[Opensim-users] Grid Security

Justin Clark-Casey jjustincc at googlemail.com
Wed Oct 10 00:53:32 UTC 2012


I'm rather surprised this isn't the default.  Does it work okay?  If so, I may make it the default soon unless there are 
good counterarguments.

At the moment, kick can be performed using the "kick user" command on the simulator console.  I haven't used banning 
facilities from the viewer itself so I can't comment on how well they are working.

Unfortunately, there's currently no good way of kicking a user without first knowing which simulator they are on.

On 09/10/12 15:20, Joshua Rubeck wrote:
> Found out that MaxPrims are only honored in regions.ini if the Module PrimLimitsModule is activated in permissions in
> the OpenSim.ini.
>
> Right now I am still trying to figure out how to force the software to kick or ban someone from a region. That seems to
> be a pretty big hole but I dont know if there is something in the configuration I am missing or what. I know some of the
> god tools are not working, wondering if this is related at all, but probably not.
>
> On Mon, Oct 8, 2012 at 9:17 PM, Justin Clark-Casey <jjustincc at googlemail.com <mailto:jjustincc at googlemail.com>> wrote:
>
>     Prim limits should be respected when set in Regions.ini.  If not, then that's a reportable bug.
>
>     You can also set prim limits per parcel in the viewer which is a different mechanism.
>
>
>     On 08/10/12 13:15, James Stallings II wrote:
>
>         To summarize:
>
>         - No SQL server needs to be accessible over the network except in the event of a 'special case' (e.g., an
>         externally-hosted web front end).
>         - No other ports but 8002 in a standard or default ROBUST configuration need be accessible to the viewer-based
>         end user.
>         - The keys were removed by consensus because they provided *no* security.
>
>         Joshua:
>         Use the similar settings in the OpenSim.ini file, the one's in the Region.ini file should be removed.
>
>
>         Cheers
>         James/Hiro
>         http://SimHost.com
>
>
>         On Mon, Oct 8, 2012 at 3:01 AM, Joshua Rubeck <jrubeck1989 at gmail.com <mailto:jrubeck1989 at gmail.com>
>         <mailto:jrubeck1989 at gmail.com <mailto:jrubeck1989 at gmail.com>>__> wrote:
>
>              Thanks for the info guys, that was very helpful. One of the other things we were having issues with is the
>         MaxPrims
>              setting in the region INI files. Clearly this setting is available, however it does not appear to work. I
>         am sure on
>              my grids this is not an issue after all OpenSimulator is usually used to eliminate many of the restrictions
>         SL has.
>              However for us we are trying to follow the same style of region and prims counts as SL for the sole reason
>         that it
>              appears to be more cost effective in terms of resources. I mean we can have more regions on Server A if
>         each region
>              is limited to 15k prim, where as Server B can only host a few safely without thos limitations. Any idea how
>         to make
>              sure the software enforces the max prim limitations?
>
>
>              On Sun, Oct 7, 2012 at 10:12 PM, Tom Haines <hainest at gmail.com <mailto:hainest at gmail.com>
>         <mailto:hainest at gmail.com <mailto:hainest at gmail.com>>> wrote:
>
>                  Blocking port 8003 on the firewall to block unauthorized regions doesn't work if you have an external
>                  organization that hosts a region server that connects to your grid and has OpenSim users both NATing to
>         the same
>                  IP address. And situations like this tend to pop up for political, and not technical reasons, which
>         means there
>                  is little recourse for the grid operator.
>
>                  I've considered SSH tunneling for the 8003 connection, but have not had a chance to experiment.
>
>                  And to confirm, there is no communication directly between viewer and SQL server. The database will,
>         and should
>                  be run unexposed to the end user.
>
>
>                  On Sunday, October 7, 2012, wrote:
>
>                      Further to this i understand there should be no reason for a normal viewer
>                      to talk directly to the SQL server. It is all done via the simulator.
>
>                      As such it would be feasible to set your SQL server to only allow your
>                      OpenSim users to authenticate from servers you run (usually by IP or
>                      FQDN). There should always be a focus on security but I would imagine all
>                      these factors would make it at least very difficult for someone to
>                      casually connect a simulator to your grid even without additional
>                      authentication in OpenSim.
>
>
>
>                       > unless there have been profound recent changes in the OS services
>                       > connectors structure that i've failed to notice (which is QUITE
>                       > possible), all end-user accessibility is handled by port 8002 and the
>                       > rest (connection services) is governed by port 8003 (in a standard
>                       > ROBUST based grid setup).  therefore, placing :8003 behind your firewall
>                       > (thus preventing 'unauthorized' outside users from attaching to your
>                       > grid services) should not interfere with public/open access via viewers
>                       > on :8002 which would remain outside the firewall.  afaik, this is the
>                       > only reliable and in my experience completely effective solution to the
>                       > problem.
>                       >
