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Johnathan Corgan
7493153a89
The tick arm runs twenty-six housekeeping steps in sequence on the one runtime thread, and is polled last, so anything slow in it holds up inbound packets, TUN traffic and control commands behind it. Field evidence says that happens for over a second at a time, but the attribution behind that is two months old and predates the connect-on-send gate, the control read isolation, and the peer lifecycle rework. This measures it rather than continuing to reason about it. Per step it records exact count, max and total into fixed static counters; a dedicated writer thread drains them every ten seconds to a TSV under /var/log/fips, one file per capture, capped at 32 MB. Nothing accumulates: the counters are swapped to zero each interval and the thread holds no history. Arming is `fipsctl profile tick on`, served in the control accept task so the toggle cannot queue behind the very behaviour it measures, and it does not survive a restart. The whole thing is behind a Cargo feature that is off by default, because the risk worth eliminating is the twenty-six edited call sites in the hot loop. With the feature off the macro expands to the bare expression, which makes the default build's neutrality something you read off the generated code rather than something a benchmark fails to disprove. The measurement that matters is how late each tick is against the deadline it was scheduled for, since the arm is polled last and that lateness is the delay. Two earlier designs derived it from the interval between entries and both under-reported: the schedule is fixed, so a steady delay leaves every gap exactly one period and any gap-derived figure reads zero under precisely the sustained overload this is meant to find. The interval hands back its own deadline, so the delay is now a subtraction with no model behind it, and a test drives three late ticks at a constant gap to keep it that way. CI gains a default-features clippy and a feature-on build and test on both runners, closing the gap left by clippy already running with all features.
208 lines
14 KiB
Markdown
208 lines
14 KiB
Markdown
# Control Socket Protocol
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The FIPS daemon and `fips-gateway` each expose a local control socket
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that accepts line-delimited JSON requests and returns line-delimited
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JSON responses. `fipsctl` and `fipstop` are clients of this protocol;
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operators can also drive it directly with any tool that can speak
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length-bounded JSON over a stream socket.
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## Connection
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### Linux / macOS
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A Unix domain socket. The default path is resolved in this order:
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1. `/run/fips/control.sock` (or `/run/fips/gateway.sock` for the
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gateway), if `/run/fips` exists. This is what the `fips.service`
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systemd unit creates.
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2. `$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/fips/control.sock` otherwise.
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3. `/tmp/fips-control.sock` if neither of the above is available.
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The daemon `chown`s the socket file and its parent directory to the
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`fips` group at bind time and sets mode `0770`. Members of the `fips`
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group can therefore connect without root. Add a user with
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`sudo usermod -aG fips $USER` (re-login required).
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The path can be overridden at the daemon side via
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`node.control.socket_path` in the YAML config, and at the client side
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via `fipsctl -s PATH` or `fipstop -s PATH`.
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### Windows
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A TCP listener bound to `127.0.0.1`. The daemon's port is `21210` by
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default; the gateway's is `21211`. Only loopback connections are
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accepted. Override via `node.control.socket_path` (which takes a port
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number string on Windows).
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Windows TCP does not provide filesystem-level ACLs — any local user
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can connect. See the security note in
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[configuration.md](configuration.md#control-socket-nodecontrol).
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## Request Format
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One JSON object per line, terminated by `\n`. Maximum request size is
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4096 bytes; longer requests are dropped with `request too large`.
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```json
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{"command": "<name>", "params": {<object>}}
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```
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| Field | Type | Required | Description |
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| ----- | ---- | -------- | ----------- |
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| `command` | string | yes | Command name. See [Daemon command catalog](#daemon-command-catalog) and [Gateway command catalog](#gateway-command-catalog). |
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| `params` | object | only for commands that take parameters | Parameter object. Unknown fields are ignored; missing required fields produce an error response. |
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Unknown top-level fields in the request are silently ignored.
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## Response Format
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One JSON object per line.
