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Configure Data Protection (Quick Mode) Settings on Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2

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Applies To: Windows 7, Windows Essential Business Server, Windows SBS 2003, Windows SBS 2008, Windows Server 2000, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista

This procedure shows you how to configure the data protection (quick mode) settings for connection security rules in an isolated domain or a standalone isolated server zone.

Administrative credentials

To complete these procedures, you must be a member of the Domain Administrators group, or otherwise be delegated permissions to modify the GPOs.

To configure quick mode settings

  1. Open the Group Policy Management Console to Windows Firewall with Advanced Security.

  2. In the details pane on the main Windows Firewall with Advanced Security page, click Windows Firewall Properties.

  3. On the IPsec Settings tab, click Customize.

  4. In the Data protection (Quick Mode) section, click Advanced, and then click Customize.

  5. If you require encryption for all network traffic in the specified zone, then check Require encryption for all connection security rules that use these settings. Selecting this option disables the Data integrity section, and forces you to select only integrity algorithms that are combined with an encryption algorithm. If you do not select this option, then you can use only data integrity algorithms. Before selecting this option, consider the performance impact and the increase in network traffic that will result. We recommend that you use this setting only on network traffic that truly requires it, such as to and from computers in the encryption zone.

  6. If you did not select Require encryption, then select the data integrity algorithms that you want to use to help protect the data sessions between the two computers. If the data integrity algorithms displayed in the list are not what you want, then do the following:

    1. From the left column, remove any of the data integrity algorithms that you do not want by selecting the algorithm and then clicking Remove.

    2. Add any required data integrity algorithms by clicking Add, selecting the appropriate protocol (ESP or AH) and algorithm (SHA1 or MD5), selecting the key lifetime in minutes or sessions, and then clicking OK. We recommend that you do not include MD5 in any combination. It is included for backward compatibility only. We also recommend that you use ESP instead of AH if you have any devices on your network that use network address translation (NAT).

    3. In Key lifetime (in sessions), type the number of times that the quick mode session can be rekeyed. After this number is reached, the quick mode SA must be renegotiated. Be careful to balance performance with security requirements. Although a shorter key lifetime results in better security, it also reduces performance because of the more frequent renegotiating of the quick mode SA. We recommend that you use the default value unless your risk analysis indicates the need for a different value.

    4. Click OK to save your algorithm combination settings.

    5. After the list contains only the combinations you want, use the up and down arrows to the right of the list to rearrange them in the correct order for your design. The algorithm combination that is first in the list is tried first, and so on.

  7. Select the data integrity and encryption algorithms that you want to use to help protect the data sessions between the two computers. If the algorithm combinations displayed in the list are not what you want, then do the following:

    1. From the second column, remove any of the data integrity and encryption algorithms that you do not want by selecting the algorithm combination and then clicking Remove.

    2. Add any required integrity and encryption algorithm combinations by clicking Add, and then doing the following:

    3. Select the appropriate protocol (ESP or AH). We recommend that you use ESP instead of AH if you have any devices on your network that use NAT.

    4. Select the appropriate encryption algorithm. The choices include, in order of decreasing security: AES-256, AES-192, AES-128, 3DES, and DES. We recommend that you do not include DES in any combination. It is included for backward compatibility only.

    5. Select the appropriate integrity algorithm (SHA1 or MD5). We recommend that you do not include MD5 in any combination. It is included for backward compatibility only.

    6. In Key lifetime (in minutes), type the number of minutes. When the specified number of minutes has elapsed, any IPsec operations between the two computers that negotiated this key will require a new key. Be careful to balance performance with security requirements. Although a shorter key lifetime results in better security, it also reduces performance because of the more frequent rekeying. We recommend that you use the default value unless your risk analysis indicates the need for a different value.

  8. Click OK three times to save your settings.

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