Setting up a OpenVPN server: Difference between revisions

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[[Category:Networking]]
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This article describes how to set up an OpenVPN server with the Alpine Linux.
This article describes how to set up an OpenVPN server with the Alpine Linux.
This is an ideal solution for allowing single users or devices to remotely connect to your network. To establish connectivity with a Remote Office or site, [http://wiki.alpinelinux.org/w/index.php?title=Using_Racoon_for_Remote_Sites Racoon/Opennhrp] would provide better functionality.  
This is an ideal solution for allowing single users or devices to remotely connect to your network. \\
It is recommended you have a publicly routable static IP address in order for this to work. This means that your IP address cannot be a bogon IP address ([https://team-cymru.org/Services/Bogons/fullbogons-ipv4.txt list IPv4], [https://team-cymru.org/Services/Bogons/fullbogons-ipv6.txt list IPv6]).
If your Internet-connected machine doesn't have a static IP address, [https://www.noip.com/ No-ip] can be used for resolving DNS names to IP addresses.


It is recommended that you have a publicly routable static IP address in order for this to work. This means that your IP address cannot be in the private IP address ranges described here: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_address#IPv4_private_addresses WikiPedia]
= Set up Alpine =
 
== Initial Set up ==
If your Internet-connected machine doesn't have a static IP address, [http://www.dyndns.com DynDNS] can be used for resolving DNS names to IP addresses.
Follow [[Installation]] to set up Alpine Linux.
 
= Setup Alpine =
== Initial Setup ==
Follow [[Installing_Alpine]] to setup Alpine Linux.


== Install programs ==
== Install programs ==
Install openvpn
Install openvpn
{{Cmd| apk add openvpn}}
{{Cmd|apk add openvpn}}


Prepare autostart of OpenVPN
Prepare autostart of OpenVPN
Line 21: Line 19:


{{Cmd|modprobe tun
{{Cmd|modprobe tun
echo "tun" >>/etc/modules}}
echo "tun" >> /etc/modules-load.d/tun.conf}}
 
Enable IP Forwarding
 
{{Cmd|echo "net.ipv4.ip_forward = 1" >> /etc/sysctl.d/ipv4.conf}}
{{Cmd|sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.d/ipv4.conf}}


= Certificates =
= Certificates =
One of the first things that needs to be done is to make sure that you have secure keys to work with. Alpine makes this easy by having a web interface to manage the certificates. Documentation for it can be found here: [[Generating_SSL_certs_with_ACF]]. It is a best practice not to have your certificate server be on the same machine as the router being used for remote connectivity.
One of the first things that needs to be done is to make sure you have secure keys to work with. Alpine makes this easy by having a web interface to manage the certificates. Documentation for it can be found here: [[Generating SSL certs with ACF]]. It is a best practice not to have your certificate server be on the same machine as the router being used for remote connectivity.


You will need to create a server (ssl_server_cert) certificate for the server and one client (ssl_client_cert) for each client. To use the certificates, you should download the .pfx file and extract it.
You will need to create a server (ssl_server_cert) certificate for the server and one client certificate (ssl_client_cert) for each client. To use the certificates, you should download the .pfx file and extract it.


To extract the three parts of each .pfx file, use the following commands:
To extract the three parts of each .pfx file, use the following commands:
   
   
To get the ca cert out...
To get the ca cert out:
{{Cmd|openssl pkcs12 -in PFXFILE -cacerts -nokeys -out ca.pem}}
{{Cmd|openssl pkcs12 -in PFXFILE -cacerts -nokeys -out ca.pem}}


To get the cert file out...
To get the cert file out:
{{Cmd|openssl pkcs12 -in PFXFILE -nokeys -clcerts -out cert.pem}}
{{Cmd|openssl pkcs12 -in PFXFILE -nokeys -clcerts -out cert.pem}}


To get the private key file out. Make sure this stays private.
To get the private key file out: (Make sure the key stays private)


{{Cmd|openssl pkcs12 -in PFXFILE -nocerts -nodes -out key.pem}}
{{Cmd|openssl pkcs12 -in PFXFILE -nocerts -nodes -out key.pem}}


On the VPN server, you can also install the '''acf-openvpn''' package, which contains a web page to automatically upload and extract the server certificate. There is also a button to automatically generate the Diffie Hellman parameters.
On the VPN server, you can also install the '''acf-openvpn''' package, which contains a web page to automatically upload and extract the server certificate. There is also a button to automatically generate the Diffie-Hellman parameters.


