1 .TH STRONGSWAN.CONF 5 "2012-05-01" "@IPSEC_VERSION@" "strongSwan"
3 strongswan.conf \- strongSwan configuration file
7 configuration file is well suited to define IPsec related configuration
8 parameters, it is not useful for other strongSwan applications to read options
10 The file is hard to parse and only
12 is capable of doing so. As the number of components of the strongSwan project
13 is continually growing, a more flexible configuration file was needed, one that
14 is easy to extend and can be used by all components. With strongSwan 4.2.1
15 .IR strongswan.conf (5)
16 was introduced which meets these requirements.
19 The format of the strongswan.conf file consists of hierarchical
23 in each section. Each section has a name, followed by C-Style curly brackets
24 defining the section body. Each section body contains a set of subsections
28 settings := (section|keyvalue)*
29 section := name { settings }
30 keyvalue := key = value\\n
33 Values must be terminated by a newline.
35 Comments are possible using the \fB#\fP-character, but be careful: The parser
36 implementation is currently limited and does not like brackets in comments.
38 Section names and keys may contain any printable character except:
44 An example file in this format might look like this:
61 Indentation is optional, you may use tabs or spaces.
66 statement it is possible to include other files into strongswan.conf, e.g.
69 include /some/path/*.conf
72 If the file name is not an absolute path, it is considered to be relative
73 to the directory of the file containing the include statement. The file name
74 may include shell wildcards (see
76 Also, such inclusions can be nested.
78 Sections loaded from included files
80 previously loaded sections; already existing values are
82 It is important to note that settings are added relative to the section the
83 include statement is in.
85 As an example, the following three files result in the same final
86 config as the one given above:
91 somevalue = before include
97 # settings loaded from this file are added to section-one
98 # the following replaces the previous value
106 # this extends section-one and subsection
109 # this replaces the previous value
119 Values are accessed using a dot-separated section list and a key.
120 With reference to the example above, accessing
121 .B section-one.subsection.othervalue
126 The following keys are currently defined (using dot notation). The default
127 value (if any) is listed in brackets after the key.
132 Path to database with file measurement information
135 Plugins to load in ipsec attest tool
138 .BR charon.block_threshold " [5]"
139 Maximum number of half-open IKE_SAs for a single peer IP
141 .BR charon.cisco_unity " [no]
142 Send Cisco Unity vendor ID payload (IKEv1 only)
144 .BR charon.close_ike_on_child_failure " [no]"
145 Close the IKE_SA if setup of the CHILD_SA along with IKE_AUTH failed
147 .BR charon.cookie_threshold " [10]"
148 Number of half-open IKE_SAs that activate the cookie mechanism
153 DNS servers assigned to peer via configuration payload (CP)
155 .BR charon.dos_protection " [yes]"
156 Enable Denial of Service protection using cookies and aggressiveness checks
159 Section to define file loggers, see LOGGER CONFIGURATION
161 .BR charon.flush_auth_cfg " [no]"
164 .BR charon.half_open_timeout " [30]"
165 Timeout in seconds for connecting IKE_SAs (also see IKE_SA_INIT DROPPING).
167 .BR charon.hash_and_url " [no]"
168 Enable hash and URL support
170 .BR charon.ignore_routing_tables
171 A list of routing tables to be excluded from route lookup
173 .BR charon.ikesa_table_segments " [1]"
174 Number of exclusively locked segments in the hash table
176 .BR charon.ikesa_table_size " [1]"
177 Size of the IKE_SA hash table
179 .BR charon.inactivity_close_ike " [no]"
180 Whether to close IKE_SA if the only CHILD_SA closed due to inactivity
182 .BR charon.init_limit_half_open " [0]"
183 Limit new connections based on the current number of half open IKE_SAs (see
184 IKE_SA_INIT DROPPING).
186 .BR charon.init_limit_job_load " [0]"
187 Limit new connections based on the number of jobs currently queued for
188 processing (see IKE_SA_INIT DROPPING).
190 .BR charon.install_routes " [yes]"
191 Install routes into a separate routing table for established IPsec tunnels
193 .BR charon.install_virtual_ip " [yes]"
194 Install virtual IP addresses
196 .BR charon.keep_alive " [20s]"
197 NAT keep alive interval
200 Plugins to load in the IKEv2 daemon charon
202 .BR charon.max_packet " [10000]"
203 Maximum packet size accepted by charon
205 .BR charon.multiple_authentication " [yes]"
206 Enable multiple authentication exchanges (RFC 4739)
211 WINS servers assigned to peer via configuration payload (CP)
213 .BR charon.port " [500]"
214 UDP port used locally. If set to 0 a random port will be allocated.
216 .BR charon.port_nat_t " [4500]"
217 UDP port used locally in case of NAT-T. If set to 0 a random port will be
218 allocated. Has to be different from
220 otherwise a random port will be allocated.
