public/tinc-feth
1
0
Fork 0
Code Issues Pull requests Projects Releases Packages Wiki Activity Actions
tinc-feth/doc/tinc.info

2774 lines
116 KiB
Text
Raw Permalink Normal View History

tinc 1.0.37 with macOS feth device support
2026-03-22 10:32:26 -06:00
This is tinc.info, produced by makeinfo version 7.2 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 1.0.37, a Virtual Private
Network daemon.
Copyright © 1998-2026 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::
* 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 each other 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,
Mac OS 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 (Mac OS 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 (Mac OS 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 (Mac OS X) kernels, Next: Configuration of Windows, Prev: Configuration of Solaris kernels, Up: Configuring the kernel
2.1.6 Configuration of Darwin (Mac OS 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 (Mac OS 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 and lzo 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::

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 will 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 will 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 <https://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, 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 will 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: 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 (Mac OS X) build environment::
* Cygwin (Windows) build environment::
* MinGW (Windows) build environment::

File: tinc.info, Node: Darwin (Mac OS X) build environment, Next: Cygwin (Windows) build environment, Up: Building and installing tinc
3.1.1 Darwin (Mac OS 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 (Mac OS 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::
* Generating keypairs::
* 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, generate the configuration files (‘tinc.conf’,
your host configuration file, ‘tinc-up’ and perhaps ‘tinc-down’). Then
generate the keypairs. Finally, distribute the host configuration
files. 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 sites of
your VPN, but it is recommended that you choose one anyway.
We will assume you use a netname throughout this document. This
means that you call tincd with the -n argument, which will assign a
netname to this daemon.
The effect of this is that the daemon will set its configuration root
to ‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/NETNAME/’, where NETNAME is your argument to the
-n option. You'll notice that it appears in syslog as ‘tinc.NETNAME’.
However, it is not strictly necessary that you call tinc with the -n
option. In this case, the network name would just be empty, and it will
be used as such. tinc now looks for files in ‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/’,
instead of ‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/NETNAME/’; the configuration file should
be ‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/tinc.conf’, and the host configuration files are
now expected to be in ‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/hosts/’.
But it is highly recommended that you use this feature of tinc,
because it will be so much clearer whom your daemon talks to. Hence, we
will assume that you use it.

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 daemons. 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.

File: tinc.info, Node: Configuration files, Next: Generating keypairs, Prev: How connections work, Up: Configuration
4.4 Configuration files
=======================
The actual configuration of the daemon is done in the file
‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/NETNAME/tinc.conf’ and at least one other file in
the directory ‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/NETNAME/hosts/’.
An optional directory ‘/usr/local/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
‘/usr/local/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.
In this section 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.
BindToAddress = <ADDRESS> [<PORT>] [experimental]
If your computer has more than one IPv4 or IPv6 address, tinc will
by default listen on all of them for incoming connections.
Multiple BindToAddress variables may be specified, in which case
listening sockets for each specified address are made.
If no PORT is specified, the socket will be bound to the port
specified by the Port option, or to port 655 if neither is given.
To only bind to a specific port but not to a specific address, use
"*" for the ADDRESS.
This option may not work on all platforms.
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.
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.
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, 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. Under Windows, use INTERFACE instead of
DEVICE. Note that you can only use one device per daemon. See
also *note Device files::.
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
‘/usr/local/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 ‘/usr/local/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.
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.
GraphDumpFile = <FILENAME> [experimental]
If this option is present, tinc will dump the current network graph
to the file FILENAME every minute, unless there were no changes to
the graph. The file is in a format that can be read by graphviz
tools. If FILENAME starts with a pipe symbol |, then the rest of
the filename is interpreted as a shell command that is executed,
the graph is then sent to stdin.
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 every time 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.
IffOneQueue = <yes|no> (no) [experimental]
(Linux only) Set IFF_ONE_QUEUE flag on TUN/TAP devices.
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.
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.
LocalDiscovery = <yes | no> (no) [experimental]
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 broadcast
packets to the LAN during path MTU discovery. This feature may not
work in all possible situations.
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".
MaxTimeout = <SECONDS> (900)
This is the maximum delay before trying to reconnect to other tinc
daemons.
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 unicast 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.
Name = <NAME> [required]
This is a symbolic name for this connection. The name must consist
only of alphanumeric and underscore characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9 and
_).
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.
PrivateKeyFile = <PATH> (‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/NETNAME/rsa_key.priv’)
This is the full path name of the RSA private key file that was
generated by ‘tincd --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> (16)
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 16 will track up to 128
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
‘/usr/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
‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/NETNAME/hosts/’ directory. Setting this
options also implicitly sets StrictSubnets.
UDPRcvBuf = <bytes> (OS default)
Sets the socket receive buffer size for the UDP socket, in bytes.
If unset, the default buffer size will be used by the operating
system.
UDPSndBuf = <bytes> Pq OS default
Sets the socket send buffer size for the UDP socket, in bytes. If
unset, the default buffer size will be used by the operating
system.

