Losing my head

[Buggerall 0]

I just signed up yesterday(In US) and I can browse anonymously just fine. No dns leaks according to a few websites. My problem lies in torrents. I have read most, if not all threads on this forum regarding torrents and port forwarding and have yet to get a torrent client to work using what was discussed.

First I tried Vuze. Then uTorrent, since that seems to be the most talked about torrent client on this site. The problem I'm having is like most people I've noticed. My forwarded ports are not working. Whether I use a random one given to me by AirVPN or one I create. Very rarely is the status dot green. Most times it is grey with error "Not reachable on server IP over the external port *****, tcp protocol. Error : 110 - Connection timed out". When it IS green I try the torrent clients but still it says ports are not forwarded.

I've tried logging in to different servers using different combinations of ports in the modes to no avail. I've checked Comodo to let AirVPN and both torrent clients as allowed applications.

I keep seeing in the threads in these forums the same answers about port forwarding but no real solutions unless the people's problems were solved but never mentioned. Send some troubleshooting my way please. I'd like to leave some hair in my already balding scalp heh.

[psychocydd 0]

is your router UPnP compatible? if so then make sure its turned on in your router then goto utorrent. click options and then click connection in the list on the left and tick enable UPnP port mapping also make sure the add windows firewall excemption is ticked.

apply that and see what happens, this works on mine through the vpn.

this is the most basic way of getting it mapped if this does not work then will have to delve a little deeper.

[michigan82 4]

I propose you make primarily a final test. So again choose a port that you forward and then go to vuze -> tools -> NAT/Firewall-Test. Type in your forwarded port and execute the test for both TCP and UDP. See what vuze is going to tell you...

[psychocydd 0]

I propose you make primarily a final test. So again choose a port that you forward and then go to vuze -> tools -> NAT/Firewall-Test. Type in your forwarded port and execute the test for both TCP and UDP. See what vuze is going to tell you...

am surprised anyone uses that bloatware anymore.. its banned at many places because it does not follow protocol properly. they should never have changed it from azureus but thats what ya get when you turn a client from free to making money. just look at latest utorrent and the same thing is happening!!

anyway both ways will work for the ports so use which you prefer

[Buggerall 0]

Thanks for the replies. I did finally get Vuze to work after many MANY different port forward numbers. Sometimes the status dot for the number is green, sometimes grey. I don't think the AirVPN PF page is intuitive. Need an in-client one or something with better/quicker feedback. Think I went through 50+ numbers before one took.

I did do the Nat / Firewall test in Vuze, which I use quite frequently. A few things about that actually. Is it normal for TCP listen port to not work but the UDP port does using the same number? I am downloading right now through Vuze and have green smile. I did have one PF number that worked on both TCP & UDP but then stopped working altogether. As for uTorrent using the same port number as Vuze, the Setup Guide tells me port is not forwarded. Which is why I am not using it.

I have UPnP on in my router but not in the torrent programs because I read on these forums it shouldn't be on. Source If I turn it on UPnP in torrent programs does it risk security?

[psychocydd 0]

security risk? its only between your client and your router no where else so how it can be a security risk baffles me.

i have mine set up and enabled and i get far better speeds when its enabled than disabled..

[worric 12]

It's been said numerous times - don't forward ports both on AirVPN AND your router. It will leave you vulnerable to a certain kind of attack. Disable UPnP completely from within the torrent program and only forward ports through AirVPN.

If you've chosen a port to forward on AirVPN site (both UDP and TCP), configured your torrent client to use that port, and also configured your personal software firewall to allow that port, there should be no problems. Regardless of what the client is telling you.

If you want to be sure, you can head over to https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2 to get their servers to probe the port you chose (click Proceed, scroll down and enter the chosen port in the white box and press "User Specified Custom Port Probe"). If the test says "OPEN!", you're open for unsolicited traffic, which is what you want to be. If it says "Closed", you still have a problem somewhere.

Let me know how it goes.

[Staff 9972]

security risk? its only between your client and your router no where else so how it can be a security risk baffles me.

Hello!

If you forward the same ports on your router and remotely on our servers, an adversary who can monitor your line (just as an example your ISP or those that have the power to force your ISP to do that) has various ways to perform successfully correlation attacks (for example, timing packet sending on the same port to your real IP and to the exit-IP of the VPN server you're connected to) disclosing the service and the protocol that you're using behind the VPN (and in case of p2p, your p2p activity). This is your vulnerability, not an OpenVPN one.

i have mine set up and enabled and i get far better speeds when its enabled than disabled..

