STDISCOSRV(1)

NAME
stdiscosrv - Syncthing Discovery Server

SYNOPSIS

stdiscosrv [-cert=<file>] [-db-dir=<string>] [-debug] [-http] [-key=<string>]
           [-listen=<address>] [-metrics-listen=<address>]
           [-replicate=<peers>] [-replication-listen=<address>]

DESCRIPTION

Syncthing relies on a discovery server to find peers on the internet. Anyone can run a discovery server and point Syncthing installations to it. The Syncthing project also maintains a global cluster for public use.

OPTIONS

-cert=<file>
    Certificate file (default “./cert.pem”).

-db-dir=<string>
    Database directory, where data is stored (default “./discovery.db”).

-debug
    Enable debug output.

-http
    Listen on HTTP (behind an HTTPS proxy).

-key=<file>
    Key file (default “./key.pem”).

-listen=<address>
    Listen address (default “:8443”).

-metrics-listen=<address>
    Prometheus compatible metrics endpoint listen address (default disabled).

-replicate=<peers>
    Replication peers, id@address <id@address>, comma separated

-replication-listen=<address>
    Listen address for incoming replication connections (default “:19200”).

POINTING SYNCTHING AT YOUR DISCOVERY SERVER

By default, Syncthing uses a number of global discovery servers, signified by the entry default in the list of discovery servers. To make Syncthing use your own instance of stdiscosrv, open up Syncthing’s web GUI. Go to settings, Global Discovery Server and add stdiscosrv’s host address to the comma-separated list, e.g. https://disco.example.com:8443/. Note that stdiscosrv uses port 8443 by default. For stdiscosrv to be available over the internet with a dynamic IP address, you will need a dynamic DNS service.

Deprecated since version v0.14.44: Prior versions need /v2/ appended to the discovery server address, e.g. https://disco.example.com:8443/v2/.

If you wish to use only your own discovery server, remove the default entry from the list.

SETTING UP

  Description

This guide assumes that you have already set up Syncthing. If you haven’t yet, head over to getting-started first.

  Installing

Go to releases <https://github.com/syncthing/discosrv/releases> and download the file appropriate for your operating system. Unpacking it will yield a binary called stdiscosrv (or stdiscosrv.exe on Windows). Start this in whatever way you are most comfortable with; double clicking should work in any graphical environment. At first start, stdiscosrv will generate certificate files and database in the current directory unless given flags to the contrary.

  Configuring

NOTE: If you are running an instance of Syncthing on the discovery server, you must either add that instance to other devices using a static address or bind the discovery server and Syncthing instances to different IP addresses.

  Certificates

The discovery server provides service over HTTPS. To ensure secure connections from clients there are three options:

•   Use a CA-signed certificate pair for the domain name you will use for the discovery server. This is like any other HTTPS website; clients will authenticate the server based on its certificate and domain name.

•   Use any certificate pair and let clients authenticate the server based on its “device ID” (similar to Syncthing-to-Syncthing authentication). This option can be used with the certificate automatically generated by the discovery server.

•   Pass the -http flag if the discovery server is behind an SSL-secured reverse proxy. See below for configuration.

    For the first two options, the discovery server must be given the paths to the certificate and key at startup. This isn’t necessary with the http flag:

    $ stdiscosrv -cert=/path/to/cert.pem -key=/path/to/key.pem
    Server device ID is 7DDRT7J-UICR4PM-PBIZYL3-MZOJ7X7-EX56JP6-IK6HHMW-S7EK32W-G3EUPQA

    The discovery server prints its device ID at startup. In case you are using a non CA signed certificate, this device ID (fingerprint) must be given to the clients in the discovery server URL:

    https://disco.example.com:8443/?id=7DDRT7J-UICR4PM-PBIZYL3-MZOJ7X7-EX56JP6-IK6HHMW-S7EK32W-G3EUPQA

    Otherwise, the URL will be:

    https://disco.example.com:8443/

  Replication

The discovery server can be deployed in a redundant, load sharing fashion. In this mode announcements are replicated from the server that receives them to other peer servers and queries can be answered equally by all servers.

Replication connections are encrypted and authenticated using TLS. The certificate is selected by the -cert and -key options and is thus shared with the main discovery API. If the -http mode is used the certificate is not used for client requests but only for replication connections.

Authentication of replication connections is done using Syncthing-style device IDs <https://docs.syncthing.net/dev/device-ids.html#id1> only - CA verification is not available. The device IDs in question are those printed by the discovery server on startup.

Replication connections are unidirectional - announcements are replication from the sender to a listener. In order to have a bidirectional replication relationship between two servers both need to be configured as sender and listener.

As an example, lets assume two discovery servers:

•   Server one is on 192.0.2.20 and has certificate ID I6K…H76

•   Server two is on 192.0.2.55 and has certificate ID MRI…7OK

    In order for both to replicate to the other and thus form a redundant pair, use the following commands.

    On server one:

    $ stdiscosrv -replicate=MRI...7OK@192.0.2.55:19200 <other options>

    On server two:

    $ stdiscosrv -replicate=I6K...H76@192.0.2.20:19200 <other options>

    The -replicate directive sets which remote device IDs are expected and allowed for both outgoing (sending) and incoming (listening) connections, and which addresses to use when connecting out to those peers. Both IP and port must be specified in peer addresses.

    It is possible to only allow incoming connections from a peer without establishing an outgoing replication connection. To do so, give only the device ID without “@ip:port” address:

    $ stdiscosrv -replicate=I6K...H76 <other options>

    Discosrv will listen on the replication port only when -replicate is given. The default replication listen address is “:19200”.

    To achieve load balancing over two mutually replicating discovery server instances, add multiple A / AAAA DNS records for a given name and point Syncthing towards this name. The same certificate must be used on both discovery servers.

  Reverse Proxy Setup

The discovery server can be run behind an SSL-secured reverse proxy. This allows:

•   Use of a subdomain name without requiring a port number added to the URL

•   Sharing an SSL certificate with multiple services on the same server

  Requirements

•   Run the discovery server using the -http flag stdiscosrv -http.

•   SSL certificate/key configured for the reverse proxy

•   The “X-Forwarded-For” http header must be passed through with the client’s real IP address

•   The “X-SSL-Cert” must be passed through with the PEM-encoded client SSL certificate

•   The proxy must request the client SSL certificate but not require it to be signed by a trusted CA.

  Nginx

These three lines in the configuration take care of the last three requirements listed above:

proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
proxy_set_header X-SSL-Cert $ssl_client_cert;
ssl_verify_client optional_no_ca;

The following is a complete example Nginx configuration file. With this setup, clients can use https://discovery.example.com as the discovery server URL in the Syncthing settings.

# HTTP 1.1 support
proxy_http_version 1.1;
proxy_buffering off;
proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
proxy_set_header Connection $proxy_connection;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $proxy_x_forwarded_proto;
proxy_set_header X-SSL-Cert $ssl_client_cert;
upstream discovery.example.com {
    # Local IP address:port for discovery server
    server 192.0.2.1:8443;
}
server {
        server_name discovery.example.com;
        listen 80;
        access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log vhost;
        return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
}
server {
        server_name discovery.example.com;
        listen 443 ssl http2;
        access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log vhost;
        ssl_protocols TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2;
        ssl_ciphers ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384: DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:DHE-DSS-AES128-GCM-SHA256:kEDH+AESGCM:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA:E CDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA:DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA25 6:DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA:DHE-DSS-AES128-SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA256:DHE-DSS-AES256-SHA:DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:AES128-GCM-SHA256:AES256-GCM-SHA3 84:AES128-SHA256:AES256-SHA256:AES128-SHA:AES256-SHA:AES:CAMELLIA:DES-CBC3-SHA:!aNULL:!eNULL:!EXPORT:!DES:!RC4:!MD5:!PSK:!aECDH:!EDH-DSS -DES-CBC3-SHA:!EDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA:!KRB5-DES-CBC3-SHA;
        ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;
        ssl_session_timeout 5m;
        ssl_session_cache shared:SSL:50m;
        ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/certs/discovery.example.com.crt;
        ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/certs/discovery.example.com.key;
        ssl_dhparam /etc/nginx/certs/discovery.example.com.dhparam.pem;
        add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000";
        ssl_verify_client optional_no_ca;
        location / {
                proxy_pass http://discovery.example.com;
        }
}

An example of automating the SSL certificates and reverse-proxying the Discovery Server and Syncthing using Nginx, Let’s Encrypt <https://letsencrypt.org/> and Docker can be found here <https://forum.syncthing.net/t/docker-syncthing-and-syncthing-discovery-behind-nginx-reverse-proxy-with-lets-encrypt/6880>.

SEE ALSO

syncthing-networking(7), syncthing-faq(7)

AUTHOR
The Syncthing Authors

COPYRIGHT
2014-2018, The Syncthing Authors