strongSwan

{{title(strongswan.conf Reference)}}

h1. strongswan.conf

h2. Overview

While the [[IpsecConf|ipsec.conf]] configuration file is well suited to define IPsec related configuration parameters, it is not useful for other strongSwan applications to read options from this file. The file is hard to parse and only [[IpsecStarter|ipsec starter]] is capable of doing so. As the number of components of the strongSwan project is continually growing, we needed a more flexible configuration file that is easy to extend and can be used by all components. The new configuration format consists of hierarchical sections and a list of key/value pairs in each section. Starting with the strongSwan 4.2.1 release, a default strongswan.conf file is installed in your sysconfdir, e.g. _/etc/strongswan.conf_.

h2. Syntax

Each section has a name, followed by C-Style curly brackets defining the sections body. Each section body contains a set of subsections and key/value pairs:

<pre>

settings := (section|keyvalue)*

section  := name { settings }

keyvalue := key = value\n

</pre>

Values must be terminated by a newline. Comments are possible using the #-character, but be careful: The parser implementation is currently limited and does not like braces in comments. Section names and keys may contain any printable character except:

<pre>

. { } # \n \t space

</pre>

An example might look like this:

<pre>

a = b

section-one {

  somevalue = asdf

  subsection {

    othervalue = xxx

  }

  # yei, a comment 

  yetanother = zz

}

section-two {

  x = 12

}

</pre>

Indentation is optional, you may use tabs or spaces.

h2. Including files

[[451|Version 4.5.1]] introduced the *include* statement which allows to include other files into strongswan.conf, e.g.

<pre>

include /some/path/*.conf

</pre>

If the file name is not an absolute path, it is considered to be relative to the directory of the file containing the

include statement. The file name may include shell wildcards. Also, such inclusions can be nested.

Sections loaded from the included files *extend* previously loaded sections; already existing values are *replaced*.

It is important to note that settings are added relative to the section the include statement is in.

As an example, the following three files result in the same final config as the one given above:

<pre>

a = b

section-one {

    somevalue = before include

    include include.conf

}

include other.conf

</pre>

include.conf:

<pre>

# settings loaded from this file are added to section-one

# the following replaces the previous value

somevalue = asdf

subsection {

    othervalue = yyy

}

yetanother = zz

</pre>

other.conf:

<pre>

# this extends section-one and subsection

section-one {

    subsection {

        # this replaces the previous value

        othervalue = xxx

    }

}

section-two {

    x = 12

}

</pre>

h2. Reading values

The config file is read by libstrongswan during library initialization. Values are accessed using a dot-separated section list and a key: 

Accessing *section-one.subsection.othervalue* will return *xxx*.

Have a look at the settings interface (source:src/libstrongswan/settings.h) to learn about the details.

h2. Defined keys

The following keys are currently defined (using dot notation).

|Key                                                |Default   |Description|

|\3. *charon section*                               |

|charon.block_threshold                             |5         |Maximum number of half-open IKE_SAs for a single peer IP|

|charon.close_ike_on_child_failure                  |no        |Close the IKE_SA if setup of the CHILD_SA along with IKE_AUTH failed|

|charon.cookie_threshold                            |10        |Number of half-open IKE_SAs that activate the cookie mechanism| 

|charon.dns1                                        |          |DNS server 1 assigned to peer via configuration payload (CP), see [[AttrPlugin|attr plugin]]|

|charon.dns2                                        |          |DNS server 2 assigned to peer via configuration payload (CP)|

|charon.dos_protection                              |yes       |Enable Denial of Service protection using cookies and aggressiveness checks|

|charon.filelog                                     |          |Section to define file loggers, see [[LoggerConfiguration]]|

|charon.flush_auth_cfg                              |no        ||

|charon.half_open_timeout                           |30        |Timeout in seconds for connecting IKE_SAs, also see [[JobPriority#IKE_SA_INIT-dropping|IKE_SA_INIT dropping]]|

|charon.hash_and_url                                |no        |Enable hash and URL support|

