Cisco IE 3010 Switch Software Configuration Guide, Release 15.0(2)SE and Later

Configuring Network Security with ACLs

This chapter describes how to configure network security on the IE 3010 switch by using access control lists (ACLs), also referred to as access lists. In this chapter, references to IP ACLs are specific to IP Version 4 (IPv4) ACLs. For information about IPv6 ACLs, see Chapter 43 "Configuring IPv6 ACLs."

For complete syntax and usage information for the commands used in this chapter, see the command reference for this release, the "Configuring IP Services" section in the "IP Addressing and Services" chapter of the Cisco IOS IP Configuration Guide, Release 12.2, and the Cisco IOS IP Command Reference, Volume 1 of 3: Addressing and Services, Release 12.2. The Cisco IOS documentation is available from the Cisco.com page under Documentation > Cisco IOS Software > 12.2 Mainline > Configuration Guides or Command References.

•Understanding ACLs

•Configuring IPv4 ACLs

•Creating Named MAC Extended ACLs

•Displaying IPv4 ACL Configuration

Understanding ACLs

Packet filtering can help limit network traffic and restrict network use by certain users or devices. ACLs filter traffic as it passes through a router or switch and permit or deny packets crossing specified interfaces or VLANs. An ACL is a sequential collection of permit and deny conditions that apply to packets. When a packet is received on an interface, the switch compares the fields in the packet against any applied ACLs to verify that the packet has the required permissions to be forwarded, based on the criteria specified in the access lists. One by one, it tests packets against the conditions in an access list. The first match decides whether the switch accepts or rejects the packets. Because the switch stops testing after the first match, the order of conditions in the list is critical. If no conditions match, the switch rejects the packet. If there are no restrictions, the switch forwards the packet; otherwise, the switch drops the packet. The switch can use ACLs on all packets it forwards, including packets bridged within a VLAN.

You configure access lists on a router or Layer 3 switch to provide basic security for your network. If you do not configure ACLs, all packets passing through the switch could be allowed onto all parts of the network. You can use ACLs to control which hosts can access different parts of a network or to decide which types of traffic are forwarded or blocked at router interfaces. For example, you can allow e-mail traffic to be forwarded but not Telnet traffic. ACLs can be configured to block inbound traffic, outbound traffic, or both.

An ACL contains an ordered list of access control entries (ACEs). Each ACE specifies permit or deny and a set of conditions the packet must satisfy in order to match the ACE. The meaning of permit or deny depends on the context in which the ACL is used.

The switch supports IP ACLs and Ethernet (MAC) ACLs:

•IP ACLs filter IPv4 traffic, including TCP, User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP), and Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP).

•Ethernet ACLs filter non-IP traffic.

This switch also supports quality of service (QoS) classification ACLs. For more information, see the "Classification Based on QoS ACLs" section.

These sections contain this conceptual information:

•Supported ACLs

•Handling Fragmented and Unfragmented Traffic

Supported ACLs

Port ACLs are ACLs that are applied to Layer 2 interfaces on a switch. Port ACLs are supported only on physical interfaces and not on EtherChannel interfaces and can be applied only on interfaces in the inbound direction. These access lists are supported:

•Standard IP access lists using source addresses

•Extended IP access lists using source and destination addresses and optional protocol type information

•MAC extended access lists using source and destination MAC addresses and optional protocol type information

The switch examines ACLs associated with all inbound features configured on a given interface and permits or denies packet forwarding based on how the packet matches the entries in the ACL. In this way, ACLs control access to a network or to part of a network. Figure 36-1 is an example of using port ACLs to control access to a network when all workstations are in the same VLAN. ACLs applied at the Layer 2 input would allow Host A to access the Human Resources network, but prevent Host B from accessing the same network. Port ACLs can only be applied to Layer 2 interfaces in the inbound direction.

Figure 36-1 Using ACLs to Control Traffic to a Network

When you apply a port ACL to a trunk port, the ACL filters traffic on all VLANs present on the trunk port. When you apply a port ACL to a port with voice VLAN, the ACL filters traffic on both data and voice VLANs.

With port ACLs, you can filter IP traffic by using IP access lists and non-IP traffic by using MAC addresses. You can filter both IP and non-IP traffic on the same Layer 2 interface by applying both an IP access list and a MAC access list to the interface.

Note You cannot apply more than one IP access list and one MAC access list to a Layer 2 interface. If an IP access list or MAC access list is already configured on a Layer 2 interface and you apply a new IP access list or MAC access list to the interface, the new ACL replaces the previously configured one.

Handling Fragmented and Unfragmented Traffic

IP packets can be fragmented as they cross the network. When this happens, only the fragment containing the beginning of the packet contains the Layer 4 information, such as TCP or UDP port numbers, ICMP type and code, and so on. All other fragments are missing this information.

Some ACEs do not check Layer 4 information and therefore can be applied to all packet fragments. ACEs that do test Layer 4 information cannot be applied in the standard manner to most of the fragments in a fragmented IP packet. When the fragment contains no Layer 4 information and the ACE tests some Layer 4 information, the matching rules are modified:

•Permit ACEs that check the Layer 3 information in the fragment (including protocol type, such as TCP, UDP, and so on) are considered to match the fragment regardless of what the missing Layer 4 information might have been.

•Deny ACEs that check Layer 4 information never match a fragment unless the fragment contains Layer 4 information.

