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How To Create Your Own VPN (and why)
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How To Create Your Own VPN (and why)

Thanked by 1SLMob

Comments

  • The Angristan script used in the video currently doesn't work with Ubuntu 22.04, but Nyr and PiVPN work.

  • You're better using @Nyr's script, anyway. https://github.com/Nyr/wireguard-install

    Thanked by 2Ympker skorous
  • ArkasArkas Moderator

    @JeDaYoshi said: You're better using @Nyr's script, anyway. https://github.com/Nyr/wireguard-install

    Thanks, that's the want I want to use with small tweaks.

  • @JeDaYoshi said:
    You're better using @Nyr's script, anyway. https://github.com/Nyr/wireguard-install

    Just noticed I linked the WireGuard one instead of OpenVPN's, but same thing anyway. https://github.com/Nyr/openvpn-install

  • The only reason I don't do this is to blend in with the crowd of others using the same IP address. If you don't want Google tracking your Youtube history (which they do by IP address among other trackers), that's the best way.

    Thanked by 1Ympker
  • YmpkerYmpker Member
    edited September 2022

    @TimRoo said:
    The only reason I don't do this is to blend in with the crowd of others using the same IP address. If you don't want Google tracking your Youtube history (which they do by IP address among other trackers), that's the best way.

    Similar to that, I prefer to blend in the crowd when I sail the seven seas.

    Another reason is that I use VPNs 90% of the time to unblock regional streaming service restrictions (Flix etc). Since I usually want US content, hosting a VPN server on my router at home doesn't make too much sense and hosting my own VPN on VPS is fun as long as Flix doesn't block the ip (block) from my provider. It's a tedious cat&mouse game with flix, so I honestly just prefer relying on a VPN service to do the job and handle the switching of servers/ips in the background. There's of course also the recurring fees that come with renting a VPS as opposed to a Lifetime VPN. Still, there are enough legitimate reasons to host your own, so don't feel discouraged to do so :)

    Thanked by 1TimRoo
  • @TimRoo said:
    The only reason I don't do this is to blend in with the crowd of others using the same IP address. If you don't want Google tracking your Youtube history (which they do by IP address among other trackers), that's the best way.

    Conversely, one reason to run your own VPN is for when you do want services to always see the same address. For instance VPNing to home to make purchases, so payment processors don't step up the paranoia with CAPCHAs & other tests because you are coming in from an unrecognised address.

  • Own VPN is great, but why all the memes instead of a link?
    BTW, I believe running your own VPN is a little counter-productive.
    Check Mullvad.net for example, and don't run your own infra for a little
    something you can pay for to make it better.

  • tmepytmepy Member
    edited September 2022

    @Arkas said:

    Is this your channel? :joy: I watch it if so

    Nvm, I don't think you would use Vultr

  • @luckypenguin said: I believe running your own VPN is a little counter-productive.

    It depends on what you are using it for. Things I can do with my own VPN hosted on a typical VPS are:

    • Keep my home ISP and others from recording and monetizing my DNS and other activities. (True, it just migrates the issue to the VPN's network.)
    • Allows me to "peek" at a website from an alternative IP address without the website knowing that it is "me".
    • Allows me to watch the home team on streaming services that would normally block it if I were watching from my home ISP IP address.
    • Etc.
  • Avoid ad tracking.

  • Even if the IP is clean in Abuse IPDB, it seems that Cloudflare use the IP type of "Data Center/Web Hosting/Transit" to throw in extra captchas and delays on many sites, and a few sites just reject at cloudflare.

    These days it seems you'd need a residental proxy instead of a VPN.

    Thanked by 1TimRoo
  • raindog308raindog308 Administrator, Veteran

    Last time I used @Nyr 's script it didn't work out of the box with errors about the "block-outside-dns" directive. I removed it and all was fine...should track down if that was a Viscosity client issue or an OpenVPN issue or just a version matching issue.

    Other than that 5-second-to-find-and-fix issue, @Nyr 's script has served me very well for years.

  • ArkasArkas Moderator
    edited September 2022

    @tmepy said: Is this your channel? :joy: I watch it if so

    Not my channel :smile: And if it was, would I really say it :grey_question:

  • Btw @Arkas your pfp looks weird after me getting used to a dolohin :joy:

    Thanked by 1Ympker
  • ArkasArkas Moderator

    @tmepy said: Btw @Arkas your pfp looks weird after me getting used to a dolohin :joy:

    Red Cross saves dolphins and humans too :flushed:

  • At this point you're just posting random youtube videos.

  • NyrNyr Community Contributor, Veteran

    @raindog308 said: Last time I used @Nyr 's script it didn't work out of the box with errors about the "block-outside-dns" directive. I removed it and all was fine...should track down if that was a Viscosity client issue or an OpenVPN issue or just a version matching issue.

