Provided by: amanda-common_3.5.4-2_amd64 
NAME
amanda-auth - Communication/Authentication methods between Amanda server and client
DESCRIPTION
Amanda offers 8 methods of communication between Amanda server (sometimes also called the tape server)
and clients, each with its own authentication method. The desired communication method is specified by
the auth parameter in the amanda.conf file (amanda.conf(5)) commonly as a dumptype. Valid values to the
auth parameter are bsd, bsdudp, bsdtcp, krb5, local, rsh, and ssh. The authentication and communication
method is used during the backup process amdump (amdump(8)) as well as the recovery process amrecover
(amrecover(8)).
COMPILATION AND GENERAL INFORMATION
The communication method and thus type of authentication that will be used by the Amanda server is
specified by the auth parameter in the dumptype for each disklist entry (DLE). The auth parameter thus
may be easily and globally specified in the "global" dumptype. If auth is not specified, the bsdtcp
communication method is used. See amanda.conf(5) for more information on Amanda configuration and
dumptypes, and disklist(5) for more information on disklists.
On the client side, the Amanda daemon amandad validates the connection depending on the value of the auth
argument passed to it (see Amanda(8)). Also, when it comes to recovery, the auth parameter can be
specified in the amanda-client.conf(5) file to specify the communication method to be used by the client
to the server.
When Amanda is being built from source code, desired communication and thus authentication methods (shown
as "Authentication") must be specified as configure options at compilation time.
Authentication Configure option(s)
bsd --with-bsd-security --with-amandahosts (pre-2.6)
bsdtcp --with-bsdtcp-security --with-amandahosts (pre-2.6)
bsdudp --with-bsdudp-security --with-amandahosts (pre-2.6)
krb5 --with-krb5-security
local (always included)
rsh --with-rsh-security
ssh --with-ssh-security
ssl --with-ssl-security
There are additional configure options for bsd, bsdudp, and bsdtcp to allow for specifying explicit UDP
and TCP port ranges.
--with-udpportrange
--with-tcpportrange
--with-low-tcpportrange
See PORT USAGE below for more information.
There are additional configure options for Kerberos 5 if you so desire.
--with-krb5-security=DIR where libkrb.a lives [see below]
If configuring with --with-krb5-security, the configure script will search under /usr/kerberos/lib,
/usr/cygnus/lib, /usr/lib, and /opt/kerberos/lib for the kerberos bits, libkrb.a, in this order. Kerberos
support will not be added if it does not find them. If the kerberos bits are found under some other
hierarchy, you can specify this via --with-krb5-security=DIR where DIR is where the kerberos bits live.
The configure script will then look in the 'lib' directory under this hierarchy for libkrb.a.
The auth parameter selects a communication/authentication method to use between the client and the backup
server. These methods are described each in their own section below.
Usernames
When Amanda is built, a username is specified with the --with-user option. Most Amanda processes run
under this user's identity, to minimize security risks. In binary distributions, this username is usually
one of 'amanda', 'backup', or 'backup'. The examples below use 'backup' since it is unambiguous. You may
need to adjust accordingly for your system.
Authenticated Peer Hostnames
Amanda's authentication mechanisms provide an authenticated hostname of the system on the other end of
the connection, which is used to restrict access to only particular hosts. The degree of "authentication"
performed on this hostname varies with the authentication mechanism, and is discussed below.
BSD, BSDUDP, AND BSDTCP COMMUNICATION AND AUTHENTICATION
For additional information including example configurations, see
http://wiki.zmanda.com/index.php/Configuring_bsd/bsdudp/bsdtcp_authentication.
The bsd, bsdudp, and bsdtcp communication methods use either UDP, TCP, or both protocols operating as a
network service to authenticate and exchange data between server and clients.
