Configure GRE over IPsec VPN with NAT

IPsec is a complex technology, and it becomes more complex when a NAT device is in the path between a site-to-site GRE over IPsec VPN. In my production environment a problem escalated to me stating that site to site IPsec tunnel had not been coming up. When I dig deep into it, I found that here is a firewall which was performing NAT on public IP address. First thing I did was to prepare a diagram of my own to understand the actual topology with IP addresses. Here is the topology diagram for the same with masked IPs.

Now after preparing the diagram my objective was clear. The objective was to establish a GRE over IPsec tunnel from STFV-VPN05 to HDR-B-R01. I followed the step-by-step approach in order to achieve the objective.

1.  Configuring OR Verifying IP addresses

HDR-B-R01

interface GigabitEthernet0/0

ip address 10.254.29.3 255.255.255.248

STXV-VPN05

interface GigabitEthernet0/0

ip address 1×3.97.1×3.88 255.255.255.0

2. Configuring OR Verifying Routing

STFV-VPN05

Ip route 91.1xx.7.42 255.255.255.255 1×3.97.1×3.65  —Required reachability to public NATed

ip route 10.254.29.3 255.255.255.255 1×3.97.1×3.65  –require to find out going interface for Proxy ACL traffic in order to initiate GRE over IPsec traffic

STFV-VPN05#ping 91.1xx.7.42

Type escape sequence to abort.

Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 91.1xx.7.42, timeout is 2 seconds:

!!!!!

Success rate is 100 percent (5/5), round-trip min/avg/max = 68/76/80 ms

HDRBR01

ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 10.254.29.1

3. Verifying IPsec Phase 1 and Phase2 Parameters

STFV-VPN05

crypto isakmp policy 9

hash md5

authentication pre-share

group 2

crypto isakmp key XXXX address 91.1xx.7.42

ip access-list extended Heidrun-Proxy-ACL

permit gre host 1×3.97.1×3.88 host 10.254.29.3

crypto ipsec transform-set ESP-DES-MD5 esp-des esp-md5-hmac

mode tunnel

crypto map MAP-TO-WORLD 10 ipsec-isakmp

set peer 91.1xx.7.42

set transform-set ESP-DES-MD5

match address Heidrun-Proxy-ACL

HDRBR01

crypto isakmp policy 8

hash md5

authentication pre-share

group 2

crypto isakmp key XXXX address 1×3.97.1×3.88

crypto ipsec transform-set ESP-DES-MD5 esp-des esp-md5-hmac

mode tunnel

ip access-list extended STFV-Proxy-ACL

permit gre host 10.254.29.3 host 1×3.97.1×3.88   —Proxy ACL must be inverse of the other end Proxy ACL

crypto map MAP-TO-FORUS 10 ipsec-isakmp

set peer 1×3.97.1×3.88

set transform-set ESP-DES-MD5

match address STFV-Proxy-ACL

4.  Verifying OR Configuring GRE tunnels

STFVVPN05

interface Tunnel10

ip address 192.168.250.210 255.255.255.252

tunnel source 1×3.97.1×3.88

tunnel destination 10.254.29.3 —-IP address of the other end as tunnel destination

HDRBR01

interface Tunnel0

ip address 192.168.250.209 255.255.255.252

tunnel source 10.254.29.3

tunnel destination 1×3.97.1×3.88

5. Verifying OR Applying Crypto map on physical Interface

STFVVPN05

interface GigabitEthernet0/0

crypto map MAP-TO-WORLD

HDRBR01

interface GigabitEthernet0/0

crypto map MAP-TO-F

6. Verifying the connectivity

HDRBR01#ping 192.168.250.210   —Tunnel10 interface of STFVVPN05

Type escape sequence to abort.

Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 192.168.250.210, timeout is 2 seconds:

!!!!!

Success rate is 100 percent (5/5), round-trip min/avg/max = 152/164/180 ms

HDRBR01#sh crypto isakmp sa       —Phase 1 it has to be QM_IDLE

IPv4 Crypto ISAKMP SA

dst             src             state          conn-id status

1×3.97.1×3.88   10.254.29.3     QM_IDLE           1001 ACTIVE

IPv6 Crypto ISAKMP SA

HDRBR01#sh crypto ipsec sa    —–Phase-2, packets need to be encap and decap

interface: GigabitEthernet0/0

Crypto map tag: MAP-TO-F, local addr 10.254.29.3

protected vrf: (none)

local  ident (addr/mask/prot/port): (10.254.29.3/255.255.255.255/47/0)

remote ident (addr/mask/prot/port): (1×3.97.1×3.88/255.255.255.255/47/0)

current_peer 1×3.97.1×3.88 port 4500

PERMIT, flags={origin_is_acl,}

        #pkts encaps: 14, #pkts encrypt: 14, #pkts digest: 14

        #pkts decaps: 12, #pkts decrypt: 12, #pkts verify: 12

#pkts compressed: 0, #pkts decompressed: 0

#pkts not compressed: 0, #pkts compr. failed: 0

#pkts not decompressed: 0, #pkts decompress failed: 0

#send errors 0, #recv errors 1

local crypto endpt.: 10.254.29.3, remote crypto endpt.: 1×3.97.1×3.88

path mtu 1500, ip mtu 1500, ip mtu idb GigabitEthernet0/0

current outbound spi: 0xF3D0D157(4090548567)

PFS (Y/N): N, DH group: none

inbound esp sas:

spi: 0x51567CA3(1364622499)

transform: esp-des esp-md5-hmac ,

in use settings ={Tunnel UDP-Encaps, }

conn id: 1, flow_id: 1, sibling_flags 80000040, crypto map: MAP-TO-F

sa timing: remaining key lifetime (k/sec): (4331701/2078)

IV size: 8 bytes

replay detection support: Y

Status: ACTIVE(ACTIVE)

inbound ah sas:

inbound pcp sas:

outbound esp sas:

spi: 0xF3D0D157(4090548567)

transform: esp-des esp-md5-hmac ,

in use settings ={Tunnel UDP-Encaps, }

conn id: 2, flow_id: 2, sibling_flags 80000040, crypto map: MAP-TO-F

sa timing: remaining key lifetime (k/sec): (4331700/2078)

IV size: 8 bytes

replay detection support: Y

Status: ACTIVE(ACTIVE)

outbound ah sas:

outbound pcp sas:

7.  Running EIGRP over the tunnel

HDRBR01

router eigrp 224

network 192.168.250.209 0.0.0.0

network XXX   —-Advertise other inside network into EIGRP

STFVVPN05

router eigrp 224

network 192.168.250.210 0.0.0.0

network XXX   —-Advertise other inside network into EIGRP

8.  Verifying EIGRP Neighborship

HDRBR01#sh ip eigrp neighbors

EIGRP-IPv4 Neighbors for AS(224)

H   Address                 Interface              Hold Uptime   SRTT   RTO  Q  Seq

(sec)         (ms)       Cnt Num

0   192.168.250.210         Tu0                      14 00:03:11    1  3000  0  1

STFVVPN05#sh ip eigrp neighbors

EIGRP-IPv4 Neighbors for AS(224)

H   Address                 Interface              Hold Uptime   SRTT   RTO  Q  Seq

(sec)         (ms)       Cnt Num

0   192.168.250.209         Tu10                     11 00:03:59 1924  5000  0  1

I hope this will help you in troubleshooting and configuring GRE over IPsec site to site VPN when a NAT device is in the path.