1 .TH IPSEC.CONF 5 "2010-10-19" "@IPSEC_VERSION@" "strongSwan"
3 ipsec.conf \- IPsec configuration and connections
8 specifies most configuration and control information for the
9 strongSwan IPsec subsystem.
10 The major exception is secrets for authentication;
12 .IR ipsec.secrets (5).
13 Its contents are not security-sensitive.
15 The file is a text file, consisting of one or more
17 White space followed by
19 followed by anything to the end of the line
20 is a comment and is ignored,
21 as are empty lines which are not within a section.
25 and a file name, separated by white space,
26 is replaced by the contents of that file,
27 preceded and followed by empty lines.
28 If the file name is not a full pathname,
29 it is considered to be relative to the directory containing the
31 Such inclusions can be nested.
32 Only a single filename may be supplied, and it may not contain white space,
33 but it may include shell wildcards (see
40 The intention of the include facility is mostly to permit keeping
41 information on connections, or sets of connections,
42 separate from the main configuration file.
43 This permits such connection descriptions to be changed,
44 copied to the other security gateways involved, etc.,
45 without having to constantly extract them from the configuration
46 file and then insert them back into it.
49 parameter (described below) which permits splitting a single logical
50 section (e.g. a connection description) into several actual sections.
53 begins with a line of the form:
60 indicates what type of section follows, and
62 is an arbitrary name which distinguishes the section from others
64 Names must start with a letter and may contain only
65 letters, digits, periods, underscores, and hyphens.
66 All subsequent non-empty lines
67 which begin with white space are part of the section;
68 comments within a section must begin with white space too.
69 There may be only one section of a given type with a given name.
71 Lines within the section are generally of the form
73 \ \ \ \ \ \fIparameter\fB=\fIvalue\fR
75 (note the mandatory preceding white space).
76 There can be white space on either side of the
78 Parameter names follow the same syntax as section names,
79 and are specific to a section type.
80 Unless otherwise explicitly specified,
81 no parameter name may appear more than once in a section.
85 stands for the system default value (if any) of the parameter,
86 i.e. it is roughly equivalent to omitting the parameter line entirely.
89 may contain white space only if the entire
91 is enclosed in double quotes (\fB"\fR);
94 cannot itself contain a double quote,
95 nor may it be continued across more than one line.
97 Numeric values are specified to be either an ``integer''
98 (a sequence of digits) or a ``decimal number''
99 (sequence of digits optionally followed by `.' and another sequence of digits).
101 There is currently one parameter which is available in any type of
105 the value is a section name;
106 the parameters of that section are appended to this section,
107 as if they had been written as part of it.
108 The specified section must exist, must follow the current one,
109 and must have the same section type.
110 (Nesting is permitted,
111 and there may be more than one
114 although it is forbidden to append the same section more than once.)
118 specifies defaults for sections of the same type.
119 For each parameter in it,
120 any section of that type which does not have a parameter of the same name
121 gets a copy of the one from the
124 There may be multiple
126 sections of a given type,
127 but only one default may be supplied for any specific parameter name,
130 sections of a given type must precede all non-\c
132 sections of that type.
134 sections may not contain the
138 Currently there are three types of sections:
141 section specifies general configuration information for IPsec, a
143 section specifies an IPsec connection, while a
145 section specifies special properties of a certification authority.
150 .IR "connection specification" ,
151 defining a network connection to be made using IPsec.
152 The name given is arbitrary, and is used to identify the connection.
153 Here's a simple example:
161 leftsubnet=10.1.0.0/16
163 rightsubnet=10.1.0.0/16
169 A note on terminology: There are two kinds of communications going on:
170 transmission of user IP packets, and gateway-to-gateway negotiations for
171 keying, rekeying, and general control.
172 The path to control the connection is called 'ISAKMP SA' in IKEv1
173 and 'IKE SA' in the IKEv2 protocol. That what is being negotiated, the kernel
174 level data path, is called 'IPsec SA' or 'Child SA'.
175 strongSwan currently uses two separate keying daemons. \fIpluto\fP handles
176 all IKEv1 connections, \fIcharon\fP is the daemon handling the IKEv2
179 To avoid trivial editing of the configuration file to suit it to each system
180 involved in a connection,
181 connection specifications are written in terms of
186 rather than in terms of local and remote.
187 Which participant is considered
192 for every connection description an attempt is made to figure out whether
193 the local endpoint should act as the
197 endpoint. This is done by matching the IP addresses defined for both endpoints
198 with the IP addresses assigned to local network interfaces. If a match is found
199 then the role (left or right) that matches is going to be considered local.