    Are you sure it was an error and not a warning? I have just checked and this warning is normal and can be safely ignored. It is required to maintain proper compatibility with other clients:

    Sep 22 7:37:25 PM: WARNING: The block-outside-dns option has been ignored as it is not required under Viscosity's DNS management system. For more information please see the following article: https://www.sparklabs.com/support/kb/article/warning-the-block-outside-dns-option-has-been-ignored/

    Depending on the client there are also two other warnings which can appear about deprecated parameters that can also be safely ignored. They are required to maintain compatibility with legacy clients. Those will disappear in further versions of the script when support for old LTS distros is dropped, but are harmless and preferred to the alternative which is breaking compatibility with distros and clients which are still supported by their authors and maintainers.

    Thanked by 2skorous raindog308
  • @Arkas said:

    @tmepy said: Btw @Arkas your pfp looks weird after me getting used to a dolohin :joy:

    Red Cross saves dolphins and humans too :flushed:

    And here I was, thinking that was meant to symbolise Switzerland's flag lol.

    I liked the dolphin more tbh

  • raindog308raindog308 Administrator, Veteran

    @Nyr said: Are you sure it was an error and not a warning? I have just checked and this warning is normal and can be safely ignored. It is required to maintain proper compatibility with other clients:

    If I have that parameter in client.ovpn, it imports fine into Viscosity but on attempting to connect:

    2022-09-22 12:51:48: Viscosity Mac 1.10.3 (1600)
    2022-09-22 12:51:48: Viscosity OpenVPN Engine Started
    2022-09-22 12:51:48: Running on macOS 12.6.0
    2022-09-22 12:51:48: ---------
    2022-09-22 12:51:48: State changed to Connecting
    2022-09-22 12:51:48: Checking reachability status of connection...
    2022-09-22 12:51:48: Connection is reachable. Starting connection attempt.
    2022-09-22 12:51:48: Options error: The command "block-outside-dns" or one of its parameters is invalid for this version of OpenVPN (2.5.7). Please edit the connection, make sure the command is valid, and try again.
    2022-09-22 12:51:48: Full command: block-outside-dns 
    2022-09-22 12:51:49: The OpenVPN subsystem could not be started.
    2022-09-22 12:51:49: State changed to Disconnected (OpenVPN System Failure)
    

    If I remove block-outside-dns, connection works fine. Viscosity 1.10.3 (1600) on the macOS side, which is the latest version. The server:

    # cat /etc/debian_version 
    11.5
    # dpkg -l | grep openvpn
    ii  openvpn                        2.5.1-3                        amd64        virtual private network daemon
    

    I did experiment with turning on "allow unsafe openvpn commands" in viscosity but that did not change the experience.

    Could completely be operator error. On the server side, things are exactly as your script set them up.

  • NyrNyr Community Contributor, Veteran

    @raindog308 said: If I have that parameter in client.ovpn

    Thanks a lot for the report.

    block-outside-dns is a command relevant only to Windows, that is why the generated client configuration files include the following lines:

    ignore-unknown-option block-outside-dns
    block-outside-dns
    

    The first line, tells OpenVPN to ignore errors regarding block-outside-dns if the command in the second line is not recognized (for example, within macOS and Linux). This works fine with the official OpenVPN client.

    So, if you are getting this error with the ignore-unknown-option block-outside-dns line present above the command itself, that is very weird and not working according to the OpenVPN documentation. In that case, I will contact the Viscosity developers to fix this. That said, you can safely remove the block-outside-dns.

    Thanks a lot for the report.

    Thanked by 1raindog308
  • ArkasArkas Moderator

    @Ympker said: And here I was, thinking that was meant to symbolise Switzerland's flag lol.

    I liked the dolphin more tbh

    Back to the Dolphin :blush:

    Thanked by 2Ympker tmepy
  • @Arkas said:

    @Ympker said: And here I was, thinking that was meant to symbolise Switzerland's flag lol.

    I liked the dolphin more tbh

    Back to the Dolphin :blush:

    :smile:

    Thanked by 1Ympker
  • @tmepy said:

    @Arkas said:

    @Ympker said: And here I was, thinking that was meant to symbolise Switzerland's flag lol.

    I liked the dolphin more tbh

    Back to the Dolphin :blush:

    :smile:

    🌊🐬

    Thanked by 1Arkas
  • NyrNyr Community Contributor, Veteran

    @raindog308 said: If I have that parameter in client.ovpn

    Just to provide an update:

    • I contacted the Viscosity developers as this was confirmed to be a bug in their configuration parser. They have already pushed a beta update with the bugfix, which should get into the next stable version.
    • On my side, I have also updated the installer to include a workaround in case this happens somewhere else.

    If someone else finds a problem, I always appreciate and investigate bug reports, so please do not hesitate and contact me via any of the available channels. The script is used by a lot of people and I feel a bit of responsibility in keeping it well maintained. Just today, I got emails from multiple users in Iran and considering what is going on there and in many other places, it feels good to keep maintaining a project like this.

  • DPDP Administrator, The Domain Guy

    Viva la Nyr (and his work)!

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