FreeS/WAN interoperation Grid
Keywords: Linux, IPsec, VPN, security, FreeSWAN, interoperation

# Interoperating with FreeS/WAN

The FreeS/WAN project needs you! We rely on the user community to keep up to date. Mail users@lists.freeswan.org with your interop success stories.

Please note: Most of our interop examples feature Linux FreeS/WAN 1.x config files. You can convert them to 2.x files fairly easily with the patch in our Upgrading Guide.

## Interop at a Glance

| FreeS/WAN VPN | Road Warrior | OE
| PSK | RSA Secret | X.509 (requires patch) | Manual Keying |  |
More Compatible
isakmpd (OpenBSD) | Yes |  | Yes | Yes |  | No
Kame (FreeBSD, NetBSD) | Yes |  | Yes | Yes |  | No
McAfee VPN was PGPNet | Yes | Yes | Yes |  | Yes | No
Microsoft Windows 2000/XP | Yes |  | Yes |  | with FreeS/WAN as Warrior | No
SSH Sentinel | Yes |  | Yes |  | Yes | No
Safenet SoftPK /SoftRemote | Yes |  | Yes |  | Yes | No
Other
6Wind |  |  | Yes |  |  | No
Alcatel Timestep | Yes |  |  |  |  | No
Apple Macintosh System 10+ | Maybe |  |  |  |  | No
AshleyLaurent VPCom | Yes |  |  |  |  | No
Borderware | Yes |  |  |  | No | No
Check Point FW-1/VPN-1 | Yes |  | Yes |  | Yes | No
Cisco with 3DES | Yes | Maybe |  |  |  | No
F-Secure | Yes |  |  | Yes | Yes | No
Gauntlet GVPN | Yes |  |  |  |  | No
IBM AIX | Yes |  | Maybe |  |  | No
IBM AS/400 | Yes |  |  |  |  | No
Intel Shiva LANRover/Net Structure | Yes |  |  |  |  | No
Linksys | Maybe |  | No |  | Yes | No
Lucent | Partial |  |  |  |  | No
Netasq |  |  | Yes |  |  | No
netcelo |  |  | Yes |  |  | No
Netgear fvs318 | Yes |  |  |  |  | No
Netscreen 100 or 5xp | Yes |  |  |  | Maybe | No
Nortel Contivity | Partial |  | Yes |  |  | No
RadGuard | Yes |  |  |  |  | No
Raptor | Yes |  |  | Yes |  | No
Redcreek Ravlin | Yes/Partial |  |  |  |  | No
SonicWall | Yes |  |  |  | No | No
Sun Solaris |  |  |  | Yes |  | No
Symantec | Yes |  |  |  |  | No
Watchguard Firebox | Yes |  |  | Yes |  | No
Xedia Access Point /QVPN | Yes |  |  |  |  | No
| PSK | RSA Secret | X.509 (requires patch) | Manual Keying |  |
| FreeS/WAN VPN | Road Warrior | OE

### Key

Yes | People report that this works for them.
[Blank] | We don't know.
No | We have reason to believe it was, at some point, not possible to get this to work.
Partial | Partial success. For example, a connection can be created from one end only.
Yes/Partial | Mixed reports.
Maybe | We think the answer is "yes", but need confirmation.

## Basic Interop Rules

Vanilla FreeS/WAN implements these parts of the IPSec specifications.

You can add more with Super FreeS/WAN, particularly with the algorithm patches, but what we offer may be enough for many users.

We propose a set of proposals which are not user-adjustable, but cover the full set of what we can offer:

We propose Diffie Hellman groups 5 and 2 (in that order), and MD5 and SHA-1 hashes. We always propose: Triple DES encryption, Perfect Forward Secrecy, ...

