Firewalls and Tunnels
5-2
Hewlett-Packard Company Virtual Private Networking Concepts Guide
Firewall Functions
Firewall Functions
Firewall Functions
Firewall Functions
Each VPN device has at least two physical interfaces (that is, two
Ethernet cards). Each interface is assigned a color, either red or
black. If both interfaces have the same color, the VPN device will
not perform any firewall functions between the interfaces. In
this case, the VPN device becomes a router (or bridge) and an
encryptor.
When two interfaces on a VPN device have different colors,
packets arriving at one interface must pass through the firewall
to move to the other interface.
Figure:
Figure:
Figure:
Figure: VPN Device as a Firewall
VPN Device as a Firewall
VPN Device as a Firewall
VPN Device as a Firewall
Stateless
Stateless
Stateless
Stateless
The VPN device is instructed to allow or disallow all packets
traveling between the red (trusted) and black (untrusted)
network. The VPN device checks each packet as it arrives to
ensure it is valid. If the packet matches the filter rule (shown in
the following table), it passes from one interface to the other.
The VPN device then immediately looks for the next incoming
packet. This is called stateless filtering, since the VPN device
does not remember that a packet passed through a filter rule. If
a packet is considered invalid, it is simply not allowed entry to
the red (trusted) network.
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VPN Device
Firewall
Red Network
(Private/Trusted)
Black Network
(Public/Untrusted)
Red Interface
Black Interface