Strongswan on Docker

Base docker image to run a Strongswan IPsec and a XL2TPD server.

Usage

Run the following to start the container:

docker run -d -p 500:500/udp -p 4500:4500/udp -p 1701:1701/udp --privileged philplckthun/strongswan

If you haven't set any login credentials via configuration files or environment variables, then a new random password will be set. To get it, read the logs of the running container:

docker logs <CONTAINER>

Search for this line in the output at the top:

No VPN_PASSWORD set! Generated a random password: mrXEv2S3F
No VPN_PSK set! Generated a random PSK key: NZESSabnC

Here, the user hasn't set a PSK secret and password.

Environment variables

By default a single account is added for EAP and XAuth login.

Its password is specified by the VPN_PASSWORD environment variable, and its username is specified by the VPN_USER variable.

VPN_USER defaults to user and VPN_PASSWORD is randomised if not changed.

The PSK (pre-shared key) is specified in the VPN_PSK environment variable, and is randomised as well.

You can inject these variables through docker run:

docker run ... -e VPN_USER=dave VPN_PASSWORD=dave-is-awesome ...

Volume / Configuration files

There is a single volume that is mounted at /etc/ipsec.d. Through it you can add a lot of Strongswan configuration. Additionally you can overwrite:

• /etc/ppp/l2tp-secrets
• /etc/ipsec.secrets
• /etc/ipsec.conf
• /etc/strongswan.conf
• /etc/xl2tpd.conf

with it, by putting your configuration files in that volume folder as well. They will be copied to the correct locations.

Services running

There are two services running: Strongswan and addtionally XL2TPD for IPSec/L2TP support.

The default IPSec configuration supports:

• IKEv2 with EAP Authentication (Though a certificate has to be added for that to work)
• IKEv2 with PSK
• IKEv1 with PSK and XAuth (Cisco IPSec)
• IPSec/L2TP with PSK

The ports that are exposed for this container to work are:

• 4500/udp and 500/udp for IPSec
• 1701/udp for L2TP