Do you experience similar connectivity issues when using a VPN provider for torrenting? I have tried different servers (which allow torrenting), both udp/tcp protocol, and the recommended dns settings, yet it remains quite buggy. Somtimes, it works well and remains stable for a few days or even weeks. But eventuelly it loses connection, although it says it’s still connected. Have any of you encountered the same problems? I am using: DSM 6.2.4-25556 Update 7 and Proton as VPN Provider.
By torrenting do you mean using Download Manager?
My current setup of running qBittorrent in a docker container, and VPN service in another container, gives me stable torrenting via the VPN connection. Also running DSM 6.2
With download station. I think the problem is not the acutally torreting, it’s more the connection to the vpn server which is not stable. Thx, I will take a look into docker container, maybe this is the better solution.
I gave up on DSM’s own VPN client setup, because IIRC first it only supports OpenVPN, and 2nd it tends to quietly disconnect from the VPN server even if keep-alive is enabled.
But if you do want to stick with DSM VPN, I wrote a script before that would help revive the connection even if it gets severed. Maybe this will help you. Let me know if you want to give it a try, so I can see if I still have it somewhere to share with you.
Yes, this is exactly what happens to my connection. If you still have your script around feel free to share it. I will have a look at it since I don’t have any experience with dockers. Thx very much.
My script writing skills are pretty bad. So while this has worked for me, if you are up for it feel free to modify it any way you want.
First save this script somewhere in your home folder (or any folder of your choice). Name it vpn_watchdog.sh:
#!/bin/sh LOGFILE="/volume1/homes/xxxxx/VPN_watchdog.log" CURRENT_IP=`timeout -k 1 -s 0 5 curl icanhazip.com` WATCHTIME=30 ALTERNATE_VPN=1 vpn_restart () { LAST=`ifconfig | grep "tun0"` while [ ! -z "$LAST" ]; do echo $(date)" - tun0 exists, killing vpn client..." >> $LOGFILE synovpnc kill_client sleep 5 LAST=`ifconfig | grep "tun0"` done if [[ $ALTERNATE_VPN -eq 1 ]];then # 2022-07-02 confined to one VPN only for now # ALTERNATE_VPN=2 ALTERNATE_VPN=1 cat >/usr/syno/etc/synovpnclient/vpnc_connecting <<END conf_id=o1663422808 conf_name=Surfshark_HK proto=openvpn END echo $(date)" - Establishing VPN connection..." >> $LOGFILE synovpnc connect --id=o1663422808 elif [[ $ALTERNATE_VPN -eq 2 ]];then # 2022-07-02 confined to one VPN only for now # ALTERNATE_VPN=1 cat >/usr/syno/etc/synovpnclient/vpnc_connecting <<END conf_id=o1642598846 conf_name=Surfshark_TW proto=openvpn END echo $(date)" - Establishing alternate VPN connection..." >> $LOGFILE synovpnc connect --id=o1642598846 fi sleep 20 CONNECTION_TEST=`cat /usr/syno/etc/synovpnclient/vpnc_last_connect | grep server_ip0 | awk -F= 'NF==2 {print $2}'` CURRENT_IP=`timeout -k 1 -s 0 5 curl icanhazip.com` echo $(date)" - Completed command to start VPN. IP used for connection test = "$CONNECTION_TEST", current IP = "$CURRENT_IP >> $LOGFILE } case $1 in start) echo $(date)" - Started, IP used for connection test = "$CONNECTION_TEST", current IP = "$CURRENT_IP >> $LOGFILE while true; do sleep 30 LAST=`ping -I tun0 -c 5 -W 2 -q "$CONNECTION_TEST"` OUTCOME=$? LAST=`echo $LAST | grep "0 received"` if [[ ! -z "$LAST" || $OUTCOME -eq 2 ]];then echo $(date)" - Ping to "$CONNECTION_TEST" via TUN0 failed" >> $LOGFILE vpn_restart fi LAST=`ping -c 5 -W 2 -q "$CONNECTION_TEST"` OUTCOME=$? LAST=`echo $LAST | grep "0 received"` if [[ ! -z "$LAST" || $OUTCOME -eq 2 ]];then echo $(date)" - Ping to "$CONNECTION_TEST" via general connection failed" >> $LOGFILE vpn_restart fi LAST=`ifconfig | grep "tun0"` if [ -z "$LAST" ];then echo $(date)" - TUN0 down" >> $LOGFILE vpn_restart fi done ;; stop) echo $(date)" - Shutting down" >> $LOGFILE pkill -9 -f vpn_watchdog ;; esacYou will then need to change something in the script:
- LOGFILE -> change the ‘xxxxx’ to your home folder
- o1663422808 and Surfshark_HK -> change according to the following instructions (info sourced from https://blog.benoitblanchon.fr/synology-auto-connect-vpn-at-startup/ ):
Quoting the relevant info from this site: The DSM comes with a command line tool to manage the VPN connection. As you’ll see the ergonomy is debatable, but it allows to initiate the connection from the shell. This tool is synovpnc, but before we can use it, we need the following file: /usr/syno/etc/synovpnclient/vpnc_connecting This is a temporary file that lives only a few seconds after you click “Connect” in the VPN configuration GUI. Your mission is to click on “Connect” and cat this file so you can see the configuration. It should be something among those lines: conf_id=o1481981647 conf_name=MyVpnConnection proto=openvpn The conf_id and conf_name is what we are after.
Once found, just change o1663422808 and Surfshark_HK with the names you found following the above instructions.
(Edit: Note - there are multiple occurrences of o1663422808 (and possibly Surfshark_HK) in the script, so change all occurrences) Now that we have created the script, 2 additional steps are needed:
- Uncheck the ‘Reconnect when the VPN connection is lost’ checkbox. This script takes over the monitoring / restarting.
- We need a way to run the script at system startup. Either you can figure out how to utilize ‘task scheduler’ to do this, or do what I did:
cd to /usr/local/etc/rc.d , then create a ‘startup.sh’ with the following content:
#!/bin/sh # Start everything up in background. # My experience shows Synology may start these process one by one, and only if one has finished will it start the next one. # So for script with forever loops, it potentially will block other scripts from running # Therefore I need to use one single script to start other scripts in the background. case $1 in start) /bin/sh /volume1/homes/xxxxx/vpn_watchdog.sh stop /bin/sh /volume1/homes/xxxxx/vpn_watchdog.sh start & ;; stop) /bin/sh /volume1/homes/xxxxx/vpn_watchdog.sh stop & ;; esacAgain, change xxxxx with your home folder (or whatever folder you placed the watchdog script in).
Also, remember to ‘chmod +x’ the scripts so they become executable.
That’s all I can think of. Good luck !
Thx very much, will have a look at it on the weekend ;)
Ok once I get home tonight I will search for it. It worked pretty well actually but eventually I made the switch to docker VPN anyway because of Wireguard support.
My script writing skills are pretty bad. So while this has worked for me, if you are up for it feel free to modify it any way you want.