Consider access list 102, configured with these commands, applied to three fragmented packets:

Switch(config)# access-list 102 permit tcp any host 10.1.1.1 eq smtp

Switch(config)# access-list 102 deny tcp any host 10.1.1.2 eq telnet

Switch(config)# access-list 102 permit tcp any host 10.1.1.2 

Switch(config)# access-list 102 deny tcp any any

Note In the first and second ACEs in the examples, the eq keyword after the destination address means to test for the TCP-destination-port well-known numbers equaling Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and Telnet, respectively.

•Packet A is a TCP packet from host 10.2.2.2., port 65000, going to host 10.1.1.1 on the SMTP port. If this packet is fragmented, the first fragment matches the first ACE (a permit) as if it were a complete packet because all Layer 4 information is present. The remaining fragments also match the first ACE, even though they do not contain the SMTP port information, because the first ACE only checks Layer 3 information when applied to fragments. The information in this example is that the packet is TCP and that the destination is 10.1.1.1.

•Packet B is from host 10.2.2.2, port 65001, going to host 10.1.1.2 on the Telnet port. If this packet is fragmented, the first fragment matches the second ACE (a deny) because all Layer 3 and Layer 4 information is present. The remaining fragments in the packet do not match the second ACE because they are missing Layer 4 information. Instead, they match the third ACE (a permit).

Because the first fragment was denied, host 10.1.1.2 cannot reassemble a complete packet, so packet B is effectively denied. However, the later fragments that are permitted will consume bandwidth on the network and resources of host 10.1.1.2 as it tries to reassemble the packet.

•Fragmented packet C is from host 10.2.2.2, port 65001, going to host 10.1.1.3, port ftp. If this packet is fragmented, the first fragment matches the fourth ACE (a deny). All other fragments also match the fourth ACE because that ACE does not check any Layer 4 information and because Layer 3 information in all fragments shows that they are being sent to host 10.1.1.3, and the earlier permit ACEs were checking different hosts.

Configuring IPv4 ACLs

Configuring IPv4 ACLs on the switch is the same as configuring IPv4 ACLs on other Cisco switches and routers. The process is briefly described here. For more detailed information on configuring ACLs, see the "Configuring IP Services" section in the "IP Addressing and Services" chapter of the Cisco IOS IP Configuration Guide, Release 12.2. For detailed information about the commands, see the Cisco IOS IP Command Reference, Volume 1 of 3: Addressing and Services, Release 12.2. The Cisco IOS documentation is available from the Cisco.com page under Documentation > Cisco IOS Software > 12.2 Mainline > Configuration Guides or Command References.

The switch does not support these Cisco IOS router ACL-related features:

•Non-IP protocol ACLs (see Table 36-1) or bridge-group ACLs

•IP accounting

•Inbound and outbound rate limiting (except with QoS ACLs)

•Reflexive ACLs or dynamic ACLs (except for some specialized dynamic ACLs used by the switch clustering feature)

•ACL logging for port ACLs and VLAN maps

These are the steps to use IP ACLs on the switch:

Step 1 Create an ACL by specifying an access list number or name and the access conditions.

Step 2 Apply the ACL to interfaces or terminal lines. You can also apply standard and extended IP ACLs to VLAN maps.

These sections contain this configuration information:

•Creating Standard and Extended IPv4 ACLs

•Applying an IPv4 ACL to a Terminal Line

•Applying an IPv4 ACL to an Interface

•Hardware and Software Treatment of IP ACLs

•Troubleshooting ACLs

•IPv4 ACL Configuration Examples

Creating Standard and Extended IPv4 ACLs

This section describes IP ACLs. An ACL is a sequential collection of permit and deny conditions. One by one, the switch tests packets against the conditions in an access list. The first match determines whether the switch accepts or rejects the packet. Because the switch stops testing after the first match, the order of the conditions is critical. If no conditions match, the switch denies the packet.

The software supports these types of ACLs or access lists for IPv4:

•Standard IP access lists use source addresses for matching operations.

•Extended IP access lists use source and destination addresses for matching operations and optional protocol-type information for finer granularity of control.

These sections describe access lists and how to create them:

•Access List Numbers

•ACL Logging

•Creating a Numbered Standard ACL

•Creating a Numbered Extended ACL

•Resequencing ACEs in an ACL

•Creating Named Standard and Extended ACLs

•Using Time Ranges with ACLs

•Including Comments in ACLs

Access List Numbers

The number you use to denote your ACL shows the type of access list that you are creating. Table 36-1 lists the access-list number and corresponding access list type and shows whether or not they are supported in the switch. The switch supports IPv4 standard and extended access lists, numbers 1 to 199 and 1300 to 2699.

Note In addition to numbered standard and extended ACLs, you can also create standard and extended named IP ACLs by using the supported numbers. That is, the name of a standard IP ACL can be 1 to 99; the name of an extended IP ACL can be 100 to 199. The advantage of using named ACLs instead of numbered lists is that you can delete individual entries from a named list.

ACL Logging

The switch software can provide logging messages about packets permitted or denied by a standard IP access list. That is, any packet that matches the ACL causes an informational logging message about the packet to be sent to the console. The level of messages logged to the console is controlled by the logging console commands controlling the syslog messages.

Note Because routing is done in hardware and logging is done in software, if a large number of packets match a permit or deny ACE containing a log keyword, the software might not be able to match the hardware processing rate, and not all packets will be logged.

The first packet that triggers the ACL causes a logging message right away, and subsequent packets are collected over 5-minute intervals before they appear or logged. The logging message includes the access list number, whether the packet was permitted or denied, the source IP address of the packet, and the number of packets from that source permitted or denied in the prior 5-minute interval.

Creating a Numbered Standard ACL

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to create a numbered standard ACL:

Use the no access-list access-list-number global configuration command to delete the entire ACL. You cannot delete individual ACEs from numbered access lists.

