VPN with Tinc

FIXME: What's a VPN, what's Tinc

Installation on Server(s) and Client(s)

FreeBSD

• Install tinc 1.1 pre from ports

sudo pkg install tinc-devel               # binary
sudo portmaster -iB security/tinc-devel   # source

GNU/Linux (Debian based)

• Install tinc 1.1 pre from source (or pull the deb from experimental)

sudo apt install -y build-essential libncurses5-dev libreadline6-dev libzlcore-dev zlib1g-dev liblzo2-dev libssl-dev

• Compile tinc 1.1pre :

cd /usr/src/
wget https://www.tinc-vpn.org/packages/tinc-1.1pre17.tar.gz
tar xvf tinc-1.1pre17.tar.gz
cd tinc-1.1pre17
./configure
make
sudo make install

• Once installed, the configuration dir should be in /usr/local/etc/tinc/. tinc and tincd are installed in /usr/local/sbin/tinc
• If needed, make a directory for pidfile and socket

sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/var/run/

Windows

• Install tinc 1.1 pre win binaries from upstream at https://tinc-vpn.org/download/

MacOs

FIXME

Setup Server(s)

FreeBSD and GNU/Linux

• Initialize new VPN

sudo tinc -n beernet init server

• Configure the host's own interface

sudo tinc -n beernet add subnet 10.10.10.1

• Configure the host's public IP, or domain if you have one for the host

sudo tinc -n beernet add address=super.domain.xxx  # if you have a domain ...
sudo tinc -n beernet add address=1.1.1.1           # or if you just have a public IP

• edit /usr/local/etc/tinc/beernet/tinc-up, so that your network interface is brought up correctly, for instance with:

ifconfig $INTERFACE 10.10.10.1 netmask 255.255.255.0  # leave $INTERFACE as it is and remove the echo line

• Note: if you don't have ifconfig available on your GNU/Linux distro, see PRO tips below.
• test if your VPN works nicely for the time being by running it directly in a shell with extra verbose options:

tincd -n beernet -D -d3

Setup Client(s)

FreeBSD and GNU/Linux

• Generate invite on the server

tinc -b beernet invite ${CLIENT_NAME}

• This will give you ${URL}
• On the BSD/Linux client

tinc.exe -n beernet join ${URL}
tinc.exe -n beernet add subnet 10.10.10.2

• edit /usr/local/etc/tinc/beernet/tinc-up, so that your network interface is brought up correctly, for instance with:

ifconfig $INTERFACE 10.10.10.2 netmask 255.255.255.0  # leave $INTERFACE as it is and remove the echo line

• Note: if you don't have ifconfig available on your GNU/Linux distro, see PRO tips below.
• test if your VPN works nicely for the time being by running it directly in a shell with extra verbose options:

tincd -n beernet -D -d3

• try to ping the server from the client and the other way around to make all is good

Windows

• Generate invite on the server

tinc -b beernet invite ${CLIENT_NAME}

• This will give you ${URL}
• On the windows client machine, open a terminal, locate the Tinc install folder and:

tinc.exe -n beernet join ${URL}
tinc.exe -n beernet add subnet 10.10.10.3

• got to C:\Program Files\tinc\tap-win64
• run addtap.bat. Click yes to install the driver.
• Find the ${NAME} of the new network adapter

netsh interface ipv4 show interfaces

• Rename this interface

netsh interface set interface name = "${NAME}" newname = "tinc"

• give it the same IP as tinc client config

netsh interface ip set address "tinc" static 10.10.10.3 255.255.255.0.

• try to ping the server from the client and the other way around to make all is good

MacOs

FIXME

PRO tips

GNU/Linux with new net interface tool

ifconfig will be likely deprecated or even removed on some recent GNU/Linux distros, so the proper way to configure tinc-up and on such machines is as follow:

ip addr add 10.0.1.1/24 dev $INTERFACE
ip link set $INTERFACE up

Set up systemd services

• /lib/systemd/system/tinc.service

[Unit]
Description=Tinc VPN
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=oneshot
RemainAfterExit=yes
ExecStart=/bin/true
ExecReload=/bin/true
WorkingDirectory=/usr/local/etc/tinc

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

• /lib/systemd/system/tinc@.service

[Unit]
Description=Tinc net %i
PartOf=tinc.service
ReloadPropagatedFrom=tinc.service

[Service]
Type=simple
WorkingDirectory=/usr/local/etc/tinc/%i
ExecStart=/usr/local/sbin/tincd -n %i -D
ExecReload=/usr/local/sbin/tincd -n %i -kHUP
KillMode=mixed
TimeoutStopSec=5
Restart=always
RestartSec=60

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

• enable them on boot:

systemctl enable tinc@lurknet

• Start / stop at will:

sudo systemctl start tinc@lurknet
sudo systemctl stop tinc@lurknet

Further readings and more cool stuff

• https://pzwiki.wdka.nl/mediadesign/Tinc
• https://www.tinc-vpn.org/documentation-1.1