This container contains OpenVPN and Transmission with a configuration where Transmission is running only when OpenVPN has an active tunnel. It bundles configuration files for many popular VPN providers to make the setup easier.
You need to specify your provider and credentials with environment variables, as well as mounting volumes where the data should be stored. An example run command to get you going is provided below.
It also bundles an installation of Tinyproxy to also be able to proxy web traffic over your VPN, as well as scripts for opening a port for Transmission if you are using PIA or Perfect Privacy providers.
GL HF! And if you run into problems, please check the README twice and try the gitter chat before opening an issue :)
This image was created for my own use, but sharing is caring, so it had to be open source. It has now gotten quite popular, and that's great! But keeping it up to date, providing support, fixes and new features takes a lot of time.
I'm therefore kindly asking you to donate if you feel like you're getting a good tool and you're able to spare some dollars to keep it functioning as it should. There's a couple of ways to do it:
Become a patron, supporting the project with a small monthly amount.
Make a one time donation through PayPal.
Or use this referral code to DigitalOcean and get 25$ in credits, if you're interested in a cloud setup.
You can also help out by submitting pull-requests or helping others with open issues or in the gitter chat. A big thanks to everyone who has contributed so far! And if you could be interested in joining as collaborator, let me know.
The container is available from the Docker registry and this is the simplest way to get it. To run the container use this command:
$ docker run --cap-add=NET_ADMIN -d \
-v /your/storage/path/:/data \
-v /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro \
-e CREATE_TUN_DEVICE=true \
-e OPENVPN_PROVIDER=PIA \
-e OPENVPN_CONFIG=CA\ Toronto \
-e OPENVPN_USERNAME=user \
-e OPENVPN_PASSWORD=pass \
-e WEBPROXY_ENABLED=false \
-e LOCAL_NETWORK=192.168.0.0/16 \
--log-driver json-file \
--log-opt max-size=10m \
-p 9091:9091 \
haugene/transmission-openvpn
You must set the environment variables OPENVPN_PROVIDER, OPENVPN_USERNAME and OPENVPN_PASSWORD to provide basic connection details.
The OPENVPN_CONFIG is an optional variable. If no config is given, a default config will be selected for the provider you have chosen.
Find available OpenVPN configurations by looking in the openvpn folder of the GitHub repository. The value that you should use here is the filename of your chosen openvpn configuration without the .ovpn file extension. For example:
-e "OPENVPN_CONFIG=ipvanish-AT-Vienna-vie-c02"
You can also provide a comma separated list of openvpn configuration filenames. If you provide a list, a file will be randomly chosen in the list, this is useful for redundancy setups. For example:
-e "OPENVPN_CONFIG=ipvanish-AT-Vienna-vie-c02,ipvanish-FR-Paris-par-a01,ipvanish-DE-Frankfurt-fra-a01"
If you provide a list and the selected server goes down, after the value of ping-timeout the container will be restarted and a server will be randomly chosen, note that the faulty server can be chosen again, if this should occur, the container will be restarted again until a working server is selected.
To make sure this work in all cases, you should add --pull-filter ignore ping to your OPENVPN_OPTS variable.
As you can see, the container also expects a data volume to be mounted. This is where Transmission will store your downloads, incomplete downloads and look for a watch directory for new .torrent files. By default a folder named transmission-home will also be created under /data, this is where Transmission stores its state.
This is a list of providers that are bundled within the image. Feel free to create an issue if your provider is not on the list, but keep in mind that some providers generate config files per user. This means that your login credentials are part of the config an can therefore not be bundled. In this case you can use the custom provider setup described later in this readme. The custom provider setting can be used with any provider.
