INGRAM 

MICRO

  
Cisco ASA 5500 LAB Guide 
 
Ingram Micro 
4/1/2009 

The following LAB Guide will provide you with the basic steps involved in performing some 
fundamental configurations on a Cisco ASA 5500 series security appliance. 
Table of Contents

Initial Configuration Command Line Dialogue Page 03

Restoring the ASA to Factory Default Configuration Page 07

Exploring ASDM Page 09

Initial ASA Configuration Page 11

Configuring the 8 Port Switch Page 22

Configuring NAT Page 24

Configuring the Firewall Page 30

Web Filtering Page 35

Configuring Site to Site VPN Page 40

Remote Access VPN Page 46

Easy VPN Remote Page 54

ASA 5505 Lab 2

Initial Configuration Command Line Dialogue
When the ASA does not have a preexisting configuration, you will have the option to set up an
initial configuration by following a set of interactive commands. Start the ASA, and when it is
finished booting you will see the initial configuration dialogue script.

Select yes by hitting enter to configure the ASA via interactive prompts.

There are two options when configuring the firewall mode: routed and transparent. Traditionally, a
firewall is a routed hop and acts as a default gateway for hosts that connect to one of its screened
subnets. A transparent firewall, on the other hand, is a Layer 2 firewall that acts like a "bump in
the wire" and is not seen as a router hop to connected devices. The security appliance connects
the same network on its inside and outside interfaces. Because the firewall is not a routed hop,
you can easily introduce a transparent firewall into an existing network; IP readdressing is
unnecessary. In routed mode, the security appliance can perform NAT between connected
networks, and can use OSPF or RIP.

Select “transparent” as the firewall mode for this portion of the lab.

ASA 5505 Lab 3

For security reasons and for remote access to the ASA, you will need to configure a password for
the appliance. This password will be the Privileged Exec level password for the appliance.

Configure the password and allow password recovery.

Configure the time and date settings for the appliance. The correct time is an important factor for
Syslog time stamps, certificate time stamps, logging of audit and messaging data, etc.

Configure the IP address and network mask of the management interface. Give the ASA a
hostname and domain. Configure the IP address of the management station. For this lab, we are
configuring the following:

Management IP Address: 10.10.10.1

Management Network Mask: 255.255.255.0
Host Name: ASALab
Domain: Pod1
IP Address of Host Running Device Manager: 10.10.10.100*

ASA 5505 Lab 4

* It is important to ensure that you statically assign the IP address of your device management
station to reflect this setting.

Verify and write to flash.

You will notice that the security level of the inside interface is set by default. This is actually
setting the security level of VLAN 1, and not a specific interface.

You will also notice that the HTTP server has not been enabled on the appliance. In order to
connect to the ASA via ASDM, the HTTP server will need to be enabled.

ASA 5505 Lab 5

Enter Privileged Exec mode and enable the HTTP server by entering the http server enable
command.

From here, you can continue to configure the ASA 5505 from the command line. It is not
necessary to go through the initial configuration dialogue every time you set up an ASA. If you
like, you can opt out of the script by entering “no” when you’re asked if you want to configure the
firewall through interactive prompts.

Because we want to continue the lab by configuring the ASA from ASDM, we will want to restore
the factory default configuration.

ASA 5505 Lab 6

Restoring the ASA to Factory Default Configuration
The ASA 5505 is shipped with a factory default configuration, which consists of the following:
• An inside VLAN 1 interface that includes the Ethernet 0/1 through 0/7 switch ports. The
VLAN 1 IP address and mask are 192.168.1.1 and 255.255.255.0.
• An outside VLAN 2 interface that includes the Ethernet 0/0 switch port. VLAN 2 derives
its IP address using DHCP.
• A default route derived from DHCP.
• All inside IP addresses are translated when accessing the outside using interface PAT.
• By default, inside users can access the outside with an access list, and outside users are
prevented from accessing the inside.
• The DHCP server is enabled on the security appliance, so a PC connecting to the VLAN
1 interface receives an address between 192.168.1.2 and 192.168.1.254.
• The HTTP server is enabled for ASDM and is accessible to users on the 192.168.1.0
network.

