@serve.zone/dcrouter

dcrouter: The all-in-one gateway for your datacenter. 🚀

A comprehensive traffic routing solution that provides unified gateway capabilities for HTTP/HTTPS, TCP/SNI, email (SMTP), DNS, RADIUS, and remote edge ingress — all from a single process. Designed for enterprises requiring robust traffic management, automatic TLS certificate provisioning, distributed edge networking, and enterprise-grade email infrastructure.

Issue Reporting and Security

For reporting bugs, issues, or security vulnerabilities, please visit community.foss.global/. This is the central community hub for all issue reporting. Developers who sign and comply with our contribution agreement and go through identification can also get a code.foss.global/ account to submit Pull Requests directly.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Installation
• Quick Start
• Architecture
• Configuration Reference
• HTTP/HTTPS & TCP/SNI Routing
• Email System
• DNS Server
• RADIUS Server
• Remote Ingress
• Certificate Management
• Storage & Caching
• Security Features
• OpsServer Dashboard
• API Reference
• Sub-Modules
• Testing
• License and Legal Information

Features

🌐 Universal Traffic Router

• HTTP/HTTPS routing with domain matching, path-based forwarding, and automatic TLS
• TCP/SNI proxy for any protocol with TLS termination or passthrough
• DNS server (Rust-powered via SmartDNS) with authoritative zones, dynamic record management, and DNS-over-HTTPS
• Multi-protocol support on the same infrastructure via SmartProxy

📧 Complete Email Infrastructure (powered by smartmta)

• Multi-domain SMTP server on standard ports (25, 587, 465)
• Pattern-based email routing with four action types: forward, process, deliver, reject
• DKIM signing & verification, SPF, DMARC authentication stack
• Enterprise deliverability with IP warmup schedules and sender reputation tracking
• Bounce handling with automatic suppression lists
• Hierarchical rate limiting — global, per-domain, per-sender

🔒 Enterprise Security

• Automatic TLS certificates via ACME (smartacme v9) with Cloudflare DNS-01 challenges
• Smart certificate scheduling — per-domain deduplication, controlled parallelism, and account rate limiting handled automatically
• Per-domain exponential backoff — failed provisioning attempts are tracked and backed off to avoid hammering ACME servers
• IP reputation checking with caching and configurable thresholds
• Content scanning for spam, viruses, and malicious attachments
• Security event logging with structured audit trails

📡 RADIUS Server

• MAC Authentication Bypass (MAB) for network device authentication
• VLAN assignment based on exact MAC, OUI prefix, or wildcard patterns
• RADIUS accounting for session tracking, traffic metering, and billing
• Real-time management via OpsServer API

🌍 Remote Ingress (powered by remoteingress)

• Distributed edge networking — accept traffic at remote edge nodes and tunnel it to the hub
• Edge registration CRUD with secret-based authentication
• Auto-derived ports — edges automatically pick up ports from routes tagged with remoteIngress.enabled
• Connection tokens — generate a single opaque base64url token containing hubHost, hubPort, edgeId, and secret for easy edge provisioning
• Real-time status monitoring — connected/disconnected state, public IP, active tunnels, heartbeat tracking
• OpsServer dashboard with enable/disable, edit, secret regeneration, token copy, and delete actions

⚡ High Performance

• Rust-powered proxy engine via SmartProxy for maximum throughput
• Rust-powered MTA engine via smartmta (TypeScript + Rust hybrid) for reliable email delivery
• Rust-powered DNS engine via SmartDNS for high-performance UDP and DNS-over-HTTPS
• Connection pooling for outbound SMTP and backend services
• Socket-handler mode — direct socket passing eliminates internal port hops
• Real-time metrics via SmartMetrics (CPU, memory, connections, throughput)

💾 Persistent Storage & Caching

• Multiple storage backends: filesystem, custom functions, or in-memory
• Embedded cache database via smartdata + LocalTsmDb (MongoDB-compatible)
• Automatic TTL-based cleanup for cached emails and IP reputation data

🖥️ OpsServer Dashboard

• Web-based management interface with real-time monitoring
• JWT authentication with session persistence
• Live views for connections, email queues, DNS queries, RADIUS sessions, certificates, remote ingress edges, and security events
• Domain-centric certificate overview with backoff status and one-click reprovisioning
• Remote ingress management with connection token generation and one-click copy
• Read-only configuration display — DcRouter is configured through code

Installation

pnpm add @serve.zone/dcrouter
# or
npm install @serve.zone/dcrouter

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+ with ES module support
• Valid domain with DNS control (for ACME certificate automation)
• Cloudflare API token (for DNS-01 challenges) — optional

Quick Start

Basic HTTP/HTTPS Router

import { DcRouter } from '@serve.zone/dcrouter';

const router = new DcRouter({
  smartProxyConfig: {
    routes: [
      {
        name: 'web-app',
        match: { domains: ['example.com', 'www.example.com'], ports: [443] },
        action: {
          type: 'forward',
          targets: [{ host: '192.168.1.10', port: 8080 }],
          tls: { mode: 'terminate', certificate: 'auto' }
        }
      }
    ],
    acme: {
      email: '[email protected]',
      enabled: true,
      useProduction: true
    }
  }
});

await router.start();