| Provider Name | Config Value (OPENVPN_PROVIDER) |
|---|---|
| Anonine | ANONINE |
| AnonVPN | ANONVPN |
| BlackVPN | BLACKVPN |
| BTGuard | BTGUARD |
| Cryptostorm | CRYPTOSTORM |
| Cypherpunk | CYPHERPUNK |
| FreeVPN | FREEVPN |
| FrootVPN | FROOT |
| FrostVPN | FROSTVPN |
| Giganews | GIGANEWS |
| HideMe | HIDEME |
| HideMyAss | HIDEMYASS |
| IntegrityVPN | INTEGRITYVPN |
| IPredator | IPREDATOR |
| IPVanish | IPVANISH |
| IronSocket | IRONSOCKET |
| Ivacy | IVACY |
| IVPN | IVPN |
| Mullvad | MULLVAD |
| Newshosting | NEWSHOSTING |
| NordVPN | NORDVPN |
| OVPN | OVPN |
| Perfect Privacy | PERFECTPRIVACY |
| Private Internet Access | PIA |
| PrivateVPN | PRIVATEVPN |
| ProtonVPN | PROTONVPN |
| proXPN | PROXPN |
| proxy.sh | PROXYSH |
| PureVPN | PUREVPN |
| RA4W VPN | RA4W |
| SaferVPN | SAFERVPN |
| SlickVPN | SLICKVPN |
| Smart DNS Proxy | SMARTDNSPROXY |
| SmartVPN | SMARTVPN |
| Surfshark | SURFSHARK |
| TigerVPN | TIGER |
| TorGuard | TORGUARD |
| Trust.Zone | TRUSTZONE |
| TunnelBear | TUNNELBEAR |
| UsenetServerVPN | USENETSERVER |
| Windscribe | WINDSCRIBE |
| VPNArea.com | VPNAREA |
| VPN.AC | VPNAC |
| VPN.ht | VPNHT |
| VPNBook.com | VPNBOOK |
| VPNFacile | VPNFACILE |
| VPNTunnel | VPNTUNNEL |
| VyprVpn | VYPRVPN |
| Variable | Function | Example |
|---|---|---|
OPENVPN_PROVIDER |
Sets the OpenVPN provider to use. | OPENVPN_PROVIDER=provider. Supported providers and their config values are listed in the table above. |
OPENVPN_USERNAME |
Your OpenVPN username | OPENVPN_USERNAME=asdf |
OPENVPN_PASSWORD |
Your OpenVPN password | OPENVPN_PASSWORD=asdf |
| Variable | Function | Example |
|---|---|---|
OPENVPN_CONFIG |
Sets the OpenVPN endpoint to connect to. | OPENVPN_CONFIG=UK Southampton |
OPENVPN_OPTS |
Will be passed to OpenVPN on startup | See OpenVPN doc |
LOCAL_NETWORK |
Sets the local network that should have access. Accepts comma separated list. | LOCAL_NETWORK=192.168.0.0/24 |
CREATE_TUN_DEVICE |
Creates /dev/net/tun device inside the container, mitigates the need mount the device from the host | CREATE_TUN_DEVICE=true |
When enabled, the firewall blocks everything except traffic to the peer port and traffic to the rpc port from the LOCAL_NETWORK and the internal docker gateway.
If TRANSMISSION_PEER_PORT_RANDOM_ON_START is enabled then it allows traffic to the range of peer ports defined by TRANSMISSION_PEER_PORT_RANDOM_HIGH and TRANSMISSION_PEER_PORT_RANDOM_LOW.
| Variable | Function | Example |
|---|---|---|
ENABLE_UFW |
Enables the firewall | ENABLE_UFW=true |
UFW_ALLOW_GW_NET |
Allows the gateway network through the firewall. Off defaults to only allowing the gateway. | UFW_ALLOW_GW_NET=true |
UFW_EXTRA_PORTS |
Allows the comma separated list of ports through the firewall. Respects UFW_ALLOW_GW_NET. | UFW_EXTRA_PORTS=9910,23561,443 |
UFW_DISABLE_IPTABLES_REJECT |
Prevents the use of REJECT in the iptables rules, for hosts without the ipt_REJECT module (such as the Synology NAS). |
UFW_DISABLE_IPTABLES_REJECT=true |
Because your VPN connection can sometimes fail, Docker will run a health check on this container every 5 minutes to see if the container is still connected to the internet. By default, this check is done by pinging google.com once. You change the host that is pinged.
