NEC IX Series

This topic provides a route-based Site-to-Site VPN configuration for NEC IX Series devices. This configuration was validated using an IX3315 running Firmware Ver.10.2.16 and IX2106 running Firmware Ver.10.2.16.

Important

Oracle provides configuration instructions for a tested set of vendors and devices. Use the correct configuration for your vendor and software version.

If the device or software version that Oracle used to verify the configuration does not exactly match your device or software, you might still be able to create the necessary configuration on your device. Consult your vendor's documentation and make any necessary adjustments.

If your device is for a vendor not in the list of verified vendors and devices, or if you're already familiar with configuring your device for IPSec, see the list of supported IPSec parameters and consult your vendor's documentation for assistance.

Site-to-Site VPN provides a site-to-site IPSec connection that Oracle Cloud Infrastructure offers for connecting your on-premises network to a virtual cloud network (VCN).

The following diagram shows a basic IPSec connection to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure with redundant tunnels. The IP addresses in this diagram are examples only and not for literal use.

This image summarizes the general layout of your on-premises network, VPN Connect IPSec tunnels, and VCN.

Best Practices

This section covers general best practices and considerations for using Site-to-Site VPN.

Configure All Tunnels for Every IPSec Connection

Oracle deploys two IPSec headends for each of your connections to provide high availability for your mission-critical workloads. On the Oracle side, these two headends are on different routers for redundancy purposes. Oracle recommends configuring all available tunnels for maximum redundancy. This is a key part of the "Design for Failure" philosophy.

Have Redundant CPEs in Your On-Premises Network Locations

Each of your sites that connects with IPSec to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure should have redundant edge devices (also known as customer-premises equipment (CPE)). You add each CPE to the Oracle Console and create a separate IPSec connection between your dynamic routing gateway (DRG)  and each CPE. For each IPSec connection, Oracle provisions two tunnels on geographically redundant IPSec headends. For more information, see the Connectivity Redundancy Guide (PDF).

Routing Protocol Considerations

When you create a Site-to-Site VPN IPSec connection, it has two redundant IPSec tunnels. Oracle encourages you to configure your CPE to use both tunnels (if your CPE supports it). In the past, Oracle created IPSec connections that had up to four IPSec tunnels.

The following three routing types are available, and you choose the routing type separately for each tunnel in the Site-to-Site VPN:

  • BGP dynamic routing: The available routes are learned dynamically through BGP. The DRG dynamically learns the routes from your on-premises network. On the Oracle side, the DRG advertises the VCN's subnets.
  • Static routing: When you set up the IPSec connection to the DRG, you specify the particular routes to your on-premises network that you want the VCN to know about. You also must configure your CPE device with static routes to the VCN's subnets. These routes are not learned dynamically.
  • Policy-based routing: When you set up the IPSec connection to the DRG, you specify the particular routes to your on-premises network that you want the VCN to know about. You also must configure your CPE device with static routes to the VCN's subnets. These routes are not learned dynamically.

For more information about routing with Site-to-Site VPN, including Oracle recommendations on how to manipulate the BGP best path selection algorithm, see Routing for Site-to-Site VPN.

Other Important CPE Configurations

Ensure that access lists on your CPE are configured correctly to not block necessary traffic from or to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

If you have multiple tunnels up simultaneously, you might experience asymmetric routing. To allow for asymmetric routing, ensure that your CPE is configured to handle traffic coming from your VCN on any of the tunnels. For example, you need to disable ICMP inspection, configure TCP state bypass . For more details about the appropriate configuration, contact your CPE vendor's support. To configure routing to be symmetric, refer to Routing for Site-to-Site VPN.

Caveats and Limitations

This section covers general important characteristics and limitations of Site-to-Site VPN to be aware of.

Asymmetric Routing

Oracle uses asymmetric routing across the multiple tunnels that make up the IPSec connection. Configure your firewalls accordingly. Otherwise, ping tests or application traffic across the connection don't work reliably.

