I was asked to setup a VPN to help out a colleague this week. When I had a look, one end turned out to be an Edge Gateway, I wasn’t that concerned, I’d done similar things in my prior role, I just didn’t have access to the vCloud or VMware at this datacenter.
Depite my best efforts on the ASA, the tunnel refused to come up, it took a little looking ‘under the covers’ to accurately diagnose the problem. But to save you my pain, I’ll post the setup of both ends so yours will be a little less stressful.
VMware Edge Gateway VPN Setup
Locate the Edge Gateway in vCloud Director > VPN > Create new VPN > Tick ‘Enable This VPN‘ configuration > Set the local and remote networks > Local ID is the local public IP of the Edge Gateway > Remote ID is the pubic IP of the Cisco ASA > Set the encryption protocol as AES256 > Copy the pre-shared-key (Warning: some browsers wont select all of the key, and you will end up characters short, make sure you have it all!) > OK.
On the ‘Firewall’ Tab allow all traffic TO and FROM the remote subnet, (behind the Cisco ASA).
Note: There no need to make a NAT Exemption.
Cisco ASA VPN Setup (For Edge Gateway)
Note: The version of Edge Gateway I was using, was using (once AES256 is selected)
IKE Version: 1
Encryption:AES-256
Hashing: SHA
Diffie Hellman: Group 2
Perfect Forward Secrecy: Enabled (group 2)
I’m aware that newer Edge Gateways support IKEv2 but debugging the incoming requests told me mine was using IKEv1.
You DO NOT have any existing VPNs configured, (if you do, change the name of the CRYPTO-MAP (above) to match the name of your cryptomap and use a higher number, e.g. ‘outside_map 2‘).
Troubleshooting Edge Gateway End of the VPN
You need access to the underlying VMware infrastructure > Select Networking and Security > Locate the NSX Edge > VPN > IPsec VPN > Show IPsec Statistics > Here you can see some meaningful error massages if theres a problem.
Troubleshooting Cisco ASA End of the VPN
I’ve covered this to death in the past, so rather than reinvent the wheel;
As with most things, before you have a hope of fixing something, you will stand a better chance if you know how it works in the first place. Below is a quick run though of what’s happening with your site to site VPN‘s and how they work.
For the entire process we will have two Cisco ASA 5500 firewalls and a site to site VPN.
Solution
What’s an Initiator and a Responder?
1. Our Laptop 192.168.1.50 wants to talk to a server on the other site at 172.16.1.50
2. To get out of the local network the Laptop goes through the ASA at its local site, The ASA knows that traffic destined for 172.16.1.50 needs to be sent down the VPN tunnel, so it needs to bring up the tunnel. IT BECOMES THE INITIATOR, contacts the ASA on the other site THAT BECOMES THE RESPONDER.
3 Once that’s complete the tunnel is up and traffic can pass.
So how does it bring up the Tunnel?
To establish an ISAKMPVPN tunnel 3 things have to happen.
1. Phase 1 has to complete.
2. Phase 2 has to complete.
3. The Traffic has to be allowed to pass.
VPN Phase 1 (ISAKMP)
This stage brings up the first secure tunnel (eventually there will be three tunnels) and for it to establish the firewalls need to agree what they are going to do to bring up the tunnel, then Secure the tunnel. This process uses SIX MESSAGES (Note: We are dealing to Main Mode here not Aggressive mode). Both firewalls need a matching Phase 1 Policy to continue. And the Policy is proposed in MESSAGE1 and accepted in MESSAGE2.
A Phase 1 policy consists of,
1. The Authentication method (either a pre shared key or an RSA signature is usual).
5. Lifetime (In seconds before phase 1 should be re-established – usually 86400 seconds [1 day]).
MESSAGE 1
The Initiator sends policies that it proposes to use, for phase 1 to the other ASA.
MESSAGE 2
Providing the responder has a matching policy it will accept one of those proposed by the initiator and send it back in message 2.
Now the two ends have agreed HOW they will establish phase 1, they then need to agree on a “Shared Key” both ends must use the same shared key, but the shared key cant be sent between them because the network link is not secure. To do this they use a Diffie Hellman key exchange, this uses a mathematical process called modular exponentiation, a simple example of how that works (The math’s involved in a real key exchange are much more complicated!).
How Diffie Hellman works (simply)
Problem Site A and Site B need to use the same secret key (which will be a big long number). they cant send that number to each other because if they do it will be seen.
Solution:
Both sites pick a random number, and they have a common number, this common number can be passed between sites, In our example Site A chooses 4 and Site B chooses 5
Both sites use the common number and raise it by the power of the random number they are using so Site A arrives at 16, and Site B at 32.
The sites then send the number they have arrived at, to the other site.
Each site uses the other sites total and raises it to the power of their original random number, this results in them both having the same key, with only the numbers 2, 16 and 32 being passed between them.
Back to our VPN Tunnel
The next two messages are the initiator and responder swapping their Diffie Hellman information, Each side produces a DH Public Key, and mathematically computes a long number called a “Nonce”
MESSAGE 3
The initiator generates a “Public Key” also called the DH Public Value or Xa It also generates a Nonce or Ni and sends both of them to the responder.
MESSAGE 4
The responder generates a “Public Key” also called the DH Public Value or Xb It also generates a Nonce or Nr and sends both of them to the initiator.
At this point both the initiator and the responder can calculate the DH Shared secret key, they then use the DH Secret Key, the “Shared Secret” that is manually entered onto both peers, and the Nonce from the other peer to create 3 DIGITAL KEYS, because of the nature of Diffie Hellman each end will produce the same keys.
