Outline Manager should update (or allow to update) its info on its server IP address change

[evil-shrike]

A use-case:
I installed an Ubuntu server, run Outline sh-script, installed Outline Manager on my desktop and connected to the server. Then I went to drink a coffee and Azure shut down my VM. Ohh I forget to switch off auto-shutdown. Then I realized that and restarted my machine. But it got another IP address. At this time I enabled static IP. Then removed the server registration in Outline Manager and added a new server with the new IP. Fine. But all links that Outline Manager creates still contain the old IP address. They work if I change IP in them but it's cumbersome.

Also It looks strange as I registered that server with the new IP. So it seems that Outline Manager takes IP from its server. But the server seems isn't aware of its IP has changed.

I didn't find any settings for IP in ~/shadowbox/persisted-state.

So first of all a question - how to tell server to update its IP?

Then a suggestion - make the described case more streamlined as changing public IP on cloud VM is typical.

[4044ever]

An automatic server IP change procedure would be great!

This then combined with a client IP change notification!

Then you could put the server on a dynamic (or Amazon elastic) IP and a reboot will give out a new IP. This is a HUGE advantage if Outline will be detected and the IP gets blocked by authorities.

Whenever I have the chance I do all day tests to see if if blockage happens. So far never. But I think it's a question of time. (Lantern was a great App for China, but since about a month a never works)

[what-name]

I actually noticed a problem like this too. In my case, I was creating Outline server after each other right away (testing) and when I added the new server into the Manager, it used the old IP address and not the new server's IP.
Strange. I guess some kind of caching in the Manager.

@4044ever Shadowsocks is really hard to filter out, that's it's soul purpose. They can maybe block your server's IP but then you can create another. The GFW is not easy to defeat but I think SS (and Outline with it) will be around for a while.

[fortuna]

You can specify the public ip you want to use at installation with the SB_PUBLIC_IP env variable. I think this should work:

{ export SB_PUBLIC_IP=<some ip>; wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Jigsaw-Code/outline-server/master/src/server_manager/install_scripts/install_server.sh | bash; }

We set the public ip in the docker run call:

outline-server/src/server_manager/install_scripts/install_server.sh

Lines 261 to 273 in 438528f

	function start_shadowbox() {
	declare -a docker_shadowbox_flags=(
	--name shadowbox --restart=always --net=host
	-v "${STATE_DIR}:${STATE_DIR}"
	-e "SB_STATE_DIR=${STATE_DIR}"
	-e "SB_PUBLIC_IP=${SB_PUBLIC_IP}"
	-e "SB_API_PORT=${SB_API_PORT}"
	-e "SB_API_PREFIX=${SB_API_PREFIX}"
	-e "SB_CERTIFICATE_FILE=${SB_CERTIFICATE_FILE}"
	-e "SB_PRIVATE_KEY_FILE=${SB_PRIVATE_KEY_FILE}"
	-e "SB_METRICS_URL=${SB_METRICS_URL:-}"
	-e "SB_DEFAULT_SERVER_NAME=${SB_DEFAULT_SERVER_NAME:-}"
	)

If the server is already running, watchtower may restart it with the original command. So you need to reinstall the server, or call docker run manually to override the command watchtower will use. The command is complicated, but you may find it with ps u | grep docker

[alphabt]

+1 I need to get a new IP to workaround China's firewall. Having the ability to update Outline Server's IP without generating new keys for the clients would be a great feature!

[DavidLemayian]

Hi. Any update on this? Would be great to have updated IP on access keys in server manager.

[jabradford]

Our ideal usage is building the server for use and when the need is over, simply shut it down. Turning it back on results in a new public IP which currently seems to break its function. It would be great if it could automate through that change but at a minimum, if I could edit my invite with the new IP and re-add the server, that would be acceptable in the mean time.