Files
softlan-vpn/TESTING.md
T
ddidderr 563a073d24 fix(client): configure TAP MAC before relay connect
The Windows startup path opened the TAP adapter to clear stale media state
before loading the persisted tunnel identity and writing the NetworkAddress
registry value. That made the first TAP touch happen with whatever MAC Windows
already had loaded from a previous run.

Build the client runtime config first so the virtual MAC and resolved relay
address are known before TAP activation. The pre-connect TAP preparation now
writes the selected adapter's NetworkAddress value before opening the adapter to
mark media disconnected. The relay route is still pinned only after the relay
handshake, while TAP remains media-disconnected.

This reduces the chance of a first-run or post-crash TAP MAC mismatch during
the manual Windows MVP test. The client still validates the driver-reported MAC
before bridging and still fails closed if Windows has not reloaded the registry
value.

Test Plan:
- cargo test -p lanparty-client-win
- cargo test --workspace
- cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets -- -D warnings
- cargo fmt --check
- git diff --check
- cargo check -p lanparty-client-win --target x86_64-pc-windows-gnu
  - blocked by missing x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc for ring on this host

Refs: PLAN.md Windows routing / metric handling; TESTING.md MVP guide
2026-05-22 05:43:16 +02:00

7.3 KiB

MVP Test Guide

This guide is for the manual end-to-end MVP proof:

Windows TAP client -> public QUIC relay -> Linux AF_PACKET gateway -> LAN

The MVP is intentionally manual. It does not include an installer, GUI, production certificates, auth, or end-to-end payload encryption.

Machines

  • Relay: public Linux host reachable over UDP.
  • Gateway: Linux machine plugged into the LAN party switch with wired Ethernet.
  • Client: Windows 11 machine with TAP-Windows6 installed.

Use the same room code everywhere, for example ROOM1.

Build

On the relay or Linux build host:

cargo build --release -p lanparty-relay -p lanparty-gateway

On Windows, in an Administrator terminal:

cargo build --release -p lanparty-client-win

The Windows client must run elevated because it opens TAP and edits routes. The gateway usually needs root because it opens an AF_PACKET raw socket.

Start The Relay

Use a high UDP port first unless you already want to deal with privileged 443/udp binding:

./target/release/lanparty-relay \
  --listen 0.0.0.0:8443 \
  --dev-cert-der-out relay-cert.der

Open inbound UDP for the selected port on the relay host firewall.

Expected relay output:

lanparty-relay configured for 0.0.0.0:8443/udp ...
lanparty-relay listening on 0.0.0.0:8443

Copy relay-cert.der to the gateway and Windows client. The development certificate is for lanparty-relay.local, so keep --server-name lanparty-relay.local even when --relay is an IP address or another DNS name.

Start The Gateway

On the LAN gateway machine:

sudo ./target/release/lanparty-gateway \
  --relay relay.example.net:8443 \
  --server-name lanparty-relay.local \
  --relay-ca-cert ./relay-cert.der \
  --room ROOM1 \
  --iface eth0

Use the real wired LAN interface name for --iface. Do not use Wi-Fi. The gateway fails before joining the relay if sysfs reports no Ethernet carrier.

Expected gateway output:

lanparty-gateway opening interface eth0 and connecting to relay ...
lanparty-gateway opened AF_PACKET socket on eth0 ...
lanparty-gateway connected as peer ...
lanparty-gateway bridging frames; press Ctrl-C to stop

Expected relay output:

accepted Gateway peer ... in room ROOM1 ...

Start The Windows Client

In an Administrator terminal on Windows:

.\target\release\lanparty-client-win.exe `
  --relay relay.example.net:8443 `
  --server-name lanparty-relay.local `
  --relay-ca-cert .\relay-cert.der `
  --room ROOM1

If the Windows machine has multiple TAP-Windows6 adapters, select the intended one explicitly:

.\target\release\lanparty-client-win.exe --list-tap-adapters

.\target\release\lanparty-client-win.exe `
  --relay relay.example.net:8443 `
  --server-name lanparty-relay.local `
  --relay-ca-cert .\relay-cert.der `
  --room ROOM1 `
  --tap-instance-id "{InterfaceGuid-from-the-command-above}"

Expected client output:

prepared TAP adapter ... MAC ... configured and media disconnected before relay connect
lanparty-client-win connected as peer ...
relay route pinned before TAP ...
relay route verified after TAP activation ...
TAP driver reports MAC ... and MTU ...
client diagnostics: relay reachable yes gateway connected yes route pinned yes ...

