call and can have the below values:

1 - Set the value as 1 for this parameter when the current request is of type Page Load.
2 - Set the value as 2 for this parameter when the current request is a form submit request.
6 - Set the value as 6 for this parameter when the current request is from mobile APP.
7 - Set the value as 7 for this parameter when the current request is from feature phone.

PID

Uniquely identifies a request.

API call returns response in json format. The response code can be found as the value of “responsecode” field returned and is of the type integer.

Possible response codes are:

0	This indicates that the request should be allowed.This is the default response for monitor mode.
-1	Indicates that the ShieldSquare service is facing issues . The request should be allowed in case this response code is received. For eg. this response code will be returned in case a timeout occurs.

Note

A response code of -1 is usually received when a server timeout occurs.

3. Integrate the JS Tag to your code:

Go to 'Download Connectors' page and switch to 'JS Tag' tab to find your customized JS.
Integrate the JS in the starting of head section of web pages protected by ShieldSquare to ensure JS Tag executes immediately after the page loads. This will facilitate ShieldSquare to catch sophisticated bots.

Verify Integration

Visit the verify integration page in the ShieldSquare Admin Portal and green check marks for "API Data - IP Details" & "API Data - Session Details" will indicate the successful integration of ShieldSquare with your website. A minimum of 5 requests have to be made from the same machine using the same browser for the check marks to appear as an indication to the status of integration. In the event of a Red check mark, it indicates that a particular step might have been executed incorrectly.

ShieldSquare Customer Onboarding team will verify and validate the configurations typically within 24 hours. This will ensure that the production site’s performance is not affected due to a wrong configuration set in the process of integration.

Move changes to Production

In order to move changes to production replace _sid parameter ( in the ss2_config file) with the Production ID. It takes about 2-3 hours for the production data to reflect in the ShieldSquare Dashboard. Refer the below snapshot:

Next Steps

Please send an email to botmanager_support@radware.com confirming the changes moved to production. The Radware Bot Manager support team will verify the correctness of data received by the ShieldSquare servers. A dedicated data scientist will be assigned to your website to analyze site-specific bot patterns. Any fine-tuning required for bot classification rules specific to your site will be taken care of. Within 24 hours of successful replication of changes in the production, ShieldSquare Dashboard will be released, enabling exhaustive insights on bot traffic.

Radware Bot Manager Integration Portal

SDK Integration | Ruby - Monitor mode