222 .BR charon.process_route " [yes]"
223 Process RTM_NEWROUTE and RTM_DELROUTE events
225 .BR charon.receive_delay " [0]"
226 Delay for receiving packets, to simulate larger RTT
228 .BR charon.receive_delay_response " [yes]"
229 Delay response messages
231 .BR charon.receive_delay_request " [yes]"
232 Delay request messages
234 .BR charon.receive_delay_type " [0]"
235 Specific IKEv2 message type to delay, 0 for any
237 .BR charon.replay_window " [32]"
238 Size of the AH/ESP replay window, in packets.
240 .BR charon.retransmit_base " [1.8]"
241 Base to use for calculating exponential back off, see IKEv2 RETRANSMISSION
243 .BR charon.retransmit_timeout " [4.0]
244 Timeout in seconds before sending first retransmit
246 .BR charon.retransmit_tries " [5]"
247 Number of times to retransmit a packet before giving up
249 .BR charon.retry_initiate_interval " [0]"
250 Interval to use when retrying to initiate an IKE_SA (e.g. if DNS resolution
251 failed), 0 to disable retries.
253 .BR charon.reuse_ikesa " [yes]
254 Initiate CHILD_SA within existing IKE_SAs
256 .BR charon.routing_table
257 Numerical routing table to install routes to
259 .BR charon.routing_table_prio
260 Priority of the routing table
262 .BR charon.send_delay " [0]"
263 Delay for sending packets, to simulate larger RTT
265 .BR charon.send_delay_response " [yes]"
266 Delay response messages
268 .BR charon.send_delay_request " [yes]"
269 Delay request messages
271 .BR charon.send_delay_type " [0]"
272 Specific IKEv2 message type to delay, 0 for any
274 .BR charon.send_vendor_id " [no]
275 Send strongSwan vendor ID payload
278 Section to define syslog loggers, see LOGGER CONFIGURATION
280 .BR charon.threads " [16]"
281 Number of worker threads in charon
282 .SS charon.plugins subsection
284 .BR charon.plugins.android_log.loglevel " [1]"
285 Loglevel for logging to Android specific logger
287 .BR charon.plugins.attr
288 Section to specify arbitrary attributes that are assigned to a peer via
289 configuration payload (CP)
291 .BR charon.plugins.dhcp.identity_lease " [no]"
292 Derive user-defined MAC address from hash of IKEv2 identity
294 .BR charon.plugins.dhcp.server " [255.255.255.255]"
295 DHCP server unicast or broadcast IP address
297 .BR charon.plugins.duplicheck.enable " [yes]"
298 enable loaded duplicheck plugin
300 .BR charon.plugins.eap-aka.request_identity " [yes]"
303 .BR charon.plugins.eap-aka-3ggp2.seq_check
306 .BR charon.plugins.eap-gtc.backend " [pam]"
307 XAuth backend to be used for credential verification
309 .BR charon.plugins.eap-peap.fragment_size " [1024]"
310 Maximum size of an EAP-PEAP packet
312 .BR charon.plugins.eap-peap.max_message_count " [32]"
313 Maximum number of processed EAP-PEAP packets (0 = no limit)
315 .BR charon.plugins.eap-peap.include_length " [no]"
316 Include length in non-fragmented EAP-PEAP packets
318 .BR charon.plugins.eap-peap.phase2_method " [mschapv2]"
319 Phase2 EAP client authentication method
321 .BR charon.plugins.eap-peap.phase2_piggyback " [no]"
322 Phase2 EAP Identity request piggybacked by server onto TLS Finished message
324 .BR charon.plugins.eap-peap.phase2_tnc " [no]"
325 Start phase2 EAP TNC protocol after successful client authentication
327 .BR charon.plugins.eap-peap.request_peer_auth " [no]"
328 Request peer authentication based on a client certificate
331 .BR charon.plugins.eap-radius.accounting " [no]"
