4.4.1.2 Lab - Configuring Zone-Based Policy Firewalls
4.4.1.2 Lab - Configuring Zone-Based Policy Firewalls
4.4.1.2 Lab - Configuring Zone-Based Policy Firewalls
Note: ISR G1 devices have Fast Ethernet interfaces instead of Gigabit Ethernet Interfaces.
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Lab - Configuring Zone-Based Policy Firewalls
IP Addressing Table
Objectives
Part 1: Basic Router Configuration
Configure host names, interface IP addresses, and access passwords.
Configure the static routes to enable end-to-end connectivity.
Part 2: Configuring a Zone-Based Policy Firewall (ZPF)
Use the CLI to configure a Zone-Based Policy Firewall.
Use the CLI to verify the configuration.
Background
The most basic form of a Cisco IOS firewall uses access control lists (ACLs) to filter IP traffic and monitor
established traffic patterns. A traditional Cisco IOS firewall is an ACL-based firewall.
The newer Cisco IOS Firewall implementation uses a zone-based approach that operates as a function of
interfaces instead of access control lists. A Zone-Based Policy Firewall (ZPF) allows different inspection
policies to be applied to multiple host groups connected to the same router interface. It can be configured for
extremely advanced, protocol specific, granular control. It prohibits traffic via a default deny-all policy between
different firewall zones. ZPF is suited for multiple interfaces that have similar or varying security requirements.
In this lab, you build a multi-router network, configure the routers and PC hosts, and configure a Zone-Based
Policy Firewall using the Cisco IOS command line interface (CLI).
Note: The router commands and output in this lab are from a Cisco 1941 with Cisco IOS Release 15.4(3)M2
(UniversalK9-M). Other routers and Cisco IOS versions can be used. See the Router Interface Summary
Table at the end of the lab to determine which interface identifiers to use based on the equipment in the lab.
Depending on the router model and Cisco IOS version, the commands available and output produced might
vary from what is shown in this lab.
Note: Make sure that the routers and switches have been erased and have no startup configurations.
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Lab - Configuring Zone-Based Policy Firewalls
Required Resources
3 Routers (Cisco 1941 with Cisco IOS Release 15.4(3)M2 image or comparable)
2 Switches (Cisco 2960 or comparable)
3 PCs (Windows Vista or Windows 7)
Serial and Ethernet cables, as shown in the topology
Console cables to configure Cisco networking devices
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Lab - Configuring Zone-Based Policy Firewalls
Step 7: Configure a user account, encrypted passwords and crypto keys for SSH.
Note: Passwords in this task are set to a minimum of 10 characters, but are relatively simple for the benefit of
performing the lab. More complex passwords are recommended in a production network.
a. Configure a minimum password length using the security passwords command to set a minimum
password length of 10 characters.
R1(config)# security passwords min-length 10
b. Configure a domain name.
R1(config)# ip domain-name ccnasecurity.com
c. Configure crypto keys for SSH
R1(config)# crypto key generate rsa general-keys modulus 1024
d. Configure an admin01 user account using algorithm-type scrypt for encryption and a password of
cisco12345.
R1(config)# username admin01 algorithm-type scrypt secret cisco12345
e. Configure line console 0 to use the local user database for logins. For additional security, the exec-
timeout command causes the line to log out after 5 minutes of inactivity. The logging synchronous
command prevents console messages from interrupting command entry.
Note: To avoid repetitive logins during this lab, the exec-timeout command can be set to 0 0, which
prevents it from expiring; however, this is not considered to be a good security practice.
R1(config)# line console 0
R1(config-line)# login local
R1(config-line)# exec-timeout 5 0
R1(config-line)# logging synchronous
f. Configure line aux 0 to use the local user database for logins.
R1(config)# line aux 0
R1(config-line)# login local
R1(config-line)# exec-timeout 5 0
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Lab - Configuring Zone-Based Policy Firewalls
g. Configure line vty 0 4 to use the local user database for logins and restrict access to SSH connections
only.
R1(config)# line vty 0 4
R1(config-line)# login local
R1(config-line)# transport input ssh
R1(config-line)# exec-timeout 5 0
h. Configure the enable password with strong encryption.
R1(config)# enable algorithm-type scrypt secret class12345
Step 8: Save the basic running configuration for all three routers.
Save the running configuration to the startup configuration from the privileged EXEC prompt.
R1# copy running-config startup-config
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Lab - Configuring Zone-Based Policy Firewalls
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Lab - Configuring Zone-Based Policy Firewalls
b. Similarly, create a class-map to match the traffic to be allowed from the CONFROOM zone to the
INTERNET zone. Because we do not fully trust the CONFROOM zone, we must limit what the server can
send out to the Internet:
R3(config)# class-map type inspect match-any CONFROOM_PROTOCOLS
R3(config-cmap)# match protocol http
R3(config-cmap)# match protocol https
R3(config-cmap)# match protocol dns
c. Now that the class-maps are created, you can create the policy-maps.
In the commands below, the first line creates an inspect policy-map named INSIDE_TO_INTERNET. The
second line binds the previously created INSIDE_PROTOCOLS class-map to the policy-map. All packets
matched by the INSIDE_PROTOCOLS class-map will be subjected to the action taken by the
INSIDE_TO_INTERNET policy-map. Finally, the third line defines the actual action this policy-map will
apply to the matched packets. In this case, the matched packets will be inspected.
The next three lines creates a similar policy-map named CONFROOM_TO_INTERNET and attaches the
CONFROOM_PROTOCOLS class-map.