Basic Email Server

import { DcRouter } from '@serve.zone/dcrouter';

const router = new DcRouter({
  emailConfig: {
    ports: [25, 587, 465],
    hostname: 'mail.example.com',
    domains: [
      {
        domain: 'example.com',
        dnsMode: 'external-dns'
      }
    ],
    routes: [
      {
        name: 'process-all',
        match: { recipients: '*@example.com' },
        action: {
          type: 'process',
          process: { scan: true, dkim: true, queue: 'normal' }
        }
      }
    ]
  }
});

await router.start();

Full Stack with Dashboard

import { DcRouter } from '@serve.zone/dcrouter';

const router = new DcRouter({
  // HTTP/HTTPS routing
  smartProxyConfig: {
    routes: [
      {
        name: 'website',
        match: { domains: ['example.com'], ports: [443] },
        action: {
          type: 'forward',
          targets: [{ host: '192.168.1.10', port: 80 }],
          tls: { mode: 'terminate', certificate: 'auto' }
        }
      }
    ],
    acme: { email: '[email protected]', enabled: true, useProduction: true }
  },

  // Email system (powered by smartmta)
  emailConfig: {
    ports: [25, 587, 465],
    hostname: 'mail.example.com',
    domains: [{ domain: 'example.com', dnsMode: 'external-dns' }],
    routes: [
      {
        name: 'inbound-mail',
        match: { recipients: '*@example.com' },
        action: { type: 'process', process: { scan: true, dkim: true, queue: 'normal' } }
      }
    ]
  },

  // Authoritative DNS
  dnsNsDomains: ['ns1.example.com', 'ns2.example.com'],
  dnsScopes: ['example.com'],
  publicIp: '203.0.113.1',
  dnsRecords: [
    { name: 'example.com', type: 'A', value: '203.0.113.1' },
    { name: 'www.example.com', type: 'CNAME', value: 'example.com' }
  ],

  // RADIUS authentication
  radiusConfig: {
    authPort: 1812,
    acctPort: 1813,
    clients: [
      { name: 'switch-1', ipRange: '192.168.1.0/24', secret: 'radius-secret', enabled: true }
    ],
    vlanAssignment: {
      defaultVlan: 100,
      allowUnknownMacs: true,
      mappings: [
        { mac: 'aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff', vlan: 10, enabled: true },
        { mac: 'aa:bb:cc', vlan: 20, enabled: true }  // OUI prefix
      ]
    },
    accounting: { enabled: true, retentionDays: 30 }
  },

  // Remote Ingress — edge nodes tunnel traffic to this hub
  remoteIngressConfig: {
    enabled: true,
    tunnelPort: 8443,
    hubDomain: 'hub.example.com',
  },

  // Persistent storage
  storage: { fsPath: '/var/lib/dcrouter/data' },

  // Cache database
  cacheConfig: { enabled: true, storagePath: '~/.serve.zone/dcrouter/tsmdb' },

  // TLS & ACME
  tls: { contactEmail: '[email protected]' },
  dnsChallenge: { cloudflareApiKey: process.env.CLOUDFLARE_API_KEY }
});

await router.start();
// OpsServer dashboard available at http://localhost:3000

Architecture

System Overview

graph TB
    subgraph "External Traffic"
        HTTP[HTTP/HTTPS Clients]
        SMTP[SMTP Clients]
        TCP[TCP Clients]
        DNS[DNS Queries]
        RAD[RADIUS Clients]
        EDGE[Edge Nodes]
    end

    subgraph "DcRouter Core"
        DC[DcRouter Orchestrator]
        SP[SmartProxy Engine<br/><i>Rust-powered</i>]
        ES[smartmta Email Server<br/><i>TypeScript + Rust</i>]
        DS[SmartDNS Server<br/><i>Rust-powered</i>]
        RS[SmartRadius Server]
        RI[RemoteIngress Hub<br/><i>Rust data plane</i>]
        CM[Certificate Manager<br/><i>smartacme v9</i>]
        OS[OpsServer Dashboard]
        MM[Metrics Manager]
        SM[Storage Manager]
        CD[Cache Database]
    end

    subgraph "Backend Services"
        WEB[Web Services]
        MAIL[Mail Servers]
        DB[Databases]
        API[Internal APIs]
    end

    HTTP --> SP
    TCP --> SP
    SMTP --> ES
    DNS --> DS
    RAD --> RS
    EDGE --> RI

    DC --> SP
    DC --> ES
    DC --> DS
    DC --> RS
    DC --> RI
    DC --> CM
    DC --> OS
    DC --> MM
    DC --> SM
    DC --> CD

