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Topic: Armory - Discussion Thread - page 43. (Read 521912 times)

legendary
Activity: 2674
Merit: 1083
Legendary Escrow Service - Tip Jar in Profile
June 16, 2014, 04:59:30 PM
I'd recommend to encrypt the swap (maybe with a passphrase instead of a random one time password, I don't trust the entropy pool while booting up). No swap at all might get nasty if you hit your ram constraints.


Well the most sensitive keys will be kept on an offline computer which presumably runs nothing else except offline Armory.  There's not really a way to run through your RAM there.  Plus, I'd rather run out of swap than have the keys accidentally hit the hard drive unencrypted without warning.  But yes, it is possible to have encrypted swap, though I don't think you can use hibernate if you do that, so you'd be disabling hibernate which is 80% the reason you wanted encrypted swap to begin with.

Encrypt the whole OS with Truecrypt and you dont have to bother anymore... though TC is somewhat in a strange state... now that the devs dont want to work on it anymore.
legendary
Activity: 1428
Merit: 1093
Core Armory Developer
June 16, 2014, 03:32:20 PM
I'd recommend to encrypt the swap (maybe with a passphrase instead of a random one time password, I don't trust the entropy pool while booting up). No swap at all might get nasty if you hit your ram constraints.


Well the most sensitive keys will be kept on an offline computer which presumably runs nothing else except offline Armory.  There's not really a way to run through your RAM there.  Plus, I'd rather run out of swap than have the keys accidentally hit the hard drive unencrypted without warning.  But yes, it is possible to have encrypted swap, though I don't think you can use hibernate if you do that, so you'd be disabling hibernate which is 80% the reason you wanted encrypted swap to begin with.
hero member
Activity: 527
Merit: 500
June 16, 2014, 03:14:51 PM
I'd recommend to encrypt the swap (maybe with a passphrase instead of a random one time password, I don't trust the entropy pool while booting up). No swap at all might get nasty if you hit your ram constraints.
legendary
Activity: 1428
Merit: 1093
Core Armory Developer
June 16, 2014, 12:31:04 AM
Nothing can be done about this. Some of Armory's stack is forced in the RAM through mlock. Hibernation copies the entire RAM into the swap partition. Since that would defeat mlock's purpose, mlock'ed memory is not copied imaged in on hibernation. Armory won't be able to recover from that.

I wish this were true, but it's a common misperception about mlock().  mlock() actually cannot prevent keys from getting swapped, and it is pretty much guaranteed if you hibernate.  It's one reason we recommend that high-security device disable swap space entirely -- it's not like you're going to need it running offline Armory, anyway, which has a very limited resource footprint.  And hibernate as well, but I'm not sure hibernate works without a swap partition (good question, but go ahead and disable both). 
 
Quote from: man mlock()
       Cryptographic  security  software  often  handles  critical bytes like passwords or secret keys as data
       structures.  As a result of paging, these secrets could be transferred onto a persistent swap store medium,  where
       they  might  be  accessible to the enemy long after the security software has erased the secrets in RAM and termi‐
       nated. (But be aware that the suspend mode on laptops and some desktop computers will save a copy of the system's
       RAM to disk, regardless of memory locks.)


Even worse, mlock() cannot guarantee that key material is not paged even outside of hibernate.  mlock() is simply a very strong suggestion not to swap that key data, but if your really stress your system, it might happen.  This is why Armory guarantees that key material stays in RAM self-destructs after 5 seconds of being unlocked.  This pretty much guarantees that the user can't accidentally end up with key data in swap, unless they hibernate within 5 seconds of signing a transaction.  Luckily, Armory enforces a 5 sec delay before showing you if a transaction succeeded Smiley

sr. member
Activity: 312
Merit: 250
June 15, 2014, 09:14:04 PM
Hi,

I have a problem:

1- I hibernate the laptop with Armory opened.
2- I back from hibernate.
3- Armory doesnt syncronize. (To syncronize again I need to restart Armory).

OS: Ubuntu 64



Nothing can be done about this. Some of Armory's stack is forced in the RAM through mlock. Hibernation copies the entire RAM into the swap partition. Since that would defeat mlock's purpose, mlock'ed memory is not copied imaged in on hibernation. Armory won't be able to recover from that.

Why Bitcoin-Qt Core is able to recover syncronization from hibernation and Armory cant?

Is it possible at least when coming back from hibernation, Armory show a message asking to restart Armory to syncronize again.
legendary
Activity: 3794
Merit: 1375
Armory Developer
June 15, 2014, 12:18:41 PM
I noticed a problem with 0.91.2 -
I had recently re-installed everything on my computer and rebuilt everything.  With Armory, I had loaded the first two wallets that I have and processed the block chain until the balances were shown. 

