Transit FireNet Workflow for Azure Native Spoke VNets

Aviatrix Transit FireNet allows you to deploy firewalls functions for the Aviatrix Multi-Cloud Transit architecture. With Transit FireNet feature, the Firewall Network (FireNet) function is integrated into the Aviatrix Transit gateway.

Aviatrix Transit FireNet supports different hashing algorithms available in Azure cloud to load balance the traffic across different firewalls which includes Hash-based distribution mode (five-tuple hash) and Source IP affinity mode (three-tuple or two-tuple hash).

To learn more about Hashing Algorithm and Transit FireNet, check out Transit FireNet FAQ.

In this example, Transit VNet with Aviatrix Gateways will be deployed, and two Native Spoke VNets will be attached to it.

The transit VNet will have a firewall of supported vendors (Check Point, Palo Alto Networks and Fortinet etc.) deployed in it. Please see the diagram below for more details.

Once the infra is in-place then the policy will be created to inspect the east-west and north-south traffic.

Step 1 : Create Transit VNet

VNets can be created manually on Azure or directly from Aviatrix Controller.

Aviatrix controller has set of useful tools available for users and in this example, VNets are created following the Useful Tools Create a VPC guidelines.

1. Login to the Aviatrix Controller with username and password

2. Navigate to Useful Tools -> Create A VPC

3. Add one VNet for Transit FireNet Gateway and select Aviatrix FireNet VPC option as shown below.

4. Create two more VNets with no option/checkbox selected for Spoke Gateways.

Step 2: Deploy the Transit Aviatrix Gateway

Transit Aviatrix Gateway can be deployed using the Transit Gateway Workflow

Prerequisite for Azure

Transit FireNet builds on the Aviatrix Transit Network solution where Aviatrix gateways are deployed in Transit VNet and/or in Spoke VNet in Azure.

Make sure the deployment meets the following specifications:

1. ActiveMesh must be enabled when launching the Aviatrix Transit Gateway.

2. Select the option “Enable Transit FireNet” when launching the Aviatrix Transit Gateway.

3. Aviatrix Transit Network must be in Connected mode. Go to Transit Network -> Advanced Config -> Connected Transit. Click Enable.

Important

Controller version 6.0 and prior, the minimum size of the Aviatrix Transit Gateway virtual machine is Standard_B2ms. Starting 6.1, minimum Transit Gateway instance size requirement is removed.

Procedure

1. Navigate to MULTI-CLOUD TRANSIT -> Setup -> #1 Launch an Aviatrix Transit Gateway

2. Choose virtual machine size Standard_B2ms

3. Enable ActiveMesh Mode (Mandatory)

4. Enable InsaneMode for higher throughputs (optional)

5. Enable Transit Gateway HA by navigating to MULTI-CLOUD TRANSIT -> Setup -> #2 (Optional) Enable HA to an Aviatrix Transit Gateway

Please see an example below for Transit FireNet GW:

Note

Insane Mode Encryption for higher throughput requires a virtual machine size as shown below.

Step 3: Attach Native Spoke VNETs to Transit Network

Transit and spoke gateways are deployed, next step is to connect them.

1. Navigate to MULTI-CLOUD TRANSIT -> Setup -> #6b Attach Azure ARM Spoke through Native Peering

2. Select one VNET at a time and attach to the Transit Gateway.

Note

Transit Gateway is attached to Azure Native Spokes but by default, Transit Gateway will not route traffic between Native Spokes.

Step 4: Enable Connected Transit

By default, spoke VNETs are in isolated mode where the Transit will not route traffic between them. To allow the Spoke VNETs to communicate with each other, we need to enable Connected Transit

1. Navigate to MULTI-CLOUD TRANSIT -> Advanced Config, select the right Transit Gateway and enable “Connected Transit”

Step 5: Configure Transit Firewall Network

Transit and Native VNET Spokes have now been deployed, next step is to deploy and enable the Firewall for traffic inspection.

Let’s start with enabling the firewall function and configure the FireNet policy.

1. Navigate to MULTI-CLOUD TRANSIT -> Transit FireNet -> #1 Enable Transit FireNet on Aviatrix Transit Gateway

2. Choose the Aviatrix Transit Gateway and Click “Enable”

3. Navigate to MULTI-CLOUD TRANSIT -> Transit FireNet -> #2 Manage FireNet Policy

4. Add spokes to the Inspected box for traffic inspection

Note

By default, FireNet inspects ingress (Internet to VNET) and east-west traffic (VNET to VNET) only.