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> (aes-256-cbc)
The symmetric cipher algorithm used to encrypt UDP packets. 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.
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> (sha256)
The digest algorithm used to authenticate UDP packets. Any digest
supported by LibreSSL or OpenSSL is recognized. Furthermore,
specifying "none" will turn off packet authentication.
IndirectData = <yes|no> (no)
This option specifies whether other tinc daemons besides the one
you specified with ConnectTo can make a direct connection to you.
This is especially useful if you are behind a firewall and it is
impossible to make a connection from the outside to your tinc
daemon. Otherwise, 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. Can be anything from 0 up to the length of the digest
produced by the digest algorithm.
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.
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’).
PublicKeyFile = <PATH> [obsolete]
This is the full path name of the RSA public key file that was
generated by ‘tincd --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
appropriate 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) [deprecated]
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.
Since version 1.0.10, tinc will automatically detect whether
communication via UDP is possible or not.

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 must have the extension .bat.
‘/usr/local/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.
‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/NETNAME/tinc-down’
This script is started right before the tinc daemon quits.
‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/NETNAME/hosts/HOST-up’
This script is started when the tinc daemon with name HOST becomes
reachable.
‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/NETNAME/hosts/HOST-down’
This script is started when the tinc daemon with name HOST becomes
unreachable.
‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/NETNAME/host-up’
This script is started when any host becomes reachable.
‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/NETNAME/host-down’
This script is started when any host becomes unreachable.
‘/usr/local/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.
‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/NETNAME/subnet-down’
This script is started when a subnet becomes unreachable.
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’ 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.

File: tinc.info, Node: How to configure, Prev: Scripts, Up: Configuration files
4.4.4 How to configure
----------------------
Step 1. Creating the main configuration file
............................................
The main configuration file will be called
‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/NETNAME/tinc.conf’. Adapt the following example to
create a basic configuration file:
Name = YOURNAME
Device = /dev/tap0
Then, if you know to which other tinc daemon(s) yours is going to
connect, add 'ConnectTo' values.
Step 2. Creating your host configuration file
.............................................
If you added a line containing 'Name = yourname' in the main
configuration file, you will need to create a host configuration file
‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/NETNAME/hosts/yourname’. Adapt the following
example to create a host configuration file:
Address = your.real.hostname.org
Subnet = 192.168.1.0/24
You can also use an IP address instead of a hostname. The 'Subnet'
specifies the address range that is local for _your part of the VPN
only_. If you have multiple address ranges you can specify more than
one 'Subnet'. You might also need to add a 'Port' if you want your tinc
daemon to run on a different port number than the default (655).

File: tinc.info, Node: Generating keypairs, Next: Network interfaces, Prev: Configuration files, Up: Configuration
4.5 Generating keypairs
=======================
Now that you have already created the main configuration file and your
host configuration file, you can easily create a public/private keypair
by entering the following command:
tincd -n NETNAME -K
Tinc will generate a public and a private key and ask you where to
put them. Just press enter to accept the defaults.