200 If no match is found during startup,
203 This permits using identical connection specifications on both ends.
204 There are cases where there is no symmetry; a good convention is to
207 for the local side and
209 for the remote side (the first letters are a good mnemonic).
211 Many of the parameters relate to one participant or the other;
214 are listed here, but every parameter whose name begins with
219 whose description is the same but with
225 Parameters are optional unless marked '(required)'.
226 .SS "CONN PARAMETERS"
227 Unless otherwise noted, for a connection to work,
228 in general it is necessary for the two ends to agree exactly
229 on the values of these parameters.
231 .BR aaa_identity " = <id>"
232 defines the identity of the AAA backend used during IKEv2 EAP authentication.
233 This is required if the EAP client uses a method that verifies the server
234 identity (such as EAP-TLS), but it does not match the IKEv2 gateway identity.
237 includes conn section
240 .BR auth " = " esp " | ah"
241 whether authentication should be done as part of
242 ESP encryption, or separately using the AH protocol;
243 acceptable values are
248 The IKEv2 daemon currently supports ESP only.
250 .BR authby " = " pubkey " | rsasig | ecdsasig | psk | eap | never | xauth..."
251 how the two security gateways should authenticate each other;
252 acceptable values are
256 for pre-shared secrets,
258 (the default) for public key signatures as well as the synonyms
260 for RSA digital signatures and
262 for Elliptic Curve DSA signatures.
264 can be used if negotiation is never to be attempted or accepted (useful for
266 Digital signatures are superior in every way to shared secrets.
267 IKEv1 additionally supports the values
271 that will enable eXtended AUTHentication (XAUTH) in addition to IKEv1 main mode
272 based on shared secrets or digital RSA signatures, respectively.
273 IKEv2 additionally supports the value
275 which indicates an initiator to request EAP authentication. The EAP method
276 to use is selected by the server (see
278 This parameter is deprecated for IKEv2 connections, as two peers do not need
279 to agree on an authentication method. Use the
281 parameter instead to define authentication methods in IKEv2.
283 .BR auto " = " ignore " | add | route | start"
284 what operation, if any, should be done automatically at IPsec startup;
285 currently-accepted values are
293 loads a connection without starting it.
295 loads a connection and installs kernel traps. If traffic is detected between
299 , a connection is established.
301 loads a connection and brings it up immediatly.
303 ignores the connection. This is equal to delete a connection from the config
305 Relevant only locally, other end need not agree on it
306 (but in general, for an intended-to-be-permanent connection,
309 to ensure that any reboot causes immediate renegotiation).
311 .BR compress " = yes | " no
312 whether IPComp compression of content is proposed on the connection
313 (link-level compression does not work on encrypted data,
314 so to be effective, compression must be done \fIbefore\fR encryption);
315 acceptable values are
319 (the default). A value of
321 causes IPsec to propose both compressed and uncompressed,
322 and prefer compressed.
325 prevents IPsec from proposing compression;
326 a proposal to compress will still be accepted.
328 .BR dpdaction " = " none " | clear | hold | restart"
329 controls the use of the Dead Peer Detection protocol (DPD, RFC 3706) where
330 R_U_THERE notification messages (IKEv1) or empty INFORMATIONAL messages (IKEv2)
331 are periodically sent in order to check the
332 liveliness of the IPsec peer. The values
337 all activate DPD. If no activity is detected, all connections with a dead peer
338 are stopped and unrouted
340 put in the hold state
344 For IKEv1, the default is
346 which disables the active sending of R_U_THERE notifications.
347 Nevertheless pluto will always send the DPD Vendor ID during connection set up
348 in order to signal the readiness to act passively as a responder if the peer
349 wants to use DPD. For IKEv2,
351 does't make sense, since all messages are used to detect dead peers. If specified,
352 it has the same meaning as the default
355 .BR dpddelay " = " 30s " | <time>"
356 defines the period time interval with which R_U_THERE messages/INFORMATIONAL
357 exchanges are sent to the peer. These are only sent if no other traffic is
358 received. In IKEv2, a value of 0 sends no additional INFORMATIONAL
359 messages and uses only standard messages (such as those to rekey) to detect
362 .BR dpdtimeout " = " 150s " | <time>"
363 defines the timeout interval, after which all connections to a peer are deleted
364 in case of inactivity. This only applies to IKEv1, in IKEv2 the default
365 retransmission timeout applies, as every exchange is used to detect dead peers.
