1 .TH STRONGSWAN.CONF 5 "2011-07-26" "@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.
131 .BR charon.block_threshold " [5]"
132 Maximum number of half-open IKE_SAs for a single peer IP
134 .BR charon.close_ike_on_child_failure " [no]"
135 Close the IKE_SA if setup of the CHILD_SA along with IKE_AUTH failed
137 .BR charon.cookie_threshold " [10]"
138 Number of half-open IKE_SAs that activate the cookie mechanism
143 DNS servers assigned to peer via configuration payload (CP)
145 .BR charon.dos_protection " [yes]"
146 Enable Denial of Service protection using cookies and aggressiveness checks
149 Section to define file loggers, see LOGGER CONFIGURATION
151 .BR charon.flush_auth_cfg " [no]"
154 .BR charon.half_open_timeout " [30]"
155 Timeout in seconds for connecting IKE_SAs (also see IKE_SA_INIT DROPPING).
157 .BR charon.hash_and_url " [no]"
158 Enable hash and URL support
160 .BR charon.ignore_routing_tables
161 A list of routing tables to be excluded from route lookup
163 .BR charon.ikesa_table_segments " [1]"
164 Number of exclusively locked segments in the hash table
166 .BR charon.ikesa_table_size " [1]"
167 Size of the IKE_SA hash table
169 .BR charon.inactivity_close_ike " [no]"
170 Whether to close IKE_SA if the only CHILD_SA closed due to inactivity
172 .BR charon.init_limit_half_open " [0]"
173 Limit new connections based on the current number of half open IKE_SAs (see
174 IKE_SA_INIT DROPPING).
176 .BR charon.init_limit_job_load " [0]"
177 Limit new connections based on the number of jobs currently queued for
178 processing (see IKE_SA_INIT DROPPING).
180 .BR charon.install_routes " [yes]"
181 Install routes into a separate routing table for established IPsec tunnels
183 .BR charon.install_virtual_ip " [yes]"
184 Install virtual IP addresses
186 .BR charon.keep_alive " [20s]"
187 NAT keep alive interval
190 Plugins to load in the IKEv2 daemon charon
192 .BR charon.max_packet " [10000]"
193 Maximum packet size accepted by charon
195 .BR charon.multiple_authentication " [yes]"
196 Enable multiple authentication exchanges (RFC 4739)
201 WINS servers assigned to peer via configuration payload (CP)
203 .BR charon.process_route " [yes]"
204 Process RTM_NEWROUTE and RTM_DELROUTE events
206 .BR charon.receive_delay " [0]"
207 Delay for receiving packets, to simulate larger RTT
209 .BR charon.receive_delay_response " [yes]"
210 Delay response messages
212 .BR charon.receive_delay_request " [yes]"
213 Delay request messages
215 .BR charon.receive_delay_type " [0]"
216 Specific IKEv2 message type to delay, 0 for any
218 .BR charon.replay_window " [32]"
