syncthing/protocol/PROTOCOL.md

30 KiB

Block Exchange Protocol v1

Introduction and Definitions

BEP is used between two or more devices thus forming a cluster. Each device has one or more folders of files described by the local model, containing metadata and block hashes. The local model is sent to the other devices in the cluster. The union of all files in the local models, with files selected for highest change version, forms the global model. Each device strives to get its folders in sync with the global model by requesting missing or outdated blocks from the other devices in the cluster.

File data is described and transferred in units of blocks, each being 128 KiB (131072 bytes) in size.

The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119.

Transport and Authentication

BEP is deployed as the highest level in a protocol stack, with the lower level protocols providing encryption and authentication.

+-----------------------------|
|   Block Exchange Protocol   |
|-----------------------------|
| Encryption & Auth (TLS 1.2) |
|-----------------------------|
|             TCP             |
|-----------------------------|
v             ...             v

The encryption and authentication layer SHALL use TLS 1.2 or a higher revision. A strong cipher suite SHALL be used, with "strong cipher suite" being defined as being without known weaknesses and providing Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS). Examples of strong cipher suites are given at the end of this document. This is not to be taken as an exhaustive list of allowed cipher suites but represents best practices at the time of writing.

The exact nature of the authentication is up to the application, however it SHALL be based on the TLS certificate presented at the start of the connection. Possibilities include certificates signed by a common trusted CA, preshared certificates, preshared certificate fingerprints or certificate pinning combined with some out of band first verification. The reference implementation uses preshared certificate fingerprints (SHA-256) referred to as "Device IDs".

There is no required order or synchronization among BEP messages except as noted per message type - any message type may be sent at any time and the sender need not await a response to one message before sending another. Responses MUST however be sent in the same order as the requests are received.

The underlying transport protocol MUST be TCP.

Messages

Every message starts with one 32 bit word indicating the message version, type and ID, followed by the length of the message. The header is in network byte order, i.e. big endian.

 0                   1                   2                   3
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|  Ver  |       Message ID      |      Type     |   Reserved  |C|
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                            Length                             |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

For BEP v1 the Version field is set to zero. Future versions with incompatible message formats will increment the Version field. A message with an unknown version is a protocol error and MUST result in the connection being terminated. A client supporting multiple versions MAY retry with a different protocol version upon disconnection.

The Message ID is set to a unique value for each transmitted request message. In response messages it is set to the Message ID of the corresponding request message. The uniqueness requirement implies that no more than 4096 messages may be outstanding at any given moment. The ordering requirement implies that a response to a given message ID also means that all preceding messages have been received, specifically those which do not otherwise demand a response. Hence their message ID:s may be reused.

The Type field indicates the type of data following the message header and is one of the integers defined below. A message of an unknown type is a protocol error and MUST result in the connection being terminated.

The Compression bit "C" indicates the compression used for the message.

For C=1:

  • The Length field contains the length, in bytes, of the compressed message data plus a four byte uncompressed length field.

  • The compressed message data is preceeded by a 32 bit field denoting the length of the uncompressed message.

  • The message data is compressed using the LZ4 format and algorithm described in https://code.google.com/p/lz4/.

For C=0:

  • The Length field contains the length, in bytes, of the uncompressed message data.

  • The message is not compressed.

All data within the message (post decompression, if compression is in use) MUST be in XDR (RFC 1014) encoding. All fields shorter than 32 bits and all variable length data MUST be padded to a multiple of 32 bits. The actual data types in use by BEP, in XDR naming convention, are the following:

  • (unsigned) int -- (unsigned) 32 bit integer
  • (unsigned) hyper -- (unsigned) 64 bit integer
  • opaque<> -- variable length opaque data
  • string<> -- variable length string

The transmitted length of string and opaque data is the length of actual data, excluding any added padding. The encoding of opaque<> and string<> are identical, the distinction being solely one of interpretation. Opaque data should not be interpreted but can be compared bytewise to other opaque data. All strings MUST use the Unicode UTF-8 encoding, normalization form C.

Cluster Config (Type = 0)

This informational message provides information about the cluster configuration as it pertains to the current connection. A Cluster Config message MUST be the first message sent on a BEP connection. Additional Cluster Config messages MUST NOT be sent after the initial exchange.