332 Send RADIUS accounting information to RADIUS servers.
334 .BR charon.plugins.eap-radius.class_group " [no]"
337 attribute sent in the RADIUS-Accept message as group membership information that
338 is compared to the groups specified in the
343 .BR charon.plugins.eap-radius.eap_start " [no]"
344 Send EAP-Start instead of EAP-Identity to start RADIUS conversation
346 .BR charon.plugins.eap-radius.filter_id " [no]"
353 attribute sent in the RADIUS-Accept message as group membership information that
354 is compared to the groups specified in the
359 .BR charon.plugins.eap-radius.id_prefix
360 Prefix to EAP-Identity, some AAA servers use a IMSI prefix to select the
363 .BR charon.plugins.eap-radius.nas_identifier " [strongSwan]"
364 NAS-Identifier to include in RADIUS messages
366 .BR charon.plugins.eap-radius.port " [1812]"
367 Port of RADIUS server (authentication)
369 .BR charon.plugins.eap-radius.secret
370 Shared secret between RADIUS and NAS
372 .BR charon.plugins.eap-radius.server
373 IP/Hostname of RADIUS server
375 .BR charon.plugins.eap-radius.servers
376 Section to specify multiple RADIUS servers. The
382 options can be specified for each server. A server's IP/Hostname can be
385 option. For each RADIUS server a priority can be specified using the
386 .BR preference " [0]"
389 .BR charon.plugins.eap-radius.sockets " [1]"
390 Number of sockets (ports) to use, increase for high load
392 .BR charon.plugins.eap-sim.request_identity " [yes]"
395 .BR charon.plugins.eap-simaka-sql.database
398 .BR charon.plugins.eap-simaka-sql.remove_used
401 .BR charon.plugins.eap-tls.fragment_size " [1024]"
402 Maximum size of an EAP-TLS packet
404 .BR charon.plugins.eap-tls.max_message_count " [32]"
405 Maximum number of processed EAP-TLS packets (0 = no limit)
407 .BR charon.plugins.eap-tls.include_length " [yes]"
408 Include length in non-fragmented EAP-TLS packets
410 .BR charon.plugins.eap-tnc.max_message_count " [10]"
411 Maximum number of processed EAP-TNC packets (0 = no limit)
413 .BR charon.plugins.eap-tnc.protocol " [tnccs-1.1]"
414 IF-TNCCS protocol version to be used (tnccs-1.1, tnccs-2.0, tnccs-dynamic)
416 .BR charon.plugins.eap-ttls.fragment_size " [1024]"
417 Maximum size of an EAP-TTLS packet
419 .BR charon.plugins.eap-ttls.max_message_count " [32]"
420 Maximum number of processed EAP-TTLS packets (0 = no limit)
422 .BR charon.plugins.eap-ttls.include_length " [yes]"
423 Include length in non-fragmented EAP-TTLS packets
425 .BR charon.plugins.eap-ttls.phase2_method " [md5]"
426 Phase2 EAP client authentication method
428 .BR charon.plugins.eap-ttls.phase2_piggyback " [no]"
429 Phase2 EAP Identity request piggybacked by server onto TLS Finished message
431 .BR charon.plugins.eap-ttls.phase2_tnc " [no]"
432 Start phase2 EAP TNC protocol after successful client authentication
434 .BR charon.plugins.eap-ttls.request_peer_auth " [no]"
435 Request peer authentication based on a client certificate
437 .BR charon.plugins.ha.fifo_interface " [yes]"
440 .BR charon.plugins.ha.heartbeat_delay " [1000]"
443 .BR charon.plugins.ha.heartbeat_timeout " [2100]"
446 .BR charon.plugins.ha.local
449 .BR charon.plugins.ha.monitor " [yes]"
452 .BR charon.plugins.ha.pools
455 .BR charon.plugins.ha.remote
458 .BR charon.plugins.ha.resync " [yes]"
461 .BR charon.plugins.ha.secret
464 .BR charon.plugins.ha.segment_count " [1]"
467 .BR charon.plugins.led.activity_led
470 .BR charon.plugins.led.blink_time " [50]"
473 .BR charon.plugins.kernel-klips.ipsec_dev_count " [4]"
474 Number of ipsecN devices
476 .BR charon.plugins.kernel-klips.ipsec_dev_mtu " [0]"
477 Set MTU of ipsecN device
479 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester
480 Section to configure the load-tester plugin, see LOAD TESTS
482 .BR charon.plugins.radattr.dir
483 Directory where RADIUS attributes are stored in client-ID specific files.
485 .BR charon.plugins.radattr.message_id " [-1]"
486 Attributes are added to all IKE_AUTH messages by default (-1), or only to the
487 IKE_AUTH message with the given IKEv2 message ID.
489 .BR charon.plugins.resolve.file " [/etc/resolv.conf]"
490 File where to add DNS server entries
492 .BR charon.plugins.resolve.resolvconf.iface_prefix " [lo.inet.ipsec.]"
493 Prefix used for interface names sent to resolvconf(8). The nameserver address
494 is appended to this prefix to make it unique. The result has to be a valid
495 interface name according to the rules defined by resolvconf. Also, it should
496 have a high priority according to the order defined in interface-order(5).
498 .BR charon.plugins.socket-default.set_source " [yes]"
499 Set source address on outbound packets, if possible.
501 .BR charon.plugins.sql.database
502 Database URI for charons SQL plugin
504 .BR charon.plugins.sql.loglevel " [-1]"
505 Loglevel for logging to SQL database
507 .BR charon.plugins.stroke.ignore_missing_ca_basic_constraint " [no]"
508 Treat certificates in ipsec.d/cacerts and ipsec.conf ca sections as CA
509 certificates even if they don't contain a CA basic constraint.