If you need to revert back to these changes after a configuration, you can do so by entering the
configure factory-default command.

Reset the ASA to factory default by entering Configuration mode and entering the configure
factory-default command.

You can then save the configuration by entering the write memory command, or by entering the
reload command and selecting the yes option to save the changed configuration.

Save the configuration and reload the ASA.

ASA 5505 Lab 7

Now that the default configuration has been restored to the ASA, we will begin configuration from
ASDM.

ASA 5505 Lab 8

Exploring ASDM
Plug your laptop into one of the E0/1 - E0/7 switch ports on the ASA, and set your network
adapter to obtain an IP address via DHCP. If you are running wireless, you may need to turn off
your wireless adapter to avoid any routing table conflicts on your laptop.

Launch the Cisco Adaptive Security Device Manager from Start > Programs.

When ASDM loads, connect to the default IP address of the appliance (192.168.1.1). By default,
the username is blank and the password is cisco.

Accept the security certificate by selecting Always in the Security Warning dialogue box.

When ASDM loads, you will be brought to the Home screen of the application.

ASA 5505 Lab 9

Along the top, you will see the following buttons:
• Home – brings you to the main ASDM screen. From here you will have a general
overview of the device including device information, license information, interface status,
VPN tunnel information, system resource status, traffic status, and recent Syslog
messages.
• Configuration – brings you to the configuration screen of ASDM. From here you will
have the option to configure interfaces, security policies, NAT, VPN, Cisco Secure
Desktop, routing, and global options. You will also have access to various configuration
wizards.
• Monitoring – Brings you to the device monitoring screen. From here you can monitor
interfaces, routing, VPN, security properties, and access logs.
• Back – brings you back one navigation screen.
• Forward – brings you forward one navigation screen.
• Packet Tracer – Allows you to specify interfaces and trace packets as they traverse the
device.
• Refresh – Loads the current configuration from the device.
• Save – Saves the current configuration to the device.
• Help – Gives you access to a TAC database of configuration information.

At this time, spend time navigating ASDM to become familiar with the screens and available
options.

ASA 5505 Lab 10

Initial ASA Configuration
Now that we are familiar with ASDM, we’ll spend some time using the application to configure the
appliance.

Because the configuration is presently set to factory default, there are some basic configuration
changes that need to be made. We will set up the basic configuration from the Startup Wizard.

From ASDM, click Wizards > Startup Wizard

Step 1 will ask you if you would like to modify the existing configuration, or if you would like to
reset the appliance to factory default.

Since we’ve already set the box to factory default, we will proceed by selecting the Modify
Existing Configuration option. When you are done, click Next.

Step 2 will ask us to provide a hostname, domain name, and Privileged Exec level passwords for
the appliance.

Enter the following information:

Hostname – ASALab
Domain – Pod1

Since the default password is cisco, we will not be changing it in this lab.

The hostname is the name used to identify the appliance. It will appear in the command line
prompt.
The domain name will be appended to all unqualified domain names.

When you’ve entered the information, click Next.

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Step 3 will ask you if you would like to configure an Auto Update Server.

The Auto Update specification allows the Auto Update server to either push configuration
information to the security appliance, or to pull configuration information by causing the security
appliance to periodically poll the Auto Update server. The Auto Update server can also send a
command to the security appliance to send an immediate polling request at any time.

For the purpose of this lab, we will not be configuring an Auto Update Server. Click Next to
continue.

Step 4 will ask you to configure the Outside interface.

The Outside interface is the untrusted interface that connects to the Internet, and is identified by
the VLAN a particular interface belongs to. Untrusted interfaces are assigned a security level of 0.
By default, the ASA 5505’s configuration specifies that VLAN 2 is an untrusted VLAN with a
security level of 0, and applies these settings to E0/0. Verify the settings are correct and that the
Outside interface is configured to accept an IP address via DHCP, and then click next.