Step 6a: Launch and Associate Firewall Instance

This step launches a Firewall instance and associates it with one of the FireNet gateways. To attach the existing firewall instance to one of the gateway, please follow Step 6b.

Note

By default, Aviatrix Transit FireNet uses 5 tuple forwarding algorithm but that can be changed from Firewall Network -> Advanced settings.

6a.1 Launch and Attach

Go to Aviatrix Controller’s console and navigate to Firewall Network -> Setup -> Step 7a and provide all the required input as shown in a table and click “Launch” button.

Important

Vendor’s firewall may take some time after launch to be available.

Setting	Value
VPC ID	The Security VNET created in Step 1.
Gateway Name	The primary FireNet gateway.
Firewall Instance Name	The name that will be displayed on Azure Console.
Firewall Image	The Azure AMI that you have subscribed.
Firewall Image Version	Firewall supported software versions.
Firewall Instance Size	Firewall virtual machine size.
Management Interface Subnet.	Select the subnet whose name contains “gateway and firewall management”
Egress Interface Subnet	Select the subnet whose name contains “FW-ingress-egress”.
Username	Applicable to Azure deployment only. “admin” as a username is not accepted.
Authentication Method	Password or SSH Public Key
Password	Applicable to Azure deployment only.
Key Pair Name (Optional)	The .pem file name for SSH access to the firewall instance.
Attach (Optional)	By selecting this option, the firewall instance is inserted in the data path to receive packet. If this is the second firewall instance for the same gateway and you have an operational FireNet deployment, you should not select this option as the firewall is not configured yet. You can attach the firewall instance later at Firewall Network -> Advanced page.
Advanced (Optional)	Click this selection to allow Palo Alto firewall bootstrap files to be specified.

1. Check Point Specification

Check Point Security Gateway has 2 interfaces as described below.

Check Point VM interfaces	Description	Inbound Security Group Rule
eth0 (on subnet -Public-FW-ingress-egress)	Egress or Untrusted interface	Allow ALL
eth1 (on subnet -dmz-firewall_lan)	LAN or Trusted interface	Allow ALL (Do not change)

Note that security gateway eth1 is on the same subnet as Firenet gateway eth2 interface.

Check Point Security Gateway launch from the Aviatrix Controller automatically initiates the on-boarding process, configure security gateway interfaces and program RFC 1918 routes. After completing this step, user should be able to login to the Check Point Gaia console with username admin and provided password during launch.

Note

Repeat Step 7a to launch the second security gateway to associate with the HA FireNet gateway. Or repeat this step to launch more security gateways to associate with the same Firenet gateway.

Follow Check Point Example to see how to launch Check Point Security Gateway in Azure, and for more details.

2. Palo Alto VM-Series Specifications

Palo instance has 3 interfaces as described below.

Palo Alto VM interfaces	Description	Inbound Security Group Rule
eth0 (on subnet -Public-gateway-and-firewall-mgmt)	Management interface	Allow SSH, HTTPS, ICMP, TCP 3978
eth1 (on subnet -Public-FW-ingress-egress)	Egress or Untrusted interface	Allow ALL
eth2 (on subnet -dmz-firewall_lan)	LAN or Trusted interface	Allow ALL (Do not change)

Note that firewall instance eth2 is on the same subnet as FireNet gateway eth2 interface.

Launch VM Series from Aviatrix Controller automatically set it up the Palo Alto Network VM-Series firewall. User should be able to login to the VM-Series console with given username and password during launch.

Please follow Palo Alto Networks VM-Series Azure Example to see how to launch VM-Series in Azure, and for more details.

Important

For Panorama managed firewalls, you need to prepare Panorama first and then launch a firewall. Check out Setup Panorama. When a VM-Series instance is launched and connected with Panorama, you need to apply a one time “commit and push” from the Panorama console to sync the firewall instance and Panorama.

Tip

If VM-Series are individually managed and integrated with the Controller, you can still use Bootstrap to save initial configuration time. Export the first firewall’s configuration to bootstrap.xml, create an IAM role and Bootstrap bucket structure as indicated above, then launch additional firewalls with IAM role and the S3 bucket name to save the time of the firewall manual initial configuration.

3. Fortinet Specifications

FortiGate Next Generation Firewall instance has 2 interfaces as described below.

FortiGate VM interfaces	Description	Inbound Security Group Rule
eth0 (on subnet -Public-FW-ingress-egress)	Egress or Untrusted interface	Allow ALL
eth1 (on subnet -dmz-firewall_lan)	LAN or Trusted interface	Allow ALL (Do not change)

Tip

Starting from Release 6.2, FortiGate bootstrap configuration is supported.