When you use multiple tunnels to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Oracle recommends that you configure your routing to deterministically route traffic through the preferred tunnel. If you want to use one IPSec tunnel as primary and another as backup, configure more-specific routes for the primary tunnel (BGP) and less-specific routes (summary or default route) for the backup tunnel (BGP/static). Otherwise, if you advertise the same route (for example, a default route) through all tunnels, return traffic from your VCN to your on-premises network routes to any of the available tunnels. This is because Oracle uses asymmetric routing.

For specific Oracle routing recommendations about how to force symmetric routing, see Routing for Site-to-Site VPN.

Route-Based or Policy-Based Site-to-Site VPN

The IPSec protocol uses Security Associations (SAs) to determine how to encrypt packets. Within each SA, you define encryption domains to map a packet's source and destination IP address and protocol type to an entry in the SA database to define how to encrypt or decrypt a packet.

Note

Other vendors or industry documentation might use the term proxy ID, security parameter index (SPI), or traffic selector when referring to SAs or encryption domains.

There are two general methods for implementing IPSec tunnels:

  • Route-based tunnels: Also called next-hop-based tunnels. A route table lookup is performed on a packet's destination IP address. If that route's egress interface is an IPSec tunnel, the packet is encrypted and sent to the other end of the tunnel.
  • Policy-based tunnels: The packet's source and destination IP address and protocol are matched against a list of policy statements. If a match is found, the packet is encrypted based on the rules in that policy statement.

The Oracle Site-to-Site VPN headends use route-based tunnels but can work with policy-based tunnels with some caveats listed in the following sections.

Encryption domain for route-based tunnels

If your CPE supports route-based tunnels, use that method to configure the tunnel. It's the simplest configuration with the most interoperability with the Oracle VPN headend.

Route-based IPSec uses an encryption domain with the following values:

  • Source IP address: Any (0.0.0.0/0)
  • Destination IP address: Any (0.0.0.0/0)
  • Protocol: IPv4

If you need to be more specific, you can use a single summary route for your encryption domain values instead of a default route.

Encryption domain for policy-based tunnels

When you use policy-based tunnels, every policy entry (a CIDR block on one side of the IPSec connection) that you define generates an IPSec security association (SA) with every eligible entry on the other end of the tunnel. This pair is referred to as an encryption domain.

In this diagram, the Oracle DRG end of the IPSec tunnel has policy entries for three IPv4 CIDR blocks and one IPv6 CIDR block. The on-premises CPE end of the tunnel has policy entries two IPv4 CIDR blocks and two IPv6 CIDR blocks. Each entry generates an encryption domain with all possible entries on the other end of the tunnel. Both sides of an SA pair must use the same version of IP. The result is a total of eight encryption domains.

Diagram showing multiple encryption domains and how to determine their number.
Important

If your CPE supports only policy-based tunnels, be aware of the following restrictions.

  • Site-to-Site VPN supports multiple encryption domains, but has an upper limit of 50 encryption domains.
  • If you had a situation similar to the example above and only configured three of the six possible IPv4 encryption domains on the CPE side, the link would be listed in a "Partial UP" state since all possible encryption domains are always created on the DRG side.
  • Policy-based routing depends on Site-to-Site VPN v2. See Updated Site-to-Site VPN service for more about Site-to-Site VPN v2.
  • Depending on when your tunnel was created you might not be able to edit an existing tunnel to use policy-based routing and might need to replace the tunnel with a new IPSec tunnel.
  • The CIDR blocks used on the Oracle DRG end of the tunnel can't overlap the CIDR blocks used on the on-premises CPE end of the tunnel.
  • An encryption domain must always be between two CIDR blocks of the same IP version.

