This is a complete guide to enable a configure use the Sentinel dVPN OpenVPN Node on Linux with docker and share unused bandwidth to the Sentinel Network.

Setup Instructions

Here are the steps involved in getting a Sentinel dVPN OpenVPN Node up and running:

1. Install docker
2. Build/pull the Sentinel dVPN docker image
3. Configure Node

Installing the latest version of docker in Ubuntu or Debian based releases

Below are the instructions on installing docker:

1. Install required dependencies to get docker installation script from get.docker.com

   sudo apt install -y curl

   curl -fsSL get.docker.com -o /tmp/get-docker.sh

2. Run the downloaded script to setup & install docker

   sudo sh /tmp/get-docker.sh

3. Add current user to the docker group to give required access

   sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Running the Sentinel dVPN Node

You can set up and run VPN node in two ways:

1. Quick Run - download docker image from Docker Hub
2. DIY - build your own docker image from the Sentinel code repository

Method #1 [Download docker image from Docker Hub]

1. Navigate to the User's home directory

   cd ~

2. Create a new folder to pull the docker image and run it

   mkdir -p $HOME/.sentinel

3. Pull the official Sentinel docker image from Docker Hub & configure the node

   sudo docker run -it --privileged --mount type=bind,source=$HOME/.sentinel,target=/root/.sentinel -p 3000:3000 -p 1194:1194/udp sentinelofficial/sentinel-vpn-node

Method #2 [Build Your Own Docker Image]

Do-it-Yourself setup by building your own docker image

1. Navigate to the root folder or anywhere that you want to set up the project and download code from the repository

   cd ~

2. Clone the Sentinel repository

   git clone https://github.com/sentinel-official/sentinel.git

3. Navigate to the folder with code to build the docker image

   cd ~/sentinel/vpn-node-docker

4. Build the docker image

   sudo docker build --file Dockerfile.prod --tag sentinel-vpn-node --force-rm --no-cache .

5. Navigate to the folder where the docker container was set up. In our case, it is the User's home directory.

   mkdir -p $HOME/.sentinel

6. Run the image and configure the node

   sudo docker run -it --privileged --mount type=bind,source=$HOME/.sentinel,target=/root/.sentinel -p 3000:3000 -p 1194:1194/udp sentinel-vpn-node

Updating an existing Sentinel dVPN OpenVPN Node

1. Stop the running docker container

   sudo docker stop $(sudo docker ps -aq -f ancestor=sentinelofficial/sentinel-vpn-node)

2. Remove the older version of docker container

   sudo docker rm -f $(sudo docker ps -aq -f ancestor=sentinelofficial/sentinel-vpn-node)

3. Remove the older version of docker image

   sudo docker rmi -f $(sudo docker images -aq -f reference=sentinelofficial/sentinel-vpn-node)

4. Set the token value to an EMPTY STRING in the config file

   Config file location: $HOME/.sentinel/config.data

   Example: {"token": "", "enc_method": "AES-256-CBC", "account_addr": "0x656b756e6c6335302e676c343572357232786970", "price_per_gb": 125.0}

After completing the above steps please follow the instructions on Method #1 to get the node up and running again.

Helpful docker commands to interact with the Sentinel dVPN Node

• list a running Sentinel dVPN Node:

  sudo docker ps

• list both, running and stopped Sentinel dVPN Nodes:

  sudo docker ps -a

• stop a particular Sentinel Node:

  • run sudo docker ps and copy the Container ID.
  • run sudo docker stop ContainerID

  Note: stopping a dVPN Node does not remove the container

• remove a particular Sentinel dVPN Node: sudo docker rm ContainerID_OR_ContainerName

  Note: The Sentinel dVPN Node must be stopped to be removed. Alternatively, you can use the -f flag to forcefully remove the Node if the node cannot be stopped.

• remove node using the force option -f:

  sudo docker rm -f ContainerID_OR_ContainerName

• remove all stopped Sentinel dVPN Nodes:

  sudo docker rm $(sudo docker ps -a -q)

• stop all the running dVPN Nodes and remove them:

  sudo docker stop $(sudo docker ps -a -q) && sudo docker rm $(sudo docker ps -a -q)