The authentication proceeds as follows: for a new, incoming connection, Amanda verifies that the source
port is in the reserved range (less than 1024), which for UNIX hosts suggests that the remote user has
root privileges. Amanda then verifies that the reverse DNS for the remote address matches the forward
DNS; that is, that the address maps to a hostname which maps back to the same address. Finally, the
remote system must provide a username that matches the username in .amandahosts.
In addition to compilation and general configuration (see COMPILATION AND GENERAL INFORMATION above), the
authentication method that the client is configured to receive is specified by the auth parameter in the
network service configuration for Amanda. The authentication method used by an Amanda client to reach the
server during recovery is the authentication method specified by the auth parameter in the client's
Amanda network service configuration or in its amanda-client.conf file (see amanda-client.conf(5)).
By default, Amanda use the "amanda" service name and associated port set in /etc/services. It can be
changed by setting the dumptype client-port option to a different port number or a different service
name. All examples are for the service name "amanda" that uses the default port 10080.
.amandahosts file
Servers and clients using the bsd, bsdudp, and bsdtcp authentication methods refer to the .amandahosts
file to control access. Amanda should be compiled for this access control if one of these methods will be
used and is the default compilation option for Amanda 2.6 (use --with-amandahosts when compiling pre-2.6
versions of Amanda).
Amanda looks for the .amandahosts file in the Amanda user's home directory, commonly /var/lib/amanda.
Each authorization is on its own line in the following format
hostname [ username [ service... ] ]
If username is omitted, it defaults to the user running amandad, i.e. the user listed in the inetd or
xinetd configuration file.
service... is a space-delimited list of services the client is authorized to execute: noop, selfcheck,
sendsize, sendbackup, amdump (a shortcut for the previous four services which are required on clients),
amindexd, and amidxtaped. The last two services are required on a server for clients to connect to it
using amrecover.
If service is omitted, it defaults to noop selfcheck sendsize sendbackup (which is equivalent to amdump).
Example of the .amandahosts file on an Amanda client, where 'backup' is the Amanda dumpuser.
amandaserver.example.com backup amdump
Example of the .amandahosts file on an Amanda server
amandaclient1.example.com root amindexd amidxtaped
bsd communication and authentication
The authentication is done using .amandahosts file in the Amanda user's home directory. The protocol
between Amanda server and client is UDP. The number of disk list entries (DLEs)--number of Amanda
clients--is limited by the UDP packet size. This authentication protocol will use a different port for
each data stream (see PORT USAGE below)
bsdudp communication and authentication
The authentication is done using .amandahosts files in the Amanda user's home directory. It uses UDP
protocol between Amanda server and client for data and hence the number of DLEs is limited by the UDP
packet size. It uses one TCP port to establish the connection and multiplexes all data streams using one
port on the server (see PORT USAGE below).
bsdtcp communication and authentication
The authentication is done using .amandahosts files in the backup user's (for example: backup) home
directory. It uses TCP protocol between Amanda server and client. On the client, two reserved ports are
used. On the server, all data streams are multiplexed to one port (see PORT USAGE below).
USING INETD SERVER
Template for Amanda client inetd service entry
service_name socket_type protocol wait/nowait amanda_backup_user absolute_path_to_amandad amandad server_args
Client example of using bsd authorization for inetd server given Amanda user is "backup":
amanda dgram udp wait backup /path/to/amandad amandad -auth=bsd amdump
The same could be used for bsdudp if specifying -auth=bsdudp instead of -auth=bsd.
Client example of using bsdtcp authorization for inetd server given Amanda user is "backup":
amanda stream tcp nowait backup /path/to/amandad amandad -auth=bsdtcp amdump
amindexd and amidxtaped would typically be added at the end of the line as amandad server arguments for
an Amanda server.
Server example of using bsdtcp authorization for inetd server given Amanda user is "backup":
amanda stream tcp nowait backup /path/to/amandad amandad -auth=bsdtcp amdump amindexd amidxtaped
For Amanda version 2.5.0 and earlier, remember that neither bsdudp nor bsdtcp are supported and the
Amanda daemon amandad accepts no arguments. Because of the latter, amrecover as of Amanda version 2.5.1
is not compatible with 2.5.0 and earlier servers. Thus, servers that are 2.5.0 or earlier must, in
addition to the amanda service, run amindexd and amidxtaped Amanda services as their own network
services, amandaidx and amidxtape, respectively (see below).