511 .BR charon.plugins.stroke.max_concurrent " [4]"
512 Maximum number of stroke messages handled concurrently
514 .BR charon.plugins.tnccs-11.max_message_size " [45000]"
515 Maximum size of a PA-TNC message (XML & Base64 encoding)
517 .BR charon.plugins.tnccs-20.max_batch_size " [65522]"
518 Maximum size of a PB-TNC batch (upper limit via PT-EAP = 65529)
520 .BR charon.plugins.tnccs-20.max_message_size " [65490]"
521 Maximum size of a PA-TNC message (upper limit via PT-EAP = 65497)
523 .BR charon.plugins.tnc-ifmap.device_name
524 Unique name of strongSwan as a PEP and/or PDP device
526 .BR charon.plugins.tnc-ifmap.key_file
527 Concatenated client certificate and private key
529 .BR charon.plugins.tnc-ifmap.password
530 Authentication password of strongSwan MAP client
532 .BR charon.plugins.tnc-ifmap.server_cert
533 Certificate of MAP server
535 .BR charon.plugins.tnc-ifmap.ssl_passphrase
536 Passphrase protecting the private key
538 .BR charon.plugins.tnc-ifmap.username
539 Authentication username of strongSwan MAP client
541 .BR charon.plugins.tnc-imc.preferred_language " [en]"
542 Preferred language for TNC recommendations
544 .BR charon.plugins.tnc-pdp.method " [ttls]"
545 EAP tunnel method to be used
547 .BR charon.plugins.tnc-pdp.port " [1812]"
548 RADIUS server port the strongSwan PDP is listening on
550 .BR charon.plugins.tnc-pdp.secret
551 Shared RADIUS secret between strongSwan PDP and NAS
553 .BR charon.plugins.tnc-pdp.server
554 name of the strongSwan PDP as contained in the AAA certificate
556 .BR charon.plugins.whitelist.enable " [yes]"
557 enable loaded whitelist plugin
559 .BR charon.plugins.xauth-pam.pam_service " [login]"
560 PAM service to be used for authentication
561 .SS libstrongswan section
563 .BR libstrongswan.crypto_test.bench " [no]"
566 .BR libstrongswan.crypto_test.bench_size " [1024]"
569 .BR libstrongswan.crypto_test.bench_time " [50]"
572 .BR libstrongswan.crypto_test.on_add " [no]"
573 Test crypto algorithms during registration
575 .BR libstrongswan.crypto_test.on_create " [no]"
576 Test crypto algorithms on each crypto primitive instantiation
578 .BR libstrongswan.crypto_test.required " [no]"
579 Strictly require at least one test vector to enable an algorithm
581 .BR libstrongswan.crypto_test.rng_true " [no]"
582 Whether to test RNG with TRUE quality; requires a lot of entropy
584 .BR libstrongswan.dh_exponent_ansi_x9_42 " [yes]"
585 Use ANSI X9.42 DH exponent size or optimum size matched to cryptographical
588 .BR libstrongswan.ecp_x_coordinate_only " [yes]"
589 Compliance with the errata for RFC 4753
591 .BR libstrongswan.integrity_test " [no]"
592 Check daemon, libstrongswan and plugin integrity at startup
594 .BR libstrongswan.leak_detective.detailed " [yes]"
595 Includes source file names and line numbers in leak detective output
597 .BR libstrongswan.processor.priority_threads
598 Subsection to configure the number of reserved threads per priority class
599 see JOB PRIORITY MANAGEMENT
601 .BR libstrongswan.x509.enforce_critical " [yes]"
602 Discard certificates with unsupported or unknown critical extensions
603 .SS libstrongswan.plugins subsection
605 .BR libstrongswan.plugins.attr-sql.database
606 Database URI for attr-sql plugin used by charon and pluto
608 .BR libstrongswan.plugins.attr-sql.lease_history " [yes]"
609 Enable logging of SQL IP pool leases
611 .BR libstrongswan.plugins.gcrypt.quick_random " [no]"
