Skip to main content

Wireguard Guide

From the WireGuard project homepage:

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.

success

This guide will create a VPN from a core node behind a firewall to a relay node with Wireguard listening on the default port 51820. We will then control traffic between the connected interfaces with UFW.

Feel free to use a different port!

WireGuard Documentation

Install Wireguard​

Do this on both machines.

>_ Terminal
sudo apt install wireguard

Become root.

>_ Terminal
sudo su

Enter the Wireguard folder and set permissions for any new files created to root only.

>_ Terminal
cd /etc/wireguard
umask 077

Configure​

Generate key pairs on each machine.

>_ Terminal
wg genkey | tee C1-privkey | wg pubkey > C1-pubkey

Create a Wireguard configuration file on both machines.

>_ Terminal
nano /etc/wireguard/wg0.conf

Use cat to print out the key values. Public keys are then used in the other machines conf file.

>_ Terminal
cat C1-privkey
cat C1-pubkey
>_ Terminal
[Interface]
Address = 10.220.0.1/32
SaveConfig = true
ListenPort = 51820
PostUp = wg set %i private-key <path to private key>
##PostUp = resolvectl domain %i "~."; resolvectl dns %i 10.220.0.2; resolvectl dnssec %i yes

[Peer]
PublicKey = <result of cat R1-pubkey>
AllowedIPs = 10.220.0.2/32
Endpoint = <R1 nodes public ip or hostname>:51820
PersistentKeepalive = 21

wg-quick​

Use wg-quick to create the interface & manage Wireguard as a Systemd service on both machines

>_ Terminal
wg-quick up wg0

Useful commands.

>_ Terminal
sudo wg show # metrics on the interface
ip a # should see a wg0 interface

Once both interfaces are up you can try and ping each other.

>_ Terminal
ping 10.220.0.2

If they are connected bring them down and back up with Systemd

>_ Terminal
wg-quick down wg0
sudo systemctl start wg-quick@wg0

Enable the Wireguard service on both machines to automatically start on boot.

>_ Terminal
sudo systemctl enable wg-quick@wg0
sudo systemctl status wg-quick@wg0
danger

SaveConfig saves the loaded wg0.conf file in runtime and overwrites the file when it stops. Therefore you must stop the wg-quick@wg0 service before editing the configuration file or your changes will be overwritten when you try to restart the service or reboot the server.

Like so

>_ Terminal
# become root
sudo su
# stop the service
systemctl stop wg-quick@wg0
# edit the configuration file
nano /etc/wireguard/wg0.conf
# start the service
systemctl start wg-quick@wg0

There is a shortcut you can use instead of the steps above if you are adding or updating peers. The following will reload the config file without affecting peer connections:

>_ Terminal
sudo wg syncconf wg0 <(wg-quick strip wg0)

Topology​

You can now update your C1 & R1 topology files so they point 10.220.0.2 & 10.220.0.1 respectively through the Wireguard VPN.

Prometheus​

Likewise update IPv4 address' in /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml to use the VPN.

UFW​

Control traffic through the VPN. The following allows for Prometheus/Grafana on C1 to scrape metrics from node-exporter on R1.

# allow ssh access on lan behind router
sudo ufw allow 22
# deny ssh access from R1 to C1
sudo ufw deny in on wg0 to any port 22 proto tcp
# cardano-node port
sudo ufw allow 3000

Bring up ufw

When you're sure you are not going to lock yourself out and that all the ports for your pool that need to be open are open you can bring up the firewall. Don't forget 80 & 443 if you have nginx proxying Grafana.

sudo ufw enable
# view rules
sudo ufw status numbered

Notes & links/To Do

PostUp = resolvectl domain %i "~."; resolvectl dns %i 192.0.2.1; resolvectl dnssec %i yes
PostUp = wg set %i private-key /etc/wireguard/wg0.key <(cat /some/path/%i/privkey)