This is an original planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, an official standard, or legal advice. Example addresses use documentation ranges. Review every command before you paste it.
What this hour is for
IKEv1 and IKEv2 are different. Write the version both peers can do. IKEv2 is the one you prefer when the choice is free. A proposal is encryption, integrity, and a group. Both ends must match.
The compatibility checker drafts a comparison from values you type. It does not bring up a tunnel. A pre-shared key is prompt-for-this in a sample and a real secret in the store. It is not a line in the ticket.
Interesting traffic is the prefix pair, not every packet. 0.0.0.0/0 as the proxy identity is a choice that can grab traffic you did not mean.
The vendor how-to is the lab. This page is the proposal you can read aloud.
The change you can finish
Apply nothing during the writing of the note. When the lab window opens, it is one change on the device named in the ticket. Read the draft, then the device, then decide.
Rollback is the file or the revision you saved first. You do not invent a rollback after the only copy is gone.
- Write the version.
- Write the proposal in words.
- Write the two prefixes.
- Put the key in the store, not the ticket.
- Reject a world proxy identity unless the ticket is explicitly that tunnel.
- Do not bring the tunnel up here.
Mistakes that outlive the command
IPsec VPN Explained (IKEv1 vs IKEv2) goes wrong in a small set of ways. The list is here so the ticket can forbid them before the window.
- A key in the ticket.
- Mismatched versions ignored.
- 0.0.0.0/0 as interesting traffic by default.
- Every cipher selected.
- A tunnel to a peer you do not have a ticket for.
Decisions to write down
One decision for IPsec VPN Explained (IKEv1 vs IKEv2): The version is written. The proposal matches on paper. The prefixes are a pair. The key is not in the note. And no tunnel was started.
Checks before you call it done
Confirm this before you call the change done: Both peers are named. The version is IKEv1 or IKEv2. The proposal is one line. No secret is in the ticket. And the lab waits for the vendor page. If one of those fails, stop.
Match the proposal. Keep the key in the store.
Do not use 0.0.0.0/0 as a test identity.Before you leave the device
IPsec VPN Explained (IKEv1 vs IKEv2) ends when the hostname on the device matches the hostname in the ticket. If it does not, you are on the wrong box. Stop. A command that succeeded on the wrong box is not progress.
The draft stays a draft until a person has read the names in it. A generator does not log into the device and does not know which interface is the uplink. You delete a line that names a device, a zone, or a prefix you did not write down.
0.0.0.0/0 is not kept because a sample included it. A source you can say is the source you keep. 192.0.2.0/24, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. They belong in the note. They are not prefixes you type onto a production device because they appeared in a draft.
prompt-for-this is a reminder that a secret is missing. It is not a password, a key, a community string, or a pre-shared key you save in the ticket or in git. The real secret stays in the store.
One change is the window. A VLAN and a routing protocol and a VPN do not share it. If two things move and the result is wrong, you will not know which one did it. The next feature waits for its own page.
If the same step fails twice, stop for the day. The failure is the result. Adding a forum command beside a half-applied config produces a device nobody can rebuild. Restore the copy you took first.
A second person reads the device name and the change aloud. If they cannot find them in the ticket, the note is not done. Silence is not agreement. Then leave the device alone.
This page is a planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, not an official standard, and not a permission to touch a network you do not administer. The pillar guide owns the wider design. This page owns one lab proof.
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