| Variable | Function | Example |
|---|---|---|
HEALTH_CHECK_HOST |
this host is pinged to check if the network connection still works | google.com |
By default the startup script applies a default set of permissions and ownership on the transmission download, watch and incomplete directories. The GLOBAL_APPLY_PERMISSIONS directive can be used to disable this functionality.
| Variable | Function | Example |
|---|---|---|
GLOBAL_APPLY_PERMISSIONS |
Disable setting of default permissions | GLOBAL_APPLY_PERMISSIONS=false |
You can override the default web UI by setting the TRANSMISSION_WEB_HOME environment variable. If set, Transmission will look there for the Web Interface files, such as the javascript, html, and graphics files.
Combustion UI, Kettu and Transmission-Web-Control come bundled with the container. You can enable either of them by settingTRANSMISSION_WEB_UI=combustion, TRANSMISSION_WEB_UI=kettu or TRANSMISSION_WEB_UI=transmission-web-control, respectively. Note that this will override the TRANSMISSION_WEB_HOME variable if set.
| Variable | Function | Example |
|---|---|---|
TRANSMISSION_WEB_HOME |
Set Transmission web home | TRANSMISSION_WEB_HOME=/path/to/web/ui |
TRANSMISSION_WEB_UI |
Use the specified bundled web UI | TRANSMISSION_WEB_UI=combustion, TRANSMISSION_WEB_UI=kettu or TRANSMISSION_WEB_UI=transmission-web-control |
You may override Transmission options by setting the appropriate environment variable.
The environment variables are the same name as used in the transmission settings.json file and follow the format given in these examples:
| Transmission variable name | Environment variable name |
|---|---|
speed-limit-up |
TRANSMISSION_SPEED_LIMIT_UP |
speed-limit-up-enabled |
TRANSMISSION_SPEED_LIMIT_UP_ENABLED |
ratio-limit |
TRANSMISSION_RATIO_LIMIT |
ratio-limit-enabled |
TRANSMISSION_RATIO_LIMIT_ENABLED |
As you can see the variables are prefixed with TRANSMISSION_, the variable is capitalized, and - is converted to _.
Transmission options changed in the WebUI or in settings.json will be overridden at startup and will not survive after a reboot of the container. You may want to use these variables in order to keep your preferences.
PS: TRANSMISSION_BIND_ADDRESS_IPV4 will be overridden to the IP assigned to your OpenVPN tunnel interface.
This is to prevent leaking the host IP.
This container also contains a web-proxy server to allow you to tunnel your web-browser traffic through the same OpenVPN tunnel. This is useful if you are using a private tracker that needs to see you login from the same IP address you are torrenting from. The default listening port is 8888. Note that only ports above 1024 can be specified as all ports below 1024 are privileged and would otherwise require root permissions to run. Remember to add a port binding for your selected (or default) port when starting the container.
| Variable | Function | Example |
|---|---|---|
WEBPROXY_ENABLED |
Enables the web proxy | WEBPROXY_ENABLED=true |
WEBPROXY_PORT |
Sets the listening port | WEBPROXY_PORT=8888 |
By default everything will run as the root user. However, it is possible to change who runs the transmission process. You may set the following parameters to customize the user id that runs transmission.
| Variable | Function | Example |
|---|---|---|
PUID |
Sets the user id who will run transmission | PUID=1003 |
PGID |
Sets the group id for the transmission user | PGID=1003 |
Some VPNs do not override the default route, but rather set other routes with a lower metric. This might lead to the default route (your untunneled connection) to be used.
To drop the default route set the environment variable DROP_DEFAULT_ROUTE to true.
Note: This is not compatible with all VPNs. You can check your iptables routing with the ip r command in a running container.
If you ever need to run custom code before or after transmission is executed or stopped, you can use the custom scripts feature. Custom scripts are located in the /scripts directory which is empty by default. To enable this feature, you'll need to mount the /scripts directory.
