UPDATER_PERIOD only refreshes AFTER the tunnel is ready (chicken-and-egg: can't
connect with stale servers), and gluetun's bundled PIA Sweden list is retired
46.246.x (current is 158.173.x). Add an `update-servers` initContainer running
`gluetun update -providers "private internet access"` into a shared /gluetun
emptyDir the main container reads, so it dials current servers. UPDATER_PERIOD
raised to 720h (docs-compliant) for ongoing in-pod refresh.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <[email protected]>
CORRECTION: the connection failures were gluetun dialing RETIRED PIA IPs (46.246.x
= dead → timeouts, which I mis-read as a network block). A fresh PIA .ovpn connects
from the same host, and PIA's current SE Stockholm servers (158.173.x) are reachable.
Cilium was independently cleared (default-allow, host-fw off, Hubble FORWARDED).
Fix: UPDATER_PERIOD=24h so gluetun fetches PIA's current servers; keep
OPENVPN_MTU/MSSFIX=1350 for the real Cilium-VXLAN 1450 pod MTU (data channel);
PIA default UDP port. Re-enable vpn-egress. Full correction in DECISIONS-LOG.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <[email protected]>
Decisive diagnosis: OpenVPN's outbound init packets are 14 bytes with zero
replies (so MTU was never the blocker), pod UDP egress is healthy (NTP replies),
but TCP 501/443 to PIA IPs time out while Google/Cloudflare are OPEN — across many
PIA servers. This 192.168.2.x WiFi segment blackholes PIA's IP ranges (and
intercepts DNS). Not code-fixable. Reverted the port/MTU red-herring env to PIA
defaults; disabled vpn-egress pending an operator network fix (move to the
unfiltered 192.168.1.x LAN, or unblock PIA on the router). Full trace in
DECISIONS-LOG.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <[email protected]>
Actual root cause (operator-directed layered MTU check): Cilium runs VXLAN
(routing-mode tunnel) so pods get MTU 1450 (1500-50 encap) while node, hypervisor,
and the Google Fiber WAN are all 1500. OpenVPN's ~1500-byte handshake packets
exceed 1450 and are dropped (PMTUD broken). The ports were a red herring.
Fix: OPENVPN_MTU=1350 + OPENVPN_MSSFIX=1350 so encrypted packets (~1402) fit under
1450. Keeps OpenVPN + VXLAN unchanged. Re-enable vpn-egress. Full layered trace
(pod/node/host) in DECISIONS-LOG.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <[email protected]>
Port 53 also got no PIA replies: this network transparently intercepts outbound
:53, so dig works but OpenVPN-over-53 is swallowed. An NTP/123 probe from the host
returned fine, proving arbitrary non-53 UDP works bidirectionally (so it's
port-specific: 1197 conflict + 53 DNS-intercept, not a UDP block). Move to 8080
(community-verified for PIA, non-DNS, non-1197).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <[email protected]>
Wiring the port via "${PIA_OPENVPN_PORT}" made Flux/kustomize emit an unquoted
53 (int) after substitution, which k8s rejects for an env value ("expected
string, got 53"). Same gotcha as the Longhorn numberOfReplicas fix. Hardcode the
quoted string; cluster-var removed with a NOTE explaining why.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <[email protected]>
Operator identified the block: the home network NATs its own OpenVPN server on
WAN:1197, colliding with the cluster's outbound PIA-on-1197 flow (port-specific,
not a general UDP block — UDP/53 worked in tcpdump). PIA accepts OpenVPN on
53/1194/1197/1198/8080/9201; chose 53 (empirically proven to traverse this net).
- cluster-vars: add PIA_OPENVPN_PORT="53"
- gluetun: OPENVPN_ENDPOINT_PORT=${PIA_OPENVPN_PORT}
- re-enable vpn-egress; DECISIONS-LOG resolution noted
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <[email protected]>
Gluetun cannot do PIA over WireGuard (upstream unsupported; live "provider name
is not valid for Wireguard"). Operator approved OpenVPN-UDP and ADR-0013 was
amended in the spec. This aligns the impl:
- platform/kustomization.yaml: re-enable `- vpn-egress` (Phase 3, OpenVPN-UDP)
- gluetun-gateway.yaml: clean stale WireGuard comments (header, image note,
VPN_TYPE/creds comments); config already VPN_TYPE=openvpn
- README.md: PIA-over-OpenVPN, status=enabled, steering iface wg0 -> tun0
- DECISIONS-LOG.md: disk/drive incident (k3s -> NVMe; failing Seagate) + Phase-3
OpenVPN resolution
Stale WireGuard comments inside the operator's encrypted pia-credentials.sops.yaml
header left untouched (editing breaks the SOPS MAC; cosmetic).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <[email protected]>
The deployed v3.40.0 rejected PIA+WireGuard ('private internet access is not valid for
Wireguard'). Verified v3.41.0 accepts the PIA+WireGuard provider/protocol (passes config
validation; ADR-0013's model holds — v3.40.0 was just too old). Bump the pin.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <[email protected]>
gluetun-gateway.yaml referenced ${PIA_REGION}/${CLUSTER_POD_CIDR} but they were never defined
in cluster-vars, and the README didn't say where to set them. Add both to
clusters/base/cluster-vars.yaml (ConfigMap data:, string values, Flux postBuild substitution).
CLUSTER_POD_CIDR is 10.0.0.0/8 (Cilium cluster-pool — pods get 10.x, confirmed live), NOT the
k3s 10.42.0.0/16 I'd assumed. README now names the file + format + per-env override + PF-region note.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <[email protected]>
Per ADR-0013: platform/vpn-egress/ = a single shared Gluetun gateway (PIA over WireGuard,
built-in kill-switch FIREWALL=on, native port forwarding), namespace (non-app, NET_ADMIN +
/dev/net/tun), control-API Service, and a pre-wired (commented) pia-credentials SOPS line.
Defined the PIA secret location (platform/vpn-egress, keys username/password → OPENVPN_USER/
OPENVPN_PASSWORD) and updated the SOPS template accordingly.
NOT wired into platform/kustomization.yaml (Phase 3, author-first) — deploy needs PIA creds +
validation of the egress-steering mechanism (Cilium Egress Gateway → the Gluetun node's wg0;
documented in README with options + a fail-closed rationale, deliberately NOT committed as an
untested CiliumEgressGatewayPolicy). WireGuard chosen (UDP, protocol != TCP); PIA supports it on
all regions and the secret stays username/password.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <[email protected]>
jakman85andClaude Opus 4.8