367 .IR strongswan.conf (5)
368 for a description of the IKEv2 retransmission timeout.
370 .BR inactivity " = <time>"
371 defines the timeout interval, after which a CHILD_SA is closed if it did
372 not send or receive any traffic. Currently supported in IKEv2 connections only.
374 .BR eap " = md5 | mschapv2 | radius | ... | <type> | <type>-<vendor>
375 defines the EAP type to propose as server if the client requests EAP
376 authentication. Currently supported values are
386 for the EAP-RADIUS proxy and
388 for EAP-SIM. Additionally, IANA assigned EAP method numbers are accepted, or a
389 definition in the form
391 (e.g. eap=7-12345) can be used to specify vendor specific EAP types.
392 This parameter is deprecated in the favour of
395 To forward EAP authentication to a RADIUS server using the EAP-RADIUS plugin,
399 .BR eap_identity " = <id>"
400 defines the identity the client uses to reply to a EAP Identity request.
401 If defined on the EAP server, the defined identity will be used as peer
402 identity during EAP authentication. The special value
404 uses the EAP Identity method to ask the client for an EAP identity. If not
405 defined, the IKEv2 identity will be used as EAP identity.
407 .BR esp " = <cipher suites>"
408 comma-separated list of ESP encryption/authentication algorithms to be used
409 for the connection, e.g.
412 .BR encryption-integrity-[dh-group] .
416 is specified, CHILD_SA setup and rekeying include a separate diffe hellman
417 exchange (IKEv2 only).
419 .BR forceencaps " = yes | " no
420 force UDP encapsulation for ESP packets even if no NAT situation is detected.
421 This may help to surmount restrictive firewalls. In order to force the peer to
422 encapsulate packets, NAT detection payloads are faked (IKEv2 only).
424 .BR ike " = <cipher suites>"
425 comma-separated list of IKE/ISAKMP SA encryption/authentication algorithms
427 .BR aes128-sha1-modp2048 .
429 .BR encryption-integrity-dhgroup .
430 In IKEv2, multiple algorithms and proposals may be included, such as
431 .B aes128-aes256-sha1-modp1536-modp2048,3des-sha1-md5-modp1024.
433 .BR ikelifetime " = " 3h " | <time>"
434 how long the keying channel of a connection (ISAKMP or IKE SA)
435 should last before being renegotiated. Also see EXPIRY/REKEY below.
437 .BR installpolicy " = " yes " | no"
438 decides whether IPsec policies are installed in the kernel by the IKEv2
439 charon daemon for a given connection. Allows peaceful cooperation e.g. with
440 the Mobile IPv6 daemon mip6d who wants to control the kernel policies.
441 Acceptable values are
446 .BR keyexchange " = " ike " | ikev1 | ikev2"
447 method of key exchange;
448 which protocol should be used to initialize the connection. Connections marked with
450 are initiated with pluto, those marked with
452 with charon. An incoming request from the remote peer is handled by the correct
453 daemon, unaffected from the
455 setting. Starting with strongSwan 4.5 the default value
459 whereas in older strongSwan releases
463 .BR keyingtries " = " %forever " | <number>"
464 how many attempts (a whole number or \fB%forever\fP) should be made to
465 negotiate a connection, or a replacement for one, before giving up
468 The value \fB%forever\fP
469 means 'never give up'.
470 Relevant only locally, other end need not agree on it.
476 .BR left " = <ip address> | <fqdn> | %defaultroute | " %any
478 the IP address of the left participant's public-network interface
479 or one of several magic values.
483 will be filled in automatically with the local address
484 of the default-route interface (as determined at IPsec startup time and
485 during configuration update).
495 in front of a fully-qualified domain name or an IP address will implicitly set
497 If the domain name cannot be resolved into an IP address at IPsec startup or
504 In case of an IKEv2 connection, the value
506 for the local endpoint signifies an address to be filled in (by automatic
507 keying) during negotiation. If the local peer initiates the connection setup
508 the routing table will be queried to determine the correct local IP address.
509 In case the local peer is responding to a connection setup then any IP address
510 that is assigned to a local interface will be accepted.
514 for the local endpoint is not supported by the IKEv1 pluto daemon.
518 is used for the remote endpoint it literally means any IP address.
520 Please note that with the usage of wildcards multiple connection descriptions
521 might match a given incoming connection attempt. The most specific description
522 is used in that case.
524 .BR leftallowany " = yes | " no
527 , making it behave as
529 although a concrete IP address has been assigned.
