[dump.git] / examples / encrypted_rmt / README

This is a set of changes to the Linux "rmt" utility
to support transparent encryption.
Data is encrypted before it is written to tape, and decrypted when read.
We use no padding or salt, so the data size doesn't change.
Tools that use rmt for remote tape access (such as dump, restore
and tar) can manipulate encrypted data without modification.

The symmetric cipher is currently hardwired as Blowfish.

[...]

Building ermt:
- Ensure that openssl-0.9.7a or later is installed.
- Configure and build the package, enabling ermt support:
	./configure --enable-ermt
	make
  This will build an extra binary: rmt/ermt, the encrypting version.
  If ermt fails to link because EVP_CIPHER_CTX_set_padding
  is undefined, you must upgrade to openssl-0.9.7a or later.

Run-time setup:
- Create a user for remote tape access, which we will call "dump":
	useradd -m dump
- ermt reads the secret key from ".ermt.key".
  Generate a random key in ~dump/.ermt.key:
	su - dump
	openssl rand -out .ermt.key 32
	chmod 400 .ermt.key
  Due to the way "openssl enc -kfile $file" reads the key file,
  you should ensure that the key contains no \0 or \r or \n characters,
  which would prematurely truncate the key length.
- Protect the key: copy to many floppies, "od -x .ermt.key|lpr", etc.
- Set up rsh access from root (or whoever you run dump as)
  to dump@localhost:
	# still running as user dump here
	echo localhost root > .rhosts
	chmod 400 .rhosts
  Or use ssh if you prefer; details left as an exercise.
- Check that it works: run "rsh localhost -l dump date" as root.
- Copy the ermt binary you built above to ~dump,
  and change dump's shell to ~dump/ermt.

Backup usage: just dump remotely to localhost:

	dump -0u -f dump@localhost:/dev/st0 /
	restore -i -f dump@localhost:/dev/st0
	# You can use GNU tar too

If your device is doing hardware compression, it's best to turn
it off, since encrypted data compresses very poorly.

Emergency decrypting: if you need to restore a tape and
don't have access to a host running ermt,
you have two choices:
- If you have a copy of the ermt binary, run it with the -d switch
  to decrypt stdin to stdout:
	dd if=/dev/st0 bs=10k |
	(cd ~dump; ./ermt -d) |		# assuming ermt is in ~dump
	restore -i -f -
- If not, use the OpenSSL "openssl" command, which does the same thing:
	dd if=/dev/st0 bs=10k |
        openssl enc -d -kfile ~dump/.ermt.key -blowfish -nosalt -nopad |
	restore -i -f -
  Versions of OpenSSL before 0.9.7a don't understand -nopad,
  so they won't work.

How much does encryption slow down backups?
In my tests, the network hop is the bottleneck:
dumping unencrypted (i.e. standard rmt) to localhost is 38%
slower than dumping directly to tape.
Adding encryption makes no difference, which isn't surprising.

Change log:
	2003-04-08: added configure --enable-ermt, separate ermt binary
	2003-04-06: Initial release

-- Ken Lalonde <ken@globalremit.com>
Commit	Line	Data
cdfe1392 SP	1	This is a set of changes to the Linux "rmt" utility
	2	to support transparent encryption.
	3	Data is encrypted before it is written to tape, and decrypted when read.
	4	We use no padding or salt, so the data size doesn't change.
	5	Tools that use rmt for remote tape access (such as dump, restore
	6	and tar) can manipulate encrypted data without modification.
	7
	8	The symmetric cipher is currently hardwired as Blowfish.
	9
	10	[...]
	11
	12	Building ermt:
	13	- Ensure that openssl-0.9.7a or later is installed.
	14	- Configure and build the package, enabling ermt support:
	15	./configure --enable-ermt
	16	make
	17	This will build an extra binary: rmt/ermt, the encrypting version.
	18	If ermt fails to link because EVP_CIPHER_CTX_set_padding
	19	is undefined, you must upgrade to openssl-0.9.7a or later.
	20
	21	Run-time setup:
	22	- Create a user for remote tape access, which we will call "dump":
	23	useradd -m dump
	24	- ermt reads the secret key from ".ermt.key".
	25	Generate a random key in ~dump/.ermt.key:
	26	su - dump
	27	openssl rand -out .ermt.key 32
	28	chmod 400 .ermt.key
	29	Due to the way "openssl enc -kfile $file" reads the key file,
	30	you should ensure that the key contains no \0 or \r or \n characters,
	31	which would prematurely truncate the key length.
	32	- Protect the key: copy to many floppies, "od -x .ermt.key\|lpr", etc.
	33	- Set up rsh access from root (or whoever you run dump as)
	34	to dump@localhost:
	35	# still running as user dump here
	36	echo localhost root > .rhosts
	37	chmod 400 .rhosts
	38	Or use ssh if you prefer; details left as an exercise.
	39	- Check that it works: run "rsh localhost -l dump date" as root.
	40	- Copy the ermt binary you built above to ~dump,
	41	and change dump's shell to ~dump/ermt.
	42
	43	Backup usage: just dump remotely to localhost:
	44
	45	dump -0u -f dump@localhost:/dev/st0 /
	46	restore -i -f dump@localhost:/dev/st0
	47	# You can use GNU tar too
	48
	49	If your device is doing hardware compression, it's best to turn
	50	it off, since encrypted data compresses very poorly.
	51
	52	Emergency decrypting: if you need to restore a tape and
	53	don't have access to a host running ermt,
	54	you have two choices:
	55	- If you have a copy of the ermt binary, run it with the -d switch
	56	to decrypt stdin to stdout:
	57	dd if=/dev/st0 bs=10k \|
	58	(cd ~dump; ./ermt -d) \| # assuming ermt is in ~dump
	59	restore -i -f -
	60	- If not, use the OpenSSL "openssl" command, which does the same thing:
	61	dd if=/dev/st0 bs=10k \|
	62	openssl enc -d -kfile ~dump/.ermt.key -blowfish -nosalt -nopad \|
	63	restore -i -f -
	64	Versions of OpenSSL before 0.9.7a don't understand -nopad,
65	so they won't work.
66
67	How much does encryption slow down backups?
68	In my tests, the network hop is the bottleneck:
69	dumping unencrypted (i.e. standard rmt) to localhost is 38%
70	slower than dumping directly to tape.
71	Adding encryption makes no difference, which isn't surprising.
72
73	Change log:
74	2003-04-08: added configure --enable-ermt, separate ermt binary
75	2003-04-06: Initial release
76
77	-- Ken Lalonde <ken@globalremit.com>