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# wesher
`wesher` creates and manages a mesh overlay network across a group of nodes, using [wireguard](https://www.wireguard.com/).
`wesher` creates and manages an encrypted mesh overlay network across a group of nodes, using [wireguard](https://www.wireguard.com/).
Its main use-case is adding low-maintenance security to public-cloud networks or connecting different cloud providers.
@ -12,36 +12,64 @@ security benefits from wireguard. See [security considerations](#security-consid
## Quickstart
Before starting, make sure [wireguard](https://www.wireguard.com/) is installed on all nodes.
0. Before starting:
1. make sure the [wireguard](https://www.wireguard.com/) kernel module is installed on all nodes.
The following ports must be accessible between all nodes (see [configuration options](#configuration-options) to change these):
2. The following ports must be accessible between all nodes (see [configuration options](#configuration-options) to change these):
- 51820 UDP
- 7946 UDP and TCP
Install `wesher` on all nodes with go >= 1.12:
1. Download the latest release for your architecture (assuming `go` is installed):
```
$ GO111MODULE=on go get github.com/costela/wesher
$ wget -O wesher https://github.com/costela/wesher/releases/latest/download/wesher-$(go env GOARCH)
$ chmod a+x wesher
```
On the first node (assuming `$GOPATH/bin` is in the `$PATH`):
2. On the first node:
```
# wesher
# ./wesher
```
Running the command above on a terminal will currently output a generated cluster key, like:
Running the command above on a terminal will currently output a generated cluster key as follows:
```
new cluster key generated: XXXXX
```
**Note**: the created key will only be shown if running on a terminal, to avoid keys leaking via logs.
Then, on any further node:
3. Lastly, on any further node:
```
# wesher --cluster-key XXXXX --join x.x.x.x
```
Where `XXXXX` is the base64 encoded 256 bit key printed by the step above and `x.x.x.x` is the hostname or IP of any of
the nodes already joined to the mesh cluster.
Where `XXXXX` is the base64 encoded 256 bit key printed by the step above, and `x.x.x.x` is the hostname or IP of any of the nodes already joined to the mesh cluster.
*Note*: `wireguard` - and therefore `wesher` - need root access.
### Permissions
Note that `wireguard` - and therefore `wesher` - need root access to work properly.
It is also possible to give the `wesher` binary enough capabilities to manage the `wireguard` interface via:
```
# setcap cap_net_admin=eip wesher
```
This will enable running as an unprivileged user, but some functionality (like automatic adding peer entries to
`/etc/hosts`; see [configuration options](#configuration-options) below) will not work.
## Installing from source
Alternatively, the latest `wesher` commit can be easily installed from sources:
Preferred:
```
$ git clone https://github.com/costela/wesher.git
$ make
```
Or:
```
$ GO111MODULE=on go get github.com/costela/wesher
```
*Note*: the latter will not provide a meaningful output for `--version`.
## Features
@ -62,15 +90,21 @@ Once set, the cluster key is saved locally and reused on the next startup.
### Automatic IP address management
The overlay IP address of each node is selected out of a private network (`10.0.0.0/8` by default) and is consistently
hashed based on the hostname, meaning a host will always receive the same overlay IP address (see [limitations](#overlay-ip-collisions)
of this approach below). The hostname is also used by the underlying cluster management (using [memberlist](https://github.com/hashicorp/memberlist))
The overlay IP address of each node is automatically selected out of a private network (`10.0.0.0/8` by default; MUST be different from the underlying network used for cluster communication) and is consistently hashed based on the peer's hostname.
The use of consistent hashing means a given node will always receive the same overlay IP address (see [limitations](#overlay-ip-collisions)
of this approach below).
**Note**: the node's hostname is also used by the underlying cluster management (using [memberlist](https://github.com/hashicorp/memberlist))
to identify nodes and must therefore be unique in the cluster.
To ease intra-node communication, `wesher` also adds entries to `/etc/hosts` for each other node. See [configuration](#configuration-options)
below for how to disable this behavior.
### Automatic /etc/hosts management
### Restoring state
To ease intra-node communication, `wesher` also adds entries to `/etc/hosts` for each peer in the mesh. This enables using the nodes' hostnames to ensure communication over the secured overlay network (assuming `files` is the first entry for `hosts` in `/etc/nsswitch.conf`).
See [configuration](#configuration-options) below for how to disable this behavior.
### Seamless restarts
If a node in the cluster is restarted, it will attempt to re-join the last-known nodes using the same cluster key.
This means a restart requires no manual intervention.