Before you begin, make sure you have installed all the dependencies necessary for your operating system as described in the README.
You can deploy Algo non-interactively by running the Ansible playbooks directly with ansible-playbook
.
ansible-playbook
accepts variables via the -e
or --extra-vars
option. You can pass variables as space separated key=value pairs. Algo requires certain variables that are listed below. You can also use the --skip-tags
option to skip certain parts of the install, such as iptables
(overwrite iptables rules), ipsec
(install strongSwan), wireguard
(install Wireguard). We don't recommend using the -t
option as it will only include the tagged portions of the deployment, and skip certain necessary roles (such as common
).
Here is a full example for DigitalOcean:
ansible-playbook main.yml -e "provider=digitalocean
server_name=algo
ondemand_cellular=false
ondemand_wifi=false
dns_adblocking=true
ssh_tunneling=true
store_pki=true
region=ams3
do_token=token"
See below for more information about variables and roles.
provider
- (Required) The provider to use. See possible values belowserver_name
- (Required) Server name. Default: algoondemand_cellular
(Optional) Enables VPN On Demand when connected to cellular networks for iOS/macOS clients using IPsec. Default: falseondemand_wifi
- (Optional. Seeondemand_wifi_exclude
) Enables VPN On Demand when connected to WiFi networks for iOS/macOS clients using IPsec. Default: falseondemand_wifi_exclude
(Required ifondemand_wifi
set) - WiFi networks to exclude from using the VPN. Comma-separated valuesdns_adblocking
- (Optional) Enables dnscrypt-proxy adblocking. Default: falsessh_tunneling
- (Optional) Enable SSH tunneling for each user. Default: falsestore_pki
- (Optional) Whether or not keep the CA key (required to add users in the future, but less secure). Default: false
If any of the above variables are unspecified, ansible will ask the user to input them.
Cloud roles can be activated by specifying an extra variable provider
.
Cloud roles:
- role: cloud-digitalocean, provider: digitalocean
- role: cloud-ec2, provider: ec2
- role: cloud-gce, provider: gce
- role: cloud-vultr, provider: vultr
- role: cloud-azure, provider: azure
- role: cloud-lightsail, provider: lightsail
- role: cloud-scaleway, provider: scaleway
- role: cloud-openstack, provider: openstack
- role: cloud-cloudstack, provider: cloudstack
- role: cloud-hetzner, provider: hetzner
- role: cloud-linode, provider: linode
Server roles:
- role: strongswan
- Installs strongSwan
- Enables AppArmor, limits CPU and memory access, and drops user privileges
- Builds a Certificate Authority (CA) with easy-rsa-ipsec and creates one client certificate per user
- Bundles the appropriate certificates into Apple mobileconfig profiles for each user
- role: dns_adblocking
- Installs DNS encryption through dnscrypt-proxy with blacklists to be updated daily from
adblock_lists
inconfig.cfg
- note this will occur even ifdns_encryption
inconfig.cfg
is set tofalse
- Constrains dnscrypt-proxy with AppArmor and cgroups CPU and memory limitations
- Installs DNS encryption through dnscrypt-proxy with blacklists to be updated daily from
- role: ssh_tunneling
- Adds a restricted
algo
group with no shell access and limited SSH forwarding options - Creates one limited, local account and an SSH public key for each user
- Adds a restricted
- role: wireguard
- Installs a Wireguard server, with a startup script, and automatic checks for upgrades
- Creates wireguard.conf files for Linux clients as well as QR codes for Apple/Android clients
Note: The strongswan
role generates Apple profiles with On-Demand Wifi and Cellular if you pass the following variables:
- ondemand_wifi: true
- ondemand_wifi_exclude: HomeNet,OfficeWifi
- ondemand_cellular: true
- role: local, provider: local
This role is intended to be run for local install onto an Ubuntu server, or onto an unsupported cloud provider's Ubuntu instance. Required variables:
- server - IP address of your server (or "localhost" if deploying to the local machine)
- endpoint - public IP address of the server you're installing on
- ssh_user - name of the SSH user you will use to install on the machine (passwordless login required). If
server=localhost
, this isn't required. - ca_password - Password for the private CA key
Note that by default, the iptables rules on your existing server will be overwritten. If you don't want to overwrite the iptables rules, you can use the --skip-tags iptables
flag.
Required variables:
- do_token
- region
Possible options can be gathered calling to https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/regions
Required variables:
- aws_access_key:
AKIA...
