# This file contains some examples of using NCD, the Network Configuration Daemon. # # A short introduction to NCD follows. # # NCD is a general-purpose system configuration system, operated with a unique programming language. # The configuration consists of one or more so-called processes that can be considered executing in # parallel. Further, each process consists of one or more statements, representing the individual # actions. Statements are implemented as modules built into NCD. # # Inside a process, statements can be considered "executed" one after another. That is, when NCD # starts up, it initializes the first statement, putting it in the DOWN state. When the statement # reports having transitioned into the UP state, it initializes the next statement in the DOWN state, # and so on. # # However, execution can go in the other direction too. A statement in the UP state can, at any time, # report having transitioned into the DOWN state. At this point, any statements after that one will # automatically be de-initialized. The de-initiazation is done from the bottom up. First the last # initialized statement after the problematic statement is requested to terminate and enters the # DYING state. After it terminates, its preceding statement enters the DYING state, and so on, until # all statements following the problematic statement have been de-initiazed. # # The backward-execution is the key feature of NCD, and is particularly well suited for programming # system configurations. Read on to see why. # # Statements in NCD can be divided into two categories: # - Statements that configure something. These statements transition into the UP state "immediately". # On de-initialization, such statements perform the reverse operation of what they did when initialized. # Imaginary example: a statement that turn a light on intialization, and turns if off on de-initialization. # - Statements that wait for something. These statements may remain in the DOWN state indefinitely. # They enter the UP state when the waited-for condition is satisfied, and also go back into the DOWN # state when it is no longer satisfied. # Imaginary example: a statement that is UP when a switch is turned on, and DOWN when it is turned off. # # Using the two example statements, we can constuct a process that controls the light based on the switch: # (these are not really implemented in NCD :) # # process light { # wait_switch(); # turn_light(); # } # # When the switch is turned on, wait_switch() will transition to UP, initializing turn_light(), turning the # light on. When the switch is turned off, wait_switch() will transition to DOWN, causing the de-initialization # of turn_light(), turning the light off. # We can add another turn_light() at the end to make the switch control two lights. # # A more complex example: We have a christmas three with lights on it. There are multiple "regular" lights, # controlled with switches, and a special "top" light. The regular lights take a long time to turn on, and # each takes a different, unpredictable time. We want the top light to be turned on if and only if all the regular # lights are completely on. # # This problem can easily be solved using dependencies. NCD has built-in support for dependencies, provided # in the form of provide() and depend() statements. A depend() statement is DOWN when its corresponding # provide() statement is not initialized, and UP when it is. When a provide() is requested to de-initialize, it # transitions the depend() statements back into the DOWN state, and, before actually dying, waits for any # statements following them to de-initialize. # # The christmas three problem can then be programmed as follows: # # process light1 { # wait_switch1(); # turn_light1(); # provide("L1"); # } # # process light2 { # wait_switch2(); # turn_light2(); # provide("L2"); # } # # process top_light { # depend("L1"); # depend("L2"); # turn_top_light(); # } # # Follow some real examples of network configuration using NCD. # For a list of implemented statements and their descriptions, take a look at the BadVPN source code, in # the ncd/modules/ folder. # # Network card using DHCP process lan { # Make the interface name a variable so we can refer to it. # The NCD language has no notion of assigning a variable. Instead variables are # provided by statements preceding the statement where they are used. # The built-in var() statement can be used to make an alias. var("eth0") dev; # Wait for the network card appear and for the cable to be plugged in. net.backend.physical(dev); # Start DHCP. net.ipv4.dhcp(dev) dhcp; # Once DHCP obtains an IP address, assign it to the interface. net.ipv4.addr(dev, dhcp.addr, dhcp.prefix); # Add a default route. # net.ipv4.route("0.0.0.0", "0", dhcp.gateway, "20", dev); # Add DNS servers, as provided by DHCP. # "20" is the priority of the servers. When applying DNS servers, NCD collects the servers # from all active net.dns() statements, sorts them by priority ascending (stable), and writes # them to /etc/resolv.conf, overwriting anything that was previously there. net.dns(dhcp.dns_servers, "20"); } # Network card with static configuration process lan2 { # Make the interface name a variable so we can refer to it. var("eth1") dev; # Wait for the network card appear and for the cable to be plugged in. net.backend.physical(dev); # Assign an IP address. # "24" is prefix length, i.e. subnet mask 255.255.255.0 net.ipv4.addr(dev, "192.168.62.3", "24"); # Add a default route. net.ipv4.route("0.0.0.0", "0", "192.168.62.3", "20", dev); # Build a list of DNS servers. # The NCD language does not support "expressions" - statement arguments must be # constants or variables referring to preceding statements. # A list can be constructed using the built-in list() statement. list("192.168.62.5", "192.168.62.6") dns_servers; # Add the DNS servers. net.dns(dns_servers, "20"); } # # A BadVPN VPN interface for access to the virtual # network (only). # process lan { ... (something like above) ... # Alias our IP address for easy access from the "vpn" process (or, for a static address, alias # it before assigning it, and assign it using the alias). var(dhcp.addr) ipaddr; # Allow VPN to start at this point. # (and require it to stop before deconfiguring the interface if e.g. the cable is plugged out) provide("LAN"); } process vpn { # Need the local interface to be working in order start VPN. depend("LAN") landep; # Choose the name of the network interface. var("tap3") dev; # Construct command line arguments for badvpn-client. Adapt according to your setup. # "--tapdev" will be provided automatically. # Alias the port number that the VPN process will bind to. var("6000") port; # Construct dynamic parts of command line options. # The VPN client program needs to know some IP addresses in order to tell other peers where to connect to. # Obtain this informations from variables in the "lan" process through the depend() statement. TODO: not implemented yet! # Construct the local address (addr + port). concat(landep.ipaddr, ":", port) local_addr_arg; # Construct the Internet address (assuming we are behind a NAT). # Need to know the NAT's external address here. But we could implement a statement that queried it somehow. # That is if we have preconfigured the NAT router to forward ports. But we could implement a statement # that obtains the mappings dynamically with UPnP! concat("1.2.3.4", ":", port) internet_addr_arg; # Finally construct the complete arguments, using the above address arguments. list( "--logger", "syslog", "--syslog-ident", "badvpn", "--server-addr", "badvpn.example.com:7000", "--ssl", "--nssdb", "sql:/home/badvpn/nssdb", "--client-cert-name", "peer-someone", "--transport-mode", "udp", "--encryption-mode", "blowfish", "--hash-mode", "md5", "--otp", "blowfish", "3000", "2000", "--scope", "mylan", "--scope", "internet", "--bind-addr", "0.0.0.0:6000", "--num-ports", "20", "--ext-addr", local_addr_arg, "mylan", "--ext-addr", internet_addr_arg, "internet" ) args; # Start the BadVPN backend. net.backend.badvpn(dev, "badvpn", "/usr/bin/badvpn-client-26", args); # Assign an IP address to the VPN interface. # (we could easily use DHCP here!) net.ipv4.addr(dev, "10.0.0.1", "24"); }