IPSec newbie

[Sanjay Tailor]

Hello,

I have requirement to have certain traffic to specific servers from a couple of our HP-UX boxes to be encrypted /secure. The rest of the IP traffic is to stay the same and just pass through. I am thinking about using IPsec with preshared keys.

I am installing IPsec on one test box and would like some more info. What things should I look for to implement properly? Any pitfalls or potential problems I should be aware of? Also, once I load the software, reboot the machine I am hoping the IPSec does not turn on automatically, is that correct?

Do the other machines that I want secure IP traffic to have to be HP-UX machines? If not, then I would assume that similar type software and policies should be loaded on these machines. Any potential problems here? If IPsec is not working properly, can I uninstall it? Use swremove? Could I use command "ipsec_admin - stop" to stop IPsec also permanently?

I appreciate any help / advice from the security pros abouth this issue. Any other additional info is most welcome.

Thank you,

Sanjay Tailor.