Access lists perform packet filtering to control which packets move through the network and where. Such control can help limit network traffic and restrict the access of users and devices to the network. Access lists have many uses, and therefore many commands accept a reference to an access list in their command syntax. Access lists can be used to do the following:

• Filter incoming packets on an interface.

• Filter outgoing packets on an interface.

• Restrict the contents of routing updates.

• Limit debug output based on an address or protocol.

• Control virtual terminal line access.

• Identify or classify traffic for advanced features, such as congestion avoidance, congestion management, and priority and custom queuing.

• Trigger dial-on-demand routing (DDR) calls.

An access list is a sequential list consisting of a permit statement and a deny statement that apply to IP addresses and possibly upper-layer IP protocols. The access list has a name by which it is referenced. Many software commands accept an access list as part of their syntax.

An access list can be configured and named, but it is not in effect until the access list is referenced by a command that accepts an access list. Multiple commands can reference the same access list. An access list can control traffic arriving at the device or leaving the device, but not traffic originating at the device.

• The software tests the source or destination address or the protocol of each packet being filtered against the conditions in the access list, one condition (permit or deny statement) at a time.

• If a packet does not match an access list statement, the packet is then tested against the next statement in the list.

• If a packet and an access list statement match, the rest of the statements in the list are skipped and the packet is permitted or denied as specified in the matched statement. The first entry that the packet matches determines whether the software permits or denies the packet. That is, after the first match, no subsequent entries are considered.

• If the access list denies the address or protocol, the software discards the packet and returns an Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Host Unreachable message.

• If no conditions match, the packet is dropped. This is because each access list ends with an unwritten or implicit deny statement. That is, if the packet has not been permitted by the time it was tested against each statement, it is denied.

• Because the software stops testing conditions after the first match, the order of the conditions is critical. The same permit or deny statements specified in a different order could result in a packet being passed under one circumstance and denied in another circumstance.

• If an access list is referenced by name in a command, but the access list does not exist, all packets pass.

• Only one access list per interface, per protocol, per direction is allowed.

• Inbound access lists process packets arriving at the device. Incoming packets are processed before being routed to an outbound interface. An inbound access list is efficient because it saves the overhead of routing lookups if the packet is to be discarded because it is denied by the filtering tests. If the packet is permitted by the tests, it is then processed for routing. For inbound lists, permit means continue to process the packet after receiving it on an inbound interface; deny means discard the packet.

• Outbound access lists process packets before they leave the device. Incoming packets are routed to the outbound interface and then processed through the outbound access list. For outbound lists, permit means send it to the output buffer; deny means discard the packet.

The following tips will help you avoid unintended consequences and help you create more efficient, useful access lists.

• Create the access list before applying it to an interface (or elsewhere), because if you apply a nonexistent access list to an interface and then proceed to configure the access list, the first statement is put into effect, and the implicit deny statement that follows could cause you immediate access problems.

• Another reason to configure an access list before applying it is because an interface with an empty access list applied to it permits all traffic.

• All access lists need at least one permit statement; otherwise, all packets are denied and no traffic passes.

• Because the software stops testing conditions after it encounters the first match (to either a permit or deny statement), you will reduce processing time and resources if you put the statements that packets are most likely to match at the beginning of the access list. Place more frequently occurring conditions before less frequent conditions.

• Organize your access list so that more specific references in a network or subnet appear before more general ones.

• Use the statement permit any any if you want to allow all other packets not already denied. Using the statement permit any any in effect avoids denying all other packets with the implicit deny statement at the end of an access list. Do not make your first access list entry permit any any because all traffic will get through; no packets will reach the subsequent testing. In fact, once you specify permit any any , all traffic not already denied will get through.

• Although all access lists end with an implicit deny statement, we recommend use of an explicit deny statement (for example, deny ip any any ). On most platforms, you can display the count of packets denied by issuing the show access-list command, thus finding out more information about who your access list is disallowing. Only packets denied by explicit deny statements are counted, which is why the explicit deny statement will yield more complete data for you.

• While you are creating an access list or after it is created, you might want to delete an entry.

