General configuration tab

NOTE
Refer to the section Allowed names to find out which characters are allowed and prohibited in various fields.

General configuration

Firewall name This name is displayed in the firewall’s main window and is used in alarm e-mails sent to the administrator. It can also be used as the DNS name of the captive portal if it was enabled and the option Use firewall name was selected. The maximum supported length of the firewall name is 127 characters.
Firewall language (logs)

Choice of language that the firewall uses for logs, syslog and the CLI configuration. The available languages are: French and English.
Keyboard (console) Type of keyboard that the firewall supports. The available languages are: English, French, Italian, Polish or Swiss.

Cryptographic settings

Enable regular retrieval of certificate revocation lists (CRL) If this option is selected, the firewall will check every 6 hours the validity of each CRL downloaded from the distribution points specified in the PKI. When a CRL is close to its expiry date or has expired, an alarm will then be generated.
Enable compliance mode with DR ("Diffusion Restreinte"), version 2021 The Enable compliance mode with DR ("Diffusion Restreinte"), version 2021 option forces the firewall to comply with the ANSSI’s (French national information security agency) recommendations on the use of coprocessors and cryptographic accelerators on products to be qualified. It is an imperative on networks that fall under the “Restricted” classification.
This mode relies in particular on the use of software versions for asymmetric and symmetric cryptographic algorithms and random key generation algorithms. As for symmetric encryption algorithms, "AES-NI" instructions available on certain products are exempt as they are made up only of “simple acceleration instructions” of certain cryptographic operations.

When “Diffusion Restreinte (DR)" mode is enabled in SNS 4.3.32 LTSB, the following will occur:
  • IPsec: only certificate-based authentication is allowed.
  • IPsec: the certificates used (from the end user certificate to the common trusted CA) must comply with the following specifications: ECDSA or ECSDSA signature on an SECP or Brainpool curve, SHA256 as the hash algorithm and a key size of 256 bits.
  • IPsec: the module will check whether the firewall is using version 2 of the IKE protocol.
  • IPsec: the module will check whether the Peer ID is entered.
  • IPsec: the module will check whether the encryption algorithms used belong to DH19 and DH28 groups (SECP and Brainpool 256).
  • IPsec: the module will check whether the encryption algorithm used is either AES_GCM_16 (AEAD: Authenticated Encryption with Associated Data; AES_GCM_16 is therefore not associated with any authentication algorithm), or AES_CTR, which must be associated with SHA256.
  • IPsec: the verification of certificate revocation must be enabled.
  • IPsec: the size of the anti-replay window must not be zero.
  • IPsec: the Pseudo-Random Function (PRF) algorithm must be SHA256.

    • IMPORTANT
    If any of the above conditions is not met, the non-compliant IPsec configuration will be disabled and the following message appears:
    “‘Diffusion Restreinte' mode disabled the non-compliant IPsec VPN configuration”.
    The aim of this message is to prompt the administrator to modify the IPsec policy so that the configuration can be enabled.

  • On firewalls equipped with Intel processors, the “Diffusion Restreinte (DR)" mode will allow the use of the coprocessor's cryptographic hardware instruction sets. On firewalls equipped with other types of processors, the “ANSSI Diffusion Restreinte (DR)" mode will force such instruction sets to be disabled, causing performance to slow down during encryption.
  • The “Diffusion Restreinte (DR)" mode restricts the encryption suites that can be used on the authentication portal and on SSL VPN: only AES, SHA256, SHA384 and GCM encryption suites are allowed.

NOTE
Enabling the “Diffusion Restreinte (DR)” mode requires rebooting the firewall.

Password policy

The indicated parameters apply to all passwords and pre-shared keys defined on the firewall (PPTP VPN, IPsec VPN, internal LDAP directory, etc.).

Minimum password length Indicate the minimum number of characters required for each password defined on the firewall.

NOTE
The value defined by default is 1 for the purpose of compatibility in the event existing configurations are migrated to version 2.
Mandatory character types Select the mandatory types of characters to be included in each password:
  • None: the password is not required to contain any alphanumeric or special characters,
  • Alphanumeric: the password must contain at least an alphabetical character and a number,
  • Alphabetical and special: the password must contain at least an alphanumeric character and a special character (‘#’, ‘@’, etc…)
Minimum entropy Entropy is a parameter that makes it possible to define the required robustness of a password. Higher entropy means that the password must be more robust.
When it is defined, it will be factored into the calculation of randomly generated passwords, e.g., for temporary accounts, as well as manually defined passwords.
Entropy takes into account the length of the password and the size of the character set used.

The formula to calculate it is as follows:
Entropy = (length of password)*(Log(Size of character set)/Log(2)).

The entropy value suggested by default is: 20.
When its value is 0, entropy will be ignored when passwords are automatically generated or manually defined.

Date/Time settings

Manual mode With this option, the firewall’s date and time can be manually set.
Synchronize with your machine This option makes it possible to set the firewall’s date and time according to your computer’s settings.
Synchronize firewall time (NTP)

This option makes it possible to synchronize the firewall's local clock through NTP (Network Time Protocol) servers. Complete this configuration by referring to List of NTP servers and List of NTP keys.
Date This field appears only if the Manual mode option was selected. Select the desired date from the calendar.
Time This field appears only if the Manual mode option was selected. Enter the desired time in HH:MM:SS format.
Time zone Time zone defined for the firewall (GMT by default). The firewall must be restarted if the time zone is changed.