219 Size of the AH/ESP replay window, in packets.
221 .BR charon.retransmit_base " [1.8]"
222 Base to use for calculating exponential back off, see IKEv2 RETRANSMISSION
224 .BR charon.retransmit_timeout " [4.0]
225 Timeout in seconds before sending first retransmit
227 .BR charon.retransmit_tries " [5]"
228 Number of times to retransmit a packet before giving up
230 .BR charon.reuse_ikesa " [yes]
231 Initiate CHILD_SA within existing IKE_SAs
233 .BR charon.routing_table
234 Numerical routing table to install routes to
236 .BR charon.routing_table_prio
237 Priority of the routing table
239 .BR charon.send_delay " [0]"
240 Delay for sending packets, to simulate larger RTT
242 .BR charon.send_delay_response " [yes]"
243 Delay response messages
245 .BR charon.send_delay_request " [yes]"
246 Delay request messages
248 .BR charon.send_delay_type " [0]"
249 Specific IKEv2 message type to delay, 0 for any
251 .BR charon.send_vendor_id " [no]
252 Send strongSwan vendor ID payload
255 Section to define syslog loggers, see LOGGER CONFIGURATION
257 .BR charon.threads " [16]"
258 Number of worker threads in charon
259 .SS charon.plugins subsection
261 .BR charon.plugins.android.loglevel " [1]"
262 Loglevel for logging to Android specific logger
264 .BR charon.plugins.attr
265 Section to specify arbitrary attributes that are assigned to a peer via
266 configuration payload (CP)
268 .BR charon.plugins.dhcp.identity_lease " [no]"
269 Derive user-defined MAC address from hash of IKEv2 identity
271 .BR charon.plugins.dhcp.server " [255.255.255.255]"
272 DHCP server unicast or broadcast IP address
274 .BR charon.plugins.duplicheck.enable " [yes]"
275 enable loaded duplicheck plugin
277 .BR charon.plugins.eap-aka.request_identity " [yes]"
280 .BR charon.plugins.eap-aka-3ggp2.seq_check
283 .BR charon.plugins.eap-gtc.pam_service " [login]"
284 PAM service to be used for authentication
287 .BR charon.plugins.eap-peap.fragment_size " [1024]"
288 Maximum size of an EAP-PEAP packet
290 .BR charon.plugins.eap-peap.max_message_count " [32]"
291 Maximum number of processed EAP-PEAP packets
293 .BR charon.plugins.eap-peap.include_length " [no]"
294 Include length in non-fragmented EAP-PEAP packets
296 .BR charon.plugins.eap-peap.phase2_method " [mschapv2]"
297 Phase2 EAP client authentication method
299 .BR charon.plugins.eap-peap.phase2_piggyback " [no]"
300 Phase2 EAP Identity request piggybacked by server onto TLS Finished message
302 .BR charon.plugins.eap-peap.phase2_tnc " [no]"
303 Start phase2 EAP TNC protocol after successful client authentication
305 .BR charon.plugins.eap-peap.request_peer_auth " [no]"
306 Request peer authentication based on a client certificate
309 .BR charon.plugins.eap-radius.class_group " [no]"
312 attribute sent in the RADIUS-Accept message as group membership information that
313 is compared to the groups specified in the
318 .BR charon.plugins.eap-radius.eap_start " [no]"
319 Send EAP-Start instead of EAP-Identity to start RADIUS conversation
321 .BR charon.plugins.eap-radius.filter_id " [no]"
328 attribute sent in the RADIUS-Accept message as group membership information that
329 is compared to the groups specified in the
334 .BR charon.plugins.eap-radius.id_prefix
335 Prefix to EAP-Identity, some AAA servers use a IMSI prefix to select the
338 .BR charon.plugins.eap-radius.nas_identifier " [strongSwan]"
339 NAS-Identifier to include in RADIUS messages
341 .BR charon.plugins.eap-radius.port " [1812]"
342 Port of RADIUS server (authentication)
344 .BR charon.plugins.eap-radius.secret
345 Shared secret between RADIUS and NAS
347 .BR charon.plugins.eap-radius.server
348 IP/Hostname of RADIUS server
350 .BR charon.plugins.eap-radius.servers
351 Section to specify multiple RADIUS servers. The
