Call Admission Control for IKE


First Published: May 17, 2004
Last Updated: January 10, 2010

The Call Admission Control for IKE feature describes the application of Call Admission Control (CAC) to the Internet Key Exchange (IKE) protocol in Cisco IOS XE. CAC limits the number of simultaneous IKE security associations (SAs) (that is, calls to CAC) that a router can establish.

Finding Feature Information

Your software release may not support all the features documented in this module. For the latest feature information and caveats, see the release notes for your platform and software release. To find information about the features documented in this module, and to see a list of the releases in which each feature is supported, see the "Feature Information for Call Admission Control for IKE" section.

Use Cisco Feature Navigator to find information about platform support and Cisco software image support. To access Cisco Feature Navigator, go to http://www.cisco.com/go/cfn. An account on Cisco.com is not required.

Contents

Prerequisites for Call Admission Control for IKE

Information About Call Admission Control for IKE

How to Configure Call Admission Control for IKE

Configuration Examples for Call Admission Control for IKE

Additional References

Feature Information for Call Admission Control for IKE

Prerequisites for Call Admission Control for IKE

Configure IKE on the router.

Information About Call Admission Control for IKE

IKE Session

Security Association Limit

System Resource Usage

IKE Session

There are two ways to limit the number of IKE SAs that a router can establish to or from another router:

Configure the absolute IKE SA limit by entering the crypto call admission limit command. The router drops new IKE SA requests when the value has been reached.

Configure the system resource limit by entering the call admission limit command. The router drops new IKE SA requests when the level of system resources that are configured in the unit of charge is being used.

CAC is applied only to new SAs (that is, when an SA does not already exist between the peers). Every effort is made to preserve existing SAs. Only new SA requests will ever be denied due to a lack of system resources or because the configured IKE SA limit has been reached.

Security Association Limit

An SA is a description of how two or more entities will utilize security services to communicate securely on behalf of a particular data flow. IKE requires and uses SAs to identify the parameters of its connections. IKE can negotiate and establish its own SA. An IKE SA is used by IKE only, and it is bidirectional. An IKE SA cannot limit IPsec.

IKE drops SA requests based on a user-configured SA limit. To configure an IKE SA limit, enter the crypto call admission limit command. When there is a new SA request from a peer router, IKE determines if the number of active IKE SAs plus the number of SAs being negotiated meets or exceeds the configured SA limit. If the number is greater than or equal to the limit, the new SA request is rejected and a syslog is generated. This log contains the source destination IP address of the SA request.

Limit on Number of In-Negotiation IKE Connections

A limit on the number of in-negotiation IKE connections can be configured. This type of IKE connection represents either an aggressive mode IKE SA or a main mode IKE SA prior to its authentication and actual establishment.

Using the crypto call admission limit ike in-negotiation-sa {number} command allows the configured number of in-negotiation IKE SAs to start negotiation without contributing to the maximum number of IKE SAs allowed.

System Resource Usage

CAC polls a global resource monitor so that IKE knows when the router is running short of CPU cycles or memory buffers. You can configure a limit, in the range to 100000, that represents the level of system resource usage in system resource usage units. When that level of resources is being used, IKE drops (will not accept new) SA requests. To configure the system resource usage limit, enter the call admission limit command.

For each incoming new SA request, the current load on the router is converted into a numerical value, representing the system resource usage level, and is compared to the resource limit set by the call admission limit command. If the current load is more than the configured resource limit, IKE drops the new SA request. Load on the router includes active SAs, CPU usage, and SA requests being considered.

The call admission load command configures a multiplier value from 0 to 1000 that represents a scaling factor for current system resource usage and a load metric poll rate of 1 to 32 seconds. The numerical value for the system resource usage level is calculated by the formula (scaling factor * current system resource usage) / 100. It is recommended that the call admission load command not be used unless advised by a Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) engineer.

How to Configure Call Admission Control for IKE


Note You must perform one of the configuration procedures.


Configuring the IKE Security Association Limit (optional)

Configuring the System Resource Limit (optional)

Verifying the Call Admission Control for IKE Configuration (optional)

Configuring the IKE Security Association Limit

Perform this task to configure the absolute IKE SA limit. The router drops new IKE SA requests when the limit has been reached.

SUMMARY STEPS

1. enable

2. configure terminal

3. crypto call admission limit {ike {in-negotiation-sa number | sa number }}

4. exit

DETAILED STEPS

 
Command or Action
Purpose

Step 1 

enable

Example:

Router> enable

Enables privileged EXEC mode.

Enter your password if prompted.

Step 2 

configure terminal

Example:

Router# configure terminal

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 3 

crypto call admission limit {ike {in-negotiation-sa number | sa number}}

Example:

Router(config)# crypto call admission limit ike sa 25

Specifies the maximum number of IKE SAs that the router can establish before IKE begins rejecting new SA requests.

Step 4 

exit

Example:

Router(config)# exit

Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Configuring the System Resource Limit

Perform this task to configure the system resource limit. The router drops new IKE SA requests when the level of system resources that are configured in the unit of charge is being used.

