VPN Policy

You can create two types of VPN Policies. When using the VPN Wizard to create a VPN policy, only the Auto method is available.

Manual. All settings (including the keys) for the VPN tunnel are manually input at each end (both VPN Endpoints). No third party server or organization is involved.

Auto. Some parameters for the VPN tunnel are generated automatically by using the IKE (Internet Key Exchange) protocol to perform negotiations between the two VPN Endpoints (the Local ID Endpoint and the Remote ID Endpoint).

In addition, a CA (Certificate Authority) can also be used to perform authentication (see Certificate Authorities). To use a CA, each VPN Gateway must have a Certificate from the CA. For each Certificate, there is both a "Public Key" and a "Private Key". The "Public Key" is freely distributed, and is used to encrypt data. The receiver then uses their "Private Key" to decrypt the data (without the Private Key, decryption is impossible). CAs can be beneficial since using them reduces the amount of data entry required on each VPN Endpoint.

Managing VPN Policies

The VPN Policies screen allows you to add additional policies-either Auto or Manual-and to manage the VPN policies already created. You can edit policies, enable or disable policies, or delete them entirely. The rules for VPN policy use are:

Traffic covered by a policy will automatically be sent via a VPN tunnel.

When traffic is covered by two or more policies, the first matching policy will be used. (In this situation, the order of the policies is important. However, if you have only one policy for each remote VPN Endpoint, then the policy order is not important.)

The VPN tunnel is created according to the parameters in the SA (Security Association).

The remote VPN Endpoint must have a matching SA, or it will refuse the connection.

VPN Policy Table

Only one Client Policy may configured at a time (noted by an "*" next to the policy name). The Policy Table contains the following fields:

! (Status). Indicates whether the policy is enabled (green circle) or disabled (grey circle). To Enable or Disable a Policy, check the radio box adjacent to the circle and click Enable or Disable, as required.

Name. Each policy is given a unique name (the Connection Name when using the VPN Wizard).

Type. The Type is "Auto" or "Manual" as described previously (Auto is used during VPN Wizard configuration).

Local. IP address (either a single address, range of address or subnet address) on your local LAN. Traffic must be from (or to) these addresses to be covered by this policy. (The Subnet address is supplied as the default IP address when using the VPN Wizard).

Remote. IP address or address range of the remote network. Traffic must be to (or from) these addresses to be covered by this policy. (The VPN Wizard default requires the remote LAN IP address and subnet mask).

AH. Authentication Header. This specifies the authentication protocol for the VPN header (VPN Wizard default is disabled).

ESP. Encapsulating Security Payload. This specifies the encryption protocol used for the VPN data (VPN Wizard default is enabled).

Action. Allows you to access individual policies to make any changes or modifications.