|charon.ignore_routing_tables                       |          |A list of routing tables to be excluded from route lookup|

|charon.ikesa_table_segments                        |1         |Number of exclusively locked segments in the hash table|

|charon.ikesa_table_size                            |1         |Size of the IKE_SA hash table|

|charon.inactivity_close_ike                        |no        |Whether to close IKE_SA if the only CHILD_SA closed due to inactivity|

|charon.init_limit_half_open                        |0         |Limit new connections based on the current number of half open IKE_SAs, see [[JobPriority#IKE_SA_INIT-dropping|IKE_SA_INIT dropping]]|

|charon.init_limit_job_load                         |0         |Limit new connections based on the number of jobs currently queued for processing, see [[JobPriority#IKE_SA_INIT-dropping|IKE_SA_INIT dropping]]|

|charon.install_routes                              |yes       |Install routes into a separate routing table for established IPsec tunnels|

|charon.install_virtual_ip                          |yes       |Install virtual IP addresses|

|charon.keep_alive                                  |20s       |NAT keep alive interval|

|charon.load                                        |          |Plugins to load in IKEv2 charon daemon, see [[PluginLoad]]|

|charon.max_packet                                  |10000     |Maximum packet size accepted by charon|

|charon.multiple_authentication                     |yes       |Enable multiple authentication exchanges (RFC 4739)|

|charon.nbns1                                       |          |WINS server 1 assigned to peer via configuration payload (CP), see [[AttrPlugin|attr plugin]]|

|charon.nbns2                                       |          |WINS server 2 assigned to peer via configuration payload (CP)|

|charon.process_route                               |yes       |Process RTM_NEWROUTE and RTM_DELROUTE events|

|charon.receive_delay                               |0         |Delay for receiving packets, to simulate larger RTT|

|charon.receive_delay_response                      |yes       |Delay response messages|

|charon.receive_delay_request                       |yes       |Delay request messages|

|charon.receive_delay_type                          |0         |Specific IKEv2 message type to delay, 0 for any|

|charon.retransmit_base                             |1.8       |Base to use for calculating exponential back off, see [[Retransmission]]|

|charon.retransmit_timeout                          |4.0       |Timeout in seconds before sending first retransmit|

|charon.retransmit_tries                            |5         |Number of times to retransmit a packet before giving up|

|charon.reuse_ikesa                                 |yes       |Initiate CHILD_SA within existing IKE_SAs|

|charon.routing_table                               |          |Numerical routing table to install routes to|

|charon.routing_table_prio                          |          |Priority of the routing table|

|charon.send_delay                                  |0         |Delay for sending packets, to simulate larger RTT|

|charon.send_delay_response                         |yes       |Delay response messages|

|charon.send_delay_request                          |yes       |Delay request messages|

|charon.send_delay_type                             |0         |Specific IKEv2 message type to delay, 0 for any|

|charon.send_vendor_id                              |no        |Send strongSwan vendor ID payload|

|charon.syslog                                      |          |Section to define syslog loggers, see [[LoggerConfiguration]]|

|charon.threads                                     |16        |Number of worker threads in charon|

|\3. *charon plugins subsection*                    |

|charon.plugins.android.loglevel                    |1         |Loglevel for logging to Android specific logger|

|charon.plugins.attr                                |          |Section to specify arbitrary attributes that are assigned to a peer via configuration payload, see [[AttrPlugin|attr plugin]]|

|charon.plugins.dhcp.identity_lease                 |no        |Derive user-defined MAC address from hash of IKEv2 identity|

|charon.plugins.dhcp.server                         |255.255.255.255|DHCP server unicast or broadcast IP address, see [[DHCPPlugin|DHCP plugin]]|

|charon.plugins.duplicheck.enable                   |yes       |enable loaded [[duplicheck]] plugin|

|charon.plugins.eap-aka.request_identity            |yes       ||

|charon.plugins.eap-aka-3ggp2.seq_check             |          ||

|charon.plugins.eap-gtc.pam_service                 |login     |PAM service to be used for authentication, see [[EapGtc|EAP-GTC]]|

