ASA to IOS IPSec persistent connection

[jseynaeve]

Hello all,

I have created an IPSec VPN between our ASA (5510) and a Cisco Router running IOS.

Only problem i have is that the VPN goes down if there's no interesting traffic from the router and i can't find anything to initiate the VPN Tunnel from the ASA (so we need to wait 'till someone connects on the other side) ...

Is there any way to make this connection persistent, just like an ASA-to-ASA tunnel?

Cheers,

Jan.

[Collin Clark]

Sure, you can use keepalives.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6120/products_tech_note09186a00807e0aca.shtml

[jseynaeve]

hmm, doesn't look like 'isakmp keepalive 10' is doing the trick.

It says this is proprietary for IOS-to-IOS, should it be working for ASA too?

Jan.

[Collin Clark]

There is a command for the ASA too. You really only need it one side, but I always do both ends.

ASA(config)# crypto isakmp keepalive ?

configure mode commands/options:

  <10-3600>  Number of seconds between keepalives (10 - 3600)