This is only possible (in some cases) when your client responds to all of your network interfaces. A client that is instructed to do so directly exposes your real IP address when you do p2p, no need for any correlation attack. Please check the bindings of your client and avoid multiple IP bindings. This is not an OpenVPN vulnerability, it is a vulnerability inside your system which authorizes administrator privileges to an application making it capable to bypass the routing table or directly a vulnerability configured by you in your application. The p2p swarm will see your client as two clients: one with the VPN server exit-IP address and one with your real IP address.

Kind regards

[psychocydd 0]

then i should have read up more :S

[imno007 0]

I just signed up yesterday(In US) and I can browse anonymously just fine. No dns leaks according to a few websites. My problem lies in torrents. I have read most, if not all threads on this forum regarding torrents and port forwarding and have yet to get a torrent client to work using what was discussed.

First I tried Vuze. Then uTorrent, since that seems to be the most talked about torrent client on this site. The problem I'm having is like most people I've noticed. My forwarded ports are not working. Whether I use a random one given to me by AirVPN or one I create. Very rarely is the status dot green. Most times it is grey with error "Not reachable on server IP over the external port *****, tcp protocol. Error : 110 - Connection timed out". When it IS green I try the torrent clients but still it says ports are not forwarded.

I've tried logging in to different servers using different combinations of ports in the modes to no avail. I've checked Comodo to let AirVPN and both torrent clients as allowed applications.

I keep seeing in the threads in these forums the same answers about port forwarding but no real solutions unless the people's problems were solved but never mentioned. Send some troubleshooting my way please. I'd like to leave some hair in my already balding scalp heh.

Okay, thanks for this, because I'm in the same situation, every single port I try to forward through the interface here gives me the message:

Not reachable on server IP over the external port ...., tcp protocol. Error : 110 - Connection timed out

And every one I try to forward as just UDP gives me a already reserved or "Danger!" message. They can't ALL be in use already! Gimme a break

So I'm hoping that if I follow your example and just keep trying one will eventually work.

[Staff 9972]

@imno007

Hello!

Is the listening service (your torrent client in your case) running when the test is performed? Does it listen to the correct port (the same port you have remotely forwarded)?

Kind regards

[imno007 0]

Hello. I wrote a whole long reply here, but after hitting the submit button it magically disappeared - so I'll just say that I did finally manage to get it all working.

Thanks again!

[Staff 9972]

Hello. I wrote a whole long reply here, but after hitting the submit button it magically disappeared - so I'll just say that I did finally manage to get it all working.

Thanks again!

Hello!

Thank you! Just for future reference, could you briefly explain what the problem was at your convenience?

We're going to increase the session lifetime in the forum.

Kind regards

[imno007 0]

Hello. I wrote a whole long reply here, but after hitting the submit button it magically disappeared - so I'll just say that I did finally manage to get it all working.

Thanks again!

Hello!

Thank you! Just for future reference, could you briefly explain what the problem was at your convenience?

We're going to increase the timeout time for post-writing in the forum.

Kind regards

Hello. The problem was arguably just my own stupidity. I was expecting to get a green light when checking the ports without having first input the port numbers into any software (uTorrent, Dc++, etc.). I've forwarded ports via the router before, but never had to use a separate interface like yours with a VPN service before. Even though I'm sure it seems obvious from your standpoint, you might want to put a message on the port forwarding page for noobs like myself, that says basically, "Before checking (testing) your new forwarded port, be sure to manually input the same port number into your uTorrent/hub/P2P client...", something like that.

[Staff 9972]

Hello. I wrote a whole long reply here, but after hitting the submit button it magically disappeared - so I'll just say that I did finally manage to get it all working.

Thanks again!

Hello!

Thank you! Just for future reference, could you briefly explain what the problem was at your convenience?

We're going to increase the timeout time for post-writing in the forum.

Kind regards

Hello. The problem was arguably just my own stupidity. I was expecting to get a green light when checking the ports without having first input the port numbers into any software (uTorrent, Dc++, etc.). I've forwarded ports via the router before, but never had to use a separate interface like yours with a VPN service before. Even though I'm sure it seems obvious from your standpoint, you might want to put a message on the port forwarding page for noobs like myself, that says basically, "Before checking (testing) your new forwarded port, be sure to manually input the same port number into your uTorrent/hub/P2P client...", something like that.

Hello and thank you again!

Just in case someone is interested, we have detailed instructions for port forwarding in the FAQ, including instructions for torrent clients and eMule. FAQ are available at "More"->"Frequently Asked Question" menu, direct link https://airvpn.org/faq

Kind regards

[imno007 0]

Hello. I wrote a whole long reply here, but after hitting the submit button it magically disappeared - so I'll just say that I did finally manage to get it all working.

Thanks again!

