udp: Support IPv6 (mostly)
[secnet] / README
1 secnet - flexible VPN software
2
3 * Copying
4
5 secnet is Copyright (C) 1995--2003 Stephen Early <steve@greenend.org.uk>
6 It is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License,
7 version 2 or later. See the file COPYING for more information.
8
9 The IP address handling library in ipaddr.py is Copyright (C)
10 1996--2000 Cendio Systems AB, and is distributed under the terms of
11 the GPL.
12
13 * Introduction
14
15 secnet allows large virtual private networks to be constructed
16 spanning multiple separate sites. It is designed for the case where a
17 private network connecting many hosts is 'hidden' behind a single
18 globally-routable IP address, but can also be applied in other
19 circumstances. It communicates entirely using UDP, and works well
20 with gateways that implement network address translation.
21
22 If you are installing secnet to join an existing VPN, you should read
23 the 'INSTALL' file and your particular VPN's documentation now. You
24 may need to refer back to this file for information on the netlink and
25 comm sections of the configuration file.
26
27 If you are thinking about setting up a new VPN of any size (from one
28 providing complete links between multiple sites to a simple
29 laptop-to-host link), read the section in this file on 'Creating a
30 VPN'.
31
32 * Mailing lists and bug reporting
33
34 There are two mailing lists associated with secnet: an 'announce' list
35 and a 'discuss' list. Their addresses are:
36 http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/secnet-announce
37 http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/secnet-discuss
38
39 The -announce list receives one message per secnet release. The
40 -discuss list is for general discussion, including help with
41 configuration, bug reports, feature requests, etc.
42
43 Bug reports should be sent to <steve@greenend.org.uk>; they will be
44 forwarded to the -discuss list by me.
45
46 * Creating a VPN
47
48 XXX TODO
49
50 * secnet configuration file format
51
52 By default secnet on linux reads /etc/secnet/secnet.conf. The default
53 may be different on other platforms.
54
55 This file defines a dictionary (a mapping from keys to values) full of
56 configuration information for secnet. Two keys must be defined in
57 this file for secnet to start. One is "system", a dictionary
58 containing systemwide control parameters. The other is "sites", a
59 list of all the sites that you intend to communicate with.
60
61 The configuration file has a very simple syntax; keys are defined as
62 follows:
63
64 key definition;
65 or
66 key = definition;
67
68 (the "=" is optional)
69
70 Keys must match the following regular expression:
71 [[:alpha:]_][[:alnum:]\-_]*
72
73 i.e. the first character must be an alpha or an underscore, and the
74 remaining characters may be alphanumeric, '-' or '_'.
75
76 Keys can be defined to be a comma-separated list of any of the
77 following types:
78
79 a boolean
80 a string, in quotes
81 a number, in decimal
82 a dictionary of definitions, enclosed in { }
83 a "closure", followed by arguments
84 a path to a key that already exists, to reference that definition
85
86 Note that dictionaries can be nested: a key in one dictionary can
87 refer to another dictionary. When secnet looks for a key in a
88 particular directory and can't find it, it looks in the dictionary's
89 lexical 'parents' in turn until it finds it (or fails to find it at
90 all and stops with an error).
91
92 Definitions can refer to previous definitions by naming them with a
93 path. Paths are key1/key2/key3... (starting from wherever we find
94 key1, i.e. in the current dictionary or any of its parents), or
95 alternatively /key1/key2/key3... (to start from the root).
96 Definitions cannot refer to future definitions.
97
98 Example:
99
100 a=1;
101 b=2;
102 c={ d=3; e=a; };
103 f={ a=4; g=c; };
104
105 The following paths are valid:
106 a is 1
107 b is 2
108 c is a dictionary:
109 c/d is 3
110 c/e is 1
111 f is a dictionary:
112 f/a is 4
113 f/g is a dictionary:
114 f/g/d is 3
115 f/g/e is 1
116
117 Note that f/g/e is NOT 4.
118
119 Elements that are lists are inserted into lists in definitions, not
120 referenced by them (i.e. you can't have lists of lists).
121
122 Some closures may be followed by an argument list in ( ), and may
123 return any number of whatever type they like (including other
124 closures). Some types of closure (typically those returned from
125 invokations of other closures) cannot be invoked.
126
127 closure { definitions } is short for closure({definitions}).
