Install vGateway on Windows Server - example of implementation

Overview

In this article, you’ll learn how to run Acreto vGateway on a Windows Server machine. This process involves the following steps:

1. Configuration of Acreto Ecosystem
2. Image installation
3. Connectivity check

Before You Start

Case study

In this example, our target is to connect the existing virtual server to Acreto Ecosystem. The selected server works as a Virtual Machine based on Windows Server 2019 Hyper-V. In the same data center/cloud exist also other servers connected to different internal LANs but using the same Internet Router. The existing configuration was presented in the below diagram.

To connect the selected server to Acreto Ecosystem we will use the vGateway - a small virtual machine-generated by Acreto Wedge. This machine will be installed on the same host that other virtual machines in Data Center and connected to the same internal network. Also, network routing will be changed to redirect “external traffic” from/to the selected server thru Acreto vGateway.

The step-by-step procedure will be described in the below article.

Prerequisities

To run vGatway on Hyper-V, you will need:

1. Active Acreto Ecosystem.
2. Windows Server machine.
3. Get familiar with Introduction to vGateway.
4. Knowledge of network infrastructure and routing rules.

Configuration of Acreto Ecosystem

Create and configure vGateway

1. Log in to an Acreto platform at wedge.acreto.net
2. Select your ecosystem and go to Objects (1) using the left menu.
3. Click Add new Object(2) and select the Gateway Option.
4. Fill at least:
   1. Name: - the name of the created gateway. Needs to be compatible with Strongswan connection name requirements (basically, only letters and numbers). In this example- s01gateway
   2. Category: IoT
   3. Switch Gateway type to vGateway and set the specific setting for vGateway:
      1. DHCP/Static: - select the method of assigning addresses on the network> In this example - Static
      2. vGateway Internet IP - IP address with a netmask of internet-facing (WAN) interface. In this example: 198.51.100.2/24
      3. vGateway Default Route - IP address of your Internet gateway/router that allows access to the Internet, for example 1.2.3.1. In this example 198.51.100.1
      4. vGateway Local IP: - address of local (LAN) interface of your device. In this example 192.168.1.2/32
      5. Local Networks: - your local network addresses that should be routed through this gateway. In this example fill only the left field in the row: 192.168.1.12/32.
5. Save the created Gateway by pressing Add.
6. Add security policy that will allow communication from the Gateway device to the Internet:
   1. From the left menu choose the Policies option (1), then click on the + Add New Policy button (2).
   2. Fill the form with values similar to that from the screen.
   3. Save the new policy by clicking on the Add button.
7. Commit pending changes (top of the screen)
8. Go to Elements > Objects > Gateways menu position.
9. On the list of existing gateways choose this created in the previous step, click on its name.
10. Choose VM and Cloud Images to expand the available option for download virtual images.
11. Click on Play for Microsoft Hyper-V .vhdx vGateway Image option. Generation of image for you Gateway may take a while, please be patient.
12. When the image will be ready you may download it or copy the URL - save it on your Windows Server machine.

vGateway image installation

Adding the Hyper-V role to your Windows Server

Hyper-V feature is disabled by default in Windows Server. If you are sure that this option is already turned on on your machine you may skip this step.

To turn on Hyper-V on Windows Server:

1. Log in to your Windows Server.
2. Open the Server Manager Panel.
3. Choose Add roles and features
4. Choose Role-based or feature-based installation and click on the Next button.
5. Choose Select a server from the server pool and mark one on the list of available servers.
6. On the list of the available roles search for Hyper-V, check this option and click on the Next button. If this option is already checked there’s no need to activate the Hyper-V option.
7. On Hyper-V Virtual Switches screen choose the proper switch for your network configuration.
8. Go thru the rest of the configuration screens.
9. Restart the machine to finish Hyper-V Installation.
10. After reset you should see Hyper-V in Roles and server groups.

Install vGateway image

1. Open Hyper-V Manager and select the New option to create a new virtual machine.
2. On the Specify name and location screen call your new VM vGateway.
3. On the Specify generation screen choose Generation 1
4. On the Configure network screen connect VM to the proper interface.
5. On the Connect Virtual Hard Disc screen choose Use an existing hard disk and select downloaded vGatway image.
6. Go thru the rest of the configuration steps and run the VM.
7. Once the VM is up and running, you should be able to SSH to it with password authentication as:
   1. login: acreto
   2. password: acreto.io
8. Change your password after the first login

Connectivity check

1. Test the network connectivity
2. IPsec status showing the tunnel status ipsec statusall
3. Traceroute to check if the traffic goes through Acreto Ecosystem traceroute 8.8.8.8
4. More information about checking the connectivity can be found under Connectivity Check the article where a dedicated tool is available.