SUMMARY STEPS

1. enable

2. configure terminal

3. call admission limit charge

4. exit

DETAILED STEPS

 
Command or Action
Purpose

Step 1 

enable

Example:

Router> enable

Enables privileged EXEC mode.

Enter your password if prompted.

Step 2 

configure terminal

Example:

Router# configure terminal

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 3 

call admission limit charge

Example:

Router(config)# call admission limit 1000

Sets the level of the system resources that, when used, causes IKE to stop accepting new SA requests.

charge—Valid values are 1 to 100000.

Note See "System Resource Usage" section

Step 4 

exit

Example:

Router(config)# exit

Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Verifying the Call Admission Control for IKE Configuration

To verify the CAC for IKE configuration, perform the following steps.

SUMMARY STEPS

1. show call admission statistics

2. show crypto call admission statistics

DETAILED STEPS


Step 1 show call admission statistics

Use this command to monitor the global CAC configuration parameters and the behavior of CAC.

Router# show call admission statistics

Total Call admission charges: 82, limit 1000
Total calls rejected 1430, accepted 0
Load metric: charge 82, unscaled 82%

Step 2 show crypto call admission statistics

Use this command to monitor crypto CAC statistics.

Router# show crypto call admission statistics 

---------------------------------------------------------------------
               Crypto Call Admission Control Statistics
---------------------------------------------------------------------
System Resource Limit: 90 Max IKE SAs: 0 Max in nego: 25
Total IKE SA Count: 359 active: 338 negotiating: 21
Incoming IKE Requests:    1297 accepted:      166 rejected: 1131
Outgoing IKE Requests:    1771 accepted:      195 rejected: 1576
Rejected IKE Requests:    2707 rsrc low:      1314 SA limit: 1393


Configuration Examples for Call Admission Control for IKE

This section provides the following configuration examples:

Configuring the IKE Security Association Limit: Example

Configuring the System Resource Limit: Example

Configuring the IKE Security Association Limit: Example

The following example shows how to specify that there can be a maximum of 25 SAs before IKE starts rejecting new SA requests:

Router(config)# crypto call admission limit ike sa 25 

Configuring the System Resource Limit: Example

The following example shows how to specify that IKE should drop SA requests when the level of system resources that are configured in the unit of charge reaches 9000:

Router(config)# call admission limit 9000

Additional References

The following sections provide references related to Call Admission Control for IKE.

Related Documents

Related Topic
Document Title

Cisco IOS commands

Cisco IOS Master Commands List, All Releases

Configuring IKE

Configuring Internet Key Exchange for IPsec VPNs

IKE commands

Cisco IOS Security Command Reference


Standards

Standards
Title

None


MIBs

MIBs
MIBs Link

No new or modified MIBs are supported by this feature, and support for existing MIBs has not been modified by this feature.

To locate and download MIBs for selected platforms, Cisco IOS XE software releases, and feature sets, use Cisco MIB Locator found at the following URL:

http://www.cisco.com/go/mibs


RFCs

RFCs
Title

RFC 2409

The Internet Key Exchange


Technical Assistance

Description
Link

The Cisco Support and Documentation website provides online resources to download documentation, software, and tools. Use these resources to install and configure the software and to troubleshoot and resolve technical issues with Cisco products and technologies. Access to most tools on the Cisco Support and Documentation website requires a Cisco.com user ID and password.

http://www.cisco.com/cisco/web/support/index.html


Feature Information for Call Admission Control for IKE

Table 1 lists the features in this module and provides links to specific configuration information.

Use Cisco Feature Navigator to find information about platform support and software image support. Cisco Feature Navigator enables you to determine which software images support a specific software release, feature set, or platform. To access Cisco Feature Navigator, go to http://www.cisco.com/go/cfn. An account on Cisco.com is not required.


Note Table 1 lists only the software release that introduced support for a given feature in a given software release train. Unless noted otherwise, subsequent releases of that software release train also support that feature.


Table 1 Feature Information for Call Admission Control for IKE 

Feature Name
Releases
Feature Information

Call Admission Control for IKE

Cisco IOS XE Release 2.1

The Call Admission Control for IKE feature describes the application of Call Admission Control (CAC) to the Internet Key Exchange (IKE) protocol in Cisco IOS XE. CAC limits the number of simultaneous IKE security associations (SAs) (that is, calls to CAC) that a router can establish.

The following commands were introduced or modified: call admission limit, clear crypto call admission statistics, crypto call admission limit, show call admission statistics, show crypto call admission statistics.

Ability to Configure a Limit on the Number of In-negotiation IKE Connections

Cisco  IOS XE Release 2.1

This feature was implemented on the Cisco ASR 1000 Series Routers.

The following section provides information about this enhancement:

Limit on Number of In-Negotiation IKE Connections

Configuring the IKE Security Association Limit

Configuring the IKE Security Association Limit: Example

The following command was introduced or modified: crypto call admission limit.