530 Recommended for dynamic IP addresses that can be resolved by DynDNS at IPsec
531 startup or update time.
532 Acceptable values are
538 .BR leftauth " = <auth method>"
539 Authentication method to use locally (left) or require from the remote (right)
541 This parameter is supported in IKEv2 only. Acceptable values are
543 for public key authentication (RSA/ECDSA),
545 for pre-shared key authentication and
547 to (require the) use of the Extensible Authentication Protocol. In the case
550 an optional EAP method can be appended. Currently defined methods are
558 Alternatively, IANA assigned EAP method numbers are accepted. Vendor specific
559 EAP methods are defined in the form
561 .RB "(e.g. " eap-7-12345 ).
563 .BR leftauth2 " = <auth method>"
566 but defines an additional authentication exchange. IKEv2 supports multiple
567 authentication rounds using "Multiple Authentication Exchanges" defined
568 in RFC4739. This allows, for example, separated authentication
569 of host and user (IKEv2 only).
571 .BR leftca " = <issuer dn> | %same"
572 the distinguished name of a certificate authority which is required to
573 lie in the trust path going from the left participant's certificate up
574 to the root certification authority.
576 .BR leftca2 " = <issuer dn> | %same"
579 but for the second authentication round (IKEv2 only).
581 .BR leftcert " = <path>"
582 the path to the left participant's X.509 certificate. The file can be encoded
583 either in PEM or DER format. OpenPGP certificates are supported as well.
584 Both absolute paths or paths relative to \fI/etc/ipsec.d/certs\fP
585 are accepted. By default
589 to the distinguished name of the certificate's subject and
591 to the distinguished name of the certificate's issuer.
592 The left participant's ID can be overriden by specifying a
594 value which must be certified by the certificate, though.
596 .BR leftcert2 " = <path>"
599 but for the second authentication round (IKEv2 only).
601 .BR leftcertpolicy " = <OIDs>"
602 Comma separated list of certificate policy OIDs the peers certificate must have.
603 OIDs are specified using the numerical dotted representation (IKEv2 only).
605 .BR leftfirewall " = yes | " no
606 whether the left participant is doing forwarding-firewalling
607 (including masquerading) using iptables for traffic from \fIleftsubnet\fR,
608 which should be turned off (for traffic to the other subnet)
609 once the connection is established;
610 acceptable values are
615 May not be used in the same connection description with
617 Implemented as a parameter to the default \fBipsec _updown\fR script.
619 Relevant only locally, other end need not agree on it.
621 If one or both security gateways are doing forwarding firewalling
622 (possibly including masquerading),
623 and this is specified using the firewall parameters,
624 tunnels established with IPsec are exempted from it
625 so that packets can flow unchanged through the tunnels.
626 (This means that all subnets connected in this manner must have
627 distinct, non-overlapping subnet address blocks.)
628 This is done by the default \fBipsec _updown\fR script (see
631 In situations calling for more control,
632 it may be preferable for the user to supply his own
635 which makes the appropriate adjustments for his system.
637 .BR leftgroups " = <group list>"
638 a comma separated list of group names. If the
640 parameter is present then the peer must be a member of at least one
641 of the groups defined by the parameter. Group membership must be certified
642 by a valid attribute certificate stored in \fI/etc/ipsec.d/acerts/\fP thas has
643 been issued to the peer by a trusted Authorization Authority stored in
644 \fI/etc/ipsec.d/aacerts/\fP.
646 Attribute certificates are not supported in IKEv2 yet.
648 .BR lefthostaccess " = yes | " no
649 inserts a pair of INPUT and OUTPUT iptables rules using the default
650 \fBipsec _updown\fR script, thus allowing access to the host itself
651 in the case where the host's internal interface is part of the
652 negotiated client subnet.
653 Acceptable values are
660 how the left participant should be identified for authentication;
663 Can be an IP address or a fully-qualified domain name preceded by
665 (which is used as a literal string and not resolved).
667 .BR leftid2 " = <id>"
668 identity to use for a second authentication for the left participant
669 (IKEv2 only); defaults to
672 .BR leftikeport " = <port>"
673 UDP port the left participant uses for IKE communication. Currently supported in
674 IKEv2 connections only. If unspecified, port 500 is used with the port floating
675 to 4500 if a NAT is detected or MOBIKE is enabled. Specifying a local IKE port
676 different from the default additionally requires a socket implementation that
677 listens to this port.
