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This is tinc.info, produced by makeinfo version 6.1 from tinc.texi.
INFO-DIR-SECTION Networking tools
START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* tinc: (tinc). The tinc Manual.
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
This is the info manual for tinc version 1.1pre11-263-g51a0dc5, a
Virtual Private Network daemon.
Copyright (C) 1998-2016 Ivo Timmermans, Guus Sliepen
<guus@tinc-vpn.org> and Wessel Dankers <wsl@tinc-vpn.org>.
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
preserved on all copies.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of
this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
permission notice identical to this one.

File: tinc.info, Node: Top, Next: Introduction, Up: (dir)
Top
***
* Menu:
* Introduction::
* Preparations::
* Installation::
* Configuration::
* Running tinc::
* Controlling tinc::
* Invitations::
* Technical information::
* Platform specific information::
* About us::
* Concept Index:: All used terms explained

File: tinc.info, Node: Introduction, Next: Preparations, Prev: Top, Up: Top
1 Introduction
**************
Tinc is a Virtual Private Network (VPN) daemon that uses tunneling and
encryption to create a secure private network between hosts on the
Internet.
Because the tunnel appears to the IP level network code as a normal
network device, there is no need to adapt any existing software. The
encrypted tunnels allows VPN sites to share information with each other
over the Internet without exposing any information to others.
This document is the manual for tinc. Included are chapters on how to
configure your computer to use tinc, as well as the configuration
process of tinc itself.
* Menu:
* Virtual Private Networks::
* tinc:: About tinc
* Supported platforms::

File: tinc.info, Node: Virtual Private Networks, Next: tinc, Up: Introduction
1.1 Virtual Private Networks
============================
A Virtual Private Network or VPN is a network that can only be accessed
by a few elected computers that participate. This goal is achievable in
more than just one way.
Private networks can consist of a single stand-alone Ethernet LAN. Or
even two computers hooked up using a null-modem cable. In these cases,
it is obvious that the network is _private_, no one can access it from
the outside. But if your computers are linked to the Internet, the
network is not private anymore, unless one uses firewalls to block all
private traffic. But then, there is no way to send private data to
trusted computers on the other end of the Internet.
This problem can be solved by using _virtual_ networks. Virtual
networks can live on top of other networks, but they use encapsulation
to keep using their private address space so they do not interfere with
the Internet. Mostly, virtual networks appear like a single LAN, even
though they can span the entire world. But virtual networks can't be
secured by using firewalls, because the traffic that flows through it
has to go through the Internet, where other people can look at it.
As is the case with either type of VPN, anybody could eavesdrop. Or
worse, alter data. Hence it's probably advisable to encrypt the data
that flows over the network.
When one introduces encryption, we can form a true VPN. Other people may
see encrypted traffic, but if they don't know how to decipher it (they
need to know the key for that), they cannot read the information that
flows through the VPN. This is what tinc was made for.

File: tinc.info, Node: tinc, Next: Supported platforms, Prev: Virtual Private Networks, Up: Introduction
1.2 tinc
========
I really don't quite remember what got us started, but it must have been
Guus' idea. He wrote a simple implementation (about 50 lines of C) that
used the ethertap device that Linux knows of since somewhere about
kernel 2.1.60. It didn't work immediately and he improved it a bit. At
this stage, the project was still simply called "vpnd".
Since then, a lot has changed--to say the least.
Tinc now supports encryption, it consists of a single daemon (tincd) for
both the receiving and sending end, it has become largely
runtime-configurable--in short, it has become a full-fledged
professional package.
Tinc also allows more than two sites to connect to eachother and form a
single VPN. Traditionally VPNs are created by making tunnels, which only
have two endpoints. Larger VPNs with more sites are created by adding
more tunnels. Tinc takes another approach: only endpoints are
specified, the software itself will take care of creating the tunnels.
This allows for easier configuration and improved scalability.
A lot can--and will be--changed. We have a number of things that we
would like to see in the future releases of tinc. Not everything will
be available in the near future. Our first objective is to make tinc
work perfectly as it stands, and then add more advanced features.
Meanwhile, we're always open-minded towards new ideas. And we're
available too.

File: tinc.info, Node: Supported platforms, Prev: tinc, Up: Introduction
1.3 Supported platforms
=======================
Tinc has been verified to work under Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD,
MacOS/X (Darwin), Solaris, and Windows (both natively and in a Cygwin
environment), with various hardware architectures. These are some of
the platforms that are supported by the universal tun/tap device driver
or other virtual network device drivers. Without such a driver, tinc
will most likely compile and run, but it will not be able to send or
receive data packets.
For an up to date list of supported platforms, please check the list on
our website: <https://www.tinc-vpn.org/platforms/>.

File: tinc.info, Node: Preparations, Next: Installation, Prev: Introduction, Up: Top
2 Preparations
**************
This chapter contains information on how to prepare your system to
support tinc.
* Menu:
* Configuring the kernel::
* Libraries::

File: tinc.info, Node: Configuring the kernel, Next: Libraries, Up: Preparations
2.1 Configuring the kernel
==========================
* Menu:
* Configuration of Linux kernels::
* Configuration of FreeBSD kernels::
* Configuration of OpenBSD kernels::
* Configuration of NetBSD kernels::
* Configuration of Solaris kernels::
* Configuration of Darwin (MacOS/X) kernels::
* Configuration of Windows::

File: tinc.info, Node: Configuration of Linux kernels, Next: Configuration of FreeBSD kernels, Up: Configuring the kernel
2.1.1 Configuration of Linux kernels
------------------------------------
For tinc to work, you need a kernel that supports the Universal tun/tap
device. Most distributions come with kernels that already support this.
Here are the options you have to turn on when configuring a new kernel:
Code maturity level options
[*] Prompt for development and/or incomplete code/drivers
Network device support
<M> Universal tun/tap device driver support
It's not necessary to compile this driver as a module, even if you are
going to run more than one instance of tinc.
If you decide to build the tun/tap driver as a kernel module, add these
lines to '/etc/modules.conf':
alias char-major-10-200 tun

File: tinc.info, Node: Configuration of FreeBSD kernels, Next: Configuration of OpenBSD kernels, Prev: Configuration of Linux kernels, Up: Configuring the kernel
2.1.2 Configuration of FreeBSD kernels
--------------------------------------
For FreeBSD version 4.1 and higher, tun and tap drivers are included in
the default kernel configuration. The tap driver can be loaded with
'kldload if_tap', or by adding 'if_tap_load="YES"' to
'/boot/loader.conf'.

File: tinc.info, Node: Configuration of OpenBSD kernels, Next: Configuration of NetBSD kernels, Prev: Configuration of FreeBSD kernels, Up: Configuring the kernel
2.1.3 Configuration of OpenBSD kernels
--------------------------------------
Recent versions of OpenBSD come with both tun and tap devices enabled in
the default kernel configuration.

File: tinc.info, Node: Configuration of NetBSD kernels, Next: Configuration of Solaris kernels, Prev: Configuration of OpenBSD kernels, Up: Configuring the kernel
2.1.4 Configuration of NetBSD kernels
-------------------------------------
For NetBSD version 1.5.2 and higher, the tun driver is included in the
default kernel configuration.
Tunneling IPv6 may not work on NetBSD's tun device.

File: tinc.info, Node: Configuration of Solaris kernels, Next: Configuration of Darwin (MacOS/X) kernels, Prev: Configuration of NetBSD kernels, Up: Configuring the kernel
2.1.5 Configuration of Solaris kernels
--------------------------------------
For Solaris 8 (SunOS 5.8) and higher, the tun driver may or may not be
included in the default kernel configuration. If it isn't, the source
can be downloaded from <http://vtun.sourceforge.net/tun/>. For x86 and
sparc64 architectures, precompiled versions can be found at
<https://www.monkey.org/~dugsong/fragroute/>. If the 'net/if_tun.h'
header file is missing, install it from the source package.

File: tinc.info, Node: Configuration of Darwin (MacOS/X) kernels, Next: Configuration of Windows, Prev: Configuration of Solaris kernels, Up: Configuring the kernel
2.1.6 Configuration of Darwin (MacOS/X) kernels
-----------------------------------------------
Tinc on Darwin relies on a tunnel driver for its data acquisition from
the kernel. OS X version 10.6.8 and later have a built-in tun driver
called "utun". Tinc also supports the driver from
<http://tuntaposx.sourceforge.net/>, which supports both tun and tap
style devices,
By default, tinc expects the tuntaposx driver to be installed. To use
the utun driver, set add 'Device = utunX' to 'tinc.conf', where X is the
desired number for the utun interface. You can also omit the number, in
which case the first free number will be chosen.

File: tinc.info, Node: Configuration of Windows, Prev: Configuration of Darwin (MacOS/X) kernels, Up: Configuring the kernel
2.1.7 Configuration of Windows
------------------------------
You will need to install the latest TAP-Win32 driver from OpenVPN. You
can download it from
<https://openvpn.net/index.php/open-source/downloads.html>. Using the
Network Connections control panel, configure the TAP-Win32 network
interface in the same way as you would do from the tinc-up script, as
explained in the rest of the documentation.

File: tinc.info, Node: Libraries, Prev: Configuring the kernel, Up: Preparations
2.2 Libraries
=============
Before you can configure or build tinc, you need to have the LibreSSL or
OpenSSL, zlib, lzo, curses and readline 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:
* LibreSSL/OpenSSL::
* zlib::
* lzo::
* libcurses::
* libreadline::

File: tinc.info, Node: LibreSSL/OpenSSL, Next: zlib, Up: Libraries
2.2.1 LibreSSL/OpenSSL
----------------------
For all cryptography-related functions, tinc uses the functions provided
by the LibreSSL or the OpenSSL library.
If this library is not installed, you wil get an error when configuring
tinc for build. Support for running tinc with other cryptographic
libraries installed _may_ be added in the future.
You can use your operating system's package manager to install this if
available. Make sure you install the development AND runtime versions
of this package.
If your operating system comes neither with LibreSSL or OpenSSL, you
have to install one manually. It is recommended that you get the latest
version of LibreSSL from <http://www.libressl.org/>. Instructions on
how to configure, build and install this package are included within the
package. Please make sure you build development and runtime libraries
(which is the default).
If you installed the LibreSSL or OpenSSL libraries from source, it may
be necessary to let configure know where they are, by passing configure
one of the -with-openssl-* parameters. Note that you even have to use
-with-openssl-* if you are using LibreSSL.
--with-openssl=DIR LibreSSL/OpenSSL library and headers prefix
--with-openssl-include=DIR LibreSSL/OpenSSL headers directory
(Default is OPENSSL_DIR/include)
--with-openssl-lib=DIR LibreSSL/OpenSSL library directory
(Default is OPENSSL_DIR/lib)
License
.......
The complete source code of tinc is covered by the GNU GPL version 2.
Since the license under which OpenSSL is distributed is not directly
compatible with the terms of the GNU GPL
<https://www.openssl.org/support/faq.html#LEGAL2>, we include an
exemption to the GPL (see also the file COPYING.README) to allow
everyone to create a statically or dynamically linked executable:
This program is released under the GPL with the additional
exemption that compiling, linking, and/or using OpenSSL is allowed.
You may provide binary packages linked to the OpenSSL libraries,
provided that all other requirements of the GPL are met.
Since the LZO library used by tinc is also covered by the GPL, we also
present the following exemption:
Hereby I grant a special exception to the tinc VPN project
(https://www.tinc-vpn.org/) to link the LZO library with the
OpenSSL library (https://www.openssl.org).
Markus F.X.J. Oberhumer

File: tinc.info, Node: zlib, Next: lzo, Prev: LibreSSL/OpenSSL, Up: Libraries
2.2.2 zlib
----------
For the optional compression of UDP packets, tinc uses the functions
provided by the zlib library.
If this library is not installed, you wil get an error when running the
configure script. You can either install the zlib library, or disable
support for zlib compression by using the "-disable-zlib" option when
running the configure script. Note that if you disable support for
zlib, the resulting binary will not work correctly on VPNs where zlib
compression is used.
You can use your operating system's package manager to install this if
available. Make sure you install the development AND runtime versions
of this package.
If you have to install zlib manually, you can get the source code from
<http://www.zlib.net/>. Instructions on how to configure, build and
install this package are included within the package. Please make sure
you build development and runtime libraries (which is the default).

File: tinc.info, Node: lzo, Next: libcurses, Prev: zlib, Up: Libraries
2.2.3 lzo
---------
Another form of compression is offered using the LZO library.
If this library is not installed, you wil get an error when running the
configure script. You can either install the LZO library, or disable
support for LZO compression by using the "-disable-lzo" option when
running the configure script. Note that if you disable support for LZO,
the resulting binary will not work correctly on VPNs where LZO
compression is used.
You can use your operating system's package manager to install this if
available. Make sure you install the development AND runtime versions
of this package.
If you have to install lzo manually, you can get the source code from
<https://www.oberhumer.com/opensource/lzo/>. Instructions on how to
configure, build and install this package are included within the
package. Please make sure you build development and runtime libraries
(which is the default).

File: tinc.info, Node: libcurses, Next: libreadline, Prev: lzo, Up: Libraries
2.2.4 libcurses
---------------
For the "tinc top" command, tinc requires a curses library.
If this library is not installed, you wil get an error when running the
configure script. You can either install a suitable curses library, or
disable all functionality that depends on a curses library by using the
"-disable-curses" option when running the configure script.
There are several curses libraries. It is recommended that you install
"ncurses" (<http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/>), however other curses
libraries should also work. In particular, "PDCurses"
(<http://pdcurses.sourceforge.net/>) is recommended if you want to
compile tinc for Windows.
You can use your operating system's package manager to install this if
available. Make sure you install the development AND runtime versions
of this package.

File: tinc.info, Node: libreadline, Prev: libcurses, Up: Libraries
2.2.5 libreadline
-----------------
For the "tinc" command's shell functionality, tinc uses the readline
library.
If this library is not installed, you wil get an error when running the
configure script. You can either install a suitable readline library,
or disable all functionality that depends on a readline library by using
the "-disable-readline" option when running the configure script.
You can use your operating system's package manager to install this if
available. Make sure you install the development AND runtime versions
of this package.
If you have to install libreadline manually, you can get the source code
from <http://www.gnu.org/software/readline/>. Instructions on how to
configure, build and install this package are included within the
package. Please make sure you build development and runtime libraries
(which is the default).