128
129 The main body of secnet, and all the additional modules, predefine
130 some keys in the root dictionary. The main ones are:
131
132 yes, true, True, TRUE, on: the boolean value True
133 no, false, False, FALSE, off: the boolean value False
134 makelist: turns a dictionary (arg1) into a list of definitions
135 (ignoring the keys)
136 readfile: reads a file (arg1) and returns it as a string
137 map: applies the closure specified as arg1 to each of the
138 remaining elements in the list in turn. Returns a list
139 made up of the outputs of the closure.
140
141 Keys defined by modules are described below, in the module
142 documentation.
143
144 Other configuration files can be included inline by writing "include
145 filename" at the start of a line.
146
147 After the configuration file is read, secnet looks for particular keys
148 in configuration space to tell it what to do:
149
150 system: a dictionary which can contain the following keys:
151 log (log closure): a destination for system messages
152 userid (string): the userid for secnet to run as once it drops privileges
153 pidfile (string): where to store its PID
154
155 sites: a list of closures of type 'site', which define other tunnel
156 endpoints that secnet will attempt to communicate with
157
158 * secnet command line options
159
160 Usage: secnet [OPTION]...
161
162 -f, --silent, --quiet suppress error messages
163 -w, --nowarnings suppress warnings
164 -v, --verbose output extra diagnostics
165 -c, --config=filename specify a configuration file
166 -j, --just-check-config stop after reading configfile
167 -n, --nodetach do not run in background
168 -d, --debug=item,... set debug options
169 --help display this help and exit
170 --version output version information and exit
171
172 * secnet builtin modules
173
174 ** resolver
175
176 Defines:
177 adns (closure => resolver closure)
178
179 adns: dict argument
180 config (string): optional, a resolv.conf for ADNS to use
181
182 ** random
183
184 Defines:
185 randomsrc (closure => randomsrc closure)
186
187 randomsrc: string[,bool]
188 arg1: filename of random source
189 arg2: if True then source is blocking
190
191 ** udp
192
193 Defines:
194 udp (closure => comm closure)
195
196 udp: dict argument
197 address (string list): IPv6 or IPv4 addresses to listen and send on
198 port (integer): UDP port to listen and send on
199 buffer (buffer closure): buffer for incoming packets
200 authbind (string): optional, path to authbind-helper program
201
202 ** log
203
204 Defines:
205 logfile (closure => log closure)
206 syslog (closure => log closure)
207
208 logfile: dict argument
209 filename (string): where to log to
210 class (string list): what type of messages to log
211 { "debug-config", M_DEBUG_CONFIG },
212 { "debug-phase", M_DEBUG_PHASE },
213 { "debug", M_DEBUG },
214 { "all-debug", M_DEBUG|M_DEBUG_PHASE|M_DEBUG_CONFIG },
215 { "info", M_INFO },
216 { "notice", M_NOTICE },
217 { "warning", M_WARNING },
218 { "error", M_ERROR },
219 { "security", M_SECURITY },
220 { "fatal", M_FATAL },
221 { "default", M_WARNING|M_ERROR|M_SECURITY|M_FATAL },
222 { "verbose", M_INFO|M_NOTICE|M_WARNING|M_ERROR|M_SECURITY|M_FATAL },
223 { "quiet", M_FATAL }
224
225 logfile will close and reopen its file upon receipt of SIGHUP.
226
227 syslog: dict argument
228 ident (string): include this string in every log message
229 facility (string): facility to log as
230 { "authpriv", LOG_AUTHPRIV },
231 { "cron", LOG_CRON },
232 { "daemon", LOG_DAEMON },
233 { "kern", LOG_KERN },
234 { "local0", LOG_LOCAL0 },
235 { "local1", LOG_LOCAL1 },
236 { "local2", LOG_LOCAL2 },
237 { "local3", LOG_LOCAL3 },
238 { "local4", LOG_LOCAL4 },
239 { "local5", LOG_LOCAL5 },
240 { "local6", LOG_LOCAL6 },
241 { "local7", LOG_LOCAL7 },
242 { "lpr", LOG_LPR },
243 { "mail", LOG_MAIL },
244 { "news", LOG_NEWS },
245 { "syslog", LOG_SYSLOG },
246 { "user", LOG_USER },
247 { "uucp", LOG_UUCP }
248
249 ** util
250
251 Defines:
252 sysbuffer (closure => buffer closure)
253
254 sysbuffer: integer[,dict]
255 arg1: buffer length
256 arg2: options:
257 lockdown (boolean): if True, mlock() the buffer
258
259 ** site
260
261 Defines:
262 site (closure => site closure)
263
264 site: dict argument
265 local-name (string): this site's name for itself
266 name (string): the name of the site's peer
267 link (netlink closure)
268 comm (one or more comm closures): if there is more than one, the
269 first one will be used for any key setups initiated by us using the
270 configured address. Others are only used if our peer talks to
271 them.
