Question abut sdwdate and different Whonix-Workstation VMs

qubes_wannabe · November 17, 2024, 11:18am

Hello,

in my QubesOS I have the standard sys-whonix (from Whonix-Gateway template) and a clone of it called sys-whonix-clone.

I have noticed something weird.

I have a few appVM’s and standaloneVM’s based on whonix-workstation-17 template. All of them are using sys-whonix-clone as ProxyVM for networking.

However, in the 2 top-right “Time Synchronisation Monitor”, corresponding to sys-whonix and sys-whonix-clone, some of the appVM appear under sys-whonix and some others to sys-whonix-clone.

I would have expected that all appear under whonix-clone, since that is their ProxyVM.

Question: Can somebody explain to me how to setup which ProxyVM is used to sdwdate?

Thank you

apparatus · November 17, 2024, 11:36am

github.com/QubesOS/qubes-issues

qrexec feature request: send this over qrexec to the net qube I am connected to / sys-whonix hardcoded / sys-whonix unexpected autostart

opened 09:51AM - 18 Aug 19 UTC

adrelanos

T: enhancement C: core P: default

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/qubes-devel/DEQNltD2_kc > Start sdwda…te-gui [5] [6], which is a systray by default in Whonix-Gateway. > Due to sdwdate-gui, Qubes-Whonix who use multiple Whonix-Gateway [7] should note updated instructions for multiple Whonix-Workstation [8] due introduction of sdwdate-gui. Essentially, Whonix-Workstation's using any Whonix-Gateway named other than sys-whonix need to configure their Whonix-Workstation by declaring the name of their Whonix-Gateway VM. > Not following these instructions would lead to the following confusion. Someone who didn't start sys-whonix, starting an AppVM using sys-whonix-two would wonder why sys-whonix gets started. It would get started by Qubes qrexec. The sdwdate-gui entry for that AppVM would be registered in sys-whonix's sdwdate-gui rather than in sys-whonix-two's sdwdate-gui. > [5] https://www.whonix.org/wiki/sdwdate-gui > [6] https://github.com/Whonix/sdwdate-gui > [7] https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Multiple_Whonix-Gateway > [8] https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Multiple_Whonix-Workstation#qubes As discussed, solution would be a new qrexec feature `send this over qrexec to the NetVM I am connected to`. This would also be a better than https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-issues/issues/4117. ---- Related: * [Troubleshooting - Qubes-Whonix - Unexpected Autostart of sys-whonix](https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Sdwdate-gui#Qubes-Whonix_-_Unexpected_Autostart_of_sys-whonix) * [Disable sdwdate-gui Autostart](https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Sdwdate-gui#Disable_Autostart)

qubes_wannabe · November 17, 2024, 12:23pm

Thank you @apparatus ! This completely solved my problem.

For others reading: by default sys-whonix is used for sdwdate in all workstation VMs. A manual edit (in the workstation VM) is needed if you want to use other proxyVM. Namely:

sudo mkdir /usr/local/etc/sdwdate-gui.d
sudo touch /usr/local/etc/sdwdate-gui.d/50_user.conf

and add gateway=name_of_proxy_VM to the /usr/local/etc/sdwdate-gui.d/50_user.conf file.

NOTE: It is a bit weird that you need to expose the name of the proxy_VM inside a configuration file of the workstation. But at the moment it works like this.