- aws_secret_key
- region: e.g.
us-east-1
Possible options can be gathered via cli aws ec2 describe-regions
Additional variables:
-
encrypted - Encrypted EBS boot volume. Boolean (Default: true)
-
size - EC2 instance type. String (Default: t2.micro)
-
image - AMI
describe-images
search parameters to find the OS for the hosted image. Each OS and architecture has a unique AMI-ID. The OS owner, for example Ubuntu, updates these images often. If parameters below result in multiple results, the most recent AMI-ID is chosen# Example of equivalent cli comand aws ec2 describe-images --owners "099720109477" --filters "Name=architecture,Values=arm64" "Name=name,Values=ubuntu/images/hvm-ssd/ubuntu-jammy-22.04*"
- [owners] - The operating system owner id. Default is Canonical (Default: 099720109477)
- [arch] - The architecture (Default: x86_64, Optional: arm64)
- [name] - The wildcard string to filter available ami names. Algo appends this name with the string "-*64-server-*", and prepends with "ubuntu/images/hvm-ssd/" (Default: Ubuntu latest LTS)
-
instance_market_type - Two pricing models are supported: on-demand and spot. String (Default: on-demand)
-
If using spot instance types, one additional IAM permission along with the below minimum is required for deployment:
"ec2:CreateLaunchTemplate"
-
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Sid": "PreDeployment",
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"ec2:DescribeImages",
"ec2:DescribeKeyPairs",
"ec2:DescribeRegions",
"ec2:ImportKeyPair",
"ec2:CopyImage"
],
"Resource": [
"*"
]
},
{
"Sid": "DeployCloudFormationStack",
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"cloudformation:CreateStack",
"cloudformation:UpdateStack",
"cloudformation:DescribeStacks",
"cloudformation:DescribeStackEvents",
"cloudformation:ListStackResources"
],
"Resource": [
"*"
]
},
{
"Sid": "CloudFormationEC2Access",
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"ec2:DescribeRegions",
"ec2:CreateInternetGateway",
"ec2:DescribeVpcs",
"ec2:CreateVpc",
"ec2:DescribeInternetGateways",
"ec2:ModifyVpcAttribute",
"ec2:CreateTags",
"ec2:CreateSubnet",
"ec2:AssociateVpcCidrBlock",
"ec2:AssociateSubnetCidrBlock",
"ec2:AssociateRouteTable",
"ec2:AssociateAddress",
"ec2:CreateRouteTable",
"ec2:AttachInternetGateway",
"ec2:DescribeRouteTables",
"ec2:DescribeSubnets",
"ec2:ModifySubnetAttribute",
"ec2:CreateRoute",
"ec2:CreateSecurityGroup",
"ec2:DescribeSecurityGroups",
"ec2:AuthorizeSecurityGroupIngress",
"ec2:RunInstances",
"ec2:DescribeInstances",
"ec2:AllocateAddress",
"ec2:DescribeAddresses"
],
"Resource": [
"*"
]
}
]
}
Required variables:
- gce_credentials_file: e.g. /configs/gce.json if you use the GCE docs - can also be defined in environment as GCE_CREDENTIALS_FILE_PATH
- region: e.g.
useast-1
Required variables:
- vultr_config: /path/to/.vultr.ini
- region: e.g.
Chicago
,'New Jersey'
Required variables:
- azure_secret
- azure_tenant
- azure_client_id
- azure_subscription_id
- region
Required variables:
- aws_access_key:
AKIA...
- aws_secret_key
- region: e.g.
us-east-1
Possible options can be gathered via cli aws lightsail get-regions
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Sid": "LightsailDeployment",
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"lightsail:GetRegions",
"lightsail:GetInstance",
"lightsail:CreateInstances",
"lightsail:DisableAddOn",
"lightsail:PutInstancePublicPorts",
"lightsail:StartInstance",
"lightsail:TagResource",
"lightsail:GetStaticIp",
"lightsail:AllocateStaticIp",
"lightsail:AttachStaticIp"
],
"Resource": [
"*"
]
},
{
"Sid": "DeployCloudFormationStack",
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"cloudformation:CreateStack",
"cloudformation:UpdateStack",
"cloudformation:DescribeStacks",
"cloudformation:DescribeStackEvents",
"cloudformation:ListStackResources"
],
"Resource": [
"*"
]
}
]
}
Required variables:
- scaleway_token
- region: e.g.
ams1
,par1
You need to source the rc file prior to run Algo. Download it from the OpenStack dashboard->Compute->API Access and source it in the shell (eg: source /tmp/dhc-openrc.sh)
Required variables:
- cs_config: /path/to/.cloudstack.ini
- cs_region: e.g.
exoscale
- cs_zones: e.g.
ch-gva2
The first two can also be defined in your environment, using the variables CLOUDSTACK_CONFIG
and CLOUDSTACK_REGION
.
Required variables:
- hcloud_token: Your API token - can also be defined in the environment as HCLOUD_TOKEN
- region: e.g.
nbg1
Required variables:
- linode_token: Your API token - can also be defined in the environment as LINODE_TOKEN
- region: e.g.
us-east
Playbook:
users.yml
Required variables:
- server - IP or hostname to access the server via SSH
- ca_password - Password to access the CA key
Tags required:
- update-users