Description
Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) is one of the most widely used VPN technologies for securing communications across untrusted networks. Organizations of all sizes rely on IPsec to create encrypted connections between offices, data centers, cloud environments, and remote users, providing secure data transmission over the public internet.
While IPsec is a powerful and flexible security framework, it can be challenging to understand due to its multiple protocols, negotiation phases, encryption methods, and authentication mechanisms. A solid understanding of both the theory and practical implementation is essential for successfully deploying secure IPsec VPNs.
This course provides a comprehensive guide to IPsec on MikroTik RouterOS, beginning with the foundational concepts before progressing into real-world configuration and deployment scenarios. Through a combination of detailed theory and hands-on lab exercises, students will learn how IPsec operates, how secure tunnels are established, and how to configure and troubleshoot IPsec VPNs using both IKEv1 and IKEv2.
The course is heavily focused on practical application, providing hands-on experience with configuring secure VPN tunnels, validating connectivity, and troubleshooting common deployment challenges on MikroTik RouterOS.
Whether the goal is to secure communications between locations, deploy enterprise VPN solutions, strengthen network security expertise, or gain a deeper understanding of IPsec technologies, this course provides the knowledge and practical experience needed to confidently work with IPsec on MikroTik platforms.
Who this course is for
- Students who want to learn and understand how IPSEC works and know how to configure it on MikroTik RouterOS
- Engineers who want to apply IPSEC tunneling protocol in their networks
What you'll learn
- Understand what is VPN
- Understand what is IPSEC
- Understand the 4 features of IPSEC
- Understand why IPSEC is a protocol suite
- Understand the Protocols used in the IPSEC features
- Understand IPSEC modes of communications
- Understand IPSEC Transport mode
- Understand IPSEC Tunnel mode
- Understand what is Symmetric key encryption
- Understand what is Asymmetric key encryption
- Understand how DH works to share the secret key in a secure way
- Understand the encryption protocols such as: DES, 3DES, AES, Blowfish, Camellia, RSA & DH
- Understand Data Integrity using Hashing algorithms such as: MD5, SHA1, SHA256, SHA512
- Understand the types of IPSEC authentication: Pre-shared key vs Certificate
- Understand IPSEC Negotiation Protocols: AH vs ESP
- Understand the IPSEC negotiation process
- Understand what is the initiator to start the IPSEC VPN
- Understand IKE Phase 1 (ISAKMP)
- Understand the difference between Main and Aggressive mode on IKE Phase 1
- Understand IKE Phase 2
- Understand what is PFS Group
- Understand the difference between IKEv1 & IKEv2
- Configuring IPSEC site-to-site using IKEv1
- Configuring IPSEC site-to-site using IKEv2
Requirements
- Have a TCP/IP knowledge
- Have an experience with networking
- Ideally have an MTCNA certificate
Course Curriculum
- Intro: What is IPSEC (1:37)
- What is IPSEC (9:10)
- IPSEC Protocol suite explained (5:15)
- IPSEC modes of communication - Transport vs Tunnel mode (8:16)
- Types of Encryption - Symmetric vs Asymmetric (5:57)
- Security over the internet using IPSEC (14:47)
- Encyption Protocols (DES-3DES-AES-Blowfish-Camellia-RSA-DH) (15:30)
- Data Integrity - Hashing Algorithms (MD5 - SHA1 - SHA256 - SHA512) (8:52)
- IPSEC Authentication (Pre-shared key vs Certificates) (8:47)
- IPSEC Negotiation Protocols (AH vs ESP) (8:10)
- Intro: IPSEC Negotiation Process (1:00)
- IPSEC Negotiation Process and choices of IPSEC interesting traffic (9:04)
- IPSEC IKE Phase 1 (ISAKMP Tunnel) (8:40)
- IPSEC IKE Phase 1 (Main vs Aggressive mode) (5:43)
- IPSEC IKE Phase 2 (IPSEC Tunnel) (7:03)
- IPSEC Data Transfer (2:59)
- Difference between IKEv1 and IKEv2 (5:45)