Hello!

Thank you! Just for future reference, could you briefly explain what the problem was at your convenience?

We're going to increase the timeout time for post-writing in the forum.

Kind regards

Hello. The problem was arguably just my own stupidity. I was expecting to get a green light when checking the ports without having first input the port numbers into any software (uTorrent, Dc++, etc.). I've forwarded ports via the router before, but never had to use a separate interface like yours with a VPN service before. Even though I'm sure it seems obvious from your standpoint, you might want to put a message on the port forwarding page for noobs like myself, that says basically, "Before checking (testing) your new forwarded port, be sure to manually input the same port number into your uTorrent/hub/P2P client...", something like that.

Hello and thank you again!

Just in case someone is interested, we have detailed instructions for port forwarding in the FAQ, including instructions for torrent clients and eMule. FAQ are available at "More"->"Frequently Asked Question" menu, direct link https://airvpn.org/faq

Kind regards

Hello. Even though you have it there in the FAQ, I would still recommend you put it in plain, simple language on the port-forwarding setup page. That way you won't have to keep recommending people read the FAQ and you won't get nearly as many posts like this one. Because unfortunately it's not even going to occur to a lot of people that they should have to read the FAQ's to get things working. I'm sure a lot of other people are like me, they have used other VPN services and never had to do anything special to get torrents working. The last few VPN's I've used the torrents worked "out of the box" with the service, I didn't have to port forward at all. So while, yes, it's a good idea for people to always go through the FAQ's, you'll be making life easier for yourself if you assume that many won't.

Thanks again!

[Staff 9972]

Hello. Even though you have it there in the FAQ, I would still recommend you put it in plain, simple language on the port-forwarding setup page. That way you won't have to keep recommending people read the FAQ and you won't get nearly as many posts like this one. Because unfortunately it's not even going to occur to a lot of people that they should have to read the FAQ's to get things working. I'm sure a lot of other people are like me, they have used other VPN services and never had to do anything special to get torrents working. The last few VPN's I've used the torrents worked "out of the box" with the service, I didn't have to port forward at all. So while, yes, it's a good idea for people to always go through the FAQ's, you'll be making life easier for yourself if you assume that many won't.

Thanks again!

Hello!

Just a remark: torrent clients work with Air "out of the box". They can run without any port forwarding (as millions of users behind a NAT without port forwarding know well ). Port forwarding is an additional option to improve performance and allow initial seeding, while at the same time maintaining the added security of a shared exit-IP address.

Kind regards

[imno007 0]

Hello. Even though you have it there in the FAQ, I would still recommend you put it in plain, simple language on the port-forwarding setup page. That way you won't have to keep recommending people read the FAQ and you won't get nearly as many posts like this one. Because unfortunately it's not even going to occur to a lot of people that they should have to read the FAQ's to get things working. I'm sure a lot of other people are like me, they have used other VPN services and never had to do anything special to get torrents working. The last few VPN's I've used the torrents worked "out of the box" with the service, I didn't have to port forward at all. So while, yes, it's a good idea for people to always go through the FAQ's, you'll be making life easier for yourself if you assume that many won't.

Thanks again!

Hello!

Just a remark: torrent clients work with Air "out of the box". They can run without any port forwarding (as millions of users behind a NAT without port forwarding know well ). Port forwarding is an additional option to improve performance and allow initial seeding, while at the same time maintaining the added security of a shared exit-IP address.

Kind regards

Hello, I wasn't finding that to be the case, which is why I was going through all this. I didn't do it for the fun of it.

Torrents that I was already downloading or seeding continued to download and seed after connecting to the VPN, but for some reason new torrents would never begin to download if I started them after connecting to the VPN.

Anyway, I'm just glad it's working fine now. Thanks again for all your help

[Staff 9972]

Torrents that I was already downloading or seeding continued to download and seed after connecting to the VPN, but for some reason new torrents would never begin to download if I started them after connecting to the VPN.

Anyway, I'm just glad it's working fine now. Thanks again for all your help

Hello!

Interesting, this looks like a completely different problem. Assuming that you started your torrent client after you connected to the VPN, new torrents work with or without port forwarding (except when you are the initial seed). It may be caused by very many different factors (DHT disabled and private trackers, unconnectable trackers etc.), so that old torrents continued to work because the client had cached at least the IP address of one active peer and peer-exchange was enabled, while new torrents could not start, missing both the DHT and tracker bootstrap.

Kind regards

[SlyFox 10]

I know that UPnP needs to be disabled in utorrent as pointed out in this thread for security reasons. But should UPnP also be disabled on a router that is running client vpn. Also what about a router not running client vpn where th windows PC is running openvpn.