File: tinc.info, Node: Installation, Next: Configuration, Prev: Preparations, Up: Top
3 Installation
**************
If you use Debian, you may want to install one of the precompiled
packages for your system. These packages are equipped with system
startup scripts and sample configurations.
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 download page (https://www.tinc-vpn.org/download/).
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'. More detailed instructions are in the
file 'INSTALL', which is included in the source distribution.
* Menu:
* Building and installing tinc::
* System files::

File: tinc.info, Node: Building and installing tinc, Next: System files, Up: Installation
3.1 Building and installing tinc
================================
Detailed instructions on configuring the source, building tinc and
installing tinc can be found in the file called 'INSTALL'.
If you happen to have a binary package for tinc for your distribution,
you can use the package management tools of that distribution to install
tinc. The documentation that comes along with your distribution will
tell you how to do that.
* Menu:
* Darwin (MacOS/X) build environment::
* Cygwin (Windows) build environment::
* MinGW (Windows) build environment::

File: tinc.info, Node: Darwin (MacOS/X) build environment, Next: Cygwin (Windows) build environment, Up: Building and installing tinc
3.1.1 Darwin (MacOS/X) build environment
----------------------------------------
In order to build tinc on Darwin, you need to install Xcode from
<https://developer.apple.com/xcode/>. It might also help to install a
recent version of Fink from <http://www.finkproject.org/>.
You need to download and install LibreSSL (or OpenSSL) and LZO, either
directly from their websites (see *note Libraries::) or using Fink.

File: tinc.info, Node: Cygwin (Windows) build environment, Next: MinGW (Windows) build environment, Prev: Darwin (MacOS/X) build environment, Up: Building and installing tinc
3.1.2 Cygwin (Windows) build environment
----------------------------------------
If Cygwin hasn't already been installed, install it directly from
<https://www.cygwin.com/>.
When tinc is compiled in a Cygwin environment, it can only be run in
this environment, but all programs, including those started outside the
Cygwin environment, will be able to use the VPN. It will also support
all features.

File: tinc.info, Node: MinGW (Windows) build environment, Prev: Cygwin (Windows) build environment, Up: Building and installing tinc
3.1.3 MinGW (Windows) build environment
---------------------------------------
You will need to install the MinGW environment from
<http://www.mingw.org>. You also need to download and install LibreSSL
(or OpenSSL) and LZO.
When tinc is compiled using MinGW it runs natively under Windows, it is
not necessary to keep MinGW installed.
When detaching, tinc will install itself as a service, which will be
restarted automatically after reboots.

File: tinc.info, Node: System files, Prev: Building and installing tinc, Up: Installation
3.2 System files
================
Before you can run tinc, you must make sure you have all the needed
files on your system.
* Menu:
* Device files::
* Other files::

File: tinc.info, Node: Device files, Next: Other files, Up: System files
3.2.1 Device files
------------------
Most operating systems nowadays come with the necessary device files by
default, or they have a mechanism to create them on demand.
If you use Linux and do not have udev installed, you may need to create
the following device file if it does not exist:
mknod -m 600 /dev/net/tun c 10 200

File: tinc.info, Node: Other files, Prev: Device files, Up: System files
3.2.2 Other files
-----------------
'/etc/networks'
...............
You may add a line to '/etc/networks' so that your VPN will get a
symbolic name. For example:
myvpn 10.0.0.0
'/etc/services'
...............
You may add this line to '/etc/services'. The effect is that you may
supply a 'tinc' as a valid port number to some programs. The number 655
is registered with the IANA.
tinc 655/tcp TINC
tinc 655/udp TINC
# Ivo Timmermans <ivo@tinc-vpn.org>

File: tinc.info, Node: Configuration, Next: Running tinc, Prev: Installation, Up: Top
4 Configuration
***************
* Menu:
* Configuration introduction::
* Multiple networks::
* How connections work::
* Configuration files::
* Network interfaces::
* Example configuration::

File: tinc.info, Node: Configuration introduction, Next: Multiple networks, Up: Configuration
4.1 Configuration introduction
==============================
Before actually starting to configure tinc and editing files, make sure
you have read this entire section so you know what to expect. Then,
make it clear to yourself how you want to organize your VPN: What are
the nodes (computers running tinc)? What IP addresses/subnets do they
have? What is the network mask of the entire VPN? Do you need special
firewall rules? Do you have to set up masquerading or forwarding rules?
Do you want to run tinc in router mode or switch mode? These questions
can only be answered by yourself, you will not find the answers in this
documentation. Make sure you have an adequate understanding of networks
in general. A good resource on networking is the Linux Network
Administrators Guide (http://www.tldp.org/LDP/nag2/).
If you have everything clearly pictured in your mind, proceed in the
following order: First, create the initial configuration files and
public/private keypairs using the following command:
tinc -n NETNAME init NAME
Second, use 'tinc -n NETNAME add ...' to further configure tinc.
Finally, export your host configuration file using 'tinc -n NETNAME
export' and send it to those people or computers you want tinc to
connect to. They should send you their host configuration file back,
which you can import using 'tinc -n NETNAME import'.
These steps are described in the subsections below.

File: tinc.info, Node: Multiple networks, Next: How connections work, Prev: Configuration introduction, Up: Configuration
4.2 Multiple networks
=====================
In order to allow you to run more than one tinc daemon on one computer,
for instance if your computer is part of more than one VPN, you can
assign a NETNAME to your VPN. It is not required if you only run one
tinc daemon, it doesn't even have to be the same on all the nodes of
your VPN, but it is recommended that you choose one anyway.
We will asume you use a netname throughout this document. This means
that you call tinc with the -n argument, which will specify the netname.
The effect of this option is that tinc will set its configuration root
to '/etc/tinc/NETNAME/', where NETNAME is your argument to the -n
option. You will also notice that log messages it appears in syslog as
coming from 'tinc.NETNAME', and on Linux, unless specified otherwise,
the name of the virtual network interface will be the same as the
network name.
However, it is not strictly necessary that you call tinc with the -n
option. If you do not use it, the network name will just be empty, and
tinc will look for files in '/etc/tinc/' instead of
'/etc/tinc/NETNAME/'; the configuration file will then be
'/etc/tinc/tinc.conf', and the host configuration files are expected to
be in '/etc/tinc/hosts/'.

File: tinc.info, Node: How connections work, Next: Configuration files, Prev: Multiple networks, Up: Configuration
4.3 How connections work
========================
When tinc starts up, it parses the command-line options and then 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, tinc will keep retrying. 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 temporary network problems.
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 each
other however.
Connections specified using 'ConnectTo' are so-called meta-connections.
Tinc daemons exchange information about all other daemon they know about
via these meta-connections. After learning about all the daemons in the
VPN, tinc will create other connections as necessary in order to
communicate with them. For example, if there are three daemons named A,
B and C, and A has 'ConnectTo = B' in its tinc.conf file, and C has
'ConnectTo = B' in its tinc.conf file, then A will learn about C from B,
and will be able to exchange VPN packets with C without the need to have
'ConnectTo = C' in its tinc.conf file.
It could be that some daemons are located behind a Network Address
Translation (NAT) device, or behind a firewall. In the above scenario
with three daemons, if A and C are behind a NAT, B will automatically
help A and C punch holes through their NAT, in a way similar to the STUN
protocol, so that A and C can still communicate with each other
directly. It is not always possible to do this however, and firewalls
might also prevent direct communication. In that case, VPN packets
between A and C will be forwarded by B.
In effect, all nodes in the VPN will be able to talk to each other, as
long as their is a path of meta-connections between them, and whenever
possible, two nodes will communicate with each other directly.

File: tinc.info, Node: Configuration files, Next: Network interfaces, Prev: How connections work, Up: Configuration
4.4 Configuration files
=======================
The actual configuration of the daemon is done in the file
'/etc/tinc/NETNAME/tinc.conf' and at least one other file in the
directory '/etc/tinc/NETNAME/hosts/'.
An optionnal directory '/etc/tinc/NETNAME/conf.d' can be added from
which any .conf file will be read.
These file consists of comments (lines started with a #) or assignments
in the form of
Variable = Value.
The variable names are case insensitive, and any spaces, tabs, newlines
and carriage returns are ignored. Note: it is not required that you put
in the '=' sign, but doing so improves readability. If you leave it
out, remember to replace it with at least one space character.
The server configuration is complemented with host specific
configuration (see the next section). Although all host configuration
options for the local node listed in this document can also be put in
'/etc/tinc/NETNAME/tinc.conf', it is recommended to put host specific
configuration options in the host configuration file, as this makes it
easy to exchange with other nodes.
You can edit the config file manually, but it is recommended that you
use the tinc command to change configuration variables for you.
In the following two subsections all valid variables are listed in
alphabetical order. The default value is given between parentheses,
other comments are between square brackets.
* Menu:
* Main configuration variables::
* Host configuration variables::
* Scripts::
* How to configure::

