Web Tools Administrator's Guide (53-1001772-01, June 2010)

Web Tools Administrator’s Guide 231

53-1001772-01

IPsec concepts

DRAFT: BROCADE CONFIDENTIAL

Encapsulating Security Payload

ESP provides authentication, and also provides privacy by encrypting the IP datagram. The use of

an ESP header is similar to the use of the AH header. A hash algorithm is used to calculate an

authentication value, the authentication value is sent in an IP datagram, and the same hash

algorithm is used by the receiver to verify the authentication value. ESP can be used in either

transport mode or tunnel mode, as shown in Figure 62.

FIGURE 62 ESP header in transport mode and tunnel mode

Basic IPsec configurations

There are three basic configurations for IPsec use:

• Endpoint to Endpoint

• Gateway to Gateway

• Endpoint to Gateway

Endpoint to Endpoint

In an endpoint to endpoint configuration, both endpoints implement IPsec. Transport mode is

commonly used in endpoint to endpoint configurations, and only a single pair of addresses is used.

Typically, this kind of configuration would be used for direct communication between hosts. There

are two drawbacks to consider:

• If network address translation (NAT) is used on the connection, one or both endpoints may be

behind a NAT node. If that is the case, UDP must be used to encapsulate the tunneled packets.

Port numbers in the UDP headers can then be used to identify the endpoint behind the NAT

node.

• Packets cannot be inspected or modified in transit. This means that QoS, traffic shaping, and

firewall applications cannot access the packets, and does not work.

Gateway to Gateway

In a gateway to gateway configuration, IPsec protection is implemented between network nodes.

Tunnel mode is commonly used in a gateway to gateway configuration. A tunnel endpoint

represents a set of IP addresses associated with actual endpoints that use the tunnel. IPsec is

transparent to the actual endpoints.