tinc - Jun 2015 - tinc as layer 2 switch doesn't automatically mesh with other nodes

We have a handful of nodes set up.  Some are NAT'd but a few have direct
access to the Internet.

Sample confs:

HostA:
Name = HostA
AddressFamily = any
Interface = tap0
Mode = switch
Connectto = HostB
GraphDumpFile = /tmp/mesh

HostB:
Name = HostB
AddressFamily = any
Interface = tap0
Mode = switch
Connectto = HostA
GraphDumpFile = /tmp/mesh

And so on. If I use HostA as the main meta sever. None of the other nodes
will connect to each other. I was under the assumption that the nodes
should establish a mesh and not stay in this star layout.

Is this because I don't have a layer 3 setup? We are running bmx6 over the
tunnels. None of the nodes have a subnet assigned to them as we only need a
layer 2 connection.

Thanks,
Dan

-- 

GPG Key: 45EBD675
<http://keyserver.ubuntu.com/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x7B0002AD45EBD675>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
<http://www.tinc-vpn.org/pipermail/tinc/attachments/20150611/0949b20e/attachment.html>

What do you mean by "connect to each other"? The nodes will not
establish new metaconnections besides the ones you configured. They
will, however, try to reach other directly over UDP when sending
packets. That happens independently of the metaconnections themselves.

You can use "tinc info" to check for this. It should say the other
node is reachable "directly over UDP". Make sure you use the link at
the same time (e.g. ping) so that tinc actively tries to establish a
UDP tunnel.

On 11 June 2015 at 13:31, Daniel J. Grinkevich
<danielgrinkevich at gmail.com> wrote:
> We have a handful of nodes set up.  Some are NAT'd but a few have
direct
> access to the Internet.
>
> Sample confs:
>
> HostA:
> Name = HostA
> AddressFamily = any
> Interface = tap0
> Mode = switch
> Connectto = HostB
> GraphDumpFile = /tmp/mesh
>
> HostB:
> Name = HostB
> AddressFamily = any
> Interface = tap0
> Mode = switch
> Connectto = HostA
> GraphDumpFile = /tmp/mesh
>
> And so on. If I use HostA as the main meta sever. None of the other nodes
> will connect to each other. I was under the assumption that the nodes
should
> establish a mesh and not stay in this star layout.
>
> Is this because I don't have a layer 3 setup? We are running bmx6 over
the
> tunnels. None of the nodes have a subnet assigned to them as we only need a
> layer 2 connection.
>
> Thanks,
> Dan
>
> --
>
> GPG Key: 45EBD675
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> tinc mailing list
> tinc at tinc-vpn.org
> http://www.tinc-vpn.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tinc
>

tinc uses direct UDP communication for performance, not reliability.
If you want to establish more metaconnections for increased
reliability, you can use AutoConnect (though it probably won't work
across NATs). A better solution is to use two central nodes (instead
of one) for redundancy.

On 11 June 2015 at 18:59, Daniel J. Grinkevich
<danielgrinkevich at gmail.com> wrote:
> If we have one meta node and it goes offline none of the other nodes can
> talk to each other.  I was under the assumption the mesh would stay up of
> that happens.
>
> We are using tinc strictly as a layer 2 switch, no IP addresses assigned to
> interface.
>
> The build of tinc I'm using only offers 'tincd' (using it on
OpenWRT).
>
> Dan
>
> On Jun 11, 2015 13:36, "Etienne Dechamps" <etienne at
edechamps.fr> wrote:
>>
>> What do you mean by "connect to each other"? The nodes will
not
>> establish new metaconnections besides the ones you configured. They
>> will, however, try to reach other directly over UDP when sending
>> packets. That happens independently of the metaconnections themselves.
>>
>> You can use "tinc info" to check for this. It should say the
other
>> node is reachable "directly over UDP". Make sure you use the
link at
>> the same time (e.g. ping) so that tinc actively tries to establish a
>> UDP tunnel.
>>
>> On 11 June 2015 at 13:31, Daniel J. Grinkevich
>> <danielgrinkevich at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > We have a handful of nodes set up.  Some are NAT'd but a few
have direct
>> > access to the Internet.
>> >
>> > Sample confs:
>> >
>> > HostA:
>> > Name = HostA
>> > AddressFamily = any
>> > Interface = tap0
>> > Mode = switch
>> > Connectto = HostB
>> > GraphDumpFile = /tmp/mesh
>> >
>> > HostB:
>> > Name = HostB
>> > AddressFamily = any
>> > Interface = tap0
>> > Mode = switch
>> > Connectto = HostA
>> > GraphDumpFile = /tmp/mesh
>> >
>> > And so on. If I use HostA as the main meta sever. None of the
other
>> > nodes
>> > will connect to each other. I was under the assumption that the
nodes
>> > should
>> > establish a mesh and not stay in this star layout.
>> >
>> > Is this because I don't have a layer 3 setup? We are running
bmx6 over
>> > the
>> > tunnels. None of the nodes have a subnet assigned to them as we
only
>> > need a
>> > layer 2 connection.
>> >
>> > Thanks,
>> > Dan
>> >
>> > --
>> >
>> > GPG Key: 45EBD675
>> >
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > tinc mailing list
>> > tinc at tinc-vpn.org
>> > http://www.tinc-vpn.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tinc
>> >