WireGuard server

WireGuard server

This article relies on the following:

Accessing web interface / command-line interface
Managing configs / packages / services / logs

Introduction

This how-to describes the method for setting up WireGuard server on OpenWrt.
Follow WireGuard client for client setup and WireGuard extras for additional tuning.

Goals

Encrypt your internet connection to enforce security and privacy.
- Prevent traffic leaks and spoofing on the client side.
Bypass regional restrictions using commercial providers.
- Escape client side content filters and internet censorship.
Access your LAN services remotely without port forwarding.

Command-line instructions

1. Preparation

Install the required packages. Specify configuration parameters for VPN server.

# Install packages
opkg update
opkg install wireguard-tools
 
# Configuration parameters
VPN_IF="vpn"
VPN_PORT="51820"
VPN_ADDR="192.168.9.1/24"
VPN_ADDR6="fd00:9::1/64"

2. Key management

Generate and exchange keys between server and client.

# Generate keys
umask go=
wg genkey | tee wgserver.key | wg pubkey > wgserver.pub
wg genkey | tee wgclient.key | wg pubkey > wgclient.pub
wg genpsk > wgclient.psk
 
# Server private key
VPN_KEY="$(cat wgserver.key)"
 
# Pre-shared key
VPN_PSK="$(cat wgclient.psk)"
 
# Client public key
VPN_PUB="$(cat wgclient.pub)"

3. Firewall

Consider VPN network as private. Assign VPN interface to LAN zone to minimize firewall setup. Allow access to VPN server from WAN zone.

# Configure firewall
uci rename firewall.@zone[0]="lan"
uci rename firewall.@zone[1]="wan"
uci del_list firewall.lan.network="${VPN_IF}"
uci add_list firewall.lan.network="${VPN_IF}"
uci -q delete firewall.wg
uci set firewall.wg="rule"
uci set firewall.wg.name="Allow-WireGuard"
uci set firewall.wg.src="wan"
uci set firewall.wg.dest_port="${VPN_PORT}"
uci set firewall.wg.proto="udp"
uci set firewall.wg.target="ACCEPT"
uci commit firewall
service firewall restart

4. Network

Configure VPN interface and peers.

# Configure network
uci -q delete network.${VPN_IF}
uci set network.${VPN_IF}="interface"
uci set network.${VPN_IF}.proto="wireguard"
uci set network.${VPN_IF}.private_key="${VPN_KEY}"
uci set network.${VPN_IF}.listen_port="${VPN_PORT}"
uci add_list network.${VPN_IF}.addresses="${VPN_ADDR}"
uci add_list network.${VPN_IF}.addresses="${VPN_ADDR6}"
 
# Add VPN peers
uci -q delete network.wgclient
uci set network.wgclient="wireguard_${VPN_IF}"
uci set network.wgclient.public_key="${VPN_PUB}"
uci set network.wgclient.preshared_key="${VPN_PSK}"
uci add_list network.wgclient.allowed_ips="${VPN_ADDR%.*}.2/32"
uci add_list network.wgclient.allowed_ips="${VPN_ADDR6%:*}:2/128"
uci commit network
service network restart

Testing

Establish the VPN connection. Verify your routing with traceroute and traceroute6.

traceroute openwrt.org
traceroute6 openwrt.org

Check your IP and DNS provider.

Troubleshooting

Collect and analyze the following information.

# Restart services
service log restart; service network restart; sleep 10
 
# Log and status
logread -e vpn; netstat -l -n -p | grep -e "^udp\s.*\s-$"
 
# Runtime configuration
pgrep -f -a wg; wg show; wg showconf vpn
ip address show; ip route show table all
ip rule show; ip -6 rule show; nft list ruleset
 
# Persistent configuration
uci show network; uci show firewall; crontab -l

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