Deployment Overview of Outline on Server¶

Prerequisites and Basic Requirements¶

To ensure a successful deployment, the following requirements must be met:

Operating System: Ubuntu (recommended).
Privileges: Root or sudo access is required for package installation and script execution.
Packages: curl must be installed via the system package manager.
Network Requirements:
Outbound access to raw.githubusercontent.com to download the installation script.
Access to Docker registries to pull necessary images.

FQDN of the final panel on the hostkey.in domain¶

The application is configured with a specific domain template for SSL and proxying purposes:

Parameter	Value
Prefix	`OutlineVPN`
Domain	`hostkey.in`
Full template	`OutlineVPN{Server_ID}.hostkey.in`

Application installation process¶

The installation of Outline VPN is performed using a combination of an official installation script and Docker for the proxy layer:

System Preparation: The system package cache is updated, and curl is installed.
Script Acquisition: The official Outline Server installation script is downloaded from GitHub to /root/install_outline.sh.
Core Installation: The installer script /root/install_outline.sh is executed. This process sets up the VPN environment and generates necessary API credentials.
Credential Storage: Upon successful execution of the installer, the resulting API key and connection details are saved to /root/outline_api_key.txt.
Proxy Configuration: A Docker-based Nginx container is deployed to handle SSL termination and proxy traffic to the application via port 8080.

Access Rights and Security¶

Firewall: Ensure that ports required by Outline VPN (as specified during the script execution) are open. The Nginx proxy handles incoming HTTPS traffic on standard web ports.
File Permissions:
The installation script is granted execution permissions (0755).
The API key file /root/outline_api_key.txt is restricted to the root user with 0600 permissions for security.

Docker Containers and Their Deployment¶

The deployment utilizes a Docker container to manage Nginx and SSL certificates via Certbot:

Container Name	Image	Ports / Network	Volumes	Restart Policy
`nginx`	`jonasal/nginx-certbot:latest`	`host` network mode	`- nginx_secrets:/etc/letsencrypt` `- /data/nginx/user_conf.d:/etc/nginx/user_conf.d`	`unless-stopped`

Note: The Nginx container uses the host's network stack and relies on an external volume named nginx_secrets. It is configured to proxy traffic to http://127.0.0.1:8080.

Custom Scripts and Additional Setup¶

The following scripts are used during or after the installation process:

Installation Script: /root/install_outline.sh - Used to initialize the Outline VPN server components.
API Key Generation: The output of the installation script is captured and stored in /root/outline_api_key.txt for administrative access.
Nginx Configuration Management: A configuration file is generated at /root/nginx/compose.yml to manage the proxy service.

Application Update Instructions¶

To update the application, follow these steps:

Core Application: Since the core VPN components are managed by the Outline installation script, you should re-run the installer or follow the specific instructions provided in the outline_api_key.txt file if a version upgrade is required.
Proxy Layer: To update the Nginx proxy container, navigate to /root/nginx and execute:
```
docker compose pull && docker compose up -d
```

Location of configuration files and data¶

Outline API Credentials: /root/outline_api_key.txt
Nginx Compose File: /root/nginx/compose.yml
Nginx User Configurations: /data/nginx/user_conf.d/
SSL Certificates: Managed via the nginx_secrets Docker volume.

Available ports for connection¶

HTTPS (Proxy): Standard port 443 (via Nginx).
Internal Application Port: 8080 (used for internal proxying from Nginx to the application).