First save this script somewhere in your home folder (or any folder of your choice). Name it vpn_watchdog.sh:
#!/bin/sh LOGFILE="/volume1/homes/xxxxx/VPN_watchdog.log" CURRENT_IP=`timeout -k 1 -s 0 5 curl icanhazip.com` WATCHTIME=30 ALTERNATE_VPN=1 vpn_restart () { LAST=`ifconfig | grep "tun0"` while [ ! -z "$LAST" ]; do echo $(date)" - tun0 exists, killing vpn client..." >> $LOGFILE synovpnc kill_client sleep 5 LAST=`ifconfig | grep "tun0"` done if [[ $ALTERNATE_VPN -eq 1 ]];then # 2022-07-02 confined to one VPN only for now # ALTERNATE_VPN=2 ALTERNATE_VPN=1 cat >/usr/syno/etc/synovpnclient/vpnc_connecting <<END conf_id=o1663422808 conf_name=Surfshark_HK proto=openvpn END echo $(date)" - Establishing VPN connection..." >> $LOGFILE synovpnc connect --id=o1663422808 elif [[ $ALTERNATE_VPN -eq 2 ]];then # 2022-07-02 confined to one VPN only for now # ALTERNATE_VPN=1 cat >/usr/syno/etc/synovpnclient/vpnc_connecting <<END conf_id=o1642598846 conf_name=Surfshark_TW proto=openvpn END echo $(date)" - Establishing alternate VPN connection..." >> $LOGFILE synovpnc connect --id=o1642598846 fi sleep 20 CONNECTION_TEST=`cat /usr/syno/etc/synovpnclient/vpnc_last_connect | grep server_ip0 | awk -F= 'NF==2 {print $2}'` CURRENT_IP=`timeout -k 1 -s 0 5 curl icanhazip.com` echo $(date)" - Completed command to start VPN. IP used for connection test = "$CONNECTION_TEST", current IP = "$CURRENT_IP >> $LOGFILE } case $1 in start) echo $(date)" - Started, IP used for connection test = "$CONNECTION_TEST", current IP = "$CURRENT_IP >> $LOGFILE while true; do sleep 30 LAST=`ping -I tun0 -c 5 -W 2 -q "$CONNECTION_TEST"` OUTCOME=$? LAST=`echo $LAST | grep "0 received"` if [[ ! -z "$LAST" || $OUTCOME -eq 2 ]];then echo $(date)" - Ping to "$CONNECTION_TEST" via TUN0 failed" >> $LOGFILE vpn_restart fi LAST=`ping -c 5 -W 2 -q "$CONNECTION_TEST"` OUTCOME=$? LAST=`echo $LAST | grep "0 received"` if [[ ! -z "$LAST" || $OUTCOME -eq 2 ]];then echo $(date)" - Ping to "$CONNECTION_TEST" via general connection failed" >> $LOGFILE vpn_restart fi LAST=`ifconfig | grep "tun0"` if [ -z "$LAST" ];then echo $(date)" - TUN0 down" >> $LOGFILE vpn_restart fi done ;; stop) echo $(date)" - Shutting down" >> $LOGFILE pkill -9 -f vpn_watchdog ;; esacYou will then need to change something in the script:
- LOGFILE -> change the ‘xxxxx’ to your home folder
- o1663422808 and Surfshark_HK -> change according to the following instructions (info sourced from https://blog.benoitblanchon.fr/synology-auto-connect-vpn-at-startup/ ):
Quoting the relevant info from this site: The DSM comes with a command line tool to manage the VPN connection. As you’ll see the ergonomy is debatable, but it allows to initiate the connection from the shell. This tool is synovpnc, but before we can use it, we need the following file: /usr/syno/etc/synovpnclient/vpnc_connecting This is a temporary file that lives only a few seconds after you click “Connect” in the VPN configuration GUI. Your mission is to click on “Connect” and cat this file so you can see the configuration. It should be something among those lines: conf_id=o1481981647 conf_name=MyVpnConnection proto=openvpn The conf_id and conf_name is what we are after.
Once found, just change o1663422808 and Surfshark_HK with the names you found following the above instructions.
(Edit: Note - there are multiple occurrences of o1663422808 (and possibly Surfshark_HK) in the script, so change all occurrences) Now that we have created the script, 2 additional steps are needed:
- Uncheck the ‘Reconnect when the VPN connection is lost’ checkbox. This script takes over the monitoring / restarting.
- We need a way to run the script at system startup. Either you can figure out how to utilize ‘task scheduler’ to do this, or do what I did:
cd to /usr/local/etc/rc.d , then create a ‘startup.sh’ with the following content:
#!/bin/sh # Start everything up in background. # My experience shows Synology may start these process one by one, and only if one has finished will it start the next one. # So for script with forever loops, it potentially will block other scripts from running # Therefore I need to use one single script to start other scripts in the background. case $1 in start) /bin/sh /volume1/homes/xxxxx/vpn_watchdog.sh stop /bin/sh /volume1/homes/xxxxx/vpn_watchdog.sh start & ;; stop) /bin/sh /volume1/homes/xxxxx/vpn_watchdog.sh stop & ;; esacAgain, change xxxxx with your home folder (or whatever folder you placed the watchdog script in).
Also, remember to ‘chmod +x’ the scripts so they become executable.
That’s all I can think of. Good luck !