Automated VPN configuration using DevOps

Abstract

Enterprise networks are becoming increasingly sophisticated and large in scale due to the critical need for interconnectivity. For the interconnection of sites, VPN technology is essential. Indeed, this technology allows a partially or completely meshed connection between the various sites in a secure way. IPsec is one of the most widely deployed VPN technologies due to its many advantages, including data confidentiality, integrity and authentication. However, implementing this technology requires considerable technical expertise given the diversity of gateway manufacturers that a company may have, advanced engineering given the set of technical parameters that a VPN tunnel may have for its proper functioning, and caution when setting up a large-scale network given that a simple error may prevent the creation of tunnels. Taking these limitations into account, the automation of IT infrastructures has become indispensable, known as DevOps, which promotes continuous communication, collaboration, integration, visibility and transparency between the teams responsible for application development (Dev) and those responsible for IT operations (Ops). With infrastructure automation, networks are becoming easier to manage, diagnose and configure. This paper proposes a new architecture that automates the deployment of VPN tunnels via a web-based graphical interface. This architecture is adapted with a variety of equipment manufacturers and delivers configurations generated via an SSH channel in an automatic way.