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Can someone ELI5 how to setup NordVPN with Tixati?

by Guest on 2021/03/25 10:09:46 PM    
Rather than having to run my entire system via a VPN I just want downloads and uploads to be processed via the VPN, on some other platforms it was as simple as logging in to my account but I can't seem to find out/figure out how to achieve the same effect on Tixati.

Many thanks
by notaLamer on 2021/03/26 03:18:21 AM    
Please read my response here why NordVPN is one of the worst choices for Bittorrent: https://forum.tixati.com/support/6946

With regards to your question, in VPN marketing speak it's called 'split tunneling.' It is up to your VPN client/VPN config to not route all traffic via the VPN connection. As soon as that's done, you need to go to Tixati settings and set the network interface to be the VPN interface of your system (this way Tixati will ONLY bind aka use the selected interface/IP address). Tixati works wonderfully with that by the way, no hassle.

If this weren't a '****hole VPN' I'd have been inclined to help you in-depth, I just do not wish to support them in the slightest (last but not least due to history and dubious origin). Finally, there's nothing to configure in Tixati, it's all on VPN's side.
by Guest on 2021/04/11 05:18:15 PM    
Hiya, thanks for the advice.

I decided to go with Mullvad however I'm still having an issue where after connecting to a server I can no longer download torrents, progress comes to a complete stop.

Are you sure there are no additional steps I need to take in order to setup the VPN with Tixati?
by notaLamer on 2021/04/13 09:22:33 AM    
I do not know how you had Tixati communicate with the internet before. However when using a good VPN ;) you need to setup port-forwarding manually on Mullvad's website. Then you'll have a dedicated port open for you and to you, set this port in Tixati's settings. Then you will have a fully functional networking with Tixati.
I'm certain your current problem is that you've not set port-forwarding yet.

Lastly if you only have one VPN provider this will be easy: Settings > Network > Connections and there select 'Local IP address or interface' the network interface used by VPN (select by ID or the name, do not select a static IP unless you actually need it). Now this will be your command to Tixati 'only ever use this (VPN) connection for torrenting' - if it's not connected, Tixati will not be able to create any connections until you reconnect to VPN.
by Guest on 2021/04/13 12:06:35 PM    
Does Mullvad still support port forwarding ?
Their ToS seem to imply that they no longer do.
by Guest on 2021/04/15 12:20:52 AM    
Thanks for the response, so I've gone to Mullvad's website, I've requested a forwarded port, lets just say the port is gb-lon- 33333, I've gone to Tixati's settings and under Network > Incoming Ports and in "TCP/TDP port for peer connections and messages" I've put "33333" (The same as the port given by Mullvad). I've then gone into Network > Connections and under "Local IPv4 Address or interface" I've selected Mullvad Tunnel. However I am still "Downloading 0 (0) 0 (0)"

Maybe there is a step I've done wrong?
by notaLamer on 2021/04/21 12:04:56 AM    
I've requested a forwarded port, lets just say the port is gb-lon- 33333, I've gone to Tixati's settings and under Network > Incoming Ports and in "TCP/TDP port for peer connections and messages" I've put "33333" (The same as the port given by Mullvad). I've then gone into Network > Connections and under "Local IPv4 Address or interface" I've selected Mullvad Tunnel. However I am still "Downloading 0 (0) 0 (0)"
This all looks good to me. Exactly as you should do, it had to work at this point! But to calm you down: it's not a problem with Tixati.

Some troubleshooting tips and sanity checks:
1) While disconnected, port-forward on the website and wait a few minutes before connecting to the server and trying. Afaik you need to connect to that specific server with Mullvad to receive port-forwarding
2) Have you tried an actually active torrent?
Try any popular Linux distribution:
Scroll down for torrents: https://ubuntu.com/download/alternative-downloads
WARNING: This page is very heavy. debian-10.9.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso has 550 seeders currently, you can find a magnet-link elsewhere too. http://bttracker.debian.org:6969/stat

3) Firewall? Oh the Windows Firewall... Ideally you should've been asked whether to allow Tixati. You'll have to check for it manually in Windows Firewalls advanced settings. By default Windows blocks all incoming connections, that's exactly what we want here though!
3.1) Enable the WF log file. It's a continuously updated log file, you'll have to reopen it every once in a while or use notepad++ with 'View -> Monitoring (tail -f)' mode

4) Port checker tools. If you search online you will only find port check websites. They're all TCP (alright with us) but they all require a running application behind the port. I.e. Tixati must be running for the port check to be correct.
I can't find any without ads, (this one contains Google tracking): portchecker (dot) co. It works correctly if the app behind the open port is running.

5) DIY port checker. This allows for more control and easier troubleshooting later on.
You need 2 machines, a smartphone with Termux would do. Alternatively you need to manually 'bind' or 'specify source IP' for tools on your machine such that one tool listens on VPN connection (like Tixati) and another queries it using your regular home connection.

