IPSEC VPN Tunnel on MikroTik

IPsec, one of the best and most used tunneling protocols, enables site-to-site and remote access VPNs and delivers confidentiality, integrity, authentication, and anti-replay for Mikrotik router configurations.

Explore IPsec as an open standard protocol suite that protects IP traffic for VPN connectivity, detailing its encryption, integrity, authentication, and anti-replay features, and its extensibility across devices.

Explore the IPCC framework of IPsec, detailing protocol negotiation, confidentiality, integrity, authentication, and Diffie-Hellman, and learn to choose ESP, hashing (MD5 or SHA), and authentication methods for Mikrotik.

Explore IPsec modes of communication: transport mode encrypts transport layer and above inside a LAN, while tunnel mode encrypts from the network layer and adds an IP header for VPN.

Compare symmetric and asymmetric encryption to understand how IPsec uses a fast, shared-secret key for data and a slower, two-key public and private key pair for exchange.

Explore how ipsec blends symmetric pre-shared keys and diffie-hellman asymmetric keys, exchanging public and private keys to securely share the secret and encrypt traffic.

Compare symmetric and asymmetric protocols for MikroTik ipsec, including des, 3des, aes, blowfish, camellia, rsa, and diffie-hellman. Avoid des and choose aes or camellia with diffie-hellman for secure key exchange.

Ensure IPsec data integrity by applying hashing algorithms that generate a digest the receiver verifies. Use MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, and SHA-512; MD5 is weak, while SHA variants offer stronger security.

Explains IPsec negotiation protocols, comparing AH and ESP, and describes IKE phase one and phase two tunnels, tunnel vs transport mode, and how ESP provides encryption for MikroTik VPN.

Explore how IPsec works through its five negotiation phases, preparing for a hands-on lab configuring IPsec on the Mikrotik router.

Understand the IPsec negotiation process on MikroTik, including interesting traffic to trigger the tunnel, IKE phase 1 and 2, data transfer, and idle termination; with split tunnel and policy options.

Learn IPsec IKE phase 1, the Isakmp tunnel, where routers negotiate security associations, authenticate via pre-shared keys or certificates, and exchange Diffie-Hellman keys to form a shared secret.

This lecture compares IPsec IKE phase 1 main mode and aggressive mode on MikroTik, noting six vs three messages, identification encryption, and recommending main mode for ikev1.

IKE phase two forms an IPsec tunnel inside the ISAKMP tunnel to protect data. It uses quick mode and negotiates IPsec protocol (ESP or AH), encryption, hashing, and lifetime.

Explore how IPsec phase one and phase two establish the IPsec tunnel to securely transfer data between two IPsec peers, with encryption, integrity, and Diffie-Hellman aspects.

Compare ikev1 and ikev2 for ipsec, noting ikev2 is newer. Ikev2 adds eap authentication, nat traversal, and built-in keepalive, while ikev1 lacks keepalive and uses main and aggressive phase one.

Prepare and connect two routers through an isp router, configure nat and routing, and execute the ipcc lab covering phase one, phase two, and main mode.

Configure the pre-configuration of the IPsec tunnel by setting up NAT and routing between two MikroTik routers connected to the internet, including external interface addresses and default routes.

This lab guides configuring a site-to-site ipsec tunnel between router one and router three over the internet, covering IKEv1 and IKEv2, phase one and phase two, and pre-shared key authentication.

Configure site-to-site IPsec tunnels on MikroTik by enabling nat traversal, defining firewall net rules and masquerade, and validating IKEv1 and IKEv2 across both sides.

Explore remote access ipsec ikev2 tunneling from home to a MikroTik headquarter network, using a certificate authority to issue server and client certificates.

Create a certificate authority on the headquarter router, then issue and sign a server and a client certificate for IPsec remote access authentication.

Configure an IPsec remote access VPN using IKEv2 between a pc and router three, including creating a pool (3.3.3.4–3.3.3.10), mod config, identity, and testing connectivity.

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