cryptosetup

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 12:54:42 +0000
encryption, linux, tech

Crypto Setup

I have been having some problems with the fact that FUSE and the encfs setup that I have do not allow mmaped IO so some programs where struggling to work. So it was time for a change.

I have now moved to use dm-crypt, luks and cryptsetup. I copied my home directory off to a server and then booted from the install disk, used gparted to shrink the old Windows partition down by a couple of Gb, then shrunk the main ubuntu partition down as well. Created a LVM group with the remaining space, slapped in some swap and then used the rest of the space to create an encrypted home partition. No details this time as there are may howtos out there on doing this.

I had a couple of problems. First off the Ubuntu package for cryptsetup does not prompt for a password but just hangs if you use usplash to make your bootup nice and pretty so I had to turn that off. Secondly I can't get the hibernate to work using the swap on LVM which I think is a problem with the initrd image that I have not starting up the LVM before it checks for a resume.

One bonus feature that I have found is that I can create a crypto partition on my USB drive and when I plug it in up pops a passphrase prompt and then it's all mounted automatically which is pretty nice. So now I have all my data nicely secured away.

I am also pretty sure that my desktop feels a little more responsive now but it's early days yet!