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```json
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{"status": "ok", "data": {<object>}}
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{"status": "error", "message": "<reason>"}
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```
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| Field | Type | When present |
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| ----- | ---- | ------------ |
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| `status` | string | always; one of `"ok"` or `"error"`. |
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| `data` | object | on `ok` responses. |
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| `message` | string | on `error` responses. |
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### I/O timeouts
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The daemon enforces a 5-second timeout for both the request read and
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the response write. If the connection idles longer than that, the
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daemon closes it with no response.
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### Common error messages
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| Message | Cause |
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| ------- | ----- |
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| `empty request` | Connection closed before a newline was received. |
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| `invalid request: <serde error>` | Malformed JSON or missing `command`. |
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| `request too large` | Request exceeded 4096 bytes. |
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| `read timeout` / `read error: ...` | Slow client or transport failure. |
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| `unknown command: <name>` | Command not registered with this daemon. |
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| `missing params for <name>` | Command requires `params` but none were provided. |
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| `missing '<field>' parameter` | Required parameter missing. |
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| `query timeout` | Internal handler did not respond within 5 seconds. |
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| `node shutting down` | Daemon is exiting. |
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| `gateway not yet initialized` | (Gateway socket only) snapshot has not been published yet. |
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## Daemon Command Catalog
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Read-only queries are dispatched in `src/control/queries.rs`;
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mutating commands are dispatched in `src/control/commands.rs`. The
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table below lists every command currently registered.
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### Read-only queries
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| Command | Params | `data` shape (top-level keys) |
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| ------- | ------ | ----------------------------- |
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| `show_status` | — | `version`, `npub`, `node_addr`, `ipv6_addr`, `state`, `is_leaf_only`, `is_root` (bool — this node is the spanning-tree root), `root` (hex node-addr of the current tree root), `persistent` (bool — identity is persisted, i.e. `persistent` set or an `nsec` configured), `peer_count`, `session_count`, `link_count`, `transport_count`, `connection_count`, `transport_peer_counts` (object mapping transport-type name to its connected-peer count; configured transports appear with `0`), `tun_state`, `tun_name`, `effective_ipv6_mtu`, `control_socket`, `pid`, `exe_path`, `uptime_secs`, `estimated_mesh_size`, `forwarding`, `sparklines`. |
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| `show_acl` | — | `allow_file`, `deny_file`, `enforcement_active`, `effective_mode`, `default_decision`, `allow_all`, `deny_all`, `allow_file_entries`, `deny_file_entries`, `allow_entries`, `deny_entries`. |
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| `show_peers` | — | `peers[]` — per-peer object: `node_addr`, `npub`, `display_name`, `ipv6_addr`, `connectivity`, `link_id`, `direction`, `transport_addr`, `transport_type`, `is_parent`, `is_child`, `tree_depth`, `effective_depth` (`tree_depth + link_cost` — the metric `evaluate_parent` ranks on; `null` when the peer has no coords, or is unmeasured while another peer has an SRTT sample, per the cold-start gate), `stats`, `noise`, `current_k_bit`, `mmp`, plus optional `nostr_traversal`, `rekey_in_progress`, `rekey_draining`. |
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| `show_links` | — | `links[]` — `link_id`, `transport_id`, `remote_addr`, `direction`, `state`, `created_at_ms`, `stats`. |
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| `show_tree` | — | `my_node_addr`, `root`, `root_npub` (bech32 npub of the current tree root), `is_root`, `depth`, `my_coords[]`, `parent`, `parent_display_name`, `declaration_sequence`, `declaration_signed`, `peer_tree_count`, `peers[]`, `stats`. |
