Understanding VPN Connections

The Global VPN Client allows multiple connections to be configured at the same time, whether they are provisioned from multiple gateways or imported from one or more files. Because connections may be provisioned from multiple gateways, each connection explicitly states allowed behavior in the presence of any connection policy conflicts. You may have VPN connections that don’t allow other VPN connections or Internet and network connections while the VPN policy is enabled.

The VPN connection policy includes all the parameters necessary to establish secure IPsec tunnels to the gateway. A connection policy includes Phase 1 and Phase 2 Security Associations (SA) parameters:

• Encryption and authentication proposals
• Phase 1 identity payload type
• Phase 2 proxy IDs (traffic selectors)
• Client Phase 1 credential
• Allowed behavior of connection in presence of other active connections
• Client caching behavior

Adding a new VPN connection is easy because SonicWall’s Client Policy Provisioning automatically provides all the necessary configuration information to make a secure connection to the local or remote network. The burden of configuring the VPN connection parameters is removed from the Global VPN Client user. VPN connections can be created using three methods:

• Download the VPN policy from the SonicWall VPN Gateway to the Global VPN Client using the New Connection Wizard. This wizard walks you through the process of locating the source of your configuration information and automatically downloads the VPN configuration information over a secure IPsec VPN tunnel.
• Import a VPN policy file into the SonicWall Global VPN Client. The VPN policy is sent to you as a .rcf file, which you install using the Import Connection dialog.

• Install the default.rcf file as part of the Global VPN Client software installation or add it after installing the Global VPN Client. If the SonicWall VPN Gateway administrator included the default.rcf file as part of the Global VPN Client software, one or more preconfigured VPN connections are automatically created when the program is installed.

  Creating a default.rcf file and distributing it with the Global VPN Client software allows the SonicWall VPN Gateway administrator to streamline VPN client deployment and allows users to quickly establish VPN connections. If a default.rcf file is included with the downloaded Global VPN Client software, the VPN policy configured by the SonicWall VPN Gateway administrator is used to create a connection automatically when the client software is installed. For more information on creating the default.rcf file, see Using the default.rcf File.

  To facilitate the automatic provisioning of Global VPN Client , configure your SonicWall appliance be configured with GroupVPN . For instructions on configuring your appliance with GroupVPN, see the SonicOS Administration Guide.

  For instructions on importing a certificate into the Global VPN Client see Using Certificates .