Custom random server config generator

[benfitita 39]

`remote-random` config generator allows you to have one .ovpn profile that can connect to a random server in one/multiple countries. This way you can choose closest/fastest countries/locations without selecting whole big country or continent. You can select one/multiple countries/locations, max bandwidth 100/1000, entry IP version 4/6 and option 1-4.
Latest version: https://ellie-app.com/s43Ks99g5Mqa1

Changelog:
2024-08-24
https://ellie-app.com/s43Ks99g5Mqa1
Parse server health. Display it when not "ok".

2024-04-29
https://ellie-app.com/qZ2dy7ftG74a1
Change default bandwidth to 2000.
Slightly improve UI: spacing and entry IP labels.

2020-03-14
https://ellie-app.com/8jfYjngsLk3a1
Parse bw_max server info field as an integer.

2019-07-13
Add server location selector (usually it’s a city).
Terminate `remote` lines with a semicolon.
Add a comment with server country, location and name.

2019-01-15
First release.

Original post:
As a user, when I want to switch countries often and I'm located in Europe, isn't often good enough to just choose Europe in Config Generator, because most of the time it resolves to Swedish servers which are often slow due to routing issues. It'd be useful if users could pick countries one by one into a single .ovpn profile with `remote-random` directive. This way first OpenVPN randomly chooses one of the countries and then AirVPN DNS returns the best server from that country. It's similar to how plain Europe works, only that we get to choose which countries we want.

[zhang888 1066]

Already possible for quite some time.

Make sure to tick the "Advanced Mode" checkbox, select the countries you wish, and add "remote-random" in the "Custom directives:" section.

[benfitita 39]

I think we might misunderstood each other a bit. While I agree it's possible to include `remote-random` in generated .ovpn files, it doesn't seem possible to get one file with multiple `remote` entries. I've tried your suggestion, but if I select multiple countries and put `remote-random` in "Custom directives", then I'm still getting a separate .ovpn file for each country.

 

My ideal usage scenario would be this:

1. Select not-yet-existing option "Merge all servers into one config file"

2. Choose some planets/continents/countries/servers. For example Netherlands, Belgium and
Grus (Bulgarian server).

3. Receive a config file with

# ...
remote nl3.vpn.airdns.org 443
remote be3.vpn.airdns.org 443
remote 82.102.23.141 443 # it's a server, so it's always resolved
remote-random
# ...

 

It'd be nice if selecting "Resolved hosts in .ovpn file" in case of selected region would include all servers from a region. Currently it takes one random server only.

[OpenSourcerer 1441]

It'd be nice if selecting "Resolved hosts in .ovpn file" in case of selected region would include all servers from a region. Currently it takes one random server only.

 

Do this yourself with

nslookup/dig/host nl.all.vpn.airdns.org

and replace nl with the country code of your choice. Put them into remote directives, one at a time, finalize with remote-random.

 

There was an option to make it more automatic but when AirVPN launched its 129th server and when someone generated a config with all servers OpenVPN would tell that it could only handle 128 remote directives with remote-random. Something I really don't like is that instead of implementing a simple comparison mechanism which would avoid generating 128 remote directives if it's about to happen... the feature got removed entirely. The coward's way out. I'm still mad, by the way.

[Nietes 2]

I think we might misunderstood each other a bit. While I agree it's possible to include `remote-random` in generated .ovpn files, it doesn't seem possible to get one file with multiple `remote` entries. I've tried your suggestion, but if I select multiple countries and put `remote-random` in "Custom directives", then I'm still getting a separate .ovpn file for each country.

 

My ideal usage scenario would be this:

1. Select not-yet-existing option "Merge all servers into one config file"

2. Choose some planets/continents/countries/servers. For example Netherlands, Belgium and

Grus (Bulgarian server).

3. Receive a config file with

 

 

# ...
remote nl3.vpn.airdns.org 443
remote be3.vpn.airdns.org 443
remote 82.102.23.141 443 # it's a server, so it's always resolved
remote-random
# ...

 

It'd be nice if selecting "Resolved hosts in .ovpn file" in case of selected region would include all servers from a region. Currently it takes one random server only.

If you are successful, you want to show your * .ovpn, I want to switch countries NL and Belgium. I understand nothing of "nslookup / dig / host nl.all.vpn.airdns.org" from giganerd

[OpenSourcerer 1441]

It's something you enter into a terminal/command prompt, depending on your OS.
 