    SP --> WEB
    SP --> API
    ES --> MAIL
    ES --> DB
    RI --> SP

    CM -.-> SP
    CM -.-> ES

Core Components

| Component | Package | Description | |-----------|---------|-------------| | DcRouter | @serve.zone/dcrouter | Central orchestrator — starts, stops, and coordinates all services | | SmartProxy | @push.rocks/smartproxy | High-performance HTTP/HTTPS and TCP/SNI proxy with route-based config (Rust engine) | | UnifiedEmailServer | @push.rocks/smartmta | Full SMTP server with pattern-based routing, DKIM, queue management (TypeScript + Rust) | | DNS Server | @push.rocks/smartdns | Authoritative DNS with dynamic records and DKIM TXT auto-generation (Rust engine) | | SmartAcme | @push.rocks/smartacme | ACME certificate management with per-domain dedup, concurrency control, and rate limiting | | RADIUS Server | @push.rocks/smartradius | Network authentication with MAB, VLAN assignment, and accounting | | RemoteIngress | @serve.zone/remoteingress | Distributed edge tunneling with Rust data plane and TS management | | OpsServer | @api.global/typedserver | Web dashboard + TypedRequest API for monitoring and management | | MetricsManager | @push.rocks/smartmetrics | Real-time metrics collection (CPU, memory, email, DNS, security) | | StorageManager | built-in | Pluggable key-value storage (filesystem, custom, or in-memory) | | CacheDb | @push.rocks/smartdata | Embedded MongoDB-compatible database (LocalTsmDb) for persistent caching |

How It Works

DcRouter acts purely as an orchestrator — it doesn't implement protocols itself. Instead, it wires together best-in-class packages for each protocol:

1. On start(): DcRouter initializes OpsServer (port 3000), then spins up SmartProxy, smartmta, SmartDNS, SmartRadius, and RemoteIngress based on which configs are provided.
2. During operation: Each service handles its own protocol independently. SmartProxy uses a Rust-powered engine for maximum throughput. smartmta uses a hybrid TypeScript + Rust architecture for reliable email delivery. RemoteIngress runs a Rust data plane for edge tunnel networking. SmartAcme v9 handles all certificate operations with built-in concurrency control and rate limiting.
3. On stop(): All services are gracefully shut down in parallel, including cleanup of HTTP agents and DNS clients.

Rust-Powered Architecture

DcRouter itself is a pure TypeScript orchestrator, but several of its core sub-components ship with compiled Rust binaries for performance-critical paths. At runtime each package detects the platform, unpacks the correct binary, and communicates with TypeScript over IPC/FFI — so you get the ergonomics of TypeScript with the throughput of native code.

| Component | Rust Binary | What It Handles | |-----------|-------------|-----------------| | SmartProxy | smartproxy-bin | All TCP/TLS/HTTP proxy networking, NFTables integration, connection metrics | | smartmta | mailer-bin | SMTP server + client, DKIM/SPF/DMARC, content scanning, IP reputation | | SmartDNS | smartdns-bin | DNS server (UDP + DNS-over-HTTPS), DNSSEC, DNS client resolution | | RemoteIngress | remoteingress-bin | Edge tunnel data plane, multiplexed streams, heartbeat management | | SmartRadius | — | Pure TypeScript (no Rust component) |

Configuration Reference

IDcRouterOptions

interface IDcRouterOptions {
  // ── Base ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  /** Base directory for all dcrouter data. Defaults to ~/.serve.zone/dcrouter */
  baseDir?: string;

  // ── Traffic Routing ────────────────────────────────────────────
  /** SmartProxy config for HTTP/HTTPS and TCP/SNI routing */
  smartProxyConfig?: ISmartProxyOptions;

  // ── Email ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  /** Unified email server configuration (smartmta) */
  emailConfig?: IUnifiedEmailServerOptions;

  /** Custom email port mapping overrides */
  emailPortConfig?: {
    portMapping?: Record<number, number>;
    portSettings?: Record<number, any>;
    receivedEmailsPath?: string;
  };

  // ── DNS ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  /** Nameserver domains — get A records automatically */
  dnsNsDomains?: string[];
  /** Domains this server is authoritative for */
  dnsScopes?: string[];
  /** Public IP for NS A records */
  publicIp?: string;
  /** Ingress proxy IPs (hides real server IP) */
  proxyIps?: string[];
  /** Custom DNS records */
  dnsRecords?: Array<{
    name: string;
    type: 'A' | 'AAAA' | 'CNAME' | 'MX' | 'TXT' | 'NS' | 'SOA';
    value: string;
    ttl?: number;
    useIngressProxy?: boolean;
  }>;

  // ── RADIUS ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  /** RADIUS server for network authentication */
  radiusConfig?: {
    authPort?: number;                   // default: 1812
    acctPort?: number;                   // default: 1813
    clients: IRadiusClient[];
    vlanAssignment?: IVlanManagerConfig;
    accounting?: { enabled: boolean; retentionDays?: number };
  };

  // ── Remote Ingress ─────────────────────────────────────────────
  /** Remote Ingress hub for edge tunnel connections */
  remoteIngressConfig?: {
    enabled?: boolean;                   // default: false
    tunnelPort?: number;                 // default: 8443
    hubDomain?: string;                  // External hostname for connection tokens
    tls?: {
      certPath?: string;
      keyPath?: string;
    };
  };

  // ── TLS & Certificates ────────────────────────────────────────
  tls?: {
    contactEmail: string;
    domain?: string;
    certPath?: string;
    keyPath?: string;
  };
  dnsChallenge?: { cloudflareApiKey?: string };

