---
name: "etherip"
section: "4"
platform: "openbsd"
package: "man"
version: "8.0-current-20261101"
release: "OpenBSD 8.0-current (2026-11-01)"
platforms: ["openbsd"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/etherip"
---

# etherip(4)

EtherIP tunnel interface

## NAME

**etherip** – EtherIP tunnel interface

## SYNOPSIS

**pseudo-device etherip**

## DESCRIPTION

The **etherip** driver provides point-to-point tunnel interfaces for carrying Ethernet frames across IPv4 and IPv6 networks using RFC 3378 EtherIP encapsulation.

An **etherip** interface can be created using the **ifconfig** **etherip***N* **create** command or by setting up a [hostname.if(5)](/hostname.if/5.md) configuration file for [netstart(8)](/netstart/8.md). It must be configured with the addresses used for the outer header. This can be done using [ifconfig(8)](/ifconfig/8.md)'s **tunnel** command (which uses the SIOCSLIFPHYADDR ioctl). The [sysctl(2)](/sysctl/2.md) variable net.inet.etherip.allow must be set to 1, unless [ipsec(4)](/ipsec/4.md) is being used to protect the traffic.

**etherip** interfaces can configured as part of an Ethernet bridge, such as [veb(4)](/veb/4.md), [tpmr(4)](/tpmr/4.md), and [bridge(4)](/bridge/4.md), to extend the connectivity of Ethernet networks across IP networks, possibly across the Internet.

The EtherIP protocol does not provide any integrated security features. EtherIP should only be deployed on trusted private networks, or protected with IPsec to add authentication and encryption for confidentiality. IPsec is especially recommended when transporting EtherIP over the public Internet. EtherIP encapsulated packets may be protected with IPsec by specifying the appropriate IPsec flows between the two endpoints. To only protect the encapsulated EtherIP traffic between the tunnel endpoints, the IP transport protocol 97 (etherip) selector may be used in [ipsec.conf(5)](/ipsec.conf/5.md) or [iked.conf(5)](/iked.conf/5.md).

## EXAMPLES

Given two physically separate Ethernet networks, **etherip** can be used as follows to make them appear as the same local area network. If host gw1 has the external IP address 192.0.2.10 and is connected to network1 on em1, and host gw2 has the external IP address 198.51.100.14 and is connected to network2 on ix1, the following configuration can be used to bridge network1 and network2.

First create a bridge using a [veb(4)](/veb/4.md) interface, adding the **etherip** interface and internal Ethernet interface to the bridge.

On gw1:

```
gw1# ifconfig etherip0 create tunnel 192.0.2.10 198.51.100.14
gw1# ifconfig veb0 create add etherip0 add em1
```

On gw2:

```
gw2# ifconfig etherip0 create tunnel 198.51.100.14 192.0.2.10
gw2# ifconfig veb0 create add etherip0 add ix1
```

Create Security Associations (SAs) between the external IP address of each bridge and matching ingress flows by using the following [ipsec.conf(5)](/ipsec.conf/5.md) file on gw1:

```
esp from 198.51.100.14 to 192.0.2.10 spi 0x4242:0x4243 \
        authkey file "auth1:auth2" enckey file "enc1:enc2"
flow esp proto etherip from 198.51.100.14 to 192.0.2.10
```

Now load these rules into the kernel by issuing the [ipsecctl(8)](/ipsecctl/8.md) command:

```
gw1# ipsecctl -f ipsec.conf
```

Appropriate [ipsec.conf(5)](/ipsec.conf/5.md) for gw2:

```
esp from 198.51.100.14 to 192.0.2.10 spi 0x4243:0x4242 \
        authkey file "auth2:auth1" enckey file "enc2:enc1"
flow esp proto etherip from 198.51.100.14 to 192.0.2.10
```

And load them:

```
gw2# ipsecctl -f ipsec.conf
```

Finally, bring all the interfaces up (if not already up).

On gw1:

```
gw1# ifconfig em1 up
gw1# ifconfig etherip0 up
gw1# ifconfig veb0 up
```

On gw2:

```
gw1# ifconfig ix1 up
gw1# ifconfig etherip0 up
gw1# ifconfig veb0 up
```

## SEE ALSO

[sysctl(2)](/sysctl/2.md), [bridge(4)](/bridge/4.md), [inet(4)](/inet/4.md), [inet6(4)](/inet6/4.md), [ipsec(4)](/ipsec/4.md), [tpmr(4)](/tpmr/4.md), [veb(4)](/veb/4.md), [hostname.if(5)](/hostname.if/5.md), [iked.conf(5)](/iked.conf/5.md), [ipsec.conf(5)](/ipsec.conf/5.md), [ifconfig(8)](/ifconfig/8.md), [netstart(8)](/netstart/8.md)

## STANDARDS

R. Housley and S. Hollenbeck, *EtherIP: Tunneling Ethernet Frames in IP Datagrams*, RFC 3378, September 2002.

## HISTORY

The **etherip** device first appeared in OpenBSD 5.9.

## AUTHORS

The **etherip** driver was written by Kazuya Goda ⟨*goda@openbsd.org*⟩.