System information
172 Chapter 4: Configuring Cisco VPN 3000 for Remote Access Using Preshared Keys
Configuration | System | General
The General section of the VPN Manager enables you to configure these general VPN
concentrator parameters:
• Identification—System name, contact person, system location
• Time and Date—System time and date
• Sessions—The maximum number of sessions
• Authentication—General authentication parameters
Configuration | System | Client Update
You can configure the Cisco VPN 3000 Concentrators to manage client updates for VPN Client
and VPN 3002 Hardware Clients. In the case of the software clients, the concentrator notifies
the clients of the acceptable client versions and provides the location where the appropriate
versions can be obtained. For VPN 3002 Hardware Clients, the concentrator pushes the correct
version to the client via TFTP.
This section of the VPN 3000 Concentrator Manager lets you configure the client update
feature, as follows:
• Enable—Enables or disables client update
• Entries—Configures updates by client type, acceptable firmware and software versions,
and their locations
Configuration | System | Load Balancing Cisco VPN Clients
When you have two or more VPN 3000 Concentrators on the same subnet handling remote
access VPN services, you can group those devices together to perform load balancing across
the devices. The private and public subnets are grouped into a virtual cluster. One of the
concentrators acts as the cluster master and directs incoming calls to the device that has the
smallest load, including itself. If, for any reason, the master fails, one of the other concentrators
in the cluster takes over the role.
Clients first connect to the virtual IP address of the cluster. The cluster master intercepts the call
and sends the client the public IP address of the least-loaded available concentrator. The client
then uses that IP address to initiate the VPN tunnel with the concentrator. If a concentrator in
the cluster fails, the terminated clients immediately try to reconnect with the virtual IP, and the
cluster master reassigns them to available devices.
After you have made certain that the public and private interfaces have been fully configured
and are operational, you use this section of the VPN 3000 Concentrator Manager to define the
load-sharing cluster.
chpt_04.fm Page 172 Friday, April 4, 2003 9:19 AM