Site-to-Site VPN Settings
Site-to-site VPN
Meraki Auto VPN technology is a unique solution that allows site-to-site VPN tunnel creation with a single mouse click. When enabled through the dashboard, each participating MX and Z Series appliances automatically does the following:
- Advertises its local subnets that are participating in the VPN.
- Advertises its WAN IP addresses on Internet 1 and Internet 2 ports.
- Downloads the global VPN route table from the dashboard (automatically generated by the dashboard, based on each MX's advertised WAN IP/local subnet in the VPN network).
- Downloads the preshared key for establishing the VPN tunnel and traffic encryption.
The net result is an automatic mesh site-to-site VPN solution that is configured with a single click.
Setting up site-to-site VPN
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Site-to-site VPN settings are accessible through the Security & SD-WAN > Configure > Site-to-site VPN page.
Type
There are three options for configuring the MX-Z's role in the Auto VPN topology:
- Off: The MX-Z device will not participate in site-to-site VPN.
- Hub (Mesh): The MX-Z device will establish VPN tunnels to all remote Meraki VPN peers that are also configured in Hub (Mesh) mode. The device will also establish VPN tunnels to other MX-Z appliances in hub-and-spoke mode, where the other MX-Z device configured as a hub.
- Spoke: This MX-Z device (spoke) will establish direct tunnels only to the specified remote MX-Z devices (hubs). Other spokes will be reachable via their respective hubs unless blocked by site-to-site firewall rules.
Hub Type
Exit Hubs
This option is only available if the MX-Z device is configured as a Hub. This option lets you designate the remote MX-Z device that is to receive all network traffic from the local MX-Z device. This creates a full tunnel configuration where all traffic destined for a default route is sent to the specified MX.
Spoke Type
Hubs
When an appliance is configured as a spoke, multiple VPN hubs can be configured for that appliance. In this configuration, the spoke MX-Z device will send all site-to-site traffic to its configured VPN hubs.
Default Route
When configuring hubs for a spoke, there is an option to select a hub as a Default route. If this option is selected, then that hub will be configured as a default route for the spoke (0.0.0.0/0). Any traffic that is not sent to a configured VPN peer network, a static route or local network will be sent to the default route. This routing will apply to any traffic originating from subnets set to, "In VPN" or that have VPN mode "Enabled." Subnets that have VPN mode "Disabled" will not adhere to the VPN routing tables. Multiple hubs can be selected as default routes. Hubs marked as default routes take priority in descending order (first priority at the top).
Configuring Multiple VPN Hubs
To add additional hubs, click the Add a hub button just below the existing hub that is selected. Only appliances in Mesh VPN mode can be hubs, so the number of Mesh VPN appliances in your dashboard organization represents the maximum number of hubs that can be configured for any given appliance.
The order in which hubs are configured on this page is the hub priority. Hub priority is used to determine which hub to use if more than one VPN hub is advertising the same subnet. The uppermost hub that meets the following criteria will be used to reach that subnet.
A) Advertises the subnet
B) Currently reachable via VPN
Hubs can be deleted by clicking on the grey X to the right of the relevant hub under the Actions column. The hub priority list can be reordered by clicking and dragging the grey four-point arrow icon to the right of any hub in the list to move that hub up or down.
Tunneling
There are two tunneling modes available for MX-Z devices configured as a Spoke:
- Split tunnel (no default route): Send only site-to-site traffic, meaning that if a subnet is at a remote site, the traffic destined for that subnet is sent over the VPN. However, if traffic is destined for a network that is not in the VPN mesh (for example, traffic going to a public web service such as www.google.com), the traffic is not sent over the VPN. Instead, this traffic is routed using another available route, most commonly being sent directly to the Internet from the local MX-Z device. Split tunneling allows for the configuration of multiple hubs.
- Full tunnel (default route): The configured Exit hub(s) advertise a default route over Auto VPN to the spoke MX-Z device. Traffic destined for subnets that are not reachable through other routes will be sent over VPN to the Exit hub(s). Exit hubs' default routes will be prioritized in descending order.
Concentrator priority
The concentrator priority determines how appliances in Hub (Mesh) mode will reach subnets that are advertised from more than one Meraki VPN peer. Similarly to hub priorities, the uppermost concentrator in the list that meets the following criteria will be used for such a subnet.
A) Advertises the subnet
B) Currently reachable via VPN
It is important to note that concentrator priorities are used only by appliances in Mesh mode. An appliance in hub-and-spoke mode will ignore the concentrator priorities and will use its hub priorities instead.
NAT Traversal
If the MX-Z device is behind a firewall or other Network Address Translation (NAT) device, there are two options for establishing the VPN tunnel:
- Automatic: In the vast majority of cases, the MX-Z device can automatically establish site-to-site VPN connectivity to remote Meraki VPN peers even through a firewall or NAT device using a technique known as "UDP hole punching". This is the recommended (and default) option.
- Manual: Port forwarding: If the Automatic option does not work, you can use this option. When Manual: Port forwarding is enabled, Meraki VPN peers contact the MX-Z device using the specified public IP address and UDP port number. You will need to configure the upstream firewall to forward all incoming traffic on that UDP port to the IP address of the MX-Z device.