Config Distribution Setup

Nylon’s distribution system allows you to manage network topology from a central source using signed and encrypted “bundles”.

graph TD
    Admin[Admin] -- "nylon seal & upload" --> S3[("S3 Bucket / Web Server (central.nybundle)")]

    subgraph "Nylon Mesh"
        NodeA[Node A]
        NodeB[Node B]
    end

    S3 -- "Fetch & Update" --> NodeA
    S3 -- "Fetch & Update" --> NodeB

Caution

Despite being called a “public” key, the distribution key also acts as the shared secret for decrypting your network config. To keep your internal network structure private, only share this key with the nodes in your network.

1. Generate a Distribution Keypair

   First, generate a keypair specifically for distribution (separate from node keys).

   nylon key > dist.key 2> dist.pub

2. Seal your Configuration

   Sign and encrypt your central.yaml into a .nybundle file.

   nylon seal -c central.yaml -k dist.key -o central.nybundle

3. Publish the Bundle

   Host central.nybundle on any HTTP/HTTPS server (e.g., GitHub Pages, S3, or Nginx).

4. Configure Nodes

   Initial Bootstrap (node.yaml)

   Nodes fetch their first central config using the dist block:

   node.yaml

   dist:
     url: "https://your-server.com/central.nybundle"
     key: "<contents-of-dist.pub>"

   Automatic Updates (central.yaml)

   Once bootstrapped, nodes poll the repositories defined in central.yaml:

   central.yaml

   dist:
     key: "<contents-of-dist.pub>"
     repos:
       - "https://your-server.com/central.nybundle"

   Nylon polls for updates every 10 seconds and applies them.