357 options can be specified for each server. A server's IP/Hostname can be
360 option. For each RADIUS server a priority can be specified using the
361 .BR preference " [0]"
364 .BR charon.plugins.eap-radius.sockets " [1]"
365 Number of sockets (ports) to use, increase for high load
367 .BR charon.plugins.eap-sim.request_identity " [yes]"
370 .BR charon.plugins.eap-simaka-sql.database
373 .BR charon.plugins.eap-simaka-sql.remove_used
376 .BR charon.plugins.eap-tls.fragment_size " [1024]"
377 Maximum size of an EAP-TLS packet
379 .BR charon.plugins.eap-tls.max_message_count " [32]"
380 Maximum number of processed EAP-TLS packets
382 .BR charon.plugins.eap-tls.include_length " [yes]"
383 Include length in non-fragmented EAP-TLS packets
385 .BR charon.plugins.eap-tnc.fragment_size " [50000]"
386 Maximum size of an EAP-TNC packet
388 .BR charon.plugins.eap-tnc.max_message_count " [10]"
389 Maximum number of processed EAP-TNC packets
391 .BR charon.plugins.eap-tnc.include_length " [yes]"
392 Include length in non-fragmented EAP-TNC packets
394 .BR charon.plugins.eap-ttls.fragment_size " [1024]"
395 Maximum size of an EAP-TTLS packet
397 .BR charon.plugins.eap-ttls.max_message_count " [32]"
398 Maximum number of processed EAP-TTLS packets
400 .BR charon.plugins.eap-ttls.include_length " [yes]"
401 Include length in non-fragmented EAP-TTLS packets
403 .BR charon.plugins.eap-ttls.phase2_method " [md5]"
404 Phase2 EAP client authentication method
406 .BR charon.plugins.eap-ttls.phase2_piggyback " [no]"
407 Phase2 EAP Identity request piggybacked by server onto TLS Finished message
409 .BR charon.plugins.eap-ttls.phase2_tnc " [no]"
410 Start phase2 EAP TNC protocol after successful client authentication
412 .BR charon.plugins.eap-ttls.request_peer_auth " [no]"
413 Request peer authentication based on a client certificate
415 .BR charon.plugins.ha.fifo_interface " [yes]"
418 .BR charon.plugins.ha.heartbeat_delay " [1000]"
421 .BR charon.plugins.ha.heartbeat_timeout " [2100]"
424 .BR charon.plugins.ha.local
427 .BR charon.plugins.ha.monitor " [yes]"
430 .BR charon.plugins.ha.pools
433 .BR charon.plugins.ha.remote
436 .BR charon.plugins.ha.resync " [yes]"
439 .BR charon.plugins.ha.secret
442 .BR charon.plugins.ha.segment_count " [1]"
445 .BR charon.plugins.led.activity_led
448 .BR charon.plugins.led.blink_time " [50]"
451 .BR charon.plugins.kernel-klips.ipsec_dev_count " [4]"
452 Number of ipsecN devices
454 .BR charon.plugins.kernel-klips.ipsec_dev_mtu " [0]"
455 Set MTU of ipsecN device
457 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester
458 Section to configure the load-tester plugin, see LOAD TESTS
460 .BR charon.plugins.resolve.file " [/etc/resolv.conf]"
461 File where to add DNS server entries
463 .BR charon.plugins.sql.database
464 Database URI for charons SQL plugin
466 .BR charon.plugins.sql.loglevel " [-1]"
467 Loglevel for logging to SQL database
469 .BR charon.plugins.tnc-ifmap.device_name
470 Unique name of strongSwan as a PEP and/or PDP device
472 .BR charon.plugins.tnc-ifmap.key_file
473 Concatenated client certificate and private key
475 .BR charon.plugins.tnc-ifmap.password
476 Authentication password of strongSwan MAP client
478 .BR charon.plugins.tnc-ifmap.server_cert
479 Certificate of MAP server
481 .BR charon.plugins.tnc-ifmap.ssl_passphrase
482 Passphrase protecting the private key
484 .BR charon.plugins.tnc-ifmap.username
485 Authentication username of strongSwan MAP client
487 .BR charon.plugins.tnc-imc.preferred_language " [en]"
488 Preferred language for TNC recommendations
490 .BR charon.plugins.tnc-imc.tnc_config " [/etc/tnc_config]"
491 TNC IMC configuration directory
493 .BR charon.plugins.tnc-imv.tnc_config " [/etc/tnc_config]"
494 TNC IMV configuration directory
