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Containerized OpenVPN Cloud Connector

This container encapsulates the OpenVPN Cloud Connector, along with SystemD and Dbus for easy deployment.

To build

To build cd into openvpn-cloud-connector directory after cloning and run the following Docker build command:

# build
docker build --tag ovpn-connector .

How to run

To run:

  • Download the OpenVPN cloud connector file for a network (connectorXX_region.opvn)
  • Optionally, save the connector file to the ovpn-connector directory, for easy identification
  • Mount the connector file to /etc/openvpn3/autoload/connector.conf volume in the container, using the command below and run:
docker run -d --restart always --name ovpn_connector.docker -p 1194:1194/udp -p 443:443/tcp --privileged -v /<YOUR>/<PATH>/<TO>/connectorXX_region.opvn:/etc/openvpn3/autoload/connector.conf -v /sys/fs/cgroup:/sys/fs/cgroup:ro ovpn-connector

With the --restart always directive this docker container will automatically start on each system boot or docker daemon restart.

How to remove the container

To remove this container run the following command:

docker container rm -f ovpn_connector.docker

# Additionally to remove the image
docker image rm ovpn_connector.docker

Don't want to / Can't build the Docker image

Use the Docker image on my Docker hub instead:

https://hub.docker.com/r/rafayak/ovpn-connector

# Pull the image
docker pull rafayak/ovpn-connector

# Run the container. Make sure to replace the path to your connector file
docker run -d --restart always --name ovpn_connector.docker -p 1194:1194/udp -p 443:443/tcp --privileged -v /<YOUR>/<PATH>/<TO>/connectorXX_region.opvn:/etc/openvpn3/autoload/connector.conf -v /sys/fs/cgroup:/sys/fs/cgroup:ro rafayak/ovpn-connector

# To stop and remove the container
docker container rm -f ovpn_connector.docker

# Additionally to remove the image
docker image rm rafayak/ovpn-connector

Kubernetes Installation

This repository also contains manifests for deploying OpenVPN Cloud Connector to Kubernetes. You can use the following steps to deploy the connector to Kubernetes:

  • Create a connector for a network in the OpenVPN Cloud Admin panel.
  • Download the OpenVPN cloud connector file for a network (connectorXX_region.ovpn) by selecting "Deploy" -> "Download Profile in .ovpn format"
  • Create a secret using the connector file, replacing connectorXX_region.opvn with the appropriate path and filename:
kubectl create secret generic openvpn-connector-config --from-file=connector.conf=connectorXX_region.ovpn --dry-run=client -o yaml > ./kubernetes/secret.yaml
  • Apply the secret and deployment:
kubectl apply -f ./kubernetes/secret.yaml
kubectl apply -f ./kubernetes/deployment.yaml

Prometheus Metrics

The OpenVPN Connector container also exposes metrics on port 9469 using script_exporter. Script exporter allows us to expose metrics through running a script to collect openvpn-connector metrics.

When running the container, expose port 9469 (e.g. docker run ... -p 9469:9469 ...) and you can access the metrics at the following URL:

http://localhost:9469/probe?script=openvpn3&prefix=openvpn3

If using Prometheus Operator in Kubernetes, you can also apply the provided pod monitor to automatically collect metrics for openvpn-connector:

kubectl apply -f ./kubernetes/podMonitor.yaml

Why use containerized OpenVPN Cloud connector?

The main reason for using a containerized connector is to encapsulate the changes by OpenVPN3 (the new OpenVPN framework) from the host machine.

The OpenVPN3 linux client makes chnages to the DNS configurations and IPtables; it also uses the host machines port 1194 and 443 to function correctly. If you run many applications/services on the host machine that rely on bespoke DNS and IPtable rules or run on specific ports that OpenVPN3 requires then OpenVPN3 can bring all or some of your serivices to a halt. Degugging the DNS and IPtables route issues can also be a massive time sink. Furthermore, the setup of a OpenVPN Cloud connector requires enabling IP-forwarding on the host which may not be desireable in some circumstances. Therefore, a containerized OpenVPN Cloud connector saves the host machine from changes that may affect your services.

More info on OpenVPN Cloud Connectors could be found here: https://openvpn.net/cloud-docs/connector/

Built on top of @jrei gracious work. https://hub.docker.com/r/jrei/systemd-ubuntu

Feel free to connect on Twitter [@RafayAK] (https://twitter.com/RafayAK)