Information About Cisco TrustSec
This section provides information about Cisco TrustSec.
Cisco TrustSec Architecture
The Cisco TrustSec security architecture builds secure networks by establishing clouds of trusted network devices. Cisco TrustSec also uses the device information acquired during authentication for classifying, or coloring, the packets as they enter the network. This packet classification is maintained by tagging packets on ingress to the Cisco TrustSec network so that they can be properly identified for the purpose of applying security and other policy criteria along the data path. The tag, also called the security group tag (SGT), allows the network to enforce the access control policy by enabling the endpoint device to act upon the SGT to filter traffic.
![]() Note |
Ingress refers to entering the first Cisco TrustSec-capable device encountered by a packet on its path to the destination and egress refers to leaving the last Cisco TrustSec-capable device on the path. |
![](/c/dam/en/us/td/i/100001-200000/180001-190000/187001-188000/187006.eps/_jcr_content/renditions/187006.jpg)
The Cisco TrustSec architecture consists of the following major components:
- Authentication
- Verifies the identity of each device before allowing them to join the Cisco TrustSec network.
- Authorization
- Decides the level of access to the Cisco TrustSec network resources for a device based on the authenticated identity of the device.
- Access control
- Applies access policies on a per-packet basis using the source tags on each packet.
A Cisco TrustSec network has the following entities:
- Authenticators (AT)
- Devices that are already part of a Cisco TrustSec network.
- Authorization server (AS)
- Servers that may provide authentication information, authorization information, or both.
When the link first comes up, authorization occurs in which each side of the link obtains policies, such as SGT and ACLs, that apply to the link.
Authentication
Cisco TrustSec authenticates a device before allowing it to join the network.
Device Identities
Cisco TrustSec does not use IP addresses or MAC addresses as device identities. Instead, assign a name (device ID) to each Cisco TrustSec-capable Cisco NX-OS device to identify it uniquely in the Cisco TrustSec network. This device ID is used for the following:
-
Looking up authorization policy
-
Looking up passwords in the databases during authentication
Device Credentials
Cisco TrustSec supports password-based credentials. The authentication servers may use self-signed certificates instead. Cisco TrustSec authenticates the supplicants through passwords and uses MSCHAPv2 to provide mutual authentication even if the authentication server certificate is not verifiable.
The authentication server uses a temporarily configured password to authenticate the supplicant when the supplicant first joins the Cisco TrustSec network. When the supplicant first joins the Cisco TrustSec network, the authentication server authenticates the supplicant using a manufacturing certificate and then generates a strong password and pushes it to the supplicant with the PAC. The authentication server also keeps the new password in its database.
User Credentials
Cisco TrustSec does not require a specific type of user credentials for endpoint devices. You can choose any type of authentication method for the user (for example, MSCHAPv2, LEAP, generic token card (GTC), or OTP) and use the corresponding credentials.
SGACLs and SGTs
In security group access lists (SGACLs), you can control the operations that users can perform based on assigned security groups. The grouping of permissions into a role simplifies the management of the security policy. As you add users to a Cisco NX-OS device, you simply assign one or more security groups and they immediately receive the appropriate permissions. You can modify security groups to introduce new privileges or restrict current permissions.
Cisco TrustSec assigns a unique 16-bit tag, called the security group tag (SGT), to a security group. The number of SGTs in a Cisco NX-OS device is limited to the number of authenticated network entities. The SGT is a single label that indicates the privileges of the source within the entire enterprise. Its scope is global within a Cisco TrustSec network.
The management server derives the SGTs based on the security policy configuration. You do not have to configure them manually.
Once authenticated, Cisco TrustSec tags any packet that originates from a device with the SGT that represents the security group to which the device is assigned. The packet carries this SGT throughout the network within the Cisco TrustSec header. Because this tag represents the group of the source, the tag is referred to as the source SGT. At the egress edge of the network, Cisco TrustSec determines the group that is assigned to the packet destination device and applies the access control policy.
Cisco TrustSec defines access control policies between the security groups. By assigning devices within the network to security groups and applying access control between and within the security groups, Cisco TrustSec essentially achieves access control within the network.
![](/c/dam/en/us/td/i/100001-200000/180001-190000/187001-188000/187010.eps/_jcr_content/renditions/187010.jpg)
![](/c/dam/en/us/td/i/100001-200000/180001-190000/187001-188000/187009.eps/_jcr_content/renditions/187009.jpg)
The Cisco NX-OS device defines the Cisco TrustSec access control policy for a group of devices as opposed to IP addresses in traditional ACLs. With such a decoupling, the network devices are free to move throughout the network and change IP addresses. Entire network topologies can change. As long as the roles and the permissions remain the same, changes to the network do not change the security policy. This feature greatly reduces the size of ACLs and simplifies their maintenance.
