Manual Chapter :
Configuring App Tunnel Access
Applies To:
Show VersionsBIG-IP APM
- 16.0.1, 16.0.0, 15.1.0
Configuring App Tunnel Access
What are app tunnels?
An
app tunnel
(application tunnel) provides secure, application-level TCP/IP connections
from the client to the network. App tunnels are particularly useful for users with limited privileges who
attempt to access particular web applications, as app tunnels do not require that the user has
administrative privileges to install. Additionally, optimization is available for app tunnels. With compression settings for app tunnels, you
can specify the available compression codecs for client-to-server connections. The server compares the
available compression types configured with the available compression types on the server, and chooses the
most effective mutual compression setting. You configure compression for the server in the connectivity
profile.
Because app tunnels do not require administrative rights, some features of Network Access
and Optimized Application tunnels are not available with app tunnels. For example, the application tunnel
cannot easily resolve domain names in applications without a client-side DNS redirector, or modification of
the system hosts file.
For tunnels that access backend servers by using DNS resolution, use Optimized
Application Tunnels in the Network Access menus instead. Optimized Applications require administrative
rights on the local system.
About ACLs to control access from app
tunnels
When you create an app tunnel, Access Policy Manager (APM) automatically creates an allow ACL for the IP addresses and ports specified in the
app tunnel. To disallow access to any other IP addresses and ports, you must create ACLs that
deny access to them and assign the ACLs in the per-session policy. F5
recommends that you create an ACL that rejects access to all connections and put it last in the
ACL order.
Configure an ACL
to reject all connections
You can place an access control list (ACL) that
rejects all connections last in the ACL order to keep users from accessing any host and
port combinations other than those to which they have been explicitly allowed access by
the other ACLs assigned to the policy.
- On the Main tab, click.The User-defined ACLs screen opens.
- ClickCreate.The New ACL screen opens.
- In theNamefield, type a name for the access control list.
- From theTypelist, retain the default valueStatic.
- In theDescriptionfield, add a description of the access control list.
- From theACL Orderlist, selectLastto add the ACL at the last position in the list.
- Click theCreatebutton.The ACL Properties screen displays.
- In the Access Control Entries area, clickAddto add an entry.The New Access Control Entry screen displays.
- From theTypelist, selectL4.
- For theSource IP Address,Source Port(s),Destination IP Address, andDestination Port(s)fields, retain the default valueAny.
- From theActionlist, selectReject.The reject action drops the packet. On TCP flows, it also sends a TCP RST message. On UDP flows, it also sends proper ICMP messages. On other protocols, it drops the packet silently.
- ClickFinished.
To use the ACL, assign it to a session using an
Advanced Resource Assign or ACL Assign action in a per-session policy.
If you assign
this ACL and Network Access or Portal Access resources to the same policy, you might
need to also create and assign ACLs that allow access for Network Access and Portal
Access resources.
Configuring an app
tunnel object
When
you create an app tunnel object, that object becomes a simple container that holds app tunnel
resources. Once you specify those resources from within the app tunnel resource, you can then
assign the resource to an access policy.
- On the Main tab, click.The App Tunnels screen opens.
- ClickCreate.The New App Tunnel Resource screen opens.
- Type a name and description for your app tunnel.
- Although an ACL is automatically created for your application object, you can choose to determine the order of your ACL as it appears in the ACL list. Use theACL Orderlist to select the placement you want.
- Under Default Customization Settings, type aCaptionfor the app tunnel.This caption identifies the app tunnel and enables it to appear on a full webtop.
- ClickCreate.
You
have just created an app tunnel object.
Configuring an application resource item for an app tunnel
The application resource item specifies how to create a particular tunnel. The
application field serves as a hint to Access Policy Manager in order to
help with special handling of specific protocols. Compression settings specify which compression
codecs the tunnels can use, while the
Launch Application
field allows you
to define an application that will run after you establish the resource tunnel.- On the Main tab, click.The list of app tunnels opens.
- Click the name of the app tunnel you created.The Properties screen opens.
- Under Resource Items, clickAdd.The New Resource Item screen opens.
- For theDestinationsetting, specify whether the application destinationTypeis a host or an IP address.You cannot use the fully qualified domain name to connect to an application resource that is configured with an IP address destination type.If you specify a hostname, make sure that it is DNS-resolvable. After the application tunnel is assigned to a full webtop in an access policy, the application tunnel does not appear on the full webtop if the hostname is not DNS-resolvable.
- Specify your port or port range for the application.
- From theApplication Protocollist, select the application protocol.NoneSpecifies that the app tunnel resource uses neither RPC or FTP protocols.Microsoft RPCSpecifies that the resource uses the Microsoft RPC protocol.Microsoft Exchange RPC ServerSpecifies that the resource uses the Microsoft Exchange RPC Server protocol.FTPSpecifies that the resource uses FTP protocol.
- For theApplication Pathsetting, optionally specify a path for an application to start after the application access tunnel is established.
- For theParameterssetting, specify any parameters associated with the application that starts with theApplication Path. The parameters you can add are:
- %host%- This is substituted with the loopback host address, for examplehttp://%host%/application/.
