ANSWERED Random exit location?

[guppy 10]

Maybe I've gotten it wrong but aren't you supposed to get a random server in the list every time you connect if you created the configuration with "by continents" ?

 

I seem to always connect to the same swedish server ?

[OpenSourcerer 1442]

aren't you supposed to get a random server in the list every time you connect

 

No, you're being connected to the best server according to a test performed every five minutes. This test calculates a value impacted by number of users, current bandwidth, latency, etc.

The highest value designates the best server and connects you there.

[InactiveUser 188]

guppy, I've run into this myself - the config generator has changed recently.
Unless I missed something, you can't get a single .ovpn file anymore that contains multiple server addresses.

The only way to do this now:

• manually pick a selection of servers
• let the config generator spit out individual config files for all the servers you picked
• download the files and extract the relevant "remote $ip $port" lines from all the ovpn files  - for example by using: grep -h 'remote ' *.ovpn
• create a new ovpn file (or simply modify one of the downloaded ones), put in all the "remote 1.2.3.4 443" lines you just extracted
• add the directive remote-random to your ovpn file (else, openvpn would try to connect to the servers in order, not randomly)

There is one major caveat:
A single ovpn file must not contain more than 64 remote addresses, so don't pick more than 64 servers.

Air already has 82 servers in total and currently 50 in Europe alone, so it makes sense for Air to ensure that the Config Generator would not generate invalid ovpn files. On the other hand, the Config Generator could be smarter. Simplified pseudocode example:

if picked_servers <= 64:
    generate_individual_files()
    generate_combined_file()
else:
    generate_individual_files()

    display_warning("You picked more than 64 servers. Pick no more than 64 if you need a multi-server ovpn file")

 

I will suggest this later today by opening a support ticket, unless we get a staff member to comment on this thread first.

[LazyLizard14 11]

That is also what staff told me: have no more than 64 remote server IP's in the file. Each time you connect a server will be randomly chose.

 

@guppy: Another culprit could be using the "resolve hosts" option when you generate a config. If you pick a region instead of a specific server then the config generator will only put the single IP of the "best" server in the config file, at the time you generated the config file. That will have the effect you described above: while you selected a "continent" you keep getting connected to the same server always.

[arebokert 0]

Would it be possible for the admins to implement a feature where you can choose multiple servers in one ovpn file in the generator? Or just make it so you can choose europe and get connected randomly? I mean it's a very useful feature and from what I understand the latter was available earlier but has since been removed.

[zhang888 1066]

Already implemented. Choose Europe in the config generator, or use europe.airvpn.org in your config file.

[arebokert 0]

Already implemented. Choose Europe in the config generator, or use europe.airvpn.org in your config file.

Is it? I got the impression it chooses the server with the best latency, is that not the case?

[zhang888 1066]

Based on current server load would be a more correct way to describe it. Latency is something very individual and cannot be known by anyone A priori.

Since there are many servers and they share the load based on current user demand, it is safe to say that this server will always be pseudo random.

True computer generated randomness is possible if you put all of them in the config file and use the "remote-random" directive.

[arebokert 0]

Yeah I understand that remote-random will do the trick, I've got such a setup right now. What I'm wondering is if a function to combine a list of servers together with remote-random in the config generator would be possible instead of having to manually add all of these servers after downloading all configurations.

[OpenSourcerer 1442]

Would it be possible for the admins to implement a feature where you can choose multiple servers in one ovpn file in the generator? Or just make it so you can choose europe and get connected randomly? I mean it's a very useful feature and from what I understand the latter was available earlier but has since been removed.

 

It has been removed because OpenVPN can only handle 64 (or 128?) servers simultaneously with the remote-random directive. When Air's total server count exceeded this (writing all servers from Earth into remote directives), they found out about it, and instead of coding a simple query they chose the lazy path and removed it completely.

It was a tiny feature which saved so much time... now you're connecting to the best server or do all the work manually. I very much second the reimplementation of this feature.