679 .BR leftnexthop " = %direct | %defaultroute | <ip address> | <fqdn>"
680 this parameter is usually not needed any more because the NETKEY IPsec stack
681 does not require explicit routing entries for the traffic to be tunneled. If
683 is used with IKEv1 then
685 must still be set in order for the source routes to work properly.
687 .BR leftprotoport " = <protocol>/<port>"
688 restrict the traffic selector to a single protocol and/or port.
690 .B leftprotoport=tcp/http
692 .B leftprotoport=6/80
696 .BR leftrsasigkey " = " %cert " | <raw rsa public key>"
697 the left participant's
698 public key for RSA signature authentication,
699 in RFC 2537 format using
704 means the same as not specifying a value (useful to override a default).
708 means that the key is extracted from a certificate.
709 The identity used for the left participant
710 must be a specific host, not
712 or another magic value.
714 if two connection descriptions
715 specify different public keys for the same
717 confusion and madness will ensue.
719 .BR leftsendcert " = never | no | " ifasked " | always | yes"
728 .BR ifasked " (the default),"
729 the latter meaning that the peer must send a certificate request payload in
730 order to get a certificate in return.
732 .BR leftsourceip " = %config | %cfg | %modeconfig | %modecfg | <ip address>"
733 The internal source IP to use in a tunnel, also known as virtual IP. If the
734 value is one of the synonyms
740 an address is requested from the peer. In IKEv2, a statically defined address
741 is also requested, since the server may change it.
743 .BR rightsourceip " = %config | <network>/<netmask> | %poolname"
744 The internal source IP to use in a tunnel for the remote peer. If the
747 on the responder side, the initiator must propose an address which is then
748 echoed back. Also supported are address pools expressed as
749 \fInetwork\fB/\fInetmask\fR
750 or the use of an external IP address pool using %\fIpoolname\fR,
751 where \fIpoolname\fR is the name of the IP address pool used for the lookup.
753 .BR leftsubnet " = <ip subnet>"
754 private subnet behind the left participant, expressed as
755 \fInetwork\fB/\fInetmask\fR;
756 if omitted, essentially assumed to be \fIleft\fB/32\fR,
757 signifying that the left end of the connection goes to the left participant
758 only. When using IKEv2, the configured subnet of the peers may differ, the
759 protocol narrows it to the greatest common subnet. Further, IKEv2 supports
760 multiple subnets separated by commas. IKEv1 only interprets the first subnet
761 of such a definition.
763 .BR leftsubnetwithin " = <ip subnet>"
764 the peer can propose any subnet or single IP address that fits within the
766 .BR leftsubnetwithin.
767 Not relevant for IKEv2, as subnets are narrowed.
769 .BR leftupdown " = <path>"
770 what ``updown'' script to run to adjust routing and/or firewalling
771 when the status of the connection
773 .BR "ipsec _updown" ).
774 May include positional parameters separated by white space
775 (although this requires enclosing the whole string in quotes);
776 including shell metacharacters is unwise.
780 Relevant only locally, other end need not agree on it. IKEv2 uses the updown
781 script to insert firewall rules only, since routing has been implemented
782 directly into charon.
784 .BR lifebytes " = <number>"
785 the number of bytes transmitted over an IPsec SA before it expires (IKEv2
788 .BR lifepackets " = <number>"
789 the number of packets transmitted over an IPsec SA before it expires (IKEv2
792 .BR lifetime " = " 1h " | <time>"
793 how long a particular instance of a connection
794 (a set of encryption/authentication keys for user packets) should last,
795 from successful negotiation to expiry;
796 acceptable values are an integer optionally followed by
799 or a decimal number followed by
805 in minutes, hours, or days respectively)
810 Normally, the connection is renegotiated (via the keying channel)
811 before it expires (see
813 The two ends need not exactly agree on
815 although if they do not,
816 there will be some clutter of superseded connections on the end
817 which thinks the lifetime is longer. Also see EXPIRY/REKEY below.
819 .BR marginbytes " = <number>"
820 how many bytes before IPsec SA expiry (see
822 should attempts to negotiate a replacement begin (IKEv2 only).
824 .BR marginpackets " = <number>"
825 how many packets before IPsec SA expiry (see
827 should attempts to negotiate a replacement begin (IKEv2 only).