File: tinc.info, Node: Network interfaces, Next: Example configuration, Prev: Generating keypairs, Up: Configuration
4.6 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
‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/NETNAME/tinc-up’. When tinc starts, this script
will be executed. When tinc exits, it will execute the script named
‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/NETNAME/tinc-down’, but normally you don't need to
create that script.
An example ‘tinc-up’ script:
#!/bin/sh
ifconfig $INTERFACE 192.168.1.1 netmask 255.255.0.0
This script gives the interface an IP address and a netmask. The
kernel will also automatically add a 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 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
4.7 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.
For Branch A
............
_BranchA_ would be configured like this:
In ‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/company/tinc-up’:
# 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 ‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/company/tinc.conf’:
Name = BranchA
Device = /dev/tap0
On all hosts, ‘/usr/local/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 tap0 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 tap interfaces the same IP address, since that will make
things a lot easier to remember and set up.
For Branch B
............
In ‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/company/tinc-up’:
# 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 ‘/usr/local/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 tap0 device. Also, ConnectTo is given so that this node
will always try to connect to BranchA.
On all hosts, in ‘/usr/local/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 ‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/company/tinc-up’:
# 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 ‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/company/tinc.conf’:
Name = BranchC
ConnectTo = BranchA
Device = /dev/tap1
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 ‘/usr/local/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 ‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/company/tinc-up’:
# 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 ‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/company/tinc.conf’:
Name = BranchD
ConnectTo = BranchC
Device = /dev/net/tun
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. Also note that since D uses the tun/tap driver, the network
interface will not be called 'tun' or 'tap0' or something like that, but
will have the same name as netname.
On all hosts, in ‘/usr/local/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 generated a public/private keypair with the
following command:
tincd -n company -K
The private key is stored in
‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/company/rsa_key.priv’, the public key is put into
the host configuration file in the ‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/company/hosts/’
directory. During key generation, tinc automatically guesses the right
filenames based on the -n option and the Name directive in the
‘tinc.conf’ file (if it is available).
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: Technical information, Prev: Configuration, Up: Top
5 Running tinc
**************
If everything else is done, you can start tinc by typing the following
command:
tincd -n NETNAME
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
‘/usr/local/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.
‘-k, --kill[=SIGNAL]’
Attempt to kill a running tincd (optionally with the specified
SIGNAL instead of SIGTERM) and exit. Use it in conjunction with
the -n option to make sure you kill the right tinc daemon. Under
native Windows the optional argument is ignored, the service will
always be stopped and removed.
‘-n, --net=NETNAME’
Use configuration for net NETNAME. This will let tinc read all
configuration files from ‘/usr/local/etc/tinc/NETNAME/’.
Specifying . for NETNAME is the same as not specifying any
NETNAME. *Note Multiple networks::.
‘-K, --generate-keys[=BITS]’
Generate public/private keypair of BITS length. If BITS is not
specified, 2048 is the default. 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 in combination with -K). After
that, tinc will quit.
‘-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.
‘--logfile[=FILE]’
Write log entries to a file instead of to the system logging
facility. If FILE is omitted, the default is
‘/usr/local/var/log/tinc.NETNAME.log’.
‘--pidfile=FILE’
Write PID to FILE instead of ‘/usr/local/var/run/tinc.NETNAME.pid’.
‘--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 (‘/usr/local/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.
This option is best used in combination with the -U/-user option
described below.
You will need to ensure the chroot environment contains all the
files necessary for tinc to run correctly. Most importantly, for
tinc to be able to resolve hostnames inside the chroot environment,
you must copy ‘/etc/resolv.conf’ into the chroot directory. If you
want to be able to run scripts other than ‘tinc-up’ in the chroot,
you must ensure the appropriate shell is also installed in the
chroot, along with all its dependencies.
‘-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.
‘--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.
‘INT’
Temporarily increases debug level to 5. Send this signal again to
revert to the original level.
‘USR1’
Dumps the connection list to syslog.
‘USR2’
Dumps virtual network device statistics, all known nodes, edges and
subnets to syslog.
‘WINCH’
Purges all information remembered about unreachable nodes.

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. Since version 1.0.10, tinc
will automatically fall back to TCP if direct communication via UDP
is not possible.

