Private Network

A private network is a group of peers that share the same 256-bit secret key. All communication between the peers is encryped with the XSalsa20 cipher. The specification is at PSK v1 and is implemented by the Psk1Protector class.

The private network is defined by the symmetric secret key, which is known by all members. All traffic leaving the peer is encrypted and there is no characteristic handshake. The secret key is just a random number; public/private keys and certificates are not needed.

Joining

The local peer becomes a member of the private network by setting the secret key. This can be done by

Example

Two ways of specifying the secret key for a private network.

A swarm.key file

Copy the following file to the repository

/key/swarm/psk/1.0.0/
/base16/
e8d6d31e8e02000010d6d31e8e020000f0d1fc609400000078f0d31e8e020000

Setting the key

ipfs.Options.Swarm.PrivateNetworkKey = new PreSharedKey
{
    Value = "e8d6 ... 20000".ToHexBuffer();
};