Note When creating an ACL, remember that, by default, the end of the ACL contains an implicit deny statement for all packets that it did not find a match for before reaching the end. With standard access lists, if you omit the mask from an associated IP host address ACL specification, 0.0.0.0 is assumed to be the mask.

This example shows how to create a standard ACL to deny access to IP host 171.69.198.102, permit access to any others, and display the results.

Switch (config)# access-list 2 deny host 171.69.198.102

Switch (config)# access-list 2 permit any

Switch(config)# end 

Switch# show access-lists

Standard IP access list 2

    10 deny   171.69.198.102

    20 permit any

The switch always rewrites the order of standard access lists so that entries with host matches and entries with matches having a don't care mask of 0.0.0.0 are moved to the top of the list, above any entries with non-zero don't care masks. Therefore, in show command output and in the configuration file, the ACEs do not necessarily appear in the order in which they were entered.

After creating a numbered standard IPv4 ACL, you can apply it to terminal lines (see the "Applying an IPv4 ACL to a Terminal Line" section), to interfaces (see the "Applying an IPv4 ACL to an Interface" section).

Creating a Numbered Extended ACL

Although standard ACLs use only source addresses for matching, you can use extended ACL source and destination addresses for matching operations and optional protocol type information for finer granularity of control. When you are creating ACEs in numbered extended access lists, remember that after you create the ACL, any additions are placed at the end of the list. You cannot reorder the list or selectively add or remove ACEs from a numbered list.

Some protocols also have specific parameters and keywords that apply to that protocol.

These IP protocols are supported (protocol keywords are in parentheses in bold):

Authentication Header Protocol (ahp), Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (eigrp), Encapsulation Security Payload (esp), generic routing encapsulation (gre), Internet Control Message Protocol (icmp), Internet Group Management Protocol (igmp), any Interior Protocol (ip), IP in IP tunneling (ipinip), KA9Q NOS-compatible IP over IP tunneling (nos), Open Shortest Path First routing (ospf), Payload Compression Protocol (pcp), Protocol Independent Multicast (pim), Transmission Control Protocol (tcp), or User Datagram Protocol (udp).

For more details on the specific keywords for each protocol, see these command references:

•Cisco IOS IP Command Reference, Volume 1 of 3: Addressing and Services, Release 12.2

•Cisco IOS IP Command Reference, Volume 2 of 3: Routing Protocols, Release 12.2

•Cisco IOS IP Command Reference, Volume 3 of 3: Multicast, Release 12.2

These documents are available from the Cisco.com page under Documentation > Cisco IOS Software > 12.2 Mainline > Command References.

Note The switch does not support dynamic or reflexive access lists. It also does not support filtering based on the type of service (ToS) minimize-monetary-cost bit.

Supported parameters can be grouped into these categories: TCP, UDP, ICMP, IGMP, or other IP.

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to create an extended ACL:

Use the no access-list access-list-number global configuration command to delete the entire access list. You cannot delete individual ACEs from numbered access lists.

This example shows how to create and display an extended access list to deny Telnet access from any host in network 171.69.198.0 to any host in network 172.20.52.0 and to permit any others. (The eq keyword after the destination address means to test for the TCP destination port number equaling Telnet.)

Switch(config)# access-list 102 deny tcp 171.69.198.0 0.0.0.255 172.20.52.0 0.0.0.255 eq 
telnet

Switch(config)# access-list 102 permit tcp any any 

Switch(config)# end 

Switch# show access-lists

Extended IP access list 102

    10 deny tcp 171.69.198.0 0.0.0.255 172.20.52.0 0.0.0.255 eq telnet

    20 permit tcp any any

After an ACL is created, any additions (possibly entered from the terminal) are placed at the end of the list. You cannot selectively add or remove access list entries from a numbered access list.

Note When you are creating an ACL, remember that, by default, the end of the access list contains an implicit deny statement for all packets if it did not find a match before reaching the end.

After creating a numbered extended ACL, you can apply it to terminal lines (see the "Applying an IPv4 ACL to a Terminal Line" section), to interfaces (see the "Applying an IPv4 ACL to an Interface" section).

Resequencing ACEs in an ACL

Sequence numbers for the entries in an access list are automatically generated when you create a new ACL. You can use the ip access-list resequence global configuration command to edit the sequence numbers in an ACL and change the order in which ACEs are applied. For example, if you add a new ACE to an ACL, it is placed at the bottom of the list. By changing the sequence number, you can move the ACE to a different position in the ACL.

Creating Named Standard and Extended ACLs

You can identify IPv4 ACLs with an alphanumeric string (a name) rather than a number. You can use named ACLs to configure more IPv4 access lists in a router than if you were to use numbered access lists. If you identify your access list with a name rather than a number, the mode and command syntax are slightly different. However, not all commands that use IP access lists accept a named access list.

Note The name you give to a standard or extended ACL can also be a number in the supported range of access list numbers. That is, the name of a standard IP ACL can be 1 to 99; the name of an extended IP ACL can be 100 to 199. The advantage of using named ACLs instead of numbered lists is that you can delete individual entries from a named list.

Consider these guidelines and limitations before configuring named ACLs:

•Not all commands that accept a numbered ACL accept a named ACL. ACLs for packet filters and route filters on interfaces can use a name. VLAN maps also accept a name.

•A standard ACL and an extended ACL cannot have the same name.

•Numbered ACLs are also available, as described in the "Creating Standard and Extended IPv4 ACLs" section.

•You can use standard and extended ACLs (named or numbered) in VLAN maps.

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to create a standard ACL using names:

To remove a named standard ACL, use the no ip access-list standard name global configuration command.