496 .BR charon.plugins.whitelist.enable " [yes]"
497 enable loaded whitelist plugin
498 .SS libstrongswan section
500 .BR libstrongswan.crypto_test.bench " [no]"
503 .BR libstrongswan.crypto_test.bench_size " [1024]"
506 .BR libstrongswan.crypto_test.bench_time " [50]"
509 .BR libstrongswan.crypto_test.on_add " [no]"
510 Test crypto algorithms during registration
512 .BR libstrongswan.crypto_test.on_create " [no]"
513 Test crypto algorithms on each crypto primitive instantiation
515 .BR libstrongswan.crypto_test.required " [no]"
516 Strictly require at least one test vector to enable an algorithm
518 .BR libstrongswan.crypto_test.rng_true " [no]"
519 Whether to test RNG with TRUE quality; requires a lot of entropy
521 .BR libstrongswan.dh_exponent_ansi_x9_42 " [yes]"
522 Use ANSI X9.42 DH exponent size or optimum size matched to cryptographical
525 .BR libstrongswan.ecp_x_coordinate_only " [yes]"
526 Compliance with the errata for RFC 4753
528 .BR libstrongswan.integrity_test " [no]"
529 Check daemon, libstrongswan and plugin integrity at startup
531 .BR libstrongswan.leak_detective.detailed " [yes]"
532 Includes source file names and line numbers in leak detective output
534 .BR libstrongswan.processor.priority_threads
535 Subsection to configure the number of reserved threads per priority class
536 see JOB PRIORITY MANAGEMENT
538 .BR libstrongswan.x509.enforce_critical " [yes]"
539 Discard certificates with unsupported or unknown critical extensions
540 .SS libstrongswan.plugins subsection
542 .BR libstrongswan.plugins.attr-sql.database
543 Database URI for attr-sql plugin used by charon and pluto
545 .BR libstrongswan.plugins.attr-sql.lease_history " [yes]"
546 Enable logging of SQL IP pool leases
548 .BR libstrongswan.plugins.gcrypt.quick_random " [no]"
549 Use faster random numbers in gcrypt; for testing only, produces weak keys!
551 .BR libstrongswan.plugins.openssl.engine_id " [pkcs11]"
552 ENGINE ID to use in the OpenSSL plugin
554 .BR libstrongswan.plugins.pkcs11.modules
555 List of available PKCS#11 modules
557 .BR libstrongswan.plugins.pkcs11.use_hasher " [no]"
558 Whether the PKCS#11 modules should be used to hash data
561 .BR libimcv.debug_level " [1]"
562 Debug level for a stand-alone libimcv library
564 .BR libimcv.stderr_quiet " [no]"
565 Disable output to stderr with a stand-alone libimcv library
566 .SS libimcv plugins section
568 .BR libimcv.plugins.imc-attestation.platform_info
569 Information on operating system and hardware platform
571 .BR libimcv.plugins.imc-attestation.aik_cert
574 .BR libimcv.plugins.imc-attestation.aik_key
577 .BR libimcv.plugins.imv-attestation.cadir
578 Path to directory with AIK cacerts
580 .BR libimcv.plugins.imv-attestation.database
581 Path to database with file measurement information
583 .BR libimcv.plugins.imv-attestation.hash_algorithm " [sha1]"
584 Preferred measurement hash algorithm
586 .BR libimcv.plugins.imv-attestation.platform_info
587 Information on operating system and hardware platform
589 .BR libimcv.plugins.imv-scanner.closed_port_policy " [yes]"
590 By default all ports must be closed (yes) or can be open (no)
592 .BR libimcv.plugins.imv-scanner.tcp_ports
593 List of TCP ports that can be open or must be closed
595 .BR libimcv.plugins.imv-scanner.udp_ports
596 List of UDP ports that can be open or must be closed
598 .BR libimcv.plugins.imc-test.command " [none]"
599 Command to be sent to the Test IMV
601 .BR libimcv.plugins.imc-test.retry " [no]"
604 .BR libimcv.plugins.imc-test.retry_command
605 Command to be sent to the Test IMV in the handshake retry
607 .BR libimcv.plugins.imv-test.rounds " [0]"
608 Number of IMC-IMV retry rounds
612 List of TLS encryption ciphers
614 .BR libtls.key_exchange
615 List of TLS key exchange methods
