\input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
-@c $Id: tinc.texi,v 1.8.4.29 2002/06/12 13:45:23 guus Exp $
+@c $Id: tinc.texi,v 1.8.4.35 2003/05/17 22:12:52 guus Exp $
@c %**start of header
@setfilename tinc.info
@settitle tinc Manual
This is the info manual for tinc, a Virtual Private Network daemon.
Copyright @copyright{} 1998-2002 Ivo Timmermans
-<itimmermans@@bigfoot.com>, Guus Sliepen <guus@@sliepen.warande.net> and
+<ivo@@o2w.nl>, Guus Sliepen <guus@@sliepen.eu.org> and
Wessel Dankers <wsl@@nl.linux.org>.
-$Id: tinc.texi,v 1.8.4.29 2002/06/12 13:45:23 guus Exp $
+$Id: tinc.texi,v 1.8.4.35 2003/05/17 22:12:52 guus Exp $
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
@vskip 0pt plus 1filll
@cindex copyright
Copyright @copyright{} 1998-2002 Ivo Timmermans
-<itimmermans@@bigfoot.com>, Guus Sliepen <guus@@sliepen.warande.net> and
+<ivo@@o2w.nl>, Guus Sliepen <guus@@sliepen.eu.org> and
Wessel Dankers <wsl@@nl.linux.org>.
-$Id: tinc.texi,v 1.8.4.29 2002/06/12 13:45:23 guus Exp $
+$Id: tinc.texi,v 1.8.4.35 2003/05/17 22:12:52 guus Exp $
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
@cindex release
For an up to date list of supported platforms, please check the list on
our website:
-@uref{http://tinc.nl.linux.org/platforms.html}.
+@uref{http://tinc.nl.linux.org/platforms}.
@c ==================================================================
@cindex requirements
@cindex libraries
Before you can configure or build tinc, you need to have the OpenSSL
-library installed on your system. If you try to configure tinc without
-having installed it, configure will give you an error message, and stop.
+and zlib libraries installed on your system. If you try to configure tinc without
+having them installed, configure will give you an error message, and stop.
@menu
* OpenSSL::
If you cannot use one of the precompiled packages, or you want to compile tinc
for yourself, you can use the source. The source is distributed under
the GNU General Public License (GPL). Download the source from the
-@uref{http://tinc.nl.linux.org/download.html, download page}, which has
+@uref{http://tinc.nl.linux.org/download, download page}, which has
the checksums of these files listed; you may wish to check these with
md5sum before continuing.
tinc comes in a convenient autoconf/automake package, which you can just
treat the same as any other package. Which is just untar it, type
-`configure' and then `make'.
+`./configure' and then `make'.
More detailed instructions are in the file @file{INSTALL}, which is
included in the source distribution.
@example
mknod -m 600 /dev/tap0 c 36 16
-chown 0.0 /dev/tap0
mknod -m 600 /dev/tap1 c 36 17
-chown 0.0 /dev/tap0
...
mknod -m 600 /dev/tap@emph{N} c 36 @emph{N+16}
-chown 0.0 /dev/tap@emph{N}
@end example
There is a maximum of 16 ethertap devices.
@example
mknod -m 600 /dev/tun c 10 200
-chown 0.0 /dev/tun
@end example
If you use Linux, and you run the new 2.4 kernel using the devfs filesystem,
then the tun/tap device will probably be automatically generated as
-@file{/dev/misc/net/tun}.
+@file{/dev/net/tun}.
Unlike the ethertap device, you do not need multiple device files if
you are planning to run multiple tinc daemons.
@example
tinc 655/tcp TINC
tinc 655/udp TINC
-# Ivo Timmermans <itimmermans@@bigfoot.com>
+# Ivo Timmermans <ivo@@o2w.nl>
@end example
@section How connections work
When tinc starts up, it parses the command-line options and then
-reads in the configuration file.
-If it sees a `ConnectTo' value pointing to another tinc daemon in the file,
-it will try to connect to that other one.
+reads in the configuration file tinc.conf.
+If it sees one or more `ConnectTo' values pointing to other tinc daemons in that file,
+it will try to connect to those other daemons.
Whether this succeeds or not and whether `ConnectTo' is specified or not,
tinc will listen for incoming connection from other deamons.
If you did specify a `ConnectTo' value and the other side is not responding,
This means that once started, tinc will stay running until you tell it to stop,
and failures to connect to other tinc daemons will not stop your tinc daemon
for trying again later.