If Your CPE Is Behind a NAT Device

In general, the CPE IKE identifier configured on your end of the connection must match the CPE IKE identifier that Oracle is using. By default, Oracle uses the CPE's public IP address, which you provide when you create the CPE object in the Oracle Console. However, if your CPE is behind a NAT device, the CPE IKE identifier configured on your end might be the CPE's private IP address, as show in the following diagram.

This image shows the CPE behind a NAT device, the public and private IP addresses, and the CPE IKE identifier.
Note

Some CPE platforms do not allow you to change the local IKE identifier. If you cannot, you must change the remote IKE ID in the Oracle Console to match your CPE's local IKE ID. You can provide the value either when you set up the IPSec connection, or later, by editing the IPSec connection. Oracle expects the value to be either an IP address or a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) such as cpe.example.com. For instructions, see Changing the CPE IKE Identifier That Oracle Uses.

CPE Configuration

Important

The configuration instructions in this section are provided by Oracle Cloud Infrastructure for your CPE. If you need support or further assistance, contact your CPE vendor's support directly.

The following figure shows the basic layout of the IPSec connection.

This image summarizes the general layout of the IPSec connection and tunnels.

The configuration template provided is for an IX3315 running Firmware Ver.10.2.16 or IX2106 running Firmware Ver.10.2.16 software (or later). The template provides information for each tunnel that you must configure. Oracle recommends setting up all configured tunnels for maximum redundancy.

The configuration template refers to these items that you must provide:

  • CPE public IP address: The internet-routable IP address that is assigned to the external interface on the CPE. You or your Oracle administrator provides this value to Oracle when creating the CPE object in the Oracle Console.
  • Inside tunnel interface (required if using BGP): The IP addresses for the CPE and Oracle ends of the inside tunnel interface. You provide these values when creating the IPSec connection in the Oracle Console.
  • BGP ASN (required if using BGP): Your BGP ASN.

In addition, you must:

  • Configure internal routing for traffic between the CPE and your local network.

  • Ensure that you permit traffic between your NEC IX Series and your Oracle VCN.

  • Identify the IKE policy used (the following configuration template references this IKE policy as $<ikePolicy1> and $<ikePolicy2>).
  • Identify the IPSec policy used (the following configuration template references this IPSec policy as $<ipsecPolicy1> and $<ipsecPolicy2>).
  • Identify the virtual tunnel interface names used (the following configuration template references these as variables $<tunnelInterfaceNumber1> and $<tunnelInterfaceNumber2>).
Important

This following configuration template from Oracle Cloud Infrastructureis a starting point for what you need to apply to your CPE. Some of the parameters referenced in the template must be unique on the CPE, and the uniqueness can only be determined by accessing the CPE. Ensure the parameters are valid on your CPE and do not overwrite any previously configured values. In particular, ensure these values are unique:

  • Policy names or numbers
  • Interface names
  • Access list numbers (if applicable)

To find parameters that you must define before applying the configuration, search for the keyword USER_DEFINED in the template.

About Using IKEv2

Oracle supports Internet Key Exchange version 1 (IKEv1) and version 2 (IKEv2). If you configure the IPSec connection in the Console to use IKEv2, you must configure your CPE to use only IKEv2 and related IKEv2 encryption parameters that your CPE supports. For a list of parameters that Oracle supports for IKEv1 or IKEv2, see Supported IPSec Parameters.

You specify the IKE version when defining the IKE gateway. In the following configuration, there's a comment showing how to configure the IKE gateway for IKEv1 versus IKEv2.

IKEv1 Configuration Template

View the IKEv1 configuration template in full screen for easier reading.


