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IPSEC_AUTO(8)		      Executable programs		 IPSEC_AUTO(8)

NAME
       ipsec_auto - control automatically-keyed	IPsec connections

SYNOPSIS

       ipsec auto [--showonly] [--asynchronous]
	     [--config configfile] [--verbose] operation connection

       ipsec auto [--showonly] [--asynchronous]
	     [--config configfile] [--verbose] operation connection

EXAMPLES

       ipsec auto { --add | --delete | --replace | --start } connection

       ipsec auto { --up | --down } connection

       ipsec auto { --route | --unroute	| --ondemand } connection

       ipsec auto { --status | --ready }

       ipsec auto [--utc] [--listall | --rereadall] [--rereadsecrets]
	     [--listcerts] [--listpubkeys] [--checkpubkeys] [--listcacerts]
	     [--fetchcrls] [--listcrls]	[--purgeocsp]

       ipsec auto [--utc] [--rereadcerts] connection

DESCRIPTION
       Auto manipulates	automatically-keyed Libreswan IPsec connections,
       setting them up and shutting them down based on the information in the
       IPsec configuration file. In the	normal usage, connection is the	name
       of a connection specification in	the configuration file;	operation is
       --add, --delete,	--replace, --start, --up, --down, --route, --unroute,
       --ondemand, The --ready,	--rereadsecrets, and --status operations do
       not take	a connection name.  Auto generates suitable commands and feeds
       them to a shell for execution.

       The --add operation adds	a connection specification to the internal
       database	within pluto; it will fail if pluto already has	a
       specification by	that name. The --delete	operation deletes a connection
       specification from pluto's internal database (also tearing down any
       connections based on it); The --replace operation is equivalent to
       --delete	(if there is already a loaded connection by the	given name)
       followed	by --add, and is a convenience for updating pluto's internal
       specification to	match an external one. (Note that a --rereadsecrets
       may also	be needed.) The	--start	operation is equivalent	to running
       first with --add	and then with --up, causing same effect	as connection
       configuration option auto=start.

       The --up	operation asks pluto to	establish a connection based on	an
       entry in	its internal database. The --down operation tells pluto	to
       tear down such a	connection.

       Normally, pluto establishes a route to the destination specified	for a
       connection as part of the --up operation. However, the route can	be
       established with	the --route operation. Until and unless	an actual
       connection is established, this discards	any packets sent there,	which
       may be preferable to having them	sent elsewhere based on	a more general
       route (e.g., a default route).

       Normally, pluto's route to a destination	remains	in place when a	--down
       operation is used to take the connection	down (or if connection setup,
       or later	automatic rekeying, fails). This permits establishing a	new
       connection (perhaps using a different specification; the	route is
       altered as necessary) without having a "window" in which	packets	might
       go elsewhere based on a more general route. Such	a route	can be removed
       using the --unroute operation (and is implicitly	removed	by --delete).

       The --ondemand operation	is equivalent to running first with --add and
       then with --route, causing same effect as connection configuration
       option auto=ondemand.

       The --ready operation tells pluto to listen for connection-setup
       requests	from other hosts. Doing	an --up	operation before doing --ready
       on both ends is futile and will not work, although this is now
       automated as part of IPsec startup and should not normally be an	issue.

       The --status operation asks pluto for current connection	status.	The
       output format is	ad-hoc and likely to change.

       The --rereadsecrets operation tells pluto to re-read the
       /usr/local/etc/ipsec.secrets secret-keys	file, which it normally	reads
       only at startup time. (This is currently	a synonym for --ready, but
       that may	change.)

       The --fetchcrls operation reads all certificate revocation list (CRL)
       entries of loaded certificates and tries	to fetch updates for these
       from the	CRL servers.

       The --rereadall operation is equivalent to the execution	of
       --rereadsecrets (in the past there were other kinds of reread
       operations)

       The --listpubkeys operation lists all RSA public	keys either received
       from peers via the IKE protocol embedded	in authenticated certificate
       payloads	or loaded locally using	the rightcert /	leftcert or rightr-
       sasigkey	/ leftrsasigkey	parameters in ipsec.conf(5).

       The --listcerts operation lists all X.509 certificates loaded locally
       using the rightcert and leftcert	parameters in ipsec.conf(5). To	see
       all certificates	in the NSS database, use certutil -d
       /usr/local/etc/ipsec.d -L.

       The --checkpubkeys operation lists all loaded X.509 certificates	that
       are about to expire or have expired.

       The --listcacerts operation lists all X.509 CA certificates contained
       in the NSS database.

       The --listcrls operation	lists all Certificate Revocation Lists (CRLs)
       either loaded locally from the /etc/ipsec.d/crls	directory or fetched
       dynamically from	an HTTP	or LDAP	server.

       The --listall operation is equivalent to	the execution of
       --listpubkeys, --listcerts, --listcacerts, --listcrls.

       The --purgeocsp operation displays --listall and	purges the NSS OCSP
       cache.

       The --showonly option causes auto to show the commands it would run, on
       standard	output,	and not	run them.

       The --asynchronous option, applicable only to the up operation, tells
       pluto to	attempt	to establish the connection, but does not delay	to
       report results. This is especially useful to start multiple connections
       in parallel when	network	links are slow.

       The --verbose option instructs auto to pass through all output from
       ipsec_whack(8), including log output that is normally filtered out as
       uninteresting.

       The --config option specifies a non-standard location for the IPsec
       configuration file (default /etc/ipsec.conf).

       See ipsec.conf(5) for details of	the configuration file.

FILES
	   /etc/ipsec.conf		 default IPSEC configuration file
	   /usr/local/etc/ipsec.d	      X.509 and	Opportunistic Encryption files
	   /var/run/pluto/pluto.ctl Pluto command socket

SEE ALSO
       ipsec.conf(5), ipsec(8),	ipsec_pluto(8),	ipsec_whack(8)

HISTORY
       Originally written for the FreeS/WAN project <https://www.freeswan.org>
       by Henry	Spencer.

BUGS
       Although	an --up	operation does connection setup	on both	ends, --down
       tears only one end of the connection down (although the orphaned	end
       will eventually time out).

       There is	no support for passthrough connections.

       A connection description	that uses %defaultroute	for one	of its nexthop
       parameters but not the other may	be falsely rejected as erroneous in
       some circumstances.

       The exit	status of --showonly does not always reflect errors discovered
       during processing of the	request. (This is fine for human inspection,
       but not so good for use in scripts.)

AUTHOR
       Paul Wouters
	   placeholder to suppress warning

libreswan			  05/13/2025			 IPSEC_AUTO(8)

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