-This means you don't have to intervene if there are any network problems.
+This means you don't have to intervene if there are temporary network problems.
@cindex client
@cindex server
There is no real distinction between a server and a client in tinc.
If you wish, you can view a tinc daemon without a `ConnectTo' value as a server,
and one which does specify such a value as a client.
-It does not matter if two tinc daemons have a `ConnectTo' value pointing to eachother however.
+It does not matter if two tinc daemons have a `ConnectTo' value pointing to each other however.
@c ==================================================================
If "any" is selected, then depending on the operating system
both IPv4 and IPv6 or just IPv6 listening sockets will be created.
+@cindex BindToAddress
+@item BindToAddress = <address> [experimental]
+If your computer has more than one IPv4 or IPv6 address, tinc
+will by default listen on all of them for incoming connections.
+It is possible to bind only to a single address with this variable.
+
+This option may not work on all platforms.
+
@cindex BindToInterface
@item BindToInterface = <interface> [experimental]
If you have more than one network interface in your computer, tinc will
@cindex ConnectTo
@item @strong{ConnectTo = <name>}
-Specifies which host to connect to on startup. Multiple ConnectTo
-variables may be specified, if connecting to the first one fails then
-tinc will try the next one, and so on. It is possible to specify
-hostnames for dynamic IP addresses (like those given on dyndns.org),
-tinc will not cache the resolved IP address.
+Specifies which other tinc daemon to connect to on startup.
+Multiple ConnectTo variables may be specified,
+in which case outgoing connections to each specified tinc daemon are made.
+The names should be known to this tinc daemon
+(i.e., there should be a host configuration file for the name on the ConnectTo line).
-If you don't specify a host with ConnectTo, regardless of whether a
-value for ConnectPort is given, tinc won't connect at all, and will
-instead just listen for incoming connections.
+If you don't specify a host with ConnectTo,
+tinc won't try to connect to other daemons at all,
+and will instead just listen for incoming connections.
@cindex Device
-@item @strong{Device = <device>} (/dev/tap0 or /dev/misc/net/tun)
+@item @strong{Device = <device>} (/dev/tap0 or /dev/net/tun)
The virtual network device to use. Note that you can only use one device per
daemon. See also @ref{Device files}.
@cindex Port
@item Port = <port> (655)
-Connect to the upstream host (given with the ConnectTo directive) on
-port port. port may be given in decimal (default), octal (when preceded
-by a single zero) o hexadecimal (prefixed with 0x). port is the port
-number for both the UDP and the TCP (meta) connections.
+This is the port this tinc daemon listens on.
+You can use decimal portnumbers or symbolic names (as listed in /etc/services).
@cindex PublicKey
@item PublicKey = <key> [obsolete]
@example
Name = BranchA
-PrivateKey = /etc/tinc/company/rsa_key.priv
+PrivateKeyFile = /etc/tinc/company/rsa_key.priv
Device = /dev/tap0
@end example
@example
Name = BranchB
ConnectTo = BranchA
-PrivateKey = /etc/tinc/company/rsa_key.priv
+PrivateKeyFile = /etc/tinc/company/rsa_key.priv
@end example
Note here that the internal address (on eth0) doesn't have to be the
@example
Name = BranchD
ConnectTo = BranchC
-Device = /dev/misc/net/tun
+Device = /dev/net/tun
PrivateKeyFile = /etc/tinc/company/rsa_key.priv
@end example
Besides the settings in the configuration file, tinc also accepts some
command line options.
-This list is a longer version of that in the manpage. The latter is
-generated automatically, so may be more up-to-date.
-
@cindex command line
@cindex runtime options
@cindex options
Don't fork and detach.
This will also disable the automatic restart mechanism for fatal errors.
+@item -L, --mlock
+Lock tinc into main memory.
+This will prevent sensitive data like shared private keys to be written to the system swap files/partitions.
+
@item --version
Output version information and exit.
@item You forgot to compile `Netlink device emulation' in the kernel.
@end itemize
-@item Can't write to /dev/misc/net/tun: No such device
+@item Can't write to /dev/net/tun: No such device
@itemize
@item You forgot to `modprobe tun'.
@item Network doesn't work, syslog shows only packets of length 46
-@cindex arp
-@example
-Jan 1 12:00:00 host tinc.net[1234]: Read packet of length 46 from tap device
-Jan 1 12:00:00 host tinc.net[1234]: Trying to look up 0.0.192.168 in connection list failed!