!-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
! IKEv1 Configuration Template
! The configuration consists of two IPSec tunnels. Oracle highly recommends that you configure both tunnels for maximum redundancy.
!-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
! The configuration template involves setting up the following:
! Configure ISAKMPv1 and IPSec Policies
! Configure Keepalive Setting of ICMP
! Configure Virtual Tunnel Interfaces
! IP Routing (BGP or Static)
!-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
! The configuration template has various parameters that you must define before applying the configuration.
!-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
! PARAMETERS REFERENCED:
! $<OracleHeadendIpAddress1> = Oracle public IP endpoint obtained from the Oracle Console.
! $<OracleHeadendIpAddress2> = Oracle public IP endpoint obtained from the Oracle Console.
! $<sharedSecret1> = You provide when you set up the IPSec connection in the Oracle Console, or you can use the default Oracle-provided value.
! $<sharedSecret2> = You provide when you set up the IPSec connection in the Oracle Console, or you can use the default Oracle-provided value.
! $<cpePublicIpAddress> = The public IP address for the CPE. This is the IP address of your outside interface.
! $<vcnCidrBlock> = VCN CIDR block. For example, 10.0.0.0/20.
! $<tunnelInterfaceNumber1> = The number of your tunnel interface for the first tunnel. For example, 1. 
! $<tunnelInterfaceNumber2> = The number of your tunnel interface for the second tunnel. For example, 2.
! $<ikePolicy1> = The name of your IKE Policy. For example, ike-policy1.
! $<ikePolicy2> = The name of your IKE Policy. For example, ike-policy2.
! $<ipsecPolicy1> = The name of your IPSec Policy. For example, ipsec-policy1.
! $<ipsecPolicy2> = The name of your IPSec Policy. For example, ipsec-policy2.
! $<lanInterfaceNumber> = The number of your LAN interface. For example, 1.0.
! $<lanIpAddress> = The IP address of the LAN interface for your CPE.
! $<OracleInsideTunnelIpAddress1> = Inside tunnel IP address of Oracle-side for the first tunnel. You provide these values when creating the IPSec connection in the Oracle Console.
! $<OracleInsideTunnelIpAddress2> = Inside tunnel IP address of Oracle-side for the second tunnel. You provide these values when creating the IPSec connection in the Oracle Console.
! $<cpeInsideTunnelIpAddress1> = The CPE's inside tunnel IP for the first tunnel.
! $<cpeInsideTunnelIpAddress2> = The CPE's inside tunnel IP for the second tunnel.
! $<bgpASN> = Your BGP ASN.
!-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

! Configure ISAKMPv1 and IPSec Policies

	ip access-list sec-list permit ip src any dest any
	ike nat-traversal
	ike proposal ike-prop encryption aes-256 hash sha2-256 group 1536-bit
	ike policy $<ikePolicy1> peer $<OracleHeadendIpAddress1> key $<sharedSecret1> ike-prop
	ike policy $<ikePolicy2> peer $<OracleHeadendIpAddress2> key $<sharedSecret2> ike-prop

	ipsec autokey-proposal ipsec-prop esp-aes-256 esp-sha lifetime time 3600
	ipsec autokey-map $<ipsecPolicy1> sec-list peer $<OracleHeadendIpAddress1> ipsec-prop pfs 1536-bit
	ipsec autokey-map $<ipsecPolicy2> sec-list peer $<OracleHeadendIpAddress2> ipsec-prop pfs 1536-bit

! Configure Keepalive Setting of ICMP

	watch-group watch_tunnel1 10
	event 20 ip unreach-host $<lanIpAddress> Tunnel$<tunnelInterfaceNumber1> source GigaEthernet$<lanInterfaceNumber>
	action 10 ip shutdown-route  $<vcnCidrBlock> Tunnel$<tunnelInterfaceNumber1>
	action 20 ipsec clear-sa Tunnel$<tunnelInterfaceNumber1>

	network-monitor watch_tunnel1 enable

	watch-group watch_tunnel2 10
	event 20 ip unreach-host $<lanIpAddress> Tunnel$<tunnelInterfaceNumber2> source GigaEthernet$<lanInterfaceNumber>
	action 10 ip shutdown-route  $<vcnCidrBlock> Tunnel$<tunnelInterfaceNumber2>
	action 20 ipsec clear-sa Tunnel$<tunnelInterfaceNumber2>