829 .BR margintime " = " 9m " | <time>"
830 how long before connection expiry or keying-channel expiry
832 negotiate a replacement
833 begin; acceptable values as for
837 Relevant only locally, other end need not agree on it. Also see EXPIRY/REKEY
840 .BR mark " = <value>[/<mask>]"
841 sets an XFRM mark in the inbound and outbound
842 IPsec SAs and policies. If the mask is missing then a default
847 .BR mark_in " = <value>[/<mask>]"
848 sets an XFRM mark in the inbound IPsec SA and
849 policy. If the mask is missing then a default mask of
853 .BR mark_out " = <value>[/<mask>]"
854 sets an XFRM mark in the outbound IPsec SA and
855 policy. If the mask is missing then a default mask of
859 .BR mobike " = " yes " | no"
860 enables the IKEv2 MOBIKE protocol defined by RFC 4555. Accepted values are
866 the IKEv2 charon daemon will not actively propose MOBIKE as initiator and
867 ignore the MOBIKE_SUPPORTED notify as responder.
869 .BR modeconfig " = push | " pull
870 defines which mode is used to assign a virtual IP.
876 Currently relevant for IKEv1 only since IKEv2 always uses the configuration
877 payload in pull mode. Cisco VPN gateways usually operate in
881 .BR pfs " = " yes " | no"
882 whether Perfect Forward Secrecy of keys is desired on the connection's
884 (with PFS, penetration of the key-exchange protocol
885 does not compromise keys negotiated earlier);
886 acceptable values are
891 IKEv2 always uses PFS for IKE_SA rekeying whereas for CHILD_SA rekeying
892 PFS is enforced by defining a Diffie-Hellman modp group in the
896 .BR pfsgroup " = <modp group>"
897 defines a Diffie-Hellman group for perfect forward secrecy in IKEv1 Quick Mode
898 differing from the DH group used for IKEv1 Main Mode (IKEv1 only).
900 .BR reauth " = " yes " | no"
901 whether rekeying of an IKE_SA should also reauthenticate the peer. In IKEv1,
902 reauthentication is always done. In IKEv2, a value of
904 rekeys without uninstalling the IPsec SAs, a value of
906 (the default) creates a new IKE_SA from scratch and tries to recreate
909 .BR rekey " = " yes " | no"
910 whether a connection should be renegotiated when it is about to expire;
911 acceptable values are
916 The two ends need not agree, but while a value of
918 prevents pluto/charon from requesting renegotiation,
919 it does not prevent responding to renegotiation requested from the other end,
922 will be largely ineffective unless both ends agree on it.
924 .BR rekeyfuzz " = " 100% " | <percentage>"
925 maximum percentage by which
930 should be randomly increased to randomize rekeying intervals
931 (important for hosts with many connections);
932 acceptable values are an integer,
933 which may exceed 100,
939 after this random increase,
942 (where TYPE is one of
949 will suppress randomization.
950 Relevant only locally, other end need not agree on it. Also see EXPIRY/REKEY
957 .BR reqid " = <number>"
958 sets the reqid for a given connection to a pre-configured fixed value.
961 number of bytes to pad ESP payload data to. Traffic Flow Confidentiality
962 is currently supported in IKEv2 and applies to outgoing packets only. The
965 fills up ESP packets with padding to have the size of the MTU.
967 .BR type " = " tunnel " | transport | transport_proxy | passthrough | drop"
968 the type of the connection; currently the accepted values
972 signifying a host-to-host, host-to-subnet, or subnet-to-subnet tunnel;
974 signifying host-to-host transport mode;
975 .BR transport_proxy ,
976 signifying the special Mobile IPv6 transport proxy mode;
978 signifying that no IPsec processing should be done at all;
980 signifying that packets should be discarded; and
982 signifying that packets should be discarded and a diagnostic ICMP returned
984 is currently not supported by the NETKEY stack of the Linux 2.6 kernel).
985 The IKEv2 daemon charon currently supports
990 connection types, only.
992 .BR xauth " = " client " | server"
993 specifies the role in the XAUTH protocol if activated by
996 .B authby=xauthrsasig.
1003 .SS "CONN PARAMETERS: IKEv2 MEDIATION EXTENSION"
1004 The following parameters are relevant to IKEv2 Mediation Extension
1007 .BR mediation " = yes | " no
1008 whether this connection is a mediation connection, ie. whether this
1009 connection is used to mediate other connections. Mediation connections
1010 create no child SA. Acceptable values are
1015 .BR mediated_by " = <name>"
1016 the name of the connection to mediate this connection through. If given,
1017 the connection will be mediated through the named mediation connection.
