https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/Stratis_2.1.0

= Stratis 2.1.0 =

== Summary ==
Stratis now supports per-pool encryption of the devices that form a pool's
data tier. A pool may be encrypted, or its constituent encrypted devices
may be activated, by means of a key stored in the kernel keyring.

== Owner ==
* Name: [[User:dkeefe|Dennis Keefe]], [[User:mulhern|Anne Mulhern]],
[[User:jbaublitz|John Baublitz]]
* Email: dke...@redhat.com, amulh...@redhat.com, jbaubl...@redhat.com

== Detailed Description ==
=== Stratis 2.1.0 introduces support for encryption. ===

It supports per-pool encryption of the devices that form a pool's data
tier. A pool may be encrypted, or its constituent encrypted devices may be
activated, by means of a key stored in the kernel keyring.

=== stratisd 2.1.0 ===
This release implements encryption support and adds several new D-Bus
interfaces to administer or monitor that support.

It implements encryption support in the following way:

* A single instance of stratisd can support both encrypted and unencrypted
pools.
The choice to encrypt a pool must be made at the time a pool is created.

* At present, the use of a cache and of encryption are mutually exclusive;
if the pool is created with encryption enabled, then it is not possible to
create a cache.

* Each pool may be encrypted by means of a key in the kernel keyring; each
encrypted pool may make use of a different key, but all devices in a pool
are encrypted with a single key.

* Any additional devices that are added to an encrypted pool's data tier
will be encrypted using the key that was specified when the pool was
initialized.

=== stratisd 2.1.0 supplies several new D-Bus interfaces: ===

* org.storage.stratis2.manager.r1: This interface supplies an extended
CreatePool method, to support an optional argument for encryption. In
addition, it supplies a number of methods for key management.

* org.storage.stratis2.pool.r1: This interface supports explicit
initialization of a cache tier. Previously, a cache was initialized as a
side-effect of the addition of the first device to the cache tier. It also
supports the new Encrypted property.

* org.storage.stratis2.FetchProperties.r1: This interface supports an
additional HasCache property.

* org.storage.stratis2.Report.r1: This interface supports a set of ad-hoc
reports about Stratis. The interface is unstable; the names by which the
reports can be accesed are not guaranteed to remain stable, and the format
of any report is only guaranteed to be valid JSON.

Please consult the D-Bus API Reference for the precise D-Bus specification.

The following are significant implementation details:

* Each block device in an encrypted pool's data tier is encrypted with a
distinct, randomly chosen MEK (Media Encryption Key) on initialization.

* All devices belonging to a single encrypted pool share a single
passphrase, supplied via the kernel keyring.

* The release requires cryptsetup version 2.3.

=== stratis-cli 2.1.0 ===
This release requires stratisd 2.1.0. The user will observe the following
changes:

* The pool create command has been extended to allow encryption.

* There is a new pool init_cache command for initializing a cache.

* There is a new subcommand, key, for key management tasks.

* There is a new subcommand, report, which allows the display of certain
reports generated by stratisd.

* The output of pool list now includes a Properties column; each entry in
the column is a string encoding the following properties of the pool: (1)
whether or not it has a cache, (2) whether or not it is encrypted.

* All commands now verify that stratis is communicating with a compatible
version of stratisd and will fail with an appropriate error if stratisd is
found to have an incompatible version.

=== Usage ===
To create an encrypted pool, a user must first ensure that a key is placed
in the kernel keyring. We strongly encourage using the commands available
via the stratis "key" subcommand for this task. This key, which is secret,
has a corresponding key description, which is public.

An encrypted pool is then created by specifying the key description when
using the pool create command.

It is necessary that the correct key and corresponding key description be
set in the kernel keyring in order to set up a previously encrypted pool.
Setting up a previously encrypted pool requires an explicit pool unlock
command from the user. This command will attempt to unlock the devices
belonging to any previously encrypted pool; it can only unlock all devices
if a key for every encrypted pool is in the keyring. Once the devices
belonging to a previously encrypted pool have been unlocked, the pool will
be set up, and can be used in exactly the same manner as an unencrypted
pool.

== Feedback ==

== Benefits to Fedora ==
* A new feature that allows users to create pools that encrypt all data
devices and consequently securely store all user data.

== Scope ==
* Proposal owners:
** Package Rust crate libcryptsetup-rs
** Update existing stratis-cli package to specify new release
** Update existing stratisd package to specify new release
* Other developers: N/A
* Release engineering: Self Contained
* Policies guidelines:  N/A
* Trademark approval: N/A

== Upgrade/compatibility impact ==
None anticipated.

== How To Test ==
* Testing encryption can be done using the CLI provided by stratis-cli or
the D-Bus API provided by stratisd.
* Basic testing of encrypted pool and filesystem create and destroy via
stratis-cli:
  stratis key set --keyfile-path keyfile k1 # requires that the file
keyfile contains a key
  stratis pool create --key-desc k1 p1 /dev/sdb
  stratis fs create p1 fs1   # from here you can mount /stratis/p1/fs1 and
write and read data
  stratis blockdev list
  stratis pool list
  stratis fs list
  stratis fs destroy p1 fs1
  stratis pool destroy p1

== User Experience ==
Users with existing filesystems will not notice any changes.
Users creating new pools can read the documentation on how to make use of
the new encryption feature as well as the new mechanism for instantiating a
cache.

== Dependencies ==
We are not aware of any packages that depend on stratisd besides
stratis-cli which we are releasing with the necessary updates. In any case,
such a package would continue to work with stratisd because of stratisd's
support for versioned D-Bus interfaces. stratisd added a new dependency on
libcryptsetup-rs; this crate has been packaged and is available in rawhide.

== Contingency Plan ==
* Contingency mechanism:
* Contingency deadline: N/A
* Blocks release? No
* Blocks product? No

== Documentation ==
Please see https://stratis-storage.github.io/ for design documents and API
reference.

Development and issue tracking is at
https://github.com/stratis-storage/stratisd

== Release Notes ==
Includes recent version of Stratis which supports encryption.

-- 
Ben Cotton
He / Him / His
Senior Program Manager, Fedora & CentOS Stream
Red Hat
TZ=America/Indiana/Indianapolis
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