If you would prefer to generate your certificates using OpenVPN utilities, see [[#Alternative Certificate Method]]
If you would prefer to generate your certificates using OpenVPN utilities, see [[#Alternate Certificate Method]]


= Configure OpenVPN-server =
= Configure OpenVPN server =
Example configuration file for server. Place the following content in /etc/openvpn/openvpn.conf:
Example configuration file for server. Place the following content in /etc/openvpn/openvpn.conf:
  local "Public Ip address"
  local "Public Ip address"
Line 50: Line 53:
  proto udp
  proto udp
  dev tun
  dev tun
  ca openvpn_certs/server-ca.pem
  ca /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/keys/ca.crt
  cert openvpn_certs/server-cert.pem
  cert /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/keys/Server.crt # SWAP WITH YOUR CRT NAME
  dh openvpn_certs/dh1024.pem #to generate by hand #openssl dhparam -out dh1024.pem 1024
key /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/keys/Server.key # SWAP WITH YOUR KEY NAME
  dh /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/keys/dh1024.pem # If you changed to 2048, change that here!
  server 10.0.0.0 255.255.255.0
  server 10.0.0.0 255.255.255.0
  ifconfig-pool-persist ipp.txt
  ifconfig-pool-persist ipp.txt
Line 67: Line 71:
  verb 3
  verb 3


(''Instructions are based on [http://openvpn.net/howto.html#server openvpn.net/howto.html#server]'')
(''Instructions are based on [https://openvpn.net/community-resources/how-to/#server openvpn.net/howto.html#server]'')


== Test your configuration ==
== Test your configuration ==
Line 74: Line 78:
{{Cmd|openvpn --config /etc/openvpn/openvpn.conf}}
{{Cmd|openvpn --config /etc/openvpn/openvpn.conf}}


= Configure OpenVPN-client =
= Configure OpenVPN client =
Example client.conf:
Example client.conf:
  client
  client
Line 82: Line 86:
  resolv-retry infinite
  resolv-retry infinite
  nobind
  nobind
  ns-cert-type server # This means that the certificate on the openvpn server needs to have this field. Prevents MitM attacks
  ns-cert-type server # This means the certificate on the openvpn server needs to have this field. Prevents MitM attacks
  persist-key
  persist-key
  persist-tun
  persist-tun
Line 91: Line 95:
  verb 3
  verb 3


(''Instructions are based on [http://openvpn.net/howto.html#client openvpn.net/howto.html#client]'')
(''Instructions are based on [https://openvpn.net/community-resources/how-to/#client openvpn.net/howto.html#client]'')


= Save settings =
= Save settings =
Line 97: Line 101:
{{Cmd|lbu commit}}
{{Cmd|lbu commit}}


= Alternative Certificate Method =
= More than one server or client =
 
If you want more than one server or client running on the same Alpine box, use the standard [[Multiple Instances of Services]] process.
 
For example, to create a config named "AlphaBravo":
 
* Create an approriate /etc/openvpn/openvpn.conf file, but name it "/etc/openvpn/AlphaBravo.conf"
* create a new symlink of the init.d script:
{{Cmd|ln -s openvpn /etc/init.d/openvpn.AlphaBravo}}
* Have the new service start automatically
{{Cmd|rc-update add openvpn.AlphaBravo}}
 
= Alternate Certificate Method =
== Manual Certificate Commands ==
== Manual Certificate Commands ==
(''Instructions are based on [http://openvpn.net/howto.html#pki openvpn.net/howto.html#pki]'')
(''Instructions are based on [https://openvpn.net/community-resources/how-to/#pki openvpn.net/howto.html#pki]'')


