rocklinux/package/base/sysfiles/rocknet_README

ROCKNET  [by Clifford Wolf]
===========================

The idea of ROCKNET is to make the network configuration more flexible and
allow integration of simple firewalling rules, multiple interfaces, multiple
IPs per interface and multiple profiles. It should be easy to setup very
complex and very simple setups, should "feel good" when working directly
with an ASCII editor on the config files and should be easy to integrate in
a more or less colored configuration GUI (such as stone).


Configuration File
------------------

The network configuration is stored in /etc/network/config. All filenames
in this file are relative to /etc/network/ if they don't begin with a slash.

An example /etc/network/config follows:

	auto eth0 eth1
	forward

	interface eth0
		ip 192.168.1.1/24
		ip 192.168.2.1/24

	interface eth1
		ip 192.168.100.99/24
		gw 192.168.100.1

Or another /etc/network/config:

	auto eth0

	interface eth0
		dhcp
		dyndns				# update dyndns
						# requires ezipudate
						# and setup in stone
		allow ip 10.10.0.0/24		# office
		allow ip 192.168.0.0/24		# home
		allow tcp 80			# webserver is open
		deny all

Or one using profiles:

	auto eth0 eth1(office)

	interface eth0(home)
		ip 192.168.69.15/24

	interface eth0(office)
		allow ip 10.10.0.0/16 tcp ssh
		deny all
		dhcp

	interface eth1(office)
		essid 'Blubb'
		keyc 'I@mCo0l'
		deny all
		dhcp

So there are commands with optional parameter lists. The following commands
are allowed in the config file:

auto
	Lists those interfaces which should be set up automatically at
	boot up (list evaluated from left to right) and shut down on system
	shutdown (from right to left). All interfaces not listed here must
	be set up or shut down manually using 'ifup' and 'ifdown'.
	Must be used before the first 'interface' directive.

forward
	If used, forwarding between interfaces will be activated at boot up
	and the host may be used as gateway between two networks.
	Must be used before the first 'interface' directive.

interface
	Everything after that statement and before the next interface statement
	is the configuration for that specific interface. All directives within
	an interface section are executed from the first to the last when
	setting up the interface and the reversed order when shutting it down.

dhcp
	Configure the interface using the DHCP protocol.

script
	Execute the specified script with the given parameters. The parameter
	"up" is inserted as first parameter when the interface is set up and
	the parameter "down" is inserted when the interface is shut down.

run-up, run-down
	Run the given command when the interface is set up or shut down
	respectively.

ip, gw
	Set the given ip(s) and gateway when the interface is set up, remove
	all IPs from the interface when the interface is shut down.

allow, deny
	Add the given simple firewalling rules. Those statements are executed
	before the other statements in the interface section when setting up
	the interface and are executed after the other statements when
	shutting down the interface. See section "Simple Firewall" below for
	details.


Profiles
--------

Interface names in the 'auto' and the 'interface' statement can be followed
by a coma-separated list of profile names in parentheses.

In case of the 'auto' statement, only those interfaces are used which do
have the current profile specified or no profile at all.

In case of the 'interface' statement, an interface section is used if it has
no profile specified or the current profile is given in the profile list.

An non-existing interface section will be handled as it would be an empty
interface section. Empty interface sections are silently ignored by "ifup"
and "ifdown".

The current profile is stored in /etc/network/profile.


Command-line Tools
------------------

There are two simple command line tools for working with ROCKNET: "ifup"
and "ifdown". The first parameter is the name of the interface which should
be set up, the second parameter (which is optional) is the profile name to be
used while reading the configuration. If the 2nd parameter is missing, the
content of /etc/network/profile is used.


Simple Firewall
---------------

When there are any 'allow' or 'deny' statements in an interface section, the
ifup script automatically adds a chain named 'simple-firewall-<ifname>' to
the iptables 'filter' table and links that chain into the INPUT chain using
the incoming interface as condition.

All 'allow' and 'deny' statements add rules to that chain. 'Allow' links
to the netfilter 'ACCEPT' target and 'deny' to the netfilter 'REJECT' (and
not 'DROP') target.

When shutting down the interface, the chain 'simple-firewall-<ifname>' is
simply flushed and removed from the iptables configuration.


Tricking with pseudo-interfaces
-------------------------------

It's possible to define non-existing interfaces such as 'iptables' in the
configuration file. It would result to errors if e.g. the 'ip' statement
would be used in those interface sections - but it is possible to use the
'script' statement in those pseudo-interfaces and so e.g. link a complex
firewall setup into the ROCKNET framework.


Compatibility
-------------

The program names "ifup" and "ifdown" are used on many distributions for small
helpers to set up or shut down interfaces.

The file /etc/network/config has a very similar "feeling" as debians
/etc/network/interfaces and so it should be pretty easy especially for debian
users to get used to ROCK Linux based distributions network configuration.

The whole thing is very different from RedHats /etc/sysconfig/network/ and is
likely to also be different from whatever SuSE is using for the same purpose.