WatchGuard Technologies SSL VPN manual •A cross-overcable and a Windows computer

Installing the Firebox SSL VPN Gateway for the First Time

Deploying Additional Appliances for Load Balancing and Failover

You can install multiple Firebox SSL VPN Gateway appliances into your environment for one or both of these reasons:

•Scalability. If you have a large remote user population, install additional Firebox SSL VPN Gateway appliances to accommodate the user load.

•High Availability. If an Firebox SSL VPN Gateway fails, you can install an additional Firebox SSL VPN Gateway to ensure that the internal network remains available to remote users.

Note

To support only high availability, you can configure one Firebox SSL VPN Gateway as the primary Firebox SSL VPN Gateway and one (or more) Firebox SSL VPN Gateway appliances as a failover device. If the primary Firebox SSL VPN Gateway fails, client connections are directed to the failover Firebox SSL VPN Gateway. For more information about this configuration, see “Configuring Firebox SSL VPN Gateway Failover” on page 55.

To support both scalability and high availability, you can install a load balancer and then install multiple Firebox SSL VPN Gateway appliances behind the load balancer. Deploying multiple appliances behind a load balancer enables you to support a large population of remote users and maintain high availability of the internal network to the users.

Installing the Firebox SSL VPN Gateway for the First Time

The Firebox SSL VPN Gateway installs in any network infrastructure without requiring changes to the existing hardware or back-end software. It works with other networking products such as cache engines, firewalls, routers, and IEEE 802.11 wireless devices.

WatchGuard recommends installing the Firebox SSL VPN Gateway in the corporate demilitarized zone (DMZ). When installed in the DMZ, the Firebox SSL VPN Gateway participates on two networks: a private network and a public network with a publicly routable IP address. Typically, the private network is the corporate network and the public one is the Internet. You can also use the Firebox SSL VPN Gateway to partition local area networks internally in the organization for access control and security. You can cre- ate partitions between wired or wireless networks and data and voice networks.

Getting Ready to Install the Firebox SSL VPN Gateway

Before installing the Firebox SSL VPN Gateway, collect materials for the initial configuration and for the connection to your network.

For initial configuration, use one of the following setups:

•A cross-over cable and a Windows computer

•Two network cables, a network switch, and a Windows computer

•A serial cable and a computer with terminal emulation software

For a connection to a local area network, use the following items:

•One network cable to connect the Firebox SSL VPN Gateway inside of a firewall.

•Two network cables to connect the Firebox SSL VPN Gateway located in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) to the Internet and private networks

Collect the following network information for appliances:

•The Firebox SSL VPN Gateway internal IP address and subnet mask

•The Firebox SSL VPN Gateway external IP address and subnet mask

20 Firebox SSL VPN Gateway