Was not working while connected to my VPS' VPN


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I have a secure VPN server set up that gives me secure access to my server's internal services, so I configured it to let my whole internet go through there just because I have unlimited bandwidth and it adds a measure of security. The problem is yesterday when I was setting this BTSync all up, it was not working. Nothing I did seemed to sync anything until I disconnected from the VPN and then magically everything started syncing.

This really should be looked at. The technology I am using is OpenVPN

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I don't think you quite understand what a VPN does for security, having a VPN isn't secure, it's how you use it. Technically, any data coming out of the end point is still just as insecure as data going into the in point, if not less so (Due to being a random company who gets all your data). The only time a VPN would be more secure would be if you're at a location where you trust a random company who owns the outpoint more than you trust your in point (E.G. a public location).

Anyway, does your VPN send incoming packets (E.G. non-related packets) to you? If so, you're probably ruining your security even more than you would if you were behind a nat (E.G. from your local in point), if not, that's probably the reason why.

Try sending some UDP packets too and fro the server you're syncing to when on your VPN, post the results.

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When you have an ISP like mine who like to spy on its customers... It is more secure to exit on to the internet from somewhere else. I know how VPN's work I am PC technician. I have the ports forwarded through an SSH tunnel. I have had some software act weird when I am behind the VPN, which is why I mentioned it here while this thing is still in development.

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When you have an ISP like mine who like to spy on its customers... It is more secure to exit on to the internet from somewhere else. I know how VPN's work I am PC technician. I have the ports forwarded through an SSH tunnel. I have had some software act weird when I am behind the VPN, which is why I mentioned it here while this thing is still in development.

1. May I ask what country & ISP you use? Also, how you can be sure they spy on you? Majority of companies they're breaking the law, depending on how much they spy on you.

2. You didn't supply what I ask

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I am on virgin media in the UK. Apparently they gather all kinds of info about what people are doing, so since I have a VPN for the purposes of securely access my server's internal resources I expanded it to include all my internet because I can.

As for sending UDP packets my VPN is based on UDP, aside from that and this BTSync I have nothing else utilizing UDP.

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Without a service that uses UDP that I can send over the VPN I cannot do that... I already said aside from the VPN and BTSync I have nothing that uses UDP...

And I've already stated that I'm not asking you if anything else using UDP (Although, because nothing does, you'd have no idea if UDP works or not).

As for a service, I thought a computer technician would know this stuff, run:-

nc -ul 7654

On one computer, then run (use the VPN's IP, not the real IP for the machine on the VPN):-

echo "Hi" | nc -u $otherComputersIP 7654

On the other. Post what the first one outputs, then, do the exact same test but which each computer's roles reversed.

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Pushing the arrogance aside...

'nc' is standard on Linux but here is a binary for Windows: http://joncraton.org/blog/46/netcat-for-windows

Now after you download that and unzip on both your Windows computers, you should be able to run those 'nc' commands to perform your test.

nc -ul 7654

echo "Hi" | nc -u xx.xx.xx.xx 7654

where xx.xx.xx.xx is the IP of course.

nc -h gives you help, explaining these options referenced:

-l listen mode, for inbound connects

-u UDP mode

Of course, unless you put that 'nc' command in your path, you have to first navigate to that path.

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Because you're routing the traffic through a VPN it's possible that the firewall on the VPS is blocking the ports necessary for communication. You shouldn't immediately blame the service before you know what the issue is... Remove the VPS, and test it on your open, un-proxified network first; then make assumptions as to the issue if it still doesn't work.

Also you should NEVER assume that you know what an issue is, especially because of your profession. That's ignorant and makes you look ignorant. Besides, you repair PCs, you're not a network administrator.

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Did I not say a couple of posts ago "No idea why the sync was not working via the VPN though." ? I have no idea what the problem is and the only ignorance is in your post, towards me. I am posting on here to investigate why it isn't working. My god. Do you not know how to be polite? I am a PC technician, I have to deal with networks as well obviously but I have already stated on this thread that I am new to linux and this VPN I have set up is on a remote linux server so it is not the same as me just dealing with two local windows PC's. I swear sometimes due to this thread I feel this forum is full of ignorance infused people who just come on here to rant at people who are asking questions rather than just be polite and either help or don't.

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As a first step can you please check if BTSync is able to send and receive UDP packets via your VPN channel? If you have any shared folder, BTSync should send UDP packets to tracker and it should be able to receive reply. If you enable debug log, it should be visible there. Also you can just monitor BTSync port with some network analyzer (Wireshark for Windows).

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It appears to be communicating. It seems an intimitant issue because yesterday when I added one of my files to a shared folder it did nothing, no attempt to transfer the file. When I disconnected from the VPN it started to transfer. Not sure what is going on. Right this moment I put a file into the folder that sync's with my linux server and that transfers regardless of being connected to the VPN or not. However that may be due to when I am not connected to the VPN it works normally through straight internet and when I am connected to my VPS I am technically on a lan and it can then communicate with my SERVER but not with everyone else who is synced in. I think that is what is actually happening. It always can transfer to the server but not to external people.

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You need to make sure btsync is able to communicate with Internet using UDP, not just your Linux VPS where you run VPN. You may try to analyze network traffic to port 3000 (which is our tracker port). btsync on your Windows machine should send and receive UDP packets to/from this port.

BTW how do you route your Internet traffic through VPS? Do you run NAT or proxy on VPS? btsync does not support proxy.

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