  // ── Storage & Caching ─────────────────────────────────────────
  storage?: {
    fsPath?: string;
    readFunction?: (key: string) => Promise<string>;
    writeFunction?: (key: string, value: string) => Promise<void>;
  };
  cacheConfig?: {
    enabled?: boolean;                   // default: true
    storagePath?: string;                // default: '~/.serve.zone/dcrouter/tsmdb'
    dbName?: string;                     // default: 'dcrouter'
    cleanupIntervalHours?: number;       // default: 1
    ttlConfig?: {
      emails?: number;                   // default: 30 days
      ipReputation?: number;             // default: 1 day
      bounces?: number;                  // default: 30 days
      dkimKeys?: number;                 // default: 90 days
      suppression?: number;              // default: 30 days
    };
  };
}

HTTP/HTTPS & TCP/SNI Routing

DcRouter uses SmartProxy for all HTTP/HTTPS and TCP/SNI routing. Routes are pattern-matched by domain, port, or both.

HTTPS with Auto-TLS

{
  name: 'api-gateway',
  match: { domains: ['api.example.com'], ports: [443] },
  action: {
    type: 'forward',
    targets: [{ host: '192.168.1.20', port: 8080 }],
    tls: { mode: 'terminate', certificate: 'auto' }
  }
}

TLS Passthrough (SNI Routing)

{
  name: 'secure-backend',
  match: { domains: ['secure.example.com'], ports: [8443] },
  action: {
    type: 'forward',
    targets: [{ host: '192.168.1.40', port: 8443 }],
    tls: { mode: 'passthrough' }
  }
}

TCP Port Range Forwarding

{
  name: 'database-cluster',
  match: { ports: [{ from: 5432, to: 5439 }] },
  action: {
    type: 'forward',
    targets: [{ host: '192.168.1.30', port: 'preserve' }],
    security: { ipAllowList: ['192.168.1.0/24'] }
  }
}

HTTP Redirect

{
  name: 'http-to-https',
  match: { ports: [80] },
  action: { type: 'redirect', redirect: { to: 'https://{domain}{path}' } }
}

Email System

The email system is powered by @push.rocks/smartmta, a TypeScript + Rust hybrid MTA. DcRouter configures and orchestrates smartmta's UnifiedEmailServer, which handles SMTP sessions, route matching, delivery queuing, DKIM signing, and all email processing.

Email Domain Configuration

Domains define infrastructure — how DNS and DKIM are handled for each domain:

Forward Mode

Simple forwarding without local DNS management:

{
  domain: 'forwarded.com',
  dnsMode: 'forward',
  dns: { forward: { skipDnsValidation: true, targetDomain: 'mail.target.com' } }
}

Internal DNS Mode

Uses DcRouter's built-in DNS server (requires dnsNsDomains + dnsScopes):

{
  domain: 'mail.example.com',
  dnsMode: 'internal-dns',
  dns: { internal: { mxPriority: 10, ttl: 3600 } },
  dkim: { selector: 'mail2024', keySize: 2048, rotateKeys: true, rotationInterval: 90 }
}

External DNS Mode

Uses existing DNS infrastructure with validation:

{
  domain: 'mail.external.com',
  dnsMode: 'external-dns',
  dns: { external: { requiredRecords: ['MX', 'SPF', 'DKIM', 'DMARC'] } },
  rateLimits: {
    inbound: { messagesPerMinute: 100, connectionsPerIp: 10 },
    outbound: { messagesPerMinute: 200 }
  }
}

Email Route Actions

Routes define behavior — what happens when an email matches:

Forward 📤

Routes emails to an external SMTP server:

{
  name: 'forward-to-internal',
  match: { recipients: '*@company.com' },
  action: {
    type: 'forward',
    forward: {
      host: 'internal-mail.company.com',
      port: 25,
      auth: { user: 'relay-user', pass: 'relay-pass' },
      addHeaders: { 'X-Forwarded-By': 'dcrouter' }
    }
  }
}

Process ⚙️

Full MTA processing with content scanning and delivery queues:

{
  name: 'process-notifications',
  match: { recipients: '*@notifications.company.com' },
  action: {
    type: 'process',
    process: { scan: true, dkim: true, queue: 'priority' }
  }
}

Deliver 📥

Local mailbox delivery:

{
  name: 'deliver-local',
  match: { recipients: '*@local.company.com' },
  action: { type: 'deliver' }
}

Reject 🚫

Reject with custom SMTP response code:

{
  name: 'reject-spam-domain',
  match: { senders: '*@spam-domain.com', sizeRange: { min: 1000000 } },
  action: {
    type: 'reject',
    reject: { code: 550, message: 'Message rejected due to policy' }
  }
}

Route Matching

Routes support powerful matching criteria:

// Recipient patterns
match: { recipients: '*@example.com' }           // All addresses at domain
match: { recipients: 'admin@*' }                 // "admin" at any domain
match: { senders: ['*@trusted.com', '*@vip.com'] } // Multiple sender patterns

