Select system communication roles for IPS interfaces

Select which interfaces are used for particular roles in system communications.

For example, you can select which IP addresses are used in communications between the IPS engine and the Management Server.

The interfaces you have defined are shown as a tree-table on the Interfaces tab. Global interface options have codes in the tree-table.

Table 1. Interface option codes
Code Description
C The interfaces that have the primary and backup control IP addresses.
(IPS Cluster only)

H

 The primary and backup heartbeat Interfaces.
O The default IP address for outgoing connections.

For more details about the product and how to configure features, click Help or press F1.

Steps

  1. In the navigation pane on the left, browse to Interfaces > Interface Options.
  2. Select the interface options.
    1. From the Primary control IP address drop-down list, select the primary control IP address that the IPS engine uses for communications with the Management Server.
    2. (Optional, recommended) In the Backup control IP address drop-down list, select a backup control IP address that the IPS engine uses for communications with the Management Server if the primary control IP address fails.
    3. (IPS Cluster only) From the Primary heartbeat drop-down list, select the primary interface for communications between the nodes.
      We recommend using a physical interface, not a VLAN interface. We strongly recommend that you do not direct any other traffic through this interface. A dedicated network (without other traffic) is recommended for security and reliability of heartbeat communication.
      CAUTION:
      Primary and backup heartbeat networks exchange confidential information. If dedicated networks are not possible, configure the cluster to encrypt the exchanged information.
    4. (IPS Cluster only) From the Backup heartbeat drop-down list, select the backup heartbeat interface that is used if the primary heartbeat interface is unavailable.
      It is not mandatory to configure a backup heartbeat interface, but we strongly recommend it. If heartbeat traffic is not delivered, the cluster cannot operate and traffic is disturbed. We strongly recommend that you use a dedicated interface for the backup heartbeat as well.
    5. (Single IPS only) If the Single IPS engine's primary control IP address and backup control IP address are dynamic or if the Single IPS engine is in an environment where only the IPS engine can initiate connections to the Management Server, select Node-initiated contact to Management Server.
      When this option is selected, the engine opens a connection to the Management Server and maintains connectivity.
    6. From the Default IP Address for Outgoing Traffic drop-down list, select the IP address that nodes use if they have to initiate connections through an interface that has no Node Dedicated IP address.
  3. Click Save.

Next steps

Add traffic inspection interfaces for the IPS engine.