File: tinc.info, Node: Main configuration variables, Next: Host configuration variables, Up: Configuration files
4.4.1 Main configuration variables
----------------------------------
AddressFamily = <ipv4|ipv6|any> (any)
This option affects the address family of listening and outgoing
sockets. If any is selected, then depending on the operating
system both IPv4 and IPv6 or just IPv6 listening sockets will be
created.
AutoConnect = <yes|no> (no) [experimental]
If set to yes, tinc will automatically set up meta connections to
other nodes, without requiring CONNECTTO variables.
BindToAddress = <ADDRESS> [<PORT>]
This is the same as ListenAddress, however the address given with
the BindToAddress option will also be used for outgoing
connections. This is useful if your computer has more than one
IPv4 or IPv6 address, and you want tinc to only use a specific one
for outgoing packets.
BindToInterface = <INTERFACE> [experimental]
If you have more than one network interface in your computer, tinc
will by default listen on all of them for incoming connections. It
is possible to bind tinc to a single interface like eth0 or ppp0
with this variable.
This option may not work on all platforms. Also, on some platforms
it will not actually bind to an interface, but rather to the
address that the interface has at the moment a socket is created.
Broadcast = <no | mst | direct> (mst) [experimental]
This option selects the way broadcast packets are sent to other
daemons. _NOTE: all nodes in a VPN must use the same Broadcast
mode, otherwise routing loops can form._
no
Broadcast packets are never sent to other nodes.
mst
Broadcast packets are sent and forwarded via the VPN's Minimum
Spanning Tree. This ensures broadcast packets reach all
nodes.
direct
Broadcast packets are sent directly to all nodes that can be
reached directly. Broadcast packets received from other nodes
are never forwarded. If the IndirectData option is also set,
broadcast packets will only be sent to nodes which we have a
meta connection to.
BroadcastSubnet = ADDRESS[/PREFIXLENGTH]
Declares a broadcast subnet. Any packet with a destination address
falling into such a subnet will be routed as a broadcast (provided
all nodes have it declared). This is most useful to declare subnet
broadcast addresses (e.g. 10.42.255.255), otherwise tinc won't
know what to do with them.
Note that global broadcast addresses (MAC ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff, IPv4
255.255.255.255), as well as multicast space (IPv4 224.0.0.0/4,
IPv6 ff00::/8) are always considered broadcast addresses and don't
need to be declared.
ConnectTo = <NAME>
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 and don't enable
AutoConnect, tinc won't try to connect to other daemons at all, and
will instead just listen for incoming connections.
DecrementTTL = <yes | no> (no) [experimental]
When enabled, tinc will decrement the Time To Live field in IPv4
packets, or the Hop Limit field in IPv6 packets, before forwarding
a received packet to the virtual network device or to another node,
and will drop packets that have a TTL value of zero, in which case
it will send an ICMP Time Exceeded packet back.
Do not use this option if you use switch mode and want to use IPv6.
Device = <DEVICE> ('/dev/tap0', '/dev/net/tun' or other depending on platform)
The virtual network device to use. Tinc will automatically detect
what kind of device it is. Note that you can only use one device
per daemon. Under Windows, use INTERFACE instead of DEVICE. Note
that you can only use one device per daemon. See also *note Device
files::.
DeviceStandby = <yes | no> (no)
When disabled, tinc calls 'tinc-up' on startup, and 'tinc-down' on
shutdown. When enabled, tinc will only call 'tinc-up' when at
least one node is reachable, and will call 'tinc-down' as soon as
no nodes are reachable. On Windows, this also determines when the
virtual network interface "cable" is "plugged".
DeviceType = <TYPE> (platform dependent)
The type of the virtual network device. Tinc will normally
automatically select the right type of tun/tap interface, and this
option should not be used. However, this option can be used to
select one of the special interface types, if support for them is
compiled in.
dummy
Use a dummy interface. No packets are ever read or written to
a virtual network device. Useful for testing, or when setting
up a node that only forwards packets for other nodes.
raw_socket
Open a raw socket, and bind it to a pre-existing INTERFACE
(eth0 by default). All packets are read from this interface.
Packets received for the local node are written to the raw
socket. However, at least on Linux, the operating system does
not process IP packets destined for the local host.
multicast
Open a multicast UDP socket and bind it to the address and
port (separated by spaces) and optionally a TTL value
specified using DEVICE. Packets are read from and written to
this multicast socket. This can be used to connect to UML,
QEMU or KVM instances listening on the same multicast address.
Do NOT connect multiple tinc daemons to the same multicast
address, this will very likely cause routing loops. Also note
that this can cause decrypted VPN packets to be sent out on a
real network if misconfigured.
uml (not compiled in by default)
Create a UNIX socket with the filename specified by DEVICE, or
'/var/run/NETNAME.umlsocket' if not specified. Tinc will wait
for a User Mode Linux instance to connect to this socket.
vde (not compiled in by default)
Uses the libvdeplug library to connect to a Virtual
Distributed Ethernet switch, using the UNIX socket specified
by DEVICE, or '/var/run/vde.ctl' if not specified.
Also, in case tinc does not seem to correctly interpret packets
received from the virtual network device, it can be used to change
the way packets are interpreted:
tun (BSD and Linux)
Set type to tun. Depending on the platform, this can either
be with or without an address family header (see below).
tunnohead (BSD)
Set type to tun without an address family header. Tinc will
expect packets read from the virtual network device to start
with an IP header. On some platforms IPv6 packets cannot be
read from or written to the device in this mode.
tunifhead (BSD)
Set type to tun with an address family header. Tinc will
expect packets read from the virtual network device to start
with a four byte header containing the address family,
followed by an IP header. This mode should support both IPv4
and IPv6 packets.
utun (OS X)
Set type to utun. This is only supported on OS X version
10.6.8 and higher, but doesn't require the tuntaposx module.
This mode should support both IPv4 and IPv6 packets.
tap (BSD and Linux)
Set type to tap. Tinc will expect packets read from the
virtual network device to start with an Ethernet header.
DirectOnly = <yes|no> (no) [experimental]
When this option is enabled, packets that cannot be sent directly
to the destination node, but which would have to be forwarded by an
intermediate node, are dropped instead. When combined with the
IndirectData option, packets for nodes for which we do not have a
meta connection with are also dropped.
Ed25519PrivateKeyFile = <PATH> ('/etc/tinc/NETNAME/ed25519_key.priv')
The file in which the private Ed25519 key of this tinc daemon
resides. This is only used if ExperimentalProtocol is enabled.
ExperimentalProtocol = <yes|no> (yes)
When this option is enabled, the SPTPS protocol will be used when
connecting to nodes that also support it. Ephemeral ECDH will be
used for key exchanges, and Ed25519 will be used instead of RSA for
authentication. When enabled, an Ed25519 key must have been
generated before with 'tinc generate-ed25519-keys'.
Forwarding = <off|internal|kernel> (internal) [experimental]
This option selects the way indirect packets are forwarded.
off
Incoming packets that are not meant for the local node, but
which should be forwarded to another node, are dropped.
internal
Incoming packets that are meant for another node are forwarded
by tinc internally.
This is the default mode, and unless you really know you need
another forwarding mode, don't change it.
kernel
Incoming packets are always sent to the TUN/TAP device, even
if the packets are not for the local node. This is less
efficient, but allows the kernel to apply its routing and
firewall rules on them, and can also help debugging.
Hostnames = <yes|no> (no)
This option selects whether IP addresses (both real and on the VPN)
should be resolved. Since DNS lookups are blocking, it might
affect tinc's efficiency, even stopping the daemon for a few
seconds everytime it does a lookup if your DNS server is not
responding.
This does not affect resolving hostnames to IP addresses from the
configuration file, but whether hostnames should be resolved while
logging.
Interface = <INTERFACE>
Defines the name of the interface corresponding to the virtual
network device. Depending on the operating system and the type of
device this may or may not actually set the name of the interface.
Under Windows, this variable is used to select which network
interface will be used. If you specified a Device, this variable
is almost always already correctly set.
ListenAddress = <ADDRESS> [<PORT>]
If your computer has more than one IPv4 or IPv6 address, tinc will
by default listen on all of them for incoming connections. This
option can be used to restrict which addresses tinc listens on.
Multiple ListenAddress variables may be specified, in which case
listening sockets for each specified address are made.
If no PORT is specified, the socket will listen on the port
specified by the Port option, or to port 655 if neither is given.
To only listen on a specific port but not to a specific address,
use "*" for the ADDRESS.
LocalDiscovery = <yes | no> (no)
When enabled, tinc will try to detect peers that are on the same
local network. This will allow direct communication using LAN
addresses, even if both peers are behind a NAT and they only
ConnectTo a third node outside the NAT, which normally would
prevent the peers from learning each other's LAN address.
Currently, local discovery is implemented by sending some packets
to the local address of the node during UDP discovery. This will
not work with old nodes that don't transmit their local address.
LocalDiscoveryAddress <ADDRESS>
If this variable is specified, local discovery packets are sent to
the given ADDRESS.
Mode = <router|switch|hub> (router)
This option selects the way packets are routed to other daemons.
router
In this mode Subnet variables in the host configuration files
will be used to form a routing table. Only packets of
routable protocols (IPv4 and IPv6) are supported in this mode.
This is the default mode, and unless you really know you need
another mode, don't change it.
switch
In this mode the MAC addresses of the packets on the VPN will
be used to dynamically create a routing table just like an
Ethernet switch does. Unicast, multicast and broadcast
packets of every protocol that runs over Ethernet are
supported in this mode at the cost of frequent broadcast ARP
requests and routing table updates.
This mode is primarily useful if you want to bridge Ethernet
segments.
hub
This mode is almost the same as the switch mode, but instead
every packet will be broadcast to the other daemons while no
routing table is managed.
KeyExpire = <SECONDS> (3600)
This option controls the time the encryption keys used to encrypt
the data are valid. It is common practice to change keys at
regular intervals to make it even harder for crackers, even though
it is thought to be nearly impossible to crack a single key.
MACExpire = <SECONDS> (600)
This option controls the amount of time MAC addresses are kept
before they are removed. This only has effect when Mode is set to
"switch".
MaxConnectionBurst = <COUNT> (100)
This option controls how many connections tinc accepts in quick
succession. If there are more connections than the given number in
a short time interval, tinc will reduce the number of accepted
connections to only one per second, until the burst has passed.
Name = <NAME> [required]
This is a symbolic name for this connection. The name must consist
only of alfanumeric and underscore characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9 and
_), and is case sensitive.
If Name starts with a $, then the contents of the environment
variable that follows will be used. In that case, invalid
characters will be converted to underscores. If Name is $HOST, but
no such environment variable exist, the hostname will be read using
the gethostname() system call.
PingInterval = <SECONDS> (60)
The number of seconds of inactivity that tinc will wait before
sending a probe to the other end.
PingTimeout = <SECONDS> (5)
The number of seconds to wait for a response to pings or to allow
meta connections to block. If the other end doesn't respond within
this time, the connection is terminated, and the others will be
notified of this.
PriorityInheritance = <yes|no> (no) [experimental]
When this option is enabled the value of the TOS field of tunneled
IPv4 packets will be inherited by the UDP packets that are sent
out.
PrivateKey = <KEY> [obsolete]
This is the RSA private key for tinc. However, for safety reasons
it is advised to store private keys of any kind in separate files.
This prevents accidental eavesdropping if you are editting the
configuration file.
PrivateKeyFile = <PATH> ('/etc/tinc/NETNAME/rsa_key.priv')
This is the full path name of the RSA private key file that was
generated by 'tinc generate-keys'. It must be a full path, not a
relative directory.
ProcessPriority = <low|normal|high>
When this option is used the priority of the tincd process will be
adjusted. Increasing the priority may help to reduce latency and
packet loss on the VPN.
Proxy = socks4 | socks5 | http | exec ... [experimental]
Use a proxy when making outgoing connections. The following proxy
types are currently supported:
socks4 <ADDRESS> <PORT> [<USERNAME>]
Connects to the proxy using the SOCKS version 4 protocol.
Optionally, a USERNAME can be supplied which will be passed on
to the proxy server.
socks5 <ADDRESS> <PORT> [<USERNAME> <PASSWORD>]
Connect to the proxy using the SOCKS version 5 protocol. If a
USERNAME and PASSWORD are given, basic username/password
authentication will be used, otherwise no authentication will
be used.
http <ADDRESS> <PORT>
Connects to the proxy and sends a HTTP CONNECT request.
exec <COMMAND>
Executes the given command which should set up the outgoing
connection. The environment variables 'NAME', 'NODE',
'REMOTEADDRES' and 'REMOTEPORT' are available.
ReplayWindow = <bytes> (32)
This is the size of the replay tracking window for each remote
node, in bytes. The window is a bitfield which tracks 1 packet per
bit, so for example the default setting of 32 will track up to 256
packets in the window. In high bandwidth scenarios, setting this
to a higher value can reduce packet loss from the interaction of
replay tracking with underlying real packet loss and/or reordering.
Setting this to zero will disable replay tracking completely and
pass all traffic, but leaves tinc vulnerable to replay-based
attacks on your traffic.
StrictSubnets = <yes|no> (no) [experimental]
When this option is enabled tinc will only use Subnet statements
which are present in the host config files in the local
'/etc/tinc/NETNAME/hosts/' directory. Subnets learned via
connections to other nodes and which are not present in the local
host config files are ignored.
TunnelServer = <yes|no> (no) [experimental]
When this option is enabled tinc will no longer forward information
between other tinc daemons, and will only allow connections with
nodes for which host config files are present in the local
'/etc/tinc/NETNAME/hosts/' directory. Setting this options also
implicitly sets StrictSubnets.
UDPDiscovery = <yes|no> (yes)
When this option is enabled tinc will try to establish UDP
connectivity to nodes, using TCP while it determines if a node is
reachable over UDP. If it is disabled, tinc always assumes a node
is reachable over UDP. Note that tinc will never use UDP with nodes
that have TCPOnly enabled.
UDPDiscoveryKeepaliveInterval = <seconds> (9)
The minimum amount of time between sending UDP ping datagrams to
check UDP connectivity once it has been established. Note that
these pings are large, since they are used to verify link MTU as
well.
UDPDiscoveryInterval = <seconds> (2)
The minimum amount of time between sending UDP ping datagrams to
try to establish UDP connectivity.
UDPDiscoveryTimeout = <seconds> (30)
If tinc doesn't receive any UDP ping replies over the specified
interval, it will assume UDP communication is broken and will fall
back to TCP.
UDPInfoInterval = <seconds> (5)
The minimum amount of time between sending periodic updates about
UDP addresses, which are mostly useful for UDP hole punching.
UDPRcvBuf = <bytes> (1048576)
Sets the socket receive buffer size for the UDP socket, in bytes.
If set to zero, the default buffer size will be used by the
operating system. Note: this setting can have a significant impact
on performance, especially raw throughput.
UDPSndBuf = <bytes> (1048576)
Sets the socket send buffer size for the UDP socket, in bytes. If
set to zero, the default buffer size will be used by the operating
system. Note: this setting can have a significant impact on
performance, especially raw throughput.
UPnP = <yes|udponly|no> (no)
If this option is enabled then tinc will search for UPnP-IGD
devices on the local network. It will then create and maintain
port mappings for tinc's listening TCP and UDP ports. If set to
"udponly", tinc will only create a mapping for its UDP (data) port,
not for its TCP (metaconnection) port. Note that tinc must have
been built with miniupnpc support for this feature to be available.
Furthermore, be advised that enabling this can have security
implications, because the miniupnpc library that tinc uses might
not be well-hardened with regard to malicious UPnP replies.
UPnPDiscoverWait = <seconds> (5)
The amount of time to wait for replies when probing the local
network for UPnP devices.
UPnPRefreshPeriod = <seconds> (5)
How often tinc will re-add the port mapping, in case it gets reset
on the UPnP device. This also controls the duration of the port
mapping itself, which will be set to twice that duration.

File: tinc.info, Node: Host configuration variables, Next: Scripts, Prev: Main configuration variables, Up: Configuration files
4.4.2 Host configuration variables
----------------------------------
Address = <IP ADDRESS|HOSTNAME> [<port>] [recommended]
This variable is only required if you want to connect to this host.
It must resolve to the external IP address where the host can be
reached, not the one that is internal to the VPN. If no port is
specified, the default Port is used. Multiple Address variables
can be specified, in which case each address will be tried until a
working connection has been established.
Cipher = <CIPHER> (blowfish)
The symmetric cipher algorithm used to encrypt UDP packets using
the legacy protocol. Any cipher supported by LibreSSL or OpenSSL
is recognized. Furthermore, specifying "none" will turn off packet
encryption. It is best to use only those ciphers which support CBC
mode. This option has no effect for connections using the SPTPS
protocol, which always use AES-256-CTR.
ClampMSS = <yes|no> (yes)
This option specifies whether tinc should clamp the maximum segment
size (MSS) of TCP packets to the path MTU. This helps in situations
where ICMP Fragmentation Needed or Packet too Big messages are
dropped by firewalls.
Compression = <LEVEL> (0)
This option sets the level of compression used for UDP packets.
Possible values are 0 (off), 1 (fast zlib) and any integer up to 9
(best zlib), 10 (fast lzo) and 11 (best lzo).
Digest = <DIGEST> (sha1)
The digest algorithm used to authenticate UDP packets using the
legacy protocol. Any digest supported by LibreSSL or OpenSSL is
recognized. Furthermore, specifying "none" will turn off packet
authentication. This option has no effect for connections using
the SPTPS protocol, which always use HMAC-SHA-256.
IndirectData = <yes|no> (no)
When set to yes, other nodes which do not already have a meta
connection to you will not try to establish direct communication
with you. It is best to leave this option out or set it to no.
MACLength = <BYTES> (4)
The length of the message authentication code used to authenticate
UDP packets using the legacy protocol. Can be anything from 0 up
to the length of the digest produced by the digest algorithm. This
option has no effect for connections using the SPTPS protocol,
which never truncate MACs.
PMTU = <MTU> (1514)
This option controls the initial path MTU to this node.
PMTUDiscovery = <yes|no> (yes)
When this option is enabled, tinc will try to discover the path MTU
to this node. After the path MTU has been discovered, it will be
enforced on the VPN.
MTUInfoInterval = <seconds> (5)
The minimum amount of time between sending periodic updates about
relay path MTU. Useful for quickly determining MTU to indirect
nodes.
Port = <PORT> (655)
This is the port this tinc daemon listens on. You can use decimal
portnumbers or symbolic names (as listed in '/etc/services').
PublicKey = <KEY> [obsolete]
This is the RSA public key for this host.
PublicKeyFile = <PATH> [obsolete]
This is the full path name of the RSA public key file that was
generated by 'tinc generate-keys'. It must be a full path, not a
relative directory.
From version 1.0pre4 on tinc will store the public key directly
into the host configuration file in PEM format, the above two
options then are not necessary. Either the PEM format is used, or
exactly *one of the above two options* must be specified in each
host configuration file, if you want to be able to establish a
connection with that host.
Subnet = <ADDRESS[/PREFIXLENGTH[#WEIGHT]]>
The subnet which this tinc daemon will serve. Tinc tries to look
up which other daemon it should send a packet to by searching the
appropiate subnet. If the packet matches a subnet, it will be sent
to the daemon who has this subnet in his host configuration file.
Multiple subnet lines can be specified for each daemon.
Subnets can either be single MAC, IPv4 or IPv6 addresses, in which
case a subnet consisting of only that single address is assumed, or
they can be a IPv4 or IPv6 network address with a prefixlength.
For example, IPv4 subnets must be in a form like 192.168.1.0/24,
where 192.168.1.0 is the network address and 24 is the number of
bits set in the netmask. Note that subnets like 192.168.1.1/24 are
invalid! Read a networking HOWTO/FAQ/guide if you don't understand
this. IPv6 subnets are notated like fec0:0:0:1::/64. MAC
addresses are notated like 0:1a:2b:3c:4d:5e.
Prefixlength is the number of bits set to 1 in the netmask part;
for example: netmask 255.255.255.0 would become /24, 255.255.252.0
becomes /22. This conforms to standard CIDR notation as described
in RFC1519 (https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1519.txt)
A Subnet can be given a weight to indicate its priority over
identical Subnets owned by different nodes. The default weight is
10. Lower values indicate higher priority. Packets will be sent
to the node with the highest priority, unless that node is not
reachable, in which case the node with the next highest priority
will be tried, and so on.
TCPonly = <yes|no> (no)
If this variable is set to yes, then the packets are tunnelled over
a TCP connection instead of a UDP connection. This is especially
useful for those who want to run a tinc daemon from behind a
masquerading firewall, or if UDP packet routing is disabled
somehow. Setting this options also implicitly sets IndirectData.
Weight = <weight>
If this variable is set, it overrides the weight given to
connections made with another host. A higher weight means a lower
priority is given to this connection when broadcasting or
forwarding packets.

