SonicOS 7.1 IPSec VPN

Planning Site to Site Configurations

You have many options when configuring site to site VPN and can include the following options:

Branch Office (Gateway to Gateway) A SonicWall firewall is configured to connect to another SonicWall firewall through a VPN tunnel. Or, a SonicWall firewall is configured to connect through IPsec to another manufacturer’s firewall.
Hub and Spoke Design All SonicWall VPN gateways are configured to connect to a central hub, such as a corporate firewall. The hub must have a static IP address, but the spokes can have dynamic IP addresses. If the spokes are dynamic, the hub must be a SonicWall network security appliance.
Mesh Design All sites connect to all other sites. All sites must have static IP addresses.

SonicWall has video clips and knowledge base articles that can help you with some of those decisions.

Informational videos with site to site VPN configuration examples are available online. For example, see How to Create a Site to Site VPN in Main Mode using Preshared Secret or How to Create Aggressive Mode Site to Site VPN using Preshared Secret.

Additional videos are available at: https://www.sonicwall.com/support/video-tutorials.

See the knowledge base articles for information about Site to Site VPNs:

VPN: Types of Site to Site VPN Scenarios and Configurations (SW12884)

Troubleshooting articles of Site to Site VPN (SW7570)

When designing your VPN configurations, be sure to document all pertinent IP addressing information. You might want to create a network diagram to use as a reference. A few other things to note:

  • The firewall must have a routable WAN IP address whether it is dynamic or static.
  • In a VPN network with dynamic and static IP addresses, the VPN gateway with the dynamic address must initiate the VPN connection.

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