[CentOS] iptables - Forwarding with port translation thru an OpenVPN tunnel

Barry Brimer lists at brimer.org
Sun Oct 18 23:04:46 UTC 2009


> I have a CentOS-5.3 "main" server with a static public IP address
> running Apache, OpenVPN, and a bunch of other services.
>
> The primary IP address for the only NIC in this box is used by
> Apache on standard ports 80 and 443.   I have a secondary
> static public IP address assigned to this same NIC as eth0:1
>
> I have a working OpenVPN tunnel going to another CentOS-5.3 server
> which has Apache listening on its eth0 NIC for requests on non-standard
> ports 29080 and 29443(don't ask!).  This server is accessible on its
> static public IP address and thru OpenVPN tunnel from the main server.
>
> The main server is the OpenVPN server as well, with private IP address
> 172.16.xxx.1/32 auto-assigned to it.  The second server is a VPN client
> with IP address 172.16.xxx.yyy/32 assigned.  The narrow netmasks are the
> OpenVPN default, presumably used for isolation among multiple clients.
>
> OpenVPN is configured to run over the main server's NIC via its eth0:1
> secondary IP address  64.aaa.bbb.ccc    The main server has a static
> route set up between its eth0:1 IP and the remote server's public
> IP address (not the tunnel IP).  This route is only there so that during
> initial VPN negotiations the data will move via eth0:1's IP address.
>
> Things like ping, SSH, scp and HTTP/HTTPS all work correctly thru the
> VPN in both directions, so the VPN itself is solid.
>
> Ok, so now I want external HTTP/HTTPS requests made to the main
> server's eth0:1 public IP address to be forwarded thru the VPN to the
> second remote server, with port translation along the way.
>
> Here is what I want to happen:
>
> Outside world HTTP/HTTPS requests to eth0:1 ports 80/443
>    |
>    V
> CentOS eth0:1 (64.aaa.bbb.ccc)
>    |
>    V
> Translate to ports 29080/29443
>    |
>    V
> Forward requests thru the tunnel to 172.16.xxx.yyy
>    |
>    V
> Remote Apache responds, packets return thru VPN to "main"
>    |
>    V
> Response goes back to the outside world via 64.aaa.bbb.ccc
>
>
> HTTP/HTTPS requests to the 64.aaa.bbb.ccc public IP just hang and time out.
> Direct requests to the remote server on the non-standard ports work fine.
> I've tried lots of iptables example entries found on several forums but so
> far none of them seem to work.
>
> Does anyone have a cookbook-like complete set of iptables rules that will
> accomplish what I need?  Is it possible I need to set up strong-end routing
> on the remote server to send the response packets back thru the VPN? (such a
> pain to configure)   Any assistance will be most gratefully received!

I don't have a cookbook per se .. but here's my 30-second attempt:

1.  You need a PREROUTING DNAT rule to redirect traffic to the VPN address 
of the other web server.
2.  You need a POSTROUTING SNAT rule to ensure that all of the traffic 
comes back to the main server (of course your web server logs will have 
all the connections from the main server's VPN IP address in its log 
files) **OR** the default route of the web server needs to be the VPN IP 
address on the main server.
3.  You need a POSTROUTING SNAT rule to SNAT the appropriate traffic out 
from the desired IP address.

You *might* be able to you policy routing to help in steps 2 and 3.

Hope this helps,
Barry



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