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to create an extended ACL using names:

To remove a named extended ACL, use the no ip access-list extended name global configuration command.

When you are creating standard extended ACLs, remember that, by default, the end of the ACL contains an implicit deny statement for everything if it did not find a match before reaching the end. For standard ACLs, if you omit the mask from an associated IP host address access list specification, 0.0.0.0 is assumed to be the mask.

After you create an ACL, any additions are placed at the end of the list. You cannot selectively add ACL entries to a specific ACL. However, you can use no permit and no deny access-list configuration mode commands to remove entries from a named ACL. This example shows how you can delete individual ACEs from the named access list border-list:

Switch(config)# ip access-list extended border-list

Switch(config-ext-nacl)# no permit ip host 10.1.1.3 any

Being able to selectively remove lines from a named ACL is one reason you might use named ACLs instead of numbered ACLs.

After creating a named ACL, you can apply it to interfaces (see the "Applying an IPv4 ACL to an Interface" section) .

Using Time Ranges with ACLs

You can selectively apply extended ACLs based on the time of day and the week by using the time-range global configuration command. First, define a time-range name and set the times and the dates or the days of the week in the time range. Then enter the time-range name when applying an ACL to set restrictions to the access list. You can use the time range to define when the permit or deny statements in the ACL are in effect, for example, during a specified time period or on specified days of the week. The time-range keyword and argument are referenced in the named and numbered extended ACL task tables in the previous sections, the "Creating Standard and Extended IPv4 ACLs" section, and the "Creating Named Standard and Extended ACLs" section.

These are some of the many possible benefits of using time ranges:

•You have more control over permitting or denying a user access to resources, such as an application (identified by an IP address/mask pair and a port number).

•You can control logging messages. ACL entries can be set to log traffic only at certain times of the day. Therefore, you can simply deny access without needing to analyze many logs generated during peak hours.

Time-based access lists trigger CPU activity because the new configuration of the access list must be merged with other features and the combined configuration loaded into the TCAM. For this reason, you should be careful not to have several access lists configured to take affect in close succession (within a small number of minutes of each other.)

Note The time range relies on the switch system clock; therefore, you need a reliable clock source. We recommend that you use Network Time Protocol (NTP) to synchronize the switch clock. For more information, see the "Managing the System Time and Date" section.

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to configure a time-range parameter for an ACL:

Repeat the steps if you have multiple items that you want in effect at different times.

To remove a configured time-range limitation, use the no time-range time-range-name global configuration command.

This example shows how to configure time ranges for workhours and to configure January 1, 2006, as a company holiday and to verify your configuration.

Switch(config)# time-range workhours

Switch(config-time-range)# periodic weekdays 8:00 to 12:00

Switch(config-time-range)# periodic weekdays 13:00 to 17:00

Switch(config-time-range)# exit

Switch(config)# time-range new_year_day_2006

Switch(config-time-range)# absolute start 00:00 1 Jan 2006 end 23:59 1 Jan 2006

Switch(config-time-range)# end

Switch# show time-range

time-range entry: new_year_day_2003 (inactive)

   absolute start 00:00 01 January 2006 end 23:59 01 January 2006

time-range entry: workhours (inactive)

   periodic weekdays 8:00 to 12:00

   periodic weekdays 13:00 to 17:00 

To apply a time range, enter the time-range name in an extended ACL that can implement time ranges. This example shows how to create and verify extended access list 188 that denies TCP traffic from any source to any destination during the defined holiday times and permits all TCP traffic during work hours.

Switch(config)# access-list 188 deny tcp any any time-range new_year_day_2006

Switch(config)# access-list 188 permit tcp any any time-range workhours

Switch(config)# end

Switch# show access-lists

Extended IP access list 188

   10 deny tcp any any time-range new_year_day_2006 (inactive)

   20 permit tcp any any time-range workhours (inactive) 

This example uses named ACLs to permit and deny the same traffic.

Switch(config)# ip access-list extended deny_access

Switch(config-ext-nacl)# deny tcp any any time-range new_year_day_2006

Switch(config-ext-nacl)# exit

Switch(config)# ip access-list extended may_access

Switch(config-ext-nacl)# permit tcp any any time-range workhours

Switch(config-ext-nacl)# end

Switch# show ip access-lists

Extended IP access list lpip_default

    10 permit ip any any

Extended IP access list deny_access

    10 deny tcp any any time-range new_year_day_2006 (inactive)

Extended IP access list may_access

    10 permit tcp any any time-range workhours (inactive) 

Including Comments in ACLs

You can use the remark keyword to include comments (remarks) about entries in any IP standard or extended ACL. The remarks make the ACL easier for you to understand and scan. Each remark line is limited to 100 characters.

The remark can go before or after a permit or deny statement. You should be consistent about where you put the remark so that it is clear which remark describes which permit or deny statement. For example, it would be confusing to have some remarks before the associated permit or deny statements and some remarks after the associated statements.

To include a comment for IP numbered standard or extended ACLs, use the access-list access-list number remark remark global configuration command. To remove the remark, use the no form of this command.

In this example, the workstation that belongs to Jones is allowed access, and the workstation that belongs to Smith is not allowed access:

Switch(config)# access-list 1 remark Permit only Jones workstation through

Switch(config)# access-list 1 permit 171.69.2.88

Switch(config)# access-list 1 remark Do not allow Smith through

Switch(config)# access-list 1 deny 171.69.3.13

For an entry in a named IP ACL, use the remark access-list configuration command. To remove the remark, use the no form of this command.

