strongSwan

h2. == UCI

h3. ==

=== What's uci?

===

Uci is the new configuration interface for openWRT. It's the successor of the nvram utility.
As the hardware which runs openWRT does normally not have a lot of resources strongSwan now supports the this configuration method natively as a plug-in since version 4.2.4.

h3.

=== How to configure for uci support?

===

Use the configure option _--enable-uci_. ''--enable-uci''. You also need the libuci library and the uci tool.

h3.

=== Controlling the daemon

===

To connect, disconnect and printing the status we can't use the uci interface. Therefore we use a FIFO pipe on the filesystem to read commands and write status messages to.

For example this command will print the status of your connections:

<pre>
{{{
# echo status > /var/run/charon.fifo
</pre>

*Because }}}

'''Because it's a FIFO pipe you have to read from this pipe right after you have passed the command to it or it will block any further actions involving the FIFO.* FIFO.'''

<pre>
{{{
# cat /var/run/charon.fifo
ucitest bob@strongswan.org 123.123.123.123 192.168.10.0/24
</pre>

}}}

To start and stop connection you can simply run this:

<pre>
{{{
# echo up ucitest > /var/run/charon.fifo
</pre>

}}}

Where ucitest is the name of your connection.

You have to check the feedback message with:

<pre>
{{{
# cat /var/run/charon.fifo
connection 'ucitest' established
</pre>

*Note }}}

'''Note again: You have to check if there is a message on the fifo waiting to be fetched. Otherwise it will block any further interaction with the daemon.*

h3. daemon.'''

=== Using uci

===

You should have a configuration file "/etc/config/strongswan" with the following content. Charon reads the 'strongswan' package section to get the configuration values.

<pre>
{{{
config 'strongswan'
option 'local_id' 'alice@strongswan.org'
option 'local_net' '192.168.1.0/24'
option 'remote_addr' '123.123.123.123'
option 'remote_net' '192.168.10.0/24'
option 'remote_id' 'bob@strongswan.org'
option 'psk' 'XXXXXXX'
option 'name' 'ucitest'
option 'mode' 'client'
option 'auto' '1'
</pre>

}}}

You can get the configurations by simply typing:

<pre>
{{{
# uci show strongswan
strongswan.cfg020870=strongswan
strongswan.cfg020870.local_id=alice@strongswan.org
strongswan.cfg020870.remote_addr=100.100.100.2
strongswan.cfg020870.remote_net=192.168.2.0/24
strongswan.cfg020870.psk=l1Nk5y5-1
strongswan.cfg020870.ike_proposal=aes128-sha1-modp2048
strongswan.cfg020870.name=ucitest
strongswan.cfg020870.mode=client
strongswan.cfg020870.auto=1
strongswan.cfg020870.local_net=192.168.1.0/24
strongswan.cfg020870.remote_id=bob@strongswan.org
strongswan.cfg020870.esp_proposal=aes256-sha1-modp2048
strongswan.cfg020870.local_addr=100.100.100.1
strongswan.cfg020870.ike_rekey=1
strongswan.cfg020870.esp_rekey=1
</pre>

}}}

You can manipulate single configuration fields by setting them with:

<pre>
{{{
# uci set strongswan.cfg020870.auto=0
</pre>

}}}

or

<pre>
{{{
# uci set strongswan.cfg020870.name=strongSwan
</pre>

}}}

To get single configuration fields you type:

<pre>
{{{
# uci get strongswan.cfg020870.auto
1
</pre>

}}}

or

<pre>
{{{
# uci get strongswan.cfg020870.name
ucitest
</pre>

h3. }}}

=== Start and stop strongSwan

===

If you use the standard strongswan package from the openWRT distribution, there should be a init script you can call with:

<pre>
{{{
# /etc/init.d/strongswan [<start><stop><restart>]
</pre>

}}}

The auto connecting is done in the initscript. Once this should be done in the daemon itself.

h3.

=== Keyword explanation

===
local_id - Your local id (string)

(string)[[BR]]
local_net - Your local internal network (network)

(network)[[BR]]
local_addr - Your local external IP address (ip address)

address)[[BR]]
remote_id - The id of the other vpn endpoint (string)

(string)[[BR]]
remote_net - The remote internal network (network)

(network)[[BR]]
remote_addr - The remote external IP address (ip address)

address)[[BR]]
psk - Your pre shared key (string)

(string)[[BR]]
name - a name for the connection (if not provided the name is given by the config 'name' pattern) (string)

(string)[[BR]]
auto - start the connection automatically (bool)

(bool)[[BR]]
ike_proposal - The encryption mode, hash mode and key length of the IKE protocol (aes256-sha1-modp2048/aes128-sha1-modp2048)

(aes256-sha1-modp2048/aes128-sha1-modp2048)[[BR]]
ike_rekey - The time to rekey the ike connection in hours (integer)

(integer)[[BR]]
esp_proposal - The encryption mode, hash mode and key length of the ESP protocol (aes256-sha1-modp2048/aes128-sha1-modp2048)

(aes256-sha1-modp2048/aes128-sha1-modp2048)[[BR]]
esp_rekey - The time to rekey the esp connection in hours (integer)
(integer)[[BR]]