Once /scripts is mounted you'll need to write your custom code in the following bash shell scripts:
| Script | Function |
|---|---|
| /scripts/openvpn-pre-start.sh | This shell script will be executed before openvpn start |
| /scripts/transmission-pre-start.sh | This shell script will be executed before transmission start |
| /scripts/transmission-post-start.sh | This shell script will be executed after transmission start |
| /scripts/transmission-pre-stop.sh | This shell script will be executed before transmission stop |
| /scripts/transmission-post-stop.sh | This shell script will be executed after transmission stop |
Don't forget to include the #!/bin/bash shebang and to make the scripts executable using chmod a+x
The Transmission RSS plugin can optionally be run as a separate container. It allow to download torrents based on an RSS URL, see Plugin page.
$ docker run -d \
-e "RSS_URL=<URL>" \
--link <transmission-container>:transmission \
--name "transmission-rss" \
haugene/transmission-rss
Another way is to use a docker env file where you can easily store all your env variables and maintain multiple configurations for different providers. In the GitHub repository there is a provided DockerEnv file with all the current transmission and openvpn environment variables. You can use this to create local configurations by filling in the details and removing the # of the ones you want to use.
Please note that if you pass in env. variables on the command line these will override the ones in the env file.
See explanation of variables above. To use this env file, use the following to run the docker image:
$ docker run --cap-add=NET_ADMIN --device=/dev/net/tun -d \
-v /your/storage/path/:/data \
-v /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro \
--env-file /your/docker/env/file \
-p 9091:9091 \
haugene/transmission-openvpn
But what's going on? My http://my-host:9091 isn't responding? This is because the VPN is active, and since docker is running in a different ip range than your client the response to your request will be treated as "non-local" traffic and therefore be routed out through the VPN interface.
The container supports the LOCAL_NETWORK environment variable. For instance if your local network uses the IP range 192.168.0.0/24 you would pass -e LOCAL_NETWORK=192.168.0.0/24.
Alternatively you can reverse proxy the traffic through another container, as that container would be in the docker range. There is a reverse proxy being built with the container. You can run it using the command below or have a look in the repository proxy folder for inspiration for your own custom proxy.
$ docker run -d \
--link <transmission-container>:transmission \
-p 8080:8080 \
haugene/transmission-openvpn-proxy
You need to add a / to the end of the URL to be able to connect. Example: http://my-host:9091/transmission/rpc/
Some have encountered problems with DNS resolving inside the docker container. This causes trouble because OpenVPN will not be able to resolve the host to connect to. If you have this problem use dockers --dns flag to override the resolv.conf of the container. For example use googles dns servers by adding --dns 8.8.8.8 --dns 8.8.4.4 as parameters to the usual run command.
If the VPN connection fails or the container for any other reason loses connectivity, you want it to recover from it. One way of doing this is to set environment variable OPENVPN_OPTS=--inactive 3600 --ping 10 --ping-exit 60 and use the --restart=always flag when starting the container. This way OpenVPN will exit if ping fails over a period of time which will stop the container and then the Docker deamon will restart it.
By befault Transmission will always scrape trackers, even if all torrents have completed their activities, or they have been paused manually. This will cause Transmission to be always active, therefore never allow your host server to be inactive and go to sleep/hybernation/whatever. If this is something you want, you can add the following variable when creating the container. It will turn off a hidden setting in Tranmsission which will stop the application to scrape trackers for paused torrents. Transmission will become inactive, and your host will reach the desidered state.
-e "TRANSMISSION_SCRAPE_PAUSED_TORRENTS_ENABLED=false"
Several popular NAS platforms supports Docker containers. You should be able to set up and configure this container using their web interfaces. Remember that you need a TUN/TAP device to run the container. To set up the device it's probably simplest to install a OpenVPN package for the NAS. This should set up the device. If not, there are some more detailed instructions below.
If you are having issues with this container please submit an issue on GitHub. Please provide logs, docker version and other information that can simplify reproducing the issue. Using the latest stable version of Docker is always recommended. Support for older version is on a best-effort basis.