=== Initial setup for administrating certificates ===
=== Initial setup for administrating certificates ===
The following instructions assume that you want to save your configs, certs and keys in '''/etc/openvpn/keys'''.<BR>
The following instructions assume you want to save your configs, certs and keys in '''/etc/openvpn/keys'''.<BR>
Start by moving to the '''/usr/share/openvpn/easy-rsa''' folder to execute commands
Start by moving to the '''/usr/share/openvpn/easy-rsa''' folder to execute commands
{{Cmd|cd /usr/share/openvpn/easy-rsa}}
{{Cmd|apk add easy-rsa # from the community repo
If not already done then create a folder where you will save your certificates and save a copy of your '''/usr/share/openvpn/easy-rsa/vars''' for later use.<BR>
cd /usr/share/easy-rsa}}
(''All files in '''/usr/share/openvpn/easy-rsa''' are overwritten when the computer is restarted'')
If not already done, create a folder where you will save your certificates and save a copy of your '''/usr/share/easy-rsa/vars''' for later use.<BR>
{{Cmd|mkdir /etc/openvpn/keys
{{Cmd|mkdir /etc/openvpn/keys
cp ./vars /etc/openvpn/keys}}
cp ./vars.example ./vars    #easy-rsa v3
If not already done then edit '''/etc/openvpn/keys/vars'''<BR>
cp ./vars /etc/openvpn/keys #easy-rsa v2}}
 
For EasyRSA v3 see: https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/wiki/EasyRSA
 
The instructions below are for EasyRSA v2:
 
If not already done, edit '''/etc/openvpn/keys/vars'''<BR>
(''This file is used for defining paths and other standard settings'')
(''This file is used for defining paths and other standard settings'')
{{Cmd|vim /etc/openvpn/keys/vars}}
{{Cmd|vim /etc/openvpn/keys/vars}}
Line 116: Line 138:
source the '''vars''' to set properties
source the '''vars''' to set properties
{{Cmd|source /etc/openvpn/keys/vars}}
{{Cmd|source /etc/openvpn/keys/vars}}
{{Cmd|touch /etc/openvpn/keys/index.txt
echo 00 > /etc/openvpn/keys/serial}}


=== Set up a 'Certificate Authority' (CA) ===
=== Set up a 'Certificate Authority' (CA) ===
Line 122: Line 146:
{{Cmd|./clean-all}}
{{Cmd|./clean-all}}


Generate Diffie Hellman parameters
Generate Diffie-Hellman parameters


{{Cmd|./build-dh}}
{{Cmd|./build-dh}}


Now lets make the CA certificates and keys
To make the CA certificates and keys


{{Cmd|./build-ca}}
{{Cmd|./build-ca}}


=== Set up a 'OpenVPN Server' ===
=== Set up an 'OpenVPN Server' ===
Create server certificates
Create server certificates


{{Cmd|./build-key-server <commonname>}}
{{Cmd|./build-key-server <commonname>}}


=== Set up a 'OpenVPN Client' ===
=== Set up an 'OpenVPN Client' ===
Create client certificates
Create client certificates
{{Cmd|./build-key <commonname>}}
{{Cmd|./build-key <commonname>}}
Line 147: Line 171:


