Cisco CSR in Aws Whitepaper
Cisco CSR in Aws Whitepaper
Cisco CSR in Aws Whitepaper
Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides a variety of networking features that enable
basic connectivity and traffic management to and from applications hosted in the AWS
cloud. Enterprise IT departments that specialize in network design and administration
may not find all of the networking tools they require in AWS. Additionally, the
mechanisms for integrating the AWS cloud with existing enterprise data centers are
limited, and they pose a challenge for IT departments seeking a truly transparent and
familiar expansion into the cloud.
Unlike other products that offer just cloud gateway functions, or just cloud security
features, the Cisco Cloud Services Router 1000V Series (Cisco CSR 1000V Series)
is a complete multiservice cloud networking platform. The Cisco CSR 1000V Series
provides networking features including routing, VPN, stateful firewall, application
inspection, and even data center interconnect (DCI) and IP mobility. At the core of the
Cisco CSR 1000V Series is a modular software architecture that allows for quick and
easy integration with additional networking services as cloud networking and customer
needs evolve.
Technology Overview
The Cisco CSR 1000V Series
The Cisco CSR 1000V Series is a multitenant-capable router in a virtual form factor that delivers comprehensive
WAN gateway functions to multitenant, provider-hosted clouds. Using familiar, industry-leading Cisco IOS
Software networking capabilities, the Cisco CSR 1000V Series enables enterprises to transparently extend their
WANs into external provider-hosted clouds and cloud providers to offer enterprise-class networking services to
their tenants.
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The Cisco CSR 1000V Series addresses these cloud-based networking and security constraints. Built on the same
proven Cisco IOS Software platform that is inside the Cisco Integrated Services Router (ISR) and Aggregation
Services Router (ASR) product families, the Cisco CSR 1000V Series offers a rich set of features including routing,
VPN, firewall, Network Address Translation (NAT), quality of service (QoS), application visibility, failover, and WAN
optimization. These functions empower enterprises and cloud providers to build highly secure, optimized, scalable,
and consistent hybrid networks.
It also supports flexible and secure WAN design over any transport using Cisco Dynamic Multipoint VPN (DMVPN),
firewall, and Cisco Cloud Web Security (CWS) technologies. When combined, these capabilities provide easy
multihoming over any carrier service, offering a single routing control plane with minimal peering to the provider;
automatic site-to-site IP Security (IPsec) tunnels; and comprehensive threat defense with Cisco Adaptive Security
Appliances (ASA), Cisco IOS Firewall, Cisco IOS Intrusion Prevention System (IPS), and Cisco CWS for direct
Internet access.
Features
Cisco Application Visibility and Control (AVC): Cisco AVC provides IT visibility and control at the application
level (Layer 7) through Cisco AVC technologies such as Network-Based Application Recognition 2
(NBAR2), Cisco IOS NetFlow, QoS, performance monitoring, medianet, and more. Cisco AVC allows IT to
determine what traffic is running across the network, tune the network for business-critical services, and
resolve network problems.
Zone-based firewall (ZBFW): The Cisco CSR 1000V Series includes the advanced security features built
into Cisco IOS XE Software such as access control lists (ACLs) and a stateful ZBFW. Configuration of these
features is familiar to existing IT staff and allows you to extend existing enterprise security into the AWS
cloud. You can apply security policies between virtual networks or applications in the AWS cloud as well as
between the AWS cloud and external interconnected locations.
You can assign the Cisco CSR 1000V Series interfaces to different security zones and specify rules to
control the traffic between those zones. The traffic is dynamically inspected as it passes through the zones.
ZBFW supports many types of application inspection including HTTP, Secure HTTP (HTTPS), Secure Shell
(SSH) Protocol, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), IM applications, and point-to-point file sharing. If no
policy is explicitly configured, all traffic moving between zones is blocked.
Cisco IOS IP Service-Lebel Agreements (IP SLAs): Cisco IOS IP SLAs actively monitor and measure
performance between multiple network locations or across multiple network paths. They simulate network
data and IP services, and collect network performance information in real time. The information collected
includes data about response time, one-way latency, jitter (interpacket delay variance), packet loss, voicequality scoring, network resource availability, application performance, and server response time. You can
use measurement statistics provided by the various Cisco IOS IP SLAs operations for troubleshooting,
problem analysis, and designing network topologies.
Using Cisco IOS IP SLAs, service provider customers can measure and provide SLAs and enterprise
customers can verify service levels, verify outsourced SLAs, and understand network performance for new
or existing IP services and applications. Cisco IOS IP SLA uses unique service-level assurance metrics and
methodology to provide highly accurate, precise service-level assurance measurements.