>                       > i also believe the security key function was removed by concensus as it
>                       > didn't provide any hardcore security.
>                       >
>                       > hope this helps and is remotely correct in it's technical assumptions -
>                       > or at least follows the path your concerns and argument were headed...
>                       >
>                       > - core
>                       >
>                       > On 10/7/2012 11:50 AM, Tom Haines wrote:
>                       >> I disagree that this should not be considered a concern. Under this
>                       >> security model, anyone with the information to connect to the grid as
>                       >> a user has enough information to connect a region to the grid.
>                       >>
>                       >> I am concerned with this as an operator of an educational grid. We
>                       >> offer our services to students and educators with the understanding
>                       >> that we can limit the objectionable content they would be exposed to
>                       >> in SL or other public OpenSim grids. Obviously if anyone can connect
>                       >> their own regions without authorization from the grid operators, our
>                       >> ability to offer this service is compromised.
>                       >>
>                       >> I know there were pass keys used in the past to authenticate regions,
>                       >> but I believe this functionality has been removed. I haven't seen
>                       >> anything on the website regarding this. I've read before that
>                       >> firewalls are the best defense, but this is untenable, since our usage
>                       >> requirements demand controlled access by region operators, but open
>                       >> access to end users from heterogeneous network environments.
>                       >>
>                       >> Could someone weigh in with the official line on this?
>                       >>
>                       >> On Sunday, October 7, 2012, Fleep Tuque wrote:
>                       >>
>                       >>     Hi Josh,
>                       >>
>                       >>     As far as I know, in order to connect a region to your grid,
>                       >>     someone would need to know all the connection details and unless
>                       >>     you provide that information, I'm not sure how anyone would know
>                       >>     how to or be able to connect to your grid.  FleepGrid has been
>                       >>     running for nearly 2 years and I've never seen any attempts to
>                       >>     connect a rogue region as far as I know, so I'm not sure it's much
>                       >>     of a concern.
>                       >>
>                       >>     I'll let someone with more knowledge of the possible configuration
>                       >>     options address any .ini settings that you might be able to use to
>                       >>     disable region connections, but if this is a security issue or
>                       >>     problem, it's the first I've heard of it.
>                       >>
>                       >>     Sincerely,
>                       >>
>                       >>     - Chris/Fleep
>                       >>
>                       >>     Chris M. Collins (SL/OS: Fleep Tuque)
>                       >>     Center for Simulations & Virtual Environments Research (UCSIM)
>                       >>     UCIT Instructional & Research Computing
>                       >>     University of Cincinnati
>                       >>     406A Zimmer Hall
>                       >>     315 College Drive
>                       >>     PO BOX 210088
>                       >>     Cincinnati, OH 45221-0088
>                       >> chris.collins at uc.edu <mailto:chris.collins at uc.edu> <javascript:_e({}, 'cvml',
>                       >>     'chris.collins at uc.edu <mailto:chris.collins at uc.edu>');>
>                       >> (513) 556-3018 <tel:%28513%29%20556-3018> <tel:%28513%29%20556-3018>
>
>                       >>
>                       >> http://ucsim.uc.edu
>                       >>
>                       >>     On Sun, Oct 7, 2012 at 9:52 AM, Joshua Rubeck
>                       >>     <jrubeck1989 at gmail.com <mailto:jrubeck1989 at gmail.com> <javascript:_e({}, 'cvml',
>                       >>     'jrubeck1989 at gmail.com <mailto:jrubeck1989 at gmail.com>');>> wrote:
>                       >>
>                       >>         Okay so here is a question for everyone. Myself and a few
>                       >>         others are setting up a grid for public use, but we do not
>                       >>         want other people to be able to connect their regions on a
>                       >>         home based computer to our grid. One of my friends remembers
>                       >>         that there used to be a setting that would prevent an
>                       >>         opensimulator instance from connectiong to robust without
>                       >>         authentication but I cannot find that in the configuration
>                       >>         files. Is there a configuration that allows us to run a public
>                       >>         grid without other people being able to connect their regions
>                       >>         to our gird.
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>     OSVW Consulting
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-- 
Justin Clark-Casey (justincc)
OSVW Consulting
http://justincc.org
http://twitter.com/justincc



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