Tinc extras

This article relies on the following:

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

This how-to describes the most common Tinc tuning scenarios adapted for OpenWrt.
Follow Tinc server for server setup and Tinc client for client setup.
Follow DDNS client to use own server with dynamic IP address.
Follow Random generator to overcome low entropy issues.

Tinc documentation

Implement plain routing between server side LAN and client side LAN assuming that:

192.168.1.0/24 - server side LAN
192.168.2.0/24 - client side LAN

Configure subnets on VPN server and client.

uci add_list tinc.server.Subnet="192.168.1.0/24"
uci add_list tinc.client.Subnet="192.168.2.0/24"
uci commit tinc
service tinc restart

Consider VPN network as private and assign VPN interface to LAN zone on VPN client.

uci del_list firewall.wan.network="vpn"
uci add_list firewall.lan.network="vpn"
uci commit firewall
service firewall restart

If you do not need to route all traffic to VPN. Disable gateway redirection on VPN client.

for IPV in 4 6
do
uci -q delete network.lan.ip${IPV}table
uci -q delete network.vpn.ip${IPV}table
uci -q delete network.vpn_rt${IPV%4}
uci -q delete network.lan_vpn${IPV%4}
done
uci del_list tinc.server.Subnet="0.0.0.0/0"
uci del_list tinc.server.Subnet="::/0"
uci commit network
service network restart

If VPN gateway is separate from your LAN gateway. Implement plain routing between LAN and VPN networks assuming that:

192.168.1.0/24 - LAN network
192.168.1.2/24 - VPN gateway
192.168.9.0/24 - VPN network

Add port forwarding for VPN server on LAN gateway.

uci -q delete firewall.tinc
uci set firewall.tinc="redirect"
uci set firewall.tinc.name="Redirect-Tinc"
uci set firewall.tinc.src="wan"
uci set firewall.tinc.src_dport="655"
uci set firewall.tinc.dest="lan"
uci set firewall.tinc.dest_ip="192.168.1.2"
uci set firewall.tinc.family="ipv4"
uci set firewall.tinc.proto="tcp"
uci set firewall.tinc.target="DNAT"
uci commit firewall
service firewall restart

Add route to VPN network via VPN gateway on LAN gateway.

uci -q delete network.vpn
uci set network.vpn="route"
uci set network.vpn.interface="lan"
uci set network.vpn.target="192.168.9.0/24"
uci set network.vpn.gateway="192.168.1.2"
uci commit network
service network restart

Serve DNS for VPN clients on OpenWrt server when using point-to-point topology.

Route DNS over VPN to prevent DNS leaks on VPN client.

Replace peer DNS with public or VPN-specific DNS provider on OpenWrt client.

Modify the VPN connection using NetworkManager on Linux desktop client.

nmcli connection modify id VPN_CON \
ipv4.dns-search ~. ipv4.dns-priority -50 \
ipv6.dns-search ~. ipv6.dns-priority -50

Prevent traffic leaks on OpenWrt client isolating VPN interface in a separate firewall zone.

uci -q delete firewall.vpn
uci set firewall.vpn="zone"
uci set firewall.vpn.name="vpn"
uci set firewall.vpn.input="REJECT"
uci set firewall.vpn.output="ACCEPT"
uci set firewall.vpn.forward="REJECT"
uci set firewall.vpn.masq="1"
uci set firewall.vpn.mtu_fix="1"
uci add_list firewall.vpn.network="vpn"
uci del_list firewall.wan.network="vpn"
uci -q delete firewall.@forwarding[0]
uci set firewall.lan_vpn="forwarding"
uci set firewall.lan_vpn.src="lan"
uci set firewall.lan_vpn.dest="vpn"
uci commit firewall
service firewall restart

Automated VPN server installation.

URL="https://openwrt.org/_export/code/docs/guide-user/services/vpn/tinc/server"
cat << EOF > tinc-server.sh
$(wget -U "" -O - "${URL}?codeblock=0")
$(wget -U "" -O - "${URL}?codeblock=1")
$(wget -U "" -O - "${URL}?codeblock=2")
$(wget -U "" -O - "${URL}?codeblock=3")
$(wget -U "" -O - "${URL}?codeblock=4")
EOF
sh tinc-server.sh

Tinc extras

Introduction

Extras

References

Site-to-site

Default gateway

Split gateway

DNS over VPN

Kill switch

Automated