File: tinc.info, Node: Scripts, Next: How to configure, Prev: Host configuration variables, Up: Configuration files
4.4.3 Scripts
-------------
Apart from reading the server and host configuration files, tinc can
also run scripts at certain moments. Below is a list of filenames of
scripts and a description of when they are run. A script is only run if
it exists and if it is executable.
Scripts are run synchronously; this means that tinc will temporarily
stop processing packets until the called script finishes executing.
This guarantees that scripts will execute in the exact same order as the
events that trigger them. If you need to run commands asynchronously,
you have to ensure yourself that they are being run in the background.
Under Windows (not Cygwin), the scripts should have the extension '.bat'
or '.cmd'.
'/etc/tinc/NETNAME/tinc-up'
This is the most important script. If it is present it will be
executed right after the tinc daemon has been started and has
connected to the virtual network device. It should be used to set
up the corresponding network interface, but can also be used to
start other things.
Under Windows you can use the Network Connections control panel
instead of creating this script.
'/etc/tinc/NETNAME/tinc-down'
This script is started right before the tinc daemon quits.
'/etc/tinc/NETNAME/hosts/HOST-up'
This script is started when the tinc daemon with name HOST becomes
reachable.
'/etc/tinc/NETNAME/hosts/HOST-down'
This script is started when the tinc daemon with name HOST becomes
unreachable.
'/etc/tinc/NETNAME/host-up'
This script is started when any host becomes reachable.
'/etc/tinc/NETNAME/host-down'
This script is started when any host becomes unreachable.
'/etc/tinc/NETNAME/subnet-up'
This script is started when a Subnet becomes reachable. The Subnet
and the node it belongs to are passed in environment variables.
'/etc/tinc/NETNAME/subnet-down'
This script is started when a Subnet becomes unreachable.
'/etc/tinc/NETNAME/invitation-created'
This script is started when a new invitation has been created.
'/etc/tinc/NETNAME/invitation-accepted'
This script is started when an invitation has been used.
The scripts are started without command line arguments, but can make use
of certain environment variables. Under UNIX like operating systems the
names of environment variables must be preceded by a $ in scripts.
Under Windows, in '.bat' or '.cmd' files, they have to be put between %
signs.
'NETNAME'
If a netname was specified, this environment variable contains it.
'NAME'
Contains the name of this tinc daemon.
'DEVICE'
Contains the name of the virtual network device that tinc uses.
'INTERFACE'
Contains the name of the virtual network interface that tinc uses.
This should be used for commands like ifconfig.
'NODE'
When a host becomes (un)reachable, this is set to its name. If a
subnet becomes (un)reachable, this is set to the owner of that
subnet.
'REMOTEADDRESS'
When a host becomes (un)reachable, this is set to its real address.
'REMOTEPORT'
When a host becomes (un)reachable, this is set to the port number
it uses for communication with other tinc daemons.
'SUBNET'
When a subnet becomes (un)reachable, this is set to the subnet.
'WEIGHT'
When a subnet becomes (un)reachable, this is set to the subnet
weight.
'INVITATION_FILE'
When the 'invitation-created' script is called, this is set to the
file where the invitation details will be stored.
'INVITATION_URL'
When the 'invitation-created' script is called, this is set to the
invitation URL that has been created.
Do not forget that under UNIX operating systems, you have to make the
scripts executable, using the command 'chmod a+x script'.

File: tinc.info, Node: How to configure, Prev: Scripts, Up: Configuration files
4.4.4 How to configure
----------------------
Step 1. Creating initial configuration files.
.............................................
The initial directory structure, configuration files and public/private
keypairs are created using the following command:
tinc -n NETNAME init NAME
(You will need to run this as root, or use "sudo".) This will create
the configuration directory '/etc/tinc/NETNAME.', and inside it will
create another directory named 'hosts/'. In the configuration
directory, it will create the file 'tinc.conf' with the following
contents:
Name = NAME
It will also create private RSA and Ed25519 keys, which will be stored
in the files 'rsa_key.priv' and 'ed25519_key.priv'. It will also create
a host configuration file 'hosts/NAME', which will contain the
corresponding public RSA and Ed25519 keys.
Finally, on UNIX operating systems, it will create an executable script
'tinc-up', which will initially not do anything except warning that you
should edit it.
Step 2. Modifying the initial configuration.
............................................
Unless you want to use tinc in switch mode, you should now configure
which range of addresses you will use on the VPN. Let's assume you will
be part of a VPN which uses the address range 192.168.0.0/16, and you
yourself have a smaller portion of that range: 192.168.2.0/24. Then you
should run the following command:
tinc -n NETNAME add subnet 192.168.2.0/24
This will add a Subnet statement to your host configuration file. Try
opening the file '/etc/tinc/NETNAME/hosts/NAME' in an editor. You
should now see a file containing the public RSA and Ed25519 keys (which
looks like a bunch of random characters), and the following line at the
bottom:
Subnet = 192.168.2.0/24
If you will use more than one address range, you can add more Subnets.
For example, if you also use the IPv6 subnet fec0:0:0:2::/64, you can
add it as well:
tinc -n NETNAME add subnet fec0:0:0:2::/24
This will add another line to the file 'hosts/NAME'. If you make a
mistake, you can undo it by simply using 'del' instead of 'add'.
If you want other tinc daemons to create meta-connections to your
daemon, you should add your public IP address or hostname to your host
configuration file. For example, if your hostname is foo.example.org,
run:
tinc -n NETNAME add address foo.example.org
If you already know to which daemons your daemon should make
meta-connections, you should configure that now as well. Suppose you
want to connect to a daemon named "bar", run:
tinc -n NETNAME add connectto bar
Note that you specify the Name of the other daemon here, not an IP
address or hostname! When you start tinc, and it tries to make a
connection to "bar", it will look for a host configuration file named
'hosts/bar', and will read Address statements and public keys from that
file.
Step 2. Exchanging configuration files.
.......................................
If your daemon has a ConnectTo = bar statement in its 'tinc.conf' file,
or if bar has a ConnectTo your daemon, then you both need each other's
host configuration files. You should send 'hosts/NAME' to bar, and bar
should send you his file which you should move to 'hosts/bar'. If you
are on a UNIX platform, you can easily send an email containing the
necessary information using the following command (assuming the owner of
bar has the email address bar@example.org):
tinc -n NETNAME export | mail -s "My config file" bar@example.org
If the owner of bar does the same to send his host configuration file to
you, you can probably pipe his email through the following command, or
you can just start this command in a terminal and copy&paste the email:
tinc -n NETNAME import
If you are the owner of bar yourself, and you have SSH access to that
computer, you can also swap the host configuration files using the
following command:
tinc -n NETNAME export \
| ssh bar.example.org tinc -n NETNAME exchange \
| tinc -n NETNAME import
You should repeat this for all nodes you ConnectTo, or which ConnectTo
you. However, remember that you do not need to ConnectTo all nodes in
the VPN; it is only necessary to create one or a few meta-connections,
after the connections are made tinc will learn about all the other nodes
in the VPN, and will automatically make other connections as necessary.

File: tinc.info, Node: Network interfaces, Next: Example configuration, Prev: Configuration files, Up: Configuration
4.5 Network interfaces
======================
Before tinc can start transmitting data over the tunnel, it must set up
the virtual network interface.
First, decide which IP addresses you want to have associated with these
devices, and what network mask they must have.
Tinc will open a virtual network device ('/dev/tun', '/dev/tap0' or
similar), which will also create a network interface called something
like 'tun0', 'tap0'. If you are using the Linux tun/tap driver, the
network interface will by default have the same name as the NETNAME.
Under Windows you can change the name of the network interface from the
Network Connections control panel.
You can configure the network interface by putting ordinary ifconfig,
route, and other commands to a script named '/etc/tinc/NETNAME/tinc-up'.
When tinc starts, this script will be executed. When tinc exits, it
will execute the script named '/etc/tinc/NETNAME/tinc-down', but
normally you don't need to create that script. You can manually open
the script in an editor, or use the following command:
tinc -n NETNAME edit tinc-up
An example 'tinc-up' script, that would be appropriate for the scenario
in the previous section, is:
#!/bin/sh
ifconfig $INTERFACE 192.168.2.1 netmask 255.255.0.0
ip addr add fec0:0:0:2::/48 dev $INTERFACE
The first command gives the interface an IPv4 address and a netmask.
The kernel will also automatically add an IPv4 route to this interface,
so normally you don't need to add route commands to the 'tinc-up'
script. The kernel will also bring the interface up after this command.
The netmask is the mask of the _entire_ VPN network, not just your own
subnet. The second command gives the interface an IPv6 address and
netmask, which will also automatically add an IPv6 route. If you only
want to use "ip addr" commands on Linux, don't forget that it doesn't
bring the interface up, unlike ifconfig, so you need to add 'ip link set
$INTERFACE up' in that case.
The exact syntax of the ifconfig and route commands differs from
platform to platform. You can look up the commands for setting
addresses and adding routes in *note Platform specific information::,
but it is best to consult the manpages of those utilities on your
platform.

File: tinc.info, Node: Example configuration, Prev: Network interfaces, Up: Configuration
4.6 Example configuration
=========================
Imagine the following situation. Branch A of our example 'company'
wants to connect three branch offices in B, C and D using the Internet.
All four offices have a 24/7 connection to the Internet.
A is going to serve as the center of the network. B and C will connect
to A, and D will connect to C. Each office will be assigned their own IP
network, 10.x.0.0.
A: net 10.1.0.0 mask 255.255.0.0 gateway 10.1.54.1 internet IP 1.2.3.4
B: net 10.2.0.0 mask 255.255.0.0 gateway 10.2.1.12 internet IP 2.3.4.5
C: net 10.3.0.0 mask 255.255.0.0 gateway 10.3.69.254 internet IP 3.4.5.6
D: net 10.4.0.0 mask 255.255.0.0 gateway 10.4.3.32 internet IP 4.5.6.7
Here, "gateway" is the VPN IP address of the machine that is running the
tincd, and "internet IP" is the IP address of the firewall, which does
not need to run tincd, but it must do a port forwarding of TCP and UDP
on port 655 (unless otherwise configured).
In this example, it is assumed that eth0 is the interface that points to
the inner (physical) LAN of the office, although this could also be the
same as the interface that leads to the Internet. The configuration of
the real interface is also shown as a comment, to give you an idea of
how these example host is set up. All branches use the netname
'company' for this particular VPN.
Each branch is set up using the 'tinc init' and 'tinc config' commands,
here we just show the end results:
For Branch A
............
_BranchA_ would be configured like this:
In '/etc/tinc/company/tinc-up':
#!/bin/sh
# Real interface of internal network:
# ifconfig eth0 10.1.54.1 netmask 255.255.0.0
ifconfig $INTERFACE 10.1.54.1 netmask 255.0.0.0
and in '/etc/tinc/company/tinc.conf':
Name = BranchA
On all hosts, '/etc/tinc/company/hosts/BranchA' contains:
Subnet = 10.1.0.0/16
Address = 1.2.3.4
-----BEGIN RSA PUBLIC KEY-----
...
-----END RSA PUBLIC KEY-----
Note that the IP addresses of eth0 and the VPN interface are the same.
This is quite possible, if you make sure that the netmasks of the
interfaces are different. It is in fact recommended to give both real
internal network interfaces and VPN interfaces the same IP address,
since that will make things a lot easier to remember and set up.
For Branch B
............
In '/etc/tinc/company/tinc-up':
#!/bin/sh
# Real interface of internal network:
# ifconfig eth0 10.2.43.8 netmask 255.255.0.0
ifconfig $INTERFACE 10.2.1.12 netmask 255.0.0.0
and in '/etc/tinc/company/tinc.conf':
Name = BranchB
ConnectTo = BranchA
Note here that the internal address (on eth0) doesn't have to be the
same as on the VPN interface. Also, ConnectTo is given so that this
node will always try to connect to BranchA.
On all hosts, in '/etc/tinc/company/hosts/BranchB':
Subnet = 10.2.0.0/16
Address = 2.3.4.5
-----BEGIN RSA PUBLIC KEY-----
...
-----END RSA PUBLIC KEY-----
For Branch C
............
In '/etc/tinc/company/tinc-up':
#!/bin/sh
# Real interface of internal network:
# ifconfig eth0 10.3.69.254 netmask 255.255.0.0
ifconfig $INTERFACE 10.3.69.254 netmask 255.0.0.0
and in '/etc/tinc/company/tinc.conf':
Name = BranchC
ConnectTo = BranchA
C already has another daemon that runs on port 655, so they have to
reserve another port for tinc. It knows the portnumber it has to listen
on from it's own host configuration file.
On all hosts, in '/etc/tinc/company/hosts/BranchC':
Address = 3.4.5.6
Subnet = 10.3.0.0/16
Port = 2000
-----BEGIN RSA PUBLIC KEY-----
...
-----END RSA PUBLIC KEY-----
For Branch D
............
In '/etc/tinc/company/tinc-up':
#!/bin/sh
# Real interface of internal network:
# ifconfig eth0 10.4.3.32 netmask 255.255.0.0
ifconfig $INTERFACE 10.4.3.32 netmask 255.0.0.0
and in '/etc/tinc/company/tinc.conf':
Name = BranchD
ConnectTo = BranchC
D will be connecting to C, which has a tincd running for this network on
port 2000. It knows the port number from the host configuration file.
On all hosts, in '/etc/tinc/company/hosts/BranchD':
Subnet = 10.4.0.0/16
Address = 4.5.6.7
-----BEGIN RSA PUBLIC KEY-----
...
-----END RSA PUBLIC KEY-----
Key files
.........
A, B, C and D all have their own public/private keypairs:
The private RSA key is stored in '/etc/tinc/company/rsa_key.priv', the
private Ed25519 key is stored in '/etc/tinc/company/ed25519_key.priv',
and the public RSA and Ed25519 keys are put into the host configuration
file in the '/etc/tinc/company/hosts/' directory.
Starting
........
After each branch has finished configuration and they have distributed
the host configuration files amongst them, they can start their tinc
daemons. They don't necessarily have to wait for the other branches to
have started their daemons, tinc will try connecting until they are
available.