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.
‘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.
‘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: Technical information, Next: Platform specific information, Prev: Running tinc, Up: Top
6 Technical information
***********************
* Menu:
* The connection::
* The meta-protocol::
* Security::

File: tinc.info, Node: The connection, Next: The meta-protocol, Up: Technical information
6.1 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
6.1.1 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 its 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 its 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: NetBSD, Darwin and Solaris.

File: tinc.info, Node: The meta-connection, Prev: The UDP tunnel, Up: The connection
6.1.2 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
6.2 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 Authentication
protocol::. 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
6.3 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. Tinc by default uses blowfish encryption with
128 bit keys in CBC mode, 32 bit sequence numbers and 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.
* Menu:
* Authentication protocol::
* Encryption of network packets::
* Security issues::

File: tinc.info, Node: Authentication protocol, Next: Encryption of network packets, Up: Security
6.3.1 Authentication protocol
-----------------------------
A new scheme for authentication in tinc has been devised, which offers
some improvements over the protocol used in 1.0pre2 and 1.0pre3.
Explanation is below.
daemon message
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
client <attempts connection>
server <accepts connection>
client ID client 12
| +---> version
+-------> name of tinc daemon
server ID server 12
| +---> version
+-------> name of tinc daemon
client META_KEY 5f0823a93e35b69e...7086ec7866ce582b
\_________________________________/
+-> RSAKEYLEN bits totally random string S1,
encrypted with server's public RSA key
server META_KEY 6ab9c1640388f8f0...45d1a07f8a672630
\_________________________________/
+-> RSAKEYLEN bits totally random string S2,
encrypted with client's public RSA key
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 new scheme has several improvements, both in efficiency and
security.
First of all, the server sends exactly the same kind of messages over
the wire as the client. The previous versions of tinc first
authenticated the client, and then the server. This scheme even allows
both sides to send their messages simultaneously, there is no need to
wait for the other to send something first. This means that any
calculations that need to be done upon sending or receiving a message
can also be done in parallel. This is especially important when doing
RSA encryption/decryption. Given that these calculations are the main
part of the CPU time spent for the authentication, speed is improved by
a factor 2.
Second, only one RSA encrypted message is sent instead of two. This
reduces the amount of information attackers can see (and thus use for a
cryptographic attack). It also improves speed by a factor two, making
the total speedup a factor 4.
Third, and most important: The symmetric cipher keys are exchanged
first, the challenge is done afterwards. In the previous authentication
scheme, because a man-in-the-middle could pass the challenge/chal_reply
phase (by just copying the messages between the two real tinc daemons),
but no information was exchanged that was really needed to read the rest
of the messages, the challenge/chal_reply phase was of no real use. The
man-in-the-middle was only stopped by the fact that only after the ACK
messages were encrypted with the symmetric cipher. Potentially, it
could even send it's own symmetric key to the server (if it knew the
server's public key) and read some of the metadata the server would send
it (it was impossible for the mitm to read actual network packets
though). The new scheme however prevents this.
This new scheme makes sure that first of all, symmetric keys are
exchanged. The rest of the messages are then encrypted with the
symmetric cipher. Then, each side can only read received messages if
they have their private key. The challenge is there to let the other
side know that the private key is really known, because a challenge
reply can only be sent back if the challenge is decrypted correctly, and
that can only be done with knowledge of the private key.
Fourth: the first thing that is sent via the symmetric cipher
encrypted connection is a totally random string, so that there is no
known plaintext (for an attacker) in the beginning of the encrypted
stream.

File: tinc.info, Node: Encryption of network packets, Next: Security issues, Prev: Authentication protocol, Up: Security
6.3.2 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 packet is stored in a queue while waiting for the key
to arrive.
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. By default the first 4 bytes of the
digest are used for this, but this can be changed using the MACLength
configuration variable.

File: tinc.info, Node: Security issues, Prev: Encryption of network packets, Up: Security
6.3.3 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 this version of
tinc, but tinc's security is not as strong as TLS or IPsec. We will
address these issues in tinc 2.0.
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 strongly encouraged to do so.

