Word of Wisdom Server

test-server-quotes is a Rust-based application utilizing Actix Web framework to establish a TCP server that provides a series of quotes to authenticated clients. The server incorporates a Proof of Work (PoW) challenge to fend off potential DDoS attacks, enhancing the security protocol before proceeding to quote dissemination.

Features

• Timestamp Retrieval: Clients can fetch the current UNIX timestamp which is essential for the authentication process.
• User Authentication: A two-step authentication process whereby clients first retrieve a timestamp, then submit a hash combining the timestamp and their password for verification.
• Proof of Work Challenge: A challenge-response protocol that requires clients to solve a PoW challenge before accessing the quote service, acting as a deterrent to DDoS attacks.
• Quote Retrieval: Upon successful authentication and PoW verification, clients can request random quotes.
• Logout: A feature allowing authenticated clients to end their session securely.
• Multi-client Testing: A client-side module for conducting integration tests to validate the server's functionality with concurrent clients.

Dependencies

• Rust 2021 Edition
• Actix Web for web framework
• MD5 for hashing
• Futures for asynchronous programming
• Rand for random number and choice generation
• Reqwest for HTTP client operations
• Tokio for asynchronous runtime
• Docker for containerization

Setup & Running

Local Setup

1. Clone the Repository:

   git clone https://github.com/qqrm/test-server-quotes.git

2. Navigate to the Directory:

   cd test-server-quotes

3. Build & Run:

   cargo run --bin server
   cargo run --bin client

The server will start at 0.0.0.0:80.

Docker Setup

1. Build Docker Images:

   docker build -t server-image-name -f Dockerfile.server .
   docker build -t client-image-name -f Dockerfile.client .

2. Run Docker Containers with Docker Compose:

   docker-compose up --build

PoW Algorithm Explanation

The chosen PoW algorithm is based on the MD5 hashing function. Clients are required to find a nonce such that the hash of the concatenation of the last authentication hash and the nonce starts with a specific number of leading zeros, as defined by the server's current difficulty level. This PoW algorithm provides a simple yet effective way to mitigate DDoS attacks by imposing a computational cost on the client-side, thereby throttling the rate of requests a client can make to the server within a given timeframe.