File: tinc.info, Node: Running tinc, Next: Controlling tinc, Prev: Configuration, Up: Top
5 Running tinc
**************
If everything else is done, you can start tinc by typing the following
command:
tinc -n NETNAME start
Tinc will detach from the terminal and continue to run in the background
like a good daemon. If there are any problems however you can try to
increase the debug level and look in the syslog to find out what the
problems are.
* Menu:
* Runtime options::
* Signals::
* Debug levels::
* Solving problems::
* Error messages::
* Sending bug reports::

File: tinc.info, Node: Runtime options, Next: Signals, Up: Running tinc
5.1 Runtime options
===================
Besides the settings in the configuration file, tinc also accepts some
command line options.
'-c, --config=PATH'
Read configuration options from the directory PATH. The default is
'/etc/tinc/NETNAME/'.
'-D, --no-detach'
Don't fork and detach. This will also disable the automatic
restart mechanism for fatal errors.
'-d, --debug=LEVEL'
Set debug level to LEVEL. The higher the debug level, the more
gets logged. Everything goes via syslog.
'-n, --net=NETNAME'
Use configuration for net NETNAME. This will let tinc read all
configuration files from '/etc/tinc/NETNAME/'. Specifying . for
NETNAME is the same as not specifying any NETNAME. *Note Multiple
networks::.
'--pidfile=FILENAME'
Store a cookie in FILENAME which allows tinc to authenticate. If
unspecified, the default is '/var/run/tinc.NETNAME.pid'.
'-o, --option=[HOST.]KEY=VALUE'
Without specifying a HOST, this will set server configuration
variable KEY to VALUE. If specified as HOST.KEY=VALUE, this will
set the host configuration variable KEY of the host named HOST to
VALUE. This option can be used more than once to specify multiple
configuration variables.
'-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.
This option is not supported on all platforms.
'--logfile[=FILE]'
Write log entries to a file instead of to the system logging
facility. If FILE is omitted, the default is
'/var/log/tinc.NETNAME.log'.
'--bypass-security'
Disables encryption and authentication. Only useful for debugging.
'-R, --chroot'
Change process root directory to the directory where the config
file is located ('/etc/tinc/NETNAME/' as determined by -n/-net
option or as given by -c/-config option), for added security. The
chroot is performed after all the initialization is done, after
writing pid files and opening network sockets.
Note that this option alone does not do any good without -U/-user,
below.
Note also that tinc can't run scripts anymore (such as tinc-down or
host-up), unless it's setup to be runnable inside chroot
environment.
This option is not supported on all platforms.
'-U, --user=USER'
Switch to the given USER after initialization, at the same time as
chroot is performed (see -chroot above). With this option tinc
drops privileges, for added security.
This option is not supported on all platforms.
'--help'
Display a short reminder of these runtime options and terminate.
'--version'
Output version information and exit.

File: tinc.info, Node: Signals, Next: Debug levels, Prev: Runtime options, Up: Running tinc
5.2 Signals
===========
You can also send the following signals to a running tincd process:
'ALRM'
Forces tinc to try to connect to all uplinks immediately. Usually
tinc attempts to do this itself, but increases the time it waits
between the attempts each time it failed, and if tinc didn't
succeed to connect to an uplink the first time after it started, it
defaults to the maximum time of 15 minutes.
'HUP'
Partially rereads configuration files. Connections to hosts whose
host config file are removed are closed. New outgoing connections
specified in 'tinc.conf' will be made. If the -logfile option is
used, this will also close and reopen the log file, useful when log
rotation is used.

File: tinc.info, Node: Debug levels, Next: Solving problems, Prev: Signals, Up: Running tinc
5.3 Debug levels
================
The tinc daemon can send a lot of messages to the syslog. The higher
the debug level, the more messages it will log. Each level inherits all
messages of the previous level:
'0'
This will log a message indicating tinc has started along with a
version number. It will also log any serious error.
'1'
This will log all connections that are made with other tinc
daemons.
'2'
This will log status and error messages from scripts and other tinc
daemons.
'3'
This will log all requests that are exchanged with other tinc
daemons. These include authentication, key exchange and connection
list updates.
'4'
This will log a copy of everything received on the meta socket.
'5'
This will log all network traffic over the virtual private network.

File: tinc.info, Node: Solving problems, Next: Error messages, Prev: Debug levels, Up: Running tinc
5.4 Solving problems
====================
If tinc starts without problems, but if the VPN doesn't work, you will
have to find the cause of the problem. The first thing to do is to
start tinc with a high debug level in the foreground, so you can
directly see everything tinc logs:
tincd -n NETNAME -d5 -D
If tinc does not log any error messages, then you might want to check
the following things:
* 'tinc-up' script Does this script contain the right commands?
Normally you must give the interface the address of this host on
the VPN, and the netmask must be big enough so that the entire VPN
is covered.
* Subnet Does the Subnet (or Subnets) in the host configuration file
of this host match the portion of the VPN that belongs to this
host?
* Firewalls and NATs Do you have a firewall or a NAT device (a
masquerading firewall or perhaps an ADSL router that performs
masquerading)? If so, check that it allows TCP and UDP traffic on
port 655. If it masquerades and the host running tinc is behind
it, make sure that it forwards TCP and UDP traffic to port 655 to
the host running tinc. You can add 'TCPOnly = yes' to your host
config file to force tinc to only use a single TCP connection, this
works through most firewalls and NATs.

File: tinc.info, Node: Error messages, Next: Sending bug reports, Prev: Solving problems, Up: Running tinc
5.5 Error messages
==================
What follows is a list of the most common error messages you might find
in the logs. Some of them will only be visible if the debug level is
high enough.
'Could not open /dev/tap0: No such device'
* You forgot to 'modprobe netlink_dev' or 'modprobe ethertap'.
* You forgot to compile 'Netlink device emulation' in the
kernel.
'Can't write to /dev/net/tun: No such device'
* You forgot to 'modprobe tun'.
* You forgot to compile 'Universal TUN/TAP driver' in the
kernel.
* The tun device is located somewhere else in '/dev/'.
'Network address and prefix length do not match!'
* The Subnet field must contain a _network_ address, trailing
bits should be 0.
* If you only want to use one IP address, set the netmask to
/32.
'Error reading RSA key file `rsa_key.priv': No such file or directory'
* You forgot to create a public/private keypair.
* Specify the complete pathname to the private key file with the
'PrivateKeyFile' option.
'Warning: insecure file permissions for RSA private key file `rsa_key.priv'!'
* The private key file is readable by users other than root.
Use chmod to correct the file permissions.
'Creating metasocket failed: Address family not supported'
* By default tinc tries to create both IPv4 and IPv6 sockets.
On some platforms this might not be implemented. If the logs
show 'Ready' later on, then at least one metasocket was
created, and you can ignore this message. You can add
'AddressFamily = ipv4' to 'tinc.conf' to prevent this from
happening.
'Cannot route packet: unknown IPv4 destination 1.2.3.4'
* You try to send traffic to a host on the VPN for which no
Subnet is known.
* If it is a broadcast address (ending in .255), it probably is
a samba server or a Windows host sending broadcast packets.
You can ignore it.
'Cannot route packet: ARP request for unknown address 1.2.3.4'
* You try to send traffic to a host on the VPN for which no
Subnet is known.
'Packet with destination 1.2.3.4 is looping back to us!'
* Something is not configured right. Packets are being sent out
to the virtual network device, but according to the Subnet
directives in your host configuration file, those packets
should go to your own host. Most common mistake is that you
have a Subnet line in your host configuration file with a
prefix length which is just as large as the prefix of the
virtual network interface. The latter should in almost all
cases be larger. Rethink your configuration. Note that you
will only see this message if you specified a debug level of 5
or higher!
* Chances are that a 'Subnet = ...' line in the host
configuration file of this tinc daemon is wrong. Change it to
a subnet that is accepted locally by another interface, or if
that is not the case, try changing the prefix length into /32.
'Node foo (1.2.3.4) is not reachable'
* Node foo does not have a connection anymore, its tinc daemon
is not running or its connection to the Internet is broken.
'Received UDP packet from unknown source 1.2.3.4 (port 12345)'
* If you see this only sporadically, it is harmless and caused
by a node sending packets using an old key.
* If you see this often and another node is not reachable
anymore, then a NAT (masquerading firewall) is changing the
source address of UDP packets. You can add 'TCPOnly = yes' to
host configuration files to force all VPN traffic to go over a
TCP connection.
'Got bad/bogus/unauthorized REQUEST from foo (1.2.3.4 port 12345)'
* Node foo does not have the right public/private keypair.
Generate new keypairs and distribute them again.
* An attacker tries to gain access to your VPN.
* A network error caused corruption of metadata sent from foo.

File: tinc.info, Node: Sending bug reports, Prev: Error messages, Up: Running tinc
5.6 Sending bug reports
=======================
If you really can't find the cause of a problem, or if you suspect tinc
is not working right, you can send us a bugreport, see *note Contact
information::. Be sure to include the following information in your
bugreport:
* A clear description of what you are trying to achieve and what the
problem is.
* What platform (operating system, version, hardware architecture)
and which version of tinc you use.
* If compiling tinc fails, a copy of 'config.log' and the error
messages you get.
* Otherwise, a copy of 'tinc.conf', 'tinc-up' and all files in the
'hosts/' directory.
* The output of the commands 'ifconfig -a' and 'route -n' (or
'netstat -rn' if that doesn't work).
* The output of any command that fails to work as it should (like
ping or traceroute).

File: tinc.info, Node: Controlling tinc, Next: Invitations, Prev: Running tinc, Up: Top
6 Controlling tinc
******************
You can start, stop, control and inspect a running tincd through the
tinc command. A quick example:
tinc -n NETNAME reload
If tinc is started without a command, it will act as a shell; it will
display a prompt, and commands can be entered on the prompt. If tinc is
compiled with libreadline, history and command completion are available
on the prompt. One can also pipe a script containing commands through
tinc. In that case, lines starting with a # symbol will be ignored.
* Menu:
* tinc runtime options::
* tinc environment variables::
* tinc commands::
* tinc examples::
* tinc top::

File: tinc.info, Node: tinc runtime options, Next: tinc environment variables, Up: Controlling tinc
6.1 tinc runtime options
========================
'-c, --config=PATH'
Read configuration options from the directory PATH. The default is
'/etc/tinc/NETNAME/'.
'-n, --net=NETNAME'
Use configuration for net NETNAME. *Note Multiple networks::.
'--pidfile=FILENAME'
Use the cookie from FILENAME to authenticate with a running tinc
daemon. If unspecified, the default is
'/var/run/tinc.NETNAME.pid'.
'--force'
Force some commands to work despite warnings.
'--help'
Display a short reminder of runtime options and commands, then
terminate.
'--version'
Output version information and exit.

File: tinc.info, Node: tinc environment variables, Next: tinc commands, Prev: tinc runtime options, Up: Controlling tinc
6.2 tinc environment variables
==============================
'NETNAME'
If no netname is specified on the command line with the '-n'
option, the value of this environment variable is used.

File: tinc.info, Node: tinc commands, Next: tinc examples, Prev: tinc environment variables, Up: Controlling tinc
6.3 tinc commands
=================
'init [NAME]'
Create initial configuration files and RSA and Ed25519 keypairs
with default length. If no NAME for this node is given, it will be
asked for.
'get VARIABLE'
Print the current value of configuration variable VARIABLE. If
more than one variable with the same name exists, the value of each
of them will be printed on a separate line.
'set VARIABLE VALUE'
Set configuration variable VARIABLE to the given VALUE. All
previously existing configuration variables with the same name are
removed. To set a variable for a specific host, use the notation
HOST.VARIABLE.
'add VARIABLE VALUE'
As above, but without removing any previously existing
configuration variables. If the variable already exists with the
given value, nothing happens.
'del VARIABLE [VALUE]'
Remove configuration variables with the same name and VALUE. If no
VALUE is given, all configuration variables with the same name will
be removed.
'edit FILENAME'
Start an editor for the given configuration file. You do not need
to specify the full path to the file.
'export'
Export the host configuration file of the local node to standard
output.
'export-all'
Export all host configuration files to standard output.
'import'
Import host configuration file(s) generated by the tinc export
command from standard input. Already existing host configuration
files are not overwritten unless the option -force is used.
'exchange'
The same as export followed by import.
'exchange-all'
The same as export-all followed by import.
'invite NAME'
Prepares an invitation for a new node with the given NAME, and
prints a short invitation URL that can be used with the join
command.
'join [URL]'
Join an existing VPN using an invitation URL created using the
invite command. If no URL is given, it will be read from standard
input.
'start [tincd options]'
Start 'tincd', optionally with the given extra options.
'stop'
Stop 'tincd'.
'restart [tincd options]'
Restart 'tincd', optionally with the given extra options.
'reload'
Partially rereads configuration files. Connections to hosts whose
host config files are removed are closed. New outgoing connections
specified in 'tinc.conf' will be made.
'pid'
Shows the PID of the currently running 'tincd'.
'generate-keys [BITS]'
Generate both RSA and Ed25519 keypairs (see below) and exit. tinc
will ask where you want to store the files, but will default to the
configuration directory (you can use the -c or -n option).
'generate-ed25519-keys'
Generate public/private Ed25519 keypair and exit.
'generate-rsa-keys [BITS]'
Generate public/private RSA keypair and exit. If BITS is omitted,
the default length will be 2048 bits. When saving keys to existing
files, tinc will not delete the old keys; you have to remove them
manually.
'dump [reachable] nodes'
Dump a list of all known nodes in the VPN. If the reachable keyword
is used, only lists reachable nodes.
'dump edges'
Dump a list of all known connections in the VPN.
'dump subnets'
Dump a list of all known subnets in the VPN.
'dump connections'
Dump a list of all meta connections with ourself.
'dump graph | digraph'
Dump a graph of the VPN in dotty format. Nodes are colored
according to their reachability: red nodes are unreachable, orange
nodes are indirectly reachable, green nodes are directly reachable.
Black nodes are either directly or indirectly reachable, but direct
reachability has not been tried yet.
'dump invitations'
Dump a list of outstanding invitations. The filename of the
invitation, as well as the name of the node that is being invited
is shown for each invitation.
'info NODE | SUBNET | ADDRESS'
Show information about a particular NODE, SUBNET or ADDRESS. If an
ADDRESS is given, any matching subnet will be shown.
'purge'
Purges all information remembered about unreachable nodes.
'debug LEVEL'
Sets debug level to LEVEL.
'log [LEVEL]'
Capture log messages from a running tinc daemon. An optional debug
level can be given that will be applied only for log messages sent
to tinc.
'retry'
Forces tinc to try to connect to all uplinks immediately. Usually
tinc attempts to do this itself, but increases the time it waits
between the attempts each time it failed, and if tinc didn't
succeed to connect to an uplink the first time after it started, it
defaults to the maximum time of 15 minutes.
'disconnect NODE'
Closes the meta connection with the given NODE.
'top'
If tinc is compiled with libcurses support, this will display live
traffic statistics for all the known nodes, similar to the UNIX top
command. See below for more information.
'pcap'
Dump VPN traffic going through the local tinc node in pcap-savefile
format to standard output, from where it can be redirected to a
file or piped through a program that can parse it directly, such as
tcpdump.
'network [NETNAME]'
If NETNAME is given, switch to that network. Otherwise, display a
list of all networks for which configuration files exist.
'fsck'
This will check the configuration files for possible problems, such
as unsafe file permissions, missing executable bit on script,
unknown and obsolete configuration variables, wrong public and/or
private keys, and so on.
When problems are found, this will be printed on a line with
WARNING or ERROR in front of it. Most problems must be corrected
by the user itself, however in some cases (like file permissions
and missing public keys), tinc will ask if it should fix the
problem.
'sign [FILENAME]'
Sign a file with the local node's private key. If no FILENAME is
given, the file is read from standard input. The signed file is
written to standard output.
'verify NAME [FILENAME]'
Check the signature of a file against a node's public key. The
NAME of the node must be given, or can be "." to check against the
local node's public key, or "*" to allow a signature from any node
whose public key is known. If no FILENAME is given, the file is
read from standard input. If the verification is succesful, a copy
of the input with the signature removed is written to standard
output, and the exit code will be zero. If the verification
failed, nothing will be written to standard output, and the exit
code will be non-zero.

