AirVPN, Eddie, Portmaster and DNS: How to configure

[yeehi 2]

Portmaster is Free Software to help people monitor and configure their network.

https://safing.io/portmaster/  
 
Could AirVPN please create a "How To..." to assist users setting up AirVPN so that it works well with Portmaster?  There seems to be an issue connecting to AirVPN servers due to the DNS settings. Portmaster suggest using OpenVPN as a workaround.

There is a Portmaster page where you can show how well AirVPN works here:
https://docs.safing.io/portmaster/install/status/vpn-compatibility

The DNS guide is here:
https://docs.safing.io/portmaster/guides/dns-configuration

OpenVPN Downloads:

https://openvpn.net/community-downloads/

[OpenSourcerer 1359]

Needed some time to grasp what this is. As far as I understand it, it's a software centralizing network monitoring tools that are already in the OS, at least on Linux, making them more accessible to the user. On Windows, though, it uses a custom kernel space driver. Kind of what I expect, it's Windows, after all, but there's also Sysinternals directly from Microsoft, weird that they don't use this.

For DNS it seems to act as a DNS forwarder as simple as a service/daemon like dnsmasq accepting requests on port 53. Whether this and connection tracking works or not should be tested by the community, so far I don't see any doings for Eddie devs.
Mullvad guides seem to point at setting the DNS server to 127.0.0.1 to make DNS work, so I'll probably suggest the same with Eddie: In Preferences > DNS, add 127.0.0.1 to the DNS servers.

[niecoinny 0]

On 9/5/2021 at 5:29 PM, OpenSourcerer said:

Mullvad guides seem to point at setting the DNS server to 127.0.0.1 to make DNS work, so I'll probably suggest the same with Eddie: In Preferences > DNS, add 127.0.0.1 to the DNS servers.

It fixes the problem. Thanks! You can close this thread.

[OpenSourcerer 1359]

5 hours ago, niecoinny said:

It fixes the problem. Thanks! You can close this thread.

Nice that it's the solution for you. But we're not closing anything unless OP answers.

[niecoinny 0]

After this fix, I still see my internet provider in DNS leak tests. How to make sure, that other DNSes are not leaking? I have Eddie configured to 127.0.0.1 and Portmaster to Quad9 as only DNS server. DNS leak tests show few DNSes, including my ISP DNS.

[niecoinny 0]

I had to uncheck 'Check AirVPN Servers' tickbox in Eddie (in DNS settings page) and check "Ignore System/Network Servers' in Portmaster. Now I don't get my ISP DNS in DNS lekage in tests. Strangely enough I see AirVPN servers in those test, not Portmaster's Quad 9. Still, no private data leaks now.

[VGio 0]

On 8/19/2022 at 1:25 PM, niecoinny said:

I had to uncheck 'Check AirVPN Servers' tickbox in Eddie (in DNS settings page) and check "Ignore System/Network Servers' in Portmaster. Now I don't get my ISP DNS in DNS lekage in tests. Strangely enough I see AirVPN servers in those test, not Portmaster's Quad 9. Still, no private data leaks now.

That means not using the Portmaster listed DNS servers (including filters etc.).

Personally, I have tried all the above but nothing works and there are conflicts between the two. To even get them to work and not blocking my traffic I often have to restart  each one but I never manage to get all the DNS requesst go through Portmaster if Eddie is also running.

Is there any way to tell Eddie (or the daemon) to allow the system to manage the DNS requests (aka not to fiddle with the DNS at all)?

[VGio 0]

On 8/23/2023 at 11:08 AM, VGio said:

That means not using the Portmaster listed DNS servers (including filters etc.).

Personally, I have tried all the above but nothing works and there are conflicts between the two. To even get them to work and not blocking my traffic I often have to restart  each one but I never manage to get all the DNS requesst go through Portmaster if Eddie is also running.

Is there any way to tell Eddie (or the daemon) to allow the system to manage the DNS requests (aka not to fiddle with the DNS at all)?

Update:

I did manage to get them to work together, providing I follow the above tips (thanks to @niecoinny in particular).

For myself I did (not sure it's all relevant):

- Starting with Portmaster service running, initiate Eddie without connecting to any server.
- Eddie Internet Lock set to disabled. Also uncheck the "SETTINGS > Activate Network Lock at Startup"
- Eddie DNS Switch Mode set to disabled.
- Eddie Check Air VPN DNS unchecked.
- Portmaster option "GLOBAL SETTINGS > SECURE DNS > Ignore System/Network Servers" must be on.
- Initiate a connection to a VPN server with Eddie.
- Portmaster may need restarting once the connection to a VPN server with Eddie is initiated. In Linux with Systemd, you can type:

sudo systemctl restart portmaster

After done the above, when checking on the Ipleak.net page, only the configured DNS server on Portmaster appears in the relevant section.

Hope it helps.