In this example, the Jones subnet is not allowed to use outbound Telnet:

Switch(config)# ip access-list extended telnetting

Switch(config-ext-nacl)# remark Do not allow Jones subnet to telnet out

Switch(config-ext-nacl)# deny tcp host 171.69.2.88 any eq telnet

Applying an IPv4 ACL to a Terminal Line

You can use numbered ACLs to control access to one or more terminal lines. You cannot apply named ACLs to lines. You must set identical restrictions on all the virtual terminal lines because a user can attempt to connect to any of them.

For procedures for applying ACLs to interfaces, see the "Applying an IPv4 ACL to an Interface" section.

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to restrict incoming and outgoing connections between a virtual terminal line and the addresses in an ACL:

To remove an ACL from a terminal line, use the no access-class access-list-number {in | out} line configuration command.

Applying an IPv4 ACL to an Interface

Note these guidelines:

•Apply an ACL only to inbound Layer 2 ports.

•Apply an ACL to either outbound or inbound Layer 3 interfaces.

•When controlling access to an interface, you can use a named or numbered ACL.

•If you apply an ACL to a port that is a member of a VLAN, the port ACL takes precedence over an ACL applied to the VLAN interface.

•If you apply an ACL to a Layer 2 interface that is a member of a VLAN, the Layer 2 (port) ACL takes precedence over an input Layer 3 ACL applied to the VLAN interface or a VLAN map applied to the VLAN. The port ACL always filters incoming packets received on the Layer 2 port.

•If you apply an ACL to a Layer 3 interface and routing is not enabled, the ACL only filters packets that are intended for the CPU, such as SNMP, Telnet, or web traffic. You do not have to enable routing to apply ACLs to Layer 2 interfaces.

•When private VLANs are configured, you can apply router ACLs only on the primary-VLAN SVIs. The ACL is applied to both primary and secondary VLAN Layer 3 traffic.

Note By default, the router sends Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) unreachable messages when a packet is denied by an access group. These access-group denied packets are not dropped in hardware but are bridged to the switch CPU so that it can generate the ICMP-unreachable message. Port ACLs are an exception. They do not generate ICMP unreachable messages.

ICMP unreachable messages can be disabled on router ACLs with the no ip unreachables interface command.

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to control access to an interface:

To remove the specified access group, use the no ip access-group {access-list-number | name} {in | out} interface configuration command.

This example shows how to apply access list 2 to a port to filter packets entering the port:

Switch(config)# interface gigabitethernet0/1

Switch(config-if)# ip access-group 2 in

Note When you apply the ip access-group interface configuration command to a Layer 3 interface (an SVI, a Layer 3 EtherChannel, or a routed port), the interface must have been configured with an IP address. Layer 3 access groups filter packets that are routed or are received by Layer 3 processes on the CPU. They do not affect packets bridged within a VLAN.

For inbound ACLs, after receiving a packet, the switch checks the packet against the ACL. If the ACL permits the packet, the switch continues to process the packet. If the ACL rejects the packet, the switch discards the packet.

For outbound ACLs, after receiving and sending a packet to a controlled interface, the switch checks the packet against the ACL. If the ACL permits the packet, the switch sends the packet. If the ACL rejects the packet, the switch discards the packet.

By default, the input interface sends ICMP Unreachable messages whenever a packet is discarded, regardless of whether the packet was discarded because of an ACL on the input interface or because of an ACL on the output interface. ICMP Unreachables are normally limited to no more than one every one-half second per input interface, but this can be changed by using the ip icmp rate-limit unreachable global configuration command.

When you apply an undefined ACL to an interface, the switch acts as if the ACL has not been applied to the interface and permits all packets. Remember this behavior if you use undefined ACLs for network security.

Hardware and Software Treatment of IP ACLs

ACL processing is primarily accomplished in hardware, but requires forwarding of some traffic flows to the CPU for software processing. If the hardware reaches its capacity to store ACL configurations, packets are sent to the CPU for forwarding. The forwarding rate for software-forwarded traffic is substantially less than for hardware-forwarded traffic.

Note If an ACL configuration cannot be implemented in hardware due to an out-of-resource condition on a switch, then only the traffic in that VLAN arriving on that switch is affected (forwarded in software). Software forwarding of packets might adversely impact the performance of the switch, depending on the number of CPU cycles that this consumes.

For router ACLs, other factors can cause packets to be sent to the CPU:

•Using the log keyword

•Generating ICMP unreachable messages

When traffic flows are both logged and forwarded, forwarding is done by hardware, but logging must be done by software. Because of the difference in packet handling capacity between hardware and software, if the sum of all flows being logged (both permitted flows and denied flows) is of great enough bandwidth, not all of the packets that are forwarded can be logged.

If router ACL configuration cannot be applied in hardware, packets arriving in a VLAN that must be routed are routed in software, but are bridged in hardware. If ACLs cause large numbers of packets to be sent to the CPU, the switch performance can be negatively affected.

When you enter the show ip access-lists privileged EXEC command, the match count displayed does not account for packets that are access controlled in hardware. Use the show access-lists hardware counters privileged EXEC command to obtain some basic hardware ACL statistics for switched and routed packets.

Troubleshooting ACLs

If this ACL manager message appears and [chars] is the access-list name,

ACLMGR-2-NOVMR: Cannot generate hardware representation of access list [chars]

The switch has insufficient resources to create a hardware representation of the ACL. The resources include hardware memory and label space but not CPU memory. A lack of available logical operation units or specialized hardware resources causes this problem. Logical operation units are needed for a TCP flag match or a test other than eq (ne, gt, lt, or range) on TCP, UDP, or SCTP port numbers.