There are no compatibility issues if server and clients are all 2.5.0 or earlier. If your server is 2.5.1
or later, you can still have clients that are 2.5.0 and earlier although you must then use bsd
communication/authentication with these clients and must also run amindexd and amidxtaped Amanda services
on the server as their own network services, amandaidx and amidxtape, respectively (see below). If you
have a server that is 2.5.0 and earlier, clients of a later version on which you wish to run amrecover
must use amoldrecover instead and, again, the server must be running the amandaidx and amidxtape network
services.
Example of amindexd and amidxtaped Amanda daemon services configured as their own network services for a
2.5.0 or earlier server or a newer server having 2.5.0 or earlier clients
amandaidx stream tcp nowait backup /usr/local/libexec/amanda/current/amindexd amindexd
amidxtape stream tcp nowait backup /usr/local/libexec/amanda/current/amidxtaped amidxtaped
USING XINETD SERVER
Template for Amanda client xinetd service file
service amanda
{
only_from = Amanda server
socket_type = socket type
protocol = protocol
wait = yes/no
user = amanda backup user
group = amanda backup user group id
groups = yes
server = absolute path to amandad
server_args = amandad server arguments
disable = no
}
The only_from parameter can be used with xinetd but is usually in addition to the primary form of access
control via the .amandahosts file.
Client example of using bsd authorization for xinetd server and for Amanda user "backup":
service amanda
{
only_from = amandaserver.example.com
socket_type = dgram
protocol = udp
wait = yes
user = backup
group = disk
groups = yes
server = /path/to/amandad
server_args = -auth=bsd amdump
disable = no
}
The same could be used for bsdudp if specifying -auth=bsdudp instead of -auth=bsd.
Client example of using bsdtcp authorization for xinetd server and for Amanda user "backup":
service amanda
{
only_from = amandaserver.example.com amandaclient.example.com
socket_type = stream
protocol = tcp
wait = no
user = backup
group = disk
groups = yes
server = /path/to/amandad
server_args = -auth=bsdtcp amdump
disable = no
}
amindexd and amidxtaped would typically be added as additional amandad server_args for an Amanda server.
For Amanda version 2.5.0 and earlier, remember that neither bsdudp nor bsdtcp are supported and the
Amanda daemon amandad accepts no arguments. Because of the latter, amrecover as of Amanda version 2.5.1
is not compatible with 2.5.0 and earlier servers. Thus, servers that are 2.5.0 or earlier must, in
addition to the amanda service, run amindexd and amidxtaped Amanda services as their own network
services, amandaidx and amidxtape, respectively (see below).
There are no compatibility issues if server and clients are all 2.5.0 or earlier. If your server is 2.5.1
or later, you can still have clients that are 2.5.0 and earlier although you must then use bsd
communication/authentication with these clients and must also run amindexd and amidxtaped Amanda services
on the server as their own network services, amandaidx and amidxtape, respectively (see below). If you
have a server that is 2.5.0 and earlier, clients of a later version on which you wish to run amrecover
must use amoldrecover instead and, again, the server must be running the amandaidx and amidxtape network
services.
Example of amindexd and amidxtaped Amanda daemon services configured as their own network services for a
2.5.0 or earlier server or a newer server having 2.5.0 or earlier clients
service amandaidx
{
socket_type = stream
protocol = tcp
wait = no
user = amanda
group = disk
server = /usr/local/libexec/amanda/amindexd
disable = no
}
service amidxtape
{
socket_type = stream
protocol = tcp
wait = no
user = amanda
group = disk
server = /usr/local/libexec/amanda/amidxtaped
disable = no
}
PORT USAGE
List of TCP/UDP ports used by network service communication methods for Amanda server and client.
