Pi-hole VPN image with Unbound and Wireguard
In otherwords, an on-demand VPN, that you own and manage, with it's own recursive DNS server, so you don't have to rely on an upstream server like OpenDNS, Cloudflare, or Google, with ad blocking built in.
Cool, cool cool cool...so how do I...
If you want to get up and running in as little time as possible:
- Go here, create a Droplet, and SSH in [video guide]
- Scan the QR code(s) presented from the WireGuard App [video guide]
- Profit
Slightly more info:
- This image was built using a $4 Droplet, and it should (🤞) work just fine on one
- First boot setup takes a bit of time
- Why? On first boot, the OS is updated. Then, WireGuard, Pi-hole, & Unbound are installed.
- When you SSH in, you'll be promted with a pair of QR codes to
scan (I recommend scanning both):
- one for a DNS only VPN client configuration
- one for a Full VPN client configuration
- The README in the Droplet provides info on multiple clients, alternative ports, and more
- Using Floating / Reserved IPs:
- Create your Droplet
- Assign your Reserved IP to the Droplet
- SSH in and scan the QR code
- Replace the Droplet IP with the Reserved IP in the config
First, generate an API_TOKEN
on the API
page. Then,
create a vars file:
echo 'do_token = "API_TOKEN"' > variables.auto.pkrvars.hcl
Finally, validate and build the image:
packer init .
packer validate .
packer build .
The recommended way to provision droplets for testing is by using terraform.
Use Cases:
- You created an image by following the steps in the Create the Pi-hole VPN Image section above and you would like to now create a Droplet using that image.
- You want to create a Droplet using the image that the packer build is based off of so you can test the build scripts in a clean environment.
First, we need to create a vars file:
cd terraform
echo 'do_token = "API_TOKEN"' > terraform.auto.tfvars
echo 'image = "IMAGE_ID"' >> terraform.auto.tfvars
echo 'ssh_keys = [SSH_ID]' >> terraform.auto.tfvars
NB: the square brackets []
around SSH_ID
are required.
Now that we have a template, let's grab the required information:
API_TOKEN: use the API_TOKEN that you generated in the Create the Pi-hole VPN Image section above.
IMAGE_ID: the IMAGE_ID
you use here depends on the use case
(listed above)
- For use case 1, the
IMAGE_ID
is a string of numbers output by the Packer build process. - For use case 2, the
IMAGE_ID
isdebian-11-x64
Alternatively:
-
Find the
IMAGE_ID
in the URL (imageId=
for Snapshots,distroImage=
for Distributions) of the Create Droplets page after selecting the desired image in the "Snapshots" tab. -
Acquire the
IMAGE_ID
from the API:-
Distributions
curl -s -X GET \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer API_TOKEN" \ "https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/images?type=distribution" | \ jq -r '.images | .[] | [.id, .name] | @tsv'
-
Snapshots
curl -s -X GET \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer API_TOKEN" \ "https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/images?private=true" | \ jq -r '.images | .[] | [.id, .name] | @tsv'
-
SSH_ID: DO's ID for your SSH public key. You can obtain the
SSH_ID
for any previously added keys (i.e. any public keys
added via the API or via the Settings -> Security
page) with the
following query:
curl -s -X GET \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer API_TOKEN" \
"https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/account/keys" | \
jq -r '.ssh_keys | .[] | [.name, .id] | @tsv'
If you haven't yet added a key, you can use the query below to
upload your SSH public key and get its SSH_ID
:
curl -X POST \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer API_TOKEN" \
-d "{\"name\":\"Pi-hole Key\",\"public_key\":\"$(cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub)\"}" \
"https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/account/keys"
If you don't already have Terraform installed, checkout Terraform's installation page . The terraform code requires version 1.2.0 or later.
Make sure you've setup your vars file as described in the previous section. Then:
terraform init
terraform validate
terraform plan
terraform apply
You may use terraform show
to see your Droplet's IP address:
terraform show
Finally, to destroy your Droplet:
terraform destroy