File: tinc.info, Node: tinc examples, Next: tinc top, Prev: tinc commands, Up: Controlling tinc
6.4 tinc examples
=================
Examples of some commands:
tinc -n vpn dump graph | circo -Txlib
tinc -n vpn pcap | tcpdump -r -
tinc -n vpn top
Examples of changing the configuration using tinc:
tinc -n vpn init foo
tinc -n vpn add Subnet 192.168.1.0/24
tinc -n vpn add bar.Address bar.example.com
tinc -n vpn add ConnectTo bar
tinc -n vpn export | gpg --clearsign | mail -s "My config" vpnmaster@example.com

File: tinc.info, Node: tinc top, Prev: tinc examples, Up: Controlling tinc
6.5 tinc top
============
The top command connects to a running tinc daemon and repeatedly queries
its per-node traffic counters. It displays a list of all the known
nodes in the left-most column, and the amount of bytes and packets read
from and sent to each node in the other columns. By default, the
information is updated every second. The behaviour of the top command
can be changed using the following keys:
<s>
Change the interval between updates. After pressing the <s> key,
enter the desired interval in seconds, followed by enter.
Fractional seconds are honored. Intervals lower than 0.1 seconds
are not allowed.
<c>
Toggle between displaying current traffic rates (in packets and
bytes per second) and cummulative traffic (total packets and bytes
since the tinc daemon started).
<n>
Sort the list of nodes by name.
<i>
Sort the list of nodes by incoming amount of bytes.
<I>
Sort the list of nodes by incoming amount of packets.
<o>
Sort the list of nodes by outgoing amount of bytes.
<O>
Sort the list of nodes by outgoing amount of packets.
<t>
Sort the list of nodes by sum of incoming and outgoing amount of
bytes.
<T>
Sort the list of nodes by sum of incoming and outgoing amount of
packets.
<b>
Show amount of traffic in bytes.
<k>
Show amount of traffic in kilobytes.
<M>
Show amount of traffic in megabytes.
<G>
Show amount of traffic in gigabytes.
<q>
Quit.

File: tinc.info, Node: Invitations, Next: Technical information, Prev: Controlling tinc, Up: Top
7 Invitations
*************
Invitations are an easy way to add new nodes to an existing VPN.
Invitations can be created on an existing node using the 'tinc invite'
command, which generates a relatively short URL which can be given to
someone else, who uses the 'tinc join' command to automatically set up
tinc so it can connect to the inviting node. The next sections describe
how invitations actually work, and how to further automate the
invitations.
* Menu:
* How invitations work::
* Invitation file format::
* Writing an invitation-created script::

File: tinc.info, Node: How invitations work, Next: Invitation file format, Up: Invitations
7.1 How invitations work
========================
When an invitation is created on a node (which from now on we will call
the server) using the 'tinc invite' command, an invitation file is
created that contains all the information necessary for the invitee
(which we will call the client) to create its configuration files. The
invitation file is stays on the server, but a URL is generated that has
enough information for the client to contact the server and to retrieve
the invitation file. The whole URL is around 80 characters long and
looks like this:
server.example.org:12345/cW1NhLHS-1WPFlcFio8ztYHvewTTKYZp8BjEKg3vbMtDz7w4
It is composed of four parts:
hostname : port / keyhash cookie
The hostname and port tell the client how to reach the tinc daemon on
the server. The part after the slash looks like one blob, but is
composed of two parts. The keyhash is the hash of the public key of the
server. The cookie is a shared secret that identifies the client to the
server.
When the client connects to the server in order to join the VPN, the
client and server will exchange temporary public keys. The client
verifies that the hash of the server's public key matches the keyhash
from the invitation URL. If not, it will immediately exit with an error.
Otherwise, an ECDH exchange will happen so the client and server can
communicate privately with each other. The client will then present the
cookie to the server. The server uses this to look up the corresponding
invitation file it generated earlier. If it exists, it will send the
invitation file to the client. The client will also create a permanent
public key, and send it to the server. After the exchange is completed,
the connection is broken. The server creates a host config file for the
client containing the client's permanent public key, and the client
creates tinc.conf, host config files and possibly a tinc-up script based
on the information in the invitation file.
It is important that the invitation URL is kept secret until it is used;
if another person gets a copy of the invitation URL before the real
client runs the 'tinc join' command, then that other person can try to
join the VPN.

File: tinc.info, Node: Invitation file format, Next: Writing an invitation-created script, Prev: How invitations work, Up: Invitations
7.2 Invitation file format
==========================
The contents of an invitation file that is generated by the 'tinc
invite' command looks like this:
Name = client
Netname = vpn
ConnectTo = server
#-------------------------------------#
Name = server
Ed25519PublicKey = augbnwegoij123587...
Address = server.example.com
The file is basically a concatenation of several host config blocks.
Each host config block starts with 'Name = ...'. Lines that look like
'#---#' are not important, it just makes it easier for humans to read
the file.
The first host config block is always the one representing the invitee.
So the first Name statement determines the name that the invitee will
get. From the first block, the 'tinc.conf' and 'hosts/client' files
will be generated; the 'tinc join' command on the client will
automatically separate statements based on whether they should be in
'tinc.conf' or in a host config file. Some statements are special and
are treated differently:
Netname = <NETNAME>
This is a hint to the invitee which netname to use for the VPN. It
is used if the invitee did not already specify a netname, and if
there is no pre-existing configuration with the same netname.
Ifconfig = <ADDRESS[/NETMASK] | dhcp | dhcp6 | slaac>
This is a hint for generating a 'tinc-up' script. If an address is
specified, a command will be added to 'tinc-up' so the VPN
interface will be configured to have the given address. If it is
the word "dhcp", a command will be added to start a DHCP client on
the VPN interface. If it is the word dhcpv6, it will be a DHCPv6
client. If it is "slaac", then it will add commands to enable IPv6
stateless address autoconfiguration. It is also possible to
specify a MAC address, in which case a command will be added to set
the MAC address of the VPN interface.
The exact commands added to the 'tinc-up' script depends on the
operating system the client is using. Multiple Ifconfig statements
can be specified, however one should only use one Ifconfig
statement per address family.
Route = <ADDRESS[/NETMASK]> [<GATEWAY>]
This is a hint for generating a 'tinc-up' script. Route statements
are similar to Ifconfig statements, but add routes instead of
addresses. These only allow IPv4 and IPv6 routes. If no gateway
address is specified, the route is directed to the VPN interface.
In general, a gateway is only necessary when running tinc in switch
mode.
Subsequent host config blocks are copied verbatim into their respective
files in 'hosts/'. The invitation file generated by 'tinc invite' will
normally only contain two blocks; one for the client and one for the
server.

File: tinc.info, Node: Writing an invitation-created script, Prev: Invitation file format, Up: Invitations
7.3 Writing an invitation-created script
========================================
When an invitation is generated, the "invitation-created" script is
called (if it exists) right after the invitation file is written, but
before the URL has been written to stdout. This allows one to change
the invitation file automatically before the invitation URL is passed to
the invitee. Here is an example shell script that aproximately
recreates the default invitation file:
#!/bin/sh
cat >$INVITATION_FILE <<EOF
Name = $NODE
Netname = $NETNAME
ConnectTo = $NAME
#----------------#
EOF
tinc export >>$INVITATION_FILE
You can add more ConnectTo statements, and change 'tinc export' to 'tinc
export-all' for example. But you can also use the script to
automatically hand out a Subnet to the invitee. Note that the script
doesn't have to be a shell script, you can use any language, it just has
to be executable.

File: tinc.info, Node: Technical information, Next: Platform specific information, Prev: Invitations, Up: Top
8 Technical information
***********************
* Menu:
* The connection::
* The meta-protocol::
* Security::

File: tinc.info, Node: The connection, Next: The meta-protocol, Up: Technical information
8.1 The connection
==================
Tinc is a daemon that takes VPN data and transmit that to another host
computer over the existing Internet infrastructure.
* Menu:
* The UDP tunnel::
* The meta-connection::

File: tinc.info, Node: The UDP tunnel, Next: The meta-connection, Up: The connection
8.1.1 The UDP tunnel
--------------------
The data itself is read from a character device file, the so-called
_virtual network device_. This device is associated with a network
interface. Any data sent to this interface can be read from the device,
and any data written to the device gets sent from the interface. There
are two possible types of virtual network devices: 'tun' style, which
are point-to-point devices which can only handle IPv4 and/or IPv6
packets, and 'tap' style, which are Ethernet devices and handle complete
Ethernet frames.
So when tinc reads an Ethernet frame from the device, it determines its
type. When tinc is in it's default routing mode, it can handle IPv4 and
IPv6 packets. Depending on the Subnet lines, it will send the packets
off to their destination IP address. In the 'switch' and 'hub' mode,
tinc will use broadcasts and MAC address discovery to deduce the
destination of the packets. Since the latter modes only depend on the
link layer information, any protocol that runs over Ethernet is
supported (for instance IPX and Appletalk). However, only 'tap' style
devices provide this information.
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.
When that is done, time has come to actually transport the packet to the
destination computer. We do this by sending the packet over an UDP
connection to the destination host. This is called _encapsulating_, the
VPN packet (though now encrypted) is encapsulated in another IP
datagram.
When the destination receives this packet, the same thing happens, only
in reverse. So it checks the message authentication code, decrypts the
contents of the UDP datagram, checks the sequence number and writes the
decrypted information to its own virtual network device.
If the virtual network device is a 'tun' device (a point-to-point
tunnel), there is no problem for the kernel to accept a packet.
However, if it is a 'tap' device (this is the only available type on
FreeBSD), the destination MAC 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 can not be known by the sending
host. Tinc solves this by letting the receiving end detect the MAC
address of its own virtual network interface and overwriting the
destination MAC address of the received packet.
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. Because
switch and hub modes rely on MAC addresses to function correctly, these
modes cannot be used on the following operating systems which don't have
a 'tap' style virtual network device: OpenBSD, NetBSD, Darwin and
Solaris.

File: tinc.info, Node: The meta-connection, Prev: The UDP tunnel, Up: The connection
8.1.2 The meta-connection
-------------------------
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.
TCP is a better alternative, because it already contains protection
against information being lost, unlike UDP.
So we establish two connections. One for the encrypted VPN data, and
one for other information, the meta-data. Hence, we call the second
connection the meta-connection. We can now be sure that the
meta-information doesn't get lost on the way to another computer.
Like with any communication, we must have a protocol, so that everybody
knows what everything stands for, and how she should react. Because we
have two connections, we also have two protocols. The protocol used for
the UDP data is the "data-protocol," the other one is the
"meta-protocol."
The reason we don't use TCP for both protocols is that UDP is much
better for encapsulation, even while it is less reliable. The real
problem is that when TCP would be used to encapsulate a TCP stream
that's on the private network, for every packet sent there would be
three ACKs sent instead of just one. Furthermore, if there would be a
timeout, both TCP streams would sense the timeout, and both would start
re-sending packets.

File: tinc.info, Node: The meta-protocol, Next: Security, Prev: The connection, Up: Technical information
8.2 The meta-protocol
=====================
The meta protocol is used to tie all tinc daemons together, and exchange
information about which tinc daemon serves which virtual subnet.
The meta protocol consists of requests that can be sent to the other
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 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 *note Security::. After a
successful authentication, the server and the client will exchange all
the information about other tinc daemons and subnets they know of, so
that both sides (and all the other tinc daemons behind them) have their
information synchronised.
message
------------------------------------------------------------------
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
ADD_SUBNET node 192.168.1.0/24
| | +--> prefixlength
| +--------> network address
+------------------> owner of this subnet
------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
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
------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
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
------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
daemon message
------------------------------------------------------------------
origin PING
dest. PONG
------------------------------------------------------------------
There is also a mechanism to check if hosts are still alive. Since
network failures or a crash can cause a daemon to be killed without
properly shutting down the TCP connection, this is necessary to keep an
up to date connection list. PINGs are sent at regular intervals, except
when there is also some other traffic. A little bit of salt (random
data) is added 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.
This basically covers what is sent over the meta connection by tinc.

