ANSWERED Automatic startup on boot

[Lilboiled 0]

Hello, so I looked around the Eddie Gui to see if there was an option to start the VPN on boot, but I couldn't find anything. I looked in the CLI commands to see if there was something but I couldnt find anything when I glanced around. I found a post on here that is similar to what I want, but at the time it didnt look like there was an official option. I want it to boot on server startup without needing a password because im running it on a server that I dont have good access to so if I need to make changes and reboot I dont want to be messing with it all the time. I'm running Debian as well if that is needed. Thank you in advance

[Staff 9971]

@Lilboiled

Hello!

In any systemd based Linux distribution you can start Eddie as a systemd service during the system bootstrap and have it connect to the VPN (according to your white list of servers, if needed) by enabling the following options:
Preferences > General > Don't ask [for] elevation [at] every run
Preferences > General > Connect at startup

Please note that when you check Don't ask [for] elevation [at] every run a systemd eddie.service will be created and enabled, so you can also control it via systemctl for example.

Side note: if your Linux system is not based on systemd Eddie can't run, so you can consider the AirVPN Suite (AirVPN free and open source software), that is fully integrated not only with systemd, but with SysVStyle-init and chkconfig too and can start and connect during the system bootstrap.

Kind regards
 

[khuffmanjr 0]

On 8/25/2024 at 11:44 AM, Staff said:

@Lilboiled

Hello!

In any systemd based Linux distribution you can start Eddie as a systemd service during the system bootstrap and have it connect to the VPN (according to your white list of servers, if needed) by enabling the following options:
Preferences > General > Don't ask [for] elevation [at] every run
Preferences > General > Connect at startup

Please note that when you check Don't ask [for] elevation [at] every run a systemd eddie.service will be created and enabled, so you can also control it via systemctl for example.

Side note: if your Linux system is not based on systemd Eddie can't run, so you can consider the AirVPN Suite (AirVPN free and open source software), that is fully integrated not only with systemd, but with SysVStyle-init and chkconfig too and can start and connect during the system bootstrap.

Kind regards
 

Is this supposed to use wireguard as well?  When I set the GUI (linux) to use wireguard and connect its very fast, but when I configure startup at boot as you describe the eddie.service unit takes a long time to connect and the speed is dropped right back to crappy again once connected.

For reference, I used bluetit up until now and I like having a systemd unit as a dependcy for other services.  Lately bluetit performance has been awful.  I came in here and read a few comments, like yours, and have now installed eddie-ui and selected the start at boot and elevation options so I can manage with systemctl.

GUI seems great, eddie.service is not.  Thanks!

[Staff 9971]

On 10/26/2024 at 11:32 PM, khuffmanjr said:

For reference, I used bluetit up until now and I like having a systemd unit as a dependcy for other services.  Lately bluetit performance has been awful.

Hello!

Bluetit does not have a bandwidth performance. It uses the WireGuard library for WireGuard connections (only from Suite 2 and higher versions) and the OpenVPN3-AirVPN library for OpenVPN connections. Were you running the Suite 2 beta or 1.3? If you were running 2.0.0 beta, did you experience awful performance both with OpenVPN and WireGuard connections?
 

On 10/26/2024 at 11:32 PM, khuffmanjr said:

On 8/25/2024 at 6:44 PM, Staff said:

 

Is this supposed to use wireguard as well?  When I set the GUI (linux) to use wireguard and connect its very fast, but when I configure startup at boot as you describe the eddie.service unit takes a long time to connect

Well, Eddie (just like Bluetit) does not have much control over it, because it's systemd the one deciding when to start any service according to "dependencies". And it does so in a non-deterministic way, in its typical Windows fashion. Did you also test Eddie 2.24.2 beta? If so, did you notice any improvement or not? Anyway, both Eddie 2.21 and 2.24 support WireGuard. However, Eddie 2.24 sets an interface with 1320 bytes MTU, while Eddie 2.21 leaves the choice to WireGuard, which is not a good thing for most networks (1320 bytes is more appropriate for very many networks, while a few ones need even a smaller size of 1280 bytes).

In Eddie 2.24 you can set the VPN interface MTU on "Preferences" > "WireGuard" window.

Kind regards
 

[khuffmanjr 0]

15 hours ago, Staff said:

Were you running the Suite 2 beta or 1.3? 

Its been a couple years, perhaps, so maybe 1.3?  I'll be honest, I was tired and did not look at the version I was running. I decided to give up on trying to get the GUI to behave reliably when selecting those settings; they would uncheck themselves on consecutive launches of the app for some reason.  I have now upgraded my OS which gave support for OpenSSL 3 and I have installed AirVPN Suite 3. I've also given up on trying/wanting to use wireguard after reading your FAQ "Does WireGuard pose privacy issues?".  While I did not really think about, nor did I know, that information before, I do understand the implications laid out in that post.  I'll stick with your openvpn solution.

That said, what kind of speeds should I be hoping for with openvpn from US to NL?  And I do know you can't say with certainty nor make me any promises.  For reference I have a low-latency Gigabit up/down connection in US.  The most I'm seeing in my apps over the vpn through NL servers is 25-28MBps (bytes, not bits) and speedtests only show marginally higher at 340-ish Mbps down.  I know the distance is a factor, and hop count, etc..  Just curious if I should try and keep tuning this.  If all I can get is 25MBps down (bytes, not bits) then I'm ok with that, but who doesn't want faster, am I right?

Thanks for letting me resurrect this older thread.  My wireguard question seemed relevant...sorry for changing direction now.  My question about further tuning, or not, is my final thought here, thanks.