Graphical Representation

ClusterConfigMessage Structure:

 0                   1                   2                   3
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                     Length of ClientName                      |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
/                                                               /
\                 ClientName (variable length)                  \
/                                                               /
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                    Length of ClientVersion                    |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
/                                                               /
\                ClientVersion (variable length)                \
/                                                               /
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                       Number of Folders                       |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
/                                                               /
\                Zero or more Folder Structures                 \
/                                                               /
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                       Number of Options                       |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
/                                                               /
\                Zero or more Option Structures                 \
/                                                               /
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+


Folder Structure:

 0                   1                   2                   3
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                         Length of ID                          |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
/                                                               /
\                     ID (variable length)                      \
/                                                               /
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                       Number of Devices                       |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
/                                                               /
\                Zero or more Device Structures                 \
/                                                               /
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+


Device Structure:

 0                   1                   2                   3
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                         Length of ID                          |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
/                                                               /
\                     ID (variable length)                      \
/                                                               /
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                             Flags                             |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                                                               |
+                  Max Local Version (64 bits)                  +
|                                                               |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+


Option Structure:

 0                   1                   2                   3
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                         Length of Key                         |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
/                                                               /
\                     Key (variable length)                     \
/                                                               /
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                        Length of Value                        |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
/                                                               /
\                    Value (variable length)                    \
/                                                               /
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Fields

The ClientName and ClientVersion fields identify the implementation. The values SHOULD be simple strings identifying the implementation name, as a user would expect to see it, and the version string in the same manner. An example ClientName is "syncthing" and an example ClientVersion is "v0.7.2". The ClientVersion field SHOULD follow the patterns laid out in the Semantic Versioning standard.

The Folders field lists all folders that will be synchronized over the current connection. Each folder has a list of participating Devices. Each device has an associated Flags field to indicate the sharing mode of that device for the folder in question. See the discussion on Sharing Modes.

The Device Flags field contains the following single bit flags:

 0                   1                   2                   3
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|          Reserved         |Pri|          Reserved       |I|R|T|
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
  • Bit 31 ("T", Trusted) is set for devices that participate in trusted mode.

  • Bit 30 ("R", Read Only) is set for devices that participate in read only mode.

  • Bit 29 ("I", Introducer) is set for devices that are trusted as cluster introducers.

  • Bits 16 through 28 are reserved and MUST be set to zero.

  • Bits 14-15 ("Pri) indicate the device's upload priority for this folder. Possible values are:

    • 00: The default. Normal priority.

    • 01: High priority. Other devices SHOULD favour requesting files from this device over devices with normal or low priority.

    • 10: Low priority. Other devices SHOULD avoid requesting files from this device when they are available from other devices.

    • 11: Sharing disabled. Other devices SHOULD NOT request files from this device.

  • Bits 0 through 14 are reserved and MUST be set to zero.

Exactly one of the T and R bits MUST be set.

The per device Max Local Version field contains the highest local file version number of the files already known to be in the index sent by this device. If nothing is known about the index of a given device, this field MUST be set to zero. When receiving a Cluster Config message with a non-zero Max Local Version for the local device ID, a device MAY elect to send an Index Update message containing only files with higher local version numbers in place of the initial Index message.

The Options field contain option values to be used in an implementation specific manner. The options list is conceptually a map of Key => Value items, although it is transmitted in the form of a list of (Key, Value) pairs, both of string type. Key ID:s are implementation specific. An implementation MUST ignore unknown keys. An implementation MAY impose limits on the length keys and values. The options list may be used to inform devices of relevant local configuration options such as rate limiting or make recommendations about request parallelism, device priorities, etc. An empty options list is valid for devices not having any such information to share. Devices MAY NOT make any assumptions about peers acting in a specific manner as a result of sent options.

XDR

struct ClusterConfigMessage {
    string ClientName<>;
    string ClientVersion<>;
    Folder Folders<>;
    Option Options<>;
}

struct Folder {
    string ID<>;
    Device Devices<>;
}

struct Device {
    string ID<>;
    unsigned int Flags;
    unsigned hyper MaxLocalVersion;
}

struct Option {
    string Key<>;
    string Value<>;
}

Index (Type = 1) and Index Update (Type = 6)

The Index and Index Update messages define the contents of the senders folder. An Index message represents the full contents of the folder and thus supersedes any previous index. An Index Update amends an existing index with new information, not affecting any entries not included in the message. An Index Update MAY NOT be sent unless preceded by an Index, unless a non-zero Max Local Version has been announced for the given folder by the peer device.