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| `show_sessions` | — | `sessions[]` — `remote_addr`, `npub`, `display_name`, `state` (`established`, `initiating`, `awaiting_msg3`, `unknown`), `is_initiator`, `last_activity_ms`, `stats`, optional `mmp`, `current_k_bit`, `is_draining`. |
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| `show_bloom` | — | `own_node_addr`, `is_leaf_only`, `sequence`, `leaf_dependent_count`, `leaf_dependents[]`, `peer_filters[]`, `uptree_fill_ratio` (fill ratio of the last filter actually sent to the tree parent), `uptree_estimated_count` (cardinality estimate of that uptree filter — this node's whole subtree under split-horizon, not the mesh; both are `null` for a root node or before the first announce), `stats`. |
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| `show_mmp` | — | `peers[]` (link-layer per peer), `sessions[]` (session-layer per session). Each entry includes loss/RTT/ETX/goodput, smoothed values, trends. |
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| `show_cache` | — | `count`, `max_entries`, `fill_ratio`, `default_ttl_ms`, `expired`, `avg_age_ms`, `entries[]` — per-destination coords, depth, age, last-used, optional `path_mtu`. |
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| `show_connections` | — | `connections[]` — pending handshakes: `link_id`, `direction`, `handshake_state`, `started_at_ms`, `idle_ms`, `resend_count`, optional `expected_peer`. |
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| `show_transports` | — | `transports[]` — `transport_id`, `type`, `state`, `mtu`, `name`, `local_addr`, optional `tor_mode`, `onion_address`, `tor_monitoring`, `stats`. |
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| `show_routing` | — | `coord_cache_entries`, `identity_cache_entries`, `pending_lookups[]`, `pending_tun_destinations`, `pending_tun_packets`, `recent_requests`, `retries[]`, `forwarding`, `discovery` (request/response sub-counters; includes `req_deduplicated` — requests suppressed as recent duplicates — and `req_dedup_cache_full` — requests admitted because the dedup cache was full), `error_signals`, `congestion`. |
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| `show_identity_cache` | — | `entries[]`, `count`, `max_entries`. Each entry: `node_addr`, `npub`, `display_name`, `ipv6_addr`, `last_seen_ms`, `age_ms`. |
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| `show_listening_sockets` | — | `fips0_addr`, `firewall_active` (bool — `inet fips` table loaded), `sockets[]`. Each entry: `proto` (`tcp` / `udp`), `local_addr` (`::` or the node's fd00::/8 address), `port`, `pid` (nullable), `process` (nullable), `wildcard_bind` (bool — `local_addr == ::`), `filter` (`accept` / `drop` / `unknown` / `no_firewall`). Linux-only; returns an empty `sockets[]` on other platforms. |
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| `show_stats_list` | — | `metrics[]` (each with `name`, `unit`, `scope`), `fast_ring_seconds`, `slow_ring_minutes`, `peer_retention_seconds`. |
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| `show_metrics` | — | Flat snapshot of every counter family in the metrics registry: `forwarding`, `discovery`, `tree`, `bloom`, `congestion`, `errors`. Each value is that family's counter snapshot object. Counter-only — gauges/histograms that need the live node are excluded. Served off the main loop. Silent-rejection sites classify their reason as a typed `RejectReason` and increment the matching per-family counter exposed here — see [Rejection reasons](#rejection-reasons). |
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| `show_stats_history` | `metric` (req), `peer` (req for per-peer metrics), `window` (`<N>s` / `<N>m` / `<N>h`, default `10m`), `granularity` (`1s` / `1m`, default `1s`) | A single `Series`: `metric`, `unit`, `granularity_seconds`, `values[]`. |
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| `show_stats_all_history` | `peer` (optional npub), `window`, `granularity` | `granularity_seconds`, `window_seconds`, `peer`, `series[]` (one per metric). |
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| `show_stats_peers` | — | `peers[]`, `count`. Each entry: `npub`, `node_addr`, `display_name`, `is_active`, `first_seen_secs_ago`, `last_contact_secs_ago`. |
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| `show_stats_history_all_peers` | `metric` (req per-peer name), `window`, `granularity` | `metric`, `unit`, `granularity_seconds`, `window_seconds`, `peers[]` (each with `node_addr`, `display_name`, `is_active`, `values[]`). |
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The schema of each query response is pinned by snapshot tests in
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`src/control/snapshots/`; intentional schema changes regenerate those
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fixtures.
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### Rejection reasons
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Silent-rejection paths across the node classify why a message was
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dropped via a typed `RejectReason` rather than only logging it, so the
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*what* of a rejection is visible in the counter snapshots above. The
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top-level reason set has eight families, mirroring the protocol-layer /
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subsystem split of the metrics:
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- **Tree** — spanning-tree `TreeAnnounce` processing rejections.