- %port%- The loopback port. Use this if the original local port has changed due to conflicts with other software.
- ClickFinished.The resource appears in the app tunnel object.
Adding an app tunnel to a per-session policy
Add an app tunnel to a per-session policy to
provide a secure connection from a client to a network and to provide access to the resources
configured for the tunnel.
Add ACLs to the policy to
prevent access to any other resources.
- On the Main tab, click.The Access Profiles (Per-Session Policies) screen opens.
- Click the name of the access profile for which you want to edit the access policy.The properties screen opens for the profile you want to edit.
- On the menu bar, clickAccess Policy.
- In the General Properties area, click theEdit Access Policy for Profilelink.profile_nameThe visual policy editor opens the access policy in a separate screen.
- Click the(+)icon anywhere in the access policy to add a new item.Only an applicable subset of access policy items is available for selection in the visual policy editor for any access profile type.A popup screen opens, listing predefined actions on tabs such as General Purpose, Authentication, and so on.
- On the Assignment tab, select theAdvanced Resource Assignagent, and then clickAdd Item.The Resource Assignment screen opens.
- ClickAdd new entry.AnEmptyentry displays.
- Click theAdd/Deletelink below the entry.The screen changes to display resources on multiple tabs.
- On the App Tunnel tab, select the app tunnel that you configured previously.A system-defined ACL for the app tunnel is automatically assigned to the policy. The ACL specifies the allow action for the resource items associated with the app tunnel.
- On the Static ACL tab, select an ACL that rejects all connections.Adding an ACL that is last in order and rejects all connections keeps users from accessing any host and port combinations other than those to which they have been explicitly allowed access by the other ACLs assigned to the policy.
- On the Webtop tab, select a full webtop.
- Select any other resources that you want to assign to the policy.If you assign a Network Access resource to the policy, be sure to also assign an ACL that allows access to the resources that you want users to have. Otherwise, the ACL that rejects all connections blocks access.If you assign a Portal Access resource to the policy, be sure to also assign an ACL that allows access to all parts of the web sites specified in the start URI or hosted content fields of the Portal Access configuration. Otherwise, the ACL that rejects all connections blocks access.
- ClickUpdate.
- Click theSavebutton to save changes to the access policy item.
An app tunnel and ACLs are now assigned to the
policy.
To complete the process, you must apply the access
policy, and associate the access policy and connectivity profile with a virtual server so users
can launch an app tunnel session.
To ensure
that logging is configured to meet your requirements, verify the log settings for
the access profile.
Attaching an access
policy to the virtual server for app tunnels
When
creating a virtual server for an access policy, specify an IP address for a single host as the
destination address.
- On the Main tab, click.The Virtual Server List screen opens.
- Click the name of the virtual server you want to modify.
- For theDestination Address/Masksetting, confirm that theHostbutton is selected, and type the IP address in CIDR format.The supported format is address/prefix, where the prefix length is in bits. For example, an IPv4 address/prefix is10.0.0.1or10.0.0.0/24, and an IPv6 address/prefix isffe1::0020/64or2001:ed8:77b5:2:10:10:100:42/64. When you use an IPv4 address without specifying a prefix, the BIG-IP system automatically uses a/32prefix.The IP address you type must be available and not in the loopback network.
- From theHTTP Profile (Client)list, select a previously-created HTTP/2 profile for client-side traffic.
- In the Access Policy area, from theAccess Profilelist, select the access profile that you configured earlier.
- If you are using a connectivity profile, from theConnectivity Profilelist, select the connectivity profile.
- If you are creating a virtual server to use with portal access resources in addition to app tunnels, from theRewrite Profilelist, select the defaultrewriteprofile, or another rewrite profile you created.
- If you want to provide connections to allow Java rewriting for portal access or support a per-app VPN connection that is configured on a mobile device, select theApplication Tunnels (Java & Per-App VPN)check box.You must enable this setting to make socket connections from a patched Java applet. If your applet does not require socket connections, or only uses HTTP to request resources, this setting is not required.
- If you want to provide native integration with an OAM server for authentication and authorization, select theOAM Supportcheck box.You must have an OAM server configured in order to enable OAM support.
- ClickUpdate.
Your
access policy is now associated with the virtual server.
Verify log settings for the access profile
Confirm that the correct log settings are selected for the access profile to ensure that events are logged as you intend.
Log settings are configured in the
area of the product. They enable and disable logging for access system and URL request filtering events. Log settings also specify log publishers that send log messages to specified destinations. - On the Main tab, click.The Access Profiles (Per-Session Policies) screen opens.
- Click the name of the access profile that you want to edit.The properties screen opens.
- On the menu bar, clickLogs.The access profile log settings display.
- Move log settings between theAvailableandSelectedlists.You can assign up to three log settings that enable access system logging to an access profile. You can assign additional log settings to an access profile provided that they enable logging for URl request logging only.Logging is disabled when theSelectedlist is empty.
- ClickUpdate.
An access profile is in effect when it is assigned to a virtual server.