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9.1 Interface configuration

When configuring an interface, one normally assigns it an address and a netmask. The address uniquely identifies the host on the network attached to the interface. The netmask, combined with the address, forms a subnet. It is used to add a route to the routing table instructing the kernel to send all packets which fall into that subnet to that interface. Because all packets for the entire VPN should go to the virtual network interface used by tinc, the netmask should be such that it encompasses the entire VPN.

For IPv4 addresses:

Linux	ifconfig interface address ‘netmask’ netmask
Linux iproute2	ip addr add address‘/’prefixlength ‘dev’ interface
FreeBSD	ifconfig interface address ‘netmask’ netmask
OpenBSD	ifconfig interface address ‘netmask’ netmask
NetBSD	ifconfig interface address ‘netmask’ netmask
Solaris	ifconfig interface address ‘netmask’ netmask
Darwin (MacOS/X)	ifconfig interface address ‘netmask’ netmask
Windows	netsh interface ip set address interface ‘static’ address netmask

For IPv6 addresses:

Linux	ifconfig interface ‘add’ address‘/’prefixlength
FreeBSD	ifconfig interface ‘inet6’ address ‘prefixlen’ prefixlength
OpenBSD	ifconfig interface ‘inet6’ address ‘prefixlen’ prefixlength
NetBSD	ifconfig interface ‘inet6’ address ‘prefixlen’ prefixlength
Solaris	ifconfig interface ‘inet6 plumb up’
	ifconfig interface ‘inet6 addif’ address address
Darwin (MacOS/X)	ifconfig interface ‘inet6’ address ‘prefixlen’ prefixlength
Windows	netsh interface ipv6 add address interface ‘static’ address/prefixlength

On Linux, it is possible to create a persistent tun/tap interface which will continue to exist even if tinc quit, although this is normally not required. It can be useful to set up a tun/tap interface owned by a non-root user, so tinc can be started without needing any root privileges at all.

Linux

ip tuntap add dev interface ‘mode’ tun|tap ‘user’ username