Cisco IOS Embedded Event Manager (EEM): Cisco IOS EEM is a powerful and flexible subsystem that
provides real-time network event detection and onboard automation. It allows you to adapt the behavior of
your network devices to align with your business needs.
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Cisco IOS EEM supports more than 20 event detectors that are highly integrated with different Cisco IOS
Software components to trigger actions in response to network events. You can inject your business logic
into network operations using Cisco IOS EEM policies.
Cisco DMVPN
Cisco DMVPN is a Cisco IOS Software solution for building scalable IPsec VPNs. It uses a centralized architecture
to provide easier implementation and management for deployments that require granular access controls for
diverse user communities, including mobile workers, telecommuters, and extranet users.
Cisco DMVPN allows branch offices to communicate directly with each other over the public WAN or Internet, for
example when using voice over IP (VoIP) between two branch offices, but does not require a permanent VPN
connection between sites. It enables zero-touch deployment of IPsec VPNs and improves network performance by
reducing latency and jitter while optimizing head-office bandwidth usage.
Cisco DMVPN Benefits
Lowers capital expenditures (CapEx) and operatimg expenses (OpEx) by reducing costs when integrating
voice and video with VPN security
Simplifies branch-office communications by enabling direct branch office -to-branch office connectivity for
business applications such as voice
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release provides improved scalability and guided workflows to quickly resolve business-critical performance
problems in your WAN, software as a service (SaaS), and cloud application, Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)
or Cisco DMVPN links, converged wired and wireless connections, and video, VoIP, and bring-your-own-device
(BYOD) technologies. For more information, visit: https://marketplace.cisco.com/catalog/products/2620.
Solution Overview
Organizations typically connect to their applications through a a single VPN tunnel between their data center and
AWS. With the Cisco CSR 1000V Series deployed in AWS, every enterprise office and branch-office location can
now have direct VPN access into the AWS hosted applications without back-hauling through an existing data
center. This approach reduces latency, eliminates the need for expensive private WAN services, avoids per-VPNtunnel costs that Amazon charges, and even allows AWS to participate in existing route-based VPN topologies.
Fully Connecting All Virtual Private Clouds with Headquarters
Figure 1 illustrates connection of all virtual private clouds (VPCs) with headquarters.
Figure 1.
VPC
VPC
VPC
VPC
West Coast
Cloud
East Coast
Cloud
Headquarters
AWS does not provide VPN connectivity between VPCs in discrete AWS regions, making multiregion cloud
deployments complex. By deploying a Cisco CSR 1000V Series Router in each regions VPC and interconnecting
Cisco CSR 1000V Series Routers through a VPN, you can create a global, secure network topology within the
AWS cloud.
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Cisco CSR 1000V Series Connecting Multiple Locations Using Enterprise-Wide Networking
Headquarters
Headend
AWS East
AWS West
Teleworker
Field Office
The Cisco CSR 1000V Series is based on the same internetworking operating system that powers the latest edge,
branch-office, service, and telecommuting routers, providing the ideal platform on which to build a fully connected
enterprise network. Together, these platforms provide easy multihoming over any carrier service offering, a single
routing control plane with minimal peering to the provider, automatic site-to-site IPsec tunnels, and comprehensive
threat defense.
AWS Hosted, Fully Connected Hybrid Cloud
Figure 3 shows how dynamically created tunnels help avoid bottlenecks by connecting the AWS hosted, fully
connected hybrid cloud.
Figure 3.
Dynamically Created Tunnels Connect AWS Hosted, Fully Connected Hybrid Cloud to Avoid Bottlenecks
Headquarters
Headend West
Headend East
AWS East
AWS West
Teleworker
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Field Office
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If your organization wants a highly available VPN cloud with geographically disparate headend routers, you can
place the headend routers in separate AWS data centers. The full mesh of dynamically created tunnels makes it
possible to avoid potential bottlenecks and increased bandwidth costs associated with cloud-based headend
routers by allowing spoke-to-spoke traffic. Only traffic destined for the application servers in the cloud flows through
the headend routers.
Fully Redundant AWS Cloud Router
Figure 4 shows how you can realize high availability within the fully redundant AWS cloud router with the Cisco
CSR 1000V Series.
Figure 4.