1018 The mediation connection must set
1021 .BR me_peerid " = <id>"
1022 ID as which the peer is known to the mediation server, ie. which the other
1023 end of this connection uses as its
1025 on its connection to the mediation server. This is the ID we request the
1026 mediation server to mediate us with. If
1030 of this connection will be used as peer ID.
1033 This are optional sections that can be used to assign special
1034 parameters to a Certification Authority (CA).
1036 .BR also " = <name>"
1040 .BR auto " = " ignore " | add"
1041 currently can have either the value
1046 .BR cacert " = <path>"
1047 defines a path to the CA certificate either relative to
1048 \fI/etc/ipsec.d/cacerts\fP or as an absolute path.
1050 .BR crluri " = <uri>"
1051 defines a CRL distribution point (ldap, http, or file URI)
1057 .BR crluri2 " = <uri>"
1058 defines an alternative CRL distribution point (ldap, http, or file URI)
1060 .BR ldaphost " = <hostname>"
1061 defines an ldap host. Currently used by IKEv1 only.
1063 .BR ocspuri " = <uri>"
1064 defines an OCSP URI.
1070 .BR ocspuri2 " = <uri>"
1071 defines an alternative OCSP URI. Currently used by IKEv2 only.
1073 .BR certuribase " = <uri>"
1074 defines the base URI for the Hash and URL feature supported by IKEv2.
1075 Instead of exchanging complete certificates, IKEv2 allows to send an URI
1076 that resolves to the DER encoded certificate. The certificate URIs are built
1077 by appending the SHA1 hash of the DER encoded certificates to this base URI.
1078 .SH "CONFIG SECTIONS"
1079 At present, the only
1081 section known to the IPsec software is the one named
1083 which contains information used when the software is being started.
1092 crlcheckinterval=10m
1097 Parameters are optional unless marked ``(required)''.
1098 The currently-accepted
1103 section affecting both daemons are:
1105 .BR cachecrls " = yes | " no
1106 certificate revocation lists (CRLs) fetched via http or ldap will be cached in
1107 \fI/etc/ipsec.d/crls/\fR under a unique file name derived from the certification
1108 authority's public key.
1113 (the default). Only relevant for IKEv1, as CRLs are always cached in IKEv2.
1115 .BR charonstart " = " yes " | no"
1116 whether to start the IKEv2 charon daemon or not.
1119 if starter was compiled with IKEv2 support.
1121 .BR plutostart " = " yes " | no"
1122 whether to start the IKEv1 pluto daemon or not.
1125 if starter was compiled with IKEv1 support.
1127 .BR strictcrlpolicy " = yes | ifuri | " no
1128 defines if a fresh CRL must be available in order for the peer authentication
1129 based on RSA signatures to succeed.
1130 IKEv2 additionally recognizes
1134 if at least one CRL URI is defined and to
1138 .BR uniqueids " = " yes " | no | replace | keep"
1139 whether a particular participant ID should be kept unique,
1140 with any new (automatically keyed)
1141 connection using an ID from a different IP address
1142 deemed to replace all old ones using that ID;
1143 acceptable values are
1148 Participant IDs normally \fIare\fR unique,
1149 so a new (automatically-keyed) connection using the same ID is
1150 almost invariably intended to replace an old one.
1151 The IKEv2 daemon also accepts the value
1153 wich is identical to
1157 to reject new IKE_SA setups and keep the duplicate established earlier.
1161 parameters are used by the IKEv1 Pluto daemon only:
1163 .BR crlcheckinterval " = " 0s " | <time>"
1164 interval in seconds. CRL fetching is enabled if the value is greater than zero.
1165 Asynchronous, periodic checking for fresh CRLs is currently done by the
1166 IKEv1 Pluto daemon only.
1168 .BR keep_alive " = " 20s " | <time>"
1169 interval in seconds between NAT keep alive packets, the default being 20 seconds.
1171 .BR nat_traversal " = yes | " no
1172 activates NAT traversal by accepting source ISAKMP ports different from udp/500 and
1173 being able of floating to udp/4500 if a NAT situation is detected.
1179 Used by IKEv1 only, NAT traversal is always being active in IKEv2.
1181 .BR nocrsend " = yes | " no
1182 no certificate request payloads will be sent.
1184 .BR pkcs11initargs " = <args>"
1185 non-standard argument string for PKCS#11 C_Initialize() function;
1186 required by NSS softoken.
1188 .BR pkcs11module " = <args>"
1189 defines the path to a dynamically loadable PKCS #11 library.
1191 .BR pkcs11keepstate " = yes | " no
1192 PKCS #11 login sessions will be kept during the whole lifetime of the keying
1193 daemon. Useful with pin-pad smart card readers.
