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Diffstat (limited to 'src/openvpn/management/management-notes.txt')
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diff --git a/src/openvpn/management/management-notes.txt b/src/openvpn/management/management-notes.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 06fc8c1..0000000 --- a/src/openvpn/management/management-notes.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,436 +0,0 @@ -OpenVPN Management Interface Notes ----------------------------------- - -The OpenVPN Management interface allows OpenVPN to -be administratively controlled from an external program via -a TCP socket. - -The interface has been specifically designed for GUI developers -and those who would like to programmatically or remotely control -an OpenVPN daemon. - -The management interface is implemented using a client/server TCP -connection, where OpenVPN will listen on a provided IP address -and port for incoming management client connections. - -The management protocol is currently cleartext without an explicit -security layer. For this reason, it is recommended that the -management interface either listen on localhost (127.0.0.1) -or on the local VPN address. It's possible to remotely connect -to the management interface over the VPN itself, though some -capabilities will be limited in this mode, such as the ability -to provide private key passwords. - -Future versions of the management interface may allow out-of-band -connections (i.e. not over the VPN) and secured with SSL/TLS. - -The management interface is enabled in the OpenVPN -configuration file using the following directives: - ---management ---management-query-passwords ---management-log-cache - -See the man page for documentation on these directives. - -Once OpenVPN has started with the management layer enabled, -you can telnet to the management port (make sure to use -a telnet client which understands "raw" mode). - -Once connected to the management port, you can use -the "help" command to list all commands. - -COMMAND -- echo ---------------- - -The echo capability is used to allow GUI-specific -parameters to be either embedded in the OpenVPN config file -or pushed to an OpenVPN client from a server. - -Command examples: - - echo on -- turn on real-time notification of echo messages - echo all -- print the current echo history list - echo off -- turn off real-time notification of echo messages - echo on all -- atomically enable real-time notification, - plus show any messages in history buffer - -For example, suppose you are developing a OpenVPN GUI and -you want to give the OpenVPN server the ability to ask -the GUI to forget any saved passwords. - -In the OpenVPN server config file, add: - - push "echo forget-passwords" - -When the OpenVPN client receives its pulled list of directives -from the server, the "echo forget-passwords" directive will -be in the list, and it will cause the management interface -to save the "forget-passwords" string in its list of echo -parameters. - -The management client can use "echo all" to output the full -list of echoed parameters, "echo on" to turn on real-time -notification of echoed parameters via the ">ECHO:" prefix, -or "echo off" to turn off real-time notification. - -When the GUI connects to the OpenVPN management socket, it -can issue an "echo all" command, which would produce output -like this: - - 1101519562,forget-passwords - END - -Essentially the echo command allowed us to pass parameters from -the OpenVPN server to the OpenVPN client, and then to the -management client (such as a GUI). The large integer is the -unix date/time when the echo parameter was received. - -If the management client had issued the command "echo on", -it would have enabled real-time notifications of echo -parameters. In this case, our "forget-passwords" message -would be output like this: - - >ECHO:1101519562,forget-passwords - -Like the log command, the echo command can atomically show -history while simultaneously activating real-time updates: - - echo on all - -The size of the echo buffer is currently hardcoded to 100 -messages. - -COMMAND -- exit, quit ---------------------- - -Close the managment session, and resume listening on the -management port for connections from other clients. Currently, -the OpenVPN daemon can at most support a single management client -any one time. - -COMMAND -- help ---------------- - -Print a summary of commands. - -COMMAND -- hold ---------------- - -The hold command can be used to manipulate the hold flag, -or release OpenVPN from a