612 Use faster random numbers in gcrypt; for testing only, produces weak keys!
614 .BR libstrongswan.plugins.openssl.engine_id " [pkcs11]"
615 ENGINE ID to use in the OpenSSL plugin
617 .BR libstrongswan.plugins.pkcs11.modules
618 List of available PKCS#11 modules
620 .BR libstrongswan.plugins.pkcs11.use_dh " [no]"
621 Whether the PKCS#11 modules should be used for DH and ECDH (see use_ecc option)
623 .BR libstrongswan.plugins.pkcs11.use_ecc " [no]"
624 Whether the PKCS#11 modules should be used for ECDH and ECDSA public key
625 operations. ECDSA private keys can be used regardless of this option
627 .BR libstrongswan.plugins.pkcs11.use_hasher " [no]"
628 Whether the PKCS#11 modules should be used to hash data
630 .BR libstrongswan.plugins.pkcs11.use_pubkey " [no]"
631 Whether the PKCS#11 modules should be used for public key operations, even for
632 keys not stored on tokens
634 .BR libstrongswan.plugins.pkcs11.use_rng " [no]"
635 Whether the PKCS#11 modules should be used as RNG
638 .BR libtnccs.tnc_config " [/etc/tnc_config]"
639 TNC IMC/IMV configuration directory
642 .BR libimcv.debug_level " [1]"
643 Debug level for a stand-alone libimcv library
645 .BR libimcv.stderr_quiet " [no]"
646 Disable output to stderr with a stand-alone libimcv library
647 .SS libimcv plugins section
649 .BR libimcv.plugins.imc-attestation.platform_info
650 Information on operating system and hardware platform
652 .BR libimcv.plugins.imc-attestation.aik_blob
653 AIK encrypted private key blob file
655 .BR libimcv.plugins.imc-attestation.aik_cert
658 .BR libimcv.plugins.imc-attestation.aik_key
661 .BR libimcv.plugins.imv-attestation.nonce_len " [20]"
664 .BR libimcv.plugins.imv-attestation.use_quote2 " [yes]"
665 Use Quote2 AIK signature instead of Quote signature
667 .BR libimcv.plugins.imv-attestation.cadir
668 Path to directory with AIK cacerts
670 .BR libimcv.plugins.imv-attestation.database
671 Path to database with file measurement information
673 .BR libimcv.plugins.imv-attestation.dh_group " [ecp256]"
674 Preferred Diffie-Hellman group
676 .BR libimcv.plugins.imv-attestation.hash_algorithm " [sha256]"
677 Preferred measurement hash algorithm
679 .BR libimcv.plugins.imv-attestation.min_nonce_len " [0]"
680 DH minimum nonce length
682 .BR libimcv.plugins.imv-attestation.platform_info
683 Information on operating system and hardware platform
685 .BR libimcv.plugins.imv-scanner.closed_port_policy " [yes]"
686 By default all ports must be closed (yes) or can be open (no)
688 .BR libimcv.plugins.imv-scanner.tcp_ports
689 List of TCP ports that can be open or must be closed
691 .BR libimcv.plugins.imv-scanner.udp_ports
692 List of UDP ports that can be open or must be closed
694 .BR libimcv.plugins.imc-test.additional_ids " [0]"
695 Number of additional IMC IDs
697 .BR libimcv.plugins.imc-test.command " [none]"
698 Command to be sent to the Test IMV
700 .BR libimcv.plugins.imc-test.dummy_size " [0]"
701 Size of dummy attribute to be sent to the Test IMV (0 = disabled)
703 .BR libimcv.plugins.imc-test.retry " [no]"
706 .BR libimcv.plugins.imc-test.retry_command
707 Command to be sent to the Test IMV in the handshake retry
709 .BR libimcv.plugins.imv-test.rounds " [0]"
710 Number of IMC-IMV retry rounds
714 List of TLS encryption ciphers
716 .BR libtls.key_exchange
717 List of TLS key exchange methods
720 List of TLS MAC algorithms
723 List of TLS cipher suites
727 Credential database URI for manager
729 .BR manager.debug " [no]"
730 Enable debugging in manager
733 Plugins to load in manager
736 FastCGI socket of manager, to run it statically
738 .BR manager.threads " [10]"
739 Threads to use for request handling
741 .BR manager.timeout " [15m]"
742 Session timeout for manager
743 .SS mediation client section
746 Mediation client database URI
748 .BR medcli.dpd " [5m]"
749 DPD timeout to use in mediation client plugin
751 .BR medcli.rekey " [20m]"
752 Rekeying time on mediation connections in mediation client plugin
753 .SS mediation server section
756 Mediation server database URI
758 .BR medsrv.debug " [no]"
759 Debugging in mediation server web application
761 .BR medsrv.dpd " [5m]"
762 DPD timeout to use in mediation server plugin
765 Plugins to load in mediation server plugin
767 .BR medsrv.password_length " [6]"
768 Minimum password length required for mediation server user accounts
770 .BR medsrv.rekey " [20m]"
771 Rekeying time on mediation connections in mediation server plugin
774 Run Mediation server web application statically on socket
776 .BR medsrv.threads " [5]"
777 Number of thread for mediation service web application
779 .BR medsrv.timeout " [15m]"
780 Session timeout for mediation service
784 Plugins to load in ipsec openac tool
788 Plugins to load in ipsec pki tool
794 DNS servers assigned to peer via Mode Config
797 Plugins to load in IKEv1 pluto daemon
802 WINS servers assigned to peer via Mode Config
804 .BR pluto.threads " [4]"
805 Number of worker threads in pluto
806 .SS pluto.plugins section
808 .BR pluto.plugins.attr
809 Section to specify arbitrary attributes that are assigned to a peer via
812 .BR charon.plugins.kernel-klips.ipsec_dev_count " [4]"
813 Number of ipsecN devices
815 .BR charon.plugins.kernel-klips.ipsec_dev_mtu " [0]"
816 Set MTU of ipsecN device
820 Plugins to load in ipsec pool tool
821 .SS scepclient section
824 Plugins to load in ipsec scepclient tool
828 Plugins to load in starter
830 .BR starter.load_warning " [yes]"
831 Disable charon/pluto plugin load option warning
833 .SH LOGGER CONFIGURATION
834 The options described below provide a much more flexible way to configure
835 loggers for the IKEv2 daemon charon than using the
841 that if any loggers are specified in strongswan.conf,
843 does not have any effect.