Summary

Thanks to the Hyper-v technology you were able to install Acreto vGateway in just a few steps. Users can connect to an Acreto Ecosystem with the same credentials utilized for other internal resources on their network domain.

Also, Acreto Ecosystem Admin(s) can re-use any existing password and security policies that are already in place. For example, the Active Directory may already have account lockout and password expiration policies.

Introduction to vGateway

Overview

In this document, you’ll become familiar with the concepts and basic features of Acreto vGateway.

Functionality

Acreto vGateway is a software appliance that allows simple connectivity between branch offices, on-premise data centers, cloud platforms, and Acreto.

vGateway uses 2 network interfaces:

• WAN (usually the first interface on the device / VM) - used to communicate with the Internet.
• LAN (usually the second interface on the device / VM) - used to communicate with the local network.

vGateway acts as a gateway, allowing bidirectional communication between Acreto and the local network using an IPsec connection.

Devices (workstations, VMs, servers, etc.) in the local network should use vGateway’s LAN IP address as their default gateway. vGateway forwards traffic coming to its LAN interface to Acreto, and then sends traffic received from Acreto to its local destination.

Requirements

Supported Platforms

Acreto vGateway is supported on the following platforms:

• KVM (qcow2)
• VMware ESXi (.vmdk)
• VirtualBox (.vdi)
• Microsoft Hyper-V (.vhdx)
• Microsoft Azure (.vhd)
• Raspberry Pi 3 and 4

Network Connectivity

vGateway LAN interface should be connected to the LAN network. All devices in the LAN network should use vGateway as a default gateway.

vGateway WAN interface should be connected to the internet router.

Firewall

Acreto vGateway communicates with Acreto using IPv4 and IPsec protocol. To allow networking connectivity, the firewall needs to allow communication on the following ports and protocols:

• Protocol: UDP, ports: 500, 4500
• Protocol: ESP

You can find a list of IP networks used by Acreto on IPv4 and IPv6 subnets page.

NAT

Acreto vGateway can be installed behind NAT. However, if you are installing more than one vGateway behind the same NAT device, each of them must get a different public IP address.

In addition, the NAT device should have IPsec Passthrough enabled.

Example

In a deployment involving two vGateway devices (192.0.2.10, 192.0.2.11), the NAT device needs to have at least two public IP addresses (198.51.100.10, 198.51.100.11) and define Source NAT rules to assign a different public IP address to each vGateway. In this case:

• to vGateway 1 - 198.51.100.10
• to vGateway 2 - 198.51.100.11

Specification

• Base OS:
  • Raspberry Pi version: Ubuntu 20.04 (LTS)
  • Other platforms: Ubuntu 18.04.5 (LTS)
• Disk size (raw): 5400 MB
• Open ports:
  • TCP 22 (SSH)
  • UDP 500, UDP 4500 (ipsec)

Configuration

Web-based Configuration

The recommended way to configure Acreto vGateway is to modify configuration at https://wedge.acreto.net, and then generate and download a new image.

Manual Configuration

Acreto vGateway is a Linux-based solution. Administrators can connect and manage vGateways using SSH protocol and standard Linux tools. To get access credentials for your vGateway, please contact support.

The network configuration of Acreto vGateway is implemented using Netplan configuration files, placed in /etc/netplan. Refer to the Netplan website for more information.

IPsec connections are established using a Strongswan ipsec.conf configuration format, placed in /etc/ipsec.d/*.conf on the vGateway. The list of subnets that should be routed through Acreto is stored in /etc/ipsec.d/*.route files.

Alternatives

You can find other connectivity options on the Connect to the Acreto platform page.

Licensing Information

Acreto vGateway uses OpenSource software that is part of Ubuntu Linux. You can find more licensing information on the Ubuntu website, at https://ubuntu.com/licensing.

Troubleshooting - Unsupported or invalid disk error in ESXi

Error Description

Failed to power on virtual machine XXXXXX . Unsupported or invalid disk type 23 for ‘scsi0:1’. Ensure that the disk has been imported.