Use one of these workarounds:

•Modify the ACL configuration to use fewer resources.

•Rename the ACL with a name or number that alphanumerically precedes the ACL names or numbers.

To determine the specialized hardware resources, enter the show platform layer4 acl map privileged EXEC command. If the switch does not have available resources, the output shows that index 0 to index 15 are not available.

For more information about configuring ACLs with insufficient resources, see CSCsq63926 in the Bug Toolkit.

For example, if you apply this ACL to an interface:

permit tcp source source-wildcard destination destination-wildcard range 5 60

permit tcp source source-wildcard destination destination-wildcard range 15 160

permit tcp source source-wildcard destination destination-wildcard range 115 1660

permit tcp source source-wildcard destination destination-wildcard

And if this message appears:

ACLMGR-2-NOVMR: Cannot generate hardware representation of access list [chars]

The flag-related operators are not available. To avoid this issue,

•Move the fourth ACE before the first ACE by using ip access-list resequence global configuration command:

permit tcp source source-wildcard destination destination-wildcard

permit tcp source source-wildcard destination destination-wildcard range 5 60

permit tcp source source-wildcard destination destination-wildcard range 15 160

permit tcp source source-wildcard destination destination-wildcard range 115 1660

or

•Rename the ACL with a name or number that alphanumerically precedes the other ACLs (for example, rename ACL 79 to ACL 1).

You can now apply the first ACE in the ACL to the interface. The switch allocates the ACE to available mapping bits in the Opselect index and then allocates flag-related operators to use the same bits in the TCAM.

Router ACLs function as follows:

•The hardware controls permit and deny actions of standard and extended ACLs (input and output) for security access control.

•If log has not been specified, the flows that match a deny statement in a security ACL are dropped by the hardware if ip unreachables is disabled. The flows matching a permit statement are switched in hardware.

•Adding the log keyword to an ACE in a router ACL causes a copy of the packet to be sent to the CPU for logging only. If the ACE is a permit statement, the packet is still switched and routed in hardware.

IPv4 ACL Configuration Examples

This section provides examples of configuring and applying IPv4 ACLs. For detailed information about compiling ACLs, see the Cisco IOS Security Configuration Guide, Release 12.2 and to the Configuring IP Services" section in the "IP Addressing and Services" chapter of the Cisco IOS IP Configuration Guide, Release 12.2.

Figure 36-2 shows a small networked office environment with routed Port 2 connected to Server A, containing benefits and other information that all employees can access, and routed Port 1 connected to Server B, containing confidential payroll data. All users can access Server A, but Server B has restricted access.

Use router ACLs to do this in one of two ways:

•Create a standard ACL, and filter traffic coming to the server from Port 1.

•Create an extended ACL, and filter traffic coming from the server into Port 1.

Figure 36-2 Using Router ACLs to Control Traffic

This example uses a standard ACL to filter traffic coming into Server B from a port, permitting traffic only from Accounting's source addresses 172.20.128.64 to 172.20.128.95. The ACL is applied to traffic coming out of routed Port 1 from the specified source address.

Switch(config)# access-list 6 permit 172.20.128.64 0.0.0.31

Switch(config)# end

Switch# show access-lists

Standard IP access list 6

 permit 172.20.128.64, wildcard bits 0.0.0.31 

Switch(config)# interface gigabitethernet0/1

Switch(config-if)# ip access-group 6 out

This example uses an extended ACL to filter traffic coming from Server B into a port, permitting traffic from any source address (in this case Server B) to only the Accounting destination addresses 172.20.128.64 to 172.20.128.95. The ACL is applied to traffic going into routed Port 1, permitting it to go only to the specified destination addresses. Note that with extended ACLs, you must enter the protocol (IP) before the source and destination information.

Switch(config)# access-list 106 permit ip any 172.20.128.64 0.0.0.31

Switch(config)# end

Switch# show access-lists

Extended IP access list 106

 permit ip any 172.20.128.64 0.0.0.31 

Switch(config)# interface gigabitethernet0/1

Switch(config-if)# ip access-group 106 in

Numbered ACLs

In this example, network 36.0.0.0 is a Class A network whose second octet specifies a subnet; that is, its subnet mask is 255.255.0.0. The third and fourth octets of a network 36.0.0.0 address specify a particular host. Using access list 2, the switch accepts one address on subnet 48 and reject all others on that subnet. The last line of the list shows that the switch accepts addresses on all other network 36.0.0.0 subnets. The ACL is applied to packets entering a port.

Switch(config)# access-list 2 permit 36.48.0.3

Switch(config)# access-list 2 deny 36.48.0.0 0.0.255.255 

Switch(config)# access-list 2 permit 36.0.0.0 0.255.255.255 

Switch(config)# interface gigabitethernet0/1

Switch(config-if)# ip access-group 2 in

Extended ACLs

In this example, the first line permits any incoming TCP connections with destination ports greater than 1023. The second line permits incoming TCP connections to the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) port of host 128.88.1.2. The third line permits incoming ICMP messages for error feedback.

Switch(config)# access-list 102 permit tcp any 128.88.0.0 0.0.255.255 gt 1023

Switch(config)# access-list 102 permit tcp any host 128.88.1.2 eq 25

Switch(config)# access-list 102 permit icmp any any

Switch(config)# interface gigabitethernet0/1

Switch(config-if)# ip access-group 102 in

In this example, suppose that you have a network connected to the Internet, and you want any host on the network to be able to form TCP connections to any host on the Internet. However, you do not want IP hosts to be able to form TCP connections to hosts on your network, except to the mail (SMTP) port of a dedicated mail host.