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Lab - Configuring Zone-Based Policy Firewalls
To define a zone pair, use the zone-pair security command. The direction of the traffic is specified by the
source and destination zones.
For this lab, you will create two zone-pairs:
INSIDE_TO_INTERNET: Allows traffic leaving the internal network towards the Internet.
CONFROOM_TO_INTERNET: Allows Internet access from the ConfRoom network.
a. Creating the zone-pairs:
R3(config)# zone-pair security INSIDE_TO_INTERNET source INSIDE destination
INTERNET
R3(config)# zone-pair security CONFROOM_TO_INTERNET source CONFROOM
destination INTERNET
b. Verify the zone-pairs were correctly created by issuing the show zone-pair security command. Notice
that no policies are associated with the zone-pairs yet. The security policies will be applied to zone-pairs
in the next step.
R3# show zone-pair security
Zone-pair name INSIDE_TO_INTERNET
Source-Zone INSIDE Destination-Zone INTERNET
service-policy not configured
Zone-pair name CONFROOM_TO_INTERNET
Source-Zone CONFROOM Destination-Zone INTERNET
service-policy not configured
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Lab - Configuring Zone-Based Policy Firewalls
b. Issue the show zone-pair security command once again to verify the zone-pair configuration. Notice that
the service-polices are now displayed:
R3#show zone-pair security
Zone-pair name INSIDE_TO_INTERNET
Source-Zone INSIDE Destination-Zone INTERNET
service-policy INSIDE_TO_INTERNET
Zone-pair name CONFROOM_TO_INTERNET
Source-Zone CONFROOM Destination-Zone INTERNET
service-policy CONFROOM_TO_INTERNET
To obtain more information about the zone-pairs, their policy-maps, the class-maps and match counters,
use the show policy-map type inspect zone-pair command:
R3#show policy-map type inspect zone-pair
policy exists on zp INSIDE_TO_INTERNET
Zone-pair: INSIDE_TO_INTERNET
Inspect
Session creations since subsystem startup or last reset 0
Current session counts (estab/half-open/terminating) [0:0:0]
Maxever session counts (estab/half-open/terminating) [0:0:0]
Last session created never
Last statistic reset never
Last session creation rate 0
Maxever session creation rate 0
Last half-open session total 0
TCP reassembly statistics
received 0 packets out-of-order; dropped 0
peak memory usage 0 KB; current usage: 0 KB
peak queue length 0
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Lab - Configuring Zone-Based Policy Firewalls
Drop
0 packets, 0 bytes
[output omitted]
zone CONFROOM
Member Interfaces:
GigEthernet0/0
zone INSIDE
Member Interfaces:
GigEthernet0/1
zone INTERNET
Member Interfaces:
Serial0/0/1
b. Even though no commands were issued to create a “self” zone, the output above still displays it. Why is
R3 displaying a zone named “self”? What is the significance of this zone?
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Lab - Configuring Zone-Based Policy Firewalls
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Lab - Configuring Zone-Based Policy Firewalls
Challenge (optional)
Create the proper zone-pair, class-maps, and policy-maps and configure R3 to prevent Internet originating
traffic from reaching the Self Zone.
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Lab - Configuring Zone-Based Policy Firewalls
Creating the zone-pair and assigning the new policy-map to it. Notice that the INSIDE zone is both the source
and the destination of the zone-pair:
R3(config)# zone-pair security INSIDE source INSIDE destination INSIDE
R3(config-sec-zone-pair)# service-policy type inspect inside
To verify the existence of the new pair, use show zone-pair security:
R3# show zone-pair security
Zone-pair name INSIDE_TO_INTERNET
Source-Zone INSIDE Destination-Zone INTERNET
service-policy INSIDE_TO_INTERNET
Zone-pair name CONFROOM_TO_INTERNET
Source-Zone CONFROOM Destination-Zone INTERNET
service-policy CONFROOM_TO_INTERNET
Zone-pair name INSIDE
Source-Zone INSIDE Destination-Zone INSIDE
service-policy inside
Router Model Ethernet Interface #1 Ethernet Interface #2 Serial Interface #1 Serial Interface #2
1800 Fast Ethernet 0/0 Fast Ethernet 0/1 Serial 0/0/0 (S0/0/0) Serial 0/0/1 (S0/0/1)
(F0/0) (F0/1)
1900 Gigabit Ethernet 0/0 Gigabit Ethernet 0/1 Serial 0/0/0 (S0/0/0) Serial 0/0/1 (S0/0/1)
(G0/0) (G0/1)
2801 Fast Ethernet 0/0 Fast Ethernet 0/1 Serial 0/1/0 (S0/1/0) Serial 0/1/1 (S0/1/1)
(F0/0) (F0/1)
2811 Fast Ethernet 0/0 Fast Ethernet 0/1 Serial 0/0/0 (S0/0/0) Serial 0/0/1 (S0/0/1)
(F0/0) (F0/1)
2900 Gigabit Ethernet 0/0 Gigabit Ethernet 0/1 Serial 0/0/0 (S0/0/0) Serial 0/0/1 (S0/0/1)
(G0/0) (G0/1)
Note: To find out how the router is configured, look at the interfaces to identify the type of router and how many
interfaces the router has. There is no way to effectively list all the combinations of configurations for each router
class. This table includes identifiers for the possible combinations of Ethernet and Serial interfaces in the device.
The table does not include any other type of interface, even though a specific router may contain one. An
example of this might be an ISDN BRI interface. The string in parenthesis is the legal abbreviation that can be
used in Cisco IOS commands to represent the interface.
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