[Help Requested] Port Forwarding w/ Qbittorrent & Gluetun Docker Compose?

[fenndev@leminal.space]

I'm trying to get Qbittorrent set up within Docker on my home server and want to configure port forwarding through my VPN for all of those Linux ISOs. Ideally, I also want to get a pipeline going with the *arr stack. I've heard the easiest way to do this is with Gluetun but I can't for the life of me figure it out or know how to test it. Anyone been through something similar?

Here is my current Docker Compose for reference:

services:
  gluetun:
    image: qmcgaw/gluetun:latest
    container_name: gluetun
    cap_add:
      - NET_ADMIN
    environment:
      - VPN_SERVICE_PROVIDER=airvpn
      - VPN_TYPE=wireguard
      - WIREGUARD_PRIVATE_KEY="[redacted]"
      - WIREGUARD_PRESHARED_KEY="[redacted]
      - WIREGUARD_ADDRESSES=10.131.184.14/32
      - FIREWALL_VPN_INPUT_PORTS=8069
      - SERVER_COUNTRIES=United States
    devices:
      - /dev/net/tun:/dev/net/tun
    volumes:
      - /home/fenndev/.config/gluetun:/config
    ports:
      - 9091:9091  # WebUI
     - 6881:6881
      - 6881:6881/udp
    restart: unless-stopped

[vinny_93@lemmy.world]

Typo in your network_mode of the qbit container?

[selfhoster1728@infosec.pub]

To enable port forwarding with gluetun see the port forwarding section in the gluetun wiki on their github page. It's pretty clear what you need to do there.

For port forwarding with qbit, gluetun's v3.40.0 release introduced an environment variable that allows the running of a script whenever the VPN changes port (see PR https://github.com/qdm12/gluetun/pull/2399).
If you take a look at the PR some people shared commands to put under the env variable VPN_PORT_FORWARDING_UP_COMMAND.

So all you need to do is put that new environment variable in the environment section, take one of the example commands that uses the qbitorrent API to change the port when needed, and it should be all.

To test if port forwarding works qbittorrent will display a little green planet in the bottom bar, and if port forwarding is not working, a fire (to say it's firewalled).

[fenndev@leminal.space]

Sorry, I realized as I was pasting it that I had typo'd in my config (consistently, as in it was functional) and started to correct it. My bad.

[hotchickenfeet@sopuli.xyz]

allows the running of a script whenever the VPN changes port (see PR https://github.com/qdm12/gluetun/pull/2399).

That's an unknown, but welcome change. My experience for protonvpn was cludgy because you effectively had to run another service to spin and update qbittorrent's port whenever it changed. Happy to see some form of baked in support for it now.

[hotchickenfeet@sopuli.xyz]

Honestly, not sure. What you did looks close to what I'd expect reading the airvpn doc.

1. Is port 6881 something unrelated? I think only local ports go there (e.g. your webui)

2. obviously make sure you set the forwarded port in qbittorrent, then maybe try some external tool like ipleak.net which can give you a magnet link you can put in qbittorrent to see the reported geo location. Not sure if that perfectly vets the port you intend to use, though.

3. glueten->gluetun in depends_on

If you attach to your docker as you launch, you might see some helpful output from either qbittorrent or gluetun (I think the "-it" flags

[fenndev@leminal.space]

Question: Does the green globe icon always indicate that it's working?

[selfhoster1728@infosec.pub]

Yes, if a port is set in the port forwarding section for the qbittorrent preferences in the webui (once one is set it stays until changed), the green globe means it's working.

[selfhoster1728@infosec.pub]

I was having a lot of trouble keeping port forwarding stable before this change with protonvpn too. Probably the best change I've seen with gluetun so far!