Setting up site-to-site on AWS Virtual Gateway

Note: If your device/service supports SHA256 and DH group 14, it is recommended to use these settings instead.

Please note, the choice between Transit Gateway or a simple Virtual Gateway depends on your AWS architecture. If you are not sure, we encourage you to visit AWS's official documentation.

Configuring the tunnel in the AWS Console

1. Go to the VPC section in the AWS Console

   AWS console services menu showing VPC and networking options with search and category filters

    

   
   

2. Under the left menu Virtual Private Network (VPN) section, go to Customer Gateways

AWS VPC console menu with Customer gateways option highlighted under Virtual private network

 

4. Select Create Customer Gateway

5. Select static routing

6. Fill in the IP Address of your NordLayer server with a dedicated IP

7. Select Create Customer Gateway. A message should display indicating the gateway was created successfully

AWS Create customer gateway form with name tag, BGP ASN, IP address, and certificate fields

 

Configuring a virtual private gateway

If you already have a virtual private gateway attached to your VPC, skip this section and continue at Creating a virtual private network connection.

1. Go back to Services, scroll down to Networking & Content Delivery, and select VPC

AWS services menu displaying VPC and networking options with search functionality

 

2. On the left side, under Virtual Private Network (VPN) select Virtual Private Gateways

AWS VPC menu with Virtual private gateways option highlighted under Virtual private network

 

3. Select Create Virtual Private Gateway

4. Type the name of the gateway (for example US_HQ)

5. Select ASN as Amazon default ASN

6. Select Create Virtual Private Gateway

AWS Create virtual private gateway form with name tag, ASN options, and tags configuration

 

A message should display indicating that the virtual Private Gateway was created successfully.

7. Select the newly created gateway and select Actions; on the context menu select Attach to VPC

AWS Virtual private gateways dashboard with Actions menu showing Attach to VPC option

 

8. From the drop-down menu, select the VPC and select Yes, Attach

Creating a virtual private network connection

1. Under Virtual Private Network (VPN) in the left menu, go to Site-to-Site VPN Connections

AWS VPC menu with Site-to-Site VPN connections option highlighted under Virtual private network

 

2. Select Create VPN Connection

AWS VPN connections dashboard with Create VPN connection button highlighted in navigation header

 

3. Enter the name tag (for example EU_Office)

4. Select the created Virtual Private Gateway

5. Under Customer Gateway, select Existing

6. Select the Customer Gateway that you have created

7. Under Routing Options, select Static

8. Fill in the following Static IP Prefixes: 10.6.0.0/20

AWS Create VPN connection form with site-to-site details, gateway selections, and configuration options

 

9. Under Tunnel Options leave the default values as-is

10. Select Create VPN Connection

AWS VPN routing options with static IP prefix and pre-shared key configuration

 

In this page you can also select the inside subnets that you would like to connect via the tunnel.

11. A message should display indicating that a VPN Connection Request was created successfully

Configuring the routing rules to the default gateway

1. Select the VPC section in the AWS Console and enter the Route table associated with your VPC

AWS VPC dashboard with Your VPCs option highlighted under Virtual private cloud menu

 

2. For the Route Tables menu option, select the routing table that is associated with the VPC you have created for the tunnel

AWS VPC Route tables dashboard with route table ID and Create route table button

 

3. Select Edit and add the new static routes for the subnets below:

AWS Route tables dashboard displaying main route table ID with search and Actions dropdown

 

Fill in 10.6.0.0/20 at the destination field and your new VPN Gateway ID as the target (it will appear under the subcategory Virtual Private Gateway).

4. Select Save

In case have a customized security group associated with your VPC:

Allow incoming connections from NordLayer local network within your security groups: Configure your AWS security groups to allow all traffic from NordLayer (10.6.0.0/20) or allow only special traffic using the port or services from these sources.

Collecting the tunnel configuration from the AWS Console

1. Return to Site-to-Site VPN Connections and select Download Configuration

AWS VPN connections dashboard showing Site-to-Site VPN with available status and Download configuration button

 

2. Fill in the following details and click on "Download".

AWS VPN configuration download form with Strongswan vendor, platform, software, and IKEv2 settings

 

Obtain IPSEC Tunnel #1 details

1. Open the configuration file which you have just downloaded and scroll until conn Tunnelid as shown in the screenshot below:

AWS VPN tunnel configuration file showing IPsec parameters with IKEv2 and encryption settings

 

2. Make a note of these details as they will be needed for the VPN server configuration:

• IKE version: IKEv2 (recommended)
• Remote IP (right): Your AWS Remote IP
• Encryption settings IKE Encryption and DH Group
• Local IP (-ll): Local Tunnel IP
• Remote IP (-lr): Remote Tunnel IP
• Mark (-m): specified in the config
• Pre-shared key (PSK): Your Pre-Shared Key / Secret

Obtain IPSEC Tunnel #2 details

1. Within the same configuration file, scroll down to locate the section labeled conn Tunnel2.
2. Take note of the following details as they will be required for configuring Site-to-Site connection:

• IKE version: IKEv2 (recommended)
• Remote IP (right): Your AWS Remote IP
• Encryption settings IKE Encryption and DH Group
• Local IP (-ll): Local Tunnel IP
• Remote IP (-lr): Remote Tunnel IP
• Mark (-m): specified in the config
• Pre-shared key (PSK): Your Pre-Shared Key / Secret

Ending note:

Once you have obtained all necessary details from the AWS config – IPSEC Tunnel #1 and IPSEC Tunnel #2 – please create a setup in Sites tab of the NordLayer Control Panel.

Note: In case you are experiencing different results, make sure that you have you carefully gone through all the steps. Having said that, in case the issue persists please feel free to contact our 24/7 customer support team.