618 List of TLS MAC algorithms
621 List of TLS cipher suites
625 Credential database URI for manager
627 .BR manager.debug " [no]"
628 Enable debugging in manager
631 Plugins to load in manager
634 FastCGI socket of manager, to run it statically
636 .BR manager.threads " [10]"
637 Threads to use for request handling
639 .BR manager.timeout " [15m]"
640 Session timeout for manager
641 .SS mediation client section
644 Mediation client database URI
646 .BR medcli.dpd " [5m]"
647 DPD timeout to use in mediation client plugin
649 .BR medcli.rekey " [20m]"
650 Rekeying time on mediation connections in mediation client plugin
651 .SS mediation server section
654 Mediation server database URI
656 .BR medsrv.debug " [no]"
657 Debugging in mediation server web application
659 .BR medsrv.dpd " [5m]"
660 DPD timeout to use in mediation server plugin
663 Plugins to load in mediation server plugin
665 .BR medsrv.password_length " [6]"
666 Minimum password length required for mediation server user accounts
668 .BR medsrv.rekey " [20m]"
669 Rekeying time on mediation connections in mediation server plugin
672 Run Mediation server web application statically on socket
674 .BR medsrv.threads " [5]"
675 Number of thread for mediation service web application
677 .BR medsrv.timeout " [15m]"
678 Session timeout for mediation service
682 Plugins to load in ipsec openac tool
686 Plugins to load in ipsec pki tool
692 DNS servers assigned to peer via Mode Config
695 Plugins to load in IKEv1 pluto daemon
700 WINS servers assigned to peer via Mode Config
702 .BR pluto.threads " [4]"
703 Number of worker threads in pluto
704 .SS pluto.plugins section
706 .BR pluto.plugins.attr
707 Section to specify arbitrary attributes that are assigned to a peer via
710 .BR charon.plugins.kernel-klips.ipsec_dev_count " [4]"
711 Number of ipsecN devices
713 .BR charon.plugins.kernel-klips.ipsec_dev_mtu " [0]"
714 Set MTU of ipsecN device
718 Plugins to load in ipsec pool tool
719 .SS scepclient section
722 Plugins to load in ipsec scepclient tool
725 .BR starter.load_warning " [yes]"
726 Disable charon/pluto plugin load option warning
728 .SH LOGGER CONFIGURATION
729 The options described below provide a much more flexible way to configure
730 loggers for the IKEv2 daemon charon than using the
736 that if any loggers are specified in strongswan.conf,
738 does not have any effect.
740 There are currently two types of loggers defined:
743 Log directly to a file and are defined by specifying the full path to the
744 file as subsection in the
746 section. To log to the console the two special filenames
747 .BR stdout " and " stderr
751 Log into a syslog facility and are defined by specifying the facility to log to
752 as the name of a subsection in the
754 section. The following facilities are currently supported:
755 .BR daemon " and " auth .
757 Multiple loggers can be defined for each type with different log verbosity for
758 the different subsystems of the daemon.
761 .BR charon.filelog.<filename>.default " [1]"
763 .BR charon.syslog.<facility>.default
764 Specifies the default loglevel to be used for subsystems for which no specific
767 .BR charon.filelog.<filename>.<subsystem> " [<default>]"
769 .BR charon.syslog.<facility>.<subsystem>
770 Specifies the loglevel for the given subsystem.
772 .BR charon.filelog.<filename>.append " [yes]"
773 If this option is enabled log entries are appended to the existing file.
775 .BR charon.filelog.<filename>.flush_line " [no]"
776 Enabling this option disables block buffering and enables line buffering.
778 .BR charon.filelog.<filename>.ike_name " [no]"
780 .BR charon.syslog.<facility>.ike_name
781 Prefix each log entry with the connection name and a unique numerical
782 identifier for each IKE_SA.
