11 Aug
2021
11 Aug
'21
6:02 a.m.
Use case: IRLP repeaters, VoIP linking.
44.127.48.0/20 BGP routed with the help of Vultr.com
All IRLP repeaters must have an accessible Public IP address. It is becoming more
difficult to get a public IP (or more than one) from local ISPs, especially if you are
using a cellular connection to the Internet. We run a customized implementation of OpenVPN
using TCP based tunnels that provides a single address (/32) to each connected client
node. The service is free.
To manage the users, I use PiVPN (see pivpn.io), which is a very cool tool. PiVPN was
developed using a Raspberry Pi, but it works on any Debian, including a VPS from Vultr.
PiVPN can mange OpenVPN or wireguard. I chose OpenVPN because it supports TCP based
tunnels, wireguard only runs using UDP.
With vultr.com, you must run an BGP routing daemon to a local router (which might sound
intimidating, but is pretty simple if you follow Vultr's docs), which then advertises
that network out the selected data center. I can slice and dice the /20 into into pieces
as small as a /24 from any of Vultr’s 18 data centers around the world.
Right now I am advertising a /23 from Chicago, and a /24 from Sydney. We are planning to
add service from Vultr's Seattle DC soon, followed by Dallas. But no time frame is set
for that. Right now we have roughly 250 OpenVPN tunnels provisioned.
I am paying US$6/mo for each of the servers, which gives me a 3.7, GHz single CPU VM with
a 10 gigabit interface. They do not charge a fee for the BGP routing.
If you want to check its performance, try pinging Chicago 44.127.48.1 and Sydney
44.127.63.1.
As long as we stay with Vultr.com, I can light up any portion of the /20 in any of their
data centers. So far Vultr has been awesome, I do not expect to change anything.
There are more than fifty 44.0 subnets that Vultr.com is routing for somebody.
-Dave K9DC
On Aug 10, 2021, at 15:58, Lynn Grant via 44Net <44net(a)mailman.ampr.org> wrote:
Greetings,
While I can understand in general terms what might be done with hybrid
Internat-ham radio links, I would find it very useful to see examples of
what other hams are currently doing with them. Would it be possible to have
a few hams do short write-ups on what they are doing, and put them on the
ARDC home page? Right now, it seems heavily skewed towards how to set up
the networking end of things (which, of course, is very important, and
something that hams new to networking could use some help with), with not
much attention given to "Why would I want to do this?"
Thanks, and 73,
Lynn Grant
N8AF / V31LK