High Availability Within the Fully Redundant AWS Cloud Router with Cisco CSR 1000V Series
VPC
Zone 1
Headquarters
Zone 2
Zone 1
Zone 2
VPC
Internet
Gateway
CSR
Subnet
Routing
In addition to high availability at the headend, the Cisco CSR 1000V Series can provide high availability within the
AWS VPC. You can place multiple Cisco CSR 1000V Series Routers in separate availability zones with a set of
routers, using each of them as their default route. When maintenance is required on one of the Cisco CSR 1000V
Series Routers, you can route traffic from one availability zone to another Cisco CSR 1000V Series Router in the
other availability zone, either manually or automatically through active monitoring. Each of the two Cisco CSR
1000V Series Routers can route to any other spoke in the Cisco DMVPN network as well as other CSR 1000V
Routers within AWS.
Benefits
Single routing plane: The Cisco CSR 1000V Series routing protocol support for Enhanced Interior Gateway
Routing Protocol (EIGRP), Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), and Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) allows it
to integrate smoothly into the rest of your enterprise network instead of creating islands in the cloud.
High availability: The dual-hub Cisco DMVPN design provides a fault-tolerant overlay network with no single
point of failure. This fault tolerance is increased when the hubs are geographically disparate.
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Defense in depth: The security provided by the overlay network through IPsec tunnels and ZBFWs is
disjointed from the underlying AWS infrastructure, providing protection for your corporate network if the
AWS account is compromised.
Unified security policy: Using ZBFWs, your organization can use the Cisco CSR 1000V Series to create a
cohesive security policy across your entire network, including branch offices, mobile workers, and public
clouds.
Configuration Examples
Dual Subnet Configuration
Figure 5 illustrates a dual subnet configuration.
Figure 5.
VPC: 172.24.2.0/24
AWS igw
g1
172.24.2.0/25
g2
172.24.2.128/25
For best results, the Cisco CSR 1000V Series requires creation of two subnets in the VPC both inside and outside.
The outside network provides the address to associate an elastic IP address to allow the Cisco CSR 1000V Series
Router to communicate to the headend and other sites. The inside interface connects to the subnet on which the
virtual machines reside. Finally, Source/Dest Checking must be disabled on both the inside and outside interfaces
of the Cisco CSR 1000V Router.
Next, you should create an Internet gateway and associate it with the VPC. The route table for the outside subnet
should contain a default route, for example 0.0.0.0/0, that points to this Internet gateway. The inside subnet should
contain a default route that points to the inside interface of the Cisco CSR 1000V Series. You can place routers on
either of these subnets. Routers on the inside subnet can reach the routers on the outside subnet, depending on
the zone firewall rules specified in the CSR 1000V Routers; hosts outside the VPC also can reach routers on the
inside subnet when they are associated with an elastic IP. The configuration follows:
interface GigabitEthernet1
ip address dhcp
negotiation auto
!
interface GigabitEthernet2
ip address 172.24.2.254 255.255.255.128
ip tcp adjust-mss 1360
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negotiation auto
Single Subnet Configuration
Figure 6 shows a single subnet configuration.
Figure 6.
VPC: 192.133.164.0/24
AWS igw
g1
.253
g2
.254
In some circumstances it is not desirable to create two separate subnets within a virtual device context (VDC) to
support the inside and outside interfaces of the Cisco CSR 1000V Series. For example, using two subnets for
extending public IP address space into AWS is problematic because part of that address space must be used for
the 1:1 NAT address to which the elastic IP address is associated. In this case, you should create the CSR 1000V
and put both interfaces in the same subnet. In order to address both interfaces on the same subnet, you should
place the inside interface in its own Virtual Route Fowarding (VRF) path. When configuring the Cisco CSR 1000V
in this manner, you must configure the instance default router to point to the inside interface of the CSR 1000V in
order for it to route traffic. This configuration follows:
ip vrf inside
rd 1:2
!
interface GigabitEthernet1
ip address dhcp
negotiation auto
!
interface GigabitEthernet2
ip vrf forwarding inside
ip address 192.133.164.254 255.255.255.0
ip tcp adjust-mss 1360
negotiation auto
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West Coast
Spoke
EIGRP
199.66.188.28
199.66.188.27
OSPF
Headend Hubs
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You then can reconnect to the Cisco CSR 1000V Series with SSH to the outside interface.
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!
router eigrp 1
network 172.24.0.0
!
router ospf 1
redistribute static subnets route-map static2ospf
!
ip route 172.24.0.0 255.255.0.0 Null0
!
access-list 1 permit 172.24.0.0 0.0.255.255
!
route-map static2ospf permit 10
match ip address 1
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!
router eigrp 1
network 172.24.0.0
eigrp stub connected
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Cisco DMVPN Design Example 2: Direct Internet Access from AWS Spokes
This example is similar to the previous Cisco DMVPN design. The main difference is that the outside interface of
the AWS Cisco CSR 1000V is not placed in a VRF path , but is instead kept in the global table. Instead of
receiving a default route from the Cisco DMVPN hub router, the AWS Cisco CSR 1000V uses the default route that
the AWS DHCP server provides to send traffic directly to the Internet. At the Cisco DMVPN hub routers, specific
OSPF routes are redistributed into the Cisco DMVPN EIGRP process to control which networks are reached
through the Cisco DMVPN network. Finally, NAT is used to translate the inside address to the elastic IP address
assigned to the Cisco CSR 1000V Series.