File: tinc.info, Node: Security, Prev: The meta-protocol, Up: Technical information
8.3 Security
============
Tinc got its name from "TINC," short for _There Is No Cabal_; the
alleged Cabal was/is an organisation that was said to keep an eye on the
entire Internet. As this is exactly what you _don't_ want, we named the
tinc project after TINC.
But in order to be "immune" to eavesdropping, you'll have to encrypt
your data. Because tinc is a _Secure_ VPN (SVPN) daemon, it does
exactly that: encrypt. However, encryption in itself does not prevent
an attacker from modifying the encrypted data. Therefore, tinc also
authenticates the data. Finally, tinc uses sequence numbers (which
themselves are also authenticated) to prevent an attacker from replaying
valid packets.
Since version 1.1pre3, tinc has two protocols used to protect your data;
the legacy protocol, and the new Simple Peer-to-Peer Security (SPTPS)
protocol. The SPTPS protocol is designed to address some weaknesses in
the legacy protocol. The new authentication protocol is used when two
nodes connect to each other that both have the ExperimentalProtocol
option set to yes, otherwise the legacy protocol will be used.
* Menu:
* Legacy authentication protocol::
* Simple Peer-to-Peer Security::
* Encryption of network packets::
* Security issues::

File: tinc.info, Node: Legacy authentication protocol, Next: Simple Peer-to-Peer Security, Up: Security
8.3.1 Legacy authentication protocol
------------------------------------
daemon message
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
client <attempts connection>
server <accepts connection>
client ID client 17.2
| | +-> minor protocol version
| +----> major protocol version
+--------> name of tinc daemon
server ID server 17.2
| | +-> minor protocol version
| +----> major protocol version
+--------> name of tinc daemon
client META_KEY 94 64 0 0 5f0823a93e35b69e...7086ec7866ce582b
| | | | \_________________________________/
| | | | +-> RSAKEYLEN bits totally random string S1,
| | | | encrypted with server's public RSA key
| | | +-> compression level
| | +---> MAC length
| +------> digest algorithm NID
+---------> cipher algorithm NID
server META_KEY 94 64 0 0 6ab9c1640388f8f0...45d1a07f8a672630
| | | | \_________________________________/
| | | | +-> RSAKEYLEN bits totally random string S2,
| | | | encrypted with client's public RSA key
| | | +-> compression level
| | +---> MAC length
| +------> digest algorithm NID
+---------> cipher algorithm NID
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The protocol allows each side to specify encryption algorithms and
parameters, but in practice they are always fixed, since older versions
of tinc did not allow them to be different from the default values. The
cipher is always Blowfish in OFB mode, the digest is SHA1, but the MAC
length is zero and no compression is used.
From now on:
* the client will symmetrically encrypt outgoing traffic using S1
* the server will symmetrically encrypt outgoing traffic using S2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
client CHALLENGE da02add1817c1920989ba6ae2a49cecbda0
\_________________________________/
+-> CHALLEN bits totally random string H1
server CHALLENGE 57fb4b2ccd70d6bb35a64c142f47e61d57f
\_________________________________/
+-> CHALLEN bits totally random string H2
client CHAL_REPLY 816a86
+-> 160 bits SHA1 of H2
server CHAL_REPLY 928ffe
+-> 160 bits SHA1 of H1
After the correct challenge replies are received, both ends have proved
their identity. Further information is exchanged.
client ACK 655 123 0
| | +-> options
| +----> estimated weight
+--------> listening port of client
server ACK 655 321 0
| | +-> options
| +----> estimated weight
+--------> listening port of server
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
This legacy authentication protocol has several weaknesses, pointed out
by security export Peter Gutmann. First, data is encrypted with RSA
without padding. Padding schemes are designed to prevent attacks when
the size of the plaintext is not equal to the size of the RSA key. Tinc
always encrypts random nonces that have the same size as the RSA key, so
we do not believe this leads to a break of the security. There might be
timing or other side-channel attacks against RSA encryption and
decryption, tinc does not employ any protection against those.
Furthermore, both sides send identical messages to each other, there is
no distinction between server and client, which could make a MITM attack
easier. However, no exploit is known in which a third party who is not
already trusted by other nodes in the VPN could gain access. Finally,
the RSA keys are used to directly encrypt the session keys, which means
that if the RSA keys are compromised, it is possible to decrypt all
previous VPN traffic. In other words, the legacy protocol does not
provide perfect forward secrecy.

File: tinc.info, Node: Simple Peer-to-Peer Security, Next: Encryption of network packets, Prev: Legacy authentication protocol, Up: Security
8.3.2 Simple Peer-to-Peer Security
----------------------------------
The SPTPS protocol is designed to address the weaknesses in the legacy
protocol. SPTPS is based on TLS 1.2, but has been simplified: there is
no support for exchanging public keys, and there is no cipher suite
negotiation. Instead, SPTPS always uses a very strong cipher suite:
peers authenticate each other using 521 bits ECC keys, Diffie-Hellman
using ephemeral 521 bits ECC keys is used to provide perfect forward
secrecy (PFS), AES-256-CTR is used for encryption, and HMAC-SHA-256 for
message authentication.
Similar to TLS, messages are split up in records. A complete logical
record contains the following information:
* uint32_t seqno (network byte order)
* uint16_t length (network byte order)
* uint8_t type
* opaque data[length]
* opaque hmac[HMAC_SIZE] (HMAC over all preceding fields)
Depending on whether SPTPS records are sent via TCP or UDP, either the
seqno or the length field is omitted on the wire (but they are still
included in the calculation of the HMAC); for TCP packets are guaranteed
to arrive in-order so we can infer the seqno, but packets can be split
or merged, so we still need the length field to determine the boundaries
between records; for UDP packets we know that there is exactly one
record per packet, and we know the length of a packet, but packets can
be dropped, duplicated and/or reordered, so we need to include the
seqno.
The type field is used to distinguish between application records or
handshake records. Types 0 to 127 are application records, type 128 is
a handshake record, and types 129 to 255 are reserved.
Before the initial handshake, no fields are encrypted, and the HMAC
field is not present. After the authentication handshake, the length
(if present), type and data fields are encrypted, and the HMAC field is
present. For UDP packets, the seqno field is not encrypted, as it is
used to determine the value of the counter used for encryption.
The authentication consists of an exchange of Key EXchange, SIGnature
and ACKnowledge messages, transmitted using type 128 records.
Overview:
Initiator Responder
---------------------
KEX ->
<- KEX
SIG ->
<- SIG
...encrypt and HMAC using session keys from now on...
App ->
<- App
...
...
...key renegotiation starts here...
KEX ->
<- KEX
SIG ->
<- SIG
ACK ->
<- ACK
...encrypt and HMAC using new session keys from now on...
App ->
<- App
...
...
---------------------
Note that the responder does not need to wait before it receives the
first KEX message, it can immediately send its own once it has accepted
an incoming connection.
Key EXchange message:
* uint8_t kex_version (always 0 in this version of SPTPS)
* opaque nonce[32] (random number)
* opaque ecdh_key[ECDH_SIZE]
SIGnature message:
* opaque ecdsa_signature[ECDSA_SIZE]
ACKnowledge message:
* empty (only sent after key renegotiation)
Remarks:
* At the start, both peers generate a random nonce and an Elliptic
Curve public key and send it to the other in the KEX message.
* After receiving the other's KEX message, both KEX messages are
concatenated (see below), and the result is signed using ECDSA. The
result is sent to the other.
* After receiving the other's SIG message, the signature is verified.
If it is correct, the shared secret is calculated from the public
keys exchanged in the KEX message using the Elliptic Curve
Diffie-Helman algorithm.
* The shared secret key is expanded using a PRF. Both nonces and the
application specific label are also used as input for the PRF.
* An ACK message is sent only when doing key renegotiation, and is
sent using the old encryption keys.
* The expanded key is used to key the encryption and HMAC algorithms.
The signature is calculated over this string:
* uint8_t initiator (0 = local peer, 1 = remote peer is initiator)
* opaque remote_kex_message[1 + 32 + ECDH_SIZE]
* opaque local_kex_message[1 + 32 + ECDH_SIZE]
* opaque label[label_length]
The PRF is calculated as follows:
* A HMAC using SHA512 is used, the shared secret is used as the key.
* For each block of 64 bytes, a HMAC is calculated. For block n:
hmac[n] = HMAC_SHA512(hmac[n - 1] + seed)
* For the first block (n = 1), hmac[0] is given by HMAC_SHA512(zeroes
+ seed), where zeroes is a block of 64 zero bytes.
The seed is as follows:
* const char[13] "key expansion"
* opaque responder_nonce[32]
* opaque initiator_nonce[32]
* opaque label[label_length]
The expanded key is used as follows:
* opaque responder_cipher_key[CIPHER_KEYSIZE]
* opaque responder_digest_key[DIGEST_KEYSIZE]
* opaque initiator_cipher_key[CIPHER_KEYSIZE]
* opaque initiator_digest_key[DIGEST_KEYSIZE]
Where initiator_cipher_key is the key used by session initiator to
encrypt messages sent to the responder.
When using 256 bits Ed25519 keys, the AES-256-CTR cipher and
HMAC-SHA-256 digest algorithm, the sizes are as follows:
ECDH_SIZE: 32 (= 256/8)
ECDSA_SIZE: 64 (= 2 * 256/8)
CIPHER_KEYSIZE: 48 (= 256/8 + 128/8)
DIGEST_KEYSIZE: 32 (= 256/8)
Note that the cipher key also includes the initial value for the
counter.

File: tinc.info, Node: Encryption of network packets, Next: Security issues, Prev: Simple Peer-to-Peer Security, Up: Security
8.3.3 Encryption of network packets
-----------------------------------
A data packet can only be sent if the encryption key is known to both
parties, and the connection is activated. If the encryption key is not
known, a request is sent to the destination using the meta connection to
retrieve it.
The UDP packets can be either encrypted with the legacy protocol or with
SPTPS. In case of the legacy protocol, the UDP packet containing the
network packet from the VPN has the following layout:
... | IP header | UDP header | seqno | VPN packet | MAC | UDP trailer
\___________________/\_____/
| |
V +---> digest algorithm
Encrypted with symmetric cipher
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. Tinc by default encrypts network packets
using Blowfish with 128 bit keys in CBC mode and uses 4 byte long
message authentication codes to make sure eavesdroppers cannot get and
cannot change any information at all from the packets they can
intercept. The encryption algorithm and message authentication
algorithm can be changed in the configuration. The length of the
message authentication codes is also adjustable. The length of the key
for the encryption algorithm is always the default length used by
LibreSSL/OpenSSL.
The SPTPS protocol is described in *note Simple Peer-to-Peer Security::.
For comparison, this is how SPTPS UDP packets look:
... | IP header | UDP header | seqno | type | VPN packet | MAC | UDP trailer
\__________________/\_____/
| |
V +---> digest algorithm
Encrypted with symmetric cipher
The difference is that the seqno is not encrypted, since the encryption
cipher is used in CTR mode, and therefore the seqno must be known before
the packet can be decrypted. Furthermore, the MAC is never truncated.
The SPTPS protocol always uses the AES-256-CTR cipher and HMAC-SHA-256
digest, this cannot be changed.

File: tinc.info, Node: Security issues, Prev: Encryption of network packets, Up: Security
8.3.4 Security issues
---------------------
In August 2000, we discovered the existence of a security hole in all
versions of tinc up to and including 1.0pre2. This had to do with the
way we exchanged keys. Since then, we have been working on a new
authentication scheme to make tinc as secure as possible. The current
version uses the LibreSSL or OpenSSL library and uses strong
authentication with RSA keys.
On the 29th of December 2001, Jerome Etienne posted a security analysis
of tinc 1.0pre4. Due to a lack of sequence numbers and a message
authentication code for each packet, an attacker could possibly disrupt
certain network services or launch a denial of service attack by
replaying intercepted packets. The current version adds sequence
numbers and message authentication codes to prevent such attacks.
On the 15th of September 2003, Peter Gutmann posted a security analysis
of tinc 1.0.1. He argues that the 32 bit sequence number used by tinc
is not a good IV, that tinc's default length of 4 bytes for the MAC is
too short, and he doesn't like tinc's use of RSA during authentication.
We do not know of a security hole in the legacy protocol of tinc, but it
is not as strong as TLS or IPsec.
This version of tinc comes with an improved protocol, called Simple
Peer-to-Peer Security, which aims to be as strong as TLS with one of the
strongest cipher suites.
Cryptography is a hard thing to get right. We cannot make any
guarantees. Time, review and feedback are the only things that can
prove the security of any cryptographic product. If you wish to review
tinc or give us feedback, you are stronly encouraged to do so.

File: tinc.info, Node: Platform specific information, Next: About us, Prev: Technical information, Up: Top
9 Platform specific information
*******************************
* Menu:
* Interface configuration::
* Routes::

File: tinc.info, Node: Interface configuration, Next: Routes, Up: Platform specific information
9.1 Interface configuration
===========================
When configuring an interface, one normally assigns it an address and a
netmask. The address uniquely identifies the host on the network
attached to the interface. The netmask, combined with the address,
forms a subnet. It is used to add a route to the routing table
instructing the kernel to send all packets which fall into that subnet
to that interface. Because all packets for the entire VPN should go to
the virtual network interface used by tinc, the netmask should be such
that it encompasses the entire VPN.
For IPv4 addresses:
Linux 'ifconfig' INTERFACE ADDRESS 'netmask' NETMASK
Linux iproute2 'ip addr add' ADDRESS'/'PREFIXLENGTH 'dev' INTERFACE
FreeBSD 'ifconfig' INTERFACE ADDRESS 'netmask' NETMASK
OpenBSD 'ifconfig' INTERFACE ADDRESS 'netmask' NETMASK
NetBSD 'ifconfig' INTERFACE ADDRESS 'netmask' NETMASK
Solaris 'ifconfig' INTERFACE ADDRESS 'netmask' NETMASK
Darwin (MacOS/X) 'ifconfig' INTERFACE ADDRESS 'netmask' NETMASK
Windows 'netsh interface ip set address' INTERFACE 'static' ADDRESS NETMASK
For IPv6 addresses:
Linux 'ifconfig' INTERFACE 'add' ADDRESS'/'PREFIXLENGTH
FreeBSD 'ifconfig' INTERFACE 'inet6' ADDRESS 'prefixlen' PREFIXLENGTH
OpenBSD 'ifconfig' INTERFACE 'inet6' ADDRESS 'prefixlen' PREFIXLENGTH
NetBSD 'ifconfig' INTERFACE 'inet6' ADDRESS 'prefixlen' PREFIXLENGTH
Solaris 'ifconfig' INTERFACE 'inet6 plumb up'
'ifconfig' INTERFACE 'inet6 addif' ADDRESS ADDRESS
Darwin (MacOS/X) 'ifconfig' INTERFACE 'inet6' ADDRESS 'prefixlen' PREFIXLENGTH
Windows 'netsh interface ipv6 add address' INTERFACE 'static' ADDRESS/PREFIXLENGTH
On some platforms, when running tinc in switch mode, the VPN interface
must be set to tap mode with an ifconfig command:
OpenBSD 'ifconfig' INTERFACE 'link0'
On Linux, it is possible to create a persistent tun/tap interface which
will continue to exist even if tinc quit, although this is normally not
required. It can be useful to set up a tun/tap interface owned by a
non-root user, so tinc can be started without needing any root
privileges at all.
Linux 'ip tuntap add dev' INTERFACE 'mode' TUN|TAP 'user' USERNAME

File: tinc.info, Node: Routes, Prev: Interface configuration, Up: Platform specific information
9.2 Routes
==========
In some cases it might be necessary to add more routes to the virtual
network interface. There are two ways to indicate which interface a
packet should go to, one is to use the name of the interface itself,
another way is to specify the (local) address that is assigned to that
interface (LOCAL_ADDRESS). The former way is unambiguous and therefore
preferable, but not all platforms support this.
Adding routes to IPv4 subnets:
Linux 'route add -net' NETWORK_ADDRESS 'netmask' NETMASK INTERFACE
Linux iproute2 'ip route add' NETWORK_ADDRESS'/'PREFIXLENGTH 'dev' INTERFACE
FreeBSD 'route add' NETWORK_ADDRESS'/'PREFIXLENGTH LOCAL_ADDRESS
OpenBSD 'route add' NETWORK_ADDRESS'/'PREFIXLENGTH LOCAL_ADDRESS
NetBSD 'route add' NETWORK_ADDRESS'/'PREFIXLENGTH LOCAL_ADDRESS
Solaris 'route add' NETWORK_ADDRESS'/'PREFIXLENGTH LOCAL_ADDRESS '-interface'
Darwin (MacOS/X) 'route add' NETWORK_ADDRESS'/'PREFIXLENGTH LOCAL_ADDRESS
Windows 'netsh routing ip add persistentroute' NETWORK_ADDRESS NETMASK INTERFACE
LOCAL_ADDRESS
Adding routes to IPv6 subnets:
Linux 'route add -A inet6' NETWORK_ADDRESS'/'PREFIXLENGTH INTERFACE
Linux iproute2 'ip route add' NETWORK_ADDRESS'/'PREFIXLENGTH 'dev' INTERFACE
FreeBSD 'route add -inet6' NETWORK_ADDRESS'/'PREFIXLENGTH LOCAL_ADDRESS
OpenBSD 'route add -inet6' NETWORK_ADDRESS LOCAL_ADDRESS '-prefixlen' PREFIXLENGTH
NetBSD 'route add -inet6' NETWORK_ADDRESS LOCAL_ADDRESS '-prefixlen' PREFIXLENGTH
Solaris 'route add -inet6' NETWORK_ADDRESS'/'PREFIXLENGTH LOCAL_ADDRESS '-interface'
Darwin (MacOS/X) ?
Windows 'netsh interface ipv6 add route' NETWORK ADDRESS/PREFIXLENGTH INTERFACE

File: tinc.info, Node: About us, Next: Concept Index, Prev: Platform specific information, Up: Top
10 About us
***********
* Menu:
* Contact information::
* Authors::

File: tinc.info, Node: Contact information, Next: Authors, Up: About us
10.1 Contact information
========================
Tinc's website is at <https://www.tinc-vpn.org/>, this server is located
in the Netherlands.
We have an IRC channel on the FreeNode and OFTC IRC networks. Connect
to irc.freenode.net (https://freenode.net/) or irc.oftc.net
(https://www.oftc.net/) and join channel #tinc.

