Cisco Systems RV042G, RV016 manual VPN Mesh Topology

Configuring a Gateway-to-Gateway VPN Tunnel Between RV0xx Series Routers

Topology Options

VPN Mesh Topology

D

In a VPN mesh topology, each VPN router can communicate securely with all other VPN routers. Multiple secured tunnels extend from each site to all other sites.

In the following example, four sites are connected in a VPN mesh topology. Three VPN tunnels extend from each site, providing secure communications with all other sites. Data can travel directly between any two sites.

Figure 2 Mesh

Site 1 Site 2

VPN Tunnel

	VPN	VPN
		Tunnel
	Tunnel
VPN		VPN
Tunnel		Tunnel
		Internet

VPN Tunnel

Site 3

Site 4 284287

This topology requires much more configuration on each router. However, it works well in a complicated network with data traveling between multiple sites. Because all devices have direct peer relationships with one another, this design prevents the bottlenecks that can occur with a hub-and-spoke topology. This design also ensures that if one site is down, the other sites can continue to exchange data.

NOTE When the number of nodes in a full mesh topology increases, scalability may become an issue—the limiting factor being the number of tunnels that the devices can support at a reasonable CPU utilization.

Cisco Small Business RV0xx Series Routers Administration Guide 172