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On Sunday 06 Dec 2015 09:24:51 Neil Bothwick wrote: |
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> On Sat, 5 Dec 2015 18:49:16 +0000, Mick wrote: |
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> > > It's basically a P2P VPN. You set up a network on the controller and |
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> > > then join it from various machines. Those machines register with the |
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> > > network controller, and receive an IP address from it, but the actual |
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> > > communication is direct between the computers. So your data is private |
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> > > and if both computers are on the same LAN, you still get full LAN |
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> > > speed between them. |
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> > > |
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> > > It use a TUN/TAP interface, for example on this laptop: |
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> > > |
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> > > zt0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 2800 |
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> > > |
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> > > inet 10.252.252.6 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast |
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> > > |
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> > > 10.252.252.255 ether 46:96:8c:9c:02:e1 txqueuelen 500 (Ethernet) |
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> > |
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> > So is this a userspace tunnel implementation, with the controller |
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> > playing the role of a remote VPN gateway? Like OpenVPN? |
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> |
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> The controller is not a gateway, it is only used to connect the computers |
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> initially. It's more like a bittorrent tracker or DNS server, it |
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> facilitates the connection but doesn't see any of it. |
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> |
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> > What encryption does it use? |
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> |
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> From https://www.zerotier.com/tech_faq.shtml |
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> |
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> ZeroTier currently uses 256-bit Curve25519 elliptic curve Diffie-Hellman |
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> for shared key agreement and Ed25519 for elliptic curve signatures. |
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> 256-bit Salsa20 with Poly1305 authentication is used to encrypt traffic |
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> in transit. The construction and use of these algorithms is identical to |
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> the well-regarded NaCl cryptographic library. |
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> |
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> > > So I can connect to 10.252.252.6 from anycomputer on my zerotier |
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> > > network, but you cannot. You may even have the same IP address for |
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> > > one of the computers on your network. |
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> > > |
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> > > It's open source and if you want optimum security, or want to run a |
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> > > network of more than 10 computers without paying a fee, you can run |
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> > > your own controller. |
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> > |
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> > Wouldn't IPSec be more preferable? I'm trying to understand the |
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> > benefit/need for yet another tunneling solution. |
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> |
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> Ease of use and maintenance and flexibility. Creating a network takes |
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> seconds, adding a client takes a few more, and you can use it all the |
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> time, even if you are already connected to your physical network. |
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|
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Thank you Neil! I couldn't find the FAQ page when I had a cursory look at the |
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beginning. This looks like a very flexible and quite secure option for |
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tunnelling connections, especially as they plan to implement PFS in the near |
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future. From what I read here I am not sure if the initial generation of each |
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device's keys can be controlled by the end user, but even so zerotier still |
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has a good security model. |
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|
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-- |
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Regards, |
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Mick |
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