RE: Running AMANDA over the Internet
- Marc Mengel [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Wed, 5 Feb 2003 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I think the easiest way would be to use an SSH tunnel. Would this be easy to implement ? Any examples maybe or pointers on how to acheive that ? ssh won't do it by itself; it won't tunnel UDP. I think it should be possible to tunnel with zebedee (http://www.winton.org.uk/zebedee/) but I don't have an existence proof to point you at. Marc
Re: Running AMANDA over the Internet
There is support for kerberos, which does two things authenticates the request from the server to the client encrypts the backup stream The first step is actually quite important. Without it, someone else can run a backup and get your bits sent to them, even if they are protected from eavesdropping while being sent to the attacker. Kerberos support is currently not in good shape. You have to get the krb bits separately (separate CVS module), and they aren't tagged consistently with releases. I have tried to compile them recently, and had trouble. As others have said, using Kerberos requires, in addition to getting amanda+krb to build correctly, having a Kerberos server and the clue to administer the realm. Using IPsec seems like a good method, since it can provide authentication as well. [The following assumes famililiarity with RFC2401 and discusses BSD systems.] While others have mentioned VPN, one can instead transport mode ESP. The trick is getting Security Policy Database (SPD) entries to match the amanda traffic. Since ports change for the backup stream, it might be best to set per-socket policy in the amanda programs using setsockopt(IP_IPSEC_POLICY). This approach is likely workable on Solaris. Last I checked, the FreeSWAN IPsec implementation for Linux did not support an SPD as requires by RFC2401, and in particular using ports as selectors did not work. One can also just use tunnel-mode ESP for all traffic to the particular remote host. Gregory Troxel [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: Running AMANDA over the Internet
Amanda is a backup manager, not a security manager. There are no steps taken to ensure the security of the backups. Several solutions are available, though: - Use the Kerberos support built in to Amanda. I've never played with this. - Use tar with a wrapper script on the client that encrypts the backup before sending it. You might be able to find samples of this in the list archives. - Use an encrypted VPN (CIPE, FreeSWAN, SSHTunnel) between servers. This is the method I used, because I use the same tunnel for monitoring and file transfers. Search the list, think about what method fits your needs. Feel free to ask more questions. Good Luck. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 9:50 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Running AMANDA over the Internet Hello, Let's take the scenario where I have got an AMANDA server located at one central site and have a few other servers located at various places around the globe which of course all need to be backed up by the centraon site's AMANDA server. My question is now more related about security and how secure it is to run backups over the internet. Is AMANA secure by default to run over the internet or are there any optional compiling options or features which I should use to make the clients itself and the dump secure ? Many thanks for your opinion Regards
Re: Running AMANDA over the Internet
Marc This is what VPN's are for. Amanda has little concept of security and relies on DNS lookups/usernames for any sort of authentication. You can augment this with tcp-wrapper/xinet type security, but the traffic will still travel over the public internet in the clear (or at best compressed!). Beside the VPN I'd make sure there is somesort of bandwith guarantee service between the sites - backups can be large things. -- Martin Hepworth Senior Systems Administrator Solid State Logic Ltd Phone: +44 (0)1865 842300 On Wed, 5 Feb 2003 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hello, Let's take the scenario where I have got an AMANDA server located at one central site and have a few other servers located at various places around the globe which of course all need to be backed up by the centraon site's AMANDA server. My question is now more related about security and how secure it is to run backups over the internet. Is AMANA secure by default to run over the internet or are there any optional compiling options or features which I should use to make the clients itself and the dump secure ? Many thanks for your opinion Regards ** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses. www.mimesweeper.com **
Re: Running AMANDA over the Internet
On Wed, Feb 05, 2003 at 03:49:32PM +0100, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hello, Let's take the scenario where I have got an AMANDA server located at one central site and have a few other servers located at various places around the globe which of course all need to be backed up by the centraon site's AMANDA server. My question is now more related about security and how secure it is to run backups over the internet. Is AMANA secure by default to run over the internet or are there any optional compiling options or features which I should use to make the clients itself and the dump secure ? Run Amanda thru a IPsec tunnel. I got a setup that backs up 3 servers over a 704kb/s cable connection. It works fine, but take aprox. 9 hours to do a full dump (7GB, when commpressed on clients). Regards Marius Sorteberg
Re: Running AMANDA over the Internet