ASA 5505 Lab 12

Step 5 will ask you to configure the Inside interface.

Inside interfaces are the trusted interfaces belonging to your network, and are also identified by
the VLAN a particular interface belongs to. Trusted interfaces are assigned a security level of
100. By default, the ASA 5505’s configuration specifies that VLAN 1 is a trusted VLAN with a
security level of 100, and applies these settings to interfaces E0/1 – E0/7. Verify the settings are
correct and that the Inside interface is configured to have an IP address of 192.168.1.1 with a
mask of 255.255.255.0.

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NOTE: I’ve found IP address configuration in the startup wizard to be a bit finicky. If you change
the IP address of the Inside VLAN, you will lose connectivity to ASDM. What you will need to do
is statically assign an IP address to your network adapter, and then go in to CLI and change the
address of the HTTP server using this command:

ASA(config)#http [IP address] [subnet mask] inside

Step 6 will ask you to configure a DMZ.

Since both default VLANs have been assigned to the Outside and Inside interfaces, we will need
to create a new VLAN. Accept the default VLAN of 3, and then enable the interface by clicking the
radio button. Accept the default security level of 50. Security levels will be discussed in the next
few steps.

Assign the DMZ an IP address of 172.16.1.1 with a mask of 255.255.255.0.

Verify your settings and click Next.

ASA 5505 Lab 14

Step 7 will ask you to configure additional switch ports.

On this screen, you will see which switch ports belong to which VLANs. Here you can add or
remove interfaces under each configured VLAN.

You should notice that VLAN 3, which is our newly created DMZ VLAN, does not have any
interfaces assigned to it. Select interface E0/1, and assign it to VLAN 3 (the DMZ VLAN).

Click Next when you are done.

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Step 8 will ask you to set up the General Interface Configuration.

In the ASA 5505’s default configuration, the DMZ is seen as a home network, with the Outside
interface being the Internet connection, and the Inside interface a business network. By design,
an interface with a high security level can communicate down to an interface with a lower security
level, but not vice versa.

The default security level for the DMZ is 50. This means that the Inside interface (security level of
100) can initiate communication to the DMZ and the Outside interface (security level of 0), the
DMZ can initiate communication to the Outside interface but not the Inside interface, and the
Outside interface cannot initiate communication to either the Inside interface or the DMZ.

On the General Interface Configuration you can control how interfaces with different security level
interact.

Check the options to enable traffic between 2 or more interfaces with the same security level, and
to enable traffic between 2 or more hosts connected to the same interface.

Restricted traffic is not an optional configuration. If you only have a restricted license, you must
restrict from one interface to any of the other interfaces. Typically, this is the traffic from the DMZ
to the inside interface, but any pair can be chosen. The Restrict Traffic area fields are hidden if
you have a full license or if the device is in transparent mode. Restrict traffic from VLAN 3 to
VLAN 1.

When you are complete, click Next.

ASA 5505 Lab 16

Step 9 will ask you to configure static routes.

The static routes configured here will use the Outside interface to send all traffic to the next hop.
If you want to configure a default route, you can set the IP address and network mask to 0.0.0.0.

For the lab, we will be configuring a default route.

Click the Add button.

Enter the following configuration options:

ASA 5505 Lab 17

Interface Name: Inside
IP Address: 0.0.0.0
Mask: 0.0.0.0
Gateway IP: [variable depending on your gateway. I will be using 192.168.10.1]
Metric: 1
Options: None

Click on OK, and then click Next.

Step 10 will ask you to configure a DHCP server.

In this step, we will configure the DHCP settings of the ASA server. Since we currently have no
reason to change the settings, select the default values and click Next.

Step 11 will ask you to configure NAT/PAT.

At this time we will not be setting up Network Address Translation, but we will be configuring Port
Address Translation. Verify the options to configure PAT are selected, and then click Next.

ASA 5505 Lab 18

Step 12 will ask you to configure administrative access.

