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Exposing Start9 services using socat

This guide describes a process for exposing ports on StartOS v0.3.5.x or earlier. When StartOS v0.3.6 is released, this guide should become obsolete, so proceed only if you're impatient and understand the risks you're taking. I plan to create more guides that will describe how to install and connect to Tailscale so that you can use the exposed ports from any other device in your tailnet, and how to use that Tailscale connection to expose services on the Internet using a VPS.

  1. Create a backup: https://docs.start9.com/0.3.5.x/user-manual/backups/backup-create

  2. SSH to your Start9: https://docs.start9.com/0.3.5.x/user-manual/ssh

  3. Enable the chroot-and-upgrade context

     sudo /usr/lib/startos/scripts/chroot-and-upgrade

    Start9 warning:

    THIS IS NOT A STANDARD DEBIAN SYSTEM
    USING apt COULD CAUSE IRREPARABLE DAMAGE TO YOUR START9 SERVER
    PLEASE TURN BACK NOW!!!

    If you are SURE you know what you are doing, and are willing to accept the DIRE CONSEQUENCES of doing so, you can run the following command to disable this protection:
    sudo rm /usr/local/bin/apt

    Otherwise, what you probably want to do is run:
    sudo /usr/lib/startos/scripts/chroot-and-upgrade
    You can run apt in this context to add packages to your system.
    When you are done with your changes, type "exit" and the device will reboot into a system with the changes applied.
    This is still NOT RECOMMENDED if you don't know what you are doing, but at least isn't guaranteed to break things.

  4. Become root user

     sudo -i

  5. Install socat

     apt install socat

  6. Exit and allow your Start9 to reboot

     exit

  7. SSH to your Start9 again, become root user and create a socat systemd service

     sudo -i
 cat << 'EOF' > /lib/systemd/system/[email protected]

 [Unit]
 Description=socat %i forward
 Wants=podman.service
 After=podman.service

 [Service]
 Type=simple
 Restart=always
 RestartSec=3
 EnvironmentFile=/etc/embassy.socat/%i.conf
 ExecStart=/usr/bin/socat tcp-listen:${EXPOSED_PORT},fork,reuseaddr tcp:${SERVICE_ADDR}:${SERIVCE_PORT}

 [Install]
 WantedBy=multi-user.target
 EOF

  8. Create a directory for socat service environment files

     mkdir -p /etc/embassy.socat/

  9. Create a socat environment file

     cat << 'EOF' > /etc/embassy.socat/btcpayserver.conf
 EXPOSED_PORT=8081
 SERVICE_PORT=80
 SERVICE_ADDR=btcpayserver.embassy
 EOF

    Note: This example exposes BTCPayServer's web interface

  10. Start the socat service

     systemctl start [email protected]

    Note: This example uses the filename, btcpayserver (.conf extension omitted), to start the service
    This works using the %i variable in [email protected] to load the environment file: EnvironmentFile=/etc/embassy.socat/%i.conf

  11. Make sure the socat service is running

     systemctl status [email protected]

    Example output

    Note: Look for Active: active (running) and verify the service, btcpayserver.embassy, and ports, 8081 and 80 are listed in the CGroup: entry

     ● [email protected] - socat btcpayserver forward
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/[email protected]; disabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Mon 2024-05-27 17:06:03 UTC; 2s ago
 Main PID: 2795077 (socat)
     Tasks: 1 (limit: 19004)
     Memory: 888.0K
         CPU: 3ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/system-socat.slice/[email protected]
             └─2795077 /usr/bin/socat tcp-listen:8081,fork,reuseaddr tcp:btcpayserver.embassy:80

 May 27 17:06:03 yawning-jingle systemd[1]: Started [email protected] - socat btcpayserver forward.

  12. Make sure your Start9 is now listening on the specified port

     netstat -plant | grep socat

    Example output

    Note: 0.0.0.0:8081 shows that Start9 is listening on port 8081 using socat process ID 2795077

     tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:8081            0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      2795077/socat

  13. Enable the socat service to start automatically

     systemctl enable [email protected]

  14. Verify the service is now available at your Start9's IP address and the exposed port: http://10.0.0.2:8081

    • Get your Start9's IP address

        ip route | grep default | awk '{print $9}'

  15. Create more services by repeating the previous steps, starting from 9

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