Here is a solution, how to do traffic shaping for data rate limiting of individual clients with tc
(traffic control) using a script called by OpenVPN.
The traffic control settings are handled in a script tc.sh
with the following features:
- Called by OpenVPN using directives:
up
, down
, client-connect
and client-disconnect
- All settings are passed via environment variables
- Supports theoretically up to
/16
subnets (up to 65534 clients)
- Filtering using hashing filters for very fast massive filtering
- Filters and classes are set only for clients currently connected, and are individually added and removed without affecting other
tc
settings using unique identifiers (hashtables
, handles
, classids
). These identifiers are generated from the last 16 bits of the client's remote vpn IP
- Individual limiting/throttling of clients based on CN-name (client certificate common name)
- Client settings are stored in files containing their "subscription class" (
bronze
, silver
and gold
), to use other classes simply edit the script and modify as needed.
- "Subscription class" and the corresponding data rate ("bandwidth") can be modified on the fly from external applications while a client is connected.
Configuration
OpenVPN server configuration /etc/openvpn/tc/conf
:
port 1194
proto udp
dev tun
sndbuf 0
rcvbuf 0
ca ca.crt
cert server.crt
key server.key
dh dh.pem
tls-auth ta.key 0
topology subnet
server 10.8.0.0 255.255.0.0
keepalive 10 60
comp-lzo
persist-key
persist-tun
status /var/log/openvpn-tc-status.log
log /var/log/openvpn-tc.log
verb 3
script-security 2
down-pre
up /etc/openvpn/tc/tc.sh
down /etc/openvpn/tc/tc.sh
client-connect /etc/openvpn/tc/tc.sh
client-disconnect /etc/openvpn/tc/tc.sh
push "redirect-gateway def1"
push "dhcp-option DNS 8.8.8.8"
push "dhcp-option DNS 8.8.4.4"
Replace the DNS servers in the last 2 lines with the correct IP addresses.
Traffic control script /etc/openvpn/tc/tc.sh
:
#!/bin/bash
ipdir=/etc/openvpn/tc/ip
dbdir=/etc/openvpn/tc/db
ip="$ifconfig_pool_remote_ip"
cn="$common_name"
ip_local="$ifconfig_local"
debug=0
log=/tmp/tc.log
if [[ "$debug" > 0 ]]; then
exec >>"$log" 2>&1
chmod 666 "$log" 2>/dev/null
if [[ "$debug" > 1 ]]; then
date
id
echo "PATH=$PATH"
[[ "$debug" > 2 ]] && printenv
fi
echo
echo "script_type=$script_type"
echo "dev=$dev"
echo "ip=$ip"
echo "user=$cn"
echo "\$1=$1"
echo "\$2=$2"
echo "\$3=$3"
fi
cut_ip_local() {
if [ -n "$ip_local" ]; then
ip_local_byte1=`echo "$ip_local" | cut -d. -f1`
ip_local_byte2=`echo "$ip_local" | cut -d. -f2`
fi
[[ "$debug" > 0 ]] && echo "ip_local_byte1=$ip_local_byte1"
[[ "$debug" > 0 ]] && echo "ip_local_byte2=$ip_local_byte2"
}
create_identifiers() {
if [ -n "$ip" ]; then
ip_byte3=`echo "$ip" | cut -d. -f3`
handle=`printf "%x\n" "$ip_byte3"`
ip_byte4=`echo "$ip" | cut -d. -f4`
hash=`printf "%x\n" "$ip_byte4"`
classid=`printf "%x\n" $((256*ip_byte3+ip_byte4))`
fi
[[ "$debug" > 0 ]] && echo "ip_byte3=$ip_byte3"
[[ "$debug" > 0 ]] && echo "ip_byte4=$ip_byte4"
[[ "$debug" > 0 ]] && echo "handle=$handle"
[[ "$debug" > 0 ]] && echo "hash=$hash"
}
start_tc() {
[[ "$debug" > 1 ]] && echo "start_tc()"
cut_ip_local
echo "$dev" > "$ipdir"/dev
tc qdisc add dev "$dev" root handle 1: htb
tc qdisc add dev "$dev" handle ffff: ingress
tc filter add dev "$dev" parent 1:0 prio 1 protocol ip u32
tc filter add dev "$dev" parent 1:0 prio 1 handle 2: protocol ip u32 divisor 256
tc filter add dev "$dev" parent 1:0 prio 1 protocol ip u32 ht 800:: \
match ip dst "${ip_local_byte1}"."${ip_local_byte2}".0.0/16 \
hashkey mask 0x000000ff at 16 link 2:
tc filter add dev "$dev" parent ffff:0 prio 1 protocol ip u32
tc filter add dev "$dev" parent ffff:0 prio 1 handle 3: protocol ip u32 divisor 256
tc filter add dev "$dev" parent ffff:0 prio 1 protocol ip u32 ht 800:: \
match ip src "${ip_local_byte1}"."${ip_local_byte2}".0.0/16 \
hashkey mask 0x000000ff at 12 link 3:
}
stop_tc() {
[[ "$debug" > 1 ]] && echo "stop_tc()"
tc qdisc del dev "$dev" root
tc qdisc del dev "$dev" handle ffff: ingress
[ -e "$ipdir"/dev ] && rm "$ipdir"/dev
}
function bwlimit-enable() {
[[ "$debug" > 1 ]] && echo "bwlimit-enable()"
create_identifiers
echo "$ip" > "$ipdir"/"$cn".ip
# Find this user's bandwidth limit
[[ "$debug" > 0 ]] && echo "userdbfile=${dbdir}/${cn}"
user=`cat "${dbdir}/${cn}"`
[[ "$debug" > 0 ]] && echo "subscription=$user"