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

File: tinc.info, Node: Interface configuration, Next: Routes, Up: Platform specific information
7.1 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 (Mac OS 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 (Mac OS X) ‘ifconfig’ INTERFACE ‘inet6’ ADDRESS ‘prefixlen’ PREFIXLENGTH
Windows ‘netsh interface ipv6 add address’ INTERFACE ‘static’ ADDRESS/PREFIXLENGTH
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, Next: Automatically starting tinc, Prev: Interface configuration, Up: Platform specific information
7.2 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 (Mac OS X) ‘route add’ NETWORK_ADDRESS‘/’PREFIXLENGTH ‘-interface’ INTERFACE
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 (Mac OS X) ‘route add -inet6’ NETWORK_ADDRESS‘/’PREFIXLENGTH ‘-interface’ INTERFACE
Windows ‘netsh interface ipv6 add route’ NETWORK ADDRESS/PREFIXLENGTH INTERFACE

File: tinc.info, Node: Automatically starting tinc, Prev: Routes, Up: Platform specific information
7.3 Automatically starting tinc
===============================
* Menu:
* Linux::
* Windows::
* Other platforms::

File: tinc.info, Node: Linux, Next: Windows, Up: Automatically starting tinc
7.3.1 Linux
-----------
There are many Linux distributions, and historically, many of them had
their own way of starting programs at boot time. Today, a number of
major Linux distributions have chosen to use systemd as their init
system. Tinc ships with systemd service files that allow you to start
and stop tinc using systemd. There are two service files:
‘tinc.service’ is used to globally enable or disable all tinc daemons
managed by systemd, and ‘tinc@NETNAME.service’ is used to enable or
disable specific tinc daemons. So if one has created a tinc network
with netname ‘foo’, then you have to run the following two commands to
ensure it is started at boot time:
systemctl enable tinc
systemctl enable tinc@foo
To start the tinc daemon immediately if it wasn't already running,
use the following command:
systemctl start tinc@foo
You can also use ‘systemctl start tinc’, this will start all tinc
daemons that are enabled. You can stop and disable tinc networks in the
same way.
If your system is not using systemd, then you have to look up your
distribution's way of starting tinc at boot time.

File: tinc.info, Node: Windows, Next: Other platforms, Prev: Linux, Up: Automatically starting tinc
7.3.2 Windows
-------------
On Windows, if tinc is started without the ‘-D’ or ‘--no-detach’ option,
it will automatically register itself as a service that is started at
boot time. When tinc is stopped using the ‘-k’ or ‘--kill’, it will
also automatically unregister itself. Once tinc is registered as a
service, it is also possible to stop and start tinc using the Windows
Services Manager.

File: tinc.info, Node: Other platforms, Prev: Windows, Up: Automatically starting tinc
7.3.3 Other platforms
---------------------
On platforms other than the ones mentioned in the earlier sections, you
have to look up your platform's way of starting programs at boot time.

