Perplexica/docs/gluetun-vpn.md

Adding Gluetun VPN in Docker Compose in Perplexica

This guide will help you integrate the Gluetun VPN container into your Perplexica setup, allowing you to securely route all your services through a VPN.

Overview

Gluetun is a VPN client container that supports various VPN providers and advanced features like DNS over TLS, blocking malicious domains, and setting up firewall rules. In this setup, all services will run within the Gluetun network for enhanced security. So when you chat and search in Perplexica all your traffic is on a VPN.

Prerequisites

• Docker and Docker Compose installed on your system.
• An existing Docker Compose file with your services. ( gluetun-docker-compose.yaml )
• VPN provider credentials. ( Your OpenVPN or Wireguard credentials )

Steps to Integrate Gluetun

In the VPN_SERVICE_PROVIDER, add your actual VPN provider name and fill in the OPENVPN_USER and OPENVPN_PASSWORD with your credentials. For specific configuration details for your VPN provider, visit the Gluetun VPN Providers Setup. Gluetun VPN Providers Page

See Docker Secrets if you prefer instead of directly in yaml

• gluetun already takes care of unsetting sensitive environment variables after reading them at start

Example of enviroment variables

Below is shown using OpenVPN with ProtonVPN

environment:
      - VPN_SERVICE_PROVIDER=protonvpn
      - OPENVPN_USER=CV_hsSTDPuTaLpSkTf              # REPLACE WITH OPENVPN USER
      - OPENVPN_PASSWORD=BANSH65383HSBhIOSKN         # REPLACE WITH OPENVPN PASSWORD
      - SERVER_COUNTRIES=United States               # REPLACE WITH THE COUNTRY YOU WILL BE CONNECTING TO ON VPN see servers.json
      - SERVER_HOSTNAMES=node-us-188.protonvpn.net   # REPLACE WITH VPN HOSTNAME
      - TZ=America/Phoenix                           # TIMEZONE to have correct logs times ( your host timezone )
      - BLOCK_MALICIOUS=on                           # gluetun built in firewall options
      - BLOCK_SURVEILLANCE=on                        # gluetun built in firewall options
      - BLOCK_ADS=on                                 # gluetun built in firewall options
      - DOT=on                                       # gluetun firewall on/off  ( default is on )
      - FIREWALL_OUTBOUND_SUBNETS=192.168.1.0/24     # accessing ollama on your local network add your ollama host machine subnet

Advanced Options:

For configuring advanced options like firewall rules, DNS over TLS, HTTP proxying and more, refer to the Gluetun Advanced Setup. Gluetun Advanced Setup

Deploy Your Services:

Run the following command to deploy your services with the Gluetun VPN:

docker compose -f gluetun-docker-compose.yaml up -d

If you make any changes to the .yaml file save and then run again with:

docker compose -f gluetun-docker-compose.yaml up -d --build

Portainer or Docker Desktop can easily see the Gluetun logs, or just use

docker logs <gluetun-container-id>

Remove containers and network stack

docker compose -f gluetun-docker-compose.yaml down

If using older version of docker compose you can try and run docker-compose instead ( might need to add version: "3" at the top of file for older versions )

Notes

Ensure that the Perplexica/gluetun directory exists on your host and contains inside the necessary servers.json file. You can also download the servers.json here

• Adjust the volume paths and network configurations as needed for your setup.
• The servers.json is a huge list of all the VPN providers in the gluetun folder.
• Ports are all listed under Gluetun container for Perplexica. Perplexica and SearXNG only need network_mode: 'service:gluetun'

By following these steps, you'll have Gluetun VPN integrated into Perplexica, securing your services with VPN and advanced network configurations. You should be able to go to the port :4000 for searxng and search "whats my ip" to see the VPN IP address.

Youtube video showing how to setup Gluetun on it's own but you can understand the options https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F6I03LQcI4

Troubleshooting

Container won't start or crashes! - Verify your VPN provider and the environment vaules in the yaml is correct for your provider, the example only shows Proton and different VPN providers might require additional environment vaules. See here for all providers Gluetun VPN Providers List

Can't access ollama! - Check to see if you need to add your IP subnet of your ollama host and other machines connecting to port 3000 to the FIREWALL_OUTBOUND_SUBNETS or other specific vaules needed for your VPN provider.

If your still having issues try and start a stand alone Gluetun VPN container outside of Perplexica first and connect to it via HTTP proxy to make sure your set up is correct. Gluetun Github Repo