用 Google Cloud Platform 搭建內網穿透伺服器 ( Frp Server )

Solving the Problem

A previous article introduced how to use a free Frps reverse proxy server to expose an internal network website. However, because the free service is very unstable, my blog and demo sites often went down. Later, a netizen recommended Google's 90-day free trial, which includes a $300 credit. This article will show you how to set up your own NAT traversal server (FRPS) using GCP (Google Cloud).

Log in to the GCP console > VM instances

GCP Compute Engine VM instances with Create instance button

Select Taiwan as the region and Ubuntu as the operating system. Since I only need a reverse proxy and don't require complex computations, I'll choose the f1-micro instance. The estimated monthly cost is only about 15X NTD, which is quite affordable.

Google Cloud Platform VM creation UI, f1-micro instance, $5.6

GCP console external IP address dropdown menu to reserve static IP

Google Cloud dialog to reserve static IP for frp-server

Go back to VM instances and open an SSH connection to the newly created instance.

Google Cloud VM instances page with SSH connection options

A browser-based SSH session will open. Enter the following Linux commands in order.

Update the system

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

FRP is written in Go. Most Linux distributions come with Go pre-installed, but if yours doesn't, you can run the following command first:

sudo apt-get install bison ed gawk gcc libc6-dev make golang-go vim

Next, you need to go to the FRP GitHub repository to find the latest version of frps and download it.

wget https://github.com/fatedier/frp/releases/download/v0.62.1/frp_0.62.1_linux_amd64.tar.gz

Unzip the file and rename the folder to frp.

tar -zxvf frp_0.62.1_linux_amd64.tar.gz
sudo mkdir /var/frps
sudo mv frp_0.62.1_linux_amd64/* /var/frps/
cd /var/frps

Edit the frps configuration file (sudo vim frps.toml).

# frps.toml
bindAddr = "0.0.0.0"
bindPort = 7000
vhostHttpPort = 80
vhostHttpsPort = 443
webServer = { port = 7500, user = "admin", password = "your password", addr="0.0.0.0" }
auth.method = "token"
auth.token = "your token"

Run it.

sudo ./frps -c ./frps.toml

Configure the domain in your DNS host

Frps server logs showing successful startup and multiple proxy creations

First, create a DNS A record to point proxy.markkulab.net to the external IP of the FRPS server. DNS A record form with host 'proxy' and IP '34.80 Next, create a CNAME record. This way, when a visitor accesses blog.markkulab.net, frps will point them to the website mapped by the specified client. CNAME record form for blog pointing to proxy.markkulab.net

CNAME record form with host 'shop' and target 'proxy.markkulab.net

frpc.toml Configuration

serverAddr = "35.223.172.254"
serverPort = 7000
auth.token = "your token"
transport.poolCount = 10000

[[proxies]]
name = "test-tcp"
type = "tcp"
localIP = "127.0.0.1"
localPort = 22
remotePort = 6000

[[proxies]]
name = "ShopCarthttps1"
type = "http"
customDomains = ["www.letgo.com.tw"]
localPort = 8896

[[proxies]]
name = "linebot"
type = "https"
customDomains = ["linebot.letgo.com.tw"]
[proxies.plugin]
type = "https2http"
localAddr = "127.0.0.1:48002"
crtPath = "/Public/!.letgo.com.tw/fullchain.crt"
keyPath = "/Public/!.letgo.com.tw/cert.key"
hostHeaderRewrite = "linebot.letgo.com.tw"
requestHeaders.set.x-from-where = "frp"

If you need it to start automatically on reboot, you need to register it as a service.

Add a configuration file in `/lib/systemd/system/`

sudo vim /lib/systemd/system/frps.service

Create the auto-start configuration file.

[Unit]
Description=FRP Server
After=network.target
Wants=network.target

[Service]
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5
ExecStart=/var/frps/frps -c /var/frps/frps.toml

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Start the service

sudo systemctl daemon-reload  // reload service
sudo systemctl stop frps.service //停止 FRP Server 服務
sudo systemctl start frps.service //啟動 FRP Server 服務
sudo systemctl restart frps.service //重啟 FRP Server 服務
sudo systemctl disable frps.service //開機時不要啟動 FRP Server 服務
sudo systemctl enable frps.service //開機時自動啟動 FRP Server 服務
sudo systemctl status frps.service //查看FRP Server 狀態

Test if the firewall is disabled

Test if the firewall is disabled on Windows.

telnet 35.223.172.254  7000

Test if the firewall is enabled on Linux.

nc -zv 127.0.0.1 7000

Remember to configure the GCP firewall, otherwise it won't be accessible from the public internet. Go back to the instance details and modify the "Network tags" for the changes to take effect.

GCP firewall rule details for frps, allowing all protocols

Next, find an Ubuntu machine to install frpc

Create a directory

sudo mkdir -p /etc/frp

Download FRP 0.62.1 and unzip it

cd /etc/frp
sudo wget https://github.com/fatedier/frp/releases/download/v0.62.1/frp_0.62.1_linux_amd64.tar.gz
sudo tar -zxvf frp_0.62.1_linux_amd64.tar.gz --strip-components=1

Create the frpc.toml configuration file

sudo vim /etc/frp/frpc.toml

frpc.toml

serverAddr = "your server"
serverPort = 7000
auth.token = "your token"
transport.poolCount = 10000

[[proxies]]
name = "jks"
type = "https"
customDomains = ["jks.letgo.com.tw"]
[proxies.plugin]
type = "https2http"
localAddr = "127.0.0.1:8080"
crtPath = "/var/frpc/letgo/fullchain.crt"
keyPath = "/var/frpc/letgo/cert.key"
hostHeaderRewrite = "jks.letgo.com.tw"
requestHeaders.set.x-from-where = "frp"

Test

/etc/frp/frpc -c /etc/frp/frpc.toml

Set up auto-start on boot

sudo vim /lib/systemd/system/frpc.service

Create the auto-start configuration file

[Unit]
Description=FRP Client
After=network.target
Wants=network.target

[Service]
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5
ExecStart=/etc/frp/frpc -c /etc/frp/frpc.toml

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Start the service

sudo systemctl daemon-reload  // reload service
sudo systemctl stop frpc.service //停止 FRP Server 服務
sudo systemctl start frpc.service //啟動 FRP Server 服務
sudo systemctl restart frpc.service //重啟 FRP Server 服務
sudo systemctl disable frpc.service //開機時不要啟動 FRP Server 服務
sudo systemctl enable frpc.service //開機時自動啟動 FRP Server 服務
sudo systemctl status frpc.service //查看FRP Server 狀態

Finally

In the end, I created the VM in the Taiwan region. I've heard Google's data center is in Chiayi, and the network speed is super fast and very stable. For about 150 NTD per month, you get a reverse proxy and a static IP, which is actually a pretty good deal. Browser displaying an e-commerce website selling dried fruit

Addendum - GCP Free Tier

Free Tier Link

After the free trial period ends, we can still use certain products for free within specified usage limits. For example, the popular Google Compute Engine offers the following free conditions:

Only in the US regions "us-central1", "us-east1", and "us-west1".

1 f1-micro instance per month
30 GB of HDD storage per month
1 GB of network egress per month (from North America to all regions except China and Australia)

Even if you host an f1 instance in Taiwan, the cost is only about 5.6 * 27.82 (USD exchange rate) = ~155 NTD per month. Google Cloud f1-micro instance setup in Taiwan, $5.60 monthly cost