torrentns

Scripts for firing up a linux network namespace and run transmission server with openvpn inside.

Before usage

Update source/extra.sh to specify different constant variables if we want to use different ones. They are in the first couple of lines of extra.sh.

#const variables, we don't have to change their values
VETH_ROOT=veth_root
VETH_NS=veth_ns
BRIDGE=netns_bridge

Installing dependencies

Run ./bootstrap.sh to install the necessary dependencies.

For VPN

Create an auth.txt in the $SCRIPT_ROOT as well as in $SCRIPT_ROOT/nordVPN to be sure. This file should contain your nordVPN username and password; each in one line below each other and nothing else, e.g.:

myNordVPNuser
secretPassword4VPN

Usage

sudo bash ./run_torrent_ns.sh -p <SCRIPT_ROOT> -n <NAMESPACE> -t <TRANSMISSION_DIR>

NAMESPACE will be torrent, SCRIPT_ROOT will be $HOME/torrentns, and TRANSMISION_DIR will be $HOME/.config/transmission-daemon if not changed!

Set your own transmission preferences

via copying the transmission_config to $HOME/.config/transmission-daemon/

Add script to run on RaspberryPI/Debian/Ubuntu/OtherLinuxDistros after system boots

Add the following line to /etc/crontab as root assuming your $SCRIPT_ROOT is under your user's HOME directory.

@reboot  root cd /home/<YOURUSER>/torrentns && /home/<YOURUSER>/torrentns/run_torrent_ns.sh -p /home/<YOURUSER>/torrentns -n <NAMESPACE> -t /home/<YOURUSER>/.config/transmission-daemon &

Update path if required!

Disable the original transmission-daemon to start at boot

sudo systemctl disable transmission-daemon

Also edit /etc/default/transmission-daemon and change the line

ENABLE_DAEMON=1

to

ENABLE_DAEMON=0

Then, reboot your machine and see if everything works as expected.

The best way to check this is to run the script first manually, ensure it is running in the namespace. Then, add a torrent. For instance, the checkIP torrent in this repo. Then, reboot your machine. After it boots up, and you can connect to the transmission-daemon and the added torrent is still there, you have configured everything correctly. If there is no added torrent, it means you connected to another instance, which might not be running within the namespace, i.e., not running behind a VPN.

Troubleshooting

There is no reason to worry about the DNS anymore. You can use your local DNS for your host, and the network namespace (connected to a VPN and being obviously outside of your local scope) can freely use another one.

All network namespaces use the host path /etc/netns/<NAMESPACE>/ as their source of configuration files. Hence, the script is modified to create this directory and puts the relevant lines into a resolv.conf file there. Just use the script as normal and this DNS-related setting is not an issue anymore.

SECTION BELOW IS DEPRECATED BUT LEFT AS REFERENCE

Some full-fledged distributions,like Ubuntu-based ones, trying to take over the control over from you and like to mess up with your settings. It is especially true when it comes to the good old nameserver settings via /etc/resolv.conf.

Your NetworkManager and/or the systemd/system-resolved services can mess up your DNS configuration found in /etc/resolv.conf. What this means is that the system uses its own stub resolver; not that there is anything wrong with that BUT, it can be found at 127.0.0.53. This works totally fine for your system, but within the network namespace, this stub resolver cannot be reached easily as it is using a VPN anyway! Therefore, since the network namespace also gets the DNS server data from /etc/resolv.conf, you end up not having domain name resulution within the namespace, which practically leads to no internet access within the namespace.

Worse, manually editing the file works until you reboot; if the script is set to run after reboot, your NetworkManager and/or systemd/system-resolved service may overwrite it.

Solution

Add your nameservers to /etc/resolvconf/resolv.conf.d/tail!

nameserver 1.1.1.1
nameserver 8.8.8.8

If you don't have this file, install resolvconf package.

Then, to lose 127.0.0.53 as the DNS, disable the systemd-resolved service and stop it:

sudo systemctl disable systemd-resolved.service
sudo service systemd-resolved stop

Put the following line in the [main] section of your /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf:

dns=default

Delete the symlink /etc/resolv.conf (yes, it is a symlink, so it is recommended to delete and let the system recreate it as a regular file):

sudo rm /etc/resolv.conf

Restart network-manager:

sudo service network-manager restart 

This is it! After reboot, and already after restarting network-manager, your resolv.conf will look like as we want!