bubuntux/nordlynx

Quick reference

• Maintained by: Julio Gutierrez
• Where to get help: Github discussions

Supported tags

• edge (updated weekly)
• latest (updated monthly)
• YYYY-mm-dd (created monthly)

Quick reference (cont.)

• Where to file issues: Github issues
• Supported architecture: (more info) amd64, arm32v7, arm64
• Published image artifact details: DockerHub, Github packages
• Continuous integration: Github actions
• Source: Github

What is NordLynx?

NordLynx is a technology built around the WireGuard® VPN protocol. It lets you experience WireGuard’s speed benefits without compromising your privacy. You can find more information about NordLynx in this blog post.

What is WireGuard?

WireGuard® is an extremely simple yet fast and modern VPN that utilizes state-of-the-art cryptography. It aims to be faster, simpler, leaner, and more useful than IPsec, while avoiding the massive headache. It intends to be considerably more performant than OpenVPN. WireGuard is designed as a general purpose VPN for running on embedded interfaces and super computers alike, fit for many different circumstances. Initially released for the Linux kernel, it is now cross-platform (Windows, macOS, BSD, iOS, Android) and widely deployable. It is currently under heavy development, but already it might be regarded as the most secure, easiest to use, and simplest VPN solution in the industry.

Road warriors, roaming and returning home

If you plan to use Wireguard both remotely and locally, say on your mobile phone, you will need to consider routing. Most firewalls will not route ports forwarded on your WAN interface correctly to the LAN out of the box. This means that when you return home, even though you can see the Wireguard server, the return packets will probably get lost.

This is not a Wireguard specific issue and the two generally accepted solutions are NAT reflection (setting your edge router/firewall up in such a way as it translates internal packets correctly) or split horizon DNS (setting your internal DNS to return the private rather than public IP when connecting locally).

Both of these approaches have positives and negatives however their setup is out of scope for this document as everyone's network layout and equipment will be different.

Usage

Here are some example snippets to help you get started creating a container.

docker-compose (recommended, click here for more info)

---
version: "3"
services:
  nordlynx:
    image: ghcr.io/bubuntux/nordlynx
    cap_add:
      - NET_ADMIN #required
    environment:
      - PRIVATE_KEY=xxxxxxxxx #required

docker-compose (using secret)

version: "3.9"
services:
  nordlynx:
    image: ghcr.io/bubuntux/nordlynx
    cap_add:
      - NET_ADMIN #required
    environment:
      - PRIVATE_KEY_FILE=/run/secrets/privatekey
    secrets:
      - privatekey 
secrets:
  privatekey:
    file: ./privatekey.txt

docker cli (click here for more info)

docker run -d \
  --cap-add=NET_ADMIN #required \
  -e PRIVATE_KEY=xxxxxxxxx #required \
  ghcr.io/bubuntux/nordlynx

Review the wiki for more practical usages and host specific instructions.

Module

Wireguard module is required, please install it manually if need it.

Environment

Variable	Default	Description
PRIVATE_KEY	[Required]	See How To Get Your PRIVATE_KEY or these instructions.
PRIVATE_KEY_FILE		File from which to get PASS, if using docker secrets this should be set to /run/secrets/<secret_name>. This file should contain just the account password on the first line.
LISTEN_PORT	51820	A 16-bit port for listening.
INTERFACE	eth0	The network interface to use inside the container.
ADDRESS	10.5.0.2/32	A comma-separated list of IP (v4 or v6) addresses (optionally with CIDR masks) to be assigned to the interface.
DNS	103.86.96.100 103.86.99.100	A comma-separated list of IP (v4 or v6) addresses to be set as the interface's DNS servers, or non-IP hostnames to be set as the interface's DNS search domains.
TABLE		Controls the routing table to which routes are added. There are two special values: off disables the creation of routes altogether, and auto (suggested for most users) adds routes to the default table and enables special handling of default routes.
ALLOWED_IPS	0.0.0.0/0	A comma-separated list of IP (v4 or v6) addresses with CIDR masks from which incoming traffic for this peer is allowed and to which outgoing traffic for this peer is directed. For Synology, read this.
PERSISTENT_KEEP_ALIVE	25	A second interval, between 1 and 65535 inclusive, of how often to send an authenticated empty packet to the peer for the purpose of keeping a stateful firewall or NAT mapping valid persistently.
PRE_UP/POST_UP PRE_DOWN/POST_DOWN		Script snippets which will be executed by bash before/after setting up/tearing down the interface, most commonly used to configure custom DNS options or firewall rules. The special string %i is expanded to INTERFACE. For Synology, read this.
QUERY		Query for the api nordvpn (see https://sleeplessbeastie.eu/2019/02/18/how-to-use-public-nordvpn-api/)
COUNTRY_CODE		Country code to filter server list.
PUBLIC_KEY		Public key of the server to connect (auto select base on recommendation api).
END_POINT		Ip address of the server to connect (auto select base on recommendation api).
ALLOW_LIST		List of domains that are going to be accessible outside vpn (IE rarbg.to,yts.mx).
NET_LOCAL		CIDR networks (IE 192.168.1.0/24), add a route to allows replies once the VPN is up.
NET6_LOCAL		CIDR IPv6 networks (IE fe00:d34d:b33f::/64), add a route to allows replies once the VPN is up.
RECONNECT		Time in seconds to re-establish the connection.
TZ	UTC	Specify a timezone to use EG Europe/London.

How To Get Your PRIVATE_KEY

To get your PRIVATE_KEY you will need to get an access token from the NordVPN website and then use the https://github.com/bubuntux/nordvpn container.