	network-monitor watch_tunnel2 enable

	! Configure Virtual Tunnel Interfaces

	interface Tunnel$<tunnelInterfaceNumber1>
	tunnel mode ipsec
	ip address $<cpeInsideTunnelIpAddress1>
	ip tcp adjust-mss auto
	ipsec policy tunnel ipsec-policy1 out
	no shutdown

	interface Tunnel$<tunnelInterfaceNumber2>
	tunnel mode ipsec
	ip address $<cpeInsideTunnelIpAddress2>
	ip tcp adjust-mss auto
	ipsec policy tunnel ipsec-policy2 out
	no shutdown

! IP Routing
! Select dynamic (BGP) or static routing. Uncomment the corresponding commands prior to applying configuration.

! Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) Configuration
! Uncomment below lines if you select BGP.

! ip ufs-cache enable cache

! route-map pri1 permit 10
!  set metric 5
!  set local-preference 200

! route-map pri2 permit 10
!  set metric 10
!  set local-preference 150

! router bgp $<bgpASN>
!  neighbor $<OracleInsideTunnelIpAddress1> remote-as 31898
!  neighbor $<OracleInsideTunnelIpAddress1> timers 10 30
!  neighbor $<OracleInsideTunnelIpAddress2> remote-as 31898
!  neighbor $<OracleInsideTunnelIpAddress2> timers 10 30
!  address-family ipv4 unicast
!  neighbor $<OracleInsideTunnelIpAddress1> route-map pri1 in
!  neighbor $<OracleInsideTunnelIpAddress1> route-map pri1 out
!  neighbor $<OracleInsideTunnelIpAddress2> route-map pri2 in
!  neighbor $<OracleInsideTunnelIpAddress2> route-map pri2 out
!  network 192.168.100.0/24

! Static Route Configuration
! Uncomment below lines if you select static routing.

! ip ufs-cache enable
! ip route  $<vcnCidrBlock> Tunnel0.0
! ip route  $<vcnCidrBlock> Tunnel1.0
   
IKEv2 Configuration Template

View the IKEv2 configuration template in full screen for easier reading.


!-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
! IKEv2 Configuration Template
! The configuration consists of two IPSec tunnels. Oracle highly recommends that you configure both tunnels for maximum redundancy.
!-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
! The configuration template involves setting up the following:
! Keyring (Pre-Shared Key)
! Configure ISAKMP and IPSec Policies
! Configure Virtual Tunnel Interfaces
! IP Routing (BGP or Static)
!-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
! The configuration template has various parameters that you must define before applying the configuration.
!-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
! PARAMETERS REFERENCED:
! $<OracleHeadendIpAddress1> = Oracle public IP endpoint obtained from the Oracle Console.
! $<OracleHeadendIpAddress2> = Oracle public IP endpoint obtained from the Oracle Console.
! $<sharedSecret1> = You provide when you set up the IPSec connection in the Oracle Console, or you can use the default Oracle-provided value.
! $<sharedSecret2> = You provide when you set up the IPSec connection in the Oracle Console, or you can use the default Oracle-provided value.
! $<cpePublicIpAddress> = The public IP address for the CPE. This is the IP address of your outside interface.
! $<vcnCidrBlock> = VCN CIDR block. For example, 10.0.0.0/20.
! $<tunnelInterfaceNumber1> = The number of your tunnel interface for the first tunnel. For example, 1.
! $<tunnelInterfaceNumber2> = The number of your tunnel interface for the second tunnel. For example, 2.
! $<lanInterfaceNumber> = The number of your LAN interface. For example, 1.0.
! $<wanInterfaceNumber> = The WAN interface or outside of tunnel interface which is configured with the CPE public IP address. For example, 0.1.
! $<lanIpAddress> = The IP address of the LAN interface for your CPE.
! $<OracleInsideTunnelIpAddress1> = Inside tunnel IP address of Oracle-side for the first tunnel. You provide these values when creating the IPSec connection in the Oracle Console.
! $<OracleInsideTunnelIpAddress2> = Inside tunnel IP address of Oracle-side for the second tunnel. You provide these values when creating the IPSec connection in the Oracle Console.
! $<cpeInsideTunnelIpAddress1> = The CPE's inside tunnel IP for the first tunnel.
! $<cpeInsideTunnelIpAddress2> = The CPE's inside tunnel IP for the second tunnel.
! $<bgpASN> = Your BGP ASN.
!-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