Key:
UP = Unreserved Port
RPpAP = Reserved Port per Amanda Process
UPpDLE = Unreserved Port per DLE
[..] = Configure options that can be used at compile time to define port ranges
Authentication Protocol Amanda server Amanda client
bsd udp 1 RPpAP [--with-udpportrange] 10080
tcp 1 UP [--with-tcpportrange] 3 UPpDLE [--with-tcpportrange]
bsdudp udp 1 RPpAP [--with-udpportrange] 10080
tcp 1 UP [-with-tcpportrange] 1 UPpDLE [--with-tcpportrange]
bsdtcp tcp 1 RPpAP [--with-low-tcpportrange] 10080
Amanda server also uses two ports (dumper process) to communicate with the chunker/taper processes. These
ports are in the range set by --with-tcpportrange.
You can override the default port ranges that Amanda was compiled with in each configuration using the
reserved-udp-port, reserved-tcp-port, and unreserved-tcp-port parameters in amanda.conf and
amanda-client.conf configuration files (see amanda.conf(5) and amanda-client.conf(5)).
Authenticated Peer Hostnames with BSD Authentications
The BSD authentication mechanisms only verify that the remote host's DNS is configured correctly and that
the remote user has access to reserved ports. As such, the peer hostname should only be trusted to the
extent that the local DNS service is trusted.
KERBEROS COMMUNICATION AND AUTHENTICATION
For more detail, see http://wiki.zmanda.com/index.php/Kerberos_authentication.
Amanda supports Kerberos 5 communication methods between Amanda server and client.
General information including compilation are given above (see COMPILATION AND GENERAL INFORMATION
above).
Kerberos 5 uses TCP and the server uses only one TCP port and data streams are multiplexed to this port.
The krb5 driver script defaults to:
/*
* The lifetime of our tickets in minutes.
*/
#define AMANDA_TKT_LIFETIME (12*60)
/*
* The name of the service in /etc/services.
*/
#define AMANDA_KRB5_SERVICE_NAME "k5amanda"
You can currently only override these by editing the source code.
The kerberized AMANDA service uses a different port on the client hosts. The /etc/services line is:
k5amanda 10082/tcp
And the /etc/inetd.conf line is:
k5amanda stream tcp nowait root /usr/local/libexec/amanda/amandad amandad -auth=krb5
Note that you're running this as root, rather than as your dump user. AMANDA will set its UID down to the
dump user at times it doesn't need to read the keytab file, and give up root permissions entirely before
it goes off and runs dump. Alternately you can change your keytab files to be readable by user amanda.
You should understand the security implications of this before changing the permissions on the keytab.
The following dumptype options apply to krb5:
auth "krb5" # use krb5 auth for this host
# (you can mingle krb hosts and bsd .rhosts in one conf)
The principal and keytab files that Amanda uses must be set in the amanda.conf file for kerberos 5 dumps
to work. You can hardcode this in the source code if you really want to (common-src/krb5-security.c)
krb5keytab
krb5principal
For example:
krb5keytab "/etc/krb5.keytab-amanda"
krb5principal "amanda/saidin.omniscient.com"
The principal in the second option must be contained in the first. The keytab should be readable by the
amanda user (and definitely not world readable!) and is (obviously) on the server. In MIT's kadmin, the
following:
addprinc -randkey amanda/saidin.omniscient.com
ktadd -k /etc/krb5.keytab-amanda amanda/saidin.omniscient.com
will do the trick. You will obviously want to change the principal name to reflect something appropriate
for the conventions at your site.
You must also configure each client to allow the amanda principal in for dumps.
There are several ways to go about authorizing a server to connect to a client.
The normal way is via a .k5amandausers file or a .k5login file in the client user's home directory. The
determination of which file to use is based on the way you ran configure on AMANDA. By default, AMANDA
will use .k5amandahosts, but if you configured with --without-amandahosts, AMANDA will use .k5login.