1. Log in to https://nordvpn.com/

2. On the left side, click on NordVPN

3. In the middle, under Manual setup, click on Set up NordVPN manually and go through the verification process

4. On the new page, in the middle, in the Access token box, click on Generate new token

5. In the Generate new token? pop-up box, select Set to expire in 30 days and click Generate token

6. In the Copy access token pop-up box, click the Copy linnk to copy your token

7. From your computer where Docker is installed, run the below command and replace {{{TOKEN}}} with what you copied from step 6 above:

   docker run --rm --cap-add=NET_ADMIN -e TOKEN={{{TOKEN}}} ghcr.io/bubuntux/nordvpn:get_private_key
   

8. Docker will do it's thing and spit out your PRIVATE_KEY:

   user@hostname:~/docker> docker run --rm --cap-add=NET_ADMIN -e TOKEN=[redacted] ghcr.io/bubuntux/nordvpn:get_private_key
   Unable to find image 'ghcr.io/bubuntux/nordvpn:get_private_key' locally
   get_private_key: Pulling from bubuntux/nordvpn
   06d39c85623a: Pull complete 
   3e1c241a05c8: Pull complete 
   0077b26e8dce: Pull complete 
   Digest: sha256:0d91aabb4511d400b01e930654950729a4e859d3c250f61664662b0ed7027c56
   Status: Downloaded newer image for ghcr.io/bubuntux/nordvpn:get_private_key
   Waiting for daemon to start up...
   A new version of NordVPN is available! Please update the application.
   Welcome to NordVPN! You can now connect to VPN by using 'nordvpn connect'.
   A new version of NordVPN is available! Please update the application.
   Technology is already set to 'NORDLYNX'.
   A new version of NordVPN is available! Please update the application.
   Connecting to United States #5831 (us5831.nordvpn.com)
   You are connected to United States #5831 (us5831.nordvpn.com)!
   ############################################################
   IP: 10.5.0.2/32
   Private Key: [!!! THIS IS YOUR PRIVATE_KEY YOU NEED !!!]
   ＼(＾O＾)／############################################################
   user@hostname:~/docker> 
   

9. Copy everything after Privatey Key: (note the space after :) to the end of the line -- this is your PRIVATE_KEY

Sysctl

Option	Details
net.ipv4.conf.all.src_valid_mark=1	May be required; depends on multiple factors.
net.ipv6.conf.all.disable_ipv6=1	Recommended when only using ipv4.

Docker Compose Examples

nordlynx VPN container

This example will start a nordlynx VPN container on a legacy_p2p VPN server.

services:
    nordlynx:
        image: ghcr.io/bubuntux/nordlynx
        hostname: nordlynx
        container_name: nordlynx
        cap_add:
            - NET_ADMIN                             # required
            - SYS_MODULE                            # maybe
        environment:
            - PRIVATE_KEY=[redacted]                # required
            - QUERY=filters\[servers_groups\]\[identifier\]=legacy_p2p
            - NET_LOCAL=192.168.0.0/16
            - TZ=America/New_York
        sysctls:
            - net.ipv4.conf.all.src_valid_mark=1   # maybe
            - net.ipv4.conf.all.rp_filter=2        # maybe; set reverse path filter to loose mode
            - net.ipv6.conf.all.disable_ipv6=1     # disable ipv6; recommended if using ipv4 only

Passing Another Container Through The nordlynx VPN Container

This example will create a Firefox container that routes traffic through the nordlynx VPN container.

Typically, when you do port forwarding for a container (for example, to access it from your computer's browser), you do it on the container.

When you pass a container's traffic through another container (the nordlynx VPN container in this case), both/all containers are in the same network. As such, you no longer do port forwarding on the container you want to access and, instead, do it on the nordlynx VPN container.

Additionally, you need to ensure the second container starts AFTER the nordlynx VPN container.

services:
    nordlynx:
        image: ghcr.io/bubuntux/nordlynx
        hostname: nordlynx
        container_name: nordlynx
        ports:
            - "3000:3000" # port I want forwarded for the firefox container
            - "3001:3001" # port I want forwarded for the firefox container
        cap_add:
            - NET_ADMIN                             # required
            - SYS_MODULE                            # maybe
        environment:
            - PRIVATE_KEY=[redacted]                # required
            - QUERY=filters\[servers_groups\]\[identifier\]=legacy_p2p
            - NET_LOCAL=192.168.0.0/16
            - TZ=America/New_York
        sysctls:
            - net.ipv4.conf.all.src_valid_mark=1   # maybe
            - net.ipv4.conf.all.rp_filter=2        # maybe; set reverse path filter to loose mode
            - net.ipv6.conf.all.disable_ipv6=1     # disable ipv6; recommended if using ipv4 only
        
    firefox:
        image: lscr.io/linuxserver/firefox:latest
        # hostname: firefox                        # won't work when you do network_mode
        container_name: firefox
        restart: unless-stopped
        depends_on:
            - nordlynx
        network_mode: service:nordlynx
        # ports:                                   # won't work; you need to do this in the nordlynx VPN container 
        #     - "3000:3000"                        # won't work; you need to do this in the nordlynx VPN container  
        #     - "3001:3001"                        # won't work; you need to do this in the nordlynx VPN container
        volumes:
            - /path/to/config:/config
        environment:
            - PUID=1000
            - PGID=1000
            - TZ=America/New_York
        security_opt:
            - seccomp:unconfined
        shm_size: "1gb"