Arch Linux

drcouzelis

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From: Connecticut, USA

Registered: 2009-11-09

Posts: 4,092

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[WORKAROUND] How to access a home server with WireGuard VPN

So, I've been hosting my own HTTP website and SSH server from home for years now, using DuckDNS, which has been great. Then more recently, I started using WireGuard VPN, which was super easy to configure and start using.

Unfortunately, I can no longer access my home server while I'm using the VPN.

How can I configure my computer to use the VPN for everything (or at least almost everything) but still allow access to my server (HTTP, SSH)?

This post suggests setting up a "split tunnel", but the details are all in regards to OpenVPN and not WireGuard...

Do I need a special setting or exception in my WireGuard conf file?

Last edited by drcouzelis (2019-02-13 17:37:35)

drcouzelis

Member

From: Connecticut, USA

Registered: 2009-11-09

Posts: 4,092

Website

Re: [WORKAROUND] How to access a home server with WireGuard VPN

So, I haven't made much progress... But I did find this thread where someone had the same situation:

https://serverfault.com/questions/51527 … some-ports

(Which links to this thread.)

Apparently I can use the "ip" command to simply add a "table" that routes some traffic around the VPN (WireGuard).

ip route flush table 100
ip route flush cache

ip rule add from x.x.x.x table 100
ip route add table 100 to y.y.y.y/y dev ethX
ip route add table 100 default via z.z.z.z

Where x.x.x.x is my server's public IP, y.y.y.y/y is the subnet of my server's public IP address, ethX is my server's public Ethernet interface, and z.z.z.z is the default gateway.

The PROBLEM is...

#1, I don't understand what these commands mean, and

#2, I'm not even sure what values to enter here.

Does this give anyone a clue on what I could do to implement this?

Last edited by drcouzelis (2018-11-01 01:22:49)

AlienofOne

Member

Registered: 2018-10-22

Posts: 11

Re: [WORKAROUND] How to access a home server with WireGuard VPN

Are you trying to link directly to your server from outside your private network? Or are you just trying to link to your private network from outside so that you can see all of your devices on the safe side of the modem?

drcouzelis

Member

From: Connecticut, USA

Registered: 2009-11-09

Posts: 4,092

Website

Re: [WORKAROUND] How to access a home server with WireGuard VPN

I have found a workaround. It's pretty simple, I'm embarrassed I didn't think of it sooner...

So, I left my Arch Linux installation as-is (no VPN), which means I still have access to my home SSH and Web server.

Then I created a virtual machine (VirtualBox), did a quick and simple installation of Arch Linux, and configured it to use VPN 100% of the time. So anything I want to do from behind a VPN I do from the virtual machine, and I still have access to my server.

Thank you for the help!

Last edited by drcouzelis (2019-02-13 17:37:52)