Setup Guide: qBittorrent Docker Routed Securely Through NordVPN(OpenVPN) on Ubuntu Server - By JosephDaedra

Hello, I am relatively new to all of this, but this is my first “project” I suppose? It may be simple for some, but for me it feels like a big accomplishment and I am extremely happy with how my setup has turned out. If this guide even helps one person in the future I would be very happy. Please let me know if my guide is ever of any assistance to anyone!

My reason for setting this up was to have all of my qBittorrent traffic routed through NordVPN securely on my Ubuntu Server without it affecting my regular traffic such as minecraft or plex servers.

I just use the Gluetun container setup to my Nord VPN Account and then all my other containers I want behind the VPN simply use my “gluetun-nordvpn” container for the network instead of say bridge. That way I can easily add more things behind it, plus if you use Watchtower to keep it all updated, whenever Gluetun updates Watchtower will rebuild all the other containers so you don’t have to manually update them when GLuetun rebuilds.

NordVPN is not ideal for torrenting, because they don’t support port forwarding:
https://support.nordvpn.com/hc/en-us/articles/19483392309649-Does-NordVPN-offer-port-forwarding

No port forwarding means less peers => slower speed, lower chance of finishing

I would recommend a VPN which supports port forwarding, for example: ProtonVPN, PIA, AirVPN,…

There’s docker container which supports specified VPN providers above and also natively supports port forwarding
https://github.com/binhex/arch-qbittorrentvpn

Nord is shit for BitTorrent. Use proton.

use gluetun, much simpler

Why not just use the Binhex-QbittorrentVPN container which has a VPN setup built into it + failsafes that stop the container if the internal VPN is not working properly?

Additionally, you can open ports for proxy clients in your Gluetun container and connect your other devices’ browsers or other software to it. To go even more targeted, Firefox’s official Multi-Account Containers addon supports applying proxies only to specific containers, and you can set websites to always open in a specific container. You can now granularly route traffic on any number of local devices as long as they support proxies, regardless of how many logins your VPN allows you to have, without having to put a blanket VPN at the router level or get into really convoluted routing tables. Gluetun really is just a swiss army knife for VPNs.

Well that was a container I didn’t know I needed setup! Thanks for that tip. 15 minutes and I had it up and running as a VPN/proxy.

I have very good experience with airvpn.

Oh , I didn’t know this I was wondering why my torrents were so slow . Thanks man . Like I said I’m fairly new lol .

OP might be gluetun intolerant, please be considerate of their needs

+1 because I use gluetun. I blocked BitTorrent ports from my router to prevent physical leaks .

Installed gluetun with qBittorrent and connected the gluetun network with qBittorrent.

Of course this is OP’s decision but with the gluetun network you can connect your apps with his network , this is incredibl.

That’s… A project for the weekend! Thanks!

The Multi account container information about it supporting proxies is pure gold!
Not neccessarily just for use with gluetun but in general as a web dev.

Even with gluetun - even if you’re using port forwarding, you should not be on default bittorrent ports. They’re discouraged by most trackers and most VPNs will not allow them. So the settings in your router won’t do much unless you’re forwarding on a static port

qBittorrent docker has one static port 6881as default. But it’s not necessary to change it .

That’s just what the container forwards. The actual port is set inside the application. You don’t have do even open it on your host at all.

The port 6881 is not what you’d ever want to use. Everything I said in my original comment applies.

If you’re trying to use that port, you may not even be connectable on some trackers