-@end example
-@itemize
-@item Add the `ifconfig $INTERFACE -arp' to tinc-up.
-@end itemize
-
@item Network address and prefix length do not match!
@itemize
@itemize
@item You must specify the complete pathname.
Specifying a relative path does not make sense here. tinc changes its
-directory to / when starting (to avoid keeping a mount point busy); and
-even if we built in a default directory to look for these files, the key
-files are bound to be in a different directory.
+directory to / when starting (to avoid keeping a mount point busy).
@end itemize
@end table
Since the latter modes only depend on the link layer information,
any protocol that runs over Ethernet is supported (for instance IPX and Appletalk).
-After the destination has been determined, a sequence number will be added to the packet.
-The packet will then be encrypted and a message authentication
-code will be appended.
+After the destination has been determined,
+the packet will be compressed (optionally),
+a sequence number will be added to the packet,
+the packet will then be encrypted
+and a message authentication code will be appended.
@cindex encapsulating
@cindex UDP
address must match that of the virtual network interface.
If tinc is in it's default routing mode, ARP does not work, so the correct destination MAC cannot be set
by the sending daemons.
-tinc solves this by always overwriting the
-destination MAC address with fe:fd:0:0:0:0. That is also the reason why you must
-set the MAC address of your tap interface to that address.
+tinc solves this by letting the receiving end detect the MAC address
+and overwriting the destination MAC address of the received packet.
+However, the MAC address of the network interface at the receiver might not always be known to tinc.
+That is the reason why you should set the MAC address of your tap interface to that address
+when in routing mode.
+
+In switch or hub modes ARP does work so the sender already knows the correct destination MAC address.
+In those modes every interface should have a unique MAC address, so make sure they are not the same.
@c ==================================================================
@node The meta-connection, , The UDP tunnel, The connection
@subsection The meta-connection
-Having only an UDP connection available is not enough. Though suitable
+Having only a UDP connection available is not enough. Though suitable
for transmitting data, we want to be able to reliably send other
information, such as routing and session key information to somebody.
side. Each request has a unique number and several parameters. All
requests are represented in the standard ASCII character set. It is
possible to use tools such as telnet or netcat to connect to a tinc
-daemon and to read and write requests by hand, provided that one
+daemon started with the --bypass-security option
+and to read and write requests by hand, provided that one
understands the numeric codes sent.
The authentication scheme is described in @ref{Authentication protocol}. After a
@example
daemon message
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-origin ADD_EDGE node1 12.23.34.45 655 node2 21.32.43.54 655 222 0
- | | | \___________________/ | +-> options
- | | | | +----> weight
- | | | +----------------> see below
- | | +--> UDP port
- | +----------> real address
- +------------------> name of node on one side of the edge
+origin ADD_EDGE node1 node2 21.32.43.54 655 222 0
+ | | | | | +-> options
+ | | | | +----> weight
+ | | | +--------> UDP port of node2
+ | | +----------------> real address of node2
+ | +-------------------------> name of destination node
+ +-------------------------------> name of source node
origin ADD_SUBNET node 192.168.1.0/24
| | +--> prefixlength
- | +--------> IPv4 network address
+ | +--------> network address
+------------------> owner of this subnet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
@end example
+The ADD_EDGE messages are to inform other tinc daemons that a connection between
+two nodes exist. The address of the destination node is available so that
+VPN packets can be sent directly to that node.
+
+The ADD_SUBNET messages inform other tinc daemons that certain subnets belong
+to certain nodes. tinc will use it to determine to which node a VPN packet has
+to be sent.
+
@cindex DEL_EDGE
+@cindex DEL_SUBNET
+@example
+message
+------------------------------------------------------------------
+DEL_EDGE node1 node2
+ | +----> name of destination node
+ +----------> name of source node
+
+DEL_SUBNET node 192.168.1.0/24
+ | | +--> prefixlength
+ | +--------> network address
+ +------------------> owner of this subnet
+------------------------------------------------------------------
+@end example
+
In case a connection between two daemons is closed or broken, DEL_EDGE messages
are sent to inform the other daemons of that fact. Each daemon will calculate a
new route to the the daemons, or mark them unreachable if there isn't any.