Key 1 = SKEYID_d Used to work out any future IPsec keying Key 2 = SKEYID_a Used for data integrity and authentication (IKE) Key 3 = SKEYID_e Used to encrypt all further IKE traffic.
MESSAGE 5
The initiator now sends its ID to the responder (this is either its IP address or a hostname). It also sends a “Hash” this authenticates the initiator to the responder as its made from the SKEYID, the pre-shared key and other information only known to the two peers.
MESSAGE 6
Message 6 is basically the mirror of Message 5, the responder sends its ID (IP or Hostname) Back the the initiator with its “Hash” and authenticates itself back to the initiator.
At this point both peers recalculate the hash they have received from the other peer, and they should both come out the same, if this happens then the IKESA’s are established and phase 1 is complete.
So what’s PFS?
Perfect Forward Secrecy is a method by which new keys are generated, each new key is mathematically linked to the key that came before it, the prior key being a “Grandfather” key. With PFS enabled this link is broken so a key can not be forward/reverse engineered to guess a previous/new key value). Every new negotiation produces a new fresh key.
Once Phase 1 has completed the second stage of the VPN can start. Like phase 1 this state also requires messages to be sent between the peers, IPsec usually executes in “Quick mode” this means that there are only 3 MESSAGES.
Note: If PFS is configured only on one end then it will fail at this point with an “Attribute not supported” error.
MESSAGE 1
The Initiator sends another Hash to the responder, this is similar to the one used in phase 1 but also includes info within this message to guarantee integrity.
4. The SPI – This number is the LABEL for the end of the tunnel the initiator will use for outbound traffic.
Tunnel mode (Tunnel or Transport). A timeout in seconds is specified, as is the ID (usually the subnet of both ends of the tunnel).
MESSAGE 2
The Responder replies with its own “Hash” with the accepted proposal and its own SPI for outgoing encrypted traffic from the responder, and finally its own Key Exchange Payload.
Once this is complete both peers generate new DH secret keys and combine them with the SKEYID_d key from phase 1 to create keys for IPsec encryption.
MESSAGE 3
The final Message is sent from imitator to responder, and serves to inform the responder that its previous message was received.
Once phase 2 is complete IPsec SA’s have been established and the tunnel is up.
Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links
You want to establish a site to site VPN from a site with a Cisco ASA firewall, to another site running a Juniper SRX firewall. I had to do this this week, and struggled to find any good information to help.
In the example below I’m configuring the whole thing from a laptop (172.16.254.206) that’s on the Juniper’s site. Use the diagram below, and substitute your own IP addresses and subnet addresses, to get a workable solution for your site.
When the process is complete, I will test it by pinging the host behind the Cisco ASA on the remote site (10.254.254.5).
Solution
Before you begin, I will assume both firewalls are functioning properly and the clients behind them can access internet services (where allowed) through them already.
5. Enter the Local (behind the ASA) network > Then the Remote (behind the Juniper) network > Next.
Note: You can type them in, but if you use the pick-list button you can select ‘inside-network’ for the local, and define a network object for the remote network.
6. Enter a pre shared key, (remember this, you need to enter it on the Juniper).
8. Enable PFS > Tick the box to exempt traffic from NAT > Next.
9. Review the settings > Finish
11. Save the changes > File > Save running Configuration to Flash.
Step 2 – Configure the Juniper SRX (Route Based VPN)
Model used SRX100B version 11.2R4.3
The SRX support two types of VPN
Route based VPN – VPN selection is done based on the route. In this you define a route pointing to the tunnel interface (st0 interface) bound to the VPN.
Policy based VPN – VPN is selected based on the policy.
15. Give the tunnel a name > Set the local zone to trust > Add in the local subnet (behind the Juniper) > Name the Secure Tunnel Interface (just put in a zero) > Set the secure tunnel zone to Untrust > Enter the physical address the VPN will be terminating on, (usually the fe0/0/0.0 interface, but it does not have to be) > Next.
Note: On the Juniper, when specifying a subnet use the short subnet notation, i.e. 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 would be 192.168.1.0/24 (if you get stuck use my subnet calculator).
16. Supply the public IP address of the ASA > and add in the subnet at the far end of the tunnel (behind the ASA) > Next.
17. Set the IKE (phase 1) settings to Compatible, Main Mode, enter the same pre shared key you setup in Step 1 (number 6) > Set the IPSEC (phase 2) settings to Compatible, IPsec Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS) to group 2 > Next.
20. Navigate to IPsecVPN > Auto Tunnel > Phase II > Select your tunnel > Edit > IPsecVPN Options > Tick ‘use proxy identity’ > Enter the local and remote subnets > OK.
21. Navigate to Security > Zones/Screen > Select the untrust zone > Edit > Host Inbound traffic – Interface > Select the physical address that the VPN is terminating on (usually fe-0/0/0.0) > Add IKE as an Interface service > OK.
22. To save the changes > Action > Commit.
23. Test the VPN by attempting to ping a host on the other end.
Juniper SRX Command Line
On the Cisco firewalls I prefer to work at command line. The Juniper Firewall also supports CLI, you can check the VPN config with the following commands;
If you want you can execute the below commands on CLI to get the “set” commands
show security ike | display set
show security ipsec | display set
show | display set | match <external interface configured in ike>
show | display set | match <st.x>
Above commands will give you the “set” commands for cli.
Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links
Special thanks to Kalanidhi Tripathi at JTAC for his assistance.
