/mandos/trunk

* Configure The Server

  A client key has been automatically created in /etc/keys/mandos.

  The next step is to run "mandos-keygen --password" to get a config

  file section.  This should be appended to /etc/mandos/clients.conf

  on the Mandos server.

* Use the Correct Network Interface

  Make sure that the correct network interface is specified in the

  DEVICE setting in the "/etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf" file.

  If this is changed, it will be necessary to update the initrd image

  by doing "update-initramfs -k all -u".  This setting can be

  overridden at boot time on the Linux kernel command line using the

  sixth colon-separated field of the "ip=" option; for exact syntax,

  see the file "Documentation/nfsroot.txt" in the Linux source tree.

  Note that since this is used in the initial RAM disk environment,

  the network interface must exist at that stage.  Thus, the interface

  can *not* be a pseudo-interface such as "br0" or "tun0"; instead, a

  real interface (such as "eth0") must be used.

* Test the Server

  After the server has been started and this client's key added, it is

  possible to verify that the correct password will be received by

  this client by running the command, on the client:

	# /usr/lib/mandos/plugins.d/mandos-client \

		--pubkey=/etc/keys/mandos/pubkey.txt \

		--seckey=/etc/keys/mandos/seckey.txt; echo

  This command should retrieve the password from the server, decrypt

  it, and output it to standard output.  There it can be verified to

  be the correct password, before rebooting.

* User-Supplied Plugins

  Any plugins found in /etc/mandos/plugins.d will override and add to

  the normal Mandos plugins.  When adding or changing plugins, do not

  forget to update the initital RAM disk image:

	# update-initramfs -k all -u

* Do *NOT* Edit /etc/crypttab

  It is NOT necessary to edit /etc/crypttab to specify

  /usr/lib/mandos/plugin-runner as a keyscript for the root file

  system; if no keyscript is given for the root file system, the

  Mandos client will be the new default way for getting a password for

  the root file system when booting.

* Emergency Escape

  If it ever should be necessary, the Mandos client can be temporarily

  prevented from running at startup by passing the parameter

  "mandos=off" to the kernel.

* Non-local Connection (Not Using ZeroConf)

  If the "ip=" kernel command line option is used to specify a

  complete IP address and device name, as noted above, it then becomes

  possible to specify a specific IP address and port to connect to,

  instead of using ZeroConf.  The syntax for doing this is

  "mandos=connect:<IP_ADDRESS>:<PORT_NUMBER>".

  Warning: this will cause the client to make exactly one attempt at

  connecting, and then fail if it does not succeed.

  For very advanced users, it it possible to specify simply

  "mandos=connect" on the kernel command line to make the system only

  set up the network (using the data in the "ip=" option) and not pass

  any extra "--connect" options to mandos-client at boot.  For this to

  work, "--options-for=mandos-client:--connect=<ADDRESS>:<PORT>" needs

  to be manually added to the file "/etc/mandos/plugin-runner.conf".

 -- Teddy Hogeborn <teddy@fukt.bsnet.se>, Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:51:18 +0200