{{Cmd|crl-verify crl.pem}}
{{Cmd|crl-verify crl.pem}}
= OpenVPN and LXC =
Let's call this LXC "mylxc"...
On the host <pre>
modprobe tun
mkdir /var/lib/lxc/mylxc/rootfs/dev/net
mknod /var/lib/lxc/mylxc/rootfs/dev/net/tun c 10 200
chmod 666 /var/lib/lxc/mylxc/rootfs/dev/net/tun
</pre>
In /var/lib/lxc/mylxc/config <pre>
lxc.cgroup.devices.allow = c 10:200 rwm
</pre>
On the guest <pre>
apk add openvpn
</pre> Then config as usual.
This should work both as server and as client.
== persistent devices ==
lxc guest have their dev recreated on each restart in a tmpfs. This means all devices are reset and are not read from the rootfs dev directory.
To make it persistent you can use an autodev script by adding the following to your lxc guest config:
<pre>
# tun (openvpn)
lxc.cgroup.devices.allow = c 10:200 rwm
# audodev script to add devices
lxc.hook.autodev=/var/lib/lxc/CONTAINER/autodev
</pre>
The autodev script:
<pre>
#!/bin/sh
# dev is populated on earch container start.
# to make devices persistence we need to recreate them on each start.
cd ${LXC_ROOTFS_MOUNT}/dev
mkdir net
mknod net/tun c 10 200
chmod 0666 net/tun
</pre>
[[category: VPN]]

Latest revision as of 10:34, 17 November 2023

This article describes how to set up an OpenVPN server with the Alpine Linux. This is an ideal solution for allowing single users or devices to remotely connect to your network. \\ It is recommended you have a publicly routable static IP address in order for this to work. This means that your IP address cannot be a bogon IP address (list IPv4, list IPv6). If your Internet-connected machine doesn't have a static IP address, No-ip can be used for resolving DNS names to IP addresses.

Set up Alpine

Initial Set up

Follow Installation to set up Alpine Linux.

Install programs

Install openvpn

apk add openvpn

Prepare autostart of OpenVPN

rc-update add openvpn default

modprobe tun echo "tun" >> /etc/modules-load.d/tun.conf

Enable IP Forwarding

echo "net.ipv4.ip_forward = 1" >> /etc/sysctl.d/ipv4.conf

sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.d/ipv4.conf

Certificates

One of the first things that needs to be done is to make sure you have secure keys to work with. Alpine makes this easy by having a web interface to manage the certificates. Documentation for it can be found here: Generating SSL certs with ACF. It is a best practice not to have your certificate server be on the same machine as the router being used for remote connectivity.

You will need to create a server (ssl_server_cert) certificate for the server and one client certificate (ssl_client_cert) for each client. To use the certificates, you should download the .pfx file and extract it.

To extract the three parts of each .pfx file, use the following commands:

To get the ca cert out:

openssl pkcs12 -in PFXFILE -cacerts -nokeys -out ca.pem

To get the cert file out:

openssl pkcs12 -in PFXFILE -nokeys -clcerts -out cert.pem

To get the private key file out: (Make sure the key stays private)

openssl pkcs12 -in PFXFILE -nocerts -nodes -out key.pem

On the VPN server, you can also install the acf-openvpn package, which contains a web page to automatically upload and extract the server certificate. There is also a button to automatically generate the Diffie-Hellman parameters.

If you would prefer to generate your certificates using OpenVPN utilities, see #Alternate Certificate Method

Configure OpenVPN server

Example configuration file for server. Place the following content in /etc/openvpn/openvpn.conf:

local "Public Ip address"
port 1194
proto udp
dev tun
ca /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/keys/ca.crt 
cert /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/keys/Server.crt # SWAP WITH YOUR CRT NAME
key /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/keys/Server.key # SWAP WITH YOUR KEY NAME
dh /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/keys/dh1024.pem # If you changed to 2048, change that here!
server 10.0.0.0 255.255.255.0
ifconfig-pool-persist ipp.txt
push "route 10.0.0.0 255.0.0.0"
push "dhcp-option DNS 10.0.0.1"
keepalive 10 120
comp-lzo
user nobody
group nobody
persist-key
persist-tun
status /var/log/openvpn-status.log
log-append  /var/log/openvpn.log
verb 3

(Instructions are based on openvpn.net/howto.html#server)

Test your configuration

Test configuration and certificates

openvpn --config /etc/openvpn/openvpn.conf

Configure OpenVPN client

Example client.conf:

client
dev tun
proto udp
remote "public IP" 1194
resolv-retry infinite
nobind
ns-cert-type server # This means the certificate on the openvpn server needs to have this field. Prevents MitM attacks
persist-key
persist-tun
ca client-ca.pem
cert client-cert.pem
key client-key.pem
comp-lzo
verb 3

(Instructions are based on openvpn.net/howto.html#client)

Save settings

Don't forget to save all your settings if you are running a RAM-based system.

lbu commit

More than one server or client

If you want more than one server or client running on the same Alpine box, use the standard Multiple Instances of Services process.