Here you can configure an IP address range or a specific host for ASDM administrative
permissions to the appliance.

If you want to maintain the appliance via ASDM, you will need to make sure the Enable HTTP
server for HTTPS/ASDM access box is checked.

Check the box to enable ASDM History Metrics. History metrics will keep a history of various
statistics, which can be displayed by ASDM on any Graph/Table. If you do not enable history
metrics, you can only monitor statistics in real time. Enabling history metrics lets you view
statistics graphs from the last 10 minutes, 60 minutes, 12 hours, and 5 days.

Accept the default IP range of 192.168.1.0 with a mask of 255.255.255.0, and click Next.

ASA 5505 Lab 19

Step 13 will ask you to Configure Easy VPN.

We will not be configuring Easy VPN at this time, so click Next.

Step 14 will ask you to verify the configuration, and then send your changes to the ASA.

Click Finish when you have completed the verification.

When you are prompted for a username and password, use the following credentials:
Username: [blank]
Password: cisco

These parameters were configured during the Startup Wizard.

To see the changes you’ve made, click Tools > Command Line Interface

ASA 5505 Lab 20

In the dialogue box, enter the command sho run. This will display the running configuration on the
box.

You have now completed the Startup Wizard.

ASA 5505 Lab 21

Configuring The 8 Port Switch
The ASA 5505 supports a built in switch. There are two different kinds of interfaces you will need
to configure:

1. Physical interfaces – The 5505 has eight switch ports, two of which are PoE ports. This
switching is done in hardware at layer 2.

2. Logical VLAN interfaces – The 5505 supports a variable number of VLANs depending
on your license and the firewall mode. If you’re operating in transparent mode, you have
a maximum of 2 allowable VLANs. If you are operating in routed mode, you can configure
up to 3 VLANs with the Base license, and 20 VLANs with the Security Plus License.

If you are unsure of which license you have, click the Home button on the navigation pane, and
click the License tab.

Some of the VLANs and interfaces have already been configured in the Startup Wizard. If you
click the Interfaces button on the navigation pane, you can view or make changes to your
configuration.

ASA 5505 Lab 22

You will see two tabs on the Interfaces page: Interfaces and Switch Ports.

The Interfaces tab gives you an idea of which VLAN, security level, and IP address belong to a
particular interface. You can add or edit the interfaces by clicking the appropriate buttons on the
right.

The Switch Ports tab gives you information on a per interface basis, as well as speed and duplex
information for each physical interface.

You can also edit the properties of an interface by clicking the Edit button.

Since all of the switching was preconfigured, you have completed this section of the lab.

ASA 5505 Lab 23

Configuring NAT
Address translation substitutes the real address in a packet with a mapped address that is
routable on the destination network. NAT is composed of two steps: the process by which a real
address is translated into a mapped address, and the process to undo translation for returning
traffic.

In the Startup Wizard, we configured PAT. In this lab we will be configuring NAT.

Start by clicking the Configure button, and then clicking the NAT button.

You will see the default NAT rule on the screen.

We will want to add an entry for the Inside VLAN. Click the default NAT rule, and then click the
Edit button.

ASA 5505 Lab 24

Change the Inside address to reflect that of your network (in this lab 192.168.1.0 with a
subnetmask of 255.255.255.0). When you are done, click OK.

Now click Apply at the bottom of the ASDM screen.

Click Tools > Command Line, and enter the command sho run to see what changes you have
made.

ASA 5505 Lab 25

You should notice that we have successfully created one half of the NAT translation configuration
by identifying the Inside VLAN’s addresses. Now we need to identify the Outside Global
addresses.

Go back to the NAT rule you just created. Click the Edit button.

Under Dynamic Translation, select the Outside interface and click Edit. This will bring up a new
window where you can edit the translation rules.

ASA 5505 Lab 26

Enter the global IP address Range. In the Lab, we will be using 192.168.10.2 – 192.168.10.10
with a subnetmask of 255.255.255.0.

When you are done, click the Add button.

