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