Key Chains
Authentication is a very important security measure on our enterprises. Control plane protocols like NTP, OSPF, and EIGRP will use authentication controls to verify protocols connect to a non-malicious device. In the case of protocols like NTP, EIGRP and OSPF we can use "key-chains" to create Pre-Shared Keys globally on our device that we can use to authenticate between protocols/devices.
We can use key-chains to authenticate between our routing protocols, and we can rotate keys by implementing time based restrictions our on PSKs, in our key-chain.
In this guide we will configure a key-chain with different keys and different "lifetime" for the keys. This will demonstrate how we can "roll" keys.
Configuration
SW1(config)#key chain DEMO
# This command will create the key chain and bring you into the "Key Chain" sub-configuration mode
SW1(config-keychain)#key 1
This command creates an actual key to be used to authenticate. this is creating the PSK, but is not the actuall "Key" or "password" that will be used.
SW1(config-keychain-key)#key-string [password]
# This command will set the actual password to be used for authentication.
SW1(config-keychain-key)#send-lifetime 00:00:00 1 Mar 2022 00:00:00 1 Sep 2022
# This command will set the length of time the key can be sent.
SW1(config-keychain-key)#accept-lifetime 00:00:00 1 Mar 2022 00:00:00 1 Sep 2022
# This command will set the length of time a key can be accepted
Full configuration is shown below
Verification
SW1#show key chain
# This command will show you all the globally configured key chains and there configurations.
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