784 .BR charon.filelog.<filename>.time_format
785 Prefix each log entry with a timestamp. The option accepts a format string as
792 Main daemon setup/cleanup/signal handling
795 IKE_SA manager, handling synchronization for IKE_SA access
804 Jobs queueing/processing and thread pool management
807 Configuration management and plugins
810 IPsec/Networking kernel interface
813 IKE network communication
816 Packet encoding/decoding encryption/decryption operations
819 libtls library messages
822 libstrongwan library messages
825 Trusted Network Connect
828 Integrity Measurement Collector
831 Integrity Measurement Verifier
838 Very basic auditing logs, (e.g. SA up/SA down)
841 Generic control flow with errors, a good default to see whats going on
844 More detailed debugging control flow
847 Including RAW data dumps in Hex
850 Also include sensitive material in dumps, e.g. keys
856 /var/log/charon.log {
857 time_format = %b %e %T
868 # enable logging to LOG_DAEMON, use defaults
871 # minimalistic IKE auditing logging to LOG_AUTHPRIV
880 .SH JOB PRIORITY MANAGEMENT
881 Some operations in the IKEv2 daemon charon are currently implemented
882 synchronously and blocking. Two examples for such operations are communication
883 with a RADIUS server via EAP-RADIUS, or fetching CRL/OCSP information during
884 certificate chain verification. Under high load conditions, the thread pool may
885 run out of available threads, and some more important jobs, such as liveness
886 checking, may not get executed in time.
888 To prevent thread starvation in such situations job priorities were introduced.
889 The job processor will reserve some threads for higher priority jobs, these
890 threads are not available for lower priority, locking jobs.
892 Currently 4 priorities have been defined, and they are used in charon as
896 Priority for long-running dispatcher jobs.
899 INFORMATIONAL exchanges, as used by liveness checking (DPD).
902 Everything not HIGH/LOW, including IKE_SA_INIT processing.
905 IKE_AUTH message processing. RADIUS and CRL fetching block here
907 Although IKE_SA_INIT processing is computationally expensive, it is explicitly
908 assigned to the MEDIUM class. This allows charon to do the DH exchange while
909 other threads are blocked in IKE_AUTH. To prevent the daemon from accepting more
910 IKE_SA_INIT requests than it can handle, use IKE_SA_INIT DROPPING.
912 The thread pool processes jobs strictly by priority, meaning it will consume all
913 higher priority jobs before looking for ones with lower priority. Further, it
914 reserves threads for certain priorities. A priority class having reserved
916 threads will always have
918 threads available for this class (either currently processing a job, or waiting
921 To ensure that there are always enough threads available for higher priority
922 tasks, threads must be reserved for each priority class.
924 .BR libstrongswan.processor.priority_threads.critical " [0]"
925 Threads reserved for CRITICAL priority class jobs
927 .BR libstrongswan.processor.priority_threads.high " [0]"
928 Threads reserved for HIGH priority class jobs
930 .BR libstrongswan.processor.priority_threads.medium " [0]"
931 Threads reserved for MEDIUM priority class jobs
933 .BR libstrongswan.processor.priority_threads.low " [0]"
934 Threads reserved for LOW priority class jobs
936 Let's consider the following configuration:
949 With this configuration, one thread is reserved for HIGH priority tasks. As
950 currently only liveness checking and stroke message processing is done with
951 high priority, one or two threads should be sufficient.
953 The MEDIUM class mostly processes non-blocking jobs. Unless your setup is
954 experiencing many blocks in locks while accessing shared resources, threads for
955 one or two times the number of CPU cores is fine.
957 It is usually not required to reserve threads for CRITICAL jobs. Jobs in this
958 class rarely return and do not release their thread to the pool.
960 The remaining threads are available for LOW priority jobs. Reserving threads
961 does not make sense (until we have an even lower priority).
963 To see what the threads are actually doing, invoke
964 .IR "ipsec statusall" .
965 Under high load, something like this will show up:
968 worker threads: 2 or 32 idle, 5/1/2/22 working,
969 job queue: 0/0/1/149, scheduled: 198
972 From 32 worker threads,
976 are running CRITICAL priority jobs (dispatching from sockets, etc.).
978 is currently handling a HIGH priority job. This is actually the thread currently
979 providing this information via stroke.
981 are handling MEDIUM priority jobs, likely IKE_SA_INIT or CREATE_CHILD_SA
984 are handling LOW priority jobs, probably waiting for an EAP-RADIUS response
985 while processing IKE_AUTH messages.
