Chapter 29. Configuring VPN connections with IPsec by using the vpn RHEL system role

Procedure

1. Create a playbook file, for example ~/playbook.yml, with the following content:

   - name: Host to host VPN
     hosts: managed-node-01.example.com, managed-node-02.example.com
     roles:
       - rhel-system-roles.vpn
     vars:
       vpn_connections:
         - hosts:
             managed-node-01.example.com:
             managed-node-02.example.com:
       vpn_manage_firewall: true
       vpn_manage_selinux: true

   This playbook configures the connection managed-node-01.example.com-to-managed-node-02.example.com by using pre-shared key authentication with keys auto-generated by the system role. Because vpn_manage_firewall and vpn_manage_selinux are both set to true, the vpn role uses the firewall and selinux roles to manage the ports used by the vpn role.

   To configure connections from managed hosts to external hosts that are not listed in the inventory file, add the following section to the vpn_connections list of hosts:

       vpn_connections:
         - hosts:
             managed-node-01.example.com:
             <external_node>:
               hostname: <IP_address_or_hostname>

   This configures one additional connection: managed-node-01.example.com-to-<external_node>

   Note

   The connections are configured only on the managed nodes and not on the external node.

2. Optional: You can specify multiple VPN connections for the managed nodes by using additional sections within vpn_connections, for example, a control plane and a data plane:

   - name: Multiple VPN
     hosts: managed-node-01.example.com, managed-node-02.example.com
     roles:
       - rhel-system-roles.vpn
     vars:
       vpn_connections:
         - name: control_plane_vpn
           hosts:
             managed-node-01.example.com:
               hostname: 192.0.2.0 # IP for the control plane
             managed-node-02.example.com:
               hostname: 192.0.2.1
         - name: data_plane_vpn
           hosts:
             managed-node-01.example.com:
               hostname: 10.0.0.1 # IP for the data plane
             managed-node-02.example.com:
               hostname: 10.0.0.2

3. Validate the playbook syntax:

   $ ansible-playbook --syntax-check ~/playbook.yml

   Note that this command only validates the syntax and does not protect against a wrong but valid configuration.

4. Run the playbook:

   $ ansible-playbook ~/playbook.yml

Verification

1. On the managed nodes, confirm that the connection is successfully loaded:

   # ipsec status | grep <connection_name>

   Replace <connection_name> with the name of the connection from this node, for example managed_node1-to-managed_node2.

   Note

   By default, the role generates a descriptive name for each connection it creates from the perspective of each system. For example, when creating a connection between managed_node1 and managed_node2, the descriptive name of this connection on managed_node1 is managed_node1-to-managed_node2 but on managed_node2 the connection is named managed_node2-to-managed_node1.

2. On the managed nodes, confirm that the connection is successfully started:

   # ipsec trafficstatus | grep <connection_name>

3. Optional: If a connection does not successfully load, manually add the connection by entering the following command. This provides more specific information indicating why the connection failed to establish:

   # ipsec auto --add <connection_name>

   Note

   Any errors that may occur during the process of loading and starting the connection are reported in the /var/log/pluto.log file. Because these logs are hard to parse, manually add the connection to obtain log messages from the standard output instead.

Procedure

1. Create a playbook file, for example ~/playbook.yml, with the following content:

   - name: Mesh VPN
     hosts: managed-node-01.example.com, managed-node-02.example.com, managed-node-03.example.com
     roles:
       - rhel-system-roles.vpn
     vars:
       vpn_connections:
         - opportunistic: true
           auth_method: cert
           policies:
             - policy: private
               cidr: default
             - policy: private-or-clear
               cidr: 198.51.100.0/24
             - policy: private
               cidr: 192.0.2.0/24
             - policy: clear
               cidr: 192.0.2.7/32
       vpn_manage_firewall: true
       vpn_manage_selinux: true

   Authentication with certificates is configured by defining the auth_method: cert parameter in the playbook. By default, the node name is used as the certificate nickname. In this example, this is managed-node-01.example.com. You can define different certificate names by using the cert_name attribute in your inventory.

   In this example procedure, the control node, which is the system from which you will run the Ansible playbook, shares the same classless inter-domain routing (CIDR) number as both of the managed nodes (192.0.2.0/24) and has the IP address 192.0.2.7. Therefore, the control node falls under the private policy which is automatically created for CIDR 192.0.2.0/24.

   To prevent SSH connection loss during the play, a clear policy for the control node is included in the list of policies. Note that there is also an item in the policies list where the CIDR is equal to default. This is because this playbook overrides the rule from the default policy to make it private instead of private-or-clear.

   Because vpn_manage_firewall and vpn_manage_selinux are both set to true, the vpn role uses the firewall and selinux roles to manage the ports used by the vpn role.

2. Validate the playbook syntax:

   $ ansible-playbook --syntax-check ~/playbook.yml

   Note that this command only validates the syntax and does not protect against a wrong but valid configuration.

3. Run the playbook:

   $ ansible-playbook ~/playbook.yml