845 There are currently two types of loggers defined:
848 Log directly to a file and are defined by specifying the full path to the
849 file as subsection in the
851 section. To log to the console the two special filenames
852 .BR stdout " and " stderr
856 Log into a syslog facility and are defined by specifying the facility to log to
857 as the name of a subsection in the
859 section. The following facilities are currently supported:
860 .BR daemon " and " auth .
862 Multiple loggers can be defined for each type with different log verbosity for
863 the different subsystems of the daemon.
866 .BR charon.filelog.<filename>.default " [1]"
868 .BR charon.syslog.<facility>.default
869 Specifies the default loglevel to be used for subsystems for which no specific
872 .BR charon.filelog.<filename>.<subsystem> " [<default>]"
874 .BR charon.syslog.<facility>.<subsystem>
875 Specifies the loglevel for the given subsystem.
877 .BR charon.filelog.<filename>.append " [yes]"
878 If this option is enabled log entries are appended to the existing file.
880 .BR charon.filelog.<filename>.flush_line " [no]"
881 Enabling this option disables block buffering and enables line buffering.
883 .BR charon.filelog.<filename>.ike_name " [no]"
885 .BR charon.syslog.<facility>.ike_name
886 Prefix each log entry with the connection name and a unique numerical
887 identifier for each IKE_SA.
889 .BR charon.filelog.<filename>.time_format
890 Prefix each log entry with a timestamp. The option accepts a format string as
894 .BR charon.syslog.identifier
895 Global identifier used for an
897 call, prepended to each log message by syslog. If not configured,
899 is not called, so the value will depend on system defaults (often the program
905 Main daemon setup/cleanup/signal handling
908 IKE_SA manager, handling synchronization for IKE_SA access
917 Jobs queueing/processing and thread pool management
920 Configuration management and plugins
923 IPsec/Networking kernel interface
926 IKE network communication
929 Low-level encoding/decoding (ASN.1, X.509 etc.)
932 Packet encoding/decoding encryption/decryption operations
935 libtls library messages
938 libipsec library messages
941 libstrongwan library messages
944 Trusted Network Connect
947 Integrity Measurement Collector
950 Integrity Measurement Verifier
953 Platform Trust Service
960 Very basic auditing logs, (e.g. SA up/SA down)
963 Generic control flow with errors, a good default to see whats going on
966 More detailed debugging control flow
969 Including RAW data dumps in Hex
972 Also include sensitive material in dumps, e.g. keys
978 /var/log/charon.log {
979 time_format = %b %e %T
990 # enable logging to LOG_DAEMON, use defaults
993 # minimalistic IKE auditing logging to LOG_AUTHPRIV
1002 .SH JOB PRIORITY MANAGEMENT
1003 Some operations in the IKEv2 daemon charon are currently implemented
1004 synchronously and blocking. Two examples for such operations are communication
1005 with a RADIUS server via EAP-RADIUS, or fetching CRL/OCSP information during
1006 certificate chain verification. Under high load conditions, the thread pool may
1007 run out of available threads, and some more important jobs, such as liveness
1008 checking, may not get executed in time.
1010 To prevent thread starvation in such situations job priorities were introduced.
1011 The job processor will reserve some threads for higher priority jobs, these
1012 threads are not available for lower priority, locking jobs.
1014 Currently 4 priorities have been defined, and they are used in charon as
1018 Priority for long-running dispatcher jobs.
1021 INFORMATIONAL exchanges, as used by liveness checking (DPD).
1024 Everything not HIGH/LOW, including IKE_SA_INIT processing.
1027 IKE_AUTH message processing. RADIUS and CRL fetching block here
1029 Although IKE_SA_INIT processing is computationally expensive, it is explicitly
1030 assigned to the MEDIUM class. This allows charon to do the DH exchange while
1031 other threads are blocked in IKE_AUTH. To prevent the daemon from accepting more
1032 IKE_SA_INIT requests than it can handle, use IKE_SA_INIT DROPPING.
1034 The thread pool processes jobs strictly by priority, meaning it will consume all
1035 higher priority jobs before looking for ones with lower priority. Further, it
1036 reserves threads for certain priorities. A priority class having reserved
1038 threads will always have
1040 threads available for this class (either currently processing a job, or waiting
1043 To ensure that there are always enough threads available for higher priority
1044 tasks, threads must be reserved for each priority class.