Tools to be used:
Client (connecting to ...): telnet, nc (aka BSD netcat), port checker websites. All of these are TCP, idk about UDP off the top of my head.
Server (listening for incoming connections): obviously Tixati, SuperSimpleServer, ... iperf or even the Minecraft server lol, both two will show you in console who tried connecting - that's all we need

I will show examples below based on nc and iperf. nc is a basic network communication tool, iperf is a speedtest tool, but works fine for us and its tiny too. If you are on Windows you can use WSL or Cygwin to install those (or maybe find binaries online), if you are on Linux you need no further explanation because you are a smart cookie.

Example, testing connection with nc: nc -zv -w 2 104.244.42.65 80 - try TCP/80 connection to a twitter server, 2s timeout.
Success: Connection to 104.244.42.65 80 port [tcp/http] succeeded!
Fail: nc: connect to 104.244.42.65 port 8080 (tcp) timed out: Operation now in progress (if in doubt, increase timeout)

Tell nc to use a different source IP address:
nc -zv -w 2 -s 192.168.1.42 104.244.42.65 80 - instead of '192.168.1.42' choose your LAN IP address and it will use your normal LAN connection. On Windows you can see all IPs with ipconfig /all, on Linux ip a. Of course you can look them up in Tixati settings too.

Setting up iperf:
Example connecting: iperf --port 3321 --client 127.0.0.1 - connect to port 3321 on local machine. CTRL+C to abort.
success: [  3] local 127.0.0.1 port 42503 connected with 127.0.0.1 port 3321 - and it begins a speedtest attempt against the app behind that port, so exit quickly. This run in particular was pointed at Tixati, you could use iperf alone to test for open ports theoretically :)
failure: connect failed: Connection refused

Example iperf server (listening on port): iperf --server --bind 127.0.0.1 --port 12345 - listen on port 12345 ONLY on the internal 127.0.0.1 interface. Default (aka 0.0.0.0) is all available interfaces.
Example success output:
iperf --server --bind 127.0.0.1 --port 12345
------------------------------------------------------------
Server listening on TCP port 12345
Binding to local address 127.0.0.1
Just don't kill it by closing console or with CTRL+C or it will stop listening :)

Example failure:
iperf --server --bind 126.0.0.1 --port 12345
bind failed: Cannot assign requested address
------------------------------------------------------------
Server listening on TCP port 12345
Binding to local address 126.0.0.1

This will be enough for you to start troubleshooting on your own in a controlled manner. Don't forget to restart these simple applications if you disconnect/reconnect the VPN. Tixati is smart enough to retry later when VPN becomes available, these aren't (iperf keeps running even though it failed to bind as shown above, not sure if it would work later on in this state)

For a start, launch iperf on 127.0.0.1 and connect to it with nc to verify you are doing everything right.
iperf --server --bind 127.0.0.0 --port 12345
# in a second console window:
# here you obviously connect to yourself, from addr 127.0.0.1 to addr 127.0.0.1:12345
nc -zv -w 2 -s 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 12345
After this continue with the VPN testing.
iperf --server --bind <internal VPN IP as shown by OpenVPN> --port <local port or aka port-forwarded port>
# in a second console window:
nc -zv -w 2 -s <your LAN IP> <external VPN IP, hopefully shown by websites> <port-forwarded port>
I hope I didn't make a mistake above. That's how you test connectivity of your VPN port-forwarded application without needing anything else. The application (here: iperf or Tixati) will use the VPN conn, and nc will test using your regular connection.
-------------

6) Heavy artillery: Wireshark. That's your last resort to see if any packets arrive at all. You will need to get accustomed to filtering there, but that's the only thing you need to find packets you are interested in. Plenty tutorials online.
If you see no packets incoming there're still two reasons left: the firewall somewhere very deep inside is dropping them OR the port-forwarding doesn't actually work (or you try to ping the wrong external IP)

I'm done. 6.5k symbols. DONATE TO TIXATI DEV!
by tillypowell on 2023/01/26 06:31:50 PM    
Setting up NordVPN with Tixati is a bit more complex than other platforms but it's still doable. Here's a simple explanation on how to set it up:
Download and install NordVPN on your computer.
Open Tixati and go to 'Settings' -> 'Advanced' -> 'TCP/IP'.
Under 'Outbound TCP/IP Connections', choose 'Use SOCKS proxy' and set the proxy IP to '127.0.0.1' and the port to '9050'.
Click 'OK' to save the changes.
Start NordVPN and connect to a server.
All done!
by loninappleton on 2023/02/01 12:22:16 AM    
I would like to know if this less complicated solution worked for OP.

I am not using a VPN at this time.  Had some suggestions over on R@ddit vpn forum.
by notaLamer on 2023/02/03 09:06:44 AM    
You effectively castrate the torrent client if you use it with a proxy instead of a VPN with port-forwarding. A proxy should be your last resort. Unless said proxy supports UDP port pinning or whatever it's called that Tixati added in a recent update.
This is because you cannot accept incoming connections with a proxy. Although at this point you're using NordVPN anyway, SOL.
by Guest on 2023/03/01 12:19:48 PM    
Assuming you have already installed nordvpn and logged in, you connect to a P2P server.
Under tixati you go to settings -> network -> connections -> "local IPv4 network or interface" and select the nordlynx or equivalent.
Remember to enable the killswitch on nordvpn.




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