For NL, you can paste the following into your .ovpn:

remote-random
remote 109.202.107.9 443
remote 213.152.161.34 443
remote 213.152.161.73 443
remote 213.152.162.4 443
remote 213.152.161.164 443
remote 213.152.161.100 443
remote 213.152.161.84 443
remote 213.152.162.180 443
remote 213.152.161.39 443
remote 213.152.162.14 443
remote 213.152.162.98 443
remote 213.152.162.148 443
remote 213.152.161.238 443
remote 213.152.161.29 443
remote 213.152.161.148 443
remote 213.152.161.132 443
remote 213.152.162.164 443
remote 109.232.227.132 443
remote 109.232.227.148 443
remote 213.152.161.68 443
remote 213.152.161.233 443
remote 213.152.162.68 443
remote 213.152.161.218 443
remote 213.152.161.137 443
remote 109.232.227.137 443
remote 213.152.162.113 443
remote 213.152.162.103 443
remote 213.152.161.116 443
remote 213.152.161.24 443
remote 213.152.161.248 443
remote 213.152.162.93 443
remote 213.152.161.210 443
remote 109.202.107.146 443
remote 213.152.162.78 443
remote 213.152.162.169 443
remote 213.152.162.9 443
remote 213.152.162.108 443
remote 213.152.161.14 443
remote 213.152.161.19 443
remote 213.152.161.4 443
remote 213.152.162.153 443
remote 213.152.161.180 443
remote 109.202.107.14 443
remote 213.152.162.73 443
remote 109.202.107.19 443
remote 109.202.103.169 443
remote 213.152.161.228 443
remote 213.152.180.4 443
remote 109.202.107.4 443
remote 213.152.161.169 443
remote 213.152.162.88 443
remote 213.152.161.243 443
remote 213.152.162.83 443
remote 213.152.161.9 443

This is for BE:

remote 194.187.251.114 443
remote 91.207.57.114 443
remote 194.187.251.90 443
remote 194.187.251.154 443
remote 194.187.251.162 443

Edited ... by giganerd

[benfitita 39]

Interesting story. It seems the current `remote` limit is 64, at least on FreeBSD/pfSense with OpenVPN 2.4.6.

 

I've made a tool to generate appropriate remote config. Feel free to comment and send suggestions. All code runs in your browser and server list is downloaded from AirVPN status API. It does store your selected options in localStorage.

 

 

https://ellie-app.com/4sGnSW9X2DDa1

[OpenSourcerer 1441]

 

Interesting story. It seems the current `remote` limit is 64, at least on FreeBSD/pfSense with OpenVPN 2.4.6.

 

That's interesting.. thank you for the info.

 

I've made a tool to generate appropriate remote config. Feel free to comment and send suggestions. All code runs in your browser and server list is downloaded from AirVPN status API. It does store your selected options in localStorage.

 

Wow. This works very well! Extremely handy thing. Not sure if a simple thanks will cut it as this is something I'm dearly missing in the config generator.

 

Well, it works on Chromium and I think on a standard Firefox/Waterfox installation but it does not in my normal Waterfox profile which has addons and custom about:config entries. I suspect it's them breaking something, just like they broke sites like Xing for me. On compile I only get "null".

[benfitita 39]

A little update:
- server location selector added (usually it’s a city)
- `remote` lines are terminated with a semicolon
- each `remote` has a comment with server country, location and name

https://ellie-app.com/65hw6mcDCS5a1
 

[benfitita 39]

Parse bw_max server info field as an integer
New version available here:
https://ellie-app.com/8jfYjngsLk3a1

[curhen57 2]

Sorry but when I follow that link, I get nothing but the Ellie logo.
No config generator or anything else.

[benfitita 39]

What browser are you using? Do you use any ad/JS blocker or have JS disabled?

[omgitslurch 0]

Does anyone know if this type of confit would work with the OpenVPN ability in the Merlin ASUSWRT? As would like to use different hosts, but setting it to the country one for the UK recently, always end up on Naos which seem to have packet issues with when on it, so have had to specify a specific host to get around it.

[benfitita 39]

Yes, it should work just fine.

