Add tunnel interfaces for NGFW Engines

Tunnel interfaces are logical interfaces.

Any traffic that is routed to a tunnel interface and allowed by Access rules is automatically sent through the tunnel to the peer endpoint defined in the Route-Based VPN Tunnel element. Tunnel interfaces are only used in route-based VPNs.

You can optionally add IPv4 or IPv6 addresses to a tunnel interface. Tunnel interfaces can only have static IP addresses. Any IP address can be added to a tunnel interface, even if the same IP address is used on another interface or as a loopback IP address. Adding an IP address to a tunnel interface allows you to define the source IP address of traffic sent from the NGFW Engine itself. For example, an IP address is recommended to provide a source IP address for dynamic routing daemons, for IGMP proxy, and for Protocol Independent Multicast - Sparse-Mode (PIM-SM) configuration. If no IP address is added to the tunnel interface, the source IP address for traffic sent from the NGFW Engine is automatically selected. The selection is done according to the Bypass Default IP Address setting in the interface options for the NGFW Engine.

The mapping of tunnel interfaces to physical network interfaces on the NGFW Engine is done automatically based on the routing configuration.

  For more details about the product and how to configure features, click Help or press F1.

Steps

  1. Right-click an NGFW Engine, then select Edit <element type>.
  2. Browse to Interfaces.
  3. Click Add, then select Tunnel Interface.
  4. Configure the settings.
  5. Click OK.
  6. If you want to add a source IP address for traffic sent from the engine node, add IPv4 addresses or IPv6 addresses to the tunnels.
  7. If you do not want to add IP addresses, select system communication roles for firewall interfaces to define how the source IP address for traffic sent from the engine node is selected.
  8. Click Save and Refresh.

Tunnel Interface Properties dialog box (Firewall or Virtual Firewall)

Use this dialog box to configure properties of Tunnel Interface for Firewalls and Virtual Firewalls.

Option Definition
General tab
Tunnel Interface ID Select the ID for the Tunnel Interface. The Tunnel Interface ID is automatically mapped to the physical network interface on the engine according to the routing configuration.
Zone

(Optional)

Select the network zone to which the interface belongs. Click Select to select an element, or click New to create an element.
Comment

(Optional)

 A comment for your own reference.
Option Definition
General tab, Quality of Service and Bandwidth Management section
QoS Mode

(Optional)

Defines how QoS is applied to the link on this interface.

If Full QoS or DSCP Handling and Throttling is selected, a QoS policy must also be selected. If Full QoS is selected, the throughput must also be defined.

If the interface is a Physical Interface, the same QoS mode is automatically applied to any VLANs created under it.

QoS Policy

(DSCP Handling and Throttling and Full QoS modes only)

The QoS policy for the link on this interface.

If the interface is a Physical Interface, the same QoS policy is automatically selected for any VLANs created under it.

Note: If a Virtual Resource has a throughput limit defined, the interfaces on the Virtual NGFW Engine that use a QoS policy all use the same policy. The policy used in the first interface is used for all the interfaces.
Interface Throughput Limit

(Full QoS mode only)

Enter the throughput for the link on this interface as megabits per second.

If the interface is a Physical Interface, the same throughput is automatically applied to any VLANs created under it.

The throughput is for uplink speed (outgoing traffic) and typically must correspond to the speed of an Internet link (such as an ADSL line), or the combined speeds of several such links when connected to a single interface.

CAUTION:
Make sure that you set the interface speed correctly. When the bandwidth is set, the NGFW Engine always scales the total amount of traffic on this interface to the bandwidth you defined. This scaling happens even if there are no bandwidth limits or guarantees defined for any traffic.
CAUTION:
The throughput for a Physical Interface for a Virtual NGFW Engine must not be higher than the throughput for the Master NGFW Engine interface that hosts the Virtual NGFW Engine. Contact the administrator of the Master NGFW Engine before changing this setting.
Option Definition
Tunnel tab
Tunnel The selected Route-Based VPN Tunnel element. Click Select to select an element, or click New to create an element.
Tunnel Properties The details of the selected Route-Based VPN Tunnel element. If you are creating a Route-Based VPN Tunnel element, you can edit the fields.
Option Definition
Advanced tab
Override Engine's Default Settings When selected, the default settings of the engine are overridden.
SYN Rate Limits
  • Default — The interface uses the SYN rate limits defined for the engine on the Advanced Settings branch of the Engine Editor.
  • None — Disables SYN rate limits on the interface.
  • Automatic — This is the recommended mode if you want to override the general SYN rate limits defined for the engine on the Advanced Settings branch of the Engine Editor. The engine calculates the number of allowed SYN packets per second and the burst size (the number of allowed SYNs before the engine starts limiting the SYN rate) based on the engine’s capacity and memory size.
  • Custom — Enter the values for Allowed SYNs per Second and Burst Size.
Allowed SYNs per Second Defines the number of allowed SYN packets per second.
Burst Size Defines the maximum number of matching entries in a single burst.
Tip:

We recommend that you set the burst size to be at least one tenth of the Allowed SYNs per Second value. If the burst size is too small, SYN rate limits do not work.

For example, if the value for Allowed SYNs per Second is 10000, set the value for Burst Size to at least 1000.

Enable Log Compression Allows you to define the maximum number of separately logged entries.
For each event type, Antispoofing or Discard, you can define:
  • Log Rate (Entries/s) — The maximum number of entries per second. The default value for antispoofing entries is 100 entries/s. By default, Discard log entries are not compressed.
  • Burst Size (Entries) — The maximum number of matching entries in a single burst. The default value for antispoofing entries is 1000 entries. By default, Discard log entries are not compressed.
Set to Default Returns all changes to the log compression settings to the default settings.