1200 .BR pkcs11proxy " = yes | " no
1201 Pluto will act as a PKCS #11 proxy accessible via the whack interface.
1208 .BR plutodebug " = " none " | <debug list> | all"
1209 how much pluto debugging output should be logged.
1213 means no debugging output (the default).
1217 Otherwise only the specified types of output
1218 (a quoted list, names without the
1221 separated by white space) are enabled;
1222 for details on available debugging types, see
1225 .BR plutostderrlog " = <file>"
1226 Pluto will not use syslog, but rather log to stderr, and redirect stderr
1229 .BR postpluto " = <command>"
1230 shell command to run after starting pluto
1231 (e.g., to remove a decrypted copy of the
1234 It's run in a very simple way;
1235 complexities like I/O redirection are best hidden within a script.
1236 Any output is redirected for logging,
1237 so running interactive commands is difficult unless they use
1239 or equivalent for their interaction.
1242 .BR prepluto " = <command>"
1243 shell command to run before starting pluto
1244 (e.g., to decrypt an encrypted copy of the
1247 It's run in a very simple way;
1248 complexities like I/O redirection are best hidden within a script.
1249 Any output is redirected for logging,
1250 so running interactive commands is difficult unless they use
1252 or equivalent for their interaction.
1255 .BR virtual_private " = <networks>"
1256 defines private networks using a wildcard notation.
1260 parameters are used by the IKEv2 charon daemon only:
1262 .BR charondebug " = <debug list>"
1263 how much charon debugging output should be logged.
1264 A comma separated list containing type level/pairs may
1266 .B dmn 3, ike 1, net -1.
1267 Acceptable values for types are
1268 .B dmn, mgr, ike, chd, job, cfg, knl, net, enc, lib
1269 and the level is one of
1270 .B -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4
1271 (for silent, audit, control, controlmore, raw, private).
1272 For more flexibility see LOGGER CONFIGURATION in
1273 .IR strongswan.conf (5).
1275 .SH IKEv2 EXPIRY/REKEY
1276 The IKE SAs and IPsec SAs negotiated by the daemon can be configured to expire
1277 after a specific amount of time. For IPsec SAs this can also happen after a
1278 specified number of transmitted packets or transmitted bytes. The following
1279 settings can be used to configure this:
1281 l r l r,- - - -,lB s lB s,a r a r.
1282 Setting Default Setting Default
1284 ikelifetime 3h lifebytes -
1289 IKE SAs as well as IPsec SAs can be rekeyed before they expire. This can be
1290 configured using the following settings:
1292 l r l r,- - - -,lB s lB s,a r a r.
1293 Setting Default Setting Default
1294 IKE and IPsec SA IPsec SA
1295 margintime 9m marginbytes -
1299 To avoid collisions the specified margins are increased randomly before
1300 subtracting them from the expiration limits (see formula below). This is
1311 Randomization can be disabled by setting
1312 .BR rekeyfuzz " to " 0% .
1314 The following formula is used to calculate the rekey time of IPsec SAs:
1317 rekeytime = lifetime - (margintime + random(0, margintime * rekeyfuzz))
1320 It applies equally to IKE SAs and byte and packet limits for IPsec SAs.
1322 Let's consider the default configuration:
1330 From the formula above follows that the rekey time lies between:
1333 rekeytime_min = 1h - (9m + 9m) = 42m
1334 rekeytime_max = 1h - (9m + 0m) = 51m
1337 Thus, the daemon will attempt to rekey the IPsec SA at a random time
1338 between 42 and 51 minutes after establishing the SA. Or, in other words,
1339 between 9 and 18 minutes before the SA expires.
1342 Since the rekeying of an SA needs some time, the margin values must not be
1346 .B margin... + margin... * rekeyfuzz
1347 must not exceed the original limit. For example, specifying
1349 in the default configuration is a bad idea as there is a chance that the rekey
1350 time equals zero and, thus, rekeying gets disabled.
1354 /etc/ipsec.d/aacerts
1356 /etc/ipsec.d/cacerts
1361 strongswan.conf(5), ipsec.secrets(5), ipsec(8), pluto(8)
1363 Originally written for the FreeS/WAN project by Henry Spencer.
1364 Updated and extended for the strongSwan project <http://www.strongswan.org> by
1365 Tobias Brunner, Andreas Steffen and Martin Willi.
1368 If conns are to be added before DNS is available, \fBleft=\fP\fIFQDN\fP