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- **Bloom** — bloom-filter `FilterAnnounce` processing rejections.
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- **Discovery** — discovery request / response processing rejections.
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- **Handshake** — Noise handshake state-machine rejections.
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- **Session** — FSP session state-machine rejections.
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- **Mmp** — MMP link-layer rejections.
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- **Forwarding** — forwarding-path rejections (no-route, TTL, MTU).
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- **Transport** — transport-layer rejections (admission caps, framing).
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Each rejection increments the corresponding counter in its family's
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stats, surfaced through `show_metrics` (the `tree`, `bloom`,
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`discovery`, and `forwarding` families carry their own counters; the
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`errors` family and the remaining subsystem counters carry the rest).
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The full per-family variant list lives in `src/node/reject.rs`; it is
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not reproduced here to avoid duplicating the source.
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### Mutating commands
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| Command | Required params | Behaviour |
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| ------- | --------------- | --------- |
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| `connect` | `npub` (bech32), `address` (transport endpoint), `transport` (`udp`, `tcp`, `tor`, `nym`, `ethernet`) | Asks the node to dial the peer over the named transport. The named transport must be configured and running. Returns the API result on success or an error string on failure. |
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| `disconnect` | `npub` (bech32) | Asks the node to drop the link to the named peer. |
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Both commands run on the daemon's main task and may block briefly
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while the node mutates its state.
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#### Profiler toggle (`--features profiling` builds only)
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| Command | Params | Behaviour |
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| ------- | ------ | --------- |
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| `profile_tick_on` | `dir` (optional directory path; default `/var/log/fips`) | Creates the capture file, publishes its path, and starts the writer thread. `data`: `state`, `path`, `interval_secs`, `byte_cap`. Errors if a capture is already running (naming the active file) or the directory is unwritable. |
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| `profile_tick_off` | — | Stops the capture, drains once more, joins the writer. `data`: `state`, `stopped`, `stopped_by_cap`, `stopped_by_error`, `path`, `bytes`. |
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| `profile_tick_status` | — | `data`: `state` (`idle` / `running` / `stopped_by_cap` / `stopped_by_error`), `path`, `bytes`, `byte_cap`, `interval_secs`. |
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Unlike `connect` and `disconnect`, these three are served in the
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control accept task rather than on the daemon's main task. All of their
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state is process statics and none of them needs `&mut Node`, so
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routing them through the main loop would only make the toggle queue
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behind the tick body it exists to measure. They are absent from a
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default build, where the daemon answers them as unknown commands.
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## Gateway Command Catalog
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`fips-gateway` exposes a separate control socket with its own command
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set. Dispatch lives in `src/gateway/control.rs`.
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| Command | Params | `data` shape |
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| ------- | ------ | ------------ |
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| `show_gateway` | — | `pool_total`, `pool_allocated`, `pool_active`, `pool_draining`, `pool_free`, `nat_mappings`, `dns_listen`, `uptime_secs`, `pool_cidr`, `lan_interface`, `dns_upstream`, `dns_ttl`, `pool_grace_period`. |
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| `show_mappings` | — | `mappings[]` — `virtual_ip`, `mesh_addr`, `node_addr`, `dns_name`, `state` (`Allocated`, `Active`, `Draining`), `sessions`, `age_secs`, `last_ref_secs`. |
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Until the first snapshot has been published (very early in startup),
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both commands return `gateway not yet initialized`.
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## Driving the Socket Directly
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```sh
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# Linux / macOS
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echo '{"command":"show_status"}' | sudo nc -U /run/fips/control.sock
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# Windows (PowerShell with a TCP-capable tool of your choice)
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```
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The newline at the end of the request is required: the daemon reads
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one line per connection. The connection is closed after the single
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response is written.
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## See also
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- [`fipsctl`](cli-fipsctl.md) — full-featured client.
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- [`fipstop`](cli-fipstop.md) — read-only TUI.
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- [configuration.md](configuration.md) — `node.control.*` keys.
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