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> Chapter 14 - IPsec VPN > IPsec VPN overview

IPsec VPN overview

This section provides a brief overview of IPsec technology and includes general information about how to configure IPsec VPNs using this guide.

The following topics are included in this section:

 

VPN configurations interact with the firewall component of the FortiGate unit. There must be a security policy in place to permit traffic to pass between the private network and the VPN tunnel.

Security policies for VPNs specify:

  • The FortiGate interface that provides the physical connection to the remote VPN gateway, usually an interface connected to the Internet
  • The FortiGate interface that connects to the private network
  • IP addresses associated with data that has to be encrypted and decrypted
  • Optionally, a schedule that restricts when the VPN can operate
  • Optionally, the services (types of data) that can be sent

When the first packet of data that meets all of the conditions of the security policy arrives at the FortiGate unit, a VPN tunnel may be initiated and the encryption or decryption of data is performed automatically afterward. For more information, see Defining VPN security policies.

Where possible, you should create route-based VPNs. Generally, route-based VPNs are more flexible and easier to configure than policy-based VPNs — by default they are treated as interfaces. However, these two VPN types have different requirements that limit where they can be used.