If your VPN provider is not in the list of supported providers you could always create an issue on GitHub and see if someone could add it for you. But if you're feeling up for doing it yourself, here's a couple of pointers.
You clone this repository and create a new folder under "openvpn" where you put the .ovpn files your provider gives you. Depending on the structure of these files you need to make some adjustments. For example if they come with a ca.crt file that is referenced in the config you need to update this reference to the path it will have inside the container (which is /etc/openvpn/...). You also have to set where to look for your username/password.
There is a script called adjustConfigs.sh that could help you. After putting your .ovpn files in a folder, run that script with your folder name as parameter and it will try to do the changes described above. If you use it or not, reading it might give you some help in what you're looking to change in the .ovpn files.
Once you've finished modifying configs, you build the container and run it with OPENVPN_PROVIDER set to the name of the folder of configs you just created (it will be lowercased to match the folder names). And that should be it!
So, you've just added your own provider and you're feeling pretty good about it! Why don't you fork this repository, commit and push your changes and submit a pull request? Share your provider with the rest of us! :) Please submit your PR to the dev branch in that case.
If you want to run the image with your own provider without building a new image, that is also possible. For some providers, like AirVPN, the .ovpn files are generated per user and contains credentials. They should not be added to a public image. This is what you do:
Add a new volume mount to your docker run command that mounts your config file:
-v /path/to/your/config.ovpn:/etc/openvpn/custom/default.ovpn
Then you can set OPENVPN_PROVIDER=CUSTOMand the container will use the config you provided. If you are using AirVPN or other provider with credentials in the config file, you still need to set OPENVPN_USERNAME and OPENVPN_PASSWORD as this is required by the startup script. They will not be read by the .ovpn file, so you can set them to whatever.
Note that you still need to modify your .ovpn file as described in the previous section. If you have an separate ca.crt, client.key or client.crt file in your volume mount should be a folder containing both the ca.crt and the .ovpn config.
Mount the folder contianing all the required files instead of the openvpn.ovpn file.
-v /path/to/your/config/:/etc/openvpn/custom/
Additionally the .ovpn config should include the full path on the docker container to the ca.crt and additional files.
ca /etc/openvpn/custom/ca.crt
If -e OPENVPN_CONFIG= variable has been omitted from the docker run command the .ovpn config file must be named default.ovpn. IF -e OPENVPN_CONFIG= is used with the custom provider the .ovpn config and variable must match as described above.
The container exposes /config as a volume. This is the directory where the supplied transmission and OpenVPN credentials will be stored. If you have transmission authentication enabled and want scripts in another container to access and control the transmission-daemon, this can be a handy way to access the credentials. For example, another container may pause or restrict transmission speeds while the server is streaming video.
Since the Raspberry PI runs on an ARM architecture instead of x64, the existing x64 images will not
work properly. There are 2 additional Dockerfiles created. The Dockerfiles supported by the Raspberry PI are Dockerfile.armhf -- there is
also an example docker-compose-armhf file that shows how you might use Transmission/OpenVPN and the
corresponding nginx reverse proxy on an RPI machine.
You can use the latest-armhf tag for each images (see docker-compose-armhf.yml) or build your own images using Dockerfile.armhf.
