Files
fips/docs/how-to
Arjen 9dab328bc9 feat(openwrt): enable mDNS rendezvous from fips-ap-setup
Phone FIPS apps cannot open raw-Ethernet sockets, so DNS-SD is how they
find the router's daemon — but node.rendezvous.lan defaults to off. Ship
the lan block commented in fips.yaml (consistent with the apN transport
entries) and have fips-ap-setup uncomment it when creating the access
SSID. The awk match is scoped to node.rendezvous because
transports.ethernet carries a 'lan' entry at the same indent. The switch
is daemon-wide, so 'remove' deliberately leaves it on rather than guess
whether other transports rely on it.
2026-07-21 15:21:06 +01:00
..

How-To Guides

Task-oriented, step-by-step recipes for operators with a specific goal in mind. Each guide assumes the reader already knows what FIPS is and wants to get a particular thing done — enable a feature, deploy a component, troubleshoot a class of problem.

How-to guides do not teach concepts (that is the role of design/) and do not enumerate options (that is the role of reference/). They take the reader along the shortest correct path from "I want to do X" to "X is done".

Available Guides

Guide Goal
enable-mesh-firewall.md Activate the default-deny nftables baseline on fips0
enable-nostr-discovery.md Turn on Nostr-mediated discovery (3 capabilities — resolve, advertise, open — across 5 scenarios)
deploy-tor-onion.md Run a Tor onion service for inbound FIPS connections
tune-udp-buffers.md Set host sysctls so FIPS UDP sockets don't get clamped
tune-file-descriptors.md Raise RLIMIT_NOFILE so a busy node doesn't exhaust file descriptors (EMFILE) as peer count grows
run-as-unprivileged-user.md Run the daemon under a dedicated unprivileged service account (drops the default-root posture)
deploy-gateway.md Manually deploy fips-gateway on a non-OpenWrt Linux host (LAN-to-mesh outbound + mesh-to-LAN inbound port-forwards). For the OpenWrt path, see the gateway tutorial.
troubleshoot-gateway.md Diagnostic recipes for the gateway, organised by half (outbound, inbound, common)
persistent-identity.md Provision a stable Nostr keypair so the node keeps the same npub across restarts
host-aliases.md Use shortnames (test-us01.fips, my-laptop.fips) instead of full npubs by editing /etc/fips/hosts or setting peer aliases
set-up-bluetooth-peer.md Configure a Bluetooth Low Energy peer link
set-up-80211s-mesh-backhaul.md Link OpenWrt FIPS routers over an open 802.11s radio backhaul (FIPS provides encryption, authentication, and routing)
set-up-open-access-ssid.md Broadcast the open !FIPS access SSID so phones and laptops roam onto the mesh (one ESS: save once, roam every FIPS router)
diagnose-mtu-issues.md Triage MTU-shaped failures and rule out their imposters (bufferbloat, transport saturation)