VPNMON VPNMON-R3 Custom Server List Generation Tutorials and Examples

[Viktor Jaep]

Hey, atleast it is nice to know you have someone 24/7 to give you a semi-robotic response full of apologies and obfuscation.

I swear I'm talking to some kind of dang bot.

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

I swear I'm talking to some kind of dang bot.

I agree. So do these AI detection services.

 

[visortgw]

Hey, atleast it is nice to know you have someone 24/7 to give you a semi-robotic response full of apologies and obfuscation.

If I hear "We are sorry for the inconvenience!" one more time from tier 1 tech support...

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

If I hear "We are sorry for the inconvenience!" one more time from tier 1 tech support...

This one-"tear" tech support () may actually be a robot. Or, they are probably using some form of text to speech software that is partly filled in by AI. @Viktor Jaep This type of apology from a company that is suppose to provide 24/7 support to its customers is outrageous. I can tell there is no empathy behind the blank apologies. Let me know, and I can join you on the venture to handle this matter.

 

[Viktor Jaep]

This one-"tear" tech support () may actually be a robot. Or, they are probably using some form of text to speech software that is partly filled in by AI. @Viktor Jaep This type of apology from a company that is suppose to provide 24/7 support to its customers is outrageous. I can tell there is no empathy behind the blank apologies. Let me know, and I can join you on the venture to handle this matter.

Here's the guy running tech support...

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

Here's the guy running tech support...

View attachment 57451

Meanwhile @Viktor Jaep cat is fixing everything:

 

[Viktor Jaep]

Latest update from NordVPN on the Unbound issue... at least they wrote me without me having to prod them on it... which is unusual:

Thank you for your patience with this issue and apologies for the longer update on your ticket.

We have passed the issue to our technician's team, however, we must note that the DNS issues are already known and being fixed. However, we do not have an ETA on when the issues will be fully resolved.

 

[visortgw]

Latest update from NordVPN on the Unbound issue... at least they wrote me without me having to prod them on it... which is unusual:

Thank you for your patience with this issue and apologies for the longer update on your ticket.

We have passed the issue to our technician's team, however, we must note that the DNS issues are already known and being fixed. However, we do not have an ETA on when the issues will be fully resolved.

Hurry up and WAIT!

 

[Viktor Jaep]

Hurry up and WAIT!

So interestingly enough (apologies for the obfuscation) but this is how I've been able to continue using Unbound-over-VPN for a few weeks successfully:

VPN 1 Slot -> NordVPN -> randomly picking from 2209 US servers
VPN 5 Slot -> AirVPN -> strictly being used for Unbound-over-VPN DNS lookups, and going against 86 random US servers

VPN Director is configured to let all allowed internet traffic out over VPN 1... No traffic is allowed out over VPN 5. So interestingly enough, as expected, clients will locally request DNS lookups against the LAN side, which Unbound is listening on, then traverses out over VPN 5 to bring back results.

The neat thing about this is that my VPN internet and DNS traffic are now completely separated, and randomly appearing from multiple locations across the US.

Anywho... just a neat experiment... and it works great.

 

[iTyPsIDg]

Do any of the streaming services have a problem with that configuration?

If you use DNSMON (shockingly, you didn't write that script), does all your traffic show as going through the VPN?

 

[Viktor Jaep]

Do any of the streaming services have a problem with that configuration?

If you use DNSMON (shockingly, you didn't write that script), does all your traffic show as going through the VPN?View attachment 57678

I don't stream over the VPN... my TV basically goes out directly over the WAN... but yes, I do use DNSMON! Good choice in naming this tool!

As you can see, all my DNS traffic is going out over my VPN5 (which is AirVPN, tied to Unbound)

 

[iTyPsIDg]

That's awesome. Maybe I'll give Unbound another try at some point. Last time, the top-level DNS servers were accessed over the WAN for me, IIRC.

 

[Viktor Jaep]

That's awesome. Maybe I'll give Unbound another try at some point. Last time, the top-level DNS servers were accessed over the WAN for me, IIRC.

If you're using NordVPN, you might want to hold off on this... they're STILL working on fixing this functionality after they recently broke it.

