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tinc.conf(5) - phpMan
TINC.CONF(5) BSD File Formats Manual TINC.CONF(5)
NAME
tinc.conf — tinc daemon configuration
DESCRIPTION
The files in the /etc/tinc/ directory contain runtime and security information for the tinc
daemon.
NETWORKS
It is perfectly ok for you to run more than one tinc daemon. However, in its default form,
you will soon notice that you can't use two different configuration files without the -c
option.
We have thought of another way of dealing with this: network names. This means that you
call tinc.conf with the -n option, which will assign a name to this daemon.
The effect of this is that the daemon will set its configuration root to /etc/tinc/NETNAME/,
where NETNAME is your argument to the -n option. You'll notice that messages appear in sys‐
log as coming from tincd.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 /etc/tinc/, instead of /etc/tinc/NETNAME/; the configuration file should be
/etc/tinc/tinc.conf, and the host configuration files are now expected to be in
/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.
NAMES
Each tinc daemon should have a name that is unique in the network which it will be part of.
The name will be used by other tinc daemons for identification. The name has to be declared
in the /etc/tinc/NETNAME/tinc.conf file.
To make things easy, choose something that will give unique and easy to remember names to
your tinc daemon(s). You could try things like hostnames, owner surnames or location names.
PUBLIC/PRIVATE KEYS
You should use tincd -K to generate public/private keypairs. It will generate two keys.
The private key should be stored in a separate file /etc/tinc/NETNAME/rsa_key.priv -- where
NETNAME stands for the network (see NETWORKS) above. The public key should be stored in the
host configuration file /etc/tinc/NETNAME/hosts/NAME -- where NAME stands for the name of
the local tinc daemon (see NAMES).
SERVER CONFIGURATION
The server configuration of the daemon is done in the file /etc/tinc/NETNAME/tinc.conf.
This 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 sec‐
tion). Although all configuration options for the local host listed in this document can
also be put in /etc/tinc/NETNAME/tinc.conf, it is recommended to put host specific configu‐
ration options in the host configuration file, as this makes it easy to exchange with other
nodes.
Here are all valid variables, listed in alphabetical order. The default value is given
between parentheses.
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 your computer has more than one network interface, tinc will by default listen on
all of them for incoming connections. It is possible to bind only to a single
interface with this variable.
This option may not work on all platforms. Also, on some platforms it will not
actually bind to an interface, but rather to the address that the interface has at
the moment a socket is created.
Broadcast = no | mst | direct (mst) [experimental]
This option selects the way broadcast packets are sent to other daemons. NOTE: all
nodes in a VPN must use the same Broadcast mode, otherwise routing loops can form.
no Broadcast packets are never sent to other nodes.
mst Broadcast packets are sent and forwarded via the VPN's Minimum Spanning
Tree. This ensures broadcast packets reach all nodes.
direct Broadcast packets are sent directly to all nodes that can be reached
directly. Broadcast packets received from other nodes are never forwarded.
If the IndirectData option is also set, broadcast packets will only be sent
to nodes which we have a meta connection to.
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 dae‐
mons 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 net‐
work device or to another node, and will drop packets that have a TTL value of zero,
in which case it will send an ICMP Time Exceeded packet back.
Do not use this option if you use switch mode and want to use IPv6.
Device = device (/dev/tap0, /dev/net/tun or other depending on platform)
The virtual network device to use. tinc will automatically detect what kind of
device it is. Note that you can only use one device per daemon. Under Windows, use
Interface instead of Device. The info pages of the tinc package contain more infor‐
mation about configuring the virtual network device.
DeviceType = type (platform dependent)
The type of the virtual network device. Tinc will normally automatically select the
right type of tun/tap interface, and this option should not be used. However, this
option can be used to select one of the special interface types, if support for them
is compiled in.
dummy Use a dummy interface. No packets are ever read or written to a virtual
network device. Useful for testing, or when setting up a node that only
forwards packets for other nodes.
raw_socket
Open a raw socket, and bind it to a pre-existing Interface (eth0 by
default). All packets are read from this interface. Packets received for
the local node are written to the raw socket. However, at least on Linux,
the operating system does not process IP packets destined for the local
host.
multicast
Open a multicast UDP socket and bind it to the address and port (separated
by spaces) and optionally a TTL value specified using Device. Packets are
read from and written to this multicast socket. This can be used to connect
to UML, QEMU or KVM instances listening on the same multicast address. Do
NOT connect multiple tinc daemons to the same multicast address, this will
very likely cause routing loops. Also note that this can cause decrypted
VPN packets to be sent out on a real network if misconfigured.
uml (not compiled in by default)
Create a UNIX socket with the filename specified by Device, or
/var/run/NETNAME.umlsocket if not specified. tinc will wait for a User Mode
Linux instance to connect to this socket.
vde (not compiled in by default)
Uses the libvdeplug library to connect to a Virtual Distributed Ethernet
switch, using the UNIX socket specified by Device, or /var/run/vde.ctl if
not specified.
Also, in case tinc does not seem to correctly interpret packets received from the
virtual network device, it can be used to change the way packets are interpreted:
tun (BSD and Linux)
Set type to tun. Depending on the platform, this can either be with or
without an address family header (see below).
tunnohead (BSD)
Set type to tun without an address family header. Tinc will expect packets
read from the virtual network device to start with an IP header. On some
platforms IPv6 packets cannot be read from or written to the device in this
mode.
tunifhead (BSD)
Set type to tun with an address family header. Tinc will expect packets
read from the virtual network device to start with a four byte header con‐
taining the address family, followed by an IP header. This mode should sup‐
port 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 for‐
warding 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 debug‐
ging.