SMTP uses TCP port 25 on one end of the connection and a random port number on the other end. The same port numbers are used throughout the life of the connection. Mail packets coming in from the Internet have a destination port of 25. Outbound packets have the port numbers reversed. Because the secure system of the network always accepts mail connections on port 25, the incoming and outgoing services are separately controlled. The ACL must be configured as an input ACL on the outbound interface and an output ACL on the inbound interface.

In this example, the network is a Class B network with the address 128.88.0.0, and the mail host address is 128.88.1.2. The established keyword is used only for the TCP to show an established connection. A match occurs if the TCP datagram has the ACK or RST bits set, which show that the packet belongs to an existing connection. Gigabit Ethernet interface 1 is the interface that connects the router to the Internet.

Switch(config)# access-list 102 permit tcp any 128.88.0.0 0.0.255.255 established

Switch(config)# access-list 102 permit tcp any host 128.88.1.2 eq 25

Switch(config)# interface gigabitethernet0/1

Switch(config-if)# ip access-group 102 in

Named ACLs

This example creates a standard ACL named internet_filter and an extended ACL named marketing_group. The internet_filter ACL allows all traffic from the source address 1.2.3.4.

Switch(config)# ip access-list standard Internet_filter

Switch(config-ext-nacl)# permit 1.2.3.4

Switch(config-ext-nacl)# exit

The marketing_group ACL allows any TCP Telnet traffic to the destination address and wildcard 171.69.0.0 0.0.255.255 and denies any other TCP traffic. It permits ICMP traffic, denies UDP traffic from any source to the destination address range 171.69.0.0 through 179.69.255.255 with a destination port less than 1024, denies any other IP traffic, and provides a log of the result.

Switch(config)# ip access-list extended marketing_group

Switch(config-ext-nacl)# permit tcp any 171.69.0.0 0.0.255.255 eq telnet

Switch(config-ext-nacl)# deny tcp any any

Switch(config-ext-nacl)# permit icmp any any

Switch(config-ext-nacl)# deny udp any 171.69.0.0 0.0.255.255 lt 1024

Switch(config-ext-nacl)# deny ip any any log

Switch(config-ext-nacl)# exit

TheInternet_filter ACL is applied to outgoing traffic and the marketing_group ACL is applied to incoming traffic on a Layer 3 port.

Switch(config)# interface gigabitethernet0/2

Switch(config-if)# no switchport

Switch(config-if)# ip address 2.0.5.1 255.255.255.0

Switch(config-if)# ip access-group Internet_filter out

Switch(config-if)# ip access-group marketing_group in

Time Range Applied to an IP ACL

This example denies HTTP traffic on IP on Monday through Friday between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m (18:00). The example allows UDP traffic only on Saturday and Sunday from noon to 8:00 p.m. (20:00).

Switch(config)# time-range no-http

Switch(config)# periodic weekdays 8:00 to 18:00

!

Switch(config)# time-range udp-yes

Switch(config)# periodic weekend 12:00 to 20:00

!

Switch(config)# ip access-list extended strict

Switch(config-ext-nacl)# deny tcp any any eq www time-range no-http

Switch(config-ext-nacl)# permit udp any any time-range udp-yes

!

Switch(config-ext-nacl)# exit

Switch(config)# interface gigabitethernet0/2

Switch(config-if)# ip access-group strict in

Commented IP ACL Entries

In this example of a numbered ACL, the workstation that belongs to Jones is allowed access, and the workstation that belongs to Smith is not allowed access:

Switch(config)# access-list 1 remark Permit only Jones workstation through

Switch(config)# access-list 1 permit 171.69.2.88

Switch(config)# access-list 1 remark Do not allow Smith workstation through

Switch(config)# access-list 1 deny 171.69.3.13

In this example of a numbered ACL, the Winter and Smith workstations are not allowed to browse the web:

Switch(config)# access-list 100 remark Do not allow Winter to browse the web

Switch(config)# access-list 100 deny host 171.69.3.85 any eq www

Switch(config)# access-list 100 remark Do not allow Smith to browse the web

Switch(config)# access-list 100 deny host 171.69.3.13 any eq www

In this example of a named ACL, the Jones subnet is not allowed access:

Switch(config)# ip access-list standard prevention

Switch(config-std-nacl)# remark Do not allow Jones subnet through

Switch(config-std-nacl)# deny 171.69.0.0 0.0.255.255

In this example of a named ACL, the Jones subnet is not allowed to use outbound Telnet:

Switch(config)# ip access-list extended telnetting

Switch(config-ext-nacl)# remark Do not allow Jones subnet to telnet out

Switch(config-ext-nacl)# deny tcp 171.69.0.0 0.0.255.255 any eq telnet

ACL Logging

Two variations of logging are supported on router ACLs. The log keyword sends an informational logging message to the console about the packet that matches the entry; the log-input keyword includes the input interface in the log entry.

In this example, standard named access list stan1 denies traffic from 10.1.1.0 0.0.0.255, allows traffic from all other sources, and includes the log keyword.

