Simple OpenVPN Client Docker Image for Nord VPN

This docker image contains an OpenVPN client for use with Nord VPN credentials. It provides a simple way to set up a VPN tunnel for use by other containers, for example, to run a a Selenium client so that it can simulate requests from a remote locations.

It automatically selects a server using the recommendation from this page: https://nordvpn.com/servers/.

By default it uses a host in the US, but this can be altered by passing a different country code in the NVPN_COUNTRY_CODE environment variable. Alternatively the host can be forced using NVPN_HOST.

UDP is the default protocol, but TCP can also be used by setting NVPN_PORT_TYPE to TCP.

The VPN configuration means that all non-local traffic is routed through the tunnel. If you expose ports that you want to be accessible to other hosts on the local network you'll need to define them in LOCAL_NETWORKS. The value should be a semi-colon delimited list of networks i.e. LOCAL_NETWORKS=192.168.0.0/16 or LOCAL_NETWORKS=192.168.1.0/24;172.16.0.0/16;192.168.10.0/24.

Standalone Usage

Replace the OVPN_USERNAME and OVPN_PASSWORD values in the commands below with your credentials supplied by Nord VPN.

Basic usage (US server):

docker run -it --cap-add=NET_ADMIN -e OVPN_USERNAME=... -e OVPN_PASSWORD=... noelsmith/nvpn-client

Basic usage (UK server):

docker run -it --cap-add=NET_ADMIN -e OVPN_USERNAME=... -e OVPN_PASSWORD=... -e NVPN_COUNTRY_CODE=227 noelsmith/nvpn-client

Specific server:

docker run -it --cap-add=NET_ADMIN -e OVPN_USERNAME=... -e OVPN_PASSWORD=... -e NVPN_HOST=us2739.nordvpn.com noelsmith/nvpn-client

Over TCP:

docker run -it --cap-add=NET_ADMIN -e OVPN_USERNAME=... -e OVPN_PASSWORD=.... -e NVPN_PORT_TYPE=TCP noelsmith/nvpn-client

You can verify it's working correctly you can exec into the container and use curl to check it's IP details:

$ docker run -d --cap-add=NET_ADMIN --name nvpnc -e OVPN_USERNAME=... -e OVPN_PASSWORD=... noelsmith/nvpn-client
$ docker exec -it nvpnc bash
bash-4.4# curl ipinfo.io
{
  "ip": "185.217.69.149",
  "city": "New York",
  "region": "New York",
  "country": "US",
  "loc": "40.7214,-74.0052",
  "postal": "10013",
  "phone": "212",
  "org": "AS9009 M247 Ltd"
}

With Docker Compose

Usually you'd want to run this alongside one or more other containers that need to make requests over a VPN. To do this you can set up a docker-compose.yml file that provides the VPN as a network for use by other containers.

This example runs a Selenium Chrome browser debug mode (i.e. with a VNC desktop):

version: '3.4'
services:
  nvpn-client:
    image: noelsmith/nvpn-client
    cap_add:
      - NET_ADMIN
    restart: always
    environment:
      - OVPN_USERNAME=...
      - OVPN_PASSWORD=...
      - NVPN_COUNTRY_CODE=228
      - NVPN_PORT_TYPE=UDP
      - LOCAL_NETWORKS=192.168.1.0/24  # Replace with actual network
    ports:
      - "4444:4444"  # Selenium port
      - "5901:5900"  # VNC port

  selenium:
    image: selenium/standalone-chrome-debug
    network_mode: "service:nvpn-client"

Example output using VNC (from a UK-based machine):