2009-04-02 19:30:50 +00:00
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<!-- source: doc/socat-tun.html -->
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2008-01-27 12:00:08 +00:00
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<html><head>
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<title>Building TUN based virtual networks with socat</title>
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<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="dest-unreach.css">
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>Building TUN based virtual networks with socat</h1>
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<h2>Introduction</h2>
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<p>
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Some operating systems allow the generation of virtual network interfaces that
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do not connect to a wire but to a process that simulates the network. Often
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these devices are called TUN or TAP.
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</p>
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<p>
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socat provides an address type that creates a TUN device on Linux; the other
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2009-04-02 08:29:06 +00:00
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socat address can be any type; it transfers the "wire" data as desired.
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</p>
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<p>
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This document shows how a simple virtual network can be created between
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two hosts that may be far (many network hops) apart. On both hosts a socat
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instance is started that connects to the other host using TCP and creates a TUN
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device. See <a href="socat-openssltunnel.html">socat-openssltunnel.html</a> for
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a guide on securing the connection using SSL.
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</p>
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<p>
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The following IP addresses are used in the example; replace them in the
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following commands with the requirements of your situation:</p>
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<table border="1">
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<tr><th>host</th><th>address</th><th>mask</th></tr>
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<tr><td>physical "server" address</td><td>1.2.3.4</td><td>n/a</td></tr>
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<tr><td>physical "client" address</td><td>n/a</td><td>n/a</td></tr>
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<tr><td>TUN on "server"</td><td>192.168.255.1</td><td>255.255.255.0</td></tr>
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<tr><td>TUN on "client"</td><td>192.168.255.2</td><td>255.255.255.0</td></tr>
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</table>
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<p>The TCP connection uses port 11443.</p>
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<p>On "default" Linux installations, creating TUN/TAP devices might require
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root privilege.</p>
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<!-- discussion -->
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<h2>Generate TUN devices with socat</h2>
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<p>In this section two instances of socat are used to generate TUN devices on
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different hosts and connect the "wire" sides, providing a simple virtual
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network.
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</p>
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<p>
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We distinguish server and client only with respect to the connection between
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the two socat instances; the TUN interfaces both have the same quality.
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</p>
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<h3>TUN Server</h3>
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2023-04-02 18:55:22 +00:00
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<span class="shell">socat -d -d \
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UDP-LISTEN:11443 \
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TUN:192.168.255.1/24,up
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</span>
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<p>After starting this command, socat will wait for a connection and then
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create a TUN pseudo network device with address 192.168.255.1; the bit number
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specifies the mask of the network that is pretended to be connected on this
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interface.</p>
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<h3>TUN Client</h3>
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<span class="shell">socat \
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UDP:1.2.3.4:11443 \
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TUN:192.168.255.2/24,up
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</span>
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<p>This command should establish a connection to the server and create the TUN
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device on the client.</p>
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<h3>Seeing it work</h3>
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<p>
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After successful connection both TUN interfaces should be active and transfer
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data between each other using the TCP connection. Try this by pinging
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192.168.255.1 from the client and 192.168.255.2 from the server.
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</p>
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<h3>TCP/IP version 6</h3>
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<p>IPv6 as transport should work just like any TCP/IPv6 connection.</p>
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<p>Creation of an IPv6 virtual interface is not directly possible, but you can
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generate an IPv4 interface as described above, and add IPv6 addresses using
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the <tt>ifconfig</tt> command.
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<h2>Troubleshooting</h2>
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<h3>Test TUN integration</h3>
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<p>
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If you get error messages like this:</p>
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<span class="error">... E unknown device/address "tun"</span>
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<p>your socat executable probably does not provide TUN/TAP support. Potential
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reasons: you are not on Linux or are using an older version of socat.
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</p>
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<h3>Missing kernel support</h3>
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<p>An error message like:</p>
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<span class="error">... E open("/dev/net/tun", 02, 0666): No such file or directory</span>
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2011-11-22 12:57:46 +00:00
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<p>indicates that your kernel either needs to load the tun module or does not
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have TUN/TAP support compiled in. Try to load the module:</p>
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<span class="shell">modprobe tun</span>
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<p>and check
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for /dev/net/tun. If that does not succeed you need to
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rebuild your kernel with the appropriate configuration (probably under
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<b>Device driver / Network device support / Network device / Universal TUN/TAP</b>).
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</p>
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<h3>TUN cloning device permissions</h3>
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<p>An error message like:</p>
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<span class="error">... E open("/dev/net/tun", 02, 0666): Permission denied</span>
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<p>indicates that you do not have permission to read or write the TUN cloning
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device. Check its permission and ownership.</p>
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<h3>Interface down</h3>
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<p>If no error occurs but the pings do not work check if the network devices
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have been created:</p>
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<span class="shell">ifconfig tun0</span>
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<p>The output should look like:</p>
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<pre>
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tun0 Link encap:UNSPEC HWaddr 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
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inet addr:192.168.255.1 P-t-P:192.168.255.1 Mask:255.255.255.0
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UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
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RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
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TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
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collisions:0 txqueuelen:500
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RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
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</pre>
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<p>Check the "UP" keyword; you forget the "up" option in the socat command if
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it is missing.<p>
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<p>Check if the correct IP address and network mask are displayed.</p>
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<h3>Routing</h3>
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<p></p>
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<span class="shell">netstat -an |fgrep 192.168.255</span>
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<p>The output should look like:</p>
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<pre>
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192.168.255.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 tun0
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</pre>
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<h3>Other problems</h3>
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<p>Another reason for failure might be iptables.</p>
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<p>Run socat with options <tt>-d -d -d</tt>, this will show every data transfer
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between the two processes. Each ping probe should cause a forth and a back
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transfer.<p>
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<h2>History</h2>
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<p>
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Linux TUN/TAP support was added to socat in version 1.6.0.</p>
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2011-11-22 12:57:46 +00:00
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<p>This document was last modified in February 2010.</p>
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<h2>More info about socat TUN/TAP support</h2>
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<h3>Links regarding this tutorial</h3>
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<a href="socat.html#ADDRESS_TUN">socat address tun</a><br>
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<h3>socat options for TUN/TAP addresses</h3>
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<a href="socat.html#GROUP_TUN">TUN/TAP options</a><br>
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<h2>References</h2>
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<a href="http://www.dest-unreach.org/socat">socat home page</a><br>
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<a href="socat.html">socat man page</a><br>
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<a href="http://openvpn.net/">OpenVPN home page</a><br>
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TUN/TAP">TUN/TAP on Wikipedia</a><br>
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<p>
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<small>Copyright: Gerhard Rieger 2007-2010</small><br>
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<small>License: <a href="http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/fdl.html">GNU Free Documentation License (FDL)</a></small>
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</p>
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</body>
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</html>
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