I’m not familiar with Merlin OpenVPN UI. If you are uploading an .ovpn file, just edit it and replace line starting with `remote` with a list of remotes from this tool. However if it isn’t possible to upload .ovpn, then usually there’s a field for custom options. Copy paste the server list with `remote-random` at the end.

There’s no way to exclude specific servers at this point, so you’ll have to delete it manually. Look for the server name in the comments and delete the following `remote` line.

[omgitslurch 0]

Thanks, I managed to get it working, added the entries to an ovpn file and uploading it did seem to confuse the actual UI and didn't work. However it has a field to add custom configuration entries, so pasting the relevant entries in there and applying it worked, and it is picking random servers from testing. 

[6gh54F4 0]

On 3/14/2020 at 9:28 PM, benfitita said:

Parse bw_max server info field as an integer
New version available here:
https://ellie-app.com/8jfYjngsLk3a1

 
I can't seem to make this work with Hummingbird. I add the created server list to my .ovpn profile file but my connection just stops working once I enable via systemd service. 

 

Never mind I am just using the default airvpn created config to randomly select server within a country.

Edited ... by 6gh54F4

[KovaKovi 4]

Hello!

Could someone help me how can i use the ellie stuff? I could manage to generate something: i clicked all european country, and got this in the stat:

"Stats

Total: 243, Selected: 151 (trimmed to 151 servers due to OpenVPN limit)"
Ater this i went to the config generator:
- clicked advanced mode,
- choose UDP 443 with tls-crypt, tls 1.2 as protocol,
- copied everything below the Your remote-random config line to the OpenVPN custom directives in the Advanced OpenVPN only,
- clicked By continents Europe,
- generated the config file.

And in theory i can use the config file. Am i correct?

[OpenSourcerer 1441]

This is just a generator for remote directives. It's meant to replace the one remote directive you find in a generated config. In other words: Generate a config as usual, then replace the remote directive with the output of this app.
If you want all European countries, you don't need this generator. Simply select "Europe" in AirVPN's config generator.

[benfitita 39]

@KovaKovi Almost. Open your .ovpn file and remove the remote line which contains a host rather than an IP address. This line was inserted by the official generator, but you don’t need it.

However if you just want any European server, you don’t need this generator at all, like @OpenSourcerer said. If you select a continent or a country and don’t choose “resolved hosts” option then you’ll connect to a recommended server. If you prefer a random server then change host in your ovpn file from
`europe3.vpn.airdns.org`
to
`europe3.all.vpn.airdns.org`

More info: https://airvpn.org/faq/servers_ip/

[KovaKovi 4]

@OpenSourcerer & @benfitita

Thank you for your reply! I'm gonna stick with your suggestions with the config generator for now.

[amires 10]

It is not working anymore. I am getting errors as follows :
 

AirVPN remote-random config generator
Fatal error!
The Json.Decode.oneOf at json.filters failed in the following 2 ways:



(1) Problem with the value at json.maxBandwidths[0]:
    
        1000
    
    Expecting a STRING



(2) Problem with the given value:
    
    {
            "countries": [
                "Netherlands"
            ],
            "locations": [
                "Alblasserdam",
                "Berlin",
                "Frankfurt",
                "London",
                "Maidenhead",
                "Manchester",
                "Munich"
            ],
            "maxBandwidths": [
                1000,
                10000
            ],
            "ipVersion": 4,
            "entryAddress": 3
        }
    
    Expecting null

Does anyone know how to fix this?

[OpenSourcerer 1441]

4 minutes ago, amires said:

It is not working anymore. I am getting errors as follows :

Cannot reproduce. You're likely running an old version. Try the 8jfYjngsLk3a1 one:

On 3/14/2020 at 12:28 PM, benfitita said:

Parse bw_max server info field as an integer
New version available here:
https://ellie-app.com/8jfYjngsLk3a1

.

[amires 10]

11 hours ago, OpenSourcerer said:

Cannot reproduce. You're likely running an old version. Try the 8jfYjngsLk3a1 one: .

Thanks a lot. The link you provided is working perfectly.

[rx_man123 6]

Any way to incorporate current load at time of connecting?

[OpenSourcerer 1441]

9 hours ago, rx_man123 said:

Any way to incorporate current load at time of connecting?

Not sure what the question is. This is a config generator for OpenVPN --remotes. Server load seems a superfluous metric to take into consideration for such a static config.