Cause

This issue occurs if a virtual machine that is meant for VMware Hosted products such as VMware Workstation, VMware Player or VMware Fusion is powered-on on an ESX/ESXi host.

The underlying format used to store virtual machines on VMware Hosted products differs from the format used to store virtual machines on ESX/ESXi hosts.

Solution

The .vmdk file needs to be converted to the accepted the ESXi format using the steps below:

1. Upload the .vmdk file to datastore in ESXi

2. Connect to the ESX/ESXi host via SSH

3. Run the below commands to convert the file

   cd vmfs
   cd volumes
   cd datastore1
   vmkfstools -i xxxxxx.vmdk xxxx-New.vmdk

Result

After successful conversion new file will be generated.

vGateway image installation on Azure

Overview

This article shows how to setup vGateway on Azure to connect your network to Acreto Ecosystem.

Create new Gateway

To set up the vGateway on Azure first it is needed to configure the Gateway object.

Please follow the steps in Gateway creation guide with the vGateway as a type of a gateway.

Generate Azure .vhd type vGateway Image

To generate an Azure the image you need to:

1. In the Elements > Objects > Gateways menu click on the specified vGateway name - the details panel will appear.
2. On the right side of the gateway details panel click on VM and Cloud Images images to show a list of options to generate images.
3. Click the play icon next to the Microsoft Azure .vhd vGateway Image entry.
4. The generation of the image may take a while, please be patient.
5. When the image will be ready you may download it or copy the URL - save it on your PC.

Image installation

To install the generated vhd image on Azure we need to proceed with uploading the image to Azure according to official documentation.

1. Create an empty managed disk on Azure.

2. Upload a vhd image to empty managed disk.

3. Start the VM with the uploaded image.

   • Ensure Acreto Ecosystem is routable from the network to which the new machine will be connected.
   • Create a new VM from the managed disk.
   • Attach a second network interface to the VM by creating a new network interface and attaching it to the VM

4. Once the VM is up and running, you should be able to SSH to it with password authentication as:

   1. login: acreto
   2. password: acreto.io

5. Change your password after the first login

6. Test the network connectivity

   • IPsec status showing the tunnel status

     ipsec statusall

   • Traceroute to check if the traffic goes through Acreto Ecosystem

     traceroute 8.8.8.8

   More information about checking the connectivity can be found under Connectivity Check the article where a dedicated tool is available.

vGateway image installation on VirtualBox

Overview

This article shows how to set up vGateway on VirtualBox to connect your network to Acreto Ecosystem.

Create new Gateway

To set up the vGateway on VirtualBox first it is needed to configure the Gateway object.

Please follow the steps in Gateway creation guide with the vGateway as a type of a gateway.

Generate VirtualBox .vid type vGateway Image

To generate a VirtualBox vid image you need to:

1. In the Elements > Objects > Gateways menu click on the specified vGateway name - the details panel will appear.
2. On the right side of the gateway details panel click on VM and Cloud Images images to show a list of options to generate images.
3. Click the play icon next to the VirtualBox .vdi vGateway Image entry.
4. The generation of the image may take a while, please be patient.
5. When the image will be ready you may download it or copy the URL - save it on your PC.

Image installation

To install the generated vdi image we need a machine with a VirtualBox hypervisor installed.

1. Create a new VM from vdi image by opening the Machine > New menu.

   • In Type choose Linux.
   • In Version choose Ubuntu (64-bit).
   • In Hard disk choose Use an existing virtual hard disk file and select previously downloaded vdi image.

2. Start the VM.

   • Ensure Acreto Ecosystem is routable from the hypervisor network.
   • Enable a second network interface in the machine settings Network section.
   • Run the VM.

3. Once booted log in as:

   1. login: acreto
   2. password: acreto.io

4. Change your password after the first login

5. Test the network connectivity

   • IPsec status showing the tunnel status

     ipsec statusall

   • Traceroute to check if the traffic goes through Acreto Ecosystem

     traceroute 8.8.8.8

   More information about checking the connectivity can be found under Connectivity Check article where a dedicated tool is available.

vGateway installation on RasbperryPi

Overview

This article explains how to set up a vGateway on Raspberry Pi to connect your network to an Acreto Ecosystem.

Create New Gateway

To set up the vGateway on Raspberry Pi, you must first configure the Gateway object.

