Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Open RC problem?

[Neil Bothwick <neil@digimed.co.uk>]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 2242 bytes --]

On Sat, 5 Dec 2015 18:49:16 +0000, Mick wrote:

> > It's basically a P2P VPN. You set up a network on the controller and
> > then join it from various machines. Those machines register with the
> > network controller, and receive an IP address from it, but the actual
> > communication is direct between the computers. So your data is private
> > and if both computers are on the same LAN, you still get full LAN
> > speed between them.
> > 
> > It use a TUN/TAP interface, for example on this laptop:
> > 
> > zt0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 2800
> >         inet 10.252.252.6  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast
> > 10.252.252.255 ether 46:96:8c:9c:02:e1  txqueuelen 500  (Ethernet)  
> 
> So is this a userspace tunnel implementation, with the controller
> playing the role of a remote VPN gateway?  Like OpenVPN?

The controller is not a gateway, it is only used to connect the computers
initially. It's more like a bittorrent tracker or DNS server, it
facilitates the connection but doesn't see any of it.

> What encryption does it use?

From https://www.zerotier.com/tech_faq.shtml

ZeroTier currently uses 256-bit Curve25519 elliptic curve Diffie-Hellman
for shared key agreement and Ed25519 for elliptic curve signatures.
256-bit Salsa20 with Poly1305 authentication is used to encrypt traffic
in transit. The construction and use of these algorithms is identical to
the well-regarded NaCl cryptographic library. 

> > So I can connect to 10.252.252.6 from anycomputer on my zerotier
> > network, but you cannot. You may even have the same IP address for
> > one of the computers on your network.
> > 
> > It's open source and if you want optimum security, or want to run a
> > network of more than 10 computers without paying a fee, you can run
> > your own controller.  
> 
> Wouldn't IPSec be more preferable?  I'm trying to understand the
> benefit/need for yet another tunneling solution.

Ease of use and maintenance and flexibility. Creating a network takes
seconds, adding a client takes a few more, and you can use it all the
time, even if you are already connected to your physical network.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Top Oxymorons Number 39: Almost exactly

[-- Attachment #2: OpenPGP digital signature --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 181 bytes --]