For example, to create a config named "AlphaBravo":

  • Create an approriate /etc/openvpn/openvpn.conf file, but name it "/etc/openvpn/AlphaBravo.conf"
  • create a new symlink of the init.d script:

ln -s openvpn /etc/init.d/openvpn.AlphaBravo

  • Have the new service start automatically

rc-update add openvpn.AlphaBravo

Alternate Certificate Method

Manual Certificate Commands

(Instructions are based on openvpn.net/howto.html#pki)

Initial setup for administrating certificates

The following instructions assume you want to save your configs, certs and keys in /etc/openvpn/keys.
Start by moving to the /usr/share/openvpn/easy-rsa folder to execute commands

apk add easy-rsa # from the community repo cd /usr/share/easy-rsa

If not already done, create a folder where you will save your certificates and save a copy of your /usr/share/easy-rsa/vars for later use.

mkdir /etc/openvpn/keys cp ./vars.example ./vars #easy-rsa v3 cp ./vars /etc/openvpn/keys #easy-rsa v2

For EasyRSA v3 see: https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/wiki/EasyRSA

The instructions below are for EasyRSA v2:

If not already done, edit /etc/openvpn/keys/vars
(This file is used for defining paths and other standard settings)

vim /etc/openvpn/keys/vars

  • Change KEY_DIR= from "$EASY_RSA/keys" to "/etc/openvpn/keys"
  • Change KEY_SIZE, CA_EXPIRE, KEY_EXPIRE, KEY_COUNTRY, KEY_PROVINCE, KEY_CITY, KEY_ORG, KEY_EMAIL to match your system.

source the vars to set properties

source /etc/openvpn/keys/vars

touch /etc/openvpn/keys/index.txt echo 00 > /etc/openvpn/keys/serial

Set up a 'Certificate Authority' (CA)

Clean up the keys folder.

./clean-all

Generate Diffie-Hellman parameters

./build-dh

To make the CA certificates and keys

./build-ca

Set up an 'OpenVPN Server'

Create server certificates

./build-key-server <commonname>

Set up an 'OpenVPN Client'

Create client certificates

./build-key <commonname>

Revoke a certificate

To revoke a certificate

./revoke-full <commonname>

The revoke-full script will generate a CRL (certificate revocation list) file called crl.pem in the keys subdirectory.
The file should be copied to a directory where the OpenVPN server can access it, then CRL verification should be enabled in the server configuration:

crl-verify crl.pem

OpenVPN and LXC

Let's call this LXC "mylxc"...

On the host

modprobe tun
mkdir /var/lib/lxc/mylxc/rootfs/dev/net
mknod /var/lib/lxc/mylxc/rootfs/dev/net/tun c 10 200
chmod 666 /var/lib/lxc/mylxc/rootfs/dev/net/tun

In /var/lib/lxc/mylxc/config

lxc.cgroup.devices.allow = c 10:200 rwm

On the guest

apk add openvpn

Then config as usual.

This should work both as server and as client.

persistent devices

lxc guest have their dev recreated on each restart in a tmpfs. This means all devices are reset and are not read from the rootfs dev directory. To make it persistent you can use an autodev script by adding the following to your lxc guest config:

# tun (openvpn)
lxc.cgroup.devices.allow = c 10:200 rwm
# audodev script to add devices
lxc.hook.autodev=/var/lib/lxc/CONTAINER/autodev

The autodev script:

#!/bin/sh
# dev is populated on earch container start.
# to make devices persistence we need to recreate them on each start.

cd ${LXC_ROOTFS_MOUNT}/dev
mkdir net
mknod net/tun c 10 200
chmod 0666 net/tun