272 resolver (resolver closure)
273 random (randomsrc closure)
274 local-key (rsaprivkey closure)
275 address (string): optional, DNS name used to find our peer
276 port (integer): mandatory if 'address' is specified: the port used
277 to contact our peer
278 key (rsapubkey closure): our peer's public key
279 transform (transform closure): how to mangle packets sent between sites
280 dh (dh closure)
281 hash (hash closure)
282 key-lifetime (integer): max lifetime of a session key, in ms
283 [one hour; mobile: 2 days]
284 setup-retries (integer): max number of times to transmit a key negotiation
285 packet [5; mobile: 30]
286 setup-timeout (integer): time between retransmissions of key negotiation
287 packets, in ms [2000; mobile: 1000]
288 wait-time (integer): after failed key setup, wait this long (in ms) before
289 allowing another attempt [20000; mobile: 10000]
290 renegotiate-time (integer): if we see traffic on the link after this time
291 then renegotiate another session key immediately (in ms)
292 [half key-lifetime, or key-lifetime minus 5 mins (mobile: 12 hours),
293 whichever is longer].
294 keepalive (bool): if True then attempt always to keep a valid session key.
295 Not actually currently implemented. [false]
296 log-events (string list): types of events to log for this site
297 unexpected: unexpected key setup packets (may be late retransmissions)
298 setup-init: start of attempt to setup a session key
299 setup-timeout: failure of attempt to setup a session key, through timeout
300 activate-key: activation of a new session key
301 timeout-key: deletion of current session key through age
302 security: anything potentially suspicious
303 state-change: steps in the key setup protocol
304 packet-drop: whenever we throw away an outgoing packet
305 dump-packets: every key setup packet we see
306 errors: failure of name resolution, internal errors
307 peer-addrs: changes to sets of peer addresses (interesting for mobile peers)
308 all: everything (too much!)
309 mobile (bool): if True then peer is "mobile" ie we assume it may
310 change its apparent IP address and port number without either it
311 or us being aware of the change; so, we remember the last several
312 port/addr pairs we've seen and send packets to all of them
313 (subject to a timeout). We maintain one set of addresses for key
314 setup exchanges, and another for data traffic. Two communicating
315 peers must not each regard the other as mobile, or all the traffic
316 in each direction will be triplicated (strictly, transmitted
317 mobile-peers-max times) and anyway two peers whose public contact
318 address may suddenly change couldn't communicate reliably because
319 their contact addresses might both change at once. [false]
320 mobile-peers-max (integer): Maximum number of peer port/addr pairs we
321 remember and send to. Must be at least 1 and no more than 5.
322 [4 if an address is configured, otherwise 3]
323 static-peers-max (integer): Maximum number of peer port/addr pairs
324 we can try for a static site. Must be at least 1 and no more
325 than 5. [4 or 3, as above]
326 mobile-peer-expiry (integer): For "mobile" peers only, the length
327 of time (in seconds) for which we will keep sending to multiple
328 address/ports from which we have not seen incoming traffic. [120]
329 local-mobile (bool): if True then other peers have been told we are
330 "mobile". This should be True iff the peers' site configurations
331 for us have "mobile True" (and if we find a site configuration for
332 ourselves in the config, we insist on this). The effect is to
333 check that there are no links both ends of which are allegedly
334 mobile (which is not supported, so those links are ignored) and
335 to change some of the tuning parameter defaults. [false]
336 mtu-target (integer): Desired value of the inter-site MTU for this
337 peering. This value will be advertised to the peer (which ought
338 to affect incoming packets), and if the peer advertises an MTU its
339 value will be combined with this setting to compute the inter-site
340 MTU. (secnet will still accept packets which exceed the
341 (negotiated or assumed) inter-site MTU.) Setting a lower
342 inter-site MTU can be used to try to restrict the sizes of the
343 packets sent over the underlying public network (e.g. to work
344 around network braindamage). It is not normally useful to set a
345 larger value for mtu-target than the VPN's general MTU (which
346 should be reflected in the local private interface MTU, ie the mtu
347 parameter to netlink). If this parameter is not set, or is set
348 to 0, the default is to use the local private link mtu.
349
350 Links involving mobile peers have some different tuning parameter
351 default values, which are generally more aggressive about retrying key
352 setup but more relaxed about using old keys. These are noted with
353 "mobile:", above, and apply whether the mobile peer is local or
354 remote.
355
356 ** transform-eax
357
358 Defines:
359 eax-serpent (closure => transform closure)
360
361 ** transform-cbcmac
362
363 Defines:
364 serpent256-cbc (closure => transform closure)
365
366 ** netlink
367
368 Defines:
369 null-netlink (closure => closure or netlink closure)
370
371 null-netlink: dict argument
372 name (string): name for netlink device, used in log messages
373 networks (string list): networks on the host side of the netlink device
374 remote-networks (string list): networks that may be claimed
375 by the remote site using this netlink device
376 local-address (string): IP address of host's tunnel interface
377 secnet-address (string): IP address of this netlink device
378 ptp-address (string): IP address of the other end of a point-to-point link
379 mtu (integer): MTU of host's tunnel interface
380
381 Only one of secnet-address or ptp-address may be specified. If
382 point-to-point mode is in use then the "routes" option must also be
383 specified, and netlink returns a netlink closure that should be used
384 directly with the "link" option to the site closure. If
385 point-to-point mode is not in use then netlink returns a closure that
386 may be invoked using a dict argument with the following keys to yield
387 a netlink closure:
388 routes (string list): networks reachable down the tunnel attached to
389 this instance of netlink
390 options (string list):
391 allow-route: allow packets coming from this tunnel to be routed to
392 other tunnels as well as the host (used for mobile devices like laptops)
393 soft: remove these routes from the host's routing table when
394 the tunnel link quality is zero
395 mtu (integer): MTU of host's tunnel interface
396
397 Netlink will dump its current routing table to the system/log on
398 receipt of SIGUSR1.
399
400 ** slip
401
402 Defines:
403 userv-ipif (closure => netlink closure)
404
405 userv-ipif: dict argument
406 userv-path (string): optional, where to find userv ["userv"]
407 service-user (string): optional, username for userv-ipif service ["root"]
408 service-name (string): optional, name of userv-ipif service ["ipif"]
409 buffer (buffer closure): buffer for assembly of host->secnet packets
410 plus generic netlink options, as for 'null-netlink'
411
412 ** tun
413
414 Defines:
415 tun (closure => netlink closure) [only on linux-2.4]
416 tun-old (closure => netlink closure)
417
418 tun: dict argument
419 flavour (string): optional, type of TUN interface to use
420 ("guess","linux","bsd","streams")
421 device (string): optional, path of TUN/TAP device file ["/dev/net/tun"]
422 interface (string): optional, name of tunnel network interface
423 ifconfig-path (string): optional, path to ifconfig command
424 route-path (string): optional, path to route command
425 ifconfig-type (string): optional, how to perform ifconfig
426 route-type (string): optional, how to add and remove routes
427 types are: "guess", "ioctl", "bsd", "linux", "solaris-2.5"
428 buffer (buffer closure): buffer for host->secnet packets
429 plus generic netlink options, as for 'null-netlink'
430
431 I recommend you don't specify the 'interface' option unless you're
432 doing something that requires the interface name to be constant.
433
434 ** rsa
435
436 Defines:
437 rsa-private (closure => rsaprivkey closure)
438 rsa-public (closure => rsapubkey closure)
439
440 rsa-private: string[,bool]
441 arg1: filename of SSH private key file (version 1, no password)
442 arg2: whether to check that the key is usable [default True]
443
444 rsa-public: string,string
445 arg1: encryption key (decimal)
446 arg2: modulus (decimal)
447
448 ** dh
449
450 Defines:
451 diffie-hellman (closure => dh closure)
452
453 diffie-hellman: string,string[,bool]
454 arg1: modulus (hex)
455 arg2: generator (hex)
456 arg3: whether to check that the modulus is prime [default True]
457
458 ** md5
459
460 Defines:
461 md5 (hash closure)
462
463 ** sha1
464
465 Defines:
466 sha1 (hash closure)
467
468 ** conffile
469
470 Defines:
471 makelist (dictionary => list of definitions)
472 readfile (string => string)
473 map (closure,list => list)
474
475 makelist: dictionary
476 returns a list consisting of the definitions in the dictionary. The keys
477 are discarded.
478
479 readfile: string
480 reads the named file and returns its contents as a string
481
482 map:
483 applies the closure specified as arg1 to each of the elements in the list.
484 Returns a list made up of the outputs of the closure.