Here are the steps to run it on a Synology NAS (Tested on DSM 6) :
- Connect as admin to your Synology SSH
- Switch to root with command
sudo su - - Enter your admin password when prompted
- Create a TUN.sh file anywhere in your synology file system by typing
vim /volume1/foldername/TUN.shreplacing foldername with any folder you created on your Synology - Paste @timkelty 's script :
#!/bin/sh
# Create the necessary file structure for /dev/net/tun
if ( [ ! -c /dev/net/tun ] ); then
if ( [ ! -d /dev/net ] ); then
mkdir -m 755 /dev/net
fi
mknod /dev/net/tun c 10 200
chmod 0755 /dev/net/tun
fi
# Load the tun module if not already loaded
if ( !(lsmod | grep -q "^tun\s") ); then
insmod /lib/modules/tun.ko
fi
- Save the file with [escape] +
:wq! - Go in the folder containing your script :
cd /volume1/foldername/ - Check permission with
chmod 0755 TUN.sh - Run it with
./TUN.sh - Return to initial directory typing
cd - Create the DNS config file by typing
vim /volume1/foldername/resolv.conf - Paste the following lines :
nameserver 8.8.8.8
nameserver 8.8.4.4
-
Save the file with [escape] +
:wq! -
Create your docker container with a the following command line:
# Tested on DSM 6.1.4-15217 Update 1, Docker Package 17.05.0-0349 docker run \ --cap-add=NET_ADMIN \ --device=/dev/net/tun \ -d \ -v /volume1/foldername/resolv.conf:/etc/resolv.conf \ -v /volume1/yourpath/:/data \ -e "OPENVPN_PROVIDER=PIA" \ -e "OPENVPN_CONFIG=CA\ Toronto" \ -e "OPENVPN_USERNAME=XXXXX" \ -e "OPENVPN_PASSWORD=XXXXX" \ -e "LOCAL_NETWORK=192.168.0.0/24" \ -e "OPENVPN_OPTS=--inactive 3600 --ping 10 --ping-exit 60" \ -e "PGID=100" \ -e "PUID=1234" \ -p 9091:9091 \ --sysctl net.ipv6.conf.all.disable_ipv6=0 \ --name "transmission-openvpn-syno" \ haugene/transmission-openvpn:latest -
To make it work after a nas restart, create an automated task in your synology web interface : go to **Settings Panel > Task Scheduler ** create a new task that run
/volume1/foldername/TUN.shas root (select 'root' in 'user' selectbox). This task will start module that permit the container to run, you can make a task that run on startup. These kind of task doesn't work on my nas so I just made a task that run every minute. -
Enjoy
On many modern linux systems, including Ubuntu, systemd can be used to start the transmission-openvpn at boot time, and restart it after any failure.
Save the following as /etc/systemd/system/transmission-openvpn.service, and replace the OpenVPN PROVIDER/USERNAME/PASSWORD directives with your settings, and add any other directives that you're using.
This service is assuming that there is a bittorrent user set up with a home directory at /home/bittorrent/. The data directory will be mounted at /home/bittorrent/data/. This can be changed to whichever user and location you're using.
OpenVPN is set to exit if there is a connection failure. OpenVPN exiting triggers the container to also exit, then the Restart=always definition in the transmission-openvpn.service file tells systems to restart things again.
[Unit]
Description=haugene/transmission-openvpn docker container
After=docker.service
Requires=docker.service
[Service]
User=bittorrent
TimeoutStartSec=0
ExecStartPre=-/usr/bin/docker kill transmission-openvpn
ExecStartPre=-/usr/bin/docker rm transmission-openvpn
ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/docker pull haugene/transmission-openvpn
ExecStart=/usr/bin/docker run \
--name transmission-openvpn \
--cap-add=NET_ADMIN \
--device=/dev/net/tun \
-v /home/bittorrent/data/:/data \
-e "OPENVPN_PROVIDER=TORGUARD" \
-e "OPENVPN_USERNAME=bittorrent@example.com" \
-e "OPENVPN_PASSWORD=hunter2" \
-e "OPENVPN_CONFIG=CA\ Toronto" \
-e "OPENVPN_OPTS=--inactive 3600 --ping 10 --ping-exit 60" \
-e "TRANSMISSION_UMASK=0" \
-p 9091:9091 \
--dns 8.8.8.8 \
--dns 8.8.4.4 \
haugene/transmission-openvpn
Restart=always
RestartSec=5
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Then enable and start the new service with:
$ sudo systemctl enable /etc/systemd/system/transmission-openvpn.service
$ sudo systemctl restart transmission-openvpn.service
If it is stopped or killed in any fashion, systemd will restart the container. If you do want to shut it down, then run the following command and it will stay down until you restart it.
$ sudo systemctl stop transmission-openvpn.service
# Later ...
$ sudo systemctl start transmission-openvpn.service