Connecting to a VPN during a build

To use the Connect to OpenVPN Server Step, you need to build an OpenVPN server in advance, and then encode your certificate files and your private key.

This is an example script which you can either save into your repository and run it from there, or just copy paste its content into a Script Step in your bitrise configuration (bitrise.yml / Workflow).

The script uses Strongswan VPN to connect to a VPN. It works on either macOS or Linux. Once the script has run successfully, any subsequent Bitrise Step can access devices and services over the VPN connection.

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -e

echo "WAN IP"
# This prints the servers Internet IP adress to the log, useful for debugging
curl http://httpbin.org/ip

case "$OSTYPE" in
  linux*)
    echo "Configuring for Linux"

    # Variables
    etc_dir=/etc
    etc_sudo='sudo' # Sudo is needed for Linux Strongswan configuration

    # Install strongswan
    echo "Installing Strongswan..."
    sudo apt-get install -y strongswan

    ;;
  darwin*)
    echo "Configuring for Mac OS"

    # Variables
    etc_dir=/usr/local/etc
    etc_sudo='' # Sudo is NOT needed for Mac OS Strongswan configuration

    # Install Strongswan using homebrew
    echo "Installing OpenSSL..."
    # Manually install OpenSSL first to save time, since installing Strongswan directly compiles OpenSSL from source instead
    brew install openssl
    echo "Installing Strongswan..."
    brew install strongswan

    ;;
  *)
    echo "Unknown operative system: $OSTYPE, exiting"
    exit 1
    ;;
esac


# Method for rendering a template string file (when run, returns the input string with $VARIABLES replaced from env)
render_template() {
  eval "echo \"$(cat $1)\""
}

# Create a temporary directory to hold files
temp_dir=/tmp/vpn-config
mkdir $temp_dir

# IPsec config file, see examples at https://wiki.strongswan.org/projects/strongswan/wiki/IKEv1Examples and https://wiki.strongswan.org/projects/strongswan/wiki/IKEv2Examples
echo "Downloading ipsec.conf..."
wget https://www.example.com/ipsec.conf.template -O $temp_dir/ipsec.conf.template
# IPsec credentials file, see documentation at https://wiki.strongswan.org/projects/strongswan/wiki/IpsecSecrets
echo "Downloading ipsec.secrets..."
wget https://www.example.com/ipsec.secrets.template -O $temp_dir/ipsec.secrets.template
# In some cases you might need to download the certificate, or certificate chain, of your other VPN endpoint
echo "Downloading server.crt..."
wget https://www.example.com/server.crt -O $temp_dir/server.crt

echo "Rendering config templates"
render_template $temp_dir/ipsec.conf.template > $temp_dir/ipsec.conf
render_template $temp_dir/ipsec.secrets.template > $temp_dir/ipsec.secrets

echo "Installing configuration"
$etc_sudo cp $temp_dir/ipsec.conf $etc_dir/ipsec.conf
$etc_sudo cp $temp_dir/ipsec.secrets $etc_dir/ipsec.secrets
$etc_sudo cp $temp_dir/server.crt $etc_dir/ipsec.d/ocspcerts/server.crt

# Start the ipsec service
echo "Starting ipsec"
sudo ipsec start

# We're sleeping between commands, mostly since Mac OS seems to have some problems otherwise
sleep 1

# Output some helpful status to the log
echo "Status ipsec"
sudo ipsec statusall

sleep 1

# Switch out myconnection with the name of your connection in ipsec.conf
echo "Initiating VPN connection"
sudo ipsec up myconnection

sleep 1

case "$OSTYPE" in
  linux*)
    ;;
  darwin*)
    # In Mac OS El Capitan, the `sudo ipsec up` command consistently fails the first time, but succeeds after a restart of the ipsec service
    echo "Restarting ipsec"
    sudo ipsec restart

    sleep 1

    echo "Initiating VPN connection"
    sudo ipsec up myconnection

    sleep 1

    # This step might apply if you are routing all traffic trough the IPsec connection (that is, if your remote IP range is 0.0.0.0/0)
    # Mac OS El Capitan seems to have problems getting the DNS configuration from the Strongswan interface. Also IPv6 sometimes causes issues. So we're manually turning off IPv6 and forcing a new DNS configuration.
    echo "Disabling IPv6 and forcing DNS settings"
    # Fetch main interface
    main_interface=$(networksetup -listnetworkserviceorder | awk -F'\\) ' '/\(1\)/ {print $2}')
    # Completely disable IPv6
    sudo networksetup -setv6off "$main_interface"
    # Switch 10.0.0.1 with your DNS server
    sudo networksetup -setdnsservers "$main_interface" 10.0.0.1
    ;;
  *) ;;
esac

# Your VPN connection should be up and running. Any following steps of your Bitrise workflow can access devices over your VPN connection 🎉
         

You can use the Cisco VPN connect Step: it connects with Cisco VPN provided by VPN3000 Concentrator, Juniper/Netscreen, IOS and PIX using vpnc.

For more information on setting up vpnc, check the vpnc homepage and the vpnc manual.