|charon.plugins.eap-peap.fragment_size              |1024      |Maximum size of an EAP-PEAP packet|

|charon.plugins.eap-peap.max_message_count          |32        |Maximum number of processed EAP-PEAP packets|

|charon.plugins.eap-peap.include_length             |no        |Include length in non-fragmented EAP-PEAP packets|

|charon.plugins.eap-peap.phase2_method              |mschapv2  |Phase2 EAP client authentication method|

|charon.plugins.eap-peap.phase2_piggyback           |no        |Phase2 EAP Identity request piggybacked by server onto TLS Finished message|

|charon.plugins.eap-peap.request_peer_auth          |no        |Request peer authentication based on a client certificate|

|charon.plugins.eap-radius.accounting               |no        |Enable EAP-RADIUS accounting|

|charon.plugins.eap-radius.class_group              |no        |Use the class attribute sent in the RADIUS-Accept message as group membership information, see [[EapRadius]]|

|charon.plugins.eap-radius.eap_start                |no        |Send EAP-Start instead of EAP-Identity to start RADIUS conversation|

|charon.plugins.eap-radius.filter_id                |no        |Use the filter_id attribute sent in the RADIUS-Accept message as group membership if the RADIUS tunnel_type attribute is set to ESP|

|charon.plugins.eap-radius.id_prefix                |          |Prefix to EAP-Identity, some AAA servers use a IMSI prefix to select the EAP method|

|charon.plugins.eap-radius.nas_identifier           |strongSwan|NAS-Identifier to include in RADIUS messages|

|charon.plugins.eap-radius.auth_port                |1812      |Port of RADIUS server (authentication)|

|charon.plugins.eap-radius.acct_port                |1813      |Port of RADIUS server (accounting)|

|charon.plugins.eap-radius.port                     |1812      |Alias for _auth_port_|

|charon.plugins.eap-radius.secret                   |          |Shared secret between RADIUS and NAS|

|charon.plugins.eap-radius.server                   |          |IP/Hostname of RADIUS server|

|charon.plugins.eap-radius.servers                  |          |Section to specify multiple RADIUS servers, see [[EapRadius]]|

|charon.plugins.eap-radius.sockets                  |1         |Number of sockets (ports) to use, increase for high load|

|charon.plugins.eap-sim.request_identity            |yes       ||

|charon.plugins.eap-simaka-sql.database             |          ||

|charon.plugins.eap-simaka-sql.remove_used          |          ||

|charon.plugins.eap-tls.fragment_size               |1024      |Maximum size of an EAP-TLS packet|

|charon.plugins.eap-tls.max_message_count           |32        |Maximum number of processed EAP-TLS packets|

|charon.plugins.eap-tls.include_length              |yes       |Include length in non-fragmented EAP-TLS packets|

|charon.plugins.eap-tnc.fragment_size               |50000     |Maximum size of an EAP-TNC packet|

|charon.plugins.eap-tnc.max_message_count           |10        |Maximum number of processed EAP-TNC packets|

|charon.plugins.eap-tnc.include_length              |yes       |Include length in non-fragmented EAP-TM

NC packets|

|charon.plugins.eap-ttls.fragment_size              |1024      |Maximum size of an EAP-TTLS packet|

|charon.plugins.eap-ttls.max_message_count          |32        |Maximum number of processed EAP-TTLS packets|

|charon.plugins.eap-ttls.include_length             |yes       |Include length in non-fragmented EAP-TTLS packets|

|charon.plugins.eap-ttls.phase2_method              |md5       |Phase2 EAP client authentication method|

|charon.plugins.eap-ttls.phase2_piggyback           |no        |Phase2 EAP Identity request piggybacked by server onto TLS Finished message|

|charon.plugins.eap-ttls.phase2_tnc                 |no        |Start phase2 EAP TNC protocol after successful client authentication|

|charon.plugins.eap-ttls.request_peer_auth          |no        |Request peer authentication based on a client certificate|

