Standard ACL

1. What is Standard ACL

When managing a network, you often need to control which traffic is allowed or denied.

A Standard Access Control List (ACL) helps you do just that by filtering IPv4 traffic based only on the source IP address.

In the example below:

• The Legal network (192.168.1.0/24) is allowed to access the Legal Server (192.168.3.1).

• The HR network (192.168.2.0/24) is denied access to that same server.

This is a perfect use case for a Standard ACL, you only care about who is sending the traffic, not where it’s going or what kind of traffic it is.

2. Configure Standard ACL

Now that you understand what a Standard ACL is, let’s walk through how to configure one step by step on a Cisco router.

Step 1: Enter global configuration mode

R1# configure terminal
Enter configuration commands, one per line.  End with CNTL/Z.
R1(config)#

Step 2: Create the Standard ACL

To create a Standard ACL, use the ip access-list standard command.

R1(config)# ip access-list standard ? 
  <1-99>        Standard IP access-list number
  <1300-1999>   Standard IP access-list number (expanded range)
  WORD          Access-list name

Here we choose the number 10, which is part of the valid ranges for Standard ACLs:

• From 1 to 99 (classic range)
• From 1300 to 1999 (expanded range)

R1(config)# ip access-list standard 10 
R1(config-std-nacl)# permit ?
  Hostname or A.B.C.D  Address to match
  any                  Any source host
  host                 A single host address

Step 3: Permit the Legal network

We want to allow traffic from the 192.168.1.0/24 network.

Let’s see the available options:

R1(config-std-nacl)# permit ?
  Hostname or A.B.C.D  Address to match
  any                  Any source host
  host                 A single host address

Here we choose to match a network address:

R1(config-std-nacl)# permit 192.168.1.0 ?      
  A.B.C.D  Wildcard bits
  log      Log matches against this entry
  

We’ll match a the network using a wildcard mask:

R1(config-std-nacl)# permit 192.168.1.0 0.0.0.255

This line matches any host from 192.168.1.0 to 192.168.1.255.

Why 0.0.0.255?

In ACLs, we don’t use subnet masks, we use wildcard masks.

A wildcard mask is the inverse of a subnet mask. It tells the router which bits to ignore when comparing IP addresses.

R1(config-std-nacl)# permit 192.168.1.0 0.0.0.255

Subnet Mask	Wildcard Mask	Matches
255.255.255.0	0.0.0.255	All IPs in a /24 subnet
255.255.255.255	0.0.0.0	One exact IP

So:

permit 192.168.1.0 0.0.0.255 => allows the whole 192.168.1.0/24 network
permit 192.168.1.10 0.0.0.0 => allows only 192.168.1.10

Step 4: Deny the HR network

Now we block all traffic from 192.168.2.0/24:

R1(config-std-nacl)# deny 192.168.2.0 0.0.0.255

ThThis matches all IPs in the HR subnet and blocks them.

Normally, you don’t need to write a deny, there’s already an implicit deny any at the end of every ACL.
But here, we add it explicitly to show how to manually deny a specific subnet.

3. Where to Apply Standard ACL

Your ACL is now configured but it won’t do anything until you apply it to an interface.

Placement Strategy

Standard ACLs only filter based on the source IP address.
That’s why the best practice is to apply them as close as possible to the destination.

Why?

Because if you apply the ACL too early, you might block traffic before it reaches other parts of the network.

In our example:

• Legal network (192.168.1.0/24) is allowed

• HR network (192.168.2.0/24) is denied

• The Legal Server (192.168.3.1) is the destination
  
  We’ll apply the ACL on the interface G0/0, which connects to the destination server.

How to Apply the ACL

We will now apply the ACL number 10 that we previously created.

Step 1: Enter interface configuration mode

R1(config)# int g0/0

Step 2: Check available ACL options

Use the ip access-group command. The router will show you the supported formats:

R1(config-if)# ip access-group ?
  <1-199>      IP access list (standard or extended)
  <1300-2699>  IP expanded access list (standard or extended)
  WORD         Access-list name

Step 3: Apply ACL 10 in the outbound direction

Since traffic is going out toward the server, we apply it outbound:

R1(config-if)# ip access-group 10 ?
  in   inbound packets
  out  outbound packets
R1(config-if)# ip access-group 10 out

Summary

What to do	Why
Apply the ACL on the exit interface	Because Standard ACLs only check the source IP
Use ip access-group 10 out	To activate the ACL on outbound traffic

Now your ACL is active and filtering traffic on the interface as expected.

4. Verifying Standard ACLs

After applying your ACL, it’s important to check that:

1. The ACL is correctly written
2. The ACL is correctly applied to the interface

Cisco provides two commands for this.

Step 1: Check the ACL content

Use the following command to view the ACL rules:

R1# show access-lists 10
Standard IP access list 10
    10 permit 192.168.1.0, wildcard bits 0.0.0.255
    20 deny   192.168.2.0, wildcard bits 0.0.0.255

This confirms that:

• ACE 10: Traffic from 192.168.1.0/24 is allowed
• ACE 20: Traffic from 192.168.2.0/24 is blocked

Step 2: Check if the ACL is applied to the interface

Use the following command to verify that the ACL is actually active on the router’s interface:

R1# show ip interface g0/0
GigabitEthernet0/0 is up, line protocol is up
  Internet address is 192.168.3.254/24
  Broadcast address is 255.255.255.255
  Address determined by setup command
  MTU is 1500 bytes
  Helper address is not set
  Directed broadcast forwarding is disabled
  Outgoing access list is 10
  Inbound  access list is not set
  Proxy ARP is enabled
// OUTPUT OMITTED FOR BREVITY

This confirms that:

• The ACL number 10 is applied in the outbound direction
• It is active on interface G0/0, which connects to the destination server

5. Conclusion

What to remember about Standard ACLs

Key Concept	Description
What it filters	Only the source IP address
Cannot filter	Destination IP, protocols, or ports
Best placement	As close as possible to the destination
Rule evaluation	Top to bottom — the first match wins
Default behavior	Ends with an implicit deny all
Number range	1–99 or 1300–1999

Now that you understand how Standard ACLs work, let’s move on to Extended ACLs and learn how to filter traffic based not just on source IP but also on destination, protocol and port number.