I added a fourth wallet and Armory has sat at "Scanning Transaction History" and "100%" for almost an hour.  The last entries in the log are:
INFO  - 1402836130: (..\BlockUtils.cpp:4567) Scanning Wallet #1 from height 0
-INFO  - 1402836131: (..\BlockUtils.cpp:4567) Scanning Wallet #2 from height 0
-INFO  - 1402836138: (..\BlockUtils.cpp:4567) Scanning Wallet #3 from height 0
-INFO  - 1402836145: (..\BlockUtils.cpp:4567) Scanning Wallet #4 from height 0
-INFO  - 1402836146: (..\BlockUtils.cpp:4888) Saving wallet history to DB
-INFO  - 1402836146: (..\BlockUtils.cpp:5920) Enabling zero-conf tracking (lite)
-DEBUG - 1402836657: (..\BlockUtils.cpp:5599) Organizing chain
-DEBUG - 1402836657: (..\BlockUtils.cpp:5723) Done organizing chain
-DEBUG - 1402836657: (..\BlockUtils.cpp:5599) Organizing chain
-DEBUG - 1402836657: (..\BlockUtils.cpp:5723) Done organizing chain
-INFO  - 1402836657: (..\BlockUtils.cpp:5143) Added new blocks to memory pool: 2
-INFO  - 1402836657: (..\BlockUtils.cpp:4888) Saving wallet history to DB

I am using a Lenovo V570 laptop with Win 7 Home x64.   Cpu 25% utilized and 5Gb RAM free.  If I restart Armory, it states 18 minutes to scan transactions. 

Is there are problem in using Bitcoin Core?  or something else going on?
Thanks,


https://bitcoinarmory.com:8443

Make a ticket and attach your log file (the whole thing)

Why Bitcoin-Qt Core is able to recover syncronization from hibernation and Armory cant?

When this be implemented, will help in any way?: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/4124

No, that won't help. Armory is using mlock to help store your keys securely.

Quote
mlock() locks part of the calling process's virtual address space into RAM, preventing that memory from being paged to the swap area

The goal here is that your unencrypted private keys are never written to disk (swap) where they could more easily be recovered.

Thats the gist of it, but it isnt limited to unencrypted private key. Pretty much anything crypto (public keys included) is held in mlock'ed memory. 
legendary
Activity: 1792
Merit: 1008
/dev/null
June 15, 2014, 09:27:29 AM
Hi,

I have a problem:

1- I hibernate the laptop with Armory opened.
2- I back from hibernate.
3- Armory doesnt syncronize. (To syncronize again I need to restart Armory).

OS: Ubuntu 64



Nothing can be done about this. Some of Armory's stack is forced in the RAM through mlock. Hibernation copies the entire RAM into the swap partition. Since that would defeat mlock's purpose, mlock'ed memory is not copied imaged in on hibernation. Armory won't be able to recover from that.

Im happy to see this Smiley
full member
Activity: 175
Merit: 100
June 15, 2014, 08:54:24 AM
I noticed a problem with 0.91.2 -
I had recently re-installed everything on my computer and rebuilt everything.  With Armory, I had loaded the first two wallets that I have and processed the block chain until the balances were shown. 

I added a fourth wallet and Armory has sat at "Scanning Transaction History" and "100%" for almost an hour.  The last entries in the log are:
INFO  - 1402836130: (..\BlockUtils.cpp:4567) Scanning Wallet #1 from height 0
-INFO  - 1402836131: (..\BlockUtils.cpp:4567) Scanning Wallet #2 from height 0
-INFO  - 1402836138: (..\BlockUtils.cpp:4567) Scanning Wallet #3 from height 0
-INFO  - 1402836145: (..\BlockUtils.cpp:4567) Scanning Wallet #4 from height 0
-INFO  - 1402836146: (..\BlockUtils.cpp:4888) Saving wallet history to DB
-INFO  - 1402836146: (..\BlockUtils.cpp:5920) Enabling zero-conf tracking (lite)
-DEBUG - 1402836657: (..\BlockUtils.cpp:5599) Organizing chain
-DEBUG - 1402836657: (..\BlockUtils.cpp:5723) Done organizing chain
-DEBUG - 1402836657: (..\BlockUtils.cpp:5599) Organizing chain
-DEBUG - 1402836657: (..\BlockUtils.cpp:5723) Done organizing chain
-INFO  - 1402836657: (..\BlockUtils.cpp:5143) Added new blocks to memory pool: 2
-INFO  - 1402836657: (..\BlockUtils.cpp:4888) Saving wallet history to DB

I am using a Lenovo V570 laptop with Win 7 Home x64.   Cpu 25% utilized and 5Gb RAM free.  If I restart Armory, it states 18 minutes to scan transactions. 

Is there are problem in using Bitcoin Core?  or something else going on?
Thanks,
hero member
Activity: 496
Merit: 500
June 14, 2014, 10:28:37 PM
Why Bitcoin-Qt Core is able to recover syncronization from hibernation and Armory cant?

When this be implemented, will help in any way?: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/4124

No, that won't help. Armory is using mlock to help store your keys securely.