An Index or Index Update message MUST be sent for each folder included in the Cluster Config message, and MUST be sent before any other message referring to that folder. A device with no data to advertise MUST send an empty Index message (a file list of zero length). If the folder contents change from non-empty to empty, an empty Index message MUST be sent. There is no response to the Index message.

Graphical Representation

IndexMessage Structure:

 0                   1                   2                   3
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                       Length of Folder                        |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
/                                                               /
\                   Folder (variable length)                    \
/                                                               /
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                        Number of Files                        |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
/                                                               /
\               Zero or more FileInfo Structures                \
/                                                               /
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+


FileInfo Structure:

 0                   1                   2                   3
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                        Length of Name                         |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
/                                                               /
\                    Name (variable length)                     \
/                                                               /
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                             Flags                             |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                                                               |
+                      Modified (64 bits)                       +
|                                                               |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                                                               |
+                       Version (64 bits)                       +
|                                                               |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                                                               |
+                    Local Version (64 bits)                    +
|                                                               |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                       Number of Blocks                        |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
/                                                               /
\               Zero or more BlockInfo Structures               \
/                                                               /
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+


BlockInfo Structure:

 0                   1                   2                   3
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                             Size                              |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                        Length of Hash                         |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
/                                                               /
\                    Hash (variable length)                     \
/                                                               /
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Fields

The Folder field identifies the folder that the index message pertains to. For single folder implementations the device MAY send an empty folder ID or use the string "default".

The Name is the file name path relative to the folder root. Like all strings in BEP, the Name is always in UTF-8 NFC regardless of operating system or file system specific conventions. The Name field uses the slash character ("/") as path separator, regardless of the implementation's operating system conventions. The combination of Folder and Name uniquely identifies each file in a cluster.

The Version field is the value of a cluster wide Lamport clock indicating when the change was detected. The clock ticks on every detected and received change. The combination of Folder, Name and Version uniquely identifies the contents of a file at a given point in time.

The Local Version field is the value of a device local monotonic clock at the time of last local database update to a file. The clock ticks on every local database update.

The Flags field is made up of the following single bit flags:

 0                   1                   2                   3
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|              Reserved           |P|I|D|   Unix Perm. & Mode   |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
  • The lower 12 bits hold the common Unix permission and mode bits. An implementation MAY ignore or interpret these as is suitable on the host operating system.

  • Bit 19 ("D") is set when the file has been deleted. The block list SHALL be of length zero and the modification time indicates the time of deletion or, if the time of deletion is not reliably determinable, the last known modification time.

  • Bit 18 ("I") is set when the file is invalid and unavailable for synchronization. A peer MAY set this bit to indicate that it can temporarily not serve data for the file.

  • Bit 17 ("P") is set when there is no permission information for the file. This is the case when it originates on a non-permission- supporting file system. Changes to only permission bits SHOULD be disregarded on files with this bit set. The permissions bits MUST be set to the octal value 0666.

  • Bit 0 through 16 are reserved for future use and SHALL be set to zero.

The hash algorithm is implied by the Hash length. Currently, the hash MUST be 32 bytes long and computed by SHA256.

The Modified time is expressed as the number of seconds since the Unix Epoch (1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC).

In the rare occasion that a file is simultaneously and independently modified by two devices in the same cluster and thus end up on the same Version number after modification, the Modified field is used as a tie breaker (higher being better), followed by the hash values of the file blocks (lower being better).

The Blocks list contains the size and hash for each block in the file. Each block represents a 128 KiB slice of the file, except for the last block which may represent a smaller amount of data.

XDR

struct IndexMessage {
    string Folder<>;
    FileInfo Files<>;
}

struct FileInfo {
    string Name<>;
    unsigned int Flags;
    hyper Modified;
    unsigned hyper Version;
    unsigned hyper LocalVer;
    BlockInfo Blocks<>;
}

struct BlockInfo {
    unsigned int Size;
    opaque Hash<>;
}

Request (Type = 2)

The Request message expresses the desire to receive a data block corresponding to a part of a certain file in the peer's folder.

Graphical Representation

RequestMessage Structure:

 0                   1                   2                   3
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                       Length of Folder                        |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
/                                                               /
\                   Folder (variable length)                    \
/                                                               /
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                        Length of Name                         |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
/                                                               /
\                    Name (variable length)                     \
/                                                               /
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                                                               |
+                       Offset (64 bits)                        +
|                                                               |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                             Size                              |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Fields

The Folder and Name fields are as documented for the Index message. The Offset and Size fields specify the region of the file to be transferred. This SHOULD equate to exactly one block as seen in an Index message.