hold state. - -If the hold flag is set on initial startup or -restart, OpenVPN will hibernate prior to initializing -the tunnel until the management interface receives -a "hold release" command. - -The --management-hold directive of OpenVPN can be used -to start OpenVPN with the hold flag set. - -The hold flag setting is persistent and will not -be reset by restarts. - -OpenVPN will indicate that it is in a hold state by -sending a real-time notification to the management -client: - - >HOLD:Waiting for hold release - -Command examples: - - hold -- show current hold flag, 0=off, 1=on. - hold on -- turn on hold flag so that future restarts - will hold. - hold off -- turn off hold flag so that future restarts will - not hold. - hold release -- leave hold state and start OpenVPN, but - do not alter the current hold flag setting. - -COMMAND -- kill ---------------- - -In server mode, kill a particlar client instance. - -Command examples: - - kill Test-Client -- kill the client instance having a - common name of "Test-Client". - kill 1.2.3.4:4000 -- kill the client instance having a - source address and port of 1.2.3.4:4000 - -Use the "status" command to see which clients are connected. - -COMMAND -- log --------------- - -Show the OpenVPN log file. Only the most recent n lines -of the log file are cached by the management interface, where -n is controlled by the OpenVPN --management-log-cache directive. - -Command examples: - - log on -- Enable real-time output of log messages. - log all -- Show currently cached log file history. - log on all -- Atomically show all currently cached log file - history then enable real-time notification of - new log file messages. - log off -- Turn off real-time notification of log messages. - log 20 -- Show the most recent 20 lines of log file history. - -Real-time notification format: - -Real-time log messages begin with the ">LOG:" prefix followed -by the following comma-separated fields: - - (a) unix integer date/time, - (b) zero or more message flags in a single string: - I -- informational - F -- fatal error - N -- non-fatal error - W -- warning - D -- debug, and - (c) message text. - -COMMAND -- mute ---------------- - -Change the OpenVPN --mute parameter. The mute parameter is -used to silence repeating messages of the same message -category. - -Command examples: - - mute 40 -- change the mute parameter to 40 - mute -- show the current mute setting - -COMMAND -- net --------------- - -(Windows Only) Produce output equivalent to the OpenVPN ---show-net directive. The output includes OpenVPN's view -of the system network adapter list and routing table based -on information returned by the Windows IP helper API. - -COMMAND -- password and username --------------------------------- - - The password command is used to pass passwords to OpenVPN. - - If OpenVPN is run with the --management-query-passwords - directive, it will query the management interface for RSA - private key passwords and the --auth-user-pass - username/password. - - When OpenVPN needs a password from the management interface, - it will produce a real-time ">PASSWORD:" message. - - Example 1: - - >PASSWORD:Need 'Private Key' password - - OpenVPN is indicating that it needs a password of type - "Private Key". - - The management client should respond to this query as follows: - - password "Private Key" foo - - Example 2: - - >PASSWORD:Need 'Auth' username/password - - OpenVPN needs a --auth-user-pass password. The management - client should respond: - - username "Auth" foo - password "Auth" bar - - The username/password itself can be in quotes, and special - characters such as double quote or backslash must be escaped, - for example, - - password "Private Key" "foo\"bar" - - The escaping rules are the same as for the config file. - See the "Command Parsing" section below for more info. - - The PASSWORD real-time message type can also be used to - indicate password or other types of authentication failure: - - Example 3: The private key password is incorrect and OpenVPN - is exiting: - - >PASSWORD:Verification Failed: 'Private Key' - - Example 4: The --auth-user-pass username/password failed, - and OpenVPN is exiting: - - >PASSWORD:Verification Failed: 'Auth' - -COMMAND -- signal ------------------ - -The signal command will send a signal to the OpenVPN daemon. -The signal can be one of SIGHUP, SIGTERM, SIGUSR1, or SIGUSR2. - -Command example: - - signal SIGUSR1 -- send a SIGUSR1 signal to daemon - -COMMAND -- state ----------------- - -Show the current OpenVPN state, show state history, or -enable