go-netcatnat - netcat accross nats!

This is a tiny netcat util that works across nats. It's a toy to demonstrate netty, a nat traversal tool, and its Go libs:

• getlantern/natty - extracted from chromium
• getlantern/waddell - ICE signaling server in Go (tcp)
• getlantern/go-natty - natty bindings in Go
• getlantern/nattywad - natty and waddell client libs

Note that this is over raw UDP, so you might see packets reordered or dropped. Someone can add SCTP.

Install

You'll need to install a great many things:

1. Go (tested on 1.3)

2. Install netcatnat:

   go get github.com/jbenet/go-netcatnat
   go install github.com/jbenet/go-netcatnat/netcatnat
   

3. Install waddell signaling server:

   go get github.com/getlantern/waddell
   go install github.com/getlantern/waddell/waddell
   

4. You'll need these packages. If you've Chrome/Chromium, should already have them. Yes, two of these are A/V stuff; natty punches nat holes with ultrasound. No, just kidding. natty got pulled out of chrome src, so for now the code still depends on that.

   # debian package names. your pkg mgr's might differ
   libnss3
   libasound2
   libpulse-dev
   

Usage

First, launch waddell in an accessible machine A (no nat traversal required) This is the signaling service that will coordinate for the clients. Note the IP of this machine, as we'll need it.

> waddell
waddell: Starting waddell at :62443

Ok, waddell is now running at: <ip-of-machine-A>:62443. Next, in machine B launch netcatnat:

> netcatnat --waddell <ip-of-machine-A>:62443
using waddell server: <ip-of-machine-A>:62443
nattywad: Waddell address changed
nattywad: Connected to Waddell!! Id is: f67b6696-5d71-45e7-ada0-ba514c33fc91

Note the Id you get (here f67b6696-5d71-45e7-ada0-ba514c33fc91). Call it <machine-B-ID>. Finally, in machine C launch netcatnat again, with <machine-B-ID>

> netcatnat --waddell <ip-of-machine-A>:62443 --id <machine-B-ID>
using waddell server: :62443
attempting to connect to: f67b6696-5d71-45e7-ada0-ba514c33fc91
nattywad: Configuring nat traversal client with 1 server peers
nattywad: Attempting traversal to f67b6696-5d71-45e7-ada0-ba514c33fc91
nattywad: Connected to Waddell!! Id is: d241153a-3f39-4b3e-a752-53980320195c
connected 192.168.1.56:64284 to 192.168.1.56:59149

>> connected! enter text below to transmit <<

Now, if all went well, you can enter text in either terminal and see it appear in the other. netcat. across nats.