Remove the generic Outside interface address pool by highlighting it, and selecting the Delete
option.

When you are done, click Apply.

If you go back to Tools > Command Line and execute the sho run command, you will now see the
complete NAT configuration.

ASA 5505 Lab 27

If you are in an environment with an outside connection, you can test NAT by utilizing ASDM’s
Packet Tracer application.

Click on Packet Tracer to bring up the application.

ASA 5505 Lab 28

You will want to run a test from the Inside interface. Enter the source IP address of your machine,
and a reachable destination address (72.14.205.99 is www.google.com). Packet tracer will follow
your packets through the flow of the network, and report back if there are any problems. You will
know if you have configured NAT incorrectly because Packet Tracer will show you a packet drop
happening at the NAT stage of the trace.

NOTE: If you’re doing a packet trace, make sure the traffic type you’re attempting to send is
permitted by the firewall. If it is not, you will see the flow dropped by an ACL configuration.

You have now completed the NAT configuration.

ASA 5505 Lab 29

Configuring the Firewall
By default on the security appliance, traffic from a higher security level (for example, Inside) can
access a lower security level (for example, Outside): there is an implicit access list on the inside
interface allowing all outbound IP traffic from the inside network. (The security appliance denies
traffic destined for the inside network from the outside network using the Adaptive Security
Algorithm. The Adaptive Security Algorithm is a stateful approach to security. Every inbound
packet is checked against the Adaptive Security Algorithm and against connection state
information in memory.) The implicit access list appears in ASDM, but you cannot edit it. To limit
outbound traffic, you can add an access list (in which case, the implicit access list is removed).

Every inbound packet is checked using the Adaptive Security Algorithm unless a connection is
already established. By default on the security appliance, no traffic can pass through the firewall
unless you add an access list to allow it.

To allow traffic that is normally denied by the Adaptive Security Algorithm, you can add an access
list; for example, you can allow public access to a web server on a DMZ network by adding an
access list to the outside interface.

Check the implicit rules by clicking Security Policy on the navigation pane.

Here you can see how access lists have been created to manipulate the behaviour of traffic
flowing from a VLAN with one security level to another. If you want to see how these access lists
behave, you can test them in Packet tracer. You will need an external connection to test packet
flow with Packet tracer.

For the sake of this lab, let’s assume you had an FTP server residing on the DMZ. In order for the
FTP server to be accessible from the outside world, we would need to add an access list to the
configuration.

Start by clicking Add, and then selecting Add Access Rule.

ASA 5505 Lab 30

What we are trying to do is create an ACL that will permit traffic from the Outside interface to a
particular host on the DMZ. Let’s assume our FTP server is residing at 172.16.1.100, and we
want to configure the ACL for FTP in active mode.

In the Add Access Rule dialogue box, configure the following parameters:

Interface and Action

Interface – outside
Direction – incoming
Action – permit

Source
Source – any

Destination
Type – IP address
IP Address –172.16.1.100
Netmask – 255.255.255.255

Protocol and Service

Protocol – tcp
Source Port
Service – = any
Destination Port
Service – = ftp

Options
Logging – enable
Syslog Level – informational
Log Interval – 300

ASA 5505 Lab 31

When you are done, click OK and then Apply.

When FTP is operating in active mode, it uses port 21 for control and port 20 for data. We have
completed the portion of the access list that permits control information, but what about data?

Go back and create a new access rule. The parameters for the new access list will be exactly the
same as the one you have just created, but instead of a destination port service of ftp, we will
select the ftp-data service.

Click on OK and then Apply when you are done.

NOTE: Creating a rule by itself will NOT permit traffic to a DMZ. Either NAT has to be configured,
or NAT has to be disabled on the DMZ. The ASA is heavily reliant on NAT to get traffic through
the firewall.

You should now see two new access lists applied to the Outside interface.

ASA 5505 Lab 32

Click on Tools > Command Line and enter the command sho access-list to review your changes.
Optionally, your changes can be viewed with the sho run command.

