Building VPN to Brazil
Posted by Aaron Paxson on March 15, 2008
Okay, so I tried to build a site-to-site VPN to our factory in Brazil. Sounds easy enough, right? They are using some kind of Aker Firewall. Since I’m not familiar with that firewall, I sent them a checklist of all the IPSec configurations I support. They sent it back, and we went to configuring.
Well, the VPN tunnel came up, but none of the traffic was coming through. Usually, when this happens, I’m thinking of an improper access-list or NAT issue. Since it looked good on my end, I started inquiring about the far end.
Turns out, they didn’t know what was wrong. So, a little frustrated, I figured I would try to figure it out. I asked them if I could gain control of their computer, and take a look at their firewall. Even though I don’t know the Aker, I hoped I could figure it out, since IPSec is IPSec.
Well, like an idiot… as soon as I get access to the computer, and look at the screen…. my mouth dropped. I’m not in Kansas anymore, Toto! It’s all in Portuguese. I’m such an idiot. Duhh…Aaron
Well, to make a long story short, I purchased a cheap ASA5505, configured it, and sent it to them for a quick turn-key solution.
I just can’t believe I assumed everything to be in English! I felt so ashamed to be so arrogant.