NOTE
The date and time set on your Stormshield Network firewall are important: they allow you to locate events in the log files. They are also useful in scheduling configurations.

List of NTP servers

IMPORTANT
The used NTP servers must be compatible NTPv4.

This grid appears only if the option Synchronize firewall time (NTP) was selected.

NTP servers (host or group-address range) (max 15) Shows the NTP servers used to synchronize the firewall's local clock.
To add an NTP server, click on Add and select from the drop-down list the object representing the NTP server that you wish to add. If this object does not exist, click on the object creation icon to create it.
To delete an NTP server from the list, select it and click on Delete.
Authentication key (ID)

You can enter a key if access to an NTP server requires one for authentication. In this field, select an authentication key from the list of NTP keys already created. Each ID is associated with a value representing the NTP authentication key. To create a new key ID, or to view the list of NTP keys already created, refer to List of NTP keys.

List of NTP keys

This grid appears only if the option Synchronize firewall time (NTP) was selected.

Authentication key (ID)

Shows the list of NTP authentication keys. These IDs can be selected in the Authentication key (ID) column in the List of NTP servers.

To add an NTP key ID, click on Add and give it a unique ID between 1 and 15 inclusive. To delete an ID from the list, select it and click on Delete.
Value

Shows the value of NTP keys. If you add a new NTP key ID, enter the value of its key in this field (maximum 8 characters). Double-click on an existing value to change it.
Key type The key type is selected by default and cannot be changed. This column is hidden by default.

Advanced properties

Hardware

The Watchdog option, which monitors hardware activity, is available on all physical firewalls. It is not available on virtual firewalls

Hardware monitoring timeout (watchdog) This device tests the activity of the firewall’s system. The frequency of tests is defined by this timeout. When the system is idle, this watchdog will reboot the firewall and raise a system event (24).
To stop monitoring, select Disable.

Captive portal

Redirect to the captive portal This option allows you to choose the name of the firewall used when generating URIs that redirect to the captive portal. There are four possible values:
  • Use firewall's IP address
  • Use firewall's name.
    This refers to the name indicated in the Firewall name field in the General configuration section or the firewall's serial number if no name was specified in this field.
  • Use the captive portal's certificate.
    This refers to the name of the firewall specified in the portal's certificate.
  • Specify a domain name (FQDN).
Domain name (FQDN) Enter a fully qualified DNS name for the firewall (e.g.: firewall.company.org). This field can only be accessed when the Specify a domain name (FQDN) value was selected in the previous field.

Telemetry

Allow usage data to be sent to Stormshield (anonymous) When this checkbox is selected, your firewall will send usage data to Stormshield's cloud (on port 443) for statistics: CPU consumption, memory use, number of log lines generated, size of log lines generated.
All this data is anonymous.

SSH command prompt

System node name

In this field, you can set an additional name that will be concatenated with the name of the firewall. The name of this system node is particularly useful in high availability configurations, as it easily identifies the member of the cluster on which you are connected when you open a session in console mode, for example.

When this system node name is configured, it appears in parentheses in the upper banner of the web administration interface, after the serial number of the firewall.

Industrial firewalls only (SNi20 and SNi40 models)

To ensure service continuity in an industrial setting, SNi20 and SNi40 model firewalls are equipped with a hardware bypass function, which when enabled, allows network traffic to pass through without being analyzed.

NOTES
  • This mechanism cannot be enabled on firewalls in a high availability configuration.
  • This mechanism can only be enabled on the first two interfaces of the firewall.

Two of the firewall's operating modes are available:

  • Security mode: this mode prioritizes network security and protection. The bypass mechanism cannot be enabled. This is the firewall's default operating mode.
  • Safety mode: this mode prioritizes service continuity. The bypass mechanism will be enabled whenever the firewall breaks down or there is a power outage.

Whenever Safety mode is enabled, one of three types of bypass may be activated:

  • SystemOff bypass: activated when the firewall experiences an electrical failure or when there is a power outage.
  • JustOn bypass: it will be activated when the appliance is restarted and will then be disabled.
  • OnTimer bypass: when the product has to handle too many connections, this bypass will be activated after a period defined in the configuration of Safety mode. Once the bypass is activated, the firewall administrator can then reset Safety mode.

IMPORTANT
The proper operation of network traffic must be verified immediately after a manual reset. The firewall will not recognize connections initiated during the active bypass phase and will systematically reject them.

When bypass is activated, the first two interfaces of the firewall will be represented as follows:

 
Enable safety modeWhen this option is selected, you will be enabling the firewall's bypass mechanism. All three activation modes will be automatically available.
Safety mode timeoutSelect the period after which the OnTimer bypass must be activated. The various possible values are:
  • 1 min
  • 1 min 30 sec
  • 2 min
  • 2 min 30 sec
  • 3 min
  • 3 min 30 sec
  • 4 min
Reset safety modeWhen the OnTimer bypass is activated, you can click on this button in order to disable it and return the firewall to Safety mode.