// IP-based matching (CIDR)
match: { clientIp: '192.168.0.0/16' }
match: { clientIp: ['10.0.0.0/8', '172.16.0.0/12'] }

// Authentication state
match: { authenticated: true }

// Header matching
match: { headers: { 'X-Priority': 'high', 'Subject': /urgent|emergency/i } }

// Size and content
match: { sizeRange: { min: 1000, max: 5000000 }, hasAttachments: true }
match: { subject: /invoice|receipt/i }

Email Security Stack

• DKIM — Automatic key generation, signing, and rotation for all domains
• SPF — Sender Policy Framework verification on inbound mail
• DMARC — Domain-based Message Authentication verification
• IP Reputation — Real-time IP reputation checking with caching
• Content Scanning — Spam, virus, and attachment scanning
• Rate Limiting — Hierarchical limits (global → domain → sender)
• Bounce Management — Automatic bounce detection and suppression lists

Email Deliverability

• IP Warmup Manager — Multi-stage warmup schedules for new IPs
• Sender Reputation Monitor — Per-domain reputation tracking and scoring
• Connection Pooling — Pooled outbound SMTP connections per destination

DNS Server

DcRouter includes an authoritative DNS server built on smartdns. It handles standard UDP DNS on port 53 and DNS-over-HTTPS via SmartProxy socket handler.

Enabling DNS

DNS is activated when both dnsNsDomains and dnsScopes are configured:

const router = new DcRouter({
  dnsNsDomains: ['ns1.example.com', 'ns2.example.com'],
  dnsScopes: ['example.com'],
  publicIp: '203.0.113.1',
  dnsRecords: [
    { name: 'example.com', type: 'A', value: '203.0.113.1' },
    { name: 'www.example.com', type: 'CNAME', value: 'example.com' },
    { name: 'example.com', type: 'MX', value: '10:mail.example.com' },
    { name: 'example.com', type: 'TXT', value: 'v=spf1 a mx ~all' }
  ]
});

Automatic DNS Records

DcRouter auto-generates:

• NS records for all domains in dnsScopes
• SOA records for authoritative zones
• A records for nameserver domains (dnsNsDomains)
• MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC records for email domains with internal-dns mode
• ACME challenge records for certificate provisioning

Ingress Proxy Support

When proxyIps is configured, A records with useIngressProxy: true (default) will use the proxy IP instead of the real server IP — hiding your origin:

{
  proxyIps: ['198.51.100.1', '198.51.100.2'],
  dnsRecords: [
    { name: 'example.com', type: 'A', value: '203.0.113.1' },  // Will resolve to 198.51.100.1
    { name: 'ns1.example.com', type: 'A', value: '203.0.113.1', useIngressProxy: false }  // Stays real IP
  ]
}

RADIUS Server

DcRouter includes a RADIUS server for network access control, built on smartradius.

Configuration

const router = new DcRouter({
  radiusConfig: {
    authPort: 1812,
    acctPort: 1813,
    clients: [
      {
        name: 'core-switch',
        ipRange: '192.168.1.0/24',
        secret: 'shared-secret',
        enabled: true
      }
    ],
    vlanAssignment: {
      defaultVlan: 100,
      allowUnknownMacs: true,
      mappings: [
        { mac: 'aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff', vlan: 10, enabled: true },   // Exact MAC
        { mac: 'aa:bb:cc', vlan: 20, enabled: true },             // OUI prefix
      ]
    },
    accounting: {
      enabled: true,
      retentionDays: 30
    }
  }
});

Components

| Component | Purpose | |-----------|---------| | RadiusServer | Main RADIUS server handling auth + accounting requests | | VlanManager | MAC-to-VLAN mapping with exact, OUI, and wildcard patterns | | AccountingManager | Session tracking, traffic metering, start/stop/interim updates |

OpsServer API

RADIUS is fully manageable at runtime via the OpsServer API:

• Client management (add/remove/list NAS devices)
• VLAN mapping CRUD operations
• Session monitoring and forced disconnects
• Accounting summaries and statistics

Remote Ingress

DcRouter can act as a hub for distributed edge nodes using @serve.zone/remoteingress. Edge nodes accept incoming traffic at remote locations and tunnel it back to the hub over a single multiplexed connection. This is ideal for scenarios where you need to accept traffic at multiple geographic locations but process it centrally.

Enabling Remote Ingress

const router = new DcRouter({
  remoteIngressConfig: {
    enabled: true,
    tunnelPort: 8443,
    hubDomain: 'hub.example.com',  // Embedded in connection tokens
  },
  // Routes tagged with remoteIngress are auto-derived to edge listen ports
  smartProxyConfig: {
    routes: [
      {
        name: 'web-via-edge',
        match: { domains: ['app.example.com'], ports: [443] },
        action: {
          type: 'forward',
          targets: [{ host: '192.168.1.10', port: 8080 }],
          tls: { mode: 'terminate', certificate: 'auto' }
        },
        remoteIngress: { enabled: true }  // Edges will listen on port 443
      }
    ]
  }
});

await router.start();

Edge Registration

Edges are registered via the OpsServer API (or dashboard UI). Each edge gets a unique ID and secret:

// Via TypedRequest API
const createReq = new TypedRequest<IReq_CreateRemoteIngress>(
  'https://hub:3000/typedrequest', 'createRemoteIngress'
);
const { edge } = await createReq.fire({
  identity,
  name: 'edge-nyc-01',
  autoDerivePorts: true,
  tags: ['us-east'],
});
// edge.secret is returned only on creation — save it!