1046 .BR libstrongswan.processor.priority_threads.critical " [0]"
1047 Threads reserved for CRITICAL priority class jobs
1049 .BR libstrongswan.processor.priority_threads.high " [0]"
1050 Threads reserved for HIGH priority class jobs
1052 .BR libstrongswan.processor.priority_threads.medium " [0]"
1053 Threads reserved for MEDIUM priority class jobs
1055 .BR libstrongswan.processor.priority_threads.low " [0]"
1056 Threads reserved for LOW priority class jobs
1058 Let's consider the following configuration:
1071 With this configuration, one thread is reserved for HIGH priority tasks. As
1072 currently only liveness checking and stroke message processing is done with
1073 high priority, one or two threads should be sufficient.
1075 The MEDIUM class mostly processes non-blocking jobs. Unless your setup is
1076 experiencing many blocks in locks while accessing shared resources, threads for
1077 one or two times the number of CPU cores is fine.
1079 It is usually not required to reserve threads for CRITICAL jobs. Jobs in this
1080 class rarely return and do not release their thread to the pool.
1082 The remaining threads are available for LOW priority jobs. Reserving threads
1083 does not make sense (until we have an even lower priority).
1085 To see what the threads are actually doing, invoke
1086 .IR "ipsec statusall" .
1087 Under high load, something like this will show up:
1090 worker threads: 2 or 32 idle, 5/1/2/22 working,
1091 job queue: 0/0/1/149, scheduled: 198
1094 From 32 worker threads,
1098 are running CRITICAL priority jobs (dispatching from sockets, etc.).
1100 is currently handling a HIGH priority job. This is actually the thread currently
1101 providing this information via stroke.
1103 are handling MEDIUM priority jobs, likely IKE_SA_INIT or CREATE_CHILD_SA
1106 are handling LOW priority jobs, probably waiting for an EAP-RADIUS response
1107 while processing IKE_AUTH messages.
1109 The job queue load shows how many jobs are queued for each priority, ready for
1110 execution. The single MEDIUM priority job will get executed immediately, as
1111 we have two spare threads reserved for MEDIUM class jobs.
1113 .SH IKE_SA_INIT DROPPING
1114 If a responder receives more connection requests per seconds than it can handle,
1115 it does not make sense to accept more IKE_SA_INIT messages. And if they are
1116 queued but can't get processed in time, an answer might be sent after the
1117 client has already given up and restarted its connection setup. This
1118 additionally increases the load on the responder.
1120 To limit the responder load resulting from new connection attempts, the daemon
1121 can drop IKE_SA_INIT messages just after reception. There are two mechanisms to
1122 decide if this should happen, configured with the following options:
1124 .BR charon.init_limit_half_open " [0]"
1125 Limit based on the number of half open IKE_SAs. Half open IKE_SAs are SAs in
1126 connecting state, but not yet established.
1128 .BR charon.init_limit_job_load " [0]"
1129 Limit based on the number of jobs currently queued for processing (sum over all
1132 The second limit includes load from other jobs, such as rekeying. Choosing a
1133 good value is difficult and depends on the hardware and expected load.
1135 The first limit is simpler to calculate, but includes the load from new
1136 connections only. If your responder is capable of negotiating 100 tunnels/s, you
1137 might set this limit to 1000. The daemon will then drop new connection attempts
1138 if generating a response would require more than 10 seconds. If you are
1139 allowing for a maximum response time of more than 30 seconds, consider adjusting
1140 the timeout for connecting IKE_SAs
1141 .RB ( charon.half_open_timeout ).
1142 A responder, by default, deletes an IKE_SA if the initiator does not establish
1143 it within 30 seconds. Under high load, a higher value might be required.
1146 To do stability testing and performance optimizations, the IKEv2 daemon charon
1147 provides the load-tester plugin. This plugin allows to setup thousands of
1148 tunnels concurrently against the daemon itself or a remote host.
1151 Never enable the load-testing plugin on productive systems. It provides
1152 preconfigured credentials and allows an attacker to authenticate as any user.