|charon.plugins.ha.fifo_interface                   |yes       ||

|charon.plugins.ha.heartbeat_delay                  |1000      ||

|charon.plugins.ha.heartbeat_timeout                |2100      ||

|charon.plugins.ha.local                            |          ||

|charon.plugins.ha.monitor                          |yes       ||

|charon.plugins.ha.pools                            |          ||

|charon.plugins.ha.remote                           |          ||

|charon.plugins.ha.resync                           |yes       ||

|charon.plugins.ha.secret                           |          ||

|charon.plugins.ha.segment_count                    |1         ||

|charon.plugins.led.activity_led                    |          ||

|charon.plugins.led.blink_time                      |50        ||

|charon.plugins.kernel-klips.ipsec_dev_count        |4         |Number of ipsecN devices|

|charon.plugins.kernel-klips.ipsec_dev_mtu          |0         |Set MTU of ipsecN device|

|charon.plugins.load-tester.child_rekey             |600       |Seconds to start CHILD_SA rekeying after setup|

|charon.plugins.load-tester.delay                   |0         |Delay between initiatons for each thread|

|charon.plugins.load-tester.delete_after_established|no        |Delete an IKE_SA as soon as it has been established|

|charon.plugins.load-tester.dpd_delay               |0         |DPD delay to use in load test|

|charon.plugins.load-tester.dynamic_port            |0         |Base port to be used for requests (each client uses a different port)|

|charon.plugins.load-tester.eap_password            |default-pwd|EAP secret to use in load test|

|charon.plugins.load-tester.enable                  |no        |Enable the load testing plugin. Read [[LoadTests]] first!|

|charon.plugins.load-tester.fake_kernel             |no        |Fake the kernel interface to allow load-testing against self|

|charon.plugins.load-tester.ike_rekey               |0         |Seconds to start IKE_SA rekeying after setup|

|charon.plugins.load-tester.init_limit              |0         |Global limit of concurrently established SAs during load test|

|charon.plugins.load-tester.initiators              |0         |Number of concurrent initiator threads to use in load test|

|charon.plugins.load-tester.initiator_auth          |pubkey    |Authentication method(s) the intiator uses|

|charon.plugins.load-tester.initiator_id            |          |Initiator ID to use in load test|

|charon.plugins.load-tester.iterations              |1         |Number of IKE_SAs to initate to self by each initiator in load test|

|charon.plugins.load-tester.pool                    |          |Provide INTERNAL_IPV4_ADDRs from a named pool|

|charon.plugins.load-tester.preshared_key           |default-psk|Preshared key to use in load test|

|charon.plugins.load-tester.proposal                |aes128-sha1-modp768|IKE proposal to use in load test|

|charon.plugins.load-tester.remote                  |127.0.0.1 |Address to initiation connections to|

|charon.plugins.load-tester.responder_auth          |pubkey    |Authentication method(s) the responder uses|

|charon.plugins.load-tester.responder_id            |          |Responder ID to use in load test|

|charon.plugins.load-tester.request_virtual_ip      |no        |Request an INTERNAL_IPV4_ADDR from the server|

|charon.plugins.load-tester.shutdown_when_complete  |no        |Shutdown the daemon after all IKE_SAs have been established|

|charon.plugins.resolve.file                        |/etc/resolv.conf|File where to add DNS server entries|

|charon.plugins.sql.database                        |          |Database URI for charons [[SQL]] plugin|

|charon.plugins.sql.loglevel                        |-1        |Loglevel for logging to [[SQL]] database|

|charon.plugins.stroke.max_concurrent               |4         |Maximum number of stroke messages handled concurrently|

|charon.plugins.tnc-ifmap.device_name               |          |Unique name as a PEP and/or PDP device|

|charon.plugins.tnc-ifmap.key_file                  |          |Concatenated client certificate and private key|

|charon.plugins.tnc-ifmap.password                  |          |Authentication password of MAP client|

|charon.plugins.tnc-ifmap.server_cert               |          |Certificate of MAP server|