  • You cannot delete an entry from a numbered access list; trying to do so will delete the entire access list. If you need to delete an entry, you need to delete the entire access list and start over.
  • You can delete an entry from a named access list. Use the no permit or no deny command to delete the appropriate entry.

• In order to make the purpose of individual statements more scannable and easily understood at a glance, you can write a helpful remark before or after any statement by using the remark command.

• If you want to deny access to a particular host or network and find out if someone from that network or host is attempting to gain access, include the log keyword with the corresponding deny statement so that the packets denied from that source are logged for you.

• This hint applies to the placement of your access list. When trying to save resources, remember that an inbound access list applies the filter conditions before the routing table lookup. An outbound access list applies the filter conditions after the routing table lookup.

• Before you add new ACL statements, provide time to the parser to clean up the deletion.

Source and destination address fields in an IP packet are two typical fields on which to base an access list. Specify source addresses to control the packets being sent from certain networking devices or hosts. Specify destination addresses to control the packets being sent to certain networking devices or hosts.

When comparing the address bits in an access list entry to a packet being submitted to the access list, address filtering uses wildcard masking to determine whether to check or ignore the corresponding IP address bits. By carefully setting wildcard masks, an administrator can select one or more IP addresses for permit or deny tests.

Wildcard masking for IP address bits uses the number 1 and the number 0 to specify how the software treats the corresponding IP address bits. A wildcard mask is sometimes referred to as an inverted mask because a 1 and 0 mean the opposite of what they mean in a subnet (network) mask.

• A wildcard mask bit 0 means check the corresponding bit value.

• A wildcard mask bit 1 means ignore that corresponding bit value.

If you do not supply a wildcard mask with a source or destination address in an access list statement, the software assumes a default wildcard mask of 0.0.0.0.

Unlike subnet masks, which require contiguous bits indicating network and subnet to be ones, wildcard masks allow noncontiguous bits in the mask.

You can filter packets based on transport layer information, such as whether the packet is a TCP, UDP, Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) or Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) packet.

The ability to apply sequence numbers to IP access list entries simplifies access list changes. Prior to the IP Access List Entry Sequence Numbering feature, there was no way to specify the position of an entry within an access list. If you wanted to insert an entry (statement) in the middle of an existing list, all of the entries after the desired position had to be removed. Then, once you added the new entry, you needed to reenter all of the entries you removed earlier. This method was cumbersome and error prone.

The IP Access List Entry Sequence Numbering feature allows you to add sequence numbers to access list entries and resequence them. When you add a new entry, you can choose the sequence number so that the entry is in a desired position in the access list. If necessary, entries currently in the access list can be resequenced (reordered) to create room to insert the new entry.

• For backward compatibility with previous releases, if entries with no sequence numbers are applied, the first entry is assigned a sequence number of 10, and successive entries are incremented by 10. The maximum sequence number is 2147483647. If the generated sequence number exceeds this maximum number, the following message is displayed:

	Exceeded maximum sequence number.

• If you enter an entry without a sequence number, it is assigned a sequence number that is 10 greater than the last sequence number in that access list and is placed at the end of the list.

• If you enter an entry that matches an already existing entry (except for the sequence number), then no changes are made.

• If you enter a sequence number that is already present, the following error message is generated:

	Duplicate sequence number.

• If a new access list is entered from global configuration mode, then sequence numbers for that access list are generated automatically.

• Entries that contain a fully qualified 32-bit host address are hashed instead of linked. And entries that define a sub-net are maintained in a linked list that is sorted by the sequence number for speed of ACL classification. When a packet is matched against a standard ACL, the source address is hashed and matched against the hash table. If no match is found, it then searches the linked list for a possible match.

• Distributed support is provided so that the sequence numbers of entries in the Route Processor (RP) and line card (LC) are always synchronized.

• Sequence numbers are not nvgened. That is, the sequence numbers themselves are not saved. In the event that the system is reloaded, the configured sequence numbers revert to the default sequence starting number and increment from that number. The function is provided for backward compatibility with software releases that do not support sequence numbering.

• The IP Access List Entry Sequence Numbering feature works with named standard and extended IP access lists. Because the name of an access list can be designated as a number, numbers are acceptable.