Prestige 334W User’s Guide

15.2.2 Key Management

Key management allows you to determine whether to use IKE (ISAKMP) or manual key configuration in order to set up a VPN.

15.3 Encapsulation

The two modes of operation for IPSec VPNs are Transport mode and Tunnel mode.

Figure 15-3 Transport and Tunnel Mode IPSec Encapsulation

15.3.1 Transport Mode

Transport mode is used to protect upper layer protocols and only affects the data in the IP packet. In Transport mode, the IP packet contains the security protocol (AH or ESP) located after the original IP header and options, but before any upper layer protocols contained in the packet (such as TCP and UDP).

With ESP, protection is applied only to the upper layer protocols contained in the packet. The IP header information and options are not used in the authentication process. Therefore, the originating IP address cannot be verified for integrity against the data.

With the use of AH as the security protocol, protection is extended forward into the IP header to verify the integrity of the entire packet by use of portions of the original IP header in the hashing process.

15.3.2 Tunnel Mode

Tunnel mode encapsulates the entire IP packet to transmit it securely. A Tunnel mode is required for gateway services to provide access to internal systems. Tunnel mode is fundamentally an IP tunnel with authentication and encryption. This is the most common mode of operation. Tunnel mode is required for gateway to gateway and host to gateway communications. Tunnel mode communications have two sets of IP headers:

Outside header: The outside IP header contains the destination IP address of the VPN gateway.

15-4

Introduction to IPSec