Deploy IPsec Policy to DNS Servers

  • Article

Updated: October 7, 2009

Applies To: Windows Server 2008 R2

Tip

This topic applies to DNSSEC in Windows Server 2008 R2. DNSSEC support is greatly enhanced in Windows Server 2012. For more information, see DNSSEC in Windows Server 2012.

Use the following procedure to configure IP Security (IPsec) rules for DNS servers in your organization that will provide DNS resolution for client computers. IPsec rules are configured to request authentication for all DNS queries.

You can deploy IPsec rules through one of the following mechanisms:

  • Domain Controllers organizational unit (OU): If the DNS servers in your domain are Active Directory-integrated, you can deploy IPsec policy settings using the Domain Controllers OU. This option is recommended to make configuration and deployment easier.

  • DNS Server OU or security group: If you have DNS servers that are not domain controllers, then consider creating a separate OU or a security group with the computer accounts of your DNS servers.

  • Local firewall configuration: Use this option if you have DNS servers that are not domain members or if you have a small number of DNS servers that you want to configure locally.

Use the following procedure to deploy IPsec policy to the Domain Controllers OU. If you wish to deploy IPsec policy to a different group of computers, use a different OU or create a security group and use security group filtering to apply IPsec settings to your DNSSEC Group Policy object (GPO).

Membership in the Domain Admins group, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this procedure. Review details about using the appropriate accounts and group memberships at Local and Domain Default Groups (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83477).

Configuring IPsec policy

  • Using the Windows interface

  • Using a command line

In the following procedure, IPsec policy is deployed on all domain controllers because it is assumed that domain controllers are also DNS servers. To deploy this policy on DNS servers that are not domain controllers, create and use a custom OU or security group. To deploy this policy on computers that are not domain members, use Local Group Policy to perform the following procedures.

Note

Complete the following procedure twice. First create a rule for UDP connections, then create a rule for TCP connections.

To configure IPsec policy using the Windows interface

  1. On a domain controller or a computer with the Group Policy Management feature installed, click Start, click Run, type gpme.msc, and then press ENTER.

  2. In the Browse for a Group Policy Object dialog box, double-click Domain Controllers.<domain.com>, click Default Domain Controllers Policy, and then click OK. The Group Policy Management Editor will open.

  3. In the console tree, open Computer Configuration\Policies\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Windows Firewall with Advanced Security\Windows Firewall with Advanced Security - LDAP.

  4. Right-click Connection Security Rules, and then click New Rule. The New Connection Security Rule Wizard will open.

  5. On the Rule Type page, choose Custom, and then click Next.

  6. On the Endpoints page, choose Any IP address for endpoint 1 and Any IP Address for endpoint 2, and then click Next.

  7. On the Requirements page, choose Request authentication for inbound and outbound connections, and then click Next.

  8. On the Authentication Method page, choose Advanced, and then click Customize.

  9. In the Customize Advanced Authentication Methods dialog box, under First authentication, click Add.

  10. In the Add First Authentication Method dialog box, choose Computer certificate from this certification authority (CA). Verify that Signing algorithm is RSA and Certificate store type corresponds to the type of CA you are using, either Root CA or Intermediate CA. Click Browse, and select the name of the CA that you used in the previous procedure to create and deploy a certificate for DNS server authentication, and then click OK.

Important

If multiple certificates from the same CA are present on the DNS server, IPsec authentication might fail due to an incorrect certificate being chosen. For more information, see Certificate Selection.

  1. Click OK to close the Add First Authentication Method dialog box, click OK in Customize Advanced Authentication Methods, and then click Next.

  2. On the Protocol and Ports page, next to Protocol type, choose UDP. Next to Endpoint 1 port, choose Specific ports and then type 53. Next to Endpoint 2 port choose All ports, and then click Next.

  3. On the Profile page, verify that the Domain, Private and Public check boxes are selected, and then click Next.

  4. Type a name and description for the rule. Use a name that will be easy to recognize, for example, DNSSEC UDP.

  5. Click Finish to create the rule.

Next, create an identical rule for DNS TCP connections by repeating this procedure and using TCP as the protocol type. You can also create a new rule using an existing rule as a template. To duplicate a rule, right-click an existing rule, click Copy, right-click inside the console details pane, and then click Paste. Edit the duplicate rule to provide a unique name and settings.

To configure IPsec policy using the command line

  1. Open an elevated command prompt.

  2. Enter the following command twice:

    netsh advfirewall consec add rule name="DNSSEC UDP" endpoint1=any endpoint2=any action=requestinrequestout port1=53 port2=any protocol=<protocol> auth1=computerkerb,computercert auth1ca=<CaName>

    The first time you enter this command, replace <protocol> with UDP, and replace <CaName> with the name of the CA being used. The second time you enter the command, use a different rule name such as ”DNSSEC TCP”, replace <protocol> with TCP and replace <CaName> with the name of the CA being used. See the following examples.

Example UDP rule

netsh advfirewall consec add rule name="DNSSEC UDP" endpoint1=any endpoint2=any action=requestinrequestout port1=53 port2=any protocol=UDP auth1=computerkerb,computercert auth1ca=”DC=com, DC=woodgrovebank, CN=woodgrovebank-DC1-CA”

Example TCP rule

netsh advfirewall consec add rule name="DNSSEC TCP" endpoint1=any endpoint2=any action=requestinrequestout port1=53 port2=any protocol=TCP auth1=computerkerb,computercert auth1ca=” DC=com, DC=woodgrovebank, CN=woodgrovebank-DC1-CA”

Use the following command to verify that rules were created successfully:

netsh advfirewall consec show rule name=all type=dynamic

Certificate Selection

The following options are available to ensure that the correct certificate on a DNS server is selected for IPsec authentication. For information about deploying this certificate, see Deploy Certificates for DNS Server Authentication.

  • Use a different CA to issue DNS server certificates than the one used to issue other certificates. To accomplish this, install Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) on a domain controller or member server and use this CA only for issuing DNS Server authentication certificates.

  • If you have deployed Network Access Protection (NAP) on your network, you can add the Domain Name System (DNS) Server Trust, IP security IKE intermediate, and Server Authentication application policies to NAP exemption certificates that are provisioned on DNS servers. To use a NAP exemption certificate with DNS Server authentication, choose the Computer health certificate from this certification authority (CA) option instead of the Computer certificate from this certification authority (CA).

  • If you have not deployed NAP, you can still add the System Health Authentication application policy to the certificate that you use for DNS Server authentication and then configure IPsec policy to require a computer health certificate. You should only use this method if you must use the same CA to issue multiple certificates to your DNS servers.

See Also

Concepts

Checklist: Configuring IPsec Policy on the DNS Server
Deploy Certificates for DNS Server Authentication