Gluetun + Dokku - Installation Guide

Another guide, this time to host gluetun in a dokku container,
so you can easily route individual dokku containers through a VPN!

Due to no clear documentation for this being available on the web,
I've decided to write out some of my own after finally succeeding with my own setup.

Prerequisites

Following prerequisites fall out of the scope of this installation guide:

• Git
• Docker
• Dokku
  • Linked domain name (e.g. my-dokku-server.com)
  • SSL Certification (e.g. LetsEncrypt, Cloudflare, ...)
• Ledokku (Optional)

Installation

1. Install a gluetun Dokku app

• 1.1. Create a gluetun dokku app:
  (If using ledokku, then use GUI instead, to create the gluetun app!)

  dokku apps:create gluetun

• 1.2. Setup volumes to assure settings & storage will stick upon container re-creation:

  sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/dokku/data/storage/gluetun
  sudo chown dokku:dokku /var/lib/dokku/data/storage/gluetun/
  dokku storage:mount gluetun /var/lib/dokku/data/storage/gluetun/:/gluetun

• 1.3. Configure the required environment variables, change as needed:

  This is an example using Perfect Privacy as the VPN provider.
  Check the required environment variables for your VPN provider at the Setup/Providers section of the Gluetun Wiki!

  dokku config:set --no-restart gluetun \
      VPN_SERVICE_PROVIDER="perfect privacy" \
      OPENVPN_USER="username-here" \
      OPENVPN_PASSWORD="password-here" \
      SERVER_CITIES="Amsterdam,Basel,Belgrade,Berlin,Bucharest,Calais,Chicago,Copenhagen,Dallas,Erfurt,Frankfurt,Hamburg,Hongkong,Istanbul,Jerusalem,London,LosAngeles,Madrid,Malmoe,Manchester,Miami,Milan,Montreal,Moscow,NewYork,Nuremberg,Oslo,Paris,Prague,Reykjavik,Riga,Rotterdam,Singapore,Stockholm,Sydney,Tokyo,Vienna,Warsaw,Zurich" \
      TZ="UTC"

• 1.4. Setup additional deploy and run docker-options:

  # Allow modification of network interfaces on the host system:
  dokku docker-options:add gluetun deploy,run '--cap-add NET_ADMIN'

• 1.5. Disable the web and enable a worker process:

  dokku ps:scale gluetun worker=1 web=0

• 1.6. Deploy the latest gluetun docker tag:

  dokku git:from-image gluetun qmcgaw/gluetun:latest

2. Install a transmission Dokku app for testing gluetun

• 2.1. Create a transmission dokku app:
  (If using ledokku, then use GUI instead, to create the transmission app!)

  dokku apps:create transmission

• 2.2. Configure the required environment variables, change as needed or leave default:

  dokku config:set --no-restart transmission \
      USER="admin" \
      PASS="password"

• 2.3. Glue transmission to the gluetun network!

  dokku docker-options:add transmission deploy,run '--network=container:gluetun.worker.1'

• 2.4. Deploy the latest transmission docker tag:

  dokku git:from-image transmission lscr.io/linuxserver/transmission:latest

• 2.5. Validate if transmission is being routed through the gluetun VPN connection:

  # Print out in which city the dokku host resides:
  curl -s ipinfo.io/json | grep city
  # Print out "in which city" the transmission container resides:
  dokku run transmission curl -s ipinfo.io/json | grep city

Updates

dokku ps:stop gluetun; sleep 2; docker pull qmcgaw/gluetun:latest; dokku ps:rebuild gluetun

Bonus fish

If you're using fish as your shell,
then you can add these fish-functions to your ~/.config/fish/functions/ directory.

This will make following commands available under fish,
to ease up the usage of gluetun with dokku:

# Enable VPN for dokku app
dokku-app-vpn-enable <app-name>
# Disable VPN for dokku app
dokku-app-vpn-disable <app-name>
# Check current city of dokku app, requires curl + grep in container!
dokku-app-vpn-status <app-name>
# Updates Gluetun dokku app
dokku-update-gluetun

Used Sources

• Docs - Dokku
• Docs - Gluetun
• Github - Pihole-Dokku-Installation
• Blog - Put a docker container behind VPN