Please refer to FortiGate Azure Configuration Example for more details.

Step 6b: Associate an Existing Firewall Instance

This step is the alternative step to Step 7a. If you already launched the firewall (Check Point, Palo Alto Network or Fortinet) instance from Azure Console, you can still associate it with the FireNet gateway.

Go to Aviatrix Controller’s console and navigate to Firewall Network -> Setup -> Step 7b and associate a firewall with right FireNet Gateway.

Step 7: Vendor Firewall Integration

Vendor integration dynamically updates firewall route tables. The use case is for networks with RFC 1918 and non-RFC 1918 routes that require specific route table programming on the firewall appliance

1. Go to Firewall Network -> Vendor Integration -> Select Firewall, fill in the details of your Firewall instance.

2. Click Save, Show and Sync.

Important

Aviatrix Controller automatically programs RFC 1918 in Check Point Security Gateway at a time of launch. This step can be skipped for Check Point if non-RFC 1918 routes programming is not required in Security Gateway.

Note

Vendor integration is not supported for FortiGate. User needs to configure RFC 1918 static routes manually in FortiGate firewall.

Step 8: Enable Health Check Policy in Firewall

Aviatrix Controller uses HTTPS (TCP 443) to check the health of firewall every 5 seconds. User needs to enable this port in firewall as per given instruction.

Check Point

By default, HTTPS or TCP 443 is allowed in Security Gateway. No action is required.

Palo Alto Network (PAN)

By default, VM-Series do not allow HTTPS or TCP 443 port. Pleas follow the given steps to enable it:

1. Login to VM-Series with username and password.

2. Go to Network -> Interface Mgmt under Network Profiles and click “Add”.

3. Give any name in “Interface Management Profile”, check HTTPS checkbox under Administrative Management Service and click “OK”.

4. Attach Profile with LAN interface. Network -> Interfaces -> Select LAN Ethernet Interface -> Advanced -> Management Profile -> Select appropiate profile.

See an example screenshot below how to attach profile to an interface.

Firewall health check probes can be verified in Monitor -> Traffic.

Fortinet

User needs to allow HTTPS or TCP 443 port in FortiGate firewall to monitor the health of firewall. Please follow the steps to allow HTTPS in FortiGate:

1. Login to FortiGate’s console using username and password

2. Go to Network -> Interfaces, select port 2 and click “Edit”.

3. Check HTTPS checkbox under Administrative access -> IPv4 and click “OK”.

The health check probes can be verified in FortiGate by navigating to Log & Report -> Local Traffic.

Step 9: Example Setup for “Allow All” Policy

After a firewall instance is launched, wait for 5 to 15 minutes for it to come up. Time varies for each firewall vendor. In addition, please follow example configuration guides as below to build a simple policy on the firewall instance for a test validation that traffic is indeed being routed to firewall instance.

Palo Alto Network (PAN)

For basic configuration, please refer to example Palo Alto Network configuration guide.

For implementation details on using Bootstrap to launch and initiate VM-Series, refer to Bootstrap Configuration Example.

FortiGate (Fortinet)

For basic policy configuration, please refer to example Fortinet configuration guide.

Check Point

For basic policy configuration, please refer to example Check Point configuration guide.

Step 10: Verification

There are multiple ways to verify if Transit FireNet is configured properly:

1. Aviatrix Flightpath - Control-plane Test

2. Ping/Traceroute Test between Spoke VNETs (East-West) - Data-plane Test

Flight Path Test for FireNet Control-Plane Verification:

Flight Path is a very powerful troubleshooting Aviatrix tool which allows users to validate the control-plane and gives visibility of end to end packet flow.

1. Navigate to Troubleshoot-> Flight Path

2. Provide the Source and Destination Region and VNET information

3. Select ICMP and Private subnet, and Run the test

Note

VM instance will be required in Azure, and ICMP should be allowed in security group.

Ping/Traceroute Test for FireNet Data-Plane Verification:

Once control-plane is established and no problem found in security and routing polices. Data-plane validation needs to be verified to make sure traffic is flowing and not blocking anywhere.

There are multiple ways to check data-plane:

1. One way to SSH to Spoke EC2 instance and ping other Spoke EC2 to instance to make sure no traffic loss in the path.

2. Ping/traceroute capture can also be performed from Aviatrix Controller. Go to TROUBLESHOOT -> Diagnostics and perform the test.