Switch(config)# ip access-list standard stan1

Switch(config-std-nacl)# deny 10.1.1.0 0.0.0.255 log

Switch(config-std-nacl)# permit any log

Switch(config-std-nacl)# exit

Switch(config)# interface gigabitethernet0/2

Switch(config-if)# ip access-group stan1 in

Switch(config-if)# end

Switch# show logging

Syslog logging: enabled (0 messages dropped, 0 flushes, 0 overruns)

    Console logging: level debugging, 37 messages logged

    Monitor logging: level debugging, 0 messages logged

    Buffer logging: level debugging, 37 messages logged

    File logging: disabled

    Trap logging: level debugging, 39 message lines logged

Log Buffer (4096 bytes):

00:00:48: NTP: authentication delay calculation problems

<output truncated>

00:09:34:%SEC-6-IPACCESSLOGS:list stan1 permitted 0.0.0.0 1 packet

00:09:59:%SEC-6-IPACCESSLOGS:list stan1 denied 10.1.1.15 1 packet

00:10:11:%SEC-6-IPACCESSLOGS:list stan1 permitted 0.0.0.0 1 packet

This example is a named extended access list ext1 that permits ICMP packets from any source to 10.1.1.0 0.0.0.255 and denies all UDP packets.

Switch(config)# ip access-list extended ext1

Switch(config-ext-nacl)# permit icmp any 10.1.1.0 0.0.0.255 log

Switch(config-ext-nacl)# deny udp any any log

Switch(config-std-nacl)# exit

Switch(config)# interface gigabitethernet0/2

Switch(config-if)# ip access-group ext1 in

This is a an example of a log for an extended ACL:

01:24:23:%SEC-6-IPACCESSLOGDP:list ext1 permitted icmp 10.1.1.15 -> 10.1.1.61 (0/0), 1 
packet

01:25:14:%SEC-6-IPACCESSLOGDP:list ext1 permitted icmp 10.1.1.15 -> 10.1.1.61 (0/0), 7 
packets

01:26:12:%SEC-6-IPACCESSLOGP:list ext1 denied udp 0.0.0.0(0) -> 255.255.255.255(0), 1 
packet

01:31:33:%SEC-6-IPACCESSLOGP:list ext1 denied udp 0.0.0.0(0) -> 255.255.255.255(0), 8 
packets

Note that all logging entries for IP ACLs start with %SEC-6-IPACCESSLOG with minor variations in format depending on the kind of ACL and the access entry that has been matched.

This is an example of an output message when the log-input keyword is entered:

00:04:21:%SEC-6-IPACCESSLOGDP:list inputlog permitted icmp 10.1.1.10 (Vlan1 
0001.42ef.a400) -> 10.1.1.61 (0/0), 1 packet

A log message for the same sort of packet using the log keyword does not include the input interface information:

00:05:47:%SEC-6-IPACCESSLOGDP:list inputlog permitted icmp 10.1.1.10 -> 10.1.1.61 (0/0), 1 
packet

Creating Named MAC Extended ACLs

You can filter non-IPv4 traffic on a VLAN or on a Layer 2 interface by using MAC addresses and named MAC extended ACLs. The procedure is similar to that of configuring other extended named ACLs.

Note You cannot apply named MAC extended ACLs to Layer 3 interfaces.

For more information about the supported non-IP protocols in the mac access-list extended command, see the command reference for this release.

Note Though visible in the command-line help strings, appletalk is not supported as a matching condition for the deny and permit MAC access-list configuration mode commands.

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to create a named MAC extended ACL:

Use the no mac access-list extended name global configuration command to delete the entire ACL. You can also delete individual ACEs from named MAC extended ACLs.

This example shows how to create and display an access list named mac1, denying only EtherType DECnet Phase IV traffic, but permitting all other types of traffic.

Switch(config)# mac access-list extended mac1

Switch(config-ext-macl)# deny any any decnet-iv

Switch(config-ext-macl)# permit any any

Switch(config-ext-macl)# end

Switch # show access-lists

Extended MAC access list mac1

    10 deny   any any decnet-iv 

    20 permit any any 

Applying a MAC ACL to a Layer 2 Interface

After you create a MAC ACL, you can apply it to a Layer 2 interface to filter non-IP traffic coming in that interface. When you apply the MAC ACL, consider these guidelines:

•If you apply an ACL to a Layer 2 interface that is a member of a VLAN, the Layer 2 (port) ACL takes precedence over an input Layer 3 ACL applied to the VLAN interface or a VLAN map applied to the VLAN. Incoming packets received on the Layer 2 port are always filtered by the port ACL.

•You can apply no more than one IP access list and one MAC access list to the same Layer 2 interface. The IP access list filters only IP packets, and the MAC access list filters non-IP packets.

•A Layer 2 interface can have only one MAC access list. If you apply a MAC access list to a Layer 2 interface that has a MAC ACL configured, the new ACL replaces the previously configured one.

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to apply a MAC access list to control access to a Layer 2 interface:

To remove the specified access group, use the no mac access-group {name} interface configuration command.

This example shows how to apply MAC access list mac1 to a port to filter packets entering the port:

Switch(config)# interface gigabitethernet0/2

Switch(config-if)# mac access-group mac1 in

Note The mac access-group interface configuration command is only valid when applied to a physical Layer 2 interface.You cannot use the command on EtherChannel port channels.

After receiving a packet, the switch checks it against the inbound ACL. If the ACL permits it, the switch continues to process the packet. If the ACL rejects the packet, the switch discards it. When you apply an undefined ACL to an interface, the switch acts as if the ACL has not been applied and permits all packets. Remember this behavior if you use undefined ACLs for network security.

Displaying IPv4 ACL Configuration

You can display the ACLs that are configured on the switch, and you can display the ACLs that have been applied to interfaces and VLANs.

When you use the ip access-group interface configuration command to apply ACLs to a Layer 2 or 3 interface, you can display the access groups on the interface. You can also display the MAC ACLs applied to a Layer 2 interface. You can use the privileged EXEC commands as described in Table 36-2 to display this information.

You can also display information about VLAN access maps or VLAN filters. Use the privileged EXEC commands in Table 36-3 to display VLAN map information.