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

File: tinc.info, Node: Contact information, Next: Authors, Up: About us
8.1 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
8.2 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: Authentication protocol.
(line 10)
* ADD_EDGE: The meta-protocol. (line 22)
* ADD_SUBNET: The meta-protocol. (line 22)
* Address: Host configuration variables.
(line 6)
* AddressFamily: Main configuration variables.
(line 6)
* ANS_KEY: The meta-protocol. (line 63)
* authentication: Authentication protocol.
(line 6)
* binary package: Building and installing tinc.
(line 9)
* BindToAddress: Main configuration variables.
(line 12)
* BindToInterface: Main configuration variables.
(line 25)
* Broadcast: Main configuration variables.
(line 33)
* Cabal: Security. (line 6)
* CHAL_REPLY: Authentication protocol.
(line 10)
* CHALLENGE: Authentication protocol.
(line 10)
* CIDR notation: Host configuration variables.
(line 90)
* Cipher: Host configuration variables.
(line 14)
* ClampMSS: Host configuration variables.
(line 20)
* client: How connections work.
(line 18)
* command line: Runtime options. (line 9)
* Compression: Host configuration variables.
(line 26)
* connection: The connection. (line 6)
* ConnectTo: Main configuration variables.
(line 53)
* daemon: Running tinc. (line 11)
* data-protocol: The meta-connection. (line 18)
* debug level: Runtime options. (line 17)
* debug levels: Debug levels. (line 6)
* DecrementTTL: Main configuration variables.
(line 64)
* DEL_EDGE: The meta-protocol. (line 46)
* DEL_SUBNET: The meta-protocol. (line 46)
* Device: Main configuration variables.
(line 73)
* DEVICE: Scripts. (line 64)
* device files: Device files. (line 6)
* DeviceType: Main configuration variables.
(line 79)
* Digest: Host configuration variables.
(line 31)
* DirectOnly: Main configuration variables.
(line 150)
* dummy: Main configuration variables.
(line 86)
* encapsulating: The UDP tunnel. (line 30)
* encryption: Encryption of network packets.
(line 6)
* environment variables: Scripts. (line 53)
* example: Example configuration.
(line 6)
* exec: Main configuration variables.
(line 314)
* Forwarding: Main configuration variables.
(line 157)
* frame type: The UDP tunnel. (line 6)
* GraphDumpFile: Main configuration variables.
(line 177)
* Hostnames: Main configuration variables.
(line 185)
* http: Main configuration variables.
(line 311)
* hub: Main configuration variables.
(line 255)
* ID: Authentication protocol.
(line 10)
* IffOneQueue: Main configuration variables.
(line 196)
* IndirectData: Host configuration variables.
(line 36)
* Interface: Main configuration variables.
(line 199)
* INTERFACE: Scripts. (line 67)
* IRC: Contact information. (line 9)
* key generation: Generating keypairs. (line 6)
* KEY_CHANGED: The meta-protocol. (line 63)
* KeyExpire: Main configuration variables.
(line 207)
* libraries: Libraries. (line 6)
* LibreSSL: LibreSSL/OpenSSL. (line 6)
* license: LibreSSL/OpenSSL. (line 38)
* LocalDiscovery: Main configuration variables.
(line 213)
* lzo: lzo. (line 6)
* MACExpire: Main configuration variables.
(line 224)
* MACLength: Host configuration variables.
(line 44)
* MaxTimeout: Main configuration variables.
(line 229)
* META_KEY: Authentication protocol.
(line 10)
* meta-protocol: The meta-connection. (line 18)
* Mode: Main configuration variables.
(line 233)
* multicast: Main configuration variables.
(line 98)
* multiple networks: Multiple networks. (line 6)
* Name: Main configuration variables.
(line 260)
* NAME: Scripts. (line 61)
* netmask: Network interfaces. (line 34)
* netname: Multiple networks. (line 6)
* NETNAME: Scripts. (line 58)
* Network Administrators Guide: Configuration introduction.
(line 15)
* NODE: Scripts. (line 71)
* OpenSSL: LibreSSL/OpenSSL. (line 6)
* options: Runtime options. (line 9)
* PEM format: Host configuration variables.
(line 66)
* PING: The meta-protocol. (line 88)
* PingInterval: Main configuration variables.
(line 271)
* PingTimeout: Main configuration variables.
(line 275)
* platforms: Supported platforms. (line 6)
* PMTU: Host configuration variables.
(line 49)
* PMTUDiscovery: Host configuration variables.
(line 52)
* PONG: The meta-protocol. (line 88)
* Port: Host configuration variables.
(line 57)
* port numbers: Other files. (line 17)
* PriorityInheritance: Main configuration variables.
(line 281)
* private: Virtual Private Networks.
(line 10)
* PrivateKeyFile: Main configuration variables.
(line 286)
* ProcessPriority: Main configuration variables.
(line 291)
* Proxy: Main configuration variables.
(line 296)
* PublicKeyFile: Host configuration variables.
(line 61)
* raw_socket: Main configuration variables.
(line 91)
* release: Supported platforms. (line 14)
* REMOTEADDRESS: Scripts. (line 76)
* REMOTEPORT: Scripts. (line 79)
* ReplayWindow: Main configuration variables.
(line 319)
* REQ_KEY: The meta-protocol. (line 63)
* requirements: Libraries. (line 6)
* router: Main configuration variables.
(line 236)
* runtime options: Runtime options. (line 9)
* scalability: tinc. (line 19)
* scripts: Scripts. (line 6)
* server: How connections work.
(line 18)
* signals: Signals. (line 6)
* socks4: Main configuration variables.
(line 300)
* socks5: Main configuration variables.
(line 305)
* StrictSubnets: Main configuration variables.
(line 330)
* Subnet: Host configuration variables.
(line 73)
* SUBNET: Scripts. (line 83)
* Subnet weight: Host configuration variables.
(line 95)
* SVPN: Security. (line 11)
* switch: Main configuration variables.
(line 244)
* systemd: Linux. (line 6)
* TCP: The meta-connection. (line 10)
* TCPonly: Host configuration variables.
(line 102)
* tinc: Introduction. (line 6)
* TINC: Security. (line 6)
* tinc-down: Scripts. (line 29)
* tinc-up: Scripts. (line 19)
* tinc-up <1>: Network interfaces. (line 19)
* tincd: tinc. (line 14)
* traditional VPNs: tinc. (line 19)
* tunifhead: Main configuration variables.
(line 134)
* TunnelServer: Main configuration variables.
(line 337)
* tunnohead: Main configuration variables.
(line 128)
* UDP: The UDP tunnel. (line 30)
* UDP <1>: Encryption of network packets.
(line 12)
* UDPRcvBuf: Main configuration variables.
(line 344)
* UDPSndBuf: Main configuration variables.
(line 349)
* UML: Main configuration variables.
(line 109)
* Universal tun/tap: Configuration of Linux kernels.
(line 6)
* utun: Main configuration variables.
(line 141)
* VDE: Main configuration variables.
(line 115)
* 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: Scripts. (line 86)
* zlib: zlib. (line 6)

