Tinc OSPF involving bridge

[John Halfpenny]

>> I have a routing situation where Tinc looks like it could come in 
>> extremely useful, but I have a query I hope someone can cast an eye 
>> on, as I'm unsure whether Tinc can help me here. 
>> 
>> I currently have a Quagga OSPF linux router which connects LAN A to 
>> LAN B over the quickest available of two routes (both routes at both 
>> ends connect to Quagga boxes to prevent collisions). 
>> 
>> One of the routes involves connecting over a wireless bridge (which 
>> can't be set to routed mode) and the other connects over a routed 
>> wireless connection. 
>> 
>> i.e. 
>> 
>> LAN A OSPF --- W/less (NOIP) --- Wireless (NOIP) --- LAN B OSPF 
>> +-- W/less 1.1.1.1 --- W/less 1.1.1.2 --+ 
>> 
>> This is basically to allow redundancy of the NOIP wireless, which 
>> drops at the first hint of fog or mist. :-) 
>> 
>> Is it possible to configure Tinc to connect over one of two possible 
>> routes like this?

> I don't see why not.

>> And if so, is it also possible over a bridged connection which has no 
>> external IP address (by specifying the interface in the config file)?

> Tinc encapsulates traffic in TCP and UDP packets, so you need to have 
> IPv4 or IPv6 addresses on both sides. But a wireless bridge doesn't mean 
> you don't have those addresses on both sides.

>> I realise there are other ways to do this, but I'm hoping that my 
>> previous post regarding Tincs ability to hop across VPNs will allow 
>> the site at the end of the Wireless to connect to other external VPNs.

> That will work.

>> If you've had the patience to read this far, then thanks for any 
>> advice you can offer!

> It should be possible to do what you want with tinc, so go ahead and try 
> to set it up, if you run into problems feel free to ask for more help!

Ok, I've looked at the problem again with a freshly caffeinated brain. I think what might be more elgant here is to setup Tinc as a bridge for my routed wireless, and use STP at either end to prevent collisions (one end on the switch connecting to Tinc and the other on two linux boxes).

LAN A --- STP Switch --- W/less (NOIP) -*- Wireless (NOIP) --- Linux STP Bridge --- LAN B 

*plus*

LAN A --- STP Switch --- Tinc Bridge   -*- Tinc Bridge (with STP) --- LAN B

This should hopefully make use of Tincs Bridging function to bring LAN A and B into the same subnet, give a failover in case one of the connections dies, and also give LAN B a Tinc server to handle connections out to other places.

Quite looking forward to having a go at this.

Thanks again for your help, Guus.

John

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