if [ "$user" == "gold" ]; then
downrate=100mbit
uprate=100mbit
elif [ "$user" == "silver" ]; then
downrate=10mbit
uprate=10mbit
elif [ "$user" == "bronze" ]; then
downrate=1mbit
uprate=1mbit
else
downrate=10kbit
uprate=10kbit
fi
# Limit traffic from VPN server to client
tc class add dev "$dev" parent 1: classid 1:"$classid" htb rate "$downrate"
tc filter add dev "$dev" parent 1:0 protocol ip prio 1 \
handle 2:"${hash}":"${handle}" \
u32 ht 2:"${hash}": match ip dst "$ip"/32 flowid 1:"$classid"
# Limit traffic from client to VPN server
# Maybe better use ifb for ingress? See: https://serverfault.com/a/386791/209089
tc filter add dev "$dev" parent ffff:0 protocol ip prio 1 \
handle 3:"${hash}":"${handle}" \
u32 ht 3:"${hash}": match ip src "$ip"/32 \
police rate "$uprate" burst 80k drop flowid :"$classid"
}
function bwlimit-disable() {
[[ "$debug" > 1 ]] && echo "bwlimit-disable()"
create_identifiers
tc filter del dev "$dev" parent 1:0 protocol ip prio 1 \
handle 2:"${hash}":"${handle}" u32 ht 2:"${hash}":
tc class del dev "$dev" classid 1:"$classid"
tc filter del dev "$dev" parent ffff:0 protocol ip prio 1 \
handle 3:"${hash}":"${handle}" u32 ht 3:"${hash}":
# Remove .ip
[ -e "$ipdir"/"$cn".ip ] && rm "$ipdir"/"$cn".ip
}
case "$script_type" in
up)
start_tc
;;
down)
stop_tc
;;
client-connect)
bwlimit-enable
;;
client-disconnect)
bwlimit-disable
;;
*)
case "$1" in
update)
[ -z "$2" ] && echo "$0 $1: missing argument [client-CN]" >&2 && exit 1
[ ! -e "$ipdir"/"$2".ip ] && \
echo "$0 $1 $2: file $ipdir/$2.ip not found" >&2 && exit 1
[ ! -e "$ipdir"/dev ] && \
echo "$0 $1: file $ipdir/dev not found" >&2 && exit 1
ip=`cat "$ipdir/$2.ip"`
dev=`cat "$ipdir/dev"`
cn="$2"
bwlimit-disable
bwlimit-enable
;;
*)
echo "$0: unknown operation [$1]" >&2
exit 1
;;
esac
;;
esac
exit 0
Make it executable:
chmod +x /etc/openvpn/tc/tc.sh
Subscription database directory /etc/openvpn/tc/db/
:
This directory contains a file per client named after its CN-name containing the "subscription class" string, configure as follows:
mkdir -p /etc/openvpn/tc/db
echo bronze > /etc/openvpn/tc/db/client1
echo silver > /etc/openvpn/tc/db/client2
echo gold > /etc/openvpn/tc/db/client3
IP database directory /etc/openvpn/tc/ip/
:
This directory will contain the CN-name <-> IP-address
relation and the tun interface
during run-time, which has to be provided for an external application updating the tc
settings while clients are connected.
mkdir -p /etc/openvpn/tc/ip
It will look as follows:
root@ubuntu:/etc/openvpn/tc/ip# ls -l
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9 Jun 1 08:31 client1.ip
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9 Jun 1 08:30 client2.ip
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9 Jun 1 08:30 client3.ip
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5 Jun 1 08:25 dev
root@ubuntu:/etc/openvpn/tc/ip# cat *
10.8.0.2
10.8.1.0
10.8.2.123
tun0
Enable IP forwarding:
echo "net.ipv4.ip_forward=1" >> /etc/sysctl.conf
sysctl -p
Configuring NAT (network address translation):
If you have a static external IP address use SNAT
:
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -s 10.8.0.0/16 -o <if> -j SNAT --to <ip>
Or if you have a dynamically assigned IP address use MASQUERADE
(slower):
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -s 10.8.0.0/16 -o <if> -j MASQUERADE
while
<if>
is the name of the external interface (i.e. eth0
)
<ip>
is the IP address of the external interface
Script usage and showing tc configuration
Updating "subscription class" and tc
settings from external application:
While the OpenVPN server is up and the client connected issue the following commands (example to upgrade client1
to "gold"
subscription):
echo gold > /etc/openvpn/tc/db/client1
/etc/openvpn/tc/tc.sh update client1
tc
commands to show the settings:
tc -s qdisc show dev tun0
tc class show dev tun0
tc filter show dev tun0
Additional information
Notes and possible optimizations:
- The script and
tc
settings were only tested using a small number of clients
- Large scale testing with massive simultaneous client traffic has to be done and possibly the
tc
settings have to be optimized
- I do not completely understand how the ingress settings work. They should probably be optimized with the use of
ifb
interface as explained in this answer.
Related documentation for a deeper understanding: