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CRYPTSETUP(8)		     Maintainance Commands		 CRYPTSETUP(8)

NAME
       cryptsetup  -  setup cryptographic volumes for dm-crypt (including LUKS
       extension)

SYNOPSIS
       cryptsetup <options> <action> <action args>

DESCRIPTION
       cryptsetup is used to conveniently setup dm-crypt managed device-mapper
       mappings. For basic dm-crypt mappings, there are five operations.

ACTIONS
       These strings are valid for <action>, followed by their <action args>:

       create <name> <device>

	      creates  a  mapping  with	 <name>	 backed	 by  device  <device>.
	      <options> can be [--hash, --cipher, --verify-passphrase,	--key-
	      file, --key-size, --offset, --skip, --readonly]

       remove <name>

	      removes an existing mapping <name>. No options.

       status <name>

	      reports the status for the mapping <name>. No options.

       reload <name>

	      modifies an active mapping <name>. Same options as for create.

       resize <name>

	      resizes an active mapping <name>. <options> must include --size

LUKS EXTENSION
       LUKS,  Linux Unified Key Setup, is a standard for hard disk encryption.
       It standardizes a partition header, as well as the format of  the  bulk
       data.  LUKS  can	 manage multiple passwords, that can be revoked effec‐
       tively and that are protected against dictionary attacks with PBKDF2.

       These are valid LUKS actions:

       luksFormat <device> [<key file>]

	      initializes a LUKS partition and sets the	 initial  key,	either
	      via  prompting  or  via <key file>.  <options> can be [--cipher,
	      --verify-passphrase, --key-size, --key-slot].

       luksOpen <device> <name>

	      opens the LUKS partition <device> and sets up a  mapping	<name>
	      after  successful	 verification  of  the	supplied  key material
	      (either  via  key	 file  by  --key-file,	or   via   prompting).
	      <options> can be [--key-file, --readonly].

       luksClose <name>

	      identical to remove.

       luksAddKey <device> [<new key file>]

	      add  a  new  key	file/passphrase. An existing passphrase or key
	      file (via --key-file) must be supplied. The key  file  with  the
	      new material is supplied as a positional argument. <options> can
	      be [--key-file, --key-slot].

       luksKillSlot <device> <key slot number>

	      wipe key with number <key slot> from LUKS	 device.  A  remaining
	      passphrase  or  key  file	 (via  --key-file)  must  be supplied.
	      <options> can be [--key-file].

       luksDelKey <device> <key slot number>

	      identical to luksKillSlot, but deprecated action name.

       luksUUID <device>

	      print UUID, if <device> has a LUKS header. No options.

       isLuks <device>

	      returns true, if <device> is a LUKS partition. Otherwise, false.
	      No options.

       luksDump <device>

	      dumps the header information of a LUKS partition. No options.

       For more information about LUKS, see http://luks.endorphin.org

OPTIONS
       --hash, -h
	      specifies	 hash to use for password hashing. This option is only
	      relevant for the "create" action. The hash string is  passed  to
	      libgcrypt,  so  all  hashes  accepted  by	 gcrypt are supported.
	      Default is "ripemd160".

       --cipher, -c
	      set cipher specification	string.	 Usually,  this	 is  "aes-cbc-
	      plain".  For  pre-2.6.10	kernels, use "aes-plain" as they don't
	      understand the new cipher spec strings. To use ESSIV, use	 "aes-
	      cbc-essiv:sha256".

       --verify-passphrase, -y
	      query for passwords twice. Useful when creating a (regular) map‐
	      ping for the first time, or when running luksFormat.

       --key-file, -d
	      use file as key material. With LUKS, key	material  supplied  in
	      key  files  via  -d are always used for existing passphrases. If
	      you want to set a new key via a key file,	 you  have  to	use  a
	      positional arg to luksFormat or luksAddKey.

	      If  the  key  file is "-", stdin will be used. This is different
	      from how cryptsetup usually reads from stdin. See section	 NOTES
	      ON PASSWORD PROCESSING for more information.

       --key-slot, -S
	      For  LUKS	 operations that add key material, this options allows
	      to you specify which key slot is selected for the new key.  This
	      option can be used for luksFormat and luksAddKey.

       --key-size, -s
	      set  key	size  in bits. Has to be a multiple of 8 bits. The key
	      size is limited by the used cipher. See output  of  /proc/crypto
	      for  more information. Can be used for create or luksFormat, all
	      other LUKS actions will ignore this flag,	 as  the  key-size  is
	      specified by the partition header. Default is 128.

       --size, -b
	      force the size of the underlying device in sectors.

       --offset, -o
	      start offset in the backend device.

       --skip, -p
	      how many sectors of the encrypted data to skip at the beginning.
	      This is different from the --offset options with respect	to  IV
	      calculations.  Using  --offset  will shift the IV calculation by
	      the same negative amount. Hence, if --offset n, sector n will be
	      the  first  sector  on the mapping with IV 0. Using --skip would
	      have resulted in sector n being the first sector also, but  with
	      IV n.