|charon.plugins.tnc-ifmap.ssl_passphrase            |          |Passphrase protecting private key|

|charon.plugins.tnc-ifmap.username                  |          |Authentication usernameof of MAP client|

|charon.plugins.tnc_imc.preferred_language          |en        |Preferred language for TNC recommendations|  

|charon.plugins.tnc-imv.tnc_config                  |/etc/tnc_config|TNC IMC configuration directory|

|charon.plugins.tnc-imc.tnc_config                  |/etc/tnc_config|TNC IMV configuration directory|

|charon.plugins.whitelist.enable                    |yes       |enable loaded [[whitelist]] plugin|

|\3. *libstrongswan section*                        |

|libstrongswan.crypto_test.bench                    |no        ||

|libstrongswan.crypto_test.bench_size               |1024      ||

|libstrongswan.crypto_test.bench_time               |50        ||

|libstrongswan.crypto_test.on_add                   |no        |Test crypto algorithms during registration|

|libstrongswan.crypto_test.on_create                |no        |Test crypto algorithms on each crypto primitive instantiation|

|libstrongswan.crypto_test.required                 |no        |Strictly require at least one test vector to enable an algorithm|

|libstrongswan.crypto_test.rng_true                 |no        |Whether to test RNG with TRUE quality; requires a lot of entropy|

|libstrongswan.dh_exponent_ansi_x9_42               |yes       |Use ANSI X9.42 DH exponent size or optimum size matched to cryptographical strength|

|libstrongswan.ecp_x_coordinate_only                |yes       |Compliance with the errata for RFC 4753 | 

|libstrongswan.integrity_test                       |no        |Check daemon, libstrongswan and plugin integrity at startup|

|libstrongswan.leak_detective.detailed              |yes       |Includes source file names and line numbers in leak detective output|

|libstrongswan.processor.priority_threads           |          |Subsection to configure the number of reserved threads per priority class (see [[JobPriority]])|

|libstrongswan.x509.enforce_critical                |yes       |Discard certificates with unsupported or unknown critical extensions|

|\3. *libstrongswan plugins subsection*             |

|libstrongswan.plugins.attr-sql.database            |          |Database URI for the [[attrsql|attr-sql plugin]] used by charon and pluto |

|libstrongswan.plugins.attr-sql.lease_history       |yes       |Enable logging of [[SQL]] IP pool leases|

|libstrongswan.plugins.gcrypt.quick_random          |no        |Use faster random numbers in gcrypt; for testing only, produces weak keys!|

|libstrongswan.plugins.openssl.engine_id            |pkcs11    |ENGINE ID to use in the OpenSSL plugin|

|libstrongswan.plugins.pkcs11.modules               |          |List of available PKCS#11 modules, see [[SmartCardsIKEv2]]|

|libstrongswan.plugins.pkcs11.use_dh                |no        |Whether the PKCS#11 modules should be used for DH and ECDH|

|libstrongswan.plugins.pkcs11.use_ecc               |no        |Whether the PKCS#11 modules should be used for ECDH and ECDSA public key operations. ECDSA private keys are used regardless of this option|

|libstrongswan.plugins.pkcs11.use_hasher            |no        |Whether the PKCS#11 modules should be used to hash data|

|libstrongswan.plugins.pkcs11.use_pubkey            |no        |Whether the PKCS#11 modules should be used for public key operations, even for keys not stored on tokens|

|libstrongswan.plugins.pkcs11.use_rng               |no        |Whether the PKCS#11 modules should be used as RNG|

|\3. *libtls section*                               |

|libtls.cipher                                      |          |List of TLS encryption ciphers| 

|libtls.key_exchange                                |          |List of TLS key exchange methods| 

|libtls.mac                                         |          |List of TLS MAC algorithms| 

|libtls.suites                                      |          |List of TLS cipher suites| 

|\3. *libimcv section*                              |

|libimcv.debug_level                                |1         |Debug level for a standalone libimcv library|