As a recap, here is what we have configured:

ASA 5505 Lab 33

 1. We have created an access list that permits FTP traffic from the Outside interface to an
FTP server on the DMZ (172.16.1.100/24).

2. We have identified that any source protocol can access the FTP server, and have
permitted these sources to access the FTP control and data protocols at 172.16.1.100.

3. We have enabled logging.

You have now configured basic firewalling.

ASA 5505 Lab 34

Web Filtering
The firewall configuration on the ASA via ASDM is quite extensive, and goes far beyond the
simple access list we’ve created for FTP. The next feature you will configure is URL filtering.

The ASA 5505 supports URL filtering by tying in functionality with either a Websense or Secure
Computing SmartFilter server. URL filtering can be leveraged to control internet usage by
blocking access to particular sites or web applications.

When filtering is enabled and a request for content is directed through the security appliance, the
request is sent to the content server and to the filtering server at the same time. If the filtering
server allows the connection, the security appliance forwards the response from the content
server to the originating client. If the filtering server denies the connection, the security appliance
drops the response and sends a message or return code indicating that the connection was not
successful.

The first step to creating a web filter is to identify the filtering server.

Click on Properties in the left hand navigation panel, and then click URL Filtering.

Click the Add button to add a filtering server. When the dialogue box comes up, add the following
information for your server:

Interface – inside
IP Address – 192.168.1.200
Timeout – 30
Protocol – TCP
TCP Connections – 5

ASA 5505 Lab 35

When you are done, click OK, and then Apply.

Go back to the Secuirty Policies screen, and click the Filter Rules tab.

We are going to set up a web filter to prohibit ActiveX from the Outside interface to the Inside
interface. Instead of blocking entire websites because of content, we are going to filter specific
web applications (in this case, ActiveX) from the ASA.

Click on the Add button, and select the Add Filter for ActiveX Rule option.

ASA 5505 Lab 36

We will now set up the rule prohibiting access to ActiveX on the Inside interface from the Outside
interface.

In the Edit Filter dialogue box, configure the following:

Action: Filter ActiveX

Source: click the … box next to the IP Address field and select Outside Network
Destination: click the … box next to the IP Address field and select Inside Network
Filter ActiveX on the following ports: 80 to 80

When you are done, click OK, and then Apply.

If you want to view your changes in CLI, click Tools > Command Line, and enter the command
sho run | be url.

ASA 5505 Lab 37

To view statistics on your URL filtering server, click Tools > Command Line, and enter the
command sho url-server stat.

ASA 5505 Lab 38

You have now completed the process to configure Web filtering.

ASA 5505 Lab 39

Configuring Site to Site VPN
The ASA 5505 can create a virtual private network by creating a secure connection across a
TCP/IP network (i.e. the Internet). This secure connection is called a tunnel, and the ASA 5505
will use tunneling protocols to negotiate security parameters and manage packets while in transit.

With ASDM, you can use a VPN wizard to configure either of the following types of VPN:

1. Site to Site – creates a LAN to LAN VPN configuration, which is used between two
IPSec gateways.

2. Remote Access – creates an endpoint to LAN VPN configuration for clients.

To set up a new VPN, click the VPN button in the navigation pane on the left, and then click VPN
Wizard.

Click the Launch VPN Wizard button.

Step 1 will ask you to select the type of VPN you would like to configure. Since we will be
creating a site to site VPN for this lab, select the option for a site to site setup and then click Next.

ASA 5505 Lab 40

Step 2 will ask you to configure information for the remote side of the connection.

For this lab, configure the following options:

Peer IP Address: 192.168.10.55

Authentication Method: preshared key
Preshared Key: cisco
Tunnel Group Name: 192.168.10.55

What we are doing is identifying the device on the other end of the tunnel, setting a preshared
key which will be used for authentication, and naming the tunnel group.

Using a preshared key is a quick and easy way to set up communication with remote peers. Each
pair of IPSec peers must exchange preshared keys to establish secure tunnels.