Connection Tokens 🔑

Instead of configuring edges with four separate values (hubHost, hubPort, edgeId, secret), DcRouter can generate a single connection token — an opaque base64url string that encodes everything:

// Via TypedRequest API
const tokenReq = new TypedRequest<IReq_GetRemoteIngressConnectionToken>(
  'https://hub:3000/typedrequest', 'getRemoteIngressConnectionToken'
);
const { token } = await tokenReq.fire({ identity, edgeId: 'edge-uuid' });
// token = "eyJoIjoiaHViLmV4YW1wbGUuY29tIiwicCI6ODQ0MywiZSI6I..."

// On the edge side, just pass the token:
const edge = new RemoteIngressEdge({ token });
await edge.start();

The token is generated using remoteingress.encodeConnectionToken() and contains { hubHost, hubPort, edgeId, secret }. The hubHost comes from remoteIngressConfig.hubDomain (or can be overridden per-request).

In the OpsServer dashboard, click "Copy Token" on any edge row to copy the connection token to your clipboard.

Auto-Derived Ports

When routes have remoteIngress: { enabled: true }, edges with autoDerivePorts: true (default) automatically pick up those routes' ports. You can also use edgeFilter to restrict which edges get which ports:

{
  name: 'web-route',
  match: { ports: [443] },
  action: { /* ... */ },
  remoteIngress: {
    enabled: true,
    edgeFilter: ['us-east', 'edge-uuid-123']  // Only edges with matching id or tags
  }
}

Dashboard Actions

The OpsServer Remote Ingress view provides:

| Action | Description | |--------|-------------| | Create Edge Node | Register a new edge with name, ports, tags | | Enable / Disable | Toggle an edge on or off | | Edit | Modify name, manual ports, auto-derive setting, tags | | Regenerate Secret | Issue a new secret (invalidates the old one) | | Copy Token | Generate and copy a base64url connection token to clipboard | | Delete | Remove the edge registration |

Certificate Management

DcRouter uses @push.rocks/smartacme v9 for ACME certificate provisioning. smartacme v9 brings significant improvements over previous versions:

How It Works

When a dnsChallenge is configured (e.g. with a Cloudflare API key), DcRouter creates a SmartAcme instance that handles DNS-01 challenges for automatic certificate provisioning. SmartProxy calls the certProvisionFunction whenever a route needs a TLS certificate, and SmartAcme takes care of the rest.

const router = new DcRouter({
  smartProxyConfig: {
    routes: [
      {
        name: 'secure-app',
        match: { domains: ['app.example.com'], ports: [443] },
        action: {
          type: 'forward',
          targets: [{ host: '192.168.1.10', port: 8080 }],
          tls: { mode: 'terminate', certificate: 'auto' }  // ← triggers ACME provisioning
        }
      }
    ],
    acme: { email: '[email protected]', enabled: true, useProduction: true }
  },
  tls: { contactEmail: '[email protected]' },
  dnsChallenge: { cloudflareApiKey: process.env.CLOUDFLARE_API_KEY }
});

smartacme v9 Features

| Feature | Description | |---------|-------------| | Per-domain deduplication | Concurrent requests for the same domain share a single ACME operation | | Global concurrency cap | Default 5 parallel ACME operations to prevent overload | | Account rate limiting | Sliding window (250 orders / 3 hours) to stay within ACME provider limits | | Structured errors | AcmeError with isRetryable, isRateLimited, retryAfter fields | | Clean shutdown | stop() properly destroys HTTP agents and DNS clients |

Per-Domain Backoff

DcRouter's CertProvisionScheduler adds per-domain exponential backoff on top of smartacme's built-in protections. If a DNS-01 challenge fails for a domain:

1. The failure is recorded (persisted to storage)
2. The domain enters backoff: min(failures² × 1 hour, 24 hours)
3. Subsequent requests for that domain are rejected until the backoff expires
4. On success, the backoff is cleared

This prevents hammering ACME servers for domains with persistent issues (e.g. missing DNS delegation).

Fallback to HTTP-01

If DNS-01 fails, the certProvisionFunction returns 'http01' to tell SmartProxy to fall back to HTTP-01 challenge validation. This provides a safety net for domains where DNS-01 isn't viable.

Certificate Storage

Certificates are persisted via the StorageBackedCertManager which uses DcRouter's StorageManager. This means certs survive restarts and don't need to be re-provisioned unless they expire.

