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| -rw-r--r-- | content/posts/openbsd-vpn-gateway/index.org | 109 |
1 files changed, 56 insertions, 53 deletions
diff --git a/content/posts/openbsd-vpn-gateway/index.org b/content/posts/openbsd-vpn-gateway/index.org index 61d54ee..2f6f31e 100644 --- a/content/posts/openbsd-vpn-gateway/index.org +++ b/content/posts/openbsd-vpn-gateway/index.org @@ -8,64 +8,67 @@ #+SLUG: #+SUMMARY: -Say you have an account with a VPN provider. Maybe there are a limit -to how many connections you can have with one account, and you want to -put more machines than you have connections on the account. Or maybe -you want to put a large number of machines of the connection, -including maybe FreeBSD Jails, LXC containers, or VMs, and you don't -want to download the VPN profiles, sign in and configure them all -individually. - -The solution I came up with to this problem is to setup a VPN gateway -on my network using [[https://www.openbsd.org/faq/pf/][OpenBSD]]. Any device that sets that machine as it's -gateway will automatically get its traffic tunneled through the VPN -connection. It's also setup such that if the VPN connection ever drops -or gets killed for any reason, the traffic will stop and won't be able -to reach the internet. Thanks to this I don't have to worry about the -traffic ever leaking out through my residential gateway should OpenVPN -decide to close the connection. Sort of like a "kill switch", as some -companies market it. - -The process for this is actually simple enough, thanks to OpenBSD's -firewall, PF. - -To replicate my setup you'll need a dedicated machine running -OpenBSD. You'll have to choose an appropriate host, taking into -consideration how much traffic you plan to put through it, the speed -of you VPN connection, and the speed of your home internet -connection. Anything from a virtual machine or a low power single -board PC will do in most cases, as home internet connections generally -aren't the fastest. If your internet connection is fast enough though, -you may consider [[https://blog.lambda.cx/posts/installing-openbsd-on-pcengines/][installing OpenBSD]] on a [[https://blog.lambda.cx/posts/pcengines-comparison/][PC Engines APU2]], as they're -affordable, have gigabit Ethernet, and great OpenBSD driver support. - -I highly recommend you check out the man pages for the firewall -configuration file format [[https://man.openbsd.org/man5/pf.conf.5][=pf.conf(5)=]], and the pf control command -[[https://man.openbsd.org/man8/pfctl.8][=pfctl(8)=]] if you plan on setting something like this up. They're all -very well written and explain a lot of what I'm doing in very clear -detail. You should also read the excellent [[https://www.openbsd.org/faq/pf/][PF FAQ]] from the OpenBSD -website, which covers many more PF configuration examples. - -The first thing we'll have to do is install OpenBSD. In my case I -created a virtual machine on a server in my house running [[https://www.proxmox.com/en/][Proxmox]]. In -my case, the machine only has 1 vCPU and 512 MB RAM, which is more -than enough in my case, but you should choose the best machine for -your situation. - -I won't be covering installing OpenBSD here, although it's extremely -simple and straight forward. You can pick up the disk =.iso= image or -USB =.fs= image from the [[https://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq4.html#Download][download]] page on OpenBSD website. If this is -your first time installing OpenBSD, you should check out the -[[https://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq4.html#Download][installation guide]], which goes over the process in detail. - -In this post the machine will have a single network interface called -=vio0= with a desired static IP of =192.168.0.11=, although the -interface and IP in your case will be different. +* The Problem + Say you have an account with a VPN provider. Maybe there are a limit + to how many connections you can have with one account, and you want to + put more machines than you have connections on the account. Or maybe + you want to put a large number of machines of the connection, + including maybe FreeBSD Jails, LXC containers, or VMs, and you don't + want to download the VPN profiles, sign in and configure them all + individually. + +* The Solution + + The solution I came up with to this problem is to setup a VPN gateway + on my network using [[https://www.openbsd.org/faq/pf/][OpenBSD]]. Any device that sets that machine as it's + gateway will automatically get its traffic tunneled through the VPN + connection. It's also setup such that if the VPN connection ever drops + or gets killed for any reason, the traffic will stop and won't be able + to reach the internet. Thanks to this I don't have to worry about the + traffic ever leaking out through my residential gateway should OpenVPN + decide to close the connection. Sort of like a "kill switch", as some + companies market it. + +* Hardware + + To replicate my setup you'll need a dedicated machine running + OpenBSD. You'll have to choose an appropriate host, taking into + consideration how much traffic you plan to put through it, the speed + of you VPN connection, and the speed of your home internet + connection. Anything from a virtual machine or a low power single + board PC will do in most cases, as home internet connections + generally aren't the fastest. If your internet connection is fast + enough though, you may consider [[https://blog.lambda.cx/posts/installing-openbsd-on-pcengines/][installing OpenBSD]] on a [[https://blog.lambda.cx/posts/pcengines-comparison/][PC Engines + APU2]], as they're affordable, have gigabit Ethernet, and great + OpenBSD driver support. In my case I created a virtual machine on a + server in my house running [[https://www.proxmox.com/en/][Proxmox]]. In my case, the machine only has + 1 vCPU and 512 MB RAM, which is more than enough for my needs. + +* Documentation + + I highly recommend you check out the man pages for the firewall + configuration file format [[https://man.openbsd.org/man5/pf.conf.5][=pf.conf(5)=]], and the pf control command +[[https://man.openbsd.org/man8/pfctl.8][ =pfctl(8)=]] if you plan on setting something like this up. They're all + very well written and explain a lot of what I'm doing in very clear + detail. You should also read the excellent [[https://www.openbsd.org/faq/pf/][PF FAQ]] from the OpenBSD + website, which covers many more PF configuration examples. + +* Install OpenBSD + + I won't be covering installing OpenBSD here, although it's extremely + simple and straight forward. You can pick up the disk =.iso= image or + USB =.fs= image from the [[https://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq4.html#Download][download]] page on OpenBSD website. If this is + your first time installing OpenBSD, you should check out the +[[https://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq4.html#Download][ installation guide]], which goes over the process in detail. * Configuring a static IP The most important thing is to set a static IP, so it can be set as the gateway for client machines. We'll set this first. + In this post the machine will have a single network interface called + =vio0= with a desired static IP of =192.168.0.11=, although the + interface and IP in your case will be differ. + Setting a static IP in OpenBSD couldn't be simpler. For each interface on the machine, you can create a file with the name =/etc/hostname.<if>=, where =<if>= is the name of the interface. Since |