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 host configuration
files, 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 actu‐
ally 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 period 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. Uni‐
cast, multicast and broadcast packets of every protocol that runs over Eth‐
ernet 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 the name which identifies this tinc daemon. It must be unique for the vir‐
tual private network this daemon will connect to. The Name may only consist of
alphanumeric and underscore characters. If Name starts with a $, then the contents
of the environment variable that follows will be used. In that case, invalid char‐
acters will be converted to underscores. If Name is $HOST, but no such environment
variable exist, the hostname will be read using the gethostnname() 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 ter‐
minated, and the others will be notified of this.
PriorityInheritance = yes | no (no) [experimental]
When this option is enabled the value of the TOS field of tunneled IPv4 packets will
be inherited by the UDP packets that are sent out.
PrivateKey = key [obsolete]
The private RSA key of this tinc daemon. It will allow this tinc daemon to authen‐
ticate itself to other daemons.
PrivateKeyFile = filename (/etc/tinc/NETNAME/rsa_key.priv)
The file in which the private RSA key of this tinc daemon resides.
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 cur‐
rently 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. Only
IPv4 connections can be proxied using SOCKS 4.
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 set‐
ting 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 vul‐
nerable to replay-based attacks on your traffic.
StrictSubnets = yes | no (no) [experimental]
When this option is enabled tinc will only use Subnet statements which are present
in the host config files in the local /etc/tinc/NETNAME/hosts/ directory. Subnets
learned via connections to other nodes and which are not present in the local host
config files are ignored.
TunnelServer = yes | no (no) [experimental]
When this option is enabled tinc will no longer forward information between other
tinc daemons, and will only allow connections with nodes for which host config files
are present in the local /etc/tinc/NETNAME/hosts/ directory. Setting this options
also implicitly sets StrictSubnets.
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 (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.
HOST CONFIGURATION FILES
The host configuration files contain all information needed to establish a connection to
those hosts. A host configuration file is also required for the local tinc daemon, it will
use it to read in it's listen port, public key and subnets.
The idea is that these files are portable. You can safely mail your own host configuration
file to someone else. That other person can then copy it to his own hosts directory, and
now his tinc daemon will be able to connect to your tinc daemon. Since host configuration
files only contain public keys, no secrets are revealed by sending out this information.
Address = address [port] [recommended]
The IP address or hostname of this tinc daemon on the real network. This will only
be used when trying to make an outgoing connection to this tinc daemon. Optionally,
a port can be specified to use for this address. Multiple Address variables can be
specified, in which case each address will be tried until a working connection has
been established.
Cipher = cipher (blowfish)
The symmetric cipher algorithm used to encrypt UDP packets. Any cipher supported by
OpenSSL is recognised. Furthermore, specifying "none" will turn off packet encryp‐
tion. 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 (sha1)
The digest algorithm used to authenticate UDP packets. Any digest supported by
OpenSSL is recognised. Furthermore, specifying "none" will turn off packet authen‐
tication.
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 = length (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 algo‐
rithm.
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)
The port number on which this tinc daemon is listening for incoming connections,
which is used if no port number is specified in an Address statement.
PublicKey = key [obsolete]
The public RSA key of this tinc daemon. It will be used to cryptographically verify
it's identity and to set up a secure connection.
PublicKeyFile = filename [obsolete]
The file in which the public RSA key of this tinc daemon resides.
From version 1.0pre4 on tinc will store the public key directly into the host con‐
figuration 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 variables can be specified.
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.
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 prior‐
ity. 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 [obsolete])
If this variable is set to yes, then the packets are tunnelled over the TCP connec‐
tion 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.
SCRIPTS
Apart from reading the server and host configuration files, tinc can also run scripts at
certain moments. Under Windows (not Cygwin), the scripts should have the extension .bat.
/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 con‐
trol panel instead of creating this script.
/etc/tinc/NETNAME/tinc-down
This script is started right before the tinc daemon quits.
/etc/tinc/NETNAME/hosts/HOST-up
This script is started when the tinc daemon with name HOST becomes reachable.
/etc/tinc/NETNAME/hosts/HOST-down
This script is started when the tinc daemon with name HOST becomes unreachable.
/etc/tinc/NETNAME/host-up
This script is started when any host becomes reachable.
/etc/tinc/NETNAME/host-down
This script is started when any host becomes unreachable.
/etc/tinc/NETNAME/subnet-up
This script is started when a Subnet becomes reachable. The Subnet and the node it
belongs to are passed in environment variables.
/etc/tinc/NETNAME/subnet-down
This script is started when a Subnet becomes unreachable.
The scripts are started without command line arguments, but can make use of certain environ‐
ment 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 commu‐
nication 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.
Do not forget that under UNIX operating systems, you have to make the scripts executable,
using the command chmod a+x script.
FILES
The most important files are:
/etc/tinc/
The top directory for configuration files.
/etc/tinc/NETNAME/tinc.conf
The default name of the server configuration file for net NETNAME.
/etc/tinc/NETNAME/conf.d/
Optional directory from which any *.conf file will be loaded
/etc/tinc/NETNAME/hosts/
Host configuration files are kept in this directory.
/etc/tinc/NETNAME/tinc-up
If an executable file with this name exists, it will be executed right after the
tinc daemon has connected to the virtual network device. It can be used to set up
the corresponding network interface.
/etc/tinc/NETNAME/tinc-down
If an executable file with this name exists, it will be executed right before the
tinc daemon is going to close its connection to the virtual network device.
SEE ALSO
tincd(8), http://www.tinc-vpn.org/, http://www.tldp.org/LDP/nag2/.
The full documentation for tinc is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and tinc
programs are properly installed at your site, the command info tinc should give you access
to the complete manual.
tinc comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. This is free software, and you are welcome to
redistribute it under certain conditions; see the file COPYING for details.
December 7, 2024
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