Max speeds, then complete drop off / severed connection

[nickerman 1]

While torrenting the different recent Debian distros (my go-to connection stress tester), everything runs fantastic.  The download reaches the maximum rate (300 megabits) and sustains for the duration of the download.  Upload is normal as well, but nowhere near the connection max (as there simply aren't enough peers to max this).

The Problem:

Within around two minutes after the sustained max connection, the entire VPN simply stops working.  No web pages load.  All torrents timeout.  The client (I have tried both the latest OpenVPN GUI and Eddie) will refuse to reconnect to any server.  After several minutes, "magic" happens and the VPN will reconnect after I literally walk away and come back.  I can reproduce this every time on a VPN connection through any AirVPN server that maxes my connection (or yields significant bandwidth) with Eddie and OpenVPN GUI.

Here is the relevant log snippet from Eddie after the connection times out:

. 2016.11.26 13:31:53 - OpenVPN > [server] Inactivity timeout (--ping-restart), restarting
. 2016.11.26 13:31:53 - OpenVPN > SIGUSR1[soft,ping-restart] received, process restarting
. 2016.11.26 13:31:53 - OpenVPN > Restart pause, 2 second(s)
! 2016.11.26 13:31:53 - Disconnecting
. 2016.11.26 13:31:53 - Management - Send 'signal SIGTERM'
. 2016.11.26 13:31:53 - OpenVPN > MANAGEMENT: CMD 'signal SIGTERM'
. 2016.11.26 13:31:53 - OpenVPN > MANAGEMENT: Client disconnected
. 2016.11.26 13:31:53 - OpenVPN > Assertion failed at misc.c:779
. 2016.11.26 13:31:53 - OpenVPN > Exiting due to fatal error
. 2016.11.26 13:31:54 - Connection terminated.
I 2016.11.26 13:31:54 - DNS of a network adapter restored to original settings (TAP-Windows Adapter V9)
I 2016.11.26 13:31:54 - DNS of a network adapter restored to original settings (Intel® Ethernet Connection (2) I219-V)

Here is the log upon a reconnect attempt to the same server immediately after the error above:

! 2016.11.26 13:33:31 - Connecting to Ancha (Netherlands, Alblasserdam)
. 2016.11.26 13:33:31 - OpenVPN > OpenVPN 2.3.8 x86_64-w64-mingw32 [sSL (OpenSSL)] [LZO] [iPv6] built on Aug 13 2015
. 2016.11.26 13:33:31 - OpenVPN > library versions: OpenSSL 1.0.2d 9 Jul 2015, LZO 2.08
. 2016.11.26 13:33:31 - OpenVPN > MANAGEMENT: TCP Socket listening on [AF_INET]127.0.0.1:3100
. 2016.11.26 13:33:31 - OpenVPN > Control Channel Authentication: tls-auth using INLINE static key file
. 2016.11.26 13:33:31 - OpenVPN > Outgoing Control Channel Authentication: Using 160 bit message hash 'SHA1' for HMAC authentication
. 2016.11.26 13:33:31 - OpenVPN > Incoming Control Channel Authentication: Using 160 bit message hash 'SHA1' for HMAC authentication
. 2016.11.26 13:33:31 - OpenVPN > Socket Buffers: R=[65536->131072] S=[65536->131072]
. 2016.11.26 13:33:31 - OpenVPN > UDPv4 link local: [undef]
. 2016.11.26 13:33:31 - OpenVPN > UDPv4 link remote: [AF_INET]213.152.162.164:443
. 2016.11.26 13:34:03 - OpenVPN > [uNDEF] Inactivity timeout (--ping-exit), exiting
. 2016.11.26 13:34:03 - OpenVPN > SIGTERM received, sending exit notification to peer
. 2016.11.26 13:34:08 - OpenVPN > SIGTERM[soft,exit-with-notification] received, process exiting
! 2016.11.26 13:34:08 - Disconnecting
. 2016.11.26 13:34:08 - Connection terminated.
I 2016.11.26 13:34:08 - IPv6 restored.
! 2016.11.26 13:34:08 - Session terminated.

Background:

I use an up-to-date Windows 10, the latest version of both Eddie and OpenVPN, and have tried multiple versions of the TAP driver (see below).

What I have tried:

1. Both TAP versions 9.21.2 and 9.9.2_3 (per the recommendations here - https://airvpn.org/topic/16573-tap-driver-9210-causing-a-myriad-of-issues/)
2. Setting "Media Status" to "Always Connected" in TAP settings in Device Manager (per https://airvpn.org/topic/16573-tap-driver-9210-causing-a-myriad-of-issues/page-3?do=findComment&comment=45781)
3. Reducing the max connections in the torrent client to 50 (was 100 before). (per recommendation in this thread below).

Thanks in advance for any help / tips / suggestions you can provide.  This is a very annoying issue, at it prevents full utilization of the VPN service.

Edited ... by nickerman

[zhang888 1066]

Change the max number of connections in your Torrent client from unlimited to something more usable, like 50.

[nickerman 1]

Thanks for the tip.  Unfortunately, I decreased it from 100 to 50 and the same problem persists as outlined in the original post.  As the download progressed, the maximum number of connected peers only reached around 40 anyhow.

[LZ1 672]

Hello!

 

What a fantastic opening post! Spoilers, detail, everything! It really is almost Christmas!!

 

Have you tried:

 

1. Setting the Media Status to Application Controlled (Yeh, it works sometimes, but only after setting it back to this lol).
2. The Experimental client (Wasn't clear if you included this, when you said latest client)
3. Making sure no third party security software is blocking anything.
4. Different protocols.
5. Forwarding ports. (Just getting this checked off)

Which torrent client are you using?

[nickerman 1]

Thanks for the support, LZ1.  Sorry for the delayed response.

 

I did indeed try all of your suggestions to no avail.  However, upon updating the OpenVPN client to OpenVPN 2.4 RC1, the problem is resolved.  I'm not sure what exactly was fixed to be honest, but after pulling my hair out trying every single config/tweak/etc... on my end, it seems it was actually an issue with OpenVPN itself.  Things can run at max speed all day long (well, for the duration of whatever file is being downloaded) without any hiccups now.

 

Thanks again for your suggestions, though!