On Wed, Feb 05, 2003 at 03:49:32PM +0100, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hello, Let's take the scenario where I have got an AMANDA server located at one central site and have a few other servers located at various places around the globe which of course all need to be backed up by the centraon site's AMANDA server. My question is now more related about security and how secure it is to run backups over the internet. Is AMANA secure by default to run over the internet or are there any optional compiling options or features which I should use to make the clients itself and the dump secure Lets see, if you speak on a cell phone or transmit on the internet, consider it public knowledge :) Encryption, at a minimum, seems appropriate. About a year ago, Andrew Hall [EMAIL PROTECTED], was working on a document describing his experience in encrypting the data stream with gnu's gpg. I don't recall the final status of this work. Maybe Andrew is still reading the list and can comment, or you might contact him. -- Jon H. LaBadie [EMAIL PROTECTED] JG Computing 4455 Province Line Road(609) 252-0159 Princeton, NJ 08540-4322 (609) 683-7220 (fax)
Re: Running AMANDA over the Internet
As many already sudgested: VPN is your best choice. Sometimes VPN is not an option though, the second best option is: http://cns.utoronto.ca/~pkern/stuff/ There is a patch which will allow the SSL encryption of the amanda dump images. It is pretty good, since you can specify in a dumptype if you want a encryption or not. As for Kerberos: unless you know it well and have a infrastructure running already it is probably the least advisable option of the three. In addition to that we could not compile Amanda with Kerberos support on solaris no matter what we tried. Regards Kirill Kirill Ponazdyr Technical Director Codeangels Solutions Tel: +41 (0)43 844 90 10 Fax: +41 (0)43 844 90 12 Hello, Let's take the scenario where I have got an AMANDA server located at one central site and have a few other servers located at various places around the globe which of course all need to be backed up by the centraon site's AMANDA server. My question is now more related about security and how secure it is to run backups over the internet. Is AMANA secure by default to run over the internet or are there any optional compiling options or features which I should use to make the clients itself and the dump secure ? Many thanks for your opinion Regards
RE: Running AMANDA over the Internet
I think the easiest way would be to use an SSH tunnel. Would this be easy to implement ? Any examples maybe or pointers on how to acheive that ? Thanks Regards Bort, Paul To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] cc: om Subject: RE: Running AMANDA over the Internet Sent by: owner-amanda-users@ amanda.org 02/05/03 04:20 PM Amanda is a backup manager, not a security manager. There are no steps taken to ensure the security of the backups. Several solutions are available, though: - Use the Kerberos support built in to Amanda. I've never played with this. - Use tar with a wrapper script on the client that encrypts the backup before sending it. You might be able to find samples of this in the list archives. - Use an encrypted VPN (CIPE, FreeSWAN, SSHTunnel) between servers. This is the method I used, because I use the same tunnel for monitoring and file transfers. Search the list, think about what method fits your needs. Feel free to ask more questions. Good Luck. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 9:50 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Running AMANDA over the Internet Hello, Let's take the scenario where I have got an AMANDA server located at one central site and have a few other servers located at various places around the globe which of course all need to be backed up by the centraon site's AMANDA server. My question is now more related about security and how secure it is to run backups over the internet. Is AMANA secure by default to run over the internet or are there any optional compiling options or features which I should use to make the clients itself and the dump secure ? Many thanks for your opinion Regards
RE: Running AMANDA over the Internet
Actually, an SSH tunnel is one of the least easy VPNs for this because of the many different ports AMANDA can use. Unless you have limitations on what you can install on the boxes, a full VPN (like IPSec, as mentioned in another post) is probably your best bet. The VPN model of point-to-point connections suits well because AMANDA's traffic is also shaped like that, where one of the points is always the server, and the other is a client. If you're really more comfortable with SSH, you could schedule a tar on each client, and follow it with an scp to send the data to the backup server, where it can be written to tape. This would add an extra step to any restore, but doesn't require a VPN. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 11:34 AM To: Bort, Paul Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: Running AMANDA over the Internet I think the easiest way would be to use an SSH tunnel. Would this be easy to implement ? Any examples maybe or pointers on how to acheive that ? Thanks Regards Bort, Paul To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] cc: om Subject: RE: Running AMANDA over the Internet Sent by: owner-amanda-users@ amanda.org 02/05/03 04:20 PM Amanda is a backup manager, not a security manager. There are no steps taken to ensure the security of the backups. Several solutions are available, though: - Use the Kerberos support built in to Amanda. I've never played with this. - Use tar with a wrapper script on the client that encrypts the backup before sending it. You might be able to find samples of this in the list archives. - Use an encrypted VPN (CIPE, FreeSWAN, SSHTunnel) between servers. This is the method I used, because I use the same tunnel for monitoring and file transfers. Search the list, think about what method fits your needs. Feel free to ask more questions. Good Luck. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 9:50 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Running AMANDA over the Internet Hello, Let's take the scenario where I have got an AMANDA server located at one central site and have a few other servers located at various places around the globe which of course all need to be backed up by the centraon site's AMANDA server. My question is now more related about security and how secure it is to run backups over the internet. Is AMANA secure by default to run over the internet or are there any optional compiling options or features which I should use to make the clients itself and the dump secure ? Many thanks for your opinion Regards