The tunnel group name will create a record containing connection properties for this tunnel. This
tunnel group can identify AAA servers, a default group policy, and IKE attributes.

ASA 5505 Lab 41

When you are done, click Next.

Step 3 will ask you to configure the IKE policy. IKE is the security negotiation protocol that lets
two hosts agree on how to build an IPSec SA (security association). IKE is broken into 2 phases
(the first phase creates a tunnel to protect further IKE messages, and the second phase creates a
tunnel to protect data). To create the policy for Phase 1, we need three pieces of information:

1. An encryption method – The options are DES, 3DES, AES-128, AES-192, and AES-256.
The number specifies how long the keys are in bits.

2. An authentication method – The options are SHA or MD5, and both are hash algorithms.
SHA is considered more secure, but MD5 is faster.

3. A Diffie-Hellman group to establish the strength of the encryption key – This algorithm is
used to derive a shared secret between two peers without actually transmitting it to each
other. The options are 1, 2, 5, or 7.

For this lab, configure the following:

Encryption: 3DES
Authentication: MD5
DH group: 2

The decision to uses these properties is usually governed by a corporate security policy.
Remember, the stronger the encryption, authentication, and DH groups, the greater the
processing requirement is for the security appliance.

ASA 5505 Lab 42

When you are done, click Next.

Step 4 will ask you to select the IPSec Encryption and Authentication settings. These settings will
configure IKE for Phase 2, and require two pieces of information:

1. Encryption method – The options are DES, 3DES, AES-128, AES-192, and AES-256

2. Authentication method – The options are SHA or MD5

For this lab we will be using 3DES and MD5.

When you are done, click Next.

ASA 5505 Lab 43

Step 5 will ask you to identify hosts and networks that can use this IPSec tunnel. Since we are
setting up a site to site VPN and we only want to grant VPN access to those two sites, configure
the source and destination to be your two IPSec endpoints.

Earlier in the lab we configured our Outside interface to obtain an IP address via DHCP. On the
remote side of this configuration, our peer would have to identify our interface by our hostname.

Configure the local side of the connection by entering an IP address of 192.168.1.0/24 in the IP
address and netmask fields. Optionally, you can select the inside interface by clicking the ellipsis
button.

Configure the remote side of the connection by entering the IP address of the remote network
(192.168.11.0/24) in the IP address and netmask fields.

The “Exempt ASA side host network from address translation” check box allows traffic to flow
through the ASA without address translation.

When you are done, click Next.

Step 6 will ask you to review your configuration. When you are done, click Finish

ASA 5505 Lab 44

If you need to make changes to your settings after the VPN Configuration Wizard, you can do so
on the VPN screen.

If you would like to verify your settings in CLI, click Tools > Command Line. Notice the new
access lists permitting you access to 192.168.11.0, and the new crypto map statements
associated with the newly configured VPN.

You have now completed the site to site VPN configuration.

ASA 5505 Lab 45

Remote Access VPN
Like a site to site VPN, a remote access VPN is designed to create a secure tunnel for
communications. A remote access VPN will create a configuration that achieves secure remote
access for VPN clients, such as mobile users.

To begin, relaunch the VPN Wizard, selecting the VPN type as Remote Access in Step 1.

Click Next to continue.

Step 2 will ask you to select the type of VPN client to be used by remote users. For this lab,
select Cisco VPN Client, and click Next.

ASA 5505 Lab 46

Step 3 will ask you to configure the authentication method and tunnel group name. Since we
don’t have a certificate server, select Pre-shared Key as the authentication method. Enter the
key: cisco.

Enter the tunnel name: RemoteVPN

Click Next when you are done.

Step 4 will ask you to select a user authentication method. Users can be authenticated by a local
database, or by using external AAA servers.

Since we don’t presently have an AAA server, select the local user database radio button, and
click Next.

ASA 5505 Lab 47

Step 5 will ask you to create user accounts. This is the local database that will be used for user
authentication.

Enter a username of vpnuser1 and a password of cisco, then click Add. Click Next to continue.