In traditional IP networks, the number of access control entries (ACEs) configured is determined as follows:
Number of ACEs = (number of sources specified) X (number of destinations specified) X (number of permissions specified)
Cisco TrustSec uses the following formula:
Number of ACEs = number of permissions specified
For information about SGACL policy enforcement with SGT caching, see SGACL Policy Enforcement With Cisco TrustSec SGT Caching.
Determining the Source Security Group
A network device at the ingress of the Cisco TrustSec network cloud needs to determine the SGT of the packet entering the Cisco TrustSec network cloud so that it can tag the packet with that SGT when it forwards it into the Cisco TrustSec network cloud. The egress network device needs to determine the SGT of the packet so that it can apply the SGACLs.
The network device can determine the SGT for a packet using one of the following methods:
-
Obtain the source SGT during policy acquisition—After the Cisco TrustSec authentication phase, a network device acquires a policy from an authentication server. The authentication server indicates whether the peer device is trusted or not. If a peer device is not trusted, the authentication server can also provide an SGT to apply to all packets coming from the peer device.
-
Obtain the source SGT field from the Cisco TrustSec header—If a packet comes from a trusted peer device, the Cisco TrustSec header carries the correct SGT field if the network device is not the first network device in the Cisco TrustSec network cloud for the packet.
Determining the Destination Security Group
The egress network device in a Cisco TrustSec network cloud determines the destination group for applying the SGACL. In some cases, ingress devices or other nonegress devices might have destination group information available. In those cases, SGACLs might be applied in these devices rather than in egress devices.
Cisco TrustSec determines the destination group for the packet based on the destination IP address.
Do not configure the destination SGT to enforce Cisco TrustSec on egress broadcast, multicast, and unknown unicast traffic on Fabric Extender (FEX) or vEthernet ports. Instead, set the DST to zero (unknown). The following is an example of the correct configuration:
cts role-based access-list acl-on-fex-egress
deny udp
deny ip
cts role-based sgt 9 dst 0 access-list acl-on-fex-egress
SXP for SGT Propagation Across Legacy Access Networks
The Cisco NX-OS device hardware in the access layer supports Cisco TrustSec. Without the Cisco TrustSec hardware, the Cisco TrustSec software cannot tag the packets with SGTs. You can use SXP to propagate the SGTs across network devices that do not have hardware support for Cisco TrustSec.
SXP operates between access layer devices and distribution layer devices. The access layer devices use SXP to pass the IP addresses of the Cisco TrustSec-authenticated devices with their SGTs to the distribution switches. Distribution devices with both Cisco TrustSec-enabled software and hardware can use this information to tag packets appropriately and enforce SGACL policies.
![](/c/dam/en/us/td/i/300001-400000/330001-340000/331001-332000/331178.eps/_jcr_content/renditions/331178.jpg)
Tagging packets with SGTs requires hardware support. You might have devices in your network that cannot tag packets with SGTs. To allow these devices to send IP address-to-SGT mappings to a device that has Cisco TrustSec-capable hardware, you must manually set up the SXP connections. Manually setting up an SXP connection requires the following:
-
If you require SXP data integrity and authentication, you must configure the same SXP password on both of the peer devices. You can configure the SXP password either explicitly for each peer connection or globally for the device. The SXP password is not required.
-
You must configure each peer on the SXP connection as either an SXP speaker or an SXP listener. The speaker device distributes the SXP information to the listener device.
Note
This Cisco Nexus device does not have the functionality to be an SXP listener. It can only be an SXP speaker.
-
You can specify a source IP address to use for each peer relationship or you can configure a default source IP address for peer connections where you have not configured a specific source IP address.
Environment Data Download
The Cisco TrustSec environment data is a collection of information or policies that assists a device to function as a Cisco TrustSec node. The device acquires the environment data from the authentication server when the device first joins a Cisco TrustSec network cloud, although you might also manually configure some of the data on a device. For example, you must configure the seed Cisco TrustSec device with the authentication server information, which can later be augmented by the server list that the device acquires from the authentication server.
![]() Note |
If you have manually configured the Cisco TrustSec device ID, but not using the AAA server for a Cisco TrustSec deployment, you should remove the Cisco TrustSec device ID by using the no cts device-id command. Otherwise, the following false syslog error is generated:
The no cts device-id command is supported from Cisco NX-OS Release 7.2. If you are using Cisco NX-OS Release 6.2.6 or a later release, you can disable only by disabling Cisco TrustSec and reapplying Cisco TrustSec configurations without the cts device-id configuration. |
The device must refresh the Cisco TrustSec environment data before it expires. The device can also cache the data and reuse it after a reboot if the data has not expired.
The device uses RADIUS to acquire the following environment data from the authentication server:
- Server lists
- List of servers that the client can use for future RADIUS requests (for both authentication and authorization)
- Device SGT
- Security group to which the device itself belongs
- Expiry timeout
- Interval that controls how often the Cisco TrustSec device should refresh its environment data