This yields the proposal grid:

## Longer Stories

### For More Compatible Implementations

#### isakmpd (OpenBSD)

OpenBSD FAQ: Using IPsec
Hans-Joerg Hoexer's interop Linux-OpenBSD (PSK)
Skyper's configuration (PSK)
French page with configs (X.509)

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#### Kame for FreeBSD, NetBSD

Kame homepage, with FAQ
NetBSD's IPSec FAQ

Itojun's Kame-FreeS/WAN interop tips (PSK)
Ghislaine Labouret's French page with links to matching FreeS/WAN and Kame configs (RSA)
Ghislaine's post explaining some peculiarities
Frodo's Kame-FreeS/WAN interop (X.509)
Using Kame as a WAVEsec client

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#### PGPNet/McAfee

- Now called McAfee VPN Client.
- PGPNet also came in a freeware version which did not support subnets
- To support dhcp-over-ipsec, you need the X.509 patch, which is included in Super FreeS/WAN.

Hans-Joerg Hoexer's Guide for Linux-PGPNet (PSK)
Kai Martius' instructions using RSA Key-Extractor Tool (RSA)
Christian Zeng's page (RSA) based on Kai's work. English or German.
Oscar Delgado's PDF (X.509, no configs)
Ryan's HOWTO for FreeS/WAN-PGPNet (X.509). Through a Linksys Router with IPsec Passthru enabled.
Jean-Francois Nadeau's Practical Configuration (Road Warrior with PSK)
Wouter Prins' HOWTO (Road Warrior with X.509)

Rekeying problem with FreeS/WAN and older PGPNets

DHCP over IPSEC HOWTO for FreeS/WAN (requires X.509 and dhcprelay patches)

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#### Microsoft Windows 2000/XP

- Comes with Win2k, and with XP Support Tools. May require High Encryption Pack.
- FreeS/WAN has recently changed its Commit Bit handling, solving an old interop problem.

Jean-Francois Nadeau's Net-net Configuration (PSK)
Telenor's Node-node Config (Transport-mode PSK)
Marcus Mueller's HOWTO using his VPN config tool (X.509). Tool also works with PSK.
Nate Carlson's HOWTO using same tool (Road Warrior with X.509). Unusually, FreeS/WAN is the Road Warrior here.
Oscar Delgado's PDF (X.509, no configs)

Microsoft's page on Win2k TCP/IP security features
Microsoft's Win2k IPsec debugging tips
MS VPN may fall back to 1DES

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#### SSH Sentinel

- New, popular and well tested.
- SSH supports IPsec-over-UDP NAT traversal. Vanilla FreeS/WAN will not support this. The two may be able to interop using Arkoon's NAT traversal patch for FreeS/WAN.
- There is this potential problem if you're not using the Legacy Proposal option.

SSH's Sentinel-FreeSWAN interop PDF (X.509)
Nadeem Hassan's SUSE-to-Sentinel article (Road warrior with X.509)
O-Zone's Italian HOWTO (Road Warrior, X.509, DHCP)

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#### Safenet SoftPK/SoftRemote

- People recommend SafeNet as a low cost Windows client.
- SoftRemote seems to be the newer name for SoftPK.

Whit Blauvelt's SoftRemote tips
Tim Wilson's tips (X.509)

Jean-Francois Nadeau's Practical Configuration (Road Warrior with PSK)
Terradon Communications' PDF (Road Warrior with PSK)
Seaan.net's PDF (Road Warrior to Subnet, with PSK)
Red Baron Consulting's PDF (Road Warrior with X.509)

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### For Other Implementations

#### 6Wind

French page with configs (X.509)

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#### Alcatel Timestep

Alain Sabban's settings (PSK or PSK road warrior; through static NAT)
Derick Cassidy's configs (PSK)
David Kerry's Timestep settings (PSK)
Kevin Gerbracht's ipsec.conf (X.509)

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#### Apple Macintosh System 10+

- Since the system is based on FreeBSD, theoretically this should interoperate as well as FreeBSD. In practise, we're not sure.
  We don't see many Mac users and would appreciate any information.

To use Appletalk over IPsec tunnels, run it over tcp/ip.
Or use Open Door Networks' Shareway IP tool, described here.

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#### AshleyLaurent VPCom

Successful interop report, no details

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#### Borderware

- I suspect the Borderware client is a rebranded Safenet. If that's true, our Safenet section will help.

Philip Reetz' configs (PSK)
Borderware server does not support FreeS/WAN road warriors
Older Borderware may not support Diffie Hellman groups 2, 5

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#### Check Point VPN-1 or FW-1

- Caveat about IP-range inclusion on Check Point.
- Some versions of Check Point may require an aggressive mode patch to interoperate with FreeS/WAN.
  Super FreeS/WAN now features this patch.