Dashboard

The OpsServer includes a Certificates view showing:

• All domains with their certificate status (valid, expiring, expired, failed)
• Certificate source (ACME, provision function, static)
• Expiry dates and issuer information
• Backoff status for failed domains
• One-click reprovisioning per domain
• Certificate import and export

Storage & Caching

StorageManager

Provides a unified key-value interface with three backends:

// Filesystem backend
storage: { fsPath: '/var/lib/dcrouter/data' }

// Custom backend (Redis, S3, etc.)
storage: {
  readFunction: async (key) => await redis.get(key),
  writeFunction: async (key, value) => await redis.set(key, value)
}

// In-memory (development only — data lost on restart)
// Simply omit the storage config

Used for: TLS certificates, DKIM keys, email routes, bounce/suppression lists, IP reputation data, domain configs, cert backoff state, remote ingress edge registrations.

Cache Database

An embedded MongoDB-compatible database (via smartdata + LocalTsmDb) for persistent caching with automatic TTL cleanup:

cacheConfig: {
  enabled: true,
  storagePath: '~/.serve.zone/dcrouter/tsmdb',
  dbName: 'dcrouter',
  cleanupIntervalHours: 1,
  ttlConfig: {
    emails: 30,         // days
    ipReputation: 1,    // days
    bounces: 30,        // days
    dkimKeys: 90,       // days
    suppression: 30     // days
  }
}

Cached document types: CachedEmail, CachedIPReputation.

Security Features

IP Reputation Checking

Automatic IP reputation checks on inbound connections with configurable caching:

// IP reputation is checked automatically for inbound SMTP connections.
// Results are cached according to cacheConfig.ttlConfig.ipReputation.

Rate Limiting

Hierarchical rate limits with three levels of specificity:

// Global defaults (via emailConfig.defaults.rateLimits)
defaults: {
  rateLimits: {
    inbound: { messagesPerMinute: 50, connectionsPerIp: 5, recipientsPerMessage: 50 },
    outbound: { messagesPerMinute: 100 }
  }
}

// Per-domain overrides (in domain config)
{
  domain: 'high-volume.com',
  rateLimits: {
    outbound: { messagesPerMinute: 500 }  // Override for this domain
  }
}

Precedence: Domain-specific > Pattern-specific > Global

Content Scanning

action: {
  type: 'process',
  options: {
    contentScanning: true,
    scanners: [
      { type: 'spam', threshold: 5.0, action: 'tag' },
      { type: 'virus', action: 'reject' },
      { type: 'attachment', blockedExtensions: ['.exe', '.bat', '.scr'], action: 'reject' }
    ]
  }
}

OpsServer Dashboard

The OpsServer provides a web-based management interface served on port 3000. It's built with modern web components using @design.estate/dees-catalog.

Dashboard Views

| View | Description | |------|-------------| | 📊 Overview | Real-time server stats, CPU/memory, connection counts, email throughput | | 🌐 Network | Active connections, top IPs, throughput rates, SmartProxy metrics | | 📧 Email | Queue monitoring (queued/sent/failed), bounce records, security incidents | | 🔐 Certificates | Domain-centric certificate overview, status, backoff info, reprovisioning, import/export | | 🌍 RemoteIngress | Edge node management, connection status, token generation, enable/disable | | 📜 Logs | Real-time log viewer with level filtering and search | | ⚙️ Configuration | Read-only view of current system configuration | | 🛡️ Security | IP reputation, rate limit status, blocked connections |

API Endpoints

All management is done via TypedRequest over HTTP POST to /typedrequest:

// Authentication
'adminLoginWithUsernameAndPassword'   // Login with credentials → returns JWT identity
'verifyIdentity'                       // Verify JWT token validity
'adminLogout'                          // End admin session

// Statistics & Health
'getServerStatistics'                  // Uptime, CPU, memory, connections
'getHealthStatus'                      // System health check
'getCombinedMetrics'                   // All metrics in one call

// Email Operations
'getQueuedEmails'                      // Emails pending delivery
'getSentEmails'                        // Successfully delivered emails
'getFailedEmails'                      // Failed emails
'resendEmail'                          // Re-queue a failed email
'getBounceRecords'                     // Bounce records
'removeFromSuppressionList'            // Unsuppress an address

// Certificates
'getCertificateOverview'               // Domain-centric certificate status
'reprovisionCertificate'               // Reprovision by route name (legacy)
'reprovisionCertificateDomain'         // Reprovision by domain (preferred)
'importCertificate'                    // Import a certificate
'exportCertificate'                    // Export a certificate
'deleteCertificate'                    // Delete a certificate

// Remote Ingress
'getRemoteIngresses'                   // List all edge registrations
'createRemoteIngress'                  // Register a new edge
'updateRemoteIngress'                  // Update edge settings
'deleteRemoteIngress'                  // Remove an edge
'regenerateRemoteIngressSecret'        // Issue a new secret
'getRemoteIngressStatus'               // Runtime status of all edges
'getRemoteIngressConnectionToken'      // Generate a connection token for an edge

// Configuration (read-only)
'getConfiguration'                     // Current system config

// Logs
'getLogs'                              // Retrieve system logs

// RADIUS
'getRadiusSessions'                    // Active RADIUS sessions
'getRadiusClients'                     // List NAS clients
'getRadiusStatistics'                  // RADIUS stats
'setRadiusClient'                      // Add/update NAS client
'removeRadiusClient'                   // Remove NAS client
'getVlanMappings'                      // List VLAN mappings
'setVlanMapping'                       // Add/update VLAN mapping
'removeVlanMapping'                    // Remove VLAN mapping
'testVlanAssignment'                   // Test what VLAN a MAC gets