(similar to the default for .rhosts/.amandahosts-style security). The .k5login file syntax is a superset
of the default krb5 .k5login. The routines to check it are implemented in amanda rather than using
krb5_kuserok because the connections are actually gssapi based.
This .k5amandahosts/.k5login is a hybrid of the .amandahosts and a .k5login file. You can just list
principal names, as in a .k5login file and the principal will be permitted in from any host. If you do
NOT specify a realm, then there is no attempt to validate the realm (this is only really a concern if you
have cross-realm authentication set up with another realm or something else that allows you multiple
realms in your kdc. If you do specify a realm, only that principal@realm will be permitted to connect.
You may prepend this with a hostname and whitespace, and only that principal (with optional realm as
above) will be permitted to access from that hostname.
Here are examples of valid entries in the .k5amandahosts:
service/amanda
service/amanda@TEST.COM
dumpmaster.test.com service/amanda
dumpmaster.test.com service/amanda@TEST.COM
Rather than using a .k5amandahosts or .k5login file, the easiest way is to use a principal named after
the destination user, (such as amanda@TEST.COM in our example) and not have either a .k5amandahosts or
.k5login file in the destination user's home directory.
There is no attempt to verify the realm in this case (only a concern if you have cross-realm
authentication setup).
Authenticated Peer Hostnames with Kerberos Authentication
When accepting a new incoming connection, the Kerberos authentication mechanism performs a similar check
to that done by the BSD authentications: the forward and reverse DNS entries for the remote host must
match. As such, while Kerberos authentication can cryptographically ensure that the remote system is
recognized (since it has a ticket), its assurances about the remote host's identity are weaker and depend
on the integrity of the DNS.
LOCAL COMMUNICATION
The Amanda server communicates with the client internally versus over the network, ie. the client is also
the server.
This is the only method that requires no authentication as it is clearly not needed.
The authenticated peer hostname for this authentication will be as reported by gethostname if that
succeeds, or the fixed string localhost otherwise.
This method requires the host name in the DLE to be one that refers to this host. Any name for which
gataddrinfo is able to return at least one address usable as the local end of a socket will work.
RSH COMMUNICATION AND AUTHENTICATION
For more detail, see http://wiki.zmanda.com/index.php/Configuring_rsh_authentication.
The Amanda server communicates with its client as the Amanda user via the RSH protocol.
Please note that RSH protocol itself is insecure and should be used with caution especially on any
servers and clients with public IPs.
Each Amanda client communicates with the server using one TCP port and all data streams from the client
are multiplexed over one port. The number of Amanda clients is limited by the number of reserved ports
available on the Amanda server. Some versions of RSH do not use reserved ports and, thus, this
restriction is not valid.
General information including compilation is given above (see COMPILATION AND GENERAL INFORMATION above).
In addition to specifying the auth field in dumptype definition, it might be required to specify
client-username and amandad fields. If the backup user name is different on the Amanda client, the user
name is specified as client-username. If the location of the Amanda daemon amandad is different on the
Amanda client, the location is specified as amandad-path field value.
For example:
define dumptype rsh_example {
...
auth "rsh"
client-username "backup"
amandad-path "/usr/lib/exec/amandad"
...
}
Authenticated Peer Hostnames with RSH Authentication
The RSH authentication mechanism does not provide an authenticated peer hostname.
SSH COMMUNICATION AND AUTHENTICATION
For more detail, see http://wiki.zmanda.com/index.php/How_To:Set_up_transport_encryption_with_SSH.
Amanda client sends data to the server using SSH. SSH keys have to be set up so that Amanda server can
communicate with its clients using SSH.
General information including compilation is given above (see COMPILATION AND GENERAL INFORMATION above).
SSH provides transport encryption and authentication. To set up an SSH authentication session, Amanda
will run the equivalent of the following to start the backup process.