The route pin line ends with (created) or (already existed). Either is OK. already existed usually means a matching relay host route was already present, for example after a previous crashed test run.

The first diagnostics line may show IP unknown. After DHCP succeeds, a later line should show:

DHCP received: 10.x.x.x

What To Verify

  1. Relay sees both peers:
accepted Gateway peer ...
accepted Client peer ...
  1. Client sees the gateway:
gateway connected yes
Connected to LAN gateway
  1. Windows TAP gets an address from the LAN:
Get-NetIPAddress | ? InterfaceAlias -like "*TAP*"
  1. ARP and ping work from the TAP-side address:
arp -d *
ping -S <tap-ip> <lan-host-ip>
arp -a
  1. The LAN switch learns the remote client MAC on the gateway port.

Use the switch UI or CLI and look for the client MAC printed by the Windows client. It should appear on the physical port connected to the Linux gateway.

  1. A real LAN game discovers or joins a LAN server.

This is the practical MVP acceptance test.

Useful Log Signals

Relay frame forwarding:

relay frame room=ROOM1 ... action=Forwarded drop_reason=- targets=1

Gateway LAN traffic:

gateway frame interface=eth0 direction=LanToRemote ... action=Forwarded
gateway frame interface=eth0 direction=RemoteToLan ... action=Forwarded

Client health:

Relay RTT: 23 ms
Broadcast traffic flowing

Drops that can be normal during testing:

drop_reason=UnknownDestination
drop_reason=DatagramBudget
drop_reason=RateLimit

Drops that should be investigated if they dominate:

drop_reason=Malformed
drop_reason=InvalidSourceMac
drop_reason=UnauthorizedSourceMac
drop_reason=ControlPlaneEtherType
drop_reason=VlanTaggedFrame
drop_reason=DhcpServerReply
drop_reason=Ipv6RouterAdvertisement
drop_reason=Ipv6Fragment

On gateway RemoteToLan logs, UnauthorizedSourceMac means the relayed peer id did not match the client MAC announced by lifecycle events. If it repeats, check relay lifecycle logs and duplicate-MAC rejection first.

Troubleshooting

If the client says Waiting for LAN gateway, check that the gateway uses the same room code and is connected to the same relay.

If the gateway fails with reports no carrier, plug the selected Ethernet interface into the LAN party switch, bring the interface up, and restart the gateway.

If startup fails before the relay connection while preparing the TAP adapter, check that the terminal is elevated, TAP-Windows6 is installed, and --tap-instance-id selects the intended adapter when more than one TAP adapter exists.

If the client says Waiting for TAP IP, DHCP is not making the full round trip. Check relay/gateway frame logs for broadcast traffic and check that the gateway is on wired Ethernet.

If startup fails with a TAP MAC mismatch, disable/enable the TAP adapter or reinstall TAP-Windows6 so Windows reloads the NetworkAddress value. Do not continue with a mismatched MAC.

If startup says the relay route changed, stop. The client is refusing to run because Windows would route the relay connection through the tunnel.

If ping fails but DHCP worked, check Windows firewall, the target LAN host firewall, and whether the LAN subnet conflicts with the client's home LAN. Uncommon LAN subnets such as 10.73.42.0/24 are safer than 192.168.0.0/24.

Cleanup

Stop client, gateway, and relay with Ctrl-C. The Windows client removes the relay host route only when it created that route itself, restores the TAP route policy, and marks TAP media disconnected when it exits normally.

Keep lanparty-client-identity.json if you want the same virtual MAC on the next run. Delete it only when you intentionally want a new client identity.

Report Back

For a useful test report, capture:

  • relay command and relay logs
  • gateway command and gateway logs
  • client command and client logs
  • Windows TAP MAC and IP
  • ping result from <tap-ip> to a LAN host
  • switch MAC-table entry for the Windows client MAC
  • LAN game discovery or join result