Outside Interface Configuration
interface GigabitEthernet1
ip address dhcp
negotiation auto
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NAT
You can use NAT to give the inside AWS instances direct access to the Internet using the elastic IP address of the
Cisco CSR 1000V Series. Because the outside interface of the CSR 1000V is not assigned the elastic IP address
directly, a second NAT is done from the AWS internal address to the actual elastic IP address.
interface GigabitEthernet1
ip nat outside
!
interface GigabitEthernet2
ip nat inside
!
ip nat inside source list nat interface GigabitEthernet1 overload
!
ip access-list standard nat
permit 172.24.2.0 0.0.0.255
The Cisco CSR 1000V can also perform NAT port translation to allow direct access of services through protocols
such as HTTP. Providing direct access to the AWS-hosted instances allows offloading of bandwidth onto the cloud
service provider when central inspection is not required. In the following configuration, 172.24.2.17 is the internal
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AWS IP address allocated to the outside interface of the CSR 1000V and 172.24.2.200 is the internal AWS IP
address of the router providing service on port 80:
ip nat inside source static tcp 172.24.2.200 80 172.24.2.17 80 extendable
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class class-default
drop log
policy-map type inspect inside-outside
class type inspect inside-outside
inspect
class class-default
drop log
policy-map type inspect tunnel-inside
class type inspect tunnel-inside
inspect
class class-default
drop log
!
zone security outside
zone security inside
zone security tunnel
zone-pair security inside-outside source inside destination outside
service-policy type inspect inside-outside
zone-pair security inside-tunnel source inside destination tunnel
service-policy type inspect inside-tunnel
zone-pair security outside-inside source outside destination inside
service-policy type inspect outside-inside
zone-pair security tunnel-inside source tunnel destination inside
service-policy type inspect tunnel-inside
!
interface Tunnel0
zone-member security tunnel
!
interface GigabitEthernet1
zone-member security outside
!
interface GigabitEthernet2
zone-member security inside
!
ip access-list extended outside-inside
ip access-list extended tunnel-inside
permit tcp any host 172.24.2.200 eq 3389
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interface GigabitEthernet1
ip access-group internet in
ip access-group internet out
Note: You can further limit SSH access by applying a vty access class. If the Gig1 interface is in a VRF path, be
sure to use the vrf-also command option with the access-class command (access-class 34 in vrf-also).
Note: Policy must be reconciled between interface ACLs and ZBFWs when both are used simultaneously.
AVC
Cisco AVC features, such as Cisco IOS Flexible NetFlow and NBAR2, provide rich application visibility that you
can use for application performance monitoring and security applications. You can use LiveAction 3.0 to configure
and monitor Cisco AVC on the Cisco CSR 1000V Series Routers. LiveAction generated and applied the following
sample Cisco AVC configuration to the Cisco CSR 1000V Routers. In addition, Figure 8 shows a screenshot of the
sample Cisco IOS NetFlow data that was collected.
flow record LIVEACTION-FLOWRECORD
description DO NOT MODIFY. USED BY LIVEACTION.
match ipv4 tos
match ipv4 protocol
match ipv4 source address
match ipv4 destination address
match transport source-port
match transport destination-port
match interface input
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ip nbar protocol-discovery
ip flow monitor LIVEACTION-FLOWMONITOR input
ip flow monitor LIVEACTION-FLOWMONITOR output
!
interface GigabitEthernet2
ip nbar protocol-discovery
ip flow monitor LIVEACTION-FLOWMONITOR input
ip flow monitor LIVEACTION-FLOWMONITOR output
Figure 8.
IP SLA
You can use the IP SLA tool to generate synthetic traffic to gather network performance metrics such as delay and
loss. LiveAction 3.0 generates IP SLA configuration and provides reporting. The following are sample
configurations that were applied; Figure 9 shows a sample screenshot of the capture results.
ip sla 1
icmp-echo 172.24.0.5 source-ip 172.24.0.4
tag DMVPN_SLA
ip sla 2
icmp-echo 172.24.0.1 source-ip 172.24.0.4
tag DMVPN_SLA
ip sla 3
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Figure 9.
Printed in USA
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