 

[Ellenswamy]

So interestingly enough (apologies for the obfuscation) but this is how I've been able to continue using Unbound-over-VPN for a few weeks successfully:

VPN 1 Slot -> NordVPN -> randomly picking from 2209 US servers
VPN 5 Slot -> AirVPN -> strictly being used for Unbound-over-VPN DNS lookups, and going against 86 random US servers

VPN Director is configured to let all allowed internet traffic out over VPN 1... No traffic is allowed out over VPN 5. So interestingly enough, as expected, clients will locally request DNS lookups against the LAN side, which Unbound is listening on, then traverses out over VPN 5 to bring back results.

The neat thing about this is that my VPN internet and DNS traffic are now completely separated, and randomly appearing from multiple locations across the US.

View attachment 57650

Anywho... just a neat experiment... and it works great.

I just set this up using Proton VPN (internet) and Airvpn as unbound dns. What are your VPN director rules? I put it as 192.168.50.0/24 using VPN 1 which is Proton. And nothing is set to use VPN 5 (Airvpn), that is just setup as unbound outgoing.

 

[Viktor Jaep]

I just set this up using Proton VPN (internet) and Airvpn as unbound dns. What are your VPN director rules? I put it as 192.168.50.0/24 using VPN 1 which is Proton. And nothing is set to use VPN 5 (Airvpn), that is just setup as unbound outgoing.

Nice! As I mentioned, my VPN Director is configured to let all allowed internet traffic out over VPN 1 (my rule differs slightly since all allowed traffic comes from a single IP - my Google Nest Wifi Pro router)... No traffic is allowed out over VPN 5, so there's no even any references to VPN5 in VPN Director.

You can download that dnsmon tool mentioned above, and should show you DNS queries only going out through your VPN5.

 

[salvo]

It might help somebody to correctly setup and avoid DNS leakages...I did several tests and this solution works for me. If you use Unbound, you can use like described by @Viktor Jaep or setup DNS Director and define DNS server for particular devices.

I use network segmentation i.e. network 192.168.5.X is connected to VPN and any device connected to this network use VPN i.e. NORDVPN + VPNMON-R3 + Unbound with following DNS director set:

If you setup DNS Director above (i.e. including Odroid device), there is no DNS leakage for assigned devices, see below

However when I delete client (Odroid) from the DNS Director list, there is a DNS leakage out of VPN network

 

[Viktor Jaep]

It might help somebody to correctly setup and avoid DNS leakages...I did several tests and this solution works for me. If you use Unbound, you can use like described by @Viktor Jaep or setup DNS Director and define DNS server for particular devices.

I use network segmentation i.e. network 192.168.5.X is connected to VPN and any device connected to this network use VPN i.e. NORDVPN + VPNMON-R3 + Unbound with following DNS director set:
View attachment 57956

If you setup DNS Director above (i.e. including Odroid device), there is no DNS leakage for assigned devices, see below
View attachment 57957

However when I delete client (Odroid) from the DNS Director list, there is a DNS leakage out of VPN network
View attachment 57958

Thanks for the great how-to guide here @salvo! Inquiring minds want to know... where can we find this "dnsleaktest.sh" script? Is this it: https://github.com/macvk/dnsleaktest

This is the leaktest utility I use... looks like it produces the same kinds of results: https://dnscheck.tools/

 

[salvo]

Yes, this is the one, it uses https://bash.ws/dnsleak

Great tool https://dnscheck.tools/ also, never used that but seen it so many times in troubleshooting guides

 

[Viktor Jaep]

Latest update today on this unbound/DNS resolver issue directly from NordVPN Support. I asked for a date when this would be completed... lol

Thank you for your reply.

Unfortunately, our technician team is still working on this issue.

That being said, we would rather not give you an estimation when we do not actually have one for certain.

Telling you that it will take 5 days and if in reality, it ends up taking 2 months - would be bad for both sides involved.

We understand that waiting is rather frustrating, and we can only apologize in the name of the company.

In the meantime, let us know if you have any other issues or questions.

 

[salvo]

If you're using NordVPN, you might want to hold off on this... they're STILL working on fixing this functionality after they recently broke it.

I have not tried Unbound via NordVPN yet so what exactly is not working when it comes to Unbound via NordVPN ? Top level DNS servers are not accesible via NordVPN ?