987 The job queue load shows how many jobs are queued for each priority, ready for
988 execution. The single MEDIUM priority job will get executed immediately, as
989 we have two spare threads reserved for MEDIUM class jobs.
991 .SH IKE_SA_INIT DROPPING
992 If a responder receives more connection requests per seconds than it can handle,
993 it does not make sense to accept more IKE_SA_INIT messages. And if they are
994 queued but can't get processed in time, an answer might be sent after the
995 client has already given up and restarted its connection setup. This
996 additionally increases the load on the responder.
998 To limit the responder load resulting from new connection attempts, the daemon
999 can drop IKE_SA_INIT messages just after reception. There are two mechanisms to
1000 decide if this should happen, configured with the following options:
1002 .BR charon.init_limit_half_open " [0]"
1003 Limit based on the number of half open IKE_SAs. Half open IKE_SAs are SAs in
1004 connecting state, but not yet established.
1006 .BR charon.init_limit_job_load " [0]"
1007 Limit based on the number of jobs currently queued for processing (sum over all
1010 The second limit includes load from other jobs, such as rekeying. Choosing a
1011 good value is difficult and depends on the hardware and expected load.
1013 The first limit is simpler to calculate, but includes the load from new
1014 connections only. If your responder is capable of negotiating 100 tunnels/s, you
1015 might set this limit to 1000. The daemon will then drop new connection attempts
1016 if generating a response would require more than 10 seconds. If you are
1017 allowing for a maximum response time of more than 30 seconds, consider adjusting
1018 the timeout for connecting IKE_SAs
1019 .RB ( charon.half_open_timeout ).
1020 A responder, by default, deletes an IKE_SA if the initiator does not establish
1021 it within 30 seconds. Under high load, a higher value might be required.
1024 To do stability testing and performance optimizations, the IKEv2 daemon charon
1025 provides the load-tester plugin. This plugin allows to setup thousands of
1026 tunnels concurrently against the daemon itself or a remote host.
1029 Never enable the load-testing plugin on productive systems. It provides
1030 preconfigured credentials and allows an attacker to authenticate as any user.
1033 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.child_rekey " [600]"
1034 Seconds to start CHILD_SA rekeying after setup
1036 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.delay " [0]"
1037 Delay between initiatons for each thread
1039 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.delete_after_established " [no]"
1040 Delete an IKE_SA as soon as it has been established
1042 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.dpd_delay " [0]"
1043 DPD delay to use in load test
1045 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.dynamic_port " [0]"
1046 Base port to be used for requests (each client uses a different port)
1048 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.eap_password " [default-pwd]"
1049 EAP secret to use in load test
1051 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.enable " [no]"
1052 Enable the load testing plugin
1054 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.fake_kernel " [no]"
1055 Fake the kernel interface to allow load-testing against self
1057 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.ike_rekey " [0]"
1058 Seconds to start IKE_SA rekeying after setup
1060 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.init_limit " [0]"
1061 Global limit of concurrently established SAs during load test
1063 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.initiators " [0]"
1064 Number of concurrent initiator threads to use in load test
1066 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.initiator_auth " [pubkey]"
1067 Authentication method(s) the intiator uses
1069 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.initiator_id
1070 Initiator ID used in load test
1072 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.iterations " [1]"
1073 Number of IKE_SAs to initate by each initiator in load test
1075 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.pool
1076 Provide INTERNAL_IPV4_ADDRs from a named pool
1078 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.preshared_key " [default-psk]"
1079 Preshared key to use in load test
1081 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.proposal " [aes128-sha1-modp768]"
1082 IKE proposal to use in load test
1084 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.remote " [127.0.0.1]"
1085 Address to initiation connections to
1087 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.responder_auth " [pubkey]"
1088 Authentication method(s) the responder uses
1090 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.responder_id
1091 Responder ID used in load test
1093 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.request_virtual_ip " [no]"
1094 Request an INTERNAL_IPV4_ADDR from the server
1096 .BR charon.plugins.load-tester.shutdown_when_complete " [no]"
1097 Shutdown the daemon after all IKE_SAs have been established
1098 .SS Configuration details
1099 For public key authentication, the responder uses the
1100 .B \(dqCN=srv, OU=load-test, O=strongSwan\(dq
1101 identity. For the initiator, each connection attempt uses a different identity
1103 .BR "\(dqCN=c1-r1, OU=load-test, O=strongSwan\(dq" ,
1104 where the first number inidicates the client number, the second the
1105 authentication round (if multiple authentication is used).