XDR

struct RequestMessage {
    string Folder<>;
    string Name<>;
    unsigned hyper Offset;
    unsigned int Size;
}

Response (Type = 3)

The Response message is sent in response to a Request message.

Graphical Representation

 0                   1                   2                   3
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                        Length of Data                         |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
/                                                               /
\                    Data (variable length)                     \
/                                                               /
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Fields

The Data field contains either a full 128 KiB block, a shorter block in the case of the last block in a file, or is empty (zero length) if the requested block is not available.

XDR

struct ResponseMessage {
    opaque Data<>
}

Ping (Type = 4)

The Ping message is used to determine that a connection is alive, and to keep connections alive through state tracking network elements such as firewalls and NAT gateways. The Ping message has no contents.

Pong (Type = 5)

The Pong message is sent in response to a Ping. The Pong message has no contents, but copies the Message ID from the Ping.

Close (Type = 7)

The Close message MAY be sent to indicate that the connection will be torn down due to an error condition. A Close message MUST NOT be followed by further messages.

Graphical Representation

 0                   1                   2                   3
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                       Length of Reason                        |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
/                                                               /
\                   Reason (variable length)                    \
/                                                               /
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Fields

The Reason field contains a human description of the error condition, suitable for consumption by a human.

struct CloseMessage {
    string Reason<1024>;
}

Sharing Modes

Trusted

Trusted mode is the default sharing mode. Updates are exchanged in both directions.

+------------+     Updates      /---------\
|            |  ----------->   /           \
|   Device   |                 |  Cluster  |
|            |  <-----------   \           /
+------------+     Updates      \---------/

Read Only

In read only mode, a device does not synchronize the local folder to the cluster, but publishes changes to its local folder contents as usual. The local folder can be seen as a "master copy" that is never affected by the actions of other cluster devices.

+------------+     Updates      /---------\
|            |  ----------->   /           \
|   Device   |                 |  Cluster  |
|            |                 \           /
+------------+                  \---------/

Message Limits

An implementation MAY impose reasonable limits on the length of message fields to aid robustness in the face of corruption or broken implementations. These limits, if imposed, SHOULD NOT be more restrictive than the following:

Index and Index Update Messages

  • Folder: 64 bytes
  • Number of Files: 10.000.000
  • Name: 1024 bytes
  • Number of Blocks: 1.000.000
  • Hash: 64 bytes

Request Messages

  • Folder: 64 bytes
  • Name: 1024 bytes

Response Messages

  • Data: 256 KiB

Options Message

  • Number of Options: 64
  • Key: 64 bytes
  • Value: 1024 bytes

Example Exchange

      A            B
 1. Index->      <-Index
 2. Request->
 3. Request->
 4. Request->
 5. Request->
 6.         <-Response
 7.         <-Response
 8.         <-Response
 9.         <-Response
10. Index Update->
    ...
11. Ping->
12.            <-Pong

The connection is established and at 1. both peers send Index records. The Index records are received and both peers recompute their knowledge of the data in the cluster. In this example, peer A has four missing or outdated blocks. At 2 through 5 peer A sends requests for these blocks. The requests are received by peer B, who retrieves the data from the folder and transmits Response records (6 through 9). Device A updates their folder contents and transmits an Index Update message (10). Both peers enter idle state after 10. At some later time 11, peer A determines that it has not seen data from B for some time and sends a Ping request. A response is sent at 12.

Examples of Strong Cipher Suites

  • 0x009F DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (TLSv1.2 DH RSA AESGCM(256) AEAD)
  • 0x006B DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA256 (TLSv1.2 DH RSA AES(256) SHA256)
  • 0xC030 ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (TLSv1.2 ECDH RSA AESGCM(256) AEAD)
  • 0xC028 ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384 (TLSv1.2 ECDH RSA AES(256) SHA384)
  • 0x009E DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 (TLSv1.2 DH RSA AESGCM(128) AEAD)
  • 0x0067 DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256 (TLSv1.2 DH RSA AES(128) SHA256)
  • 0xC02F ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 (TLSv1.2 ECDH RSA AESGCM(128) AEAD)
  • 0xC027 ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256 (TLSv1.2 ECDH RSA AES(128) SHA256)