File: tinc.info, Node: Authors, Prev: Contact information, Up: About us
10.2 Authors
============
Ivo Timmermans (zarq)
Guus Sliepen (guus) (<guus@tinc-vpn.org>)
We have received a lot of valuable input from users. With their help,
tinc has become the flexible and robust tool that it is today. We have
composed a list of contributions, in the file called 'THANKS' in the
source distribution.

File: tinc.info, Node: Concept Index, Prev: About us, Up: Top
Concept Index
*************
[index]
* Menu:
* ACK: Legacy authentication protocol.
(line 6)
* add: tinc commands. (line 22)
* Address: Host configuration variables.
(line 6)
* AddressFamily: Main configuration variables.
(line 6)
* ADD_EDGE: The meta-protocol. (line 22)
* ADD_SUBNET: The meta-protocol. (line 22)
* ANS_KEY: The meta-protocol. (line 63)
* AutoConnect: Main configuration variables.
(line 12)
* binary package: Building and installing tinc.
(line 9)
* BindToAddress: Main configuration variables.
(line 16)
* BindToInterface: Main configuration variables.
(line 23)
* Broadcast: Main configuration variables.
(line 33)
* BroadcastSubnet: Main configuration variables.
(line 53)
* Cabal: Security. (line 6)
* CHALLENGE: Legacy authentication protocol.
(line 6)
* CHAL_REPLY: Legacy authentication protocol.
(line 6)
* CIDR notation: Host configuration variables.
(line 101)
* Cipher: Host configuration variables.
(line 14)
* ClampMSS: Host configuration variables.
(line 22)
* client: How connections work.
(line 18)
* command line: Runtime options. (line 9)
* command line interface: Controlling tinc. (line 6)
* Compression: Host configuration variables.
(line 28)
* connection: The connection. (line 6)
* ConnectTo: Main configuration variables.
(line 65)
* daemon: Running tinc. (line 11)
* data-protocol: The meta-connection. (line 18)
* debug: tinc commands. (line 127)
* debug level: Runtime options. (line 17)
* debug levels: Debug levels. (line 6)
* DecrementTTL: Main configuration variables.
(line 76)
* del: tinc commands. (line 27)
* DEL_EDGE: The meta-protocol. (line 46)
* DEL_SUBNET: The meta-protocol. (line 46)
* Device: Main configuration variables.
(line 85)
* DEVICE: Scripts. (line 72)
* device files: Device files. (line 6)
* DeviceStandby: Main configuration variables.
(line 92)
* DeviceType: Main configuration variables.
(line 99)
* Digest: Host configuration variables.
(line 33)
* DirectOnly: Main configuration variables.
(line 169)
* disconnect: tinc commands. (line 142)
* dummy: Main configuration variables.
(line 106)
* dump: tinc commands. (line 95)
* Ed25519PrivateKeyFile: Main configuration variables.
(line 176)
* edit: tinc commands. (line 32)
* encapsulating: The UDP tunnel. (line 30)
* encryption: Encryption of network packets.
(line 6)
* environment variables: Scripts. (line 60)
* example: Example configuration.
(line 6)
* exchange: tinc commands. (line 48)
* exchange-all: tinc commands. (line 51)
* exec: Main configuration variables.
(line 357)
* ExperimentalProtocol: Main configuration variables.
(line 180)
* export: tinc commands. (line 36)
* export-all: tinc commands. (line 40)
* Forwarding: Main configuration variables.
(line 187)
* frame type: The UDP tunnel. (line 6)
* fsck: tinc commands. (line 160)
* generate-ed25519-keys: tinc commands. (line 86)
* generate-keys: tinc commands. (line 81)
* generate-rsa-keys: tinc commands. (line 89)
* get: tinc commands. (line 11)
* graph: tinc commands. (line 108)
* Hostnames: Main configuration variables.
(line 207)
* http: Main configuration variables.
(line 354)
* hub: Main configuration variables.
(line 275)
* ID: Legacy authentication protocol.
(line 6)
* Ifconfig: Invitation file format.
(line 35)
* import: tinc commands. (line 43)
* IndirectData: Host configuration variables.
(line 40)
* info: tinc commands. (line 120)
* init: tinc commands. (line 6)
* Interface: Main configuration variables.
(line 218)
* INTERFACE: Scripts. (line 75)
* INVITATION_FILE: Scripts. (line 98)
* INVITATION_URL: Scripts. (line 102)
* invite: tinc commands. (line 54)
* IRC: Contact information. (line 9)
* join: tinc commands. (line 59)
* KeyExpire: Main configuration variables.
(line 280)
* KEY_CHANGED: The meta-protocol. (line 63)
* legacy authentication protocol: Legacy authentication protocol.
(line 6)
* libcurses: libcurses. (line 6)
* libraries: Libraries. (line 6)
* libreadline: libreadline. (line 6)
* LibreSSL: LibreSSL/OpenSSL. (line 6)
* license: LibreSSL/OpenSSL. (line 38)
* ListenAddress: Main configuration variables.
(line 226)
* LocalDiscovery: Main configuration variables.
(line 238)
* LocalDiscoveryAddress: Main configuration variables.
(line 249)
* log: tinc commands. (line 130)
* lzo: lzo. (line 6)
* MACExpire: Main configuration variables.
(line 286)
* MACLength: Host configuration variables.
(line 45)
* MaxConnectionBurst: Main configuration variables.
(line 291)
* meta-protocol: The meta-connection. (line 18)
* META_KEY: Legacy authentication protocol.
(line 6)
* Mode: Main configuration variables.
(line 253)
* MTUInfoInterval: Host configuration variables.
(line 60)
* multicast: Main configuration variables.
(line 118)
* multiple networks: Multiple networks. (line 6)
* Name: Main configuration variables.
(line 297)
* NAME: Scripts. (line 69)
* netmask: Network interfaces. (line 39)
* netname: Multiple networks. (line 6)
* NETNAME: Scripts. (line 66)
* NETNAME <1>: tinc environment variables.
(line 6)
* network: tinc commands. (line 156)
* Network Administrators Guide: Configuration introduction.
(line 15)
* NODE: Scripts. (line 79)
* OpenSSL: LibreSSL/OpenSSL. (line 6)
* options: Runtime options. (line 9)
* pcap: tinc commands. (line 150)
* PEM format: Host configuration variables.
(line 77)
* pid: tinc commands. (line 78)
* PING: The meta-protocol. (line 88)
* PingInterval: Main configuration variables.
(line 308)
* PingTimeout: Main configuration variables.
(line 312)
* platforms: Supported platforms. (line 6)
* PMTU: Host configuration variables.
(line 52)
* PMTUDiscovery: Host configuration variables.
(line 55)
* PONG: The meta-protocol. (line 88)
* Port: Host configuration variables.
(line 65)
* port numbers: Other files. (line 17)
* PriorityInheritance: Main configuration variables.
(line 318)
* private: Virtual Private Networks.
(line 10)
* PrivateKey: Main configuration variables.
(line 323)
* PrivateKeyFile: Main configuration variables.
(line 329)
* ProcessPriority: Main configuration variables.
(line 334)
* Proxy: Main configuration variables.
(line 339)
* PublicKey: Host configuration variables.
(line 69)
* PublicKeyFile: Host configuration variables.
(line 72)
* purge: tinc commands. (line 124)
* raw_socket: Main configuration variables.
(line 111)
* release: Supported platforms. (line 14)
* reload: tinc commands. (line 73)
* REMOTEADDRESS: Scripts. (line 84)
* REMOTEPORT: Scripts. (line 87)
* ReplayWindow: Main configuration variables.
(line 362)
* requirements: Libraries. (line 6)
* REQ_KEY: The meta-protocol. (line 63)
* restart: tinc commands. (line 70)
* retry: tinc commands. (line 135)
* Route: Invitation file format.
(line 51)
* router: Main configuration variables.
(line 256)
* runtime options: Runtime options. (line 9)
* scalability: tinc. (line 19)
* scripts: Scripts. (line 6)
* server: How connections work.
(line 18)
* set: tinc commands. (line 16)
* shell: Controlling tinc. (line 11)
* sign: tinc commands. (line 172)
* signals: Signals. (line 6)
* socks4: Main configuration variables.
(line 343)
* socks5: Main configuration variables.
(line 348)
* SPTPS: Simple Peer-to-Peer Security.
(line 6)
* start: tinc commands. (line 64)
* stop: tinc commands. (line 67)
* StrictSubnets: Main configuration variables.
(line 373)
* Subnet: Host configuration variables.
(line 84)
* SUBNET: Scripts. (line 91)
* SVPN: Security. (line 11)
* switch: Main configuration variables.
(line 264)
* TCP: The meta-connection. (line 10)
* TCPonly: Host configuration variables.
(line 113)
* tinc: Introduction. (line 6)
* TINC: Security. (line 6)
* tinc-down: Scripts. (line 30)
* tinc-up: Scripts. (line 20)
* tinc-up <1>: Network interfaces. (line 19)
* tincd: tinc. (line 14)
* top: tinc commands. (line 145)
* top <1>: tinc top. (line 6)
* traditional VPNs: tinc. (line 19)
* tunifhead: Main configuration variables.
(line 153)
* TunnelServer: Main configuration variables.
(line 380)
* tunnohead: Main configuration variables.
(line 147)
* UDP: The UDP tunnel. (line 30)
* UDP <1>: Encryption of network packets.
(line 11)
* UDPDiscoveryInterval: Main configuration variables.
(line 400)
* UDPDiscoveryKeepaliveInterval: Main configuration variables.
(line 394)
* UDPDiscoveryTimeout: Main configuration variables.
(line 404)
* UDPDiscovey: Main configuration variables.
(line 387)
* UDPInfoInterval: Main configuration variables.
(line 409)
* UDPRcvBuf: Main configuration variables.
(line 413)
* UDPSndBuf: Main configuration variables.
(line 419)
* UML: Main configuration variables.
(line 129)
* Universal tun/tap: Configuration of Linux kernels.
(line 6)
* UPnP: Main configuration variables.
(line 425)
* UPnPDiscoverWait: Main configuration variables.
(line 436)
* UPnPRefreshPeriod: Main configuration variables.
(line 440)
* utun: Main configuration variables.
(line 160)
* VDE: Main configuration variables.
(line 134)
* verify: tinc commands. (line 177)
* virtual: Virtual Private Networks.
(line 18)
* virtual network device: The UDP tunnel. (line 6)
* VPN: Virtual Private Networks.
(line 6)
* vpnd: tinc. (line 6)
* website: Contact information. (line 6)
* Weight: Host configuration variables.
(line 120)
* WEIGHT: Scripts. (line 94)
* zlib: zlib. (line 6)

Tag Table:
Node: Top821
Node: Introduction1157
Node: Virtual Private Networks1961
Node: tinc3673
Node: Supported platforms5185
Node: Preparations5882
Node: Configuring the kernel6138
Node: Configuration of Linux kernels6547
Node: Configuration of FreeBSD kernels7396
Node: Configuration of OpenBSD kernels7861
Node: Configuration of NetBSD kernels8218
Node: Configuration of Solaris kernels8620
Node: Configuration of Darwin (MacOS/X) kernels9282
Node: Configuration of Windows10095
Node: Libraries10634
Node: LibreSSL/OpenSSL11091
Node: zlib13617
Node: lzo14639
Node: libcurses15630
Node: libreadline16540
Node: Installation17477
Node: Building and installing tinc18381
Node: Darwin (MacOS/X) build environment19037
Node: Cygwin (Windows) build environment19596
Node: MinGW (Windows) build environment20181
Node: System files20769
Node: Device files21034
Node: Other files21447
Node: Configuration22060
Node: Configuration introduction22347
Node: Multiple networks23868
Node: How connections work25235
Node: Configuration files27796
Node: Main configuration variables29428
Node: Host configuration variables50169
Node: Scripts56239
Node: How to configure60139
Node: Network interfaces64623
Node: Example configuration67002
Node: Running tinc72101
Node: Runtime options72688
Node: Signals75548
Node: Debug levels76397
Node: Solving problems77333
Node: Error messages78759
Node: Sending bug reports83076
Node: Controlling tinc84023
Node: tinc runtime options84759
Node: tinc environment variables85508
Node: tinc commands85837
Node: tinc examples92695
Node: tinc top93257
Node: Invitations94842
Node: How invitations work95505
Node: Invitation file format97798
Node: Writing an invitation-created script100723
Node: Technical information101785
Node: The connection102015
Node: The UDP tunnel102327
Node: The meta-connection105372
Node: The meta-protocol106830
Node: Security111813
Node: Legacy authentication protocol113150
Node: Simple Peer-to-Peer Security117767
Node: Encryption of network packets123412
Node: Security issues126050
Node: Platform specific information127797
Node: Interface configuration128025
Node: Routes130466
Node: About us132377
Node: Contact information132554
Node: Authors132957
Node: Concept Index133361

End Tag Table
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