1155 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.child_rekey " [600]"
1156 Seconds to start CHILD_SA rekeying after setup
1158 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.delay " [0]"
1159 Delay between initiatons for each thread
1161 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.delete_after_established " [no]"
1162 Delete an IKE_SA as soon as it has been established
1164 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.dpd_delay " [0]"
1165 DPD delay to use in load test
1167 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.dynamic_port " [0]"
1168 Base port to be used for requests (each client uses a different port)
1170 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.eap_password " [default-pwd]"
1171 EAP secret to use in load test
1173 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.enable " [no]"
1174 Enable the load testing plugin
1176 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.fake_kernel " [no]"
1177 Fake the kernel interface to allow load-testing against self
1179 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.ike_rekey " [0]"
1180 Seconds to start IKE_SA rekeying after setup
1182 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.init_limit " [0]"
1183 Global limit of concurrently established SAs during load test
1185 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.initiators " [0]"
1186 Number of concurrent initiator threads to use in load test
1188 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.initiator_auth " [pubkey]"
1189 Authentication method(s) the intiator uses
1191 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.initiator_id
1192 Initiator ID used in load test
1194 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.iterations " [1]"
1195 Number of IKE_SAs to initate by each initiator in load test
1197 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.pool
1198 Provide INTERNAL_IPV4_ADDRs from a named pool
1200 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.preshared_key " [default-psk]"
1201 Preshared key to use in load test
1203 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.proposal " [aes128-sha1-modp768]"
1204 IKE proposal to use in load test
1206 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.remote " [127.0.0.1]"
1207 Address to initiation connections to
1209 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.responder_auth " [pubkey]"
1210 Authentication method(s) the responder uses
1212 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.responder_id
1213 Responder ID used in load test
1215 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.request_virtual_ip " [no]"
1216 Request an INTERNAL_IPV4_ADDR from the server
1218 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.shutdown_when_complete " [no]"
1219 Shutdown the daemon after all IKE_SAs have been established
1220 .SS Configuration details
1221 For public key authentication, the responder uses the
1222 .B \(dqCN=srv, OU=load-test, O=strongSwan\(dq
1223 identity. For the initiator, each connection attempt uses a different identity
1225 .BR "\(dqCN=c1-r1, OU=load-test, O=strongSwan\(dq" ,
1226 where the first number inidicates the client number, the second the
1227 authentication round (if multiple authentication is used).
1229 For PSK authentication, FQDN identities are used. The server uses
1230 .BR srv.strongswan.org ,
1231 the client uses an identity in the form
1232 .BR c1-r1.strongswan.org .
1234 For EAP authentication, the client uses a NAI in the form
1235 .BR 100000000010001@strongswan.org .
1237 To configure multiple authentication, concatenate multiple methods using, e.g.
1239 initiator_auth = pubkey|psk|eap-md5|eap-aka
1242 The responder uses a hardcoded certificate based on a 1024-bit RSA key.
1243 This certificate additionally serves as CA certificate. A peer uses the same
1244 private key, but generates client certificates on demand signed by the CA
1245 certificate. Install the Responder/CA certificate on the remote host to
1246 authenticate all clients.
1248 To speed up testing, the load tester plugin implements a special Diffie-Hellman
1249 implementation called modpnull. By setting
1251 proposal = aes128-sha1-modpnull
1253 this wicked fast DH implementation is used. It does not provide any security
1254 at all, but allows to run tests without DH calculation overhead.
1257 In the simplest case, the daemon initiates IKE_SAs against itself using the
1258 loopback interface. This will actually establish double the number of IKE_SAs,
1259 as the daemon is initiator and responder for each IKE_SA at the same time.
1260 Installation of IPsec SAs would fails, as each SA gets installed twice. To
1261 simulate the correct behavior, a fake kernel interface can be enabled which does
1262 not install the IPsec SAs at the kernel level.
1264 A simple loopback configuration might look like this:
1268 # create new IKE_SAs for each CHILD_SA to simulate
1271 # turn off denial of service protection
1278 # use 4 threads to initiate connections
1281 # each thread initiates 1000 connections
1283 # delay each initiation in each thread by 20ms
1285 # enable the fake kernel interface to
1286 # avoid SA conflicts
1293 This will initiate 4000 IKE_SAs within 20 seconds. You may increase the delay
1294 value if your box can not handle that much load, or decrease it to put more
1295 load on it. If the daemon starts retransmitting messages your box probably can
1296 not handle all connection attempts.
1298 The plugin also allows to test against a remote host. This might help to test
1299 against a real world configuration. A connection setup to do stress testing of
1300 a gateway might look like this:
1310 # 10000 connections, ten in parallel
1313 # use a delay of 100ms, overall time is:
1314 # iterations * delay = 100s
1316 # address of the gateway
1318 # IKE-proposal to use
1319 proposal = aes128-sha1-modp1024
1320 # use faster PSK authentication instead
1322 initiator_auth = psk
1323 responder_auth = psk
1324 # request a virtual IP using configuration
1326 request_virtual_ip = yes
1327 # enable CHILD_SA every 60s
1334 .SH IKEv2 RETRANSMISSION
1335 Retransmission timeouts in the IKEv2 daemon charon can be configured globally
1336 using the three keys listed below:
1340 .BR charon.retransmit_base " [1.8]"
1341 .BR charon.retransmit_timeout " [4.0]"
1342 .BR charon.retransmit_tries " [5]"
1346 The following algorithm is used to calculate the timeout:
1349 relative timeout = retransmit_timeout * retransmit_base ^ (n-1)
1354 is the current retransmission count.
1356 Using the default values, packets are retransmitted in:
1362 Retransmission Relative Timeout Absolute Timeout
1372 /etc/strongswan.conf
1375 ipsec.conf(5), ipsec.secrets(5), ipsec(8)
1378 .UR http://www.strongswan.org
1381 by Tobias Brunner, Andreas Steffen and Martin Willi.