AERAsec's Firewall-1 NG site (PSK, X.509, Road Warrior with X.509, other algorithms)
AERAsec's detailed Check Point-FreeS/WAN support matrix
Checkpoint.com PDF: Linux as a VPN Client to FW-1 (PSK)
PhoneBoy's Check Point FAQ (on Check Point only, not FreeS/WAN)

Chris Harwell's tips & FreeS/WAN configs (PSK)
Daniel Tombeil's configs (PSK)

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#### Cisco

- Cisco supports IPsec-over-UDP NAT traversal. Vanilla FreeS/WAN will not support this. The two may be able to interop using Arkoon's NAT traversal patch for FreeS/WAN.
- A Linux FreeS/WAN-Cisco connection may close after some time. Here is a workaround.
- Older Ciscos purchased outside the United States may not have 3DES, which FreeS/WAN requires.
- RSA keying may not be possible between Cisco and FreeS/WAN.
- In ipsec.conf, VPN3000 DN (distinguished name) must be in binary (X.509 only)

SANS Institute HOWTO (PSK). Detailed, with extensive references.
Short HOWTO (PSK)
French page with configs for Cisco IOS, PIX and VPN 3000 (X.509)
Dave McFerren's sample configs (PSK)
Wolfgang Tremmel's sample configs (PSK road warrior)
Old doc from Pete Davis, with William Watson's updated Tips (PSK)

Some PIX specific information:
Scott's ipsec.conf for PIX (PSK, FreeS/WAN side only)
Greg Robinson's PIX & FreeS/WAN settings (PSK)
Rick Trimble's PIX and FreeS/WAN settings (PSK)

Cisco VPN support page
Cisco IPsec information page

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#### F-Secure

- F-Secure supports IPsec-over-UDP NAT traversal. Vanilla FreeS/WAN will not support this. The two may be able to interop using Arkoon's NAT traversal patch for FreeS/WAN.

pingworks.de's "Connecting F-Secure's VPN+ to Linux FreeS/WAN" (PSK road warrior)
Same thing as PDF
Success report, no detail (PSK)
Success report, no detail (Manual)

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#### Gauntlet GVPN

Richard Reiner's ipsec.conf (PSK)
Might work without that pesky firewall... (PSK)

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#### IBM AIX

IBM's "Built-In Network Security with AIX" (PSK, X.509)
IBM's tip: importing Linux FreeS/WAN settings into AIX's ikedb (PSK)

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#### IBM AS/400

- Road Warriors may act flaky.

Richard Welty's tips and tricks

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#### Intel Shiva LANRover / Net Structure

- Intel Shiva LANRover is now known as Intel Net Structure.
- Shiva seems to have two modes: IPsec or the proprietary "Shiva Tunnel". Of course, FreeS/WAN will only create IPsec tunnels.
- AH may not work for Shiva-FreeS/WAN. That's OK, since FreeS/WAN has phased out the use of AH.

Snowcrash's configs (PSK)
Old configs from an interop (PSK)
The day Shiva tickled a Pluto bug (PSK)
Follow up: success!

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#### Linksys

- Linksys may be used as an IPsec tunnel endpoint, OR as a router in "IPsec passthrough" mode, so that the IPsec tunnel passes through the Linksys.

##### As tunnel endpoint

Ken Bantoft's instructions (Road Warrior with PSK)
Nate Carlson's caveats

##### In IPsec passthrough mode

Sample HOWTO through a Linksys Router
Nadeem Hasan's configs
Brock Nanson's tips

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#### Lucent

Partial success report; see also the next message in thread

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#### Netasq

French page with configs (X.509)

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#### Netcelo

French page with configs (X.509)

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#### Netgear fvs318

- With a recent Linux FreeS/WAN, you will require the latest (12/2002) Netgear firmware, which supports Diffie-Hellman (DH) group 2. For security reasons, we phased out DH 1 after Linux FreeS/WAN 1.5.
- This message reports the incompatibility between Linux FreeS/WAN 1.6+ and Netgear fvs318 without the firmware upgrade.
- We believe Linux FreeS/WAN 1.5 and earlier will interoperate with any NetGear firmware.