! Keyring (Pre-Shared Key)

! For authentication during IKE a separate keyring is defined for each Oracle VPN Headend peer.
! Add the pre-shared key for each Oracle VPN headend under the corresponding keyring.

ikev2 authentication psk id ipv4 $<OracleHeadendIpAddress1> key char $<sharedSecret1>
ikev2 authentication psk id ipv4 $<OracleHeadendIpAddress2> key char $<sharedSecret2>

! Configure ISAKMP and IPSec Policies
ikev2 default-profile
dpd interval 10
source-address GigaEthernet$<wanInterfaceNumber>
child-pfs 1536-bit
child-proposal enc aes-cbc-256
child-proposal integrity sha1
sa-proposal enc aes-cbc-256
sa-proposal integrity sha2-384
sa-proposal dh 1536-bit
! Configure Virtual Tunnel Interfaces

interface Tunnel$<tunnelInterfaceNumber1>
tunnel mode ipsec-ikev2
ip address $<cpeInsideTunnelIpAddress1>
ip tcp adjust-mss auto
ikev2 connect-type auto
ikev2 ipsec pre-fragment
ikev2 outgoing-interface GigaEthernet$<wanInterfaceNumber>
ikev2 peer $<OracleHeadendIpAddress1> authentication psk id ipv4 $<OracleHeadendIpAddress1>
no shutdown

interface Tunnel$<tunnelInterfaceNumber2>
tunnel mode ipsec-ikev2
ip address $<cpeInsideTunnelIpAddress2>
ip tcp adjust-mss auto
ikev2 connect-type auto
ikev2 ipsec pre-fragment
ikev2 outgoing-interface GigaEthernet$<wanInterfaceNumber>
ikev2 peer $<OracleHeadendIpAddress2> authentication psk id ipv4 $<OracleHeadendIpAddress2>
no shutdown

! IP Routing
! Select dynamic (BGP) or static routing. Uncomment the corresponding commands prior to applying configuration.

! Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) Configuration
! Uncomment below lines if you select BGP.

! ip ufs-cache enable cache

! route-map pri1 permit 10
!  set metric 5
!  set local-preference 200

! route-map pri2 permit 10
!  set metric 10
!  set local-preference 150

! router bgp $<bgpASN>
!  neighbor $<OracleInsideTunnelIpAddress1> remote-as 31898
!  neighbor $<OracleInsideTunnelIpAddress1> timers 10 30
!  neighbor $<OracleInsideTunnelIpAddress2> remote-as 31898
!  neighbor $<OracleInsideTunnelIpAddress2> timers 10 30
!  address-family ipv4 unicast
!  neighbor $<OracleInsideTunnelIpAddress1> route-map pri1 in
!  neighbor $<OracleInsideTunnelIpAddress1> route-map pri1 out
!  neighbor $<OracleInsideTunnelIpAddress2> route-map pri2 in
!  neighbor $<OracleInsideTunnelIpAddress2> route-map pri2 out
!  network 192.168.100.0/24

! Static Route Configuration
! Uncomment below lines if you select static routing.

! ip ufs-cache enable
! ip route  $<vcnCidrBlock> Tunnel0.0
! ip route  $<vcnCidrBlock> Tunnel1.0