Ockam + Erlang Distributed Protocol

[sleipnir]

I am building a system that is based on the Distributed Erlang protocol to prove a mesh of worker nodes, I would like to know if it would be possible to use Ockam to build a mutually authenticated network and still use Distributed Erlang as a secure tunnel around the my Erlang/Elixir network? I would like to use something with more guarantees than just enabling Erlang protocol tls.

[sleipnir]

It is important to mention that the system runs on Kubernetes

[mrinalwadhwa]

@sleipnir sorry about not responding to this sooner. I was on vacation for the last couple of weeks.

I love that you're exploring this area.

I would like to know if it would be possible to use Ockam to build a mutually authenticated network and still use Distributed Erlang as a secure tunnel around the my Erlang/Elixir network?

The short answer to this is yes.

Here's a super simple first step. Try tunneling communication between two erlang nodes with an ockam node as a sidecar process. Something like this:

python3 -m http.server --bind 127.0.0.1 5000

ockam node create blue
ockam tcp-outlet create --at /node/blue --from /service/outlet --to 127.0.0.1:5000

ockam node create green
ockam secure-channel create --from /node/green --to /node/blue/service/api \
  | ockam tcp-inlet create --at /node/green --from 127.0.0.1:7000 --to -/service/outlet

curl 127.0.0.1:7000

There is deeper integration possible with our Elixir and Rust libraries but I'll have to refresh my knowledge on the internals of Distributed Erlang.

[mrinalwadhwa]

In Kubernetes, these can be sidecar pods, using the ockam docker image.

[sleipnir]

Thanks for answering @mrinalwadhwa, one thing I was in doubt about the parameters of the cli, I would need to inform exactly where the request came from and where it came right? Or rather which nodes are connecting to establish the correct tunnel? In this case how would it be possible to use this with kubernetes where the pods are ephemeral and can be dynamically created?

[sleipnir]

Any help?

[sleipnir]

nothing?