Using a VPN Service Provider to get around port forwarding issues?

[Myrdin Potter]

I think I was the original person to recommend PureVPN. I used to live in China and I travel a lot. I tried a few other VPNs, even ones that had dedicated IP addresses. PureVPN was the only one that just worked for me.

I am in China now on a trip. The 5 year big meeting in Beijing is happening now and they always close down VPNs when that happens. PureVPN has a work around and I have it up and working after a quick chat with tech support. Note - chat, as in real time help.

You only need a VPN when using public wifi like at a hotel or if your provider at home shares IP addresses and you cannot reliably port forward. Otherwise most people set the router rules once and then are done. Only matters for the DM.

[Trenloe]

I think I was the original person to recommend PureVPN.

Are you sure? https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...l=1#post168473

[Myrdin Potter]

No, that is why I said "I think".

:-p

[daggerfortysix]

Either way, you are both bad ***. PureVPN works perfectly for me. thanks to the both of you!

[Myrdin Potter]

I really push the need for a VPN more than many because of frequent stays in hotels and several trips to China a year. China is particularly tough as they are pretty good at blocking VPNs, but so far PureVPN has not let me down.

I could use my NAS to run a VPS , but I prefer having tech support help me when I run into issues. I do run Teamspeak on my NAS and that has not required a vpn connection so far. What I normally do is use my phone or iPad for voice communication and my laptop to DM with via the VPN. I try and keep voice off the vpn if I can.

[nicolaskf]

Hi guys,

Maybe super late to this party. But I have encountered a lot of connection problems. Instead, I took a "free" demo account on Azure (or AWS), and deployed a simple VPN server of my own with "AlgoVPN".

In short, what you need to do is:

## Deploy the Algo Server

1. **Setup an account on a cloud hosting provider.** Algo supports [DigitalOcean](https://m.do.co/c/4d7f4ff9cfe4) (most user friendly), [Amazon EC2](https://aws.amazon.com/), [Google Compute Engine](https://cloud.google.com/compute/), and [Microsoft Azure](https://azure.microsoft.com/).

2. **[Download Algo](https://github.com/trailofbits/algo/...master.zip).** Unzip it in a convenient location on your local machine.

3. **Install Algo's core dependencies.** Open the Terminal. The `python` interpreter you use to deploy Algo must be python2. If you don't know what this means, you're probably fine. `cd` into the `algo-master` directory where you unzipped Algo, then run:

- macOS:
```bash
$ python -m ensurepip --user
$ python -m pip install --user --upgrade virtualenv
```
- Linux (deb-based):
```bash
$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install \
build-essential \
libssl-dev \
libffi-dev \
python-dev \
python-pip \
python-setuptools \
python-virtualenv -y
```
- Linux (rpm-based): See the [Pre-Install Documentation for RedHat/CentOS 6.x](docs/deploy-from-redhat-centos6.md)
- Windows: See the [Windows documentation](docs/deploy-from-windows.md)

4. **Install Algo's remaining dependencies.** Use the same Terminal window as the previous step and run:
```bash
$ python -m virtualenv env && source env/bin/activate && python -m pip install -U pip && python -m pip install -r requirements.txt
```
On macOS, you may be prompted to install `cc`. You should press accept if so.

5. **List the users to create.** Open `config.cfg` in your favorite text editor. Specify the users you wish to create in the `users` list.

6. **Start the deployment.** Return to your terminal. In the Algo directory, run `./algo` and follow the instructions. There are several optional features available. None are required for a fully functional VPN server. These optional features are described in greater detail in [deploy-from-ansible.md](docs/deploy-from-ansible.md).

That's it! You will get the message below when the server deployment process completes. You now have an Algo server on the internet. Take note of the p12 (user certificate) password in case you need it later.

[Bidmaron]

What a remarkable first post, nicolaskf! Welcome to the forums. This seems very helpful.

[nicolaskf]

What a remarkable first post, nicolaskf! Welcome to the forums. This seems very helpful.

Sadly, while all the features are working - the deployment, connecting and using (browsing, videos, even mobile phones and auto-reconnect) - and ports are open in the cloud environments (Azure), for the life of me I can't get the Connection test to Pass...

The port is open, just try a portscan on 51.144.41.194 and you will see 1802 is "Closed" instead of "Timing Out".

How did you guys get PureVPN to work with Fantasy Grounds?

[Myrdin Potter]

The port seems to be open in the dedicated IP option for PureVPN. You probably just need to find the setting.

PureVPN is also constantly playing cat and mouse with China and other places that try and block VPN.

[nicolaskf]

To add more rigor to my plead for help to get this connection up and running:

a) You can download all the config files to access the VPN server here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UG5...ew?usp=sharing
b) If on a Mac, just use the .mobileconfig file (double-click) and you will automatically configure to use the VPN, the password for the certificate is in file name "certificate password.txt"
c) Just SSH into the server with the code below ( cd into the directory first ): ssh -i configs/algo.pem [email protected]

Bam! you now have a VPN server and SSH access. All games work, except for Fantasy Grounds

Update: And yes, if we get the VPN up and running, everyone can use it for gratis, we can make a how-to-configure post later on.