1107 For PSK authentication, FQDN identities are used. The server uses
1108 .BR srv.strongswan.org ,
1109 the client uses an identity in the form
1110 .BR c1-r1.strongswan.org .
1112 For EAP authentication, the client uses a NAI in the form
1113 .BR 100000000010001@strongswan.org .
1115 To configure multiple authentication, concatenate multiple methods using, e.g.
1117 initiator_auth = pubkey|psk|eap-md5|eap-aka
1120 The responder uses a hardcoded certificate based on a 1024-bit RSA key.
1121 This certificate additionally serves as CA certificate. A peer uses the same
1122 private key, but generates client certificates on demand signed by the CA
1123 certificate. Install the Responder/CA certificate on the remote host to
1124 authenticate all clients.
1126 To speed up testing, the load tester plugin implements a special Diffie-Hellman
1127 implementation called modpnull. By setting
1129 proposal = aes128-sha1-modpnull
1131 this wicked fast DH implementation is used. It does not provide any security
1132 at all, but allows to run tests without DH calculation overhead.
1135 In the simplest case, the daemon initiates IKE_SAs against itself using the
1136 loopback interface. This will actually establish double the number of IKE_SAs,
1137 as the daemon is initiator and responder for each IKE_SA at the same time.
1138 Installation of IPsec SAs would fails, as each SA gets installed twice. To
1139 simulate the correct behavior, a fake kernel interface can be enabled which does
1140 not install the IPsec SAs at the kernel level.
1142 A simple loopback configuration might look like this:
1146 # create new IKE_SAs for each CHILD_SA to simulate
1149 # turn off denial of service protection
1156 # use 4 threads to initiate connections
1159 # each thread initiates 1000 connections
1161 # delay each initiation in each thread by 20ms
1163 # enable the fake kernel interface to
1164 # avoid SA conflicts
1171 This will initiate 4000 IKE_SAs within 20 seconds. You may increase the delay
1172 value if your box can not handle that much load, or decrease it to put more
1173 load on it. If the daemon starts retransmitting messages your box probably can
1174 not handle all connection attempts.
1176 The plugin also allows to test against a remote host. This might help to test
1177 against a real world configuration. A connection setup to do stress testing of
1178 a gateway might look like this:
1188 # 10000 connections, ten in parallel
1191 # use a delay of 100ms, overall time is:
1192 # iterations * delay = 100s
1194 # address of the gateway
1196 # IKE-proposal to use
1197 proposal = aes128-sha1-modp1024
1198 # use faster PSK authentication instead
1200 initiator_auth = psk
1201 responder_auth = psk
1202 # request a virtual IP using configuration
1204 request_virtual_ip = yes
1205 # enable CHILD_SA every 60s
1212 .SH IKEv2 RETRANSMISSION
1213 Retransmission timeouts in the IKEv2 daemon charon can be configured globally
1214 using the three keys listed below:
1218 .BR charon.retransmit_base " [1.8]"
1219 .BR charon.retransmit_timeout " [4.0]"
1220 .BR charon.retransmit_tries " [5]"
1224 The following algorithm is used to calculate the timeout:
1227 relative timeout = retransmit_timeout * retransmit_base ^ (n-1)
1232 is the current retransmission count.
1234 Using the default values, packets are retransmitted in:
1240 Retransmission Relative Timeout Absolute Timeout
1250 /etc/strongswan.conf
1253 ipsec.conf(5), ipsec.secrets(5), ipsec(8)
1256 .UR http://www.strongswan.org
1259 by Tobias Brunner, Andreas Steffen and Martin Willi.