Step 6 will ask you to enter an address pool. For remote clients to gain access to the network,
you need to configure a pool of addressed that can be assigned to VPN clients as they are
successfully connected.

Click the New button to create a new pool.

Enter a pool name of RemoteVPNPool, and a range of 192.168.2.1/24-192.168.2.20/24.

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Click OK, and then Next to continue.

Step 7 will ask you to configure attributes to push out to clients. Each remote client will need a
basic network configuration including things like DNS and WINS servers.

For the lab, let’s assume we have the following servers:

DNS 1 – 192.168.1.125
DNS 2 – 192.169.1.126

WINS 1 – 192.168.1.127
WINS 2 – 192.168.1.128

We will also use the domain name of Pod1.

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Click Next to continue.

Steps 8-9 will ask you to configure the IKE policy and IPSec encryption and authentication
methods. Since we’ve gone over this in the last VPN example, configure the following:

IKE Policy
Encryption: 3DES
Authentication: MD5
DH group: 2

IPSec Encryption and Authentication

Encryption: 3DES
Authentication: MD5

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Click Next to continue.

Step 10 will ask you to configure any address translation exemptions and split tunneling. Split
tunneling allows remote users to access a VPN at the same time they are connected to a LAN.
The NAT exception will expose all or part of a network to your remote users.

Since we want our users to see the entire Inside network, add the Inside network to the list of
exceptions by entering the following information:

Interface – Inside
Source Type – IP address
Source IP Address – 192.168.1.0

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Source Netmask – 255.255.255.0

When you are complete, click Add.

Since we also want our users to be able to use split tunneling, check the checkbox allowing them
to do so.

Click Next when you are complete.

Step 11 will ask you to verify the configuration. Click Finish to complete the Wizard.

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If you get a warning about the RemoteVPN group not existing, don’t panic. Complete the
configuration and you will see the group has been added to the Group Policy list.

You have now completed the Remote VPN configuration.

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Easy VPN Remote
A Cisco Easy VPN hardware device enables companies with multiple locations to establish
secure connectivity with minimal configuration. Cisco Easy VPN consists of appliances with one
of two roles: clients and servers.

A Cisco Easy VPN server is responsible for pushing out security policies to remote sites so a
remote site has up to date policies before the connection is established.

A Cisco Easy VPN client would maintain a minimal VPN configuration, and would use this
configuration to connect to an Easy VPN server to pull down a complete configuration.

Cisco Easy VPN simplifies configuration by:

• Eliminating the need for hosts at remote site to run a VPN client
• Storing security policies on a centralized server, pushing them out to remote hardware
clients when a VPN connection is established
• Minimizing the number of local configuration parameters

Since the 5505 is a relatively small device, we will be configuring it as a client in this lab.

To begin, click VPN in the left-hand navigation pane, and the click Easy VPN Remote.

Check the enable Easy VPN Remote checkbox to begin the configuration.

NOTE: because of design, an ASA 5505 cannot run different types of tunnels if it is running Easy
VPN Remote. You will not be able to make changes to IPSec or remote access VPNs while Easy
VPN Remote is enabled.

Easy VPN Remote can operate in one of two modes: client and network extension modes.

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Client mode isolates all devices on the client network from those on the enterprise network. The
Easy VPN client will perform PAT for all VPN traffic for its inside hosts.

Network extension mode makes the inside interface and all inside hosts routable across the
tunnel and on the enterprise network.

For the purpose of this lab, we will be configuring Easy VPN Remote to operate in client mode.

In the Group Setting, select the option for a pre-shared key. Specify a group name of EasyVPN,
and a group password of cisco.

Under User Settings, specify the username and password to be used by the ASA 5505 when
establishing a connection. We will be using EasyVPN1 with a password of cisco.

In the last option, specify an Easy VPN server to connect to. In this lab we will be using
192.168.1.111. When you are done, click the Add button.

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That’s all there is to configuring Easy VPN.

When you are done this section, make sure you uncheck the Enable Easy VPN Remote box.

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