Please follow the steps below to create and configure a new Gateway that will be used as vGateway.

1. Log in to the Acreto Portal at wedge.acreto.net.
2. Select your Ecosystem and go to Objects using the left-side menu.
3. Click Add new Object and select Gateway.
4. Fill in the following fields:
   1. Name: the name of the gateway
   2. Category: IoT
   3. vGateway: select Gateway in the upper right corner
   4. DHCP/Static: Select DHCP
   5. vGateway Local IP: IP address of Raspberry Pi device in your LAN, i.e 192.168.200.1/24
   6. Local Networks: your local network addresses that will be routed through this gateway
5. Save the created Gateway by pressing Add.
6. Add a security policy that will allow communication from the Gateway device to the Internet.
7. Commit pending changes (located at top of the screen).

Generate Raspberry Pi vGateway Image

To proceed with this step, you should have at least one Gateway configured as vGateway in your Ecosystem. From the left-side menu, select Objects > Gateways to display the list of existing gateways.

To generate a Raspberry Pi configuration image, you must:

1. Click on the vGateway name on the vGateway panel. The details panel will then appear.
2. On the right side of the gateway details panel, click on SBC and IoT Images to view a list of image generation options.
3. Click the play icon for the right version of the device.
4. The generation of the image may take a while, please be patient.
5. When the image is ready, you may download it or copy the URL & save it on your PC.

Image Installation

Linux

To proceed with this step, you must have an image file generated by Acreto or a URL to the image for your vGateway.

To install the image, you must first proceed with flashing the SD card.

1. Download the write_image.sh script.

   Click on the button and save the script in your home directory:

   Get write_image.sh

   or open the terminal and download the script using the command:

   wget https://kb.acreto.net/reference-material/downloads/write_image.sh

2. Take the SD card out of your Raspberry Pi device.

3. Insert the SD card into your computer.

   • Ensure it doesn’t mount automatically - if it does, unmount it.

4. Use the write_image.sh script to write the image onto the SD card.

   • if you have an image file downloaded locally:

     ./write_image.sh image-file.zip /dev/sdb

   • if you want to use the URL of an image directly:

     ./write_image.sh https://aws1-vgateway-images.s3.amazonaws.com/vgateway-raspberry-pi4.s.nAH2xOL8HyJIK1g8v4HEsNCt.img.zip /dev/sdb

     where /dev/sdb is the location of your SD card

5. Once finished, take the SD card from your computer and plug it into your device.

6. Restart the Raspberry device and wait until it boots from the SD Card.

7. Log in to your WEDGE account.

8. From the left menu choose the Logs > Gateways option.

9. As one of the last inputs, you should see information about the established connection from your Gateway.

More information about checking the connectivity can be found in the Connectivity Check article, where a dedicated tool is available.

Windows

To proceed with this step, you must have an image file generated by Acreto.

1. Take the SD card out of your Raspberry Pi device.

2. Insert the SD card into your computer, wait until it is visible in the system.

3. Unzip the file downloaded from WEDGE, make sure that you can see the *.img file.

4. Go to Raspberry Pi Software Page.

5. Download the last version of Raspberry Pi Imager.

6. Run downloaded *.exe file and install it.

7. If Raspberry Pi Imager doesn’t start after installation, run it manually. You should see the window presented below:

8. Click on the Choose OS button and select the Use custom option.

9. Select a downloaded image using the explorer window.

10. Click on the Select Storage button and choose your SD Card.

11. Double-check the settings and if they’re OK, click on the Write button.

12. The writer will warn you about erasing the current content of the SD Card, click on the YES button to continue. Now the Writing process will start, it may take a few minutes.

13. When writing ends, you should see the below information.

14. Once finished, take the SD card from your computer and plug it into your device.

15. Restart the Raspberry device and wait until it boots from the SD Card.

16. Log in to your WEDGE account.

17. From the left menu choose the Logs > Gateways option.

18. As one of the last inputs, you should see information about the established connection from your Gateway.

    More information about checking the connectivity can be found in the Connectivity Check article, where a dedicated tool is available.

List of Supported USB Ethernet Adapters to Use for LAN

By default, the Raspberry Pi has only one Ethernet adapter. But to connect your network, you’ll need an additional Ethernet adapter.

Acreto recommends using a USB Ethernet dongle facing the LAN network.