/path/to/ssh -l user_name client.zmanda.com $libexecdir/amandad
To use SSH, you need to set up SSH keys either by storing the passphrase in cleartext, using ssh-agent,
or using no passphrase at all. All of these options have security implications which should be carefully
considered before adoption.
When you use a public key on the client to do data encryption (see
http://wiki.zmanda.com/index.php/How_To:Set_up_data_encryption), you can lock away the private key in a
secure place. Both, transport and storage will be encrypted with such a setup. See
http://wiki.zmanda.com/index.php/Encryption for an overview of encryption options.
Enable SSH authentication and set the ssh-keys option in all DLEs for that host by adding the following
to the DLE itself or to the corresponding dumptype in amanda.conf:
auth "ssh"
ssh-keys "/home/backup/.ssh/id_rsa_amdump"
ssh-keys is the path to the private key on the client. If the username to which Amanda should connect is
different from the default, then you should also add
client-username "otherusername"
If your server amandad path and client amandad path are different, you should also add
amandad-path "/client/amandad/path"
Include the keys used for AMANDA in the clients' authorized_keys file, prepended with the following
options:
from="amanda_server.your.domain.com",no-port-forwarding,no-X11-forwarding,no-agent-forwarding,command="/absolute/path/to/amandad -auth=ssh amdump" ssh-rsa AAAB3..
This will limit that key to connect only from Amanda server and only be able to execute amandad(8). This
avoids several attacks that are possible if the no options are specified in the authorized_keys file.
In the same way, prepend the key used for AMANDA in the server's authorized_keys file with:
from="amanda_client.your.domain.com",no-port-forwarding,no-X11-forwarding,no-agent-forwarding,command="/absolute/path/to/amandad -auth=ssh amindexd amidxtaped"
You can omit the from=.. option if you have too many clients to list, although this has obvious security
implications.
Set ssh-keys and any other necessary options in /etc/amanda/amanda_client.conf:
auth "ssh"
ssh-keys "/root/.ssh/id_rsa_amrecover"
client-username "amanda"
amandad-path "/server/amandad/path"
Besides user keys, SSH uses host keys to uniquely identify each host, to prevent one host from
impersonating another. Unfortunately, the only easy way to set up these host keys is to make a connection
and tell SSH that you trust the identity:
$ ssh client1.zmanda.com
The authenticity of host 'client1.zmanda.com (192.168.10.1)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is 26:4e:df:a2:be:c8:cb:20:1c:68:8b:cc:c0:3b:8e:9d.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?yes
As Amanda will not answer this question itself, you must manually make every connection (server to client
and client to server) that you expect Amanda to make. Note that you must use the same username that
Amanda will use (that is, ssh client and ssh client.domain.com are distinct).
Authenticated Peer Hostnames with SSH Authentication
When accepting an incoming connection, the SSH daemon gives Amanda information about the remote system in
the $SSH_CONNECTION environment variable. Amanda parses this information to determine the remote address,
and then performs a similar check to that done by the BSD authentications: the forward and reverse DNS
entries for the remote host must match. As such, while SSH authentication can cryptographically ensure
that the remote system is recognized (since it had a recognized secret key), its assurances about the
remote host's identity are weaker and depend on the integrity of the DNS.
SSL COMMUNICATION AND AUTHENTICATION
See amanda-auth-ssl(7)
SEE ALSO
amanda(8), amanda-auth-ssl(7), amanda.conf(5), amanda-client.conf(5), disklist(5), amdump(8),
amrecover(8)
The Amanda Wiki: : http://wiki.zmanda.com/
AUTHORS
Jean-Louis Martineau <martineau@zmanda.com>
Zmanda, Inc. (http://www.zmanda.com)
Dustin J. Mitchell <dustin@zmanda.com>
Zmanda, Inc. (http://www.zmanda.com)
Paul Yeatman <pyeatman@zmanda.com>
Zmanda, Inc. (http://www.zmanda.com)
Amanda 3.5.4 01/25/2025 AMANDA-AUTH(7)