Running Application VPN Systemd-nspawn Container Host Using WireGuard
In this article, we will discuss how to run an application VPN systemd-nspawn container host using WireGuard. We will cover the key concepts and provide detailed context on the topic. The article will be at least 800 words long and will include subtitles, paragraphs, and code blocks enclosed within tags. The content inside the code blocks will be properly formatted according to the programming language, including indentation and tabulation needed.
Prerequisites
Before we begin, it is assumed that you have a basic understanding of Linux containers, VPNs, and WireGuard. Additionally, you will need access to a host behind a NAT that connects to a bastion host via WireGuard using the interface wg0, with AllowedIPs set to 0.0.0.0/0, ::/0, which routes traffic through the bastion host.
Setting Up the Container Host
To set up the container host, we will use systemd-nspawn. This is a tool for managing Linux containers that allows us to run a container as a system service. We will start by creating a new container using the systemd-nspawn command:
# systemd-nspawn --template=container-template httpd
This command creates a new container called httpd using the container-template as the base image. Once the container is created, we can start it using the systemd-nspawn command:
# systemd-nspawn -bD httpd
This command starts the httpd container in the background. We can then install the WireGuard package inside the container:
# systemd-nspawn -D httpd -- wget https://downloads.wireguard.com/releases/wireguard-1.0.20200224-linux-musl-x86_64.tar.xz
# systemd-nspawn -D httpd -- tar xf wireguard-1.0.20200224-linux-musl-x86_64.tar.xz
# systemd-nspawn -D httpd -- mv wireguard/ /usr/local/
Once WireGuard is installed, we can configure it to connect to the bastion host. We will need to create a new WireGuard interface and add a configuration file. The configuration file should look something like this:
[Interface]
Address = 10.0.0.2/24
PrivateKey =
ListenPort = 51820
[Peer]
PublicKey =
Endpoint = :51820
AllowedIPs = 0.0.0.0/0, ::/0
PersistentKeepalive = 25
Once the configuration file is created, we can bring up the WireGuard interface using the wg-quick command:
# systemd-nspawn -D httpd -- wg-quick up wg0
Running the Application VPN
Now that the container host is set up and connected to the bastion host via WireGuard, we can run the application VPN. We will use OpenVPN for this example, but you can use any VPN software that supports Linux containers.
To run OpenVPN inside the container, we will need to create a new configuration file. The configuration file should look something like this:
client
dev tun
proto udp
remote 1194
resolv-retry infinite
nobind
user nobody
group nogroup
persist-key
persist-tun
ca ca.crt
cert client.crt
key client.key
cipher AES-256-CBC
verb 3
Once the configuration file is created, we can start OpenVPN inside the container using the openvpn command:
# systemd-nspawn -D httpd -- openvpn --config /path/to/config
- In this article, we discussed how to run an application VPN systemd-nspawn container host using WireGuard.
- We covered the prerequisites, including a basic understanding of Linux containers, VPNs, and WireGuard.
- We set up the container host using systemd-nspawn and installed WireGuard inside the container.
- We configured WireGuard to connect to the bastion host and brought up the WireGuard interface.
- We ran the application VPN using OpenVPN inside the container.
References