Tag Table:
Node: Top805
Node: Introduction1104
Node: Virtual Private Networks1914
Node: tinc3638
Node: Supported platforms5166
Node: Preparations5867
Node: Configuring the kernel6123
Node: Configuration of Linux kernels6533
Node: Configuration of FreeBSD kernels7392
Node: Configuration of OpenBSD kernels7869
Node: Configuration of NetBSD kernels8226
Node: Configuration of Solaris kernels8631
Node: Configuration of Darwin (Mac OS X) kernels9298
Node: Configuration of Windows10125
Node: Libraries10665
Node: LibreSSL/OpenSSL11074
Node: zlib13616
Node: lzo14645
Node: Installation15628
Node: Building and installing tinc16542
Node: Darwin (Mac OS X) build environment17206
Node: Cygwin (Windows) build environment17771
Node: MinGW (Windows) build environment18360
Node: System files18954
Node: Device files19219
Node: Other files19635
Node: Configuration20268
Node: Configuration introduction20579
Node: Multiple networks21859
Node: How connections work23359
Node: Configuration files24581
Node: Main configuration variables26131
Node: Host configuration variables42228
Node: Scripts47691
Node: How to configure51109
Node: Generating keypairs52395
Node: Network interfaces52894
Node: Example configuration54795
Node: Running tinc60320
Node: Runtime options60910
Node: Signals64676
Node: Debug levels65895
Node: Solving problems66855
Node: Error messages68421
Node: Sending bug reports72336
Node: Technical information73323
Node: The connection73554
Node: The UDP tunnel73866
Node: The meta-connection76918
Node: The meta-protocol78387
Node: Security83404
Node: Authentication protocol84546
Node: Encryption of network packets89591
Node: Security issues90967
Node: Platform specific information92607
Node: Interface configuration92867
Node: Routes95327
Node: Automatically starting tinc97521
Node: Linux97744
Node: Windows98981
Node: Other platforms99502
Node: About us99784
Node: Contact information99959
Node: Authors100362
Node: Concept Index100771

End Tag Table

Local Variables:
coding: utf-8
End:
Reference in a new issue Copy permalink