Explain the distinct roles of the IKE gateway, IPsec tunnel, and static route in the lab's site-to-site VPN.

### What a good answer covers - The **Internet Key Exchange (IKE) gateway** specifies peer information and settings used to negotiate the VPN connection. - The **Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) tunnel** associates that gateway with a tunnel interface and cryptographic profile to protect data. - The **static route** selects the tunnel interface for traffic destined for the remote local area network (LAN). - These functions are related but not interchangeable: negotiation alone does not route packets, and a route alone does not encrypt them. ### Terms - **IKE**: Internet Key Exchange, the negotiation protocol for the VPN. - **IPsec**: Internet Protocol Security, mechanisms for protecting IP traffic. - **LAN**: Local Area Network, a site’s internal network. ### Remember Gateway negotiates, tunnel protects, route forwards.