Watchguard VPN Tunnels Test

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) creates secure connections between computers or networks in different locations. Each connection is known as a tunnel. When a VPN tunnel is created, the two tunnel endpoints authenticate with each other. Data in the tunnel is encrypted. Only the sender and the recipient of the traffic can read it.

Using the WatchGuard Firewall, administrators can configure multiple VPN tunnels based on the volume of data traffic handled by their network and the security/privacy requirements of the network. Often bandwidth management can be enabled on the firewall configurations to prevent unauthorized access to the network and to optimize the usage of network resources. Improper firewall configurations can therefore result in a few VPN tunnels hogging the bandwidth resources and choking the network! To avoid this, administrators should periodically check the efficacy of the firewall configuration, identify the issues in the firewall settings and rectify the same! This is where the Watchguard VPN Tunnels test helps! This test auto discovers the VPN tunnels configured using the WatchGuard Firewall and closely monitors the amount of data traffic and packets sent and received via every tunnel. In addition, this test clearly indicates the number of various error – prone packets that were sent and received through each VPN tunnel. In the process, the test accurately points to that tunnel that is handling an abnormally high volume of traffic and is hence hogging the bandwidth resources available to the network! This way, the test enables administrators to understand whether/not their firewall configurations are effective, and if not, initiate measures to fine-tune them.

Target of the test : A WatchGuard Firewall server

Agent deploying the test : An external agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each VPN tunnel that is to be monitored.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter	Description
Test Period	How often should the test be executed.
Host	The IP address of the WatchGuard Firewall for which this test is to be configured.
Port	Refers to the port at which the specified host listens to.
SNMPPort	The port at which the monitored target exposes its SNMP MIB; The default value is 161.
SNMPVersion	By default, the eG agent supports SNMP version 1. Accordingly, the default selection in the SNMPVersion list is v1. However, if a different SNMP framework is in use in your environment, say SNMP v2 or v3, then select the corresponding option from this list.
SNMPCommunity	The SNMP community name that the test uses to communicate with the firewall. This parameter is specific to SNMP v1 and v2 only. Therefore, if the SNMPVersion chosen is v3, then this parameter will not appear.
UserName	This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. SNMP version 3 (SNMPv3) is an extensible SNMP Framework which supplements the SNMPv2 Framework, by additionally supporting message security, access control, and remote SNMP configuration capabilities. To extract performance statistics from the MIB using the highly secure SNMP v3 protocol, the eG agent has to be configured with the required access privileges – in other words, the eG agent should connect to the MIB using the credentials of a user with access permissions to be MIB. Therefore, specify the name of such a user against this parameter.
Context	This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. An SNMP context is a collection of management information accessible by an SNMP entity. An item of management information may exist in more than one context and an SNMP entity potentially has access to many contexts. A context is identified by the SNMPEngineID value of the entity hosting the management information (also called a contextEngineID) and a context name that identifies the specific context (also called a contextName). If the UserName provided is associated with a context name, then the eG agent will be able to poll the MIB and collect metrics only if it is configured with the context name as well. In such cases therefore, specify the context name of the UserName in the Context text box. By default, this parameter is set to none.
AuthPass	Specify the password that corresponds to the above-mentioned UserName. This parameter once again appears only if the SNMPVersion selected is v3.
Confirm Password	Confirm the AuthPass by retyping it here.
AuthType	This parameter too appears only if v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. From the AuthType list box, choose the authentication algorithm using which SNMP v3 converts the specified username and password into a 32-bit format to ensure security of SNMP transactions. You can choose between the following options: MD5 – Message Digest Algorithm SHA – Secure Hash Algorithm
EncryptFlag	This flag appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. By default, the eG agent does not encrypt SNMP requests. Accordingly, the this flag is set to No by default. To ensure that SNMP requests sent by the eG agent are encrypted, select the Yes option.
EncryptType	If this EncryptFlag is set to Yes, then you will have to mention the encryption type by selecting an option from the EncryptType list. SNMP v3 supports the following encryption types: DES – Data Encryption Standard AES – Advanced Encryption Standard
EncryptPassword	Specify the encryption password here.
Confirm Password	Confirm the encryption password by retyping it here.
Timeout	Specify the duration (in seconds) within which the SNMP query executed by this test should time out in this text box. The default is 10 seconds.
Data Over TCP	By default, in an IT environment, all data transmission occurs over UDP. Some environments however, may be specifically configured to offload a fraction of the data traffic – for instance, certain types of data traffic or traffic pertaining to specific components – to other protocols like TCP, so as to prevent UDP overloads. In such environments, you can instruct the eG agent to conduct the SNMP data traffic related to the monitored target over TCP (and not UDP). For this, set this flag to Yes. By default, this flag is set to No.
IsPassive	If the value chosen is Yes, then the WatchGuard Firewall under consideration is a passive device in a firewall cluster. No alerts will be generated if the firewall is not running. Measures will be reported as “Not applicable” by the agent if the firewall is not up.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Inbound traffic over VPN tunnel	Indicates the amount of traffic that was received through this VPN tunnel since the connection was established.	KB	Comparing the value of these measures across the VPN tunnels helps you in identifying the VPN tunnel that is receiving/transmitting the highest amount of traffic.
Outbound traffic over VPN tunnel	Indicates the amount of traffic that was transmitted through this VPN tunnel since the connection was established.	KB
Inbound packets over VPN tunnel	Indicates the number of packets that were received through this VPN tunnel during the last measurement period.	Number	Comparing the values of these measures across the VPN tunnels helps you in identifying the VPN tunnel that has received/transmitted the maximum number of packets.
Outbound packets over VPN tunnel	Indicates the number of packets that were transmitted through this VPN tunnel during the last measurement period.	Number
Inbound packets discarded by decrypt errors	Indicates the number of packets that were discarded due to decrypt errors when received by this VPN tunnel during the last measurement period.	Number	Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero.
Outbound packets discarded by decrypt error	Indicates the number of packets that were discarded due to decrypt errors when transmitted through this VPN tunnel during the last measurement period.	Number	Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero.
Inbound packets discarded by auth errors	Indicates the number of packets that were discarded due to authentication errors during the last measurement period while being received by this VPN tunnel.	Number	Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero.
Outbound packets discarded by auth errors	Indicates the number of packets that were discarded due to authentication errors during the last measurement period while being transmitted through this VPN tunnel.	Number	Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero.
Inbound packets discarded by replay errors	Indicates the number of packets that were discarded due to replay errors during the last measurement period wile being received by this VPN tunnel.	Number	Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero.
Outbound packets discarded by replay errors	Indicates the number of packets that were discarded due to replay errors during the last measurement period while being transmitted through this VPN tunnel.	Number	Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero.