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Aruba: Split Tunnel with a RAP-5WN

September 30th, 2011

Split Tunneling is technique, which is used very often in (SSL) VPN scenario’s. The RAP-5WN access points has multiple Ethernet ports to connect different components, like workstations or printers. You can configure the usual user roles and other settings on these Ethernet ports.

You can also configure Split Tunneling per Ethernet port. When using Split Tunneling the connected components received an IP address from the company DHCP server. By using access-control lists you can specify the traffic, which is tunnel through the RAP to the central controller. Traffic, which isn’t tunneled, is NAT’ted to the local network by using the IP address of the RAP on the local network.

The configuration example below shows you how to configure Split Tunneling for an Ethernet port on a RAP-5WN. I don’t show you the provision and creation of a VAP for the remote access points. I assume that the RAP is already provisioned and currently all traffic is tunneled to the central controller.

1. The first step involves the creation of the access-control list to specify the traffic to tunnel and the traffic to bridge locally. The access-list shows that the DHCP services (udp/67 and udp/68) and traffic to the network 10.10.10.0/24 is tunnel to the central controller and all other traffic is locally bridged. This is the most important step when configuring Split Tunneling.

ip access-list session rap-split-tunnel-policy
   any network 10.10.10.0 255.255.255.0 any  permit
   any any svc-dhcp  permit
   any any any  route src-nat

2. Next you need to create a user role and associate the previously create access-list to the user role.

user-role rap-split-tunnel-port-role
   access-list session rap-split-tunnel-policy

3. The user role needs to be tied to a AAA profile.

aaa profile “rap-split-tunnel-aaa_prof”
   initial-role “rap-split-tunnel-port-role”

4. The following step contains the configuration of a wired-ap-profile.. The wired-ap-profile contains the VLAN information for the connected component, the forward-mode and you can enable/disable the Ethernet port. The configured wired-ap-profile puts the client in VLAN 50, enables the port and puts the port in Split Tunnel mode.

ap wired-ap-profile “rap-split-tunnel-wired-ap_prof”
   wired-ap-enable
   forward-mode split-tunnel
   switchport access vlan 50

5. You have all the basics configured and next you need to configure the Ethernet port profile. This profile combines the AAA profile and the wired-ap-profile.

ap wired-port-profile “rap-split-tunnel-wired-port_prof”
   wired-ap-profile “rap-split-tunnel-wired-ap_prof”
   no rap-backup
   aaa-profile “rap-split-tunnel-aaa_prof”

6. The last step is to tie the wired-ap-profile to the appropriate AP group. I configured a separate group for remote access points, called remote-o1. The configuration ties the wired-ap-profile to Ethernet 4 on the RAP-5WN.

ap-group “remote-01″
   enet4-port-profile “rap-split-tunnel-wired-port_prof”

You are now ready to go!!

René Jorissen works as Solution Specialist for 4IP in the Netherlands. Network Infrastructures are the primary focus. René works with equipment of multiple vendors, like Cisco, HP Networking, Juniper Networks, RSA, PaloAlto Networks, Microsoft and many more. René is CCNA (Routing & Switching, Security), CCNP , Cisco ASA Specialist and CEFFS certified. You can follow René on Twitter and LinkedIn.
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