|libimcv.stderr_quiet                               |no        |Disable the output to stderr in a standalone libimcv library|

|\3. *libimcv plugins subsection*                   |

|libimcv.plugins.imc_test.command                   |none      |Command to be sent to the IMV Test|

|libimcv.plugins.imc_test.retry                     |no        |Do a handshake retry|

|libimcv.plugins.imc_test.retry_command             |          |Command to be sent to the IMV Test in the handshake retry|

|libimcv.plugins.imv_test.rounds                    |0         |Number of IMC-IMV retry rounds|

|libimcv.plugins.imv_scanner.closed_port_policy     |yes       |By default all ports must be closed (yes) or can be open (no)|

|libimcv.plugins.imv_scanner.tcp_ports              |          |List of TCP ports that can be open or must be closed|

|libimcv.plugins.imv_scanner.udp_ports              |          |List of UDP ports that can be open or must be closed|

|\3. *manager section*                              |

|manager.database                                   |          |Credential database URI for manager|

|manager.debug                                      |no        |Enable debugging in manager|

|manager.load                                       |          |Plugins to load in manager|

|manager.socket                                     |          |FastCGI socket of manager, to run it statically|

|manager.threads                                    |10        |Threads to use for request handling|

|manager.timeout                                    |15m       |Session timeout for manager|

|\3. *mediation client section*                     |

|medcli.database                                    |          |Mediation client database URI|

|medcli.dpd                                         |5m        |DPD timeout to use in mediation client plugin|

|medcli.rekey                                       |20m       |Rekeying time on mediation connections in mediation client plugin|

|\3. *mediation server section*                     |

|medsrv.database                                    |          |Mediation server database URI|

|medsrv.debug                                       |no        |Debugging in mediation server web application|

|medsrv.dpd                                         |5m        |DPD timeout to use in mediation server plugin|

|medsrv.load                                        |          |Plugins to load in mediation server plugin|

|medsrv.password_length                             |6         |Minimum password length required for mediation server user accounts|

|medsrv.rekey                                       |20m       |Rekeying time on mediation connections in mediation server plugin|

|medsrv.socket                                      |          |Run Mediation server web application statically on socket|

|medsrv.threads                                     |5         |Number of thread for mediation service web application|

|medsrv.timeout                                     |15m       |Session timeout for mediation service|

|\3. *openac section*                               |

|openac.load                                        |          |Plugins to load in ipsec openac tool|

|\3. *pki section*                                  |

|pki.load                                           |          |Plugins to load in ipsec pki tool|

|\3. *pluto section*                                |

|pluto.dns1                                         |          |DNS server 1 assigned to peer via Mode Config, see [[AttrPlugin|attr plugin]]|

|pluto.dns2                                         |          |DNS server 2 assigned to peer via Mode Config|

|pluto.load                                         |          |Plugins to load in IKEv1 pluto daemon, also see [[PluginLoad]]|

|pluto.nbns1                                        |          |WINS server 1 assigned to peer via Mode Config, see [[AttrPlugin|attr plugin]]|

|pluto.nbns2                                        |          |WINS server 2 assigned to peer via Mode Config|

|pluto.threads                                      |4         |Number of worker threads in pluto|

|\3. *pluto plugins section*                        |

|pluto.plugins.attr                                 |          |Section to specify arbitrary attributes that are assigned to a peer via Mode Config, see [[AttrPlugin|attr plugin]]|

|pluto.plugins.kernel-klips.ipsec_dev_count         |4         |Number of ipsecN devices|

|pluto.plugins.kernel-klips.ipsec_dev_mtu           |0         |Set MTU of ipsecN device|

|\3. *pool section*                                 |

|pool.load                                          |          |Plugins to load in ipsec pool tool|

|\3. *scepclient section*                           |

|scepclient.load                                    |          |Plugins to load in ipsec scepclient tool|

|\3. *starter section*                              |

|starter.load                                       |          |Plugins to load in starter|

|starter.load_warning                               |yes       |Disable charon/pluto plugin load option warning|