Tunnelblick will not connect with Internet Sharing active

[Ryan Cushley]

When I activate internet sharing on my Macbook Pro, sharing Airport
via Ethernet is causes the connection to drop. This seems to be
because Tunnelblick prioritises Ethernet over Airport in all
circumstances. Is there any way to change the priority of different
connection types for the application?

Thanks as always,

Ryan

[jkbull...gmail.com]

Sorry for the delay in replying. I just got an idea about how to do this.

Why is the connection dropping? Look at the log -- if it is disconnecting because Tunnelblick detected a network change, you can try it with "Monitor connection" unchecked.

If that doesn't help, then I think it's an OpenVPN configuration question, not a Tunnelblick question. Even so, I have an idea that may point you toward a solution:

(I assume you want to have a VPN client connection to the Internet via Ethernet on your Macbook Pro, and have your Macbook Pro share that Internet connection via Airport with other computers.)

There is an OpenVPN option, --local host, that may help you do what you want.  It causes OpenVPN to bind with only one local host name or one IP address.

So if you add a line with "local XXX" (where XXX is the IP address of your Ethernet interface) to your configuration file, OpenVPN will only use the VPN for traffic through that IP address.

You may need to use routing to make all traffic for that IP address go though the Ethernet interface -- I'm not very clear on how to do that or if it is necessary. 

You may also need to use a manual IP address on the Ethernet interface 

You may also need to uncheck "Monitor connection" also.

See http://openvpn.net/archive/openvpn-users/2007-07/msg00109.html.

If you get this working, PLEASE post back to this thread so others can benefit from your experience.

[Ryan Cushley]

Thanks for the reply. I'm not in a position right now to test these
solutions, but will be in a couple of days. When I am I'll let you
know how I get on.

Cheers,
Ryan

On Feb 10, 2:01 pm, "jkbull...gmail.com" <jkbull...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Sorry for the delay in replying. I just got an idea about how to do this.
>
> Why is the connection dropping? Look at the log -- if it is disconnecting
> because Tunnelblick detected a network change, you can try it with "Monitor
> connection" unchecked.
>
> If that doesn't help, then I think it's an OpenVPN configuration question,
> not a Tunnelblick question. Even so, I have an idea that may point you
> toward a solution:
>
> (I assume you want to have a VPN client connection to the Internet via
> Ethernet on your Macbook Pro, and have your Macbook Pro share that Internet
> connection via Airport with other computers.)
>

> There is an OpenVPN option, *--local host*, that may help you do what you

> want.  It causes OpenVPN to bind with only one local host name or one IP
> address.
>
> So if you add a line with "local XXX" (where XXX is the IP address of your
> Ethernet interface) to your configuration file, OpenVPN will only use the
> VPN for traffic through that IP address.
>
> You may need to use routing to make all traffic for that IP address go
> though the Ethernet interface -- I'm not very clear on how to do that or if
> it is necessary.
>
> You may also need to use a manual IP address on the Ethernet interface
>
> You may also need to uncheck "Monitor connection" also.
>

> Seehttp://openvpn.net/archive/openvpn-users/2007-07/msg00109.html.

[Ryan Cushley]

I have now thoroughly tested this and as far as I can understand, OS X
just sees Internet Sharing as a passthrough; it does not interact with
Tunnelblick in any way. So, while your suggestion was very helpful and
allows me to connect my devices via Internet Sharing without VPN, it
won't be able to suit my needs. It's not a huge problem, but more a
minor inconvenience.

I'm still going to monitor this topic on the off chance that someone
in the future has the same problem and manages to somehow get it
working, but after everything I've tried it seems rather unlikely.

Thanks very much for the help!

Ryan

On Feb 10, 2:01 pm, "jkbull...gmail.com" <jkbull...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Sorry for the delay in replying. I just got an idea about how to do this.
>
> Why is the connection dropping? Look at the log -- if it is disconnecting
> because Tunnelblick detected a network change, you can try it with "Monitor
> connection" unchecked.
>
> If that doesn't help, then I think it's an OpenVPN configuration question,
> not a Tunnelblick question. Even so, I have an idea that may point you
> toward a solution:
>
> (I assume you want to have a VPN client connection to the Internet via
> Ethernet on your Macbook Pro, and have your Macbook Pro share that Internet
> connection via Airport with other computers.)
>

> There is an OpenVPN option, *--local host*, that may help you do what you

> want.  It causes OpenVPN to bind with only one local host name or one IP
> address.
>
> So if you add a line with "local XXX" (where XXX is the IP address of your
> Ethernet interface) to your configuration file, OpenVPN will only use the
> VPN for traffic through that IP address.
>
> You may need to use routing to make all traffic for that IP address go
> though the Ethernet interface -- I'm not very clear on how to do that or if
> it is necessary.
>
> You may also need to use a manual IP address on the Ethernet interface
>
> You may also need to uncheck "Monitor connection" also.
>

> Seehttp://openvpn.net/archive/openvpn-users/2007-07/msg00109.html.

[jkbull...gmail.com]

Take a look at Using (and sharing) a VPN connection on your Mac.