API Reference

DcRouter Class

import { DcRouter } from '@serve.zone/dcrouter';

const router = new DcRouter(options: IDcRouterOptions);

Methods

| Method | Description | |--------|-------------| | start(): Promise<void> | Start all configured services | | stop(): Promise<void> | Gracefully stop all services | | updateSmartProxyConfig(config): Promise<void> | Hot-update SmartProxy routes | | updateEmailConfig(config): Promise<void> | Hot-update email configuration | | updateEmailRoutes(routes): Promise<void> | Update email routing rules at runtime | | updateRadiusConfig(config): Promise<void> | Hot-update RADIUS configuration | | getStats(): any | Get real-time statistics from all services |

Properties

| Property | Type | Description | |----------|------|-------------| | options | IDcRouterOptions | Current configuration | | smartProxy | SmartProxy | SmartProxy instance | | smartAcme | SmartAcme | SmartAcme v9 certificate manager instance | | emailServer | UnifiedEmailServer | Email server instance (from smartmta) | | dnsServer | DnsServer | DNS server instance | | radiusServer | RadiusServer | RADIUS server instance | | remoteIngressManager | RemoteIngressManager | Edge registration CRUD manager | | tunnelManager | TunnelManager | Tunnel lifecycle and status manager | | storageManager | StorageManager | Storage backend | | opsServer | OpsServer | OpsServer/dashboard instance | | metricsManager | MetricsManager | Metrics collector | | cacheDb | CacheDb | Cache database instance | | certProvisionScheduler | CertProvisionScheduler | Per-domain backoff scheduler for cert provisioning | | certificateStatusMap | Map<string, ...> | Domain-keyed certificate status from SmartProxy events |

Re-exported Types

DcRouter re-exports key types from smartmta for convenience:

import {
  DcRouter,
  IDcRouterOptions,
  UnifiedEmailServer,
  type IUnifiedEmailServerOptions,
  type IEmailRoute,
  type IEmailDomainConfig,
} from '@serve.zone/dcrouter';

Sub-Modules

DcRouter is published as a monorepo with separately-installable interface and web packages:

| Package | Description | Install | |---------|-------------|---------| | @serve.zone/dcrouter | Main package — the full router | pnpm add @serve.zone/dcrouter | | @serve.zone/dcrouter-interfaces | TypedRequest interfaces for the OpsServer API | pnpm add @serve.zone/dcrouter-interfaces | | @serve.zone/dcrouter-web | Web dashboard components | pnpm add @serve.zone/dcrouter-web |

You can also import interfaces directly from the main package:

import { data, requests } from '@serve.zone/dcrouter/interfaces';

Testing

DcRouter includes a comprehensive test suite covering all system components:

# Run all tests
pnpm test

# Run a specific test file
tstest test/test.jwt-auth.ts --verbose

# Run with extended timeout
tstest test/test.opsserver-api.ts --verbose --timeout 60

Test Coverage

| Test File | Area | Tests | |-----------|------|-------| | test.contentscanner.ts | Content scanning (spam, phishing, malware, attachments) | 13 | | test.dcrouter.email.ts | Email config, domain and route setup | 4 | | test.dns-server-config.ts | DNS record parsing, grouping, extraction | 5 | | test.dns-socket-handler.ts | DNS socket handler and route generation | 6 | | test.errors.ts | Error classes, handler, retry utilities | 5 | | test.ipreputationchecker.ts | IP reputation, DNSBL, caching, risk classification | 10 | | test.jwt-auth.ts | JWT login, verification, logout, invalid credentials | 8 | | test.opsserver-api.ts | Health, statistics, configuration, log APIs | 6 | | test.protected-endpoint.ts | Admin auth, identity verification, public endpoints | 8 | | test.storagemanager.ts | Memory, filesystem, custom backends, concurrency | 8 |

License and Legal Information

This repository contains open-source code licensed under the MIT License. A copy of the license can be found in the LICENSE file.

Please note: The MIT License does not grant permission to use the trade names, trademarks, service marks, or product names of the project, except as required for reasonable and customary use in describing the origin of the work and reproducing the content of the NOTICE file.

Trademarks

This project is owned and maintained by Task Venture Capital GmbH. The names and logos associated with Task Venture Capital GmbH and any related products or services are trademarks of Task Venture Capital GmbH or third parties, and are not included within the scope of the MIT license granted herein.

Use of these trademarks must comply with Task Venture Capital GmbH's Trademark Guidelines or the guidelines of the respective third-party owners, and any usage must be approved in writing. Third-party trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners and used only in a descriptive manner, e.g. for an implementation of an API or similar.

Company Information

Task Venture Capital GmbH Registered at District Court Bremen HRB 35230 HB, Germany

For any legal inquiries or further information, please contact us via email at [email protected].

By using this repository, you acknowledge that you have read this section, agree to comply with its terms, and understand that the licensing of the code does not imply endorsement by Task Venture Capital GmbH of any derivative works.