+@cindex REQ_KEY
+@cindex ANS_KEY
+@cindex KEY_CHANGED
+@example
+message
+------------------------------------------------------------------
+REQ_KEY origin destination
+ | +--> name of the tinc daemon it wants the key from
+ +----------> name of the daemon that wants the key
+
+ANS_KEY origin destination 4ae0b0a82d6e0078 91 64 4
+ | | \______________/ | | +--> MAC length
+ | | | | +-----> digest algorithm
+ | | | +--------> cipher algorithm
+ | | +--> 128 bits key
+ | +--> name of the daemon that wants the key
+ +----------> name of the daemon that uses this key
+
+KEY_CHANGED origin
+ +--> daemon that has changed it's packet key
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+@end example
+
The keys used to encrypt VPN packets are not sent out directly. This is
because it would generate a lot of traffic on VPNs with many daemons, and
chances are that not every tinc daemon will ever send a packet to every
other daemon. Instead, if a daemon needs a key it sends a request for it
via the meta connection of the nearest hop in the direction of the
-destination. If any hop on the way has already learned the key, it will
-act as a proxy and forward its copy back to the requester.
+destination.
-@cindex REQ_KEY
-@cindex ANS_KEY
-@cindex KEY_CHANGED
+@cindex PING
+@cindex PONG
@example
daemon message
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-daemon REQ_KEY origin destination
- | +--> name of the tinc daemon it wants the key from
- +----------> name of the daemon that wants the key
-
-daemon ANS_KEY origin destination 4ae0b0a82d6e0078 91 64 4
- | | \______________/ | | +--> MAC length
- | | | | +-----> digest algorithm
- | | | +--------> cipher algorithm
- | | +--> 128 bits key
- | +--> name of the daemon that wants the key
- +----------> name of the daemon that uses this key
-
-daemon KEY_CHANGED origin
- +--> daemon that has changed it's packet key
+origin PING
+dest. PONG
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
@end example
with each PING and PONG message, to make sure that long sequences of PING/PONG
messages without any other traffic won't result in known plaintext.
-@cindex PING
-@cindex PONG
-@example
-daemon message
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-origin PING
-dest. PONG
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-@end example
-
This basically covers what is sent over the meta connection by
tinc.
After the correct challenge replies are received, both ends have proved
their identity. Further information is exchanged.
-client ACK 655 12.23.34.45 123 0
- | | | +-> options
- | | +----> estimated weight
- | +------------> IP address of server as seen by client
- +--------------------> UDP port of client
-
-server ACK 655 21.32.43.54 321 0
- | | | +-> options
- | | +----> estimated weight
- | +------------> IP address of client as seen by server
- +--------------------> UDP port of server
+client ACK 655 123 0
+ | | +-> options
+ | +----> estimated weight
+ +--------> listening port of client
+
+server ACK 655 321 0
+ | | +-> options
+ | +----> estimated weight
+ +--------> listening port of server
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
@end example
Encrypted with symmetric cipher
@end example
-So, the entire VPN packet is encrypted using a symmetric cipher. A 32 bits
-sequence number is added in front of the actual VPN packet, to act as a unique
+So, the entire VPN packet is encrypted using a symmetric cipher, including a 32 bits
+sequence number that is added in front of the actual VPN packet, to act as a unique
IV for each packet and to prevent replay attacks. A message authentication code
is added to the UDP packet to prevent alteration of packets. By default the
first 4 bytes of the digest are used for this, but this can be changed using
this server is located in the Netherlands.
@cindex IRC
-We have an IRC channel on the Open Projects IRC network. Connect to
-@uref{http://openprojects.nu/services/irc.html, irc.openprojects.net},
+We have an IRC channel on the FreeNode IRC network. Connect to
+@uref{http://www.freenode.net/, irc.freenode.net}
and join channel #tinc.
@section Authors
@table @asis
-@item Ivo Timmermans (zarq) (@email{itimmermans@@bigfoot.com})
-Main coder/hacker and maintainer of the package.
-
-@item Guus Sliepen (guus) (@email{guus@@sliepen.warande.net})
-Originator of it all, co-author.
-
-@item Wessel Dankers (Ubiq) (@email{wsl@@nl.linux.org})
-For the name `tinc' and various suggestions.
-
+@item Ivo Timmermans (zarq) (@email{ivo@@o2w.nl})
+@item Guus Sliepen (guus) (@email{guus@@sliepen.eu.org})
@end table
We have received a lot of valuable input from users. With their help,
projects / tinc / blobdiff