real-time notification of state changes. - -These are the OpenVPN states: - -CONNECTING -- OpenVPN's initial state. -WAIT -- (Client only) Waiting for initial response - from server. -AUTH -- (Client only) Authenticating with server. -GET_CONFIG -- (Client only) Downloading configuration options - from server. -ASSIGN_IP -- Assigning IP address to virtual network - interface. -ADD_ROUTES -- Adding routes to system. -CONNECTED -- Initialization Sequence Completed. -RECONNECTING -- A restart has occurred. -EXITING -- A graceful exit is in progress. - -Command examples: - - state -- Print current OpenVPN state. - state on -- Enable real-time notification of state changes. - state off -- Disable real-time notification of state changes. - state all -- Print current state history. - state 3 -- Print the 3 most recent state transitions. - state on all -- Atomically show state history while at the - same time enable real-time state notification - of future state transitions. - -The output format consists of 4 comma-separated parameters: - (a) the integer unix date/time, - (b) the state name, - (c) optional descriptive string (used mostly on RECONNECTING - and EXITING to show the reason for the disconnect), and - (d) optional TUN/TAP local IP address (shown for ASSIGN_IP - and CONNECTED). - -Real-time state notifications will have a ">STATE:" prefix -prepended to them. - -COMMAND -- status ------------------ - -Show current daemon status information, in the same format as -that produced by the OpenVPN --status directive. - -Command examples: - -status -- Show status information using the default status - format version. - -status 2 -- Show status information using status format version 2. - -COMMAND -- username -------------------- - -See the "password" section above. - -COMMAND -- verb ---------------- - -Change the OpenVPN --verb parameter. The verb parameter -controls the output verbosity, and may range from 0 (no output) -to 15 (maximum output). See the OpenVPN man page for additional -info on verbosity levels. - -Command examples: - - verb 4 -- change the verb parameter to 4 - mute -- show the current verb setting - -COMMAND -- version ------------------- - -Show the current OpenVPN and Management Interface versions. - - -COMMAND -- auth-retry ---------------------- - -Set the --auth-retry setting to control how OpenVPN responds to -username/password authentication errors. See the manual page -for more info. - -Command examples: - - auth-retry interact -- Don't exit when bad username/passwords are entered. - Query for new input and retry. - -OUTPUT FORMAT -------------- - -(1) Command success/failure indicated by "SUCCESS: [text]" or - "ERROR: [text]". - -(2) For commands which print multiple lines of output, - the last line will be "END". - -(3) Real-time messages will be in the form ">[source]:[text]", - where source is "ECHO", "FATAL", "HOLD", "INFO", "LOG", - "PASSWORD", or "STATE". - -REAL-TIME MESSAGE FORMAT ------------------------- - -The OpenVPN management interface produces two kinds of -output: (a) output from a command, or (b) asynchronous, -real-time output which can be generated at any time. - -Real-time messages start with a '>' character in the first -column and are immediately followed by a type keyword -indicating the type of real-time message. The following -types are currently defined: - -ECHO -- Echo messages as controlled by the "echo" command. - -FATAL -- A fatal error which is output to the log file just - prior to OpenVPN exiting. - -HOLD -- Used to indicate that OpenVPN is in a holding state - and will not start until it receives a - "hold release" command. - -INFO -- Informational messages such as the welcome message. - -LOG -- Log message output as controlled by the "log" command. - -PASSWORD -- Used to tell the management client that OpenVPN - needs a password, also to indicate password - verification failure. - -STATE -- Shows the current OpenVPN state, as controlled - by the "state" command. - -Command Parsing ---------------- - -OpenVPN uses the same command line lexical analyzer as is used -by the OpenVPN config file parser. - -Whitespace is a parameter separator. - -Double quotation characters ("") can be used to enclose -parameters containing whitespace - -Backslash-based shell escaping is performed, using the following -mappings - -\\ Maps to a single backslash character (\). -\" Pass a literal doublequote character ("), don't - interpret it as enclosing a parameter. -\[SPACE] Pass a literal space or tab character, don't - interpret it as a parameter delimiter. |