Quote
mlock() locks part of the calling process's virtual address space into RAM, preventing that memory from being paged to the swap area

The goal here is that your unencrypted private keys are never written to disk (swap) where they could more easily be recovered.
sr. member
Activity: 312
Merit: 250
June 14, 2014, 09:37:58 PM
Hi,

I have a problem:

1- I hibernate the laptop with Armory opened.
2- I back from hibernate.
3- Armory doesnt syncronize. (To syncronize again I need to restart Armory).

OS: Ubuntu 64



Nothing can be done about this. Some of Armory's stack is forced in the RAM through mlock. Hibernation copies the entire RAM into the swap partition. Since that would defeat mlock's purpose, mlock'ed memory is not copied imaged in on hibernation. Armory won't be able to recover from that.

Why Bitcoin-Qt Core is able to recover syncronization from hibernation and Armory cant?

When this be implemented, will help in any way?: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/4124
sr. member
Activity: 312
Merit: 250
June 14, 2014, 09:30:58 PM
Hi,

I have a problem:

1- I hibernate the laptop with Armory opened.
2- I back from hibernate.
3- Armory doesnt syncronize. (To syncronize again I need to restart Armory).

OS: Ubuntu 64



Nothing can be done about this. Some of Armory's stack is forced in the RAM through mlock. Hibernation copies the entire RAM into the swap partition. Since that would defeat mlock's purpose, mlock'ed memory is not copied imaged in on hibernation. Armory won't be able to recover from that.

Why Bitcoin-Qt Core is able to recover syncronization from hibernation and Armory cant?
sr. member
Activity: 312
Merit: 250
June 14, 2014, 07:04:21 PM
Hi,

I have a problem:

1- I hibernate the laptop with Armory opened.
2- I back from hibernate.
3- Armory doesnt syncronize. (To syncronize again I need to restart Armory).

OS: Ubuntu 64



Nothing can be done about this. Some of Armory's stack is forced in the RAM through mlock. Hibernation copies the entire RAM into the swap partition. Since that would defeat mlock's purpose, mlock'ed memory is not copied imaged in on hibernation. Armory won't be able to recover from that.

 Cry
legendary
Activity: 3794
Merit: 1375
Armory Developer
June 14, 2014, 06:10:44 PM
Hi,

I have a problem:

1- I hibernate the laptop with Armory opened.
2- I back from hibernate.
3- Armory doesnt syncronize. (To syncronize again I need to restart Armory).

OS: Ubuntu 64



Nothing can be done about this. Some of Armory's stack is forced in the RAM through mlock. Hibernation copies the entire RAM into the swap partition. Since that would defeat mlock's purpose, mlock'ed memory is not copied imaged in on hibernation. Armory won't be able to recover from that.
sr. member
Activity: 312
Merit: 250
June 14, 2014, 08:11:25 AM
Hi,

I have a problem:

1- I hibernate the laptop with Armory opened.
2- I back from hibernate.
3- Armory doesnt syncronize. (To syncronize again I need to restart Armory).

OS: Ubuntu 64

legendary
Activity: 2912
Merit: 1060
June 13, 2014, 05:29:28 PM
is there any way yo bulk transfer to multiple recipients?

I mean, I am developing a web application and would like to have the possibility of export some kind of list instead of process one transaction at each time.. thanks

Try armoryd

thanks for reply but I would like to use some GUI managed by windows, any chance?

No but you can donate asking for csv
full member
Activity: 211
Merit: 100
1ACEGiLZnZoG7KUNkMwAT8tBuJ6jsrwj5Q
June 13, 2014, 05:44:52 AM
is there any way yo bulk transfer to multiple recipients?

I mean, I am developing a web application and would like to have the possibility of export some kind of list instead of process one transaction at each time.. thanks

Try armoryd

thanks for reply but I would like to use some GUI managed by windows, any chance?
legendary
Activity: 2912
Merit: 1060
June 12, 2014, 09:58:01 PM
is there any way yo bulk transfer to multiple recipients?

I mean, I am developing a web application and would like to have the possibility of export some kind of list instead of process one transaction at each time.. thanks

Try armoryd
full member
Activity: 211
Merit: 100
1ACEGiLZnZoG7KUNkMwAT8tBuJ6jsrwj5Q
June 12, 2014, 08:54:56 PM
is there any way yo bulk transfer to multiple recipients?

I mean, I am developing a web application and would like to have the possibility of export some kind of list instead of process one transaction at each time.. thanks
legendary
Activity: 2912
Merit: 1060
June 11, 2014, 10:24:45 PM
Hello everyone, I've been using Armory since last year and I was just wondering what is the best way to update the client? I currently have version 0.88. Do I have to uninstall it and download the latest version? Or is there a way to update it?

edit: Also my Armory folder under app data/Roaming is 30 gbs. Is that normal?

Just download

New version will download for you

Yes that's normal
sr. member
Activity: 280
Merit: 250
Knowledge is Power
June 11, 2014, 10:07:11 PM
Hello everyone, I've been using Armory since last year and I was just wondering what is the best way to update the client? I currently have version 0.88. Do I have to uninstall it and download the latest version? Or is there a way to update it?

edit: Also my Armory folder under app data/Roaming is 30 gbs. Is that normal?
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