       --readonly
	      set up a read-only mapping.

       --iter-time, -i
	      The  number  of  milliseconds to spend with PBKDF2 password pro‐
	      cessing. This option is only relevant to the LUKS operations  as
	      luksFormat or luksAddKey.

       --batch-mode, -q
	      Do  not  ask  for confirmation. This option is only relevant for
	      luksFormat.

       --timeout, -t
	      The number of seconds to wait before  timeout.  This  option  is
	      relevant	every time a password is asked, like create, luksOpen,
	      luksFormat or luksAddKey. It has no effect if used  in  conjunc‐
	      tion with --key-file.

       --tries, -T
	      How  often  the  input  of the passphrase shall be retried. This
	      option is relevant every time a password is asked, like  create,
	      luksOpen, luksFormat or luksAddKey. The default is 3 tries.

       --align-payload=value
	      Align  payload  at  a  boundary  of value 512-byte sectors. This
	      option is relevant for luksFormat.  If your block	 device	 lives
	      on  a  RAID, it is useful to align the filesystem at full stripe
	      boundaries so it can take advantage of the RAID's geometry.  See
	      for instance the sunit and swidth options in the mkfs.xfs manual
	      page. By default, the payload is aligned at an  8	 sector	 (4096
	      byte) boundary.

       --version
	      Show the version.

NOTES ON PASSWORD PROCESSING
       From  a	file descriptor or a terminal: Password processing is new-line
       sensitive, meaning the reading will stop after encountering \n. It will
       process	the  read  material (without newline) with the default hash or
       the hash given by --hash. After hashing, it will be cropped to the  key
       size given by -s (default 256 bits).

       From  stdin: Reading will continue until EOF (so using e.g. /dev/random
       as stdin will not work), with the trailing newline stripped. After that
       the read data will be hashed with the default hash or the hash given by
       --hash and the result will be  cropped  to  the	keysize	 given	by  -s
       (default	 256  bits).  If  "plain"  is  used as an argument to the hash
       option, the input data will not be hashed.  Instead  it	will  be  zero
       padded  (if  shorter than the keysize) or truncated (if longer than the
       keysize) and used directly as the key.  Instead, it will be zero padded
       (if shorter than the keysize) or truncated (if longer than the keysize)
       and used directly as the key. No warning will be given if the amount of
       data read from stdin is less than the keysize.

       From  a	key file: It will be cropped to the size given by -s. If there
       is insufficient key material in the key file, cryptsetup will quit with
       an error.

       If  --key-file=-	 is  used  for reading the key from stdin, no trailing
       newline is stripped from the input.  Without  that  option,  cryptsetup
       strips trailing newlines from stdin input.

NOTES ON PASSWORD PROCESSING FOR LUKS
       LUKS  uses PBKDF2 to protect against dictionary attacks (see RFC 2898).
       LUKS will always use SHA1 in HMAC mode, and no other mode is  supported
       at the moment.  Hence, -h is ignored.

       LUKS will always do an exhaustive password reading. Hence, password can
       not be read from /dev/random, /dev/zero or any other stream  that  does
       not terminate.

       LUKS saves the processing options when a password is set to the respec‐
       tive key slot.  Therefore, no options can be given  to  luksOpen.   For
       any  password creation action (luksAddKey, or luksFormat), the user may
       specify how much the  time  the	password  processing  should  consume.
       Increasing  the time will lead to a more secure password, but also will
       take luksOpen longer to complete. The default setting of one second  is
       sufficient for good security.

NOTES ON PASSWORDS
       Mathematic  can't  be  bribed.  Make sure you keep your passwords safe.
       There are a few nice tricks for constructing a fallback, when  suddenly
       out  of	(or  after being) blue, your brain refuses to cooperate. These
       fallbacks are possible with LUKS, as it's only possible	with  LUKS  to
       have multiple passwords.

AUTHORS
       cryptsetup is written by Christophe Saout <christophe@saout.de>
       LUKS  extensions,  and  man  page  by Clemens Fruhwirth <clemens@endor‐
       phin.org>

COMPATABILITY WITH OLD SUSE TWOFISH PARTITIONS
       To read images created with SuSE Linux 9.2's  loop_fish2	 use  --cipher
       twofish-cbc-null	 -s  256 -h sha512, for images created with even older
       SuSE Linux use --cipher twofish-cbc-null -s 192 -h ripemd160:20

REPORTING BUGS
       Report bugs to <dm-crypt@saout.de>.

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright © 2004 Christophe Saout
       Copyright © 2004-2006 Clemens Fruhwirth

       This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is
       NO  warranty;  not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
       PURPOSE.

SEE ALSO
       dm-crypt website, http://www.saout.de/misc/dm-crypt/

       LUKS website, http://luks.endorphin.org

       dm-crypt TWiki, http://www.saout.de/tikiwiki/tiki-index.php

cryptsetup 1.0.3		  March 2005			 CRYPTSETUP(8)
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