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#### Netscreen 100 or 5xp

Errol Neal's settings (PSK)
Corey Rogers' configs (PSK, no PFS)
Jordan Share's configs (PSK, 2 subnets, through static NAT)
Set src proxy_id to your protected subnet/mask
French page with ipsec.conf, Netscreen screen shots (X.509, may need to revert to PSK...)

A report of a company using Netscreen with FreeS/WAN on a large scale (FreeS/WAN road warriors?)

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#### Nortel Contivity

- Nortel supports IPsec-over-UDP NAT traversal. Vanilla FreeS/WAN will not support this. The two may be able to interop using Arkoon's NAT traversal patch for FreeS/WAN.
- Some older versions of Contivity and FreeS/WAN will not communicate.
- FreeS/WAN cannot be used as a "client" to a Nortel Contivity server, but can be used as a branch-office tunnel.
- Contivity does not send Distinguished Names in the order FS wants them (X.509).
- Connections may time out after 30-40 minutes idle.

JJ Streicher-Bremer's mini HOWTO for old & new software. (PSK with two subnets)
French page with configs (X.509). This succeeds using the above X.509 tip.

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#### Radguard

Marko Hausalo's configs (PSK). Note: These do create a connection, as you can see by "IPsec SA established".
Claudia Schmeing's comments

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#### Raptor (NT or Solaris)

- Now known as Symantec Enterprise Firewall.
- The Raptor does not normally come with X.509, but this may be available as an add-on.
- Raptor requires alphanumberic PSK values, whereas FreeS/WAN uses hex.
- Raptor's tunnel endpoint may be a host, subnet or group of subnets (see this message ). FreeS/WAN cannot handle the group of subnets; you must create separate connections for each in order to interoperate.
- Some versions of Raptor accept only single DES. According to this German message, the Raptor Mobile Client demo offers single DES only.

Peter Mazinger's settings (PSK)
Peter Gerland's configs (PSK)
Charles Griebel's configs (PSK).
Lumir Srch's tips (PSK)

John Hardy's configs (Manual)
Older Raptors want 3DES keys in 3 parts (Manual).
Different keys for each direction? (Manual)

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#### Redcreek Ravlin

- Known issue #1: The Ravlin expects a quick mode renegotiation right after every Main Mode negotiation.
- Known issue #2: The Ravlin tries to negotiate a zero connection lifetime, which it takes to mean "infinite". Jim Hague's patch addresses both issues.
- Interop works with Ravlin Firmware > 3.33. Includes tips (PSK).

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#### SonicWall

- Sonicwall cannot be used for Road Warrior setups
- At one point, only Sonicwall PRO supported triple DES.
- Older Sonicwalls (before Nov 2001) feature Diffie Hellman group 1 only.

Wouter's config (PSK)
Dilan Arumainathan's configuration (PSK)
Dariush's setup... only opens one way (PSK)

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#### Sun Solaris

- Solaris 8 has a native (in kernel) implementation.
- Solaris does not seem to support tunnel mode, but you can make IP-in-IP tunnels instead, like this.

Aleks Shenkman's configs (Manual in transport mode) sparc 64 stuff goes where?

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#### Symantec

- The Raptor, covered above, is now known as Symantec Enterprise Firewall.
- Symantec's "distinguished name" is a KEY_ID. See Andreas Steffen's post, below.

Andreas Steffen's configs for Symantec 200R (PSK)

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#### Watchguard Firebox

- Automatic keying works with WatchGuard 5.0+ only.
- For manual keying, Watchguard's Policy Manager expects SPI numbers and encryption and authentication keys in decimal (not hex).

WatchGuard's HOWTO (PSK)
Ronald C. Riviera's Settings (PSK)
Max Enders' Configs (Manual)

Old known issue with auto keying
Tips on key generation and format (Manual)

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#### Xedia Access Point/QVPN

Hybrid IPsec/L2TP connection settings (X.509)
Xedia's LAN-LAN links don't use multiple tunnels
That explanation, continued

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