[kwlug-disc] IRC connection issues

[B.S.]

On 01/09/2015 01:24 PM, CrankyOldBugger wrote:
 > I'm not sure if I can do that.  Seems to me that the PIA VPN client
 > covers all traffic through the PC.  At least, that what it says on
 > their website and I've never seen an option to modify this setting.
>

It's just linux, and routing.

You can do whatever you want - not saying it's simple or easy.

e.g. After connecting to vpn you could do something like 'route del
0.0.0.0 if vpn0'. (The exact syntax escapes me.) [i.e. Take out the
newly established default gateway via the vpn.] You can control some of
this by turning off the 'accept all routes' equivalent checkbox in the
vpn client settings.

And you can 'route add' if you only want certain traffic to go over it,
and you know what that traffic is.

The problem I've seen is that so much other stuff gets called on a web
page, that you may or may not be fetching via that route over the vpn,
that it becomes just easier to leave the route in place.

You have a couple of other options, too, some in tandem with the vpn.

You can just use it as a proxy - i.e. Make proxy settings in your
browser. (As some addons do.) This / things should end up only using
http/s via the vpn and the rest of your traffic go out as normal not
over the vpn. [Setting this up could be finicky, you'd have to test /
monitor. netstat and/or wireshark will help with that.]

And dnsmasq, which you may already be running, will let you specify
which dns servers to use for which domains - which may help with coping
with CDNs. e.g. enquire about cbs.com via the vpn's dns server not your
isp's, all other dns inquiries to go via your isp's.

Both of which may be settable on the remote end of your vpn connection,
for which you may even have terminal access to so set up. (Not sure if
it survives your logoff, YMMV. But Paul and other's recommendation of
screen comes to mind for those cases.)

And there's always TOR - the practicality of which I have no familiarity 
with, but know it's out there.