Watching Netflix and Pandora in Europe using the box

[biomedica]

Hi everybody,

I am going on a vacation to Europe and I am planning to bring my WDTV Live Plus box with me. I need to know how to set it up in order to be able to watch Netflix listen to Pandora while abroad. Do I need to use a proxy? I could leave my laptop ON in the US and use it as a VPN which I would connect from Europe. Well, I would like to know if anyone has done this and what is the best way to do it.

Thanks

[mad_ady]

Well, I can't give you step-by-step guidance, but you would need the following:
1. Static IP address (or dynamic DNS) for your home laptop - just to know where to reconnect in case you have problems
2. OpenVPN installed on your laptop/proxy. This should get you started: http://openvpn.net/index.php/open-source/documentation/howto.html
3. recliq's (or was it RMerlin's?) openvpn.app.bin (it's in the repository if you are running 0.5)

By the way, with the openvpn app bin I think you can connect the other way around too - meaning - leave the wdtv at home (always on) and take your laptop and connect to the wdtv. The wdtv would only work as a network proxy.

Use the howto to learn how to configure a VPN tunnel between your wdtv and your server. You should be able to inject a default gateway through the VPN tunnel, and then all your traffic would go through the proxy and appear as local in the US. It will take some trial and error, so you'd better test it a bit before leaving.

Please note that even if you get it to work at home, you might have issues with your internet provider abroad - depending on the connection type, they might filter IPSEC and your tunnel will not connect (I've seen this on free wifi connections, or when the provider really wanted its subscribers to buy VPN tunnel service instead of building it themselves)

So, YMMV

[biomedica]

Okay I tried to setup OpenVpn on my computer but I couldnt get it work. Also this method would imply leaving the computer on for the entire time which I dont want to. Can I simply install the OpenVpn on the Wdtv box? I have 2 boxes. One could stay here and the other one could go to Europe. Is that possible? Also, I am going to install the Squid proxy. Would that be enough?

Thanks for your great help.

[mad_ady]

I don't know exactly if the openvpn app bin contains the "server" bits needed (I think it does), but in principle, yes, you could do it like this.
Again, you will need to do some testing. And when you're done you could document what you did in a wiki page for the benefit of others.

You shouldn't need the squid proxy for netflix and pandora, but you could have it as a backup if vpn traffic is filtered.

[RMerlin]

Get a router that can run the DD-WRT homebrew firmware and has a large enough NAND to support the VPN edition of it - it supports both OpenVPN and PPTP.

I use the PPTP daemon in DD-WRT to connect back home when I need to access my computer. Once connected to the VPN, I use WOL on the same router to bring my PC back up.

[biomedica]

Well, I installed Squid proxy on my box and it is working great. The install was pretty straight forward. Now, I am just not sure how I would config my other box to access the internet through the proxy. Does anyone know how to impose to the box to go through a proxy?

Thanks.

[mad_ady]

As far as I know, squid provides only a SOCKS4/5 proxy which is supported by most browsers or most desktop applications, but it's not supported transparently by the software of WDTV. The problem is such a proxy works at transport layer (layer 4), and the application that opens the socket needs to understand how to use the proxy.
An IPSEC VPN on the other hand operates at layer 3 (IP layer) and thus the application will know nothing of it.

I don't think you'll be able to squeeze the traffic through squid... You should look at OpenVPN again, or experiment with tunnel interfaces: http://www.techonia.com/create-tunnel-interface-linux
In the example above, you would open a tunnel (IP over IP) to your box at home, and then you would route the traffic to netflix via this tunnel interface.
Traffic would go unencrypted, but the configuration is more difficult - you'd need to ensure the return traffic comes back the same way.

[kadiblov]

Folks,

I believe a 0.5.0.0 firmware with vpnc add-on installed and configured with an US VPN Server would do this trick...
Will try - I live actually outside US - and let you know.

Cheers,

[mad_ady]

Yes, it should work. If you want, you can document what you need to setup and post detailed instructions on the wiki, to help fellow forumers.

[kadiblov]

Folks,
There is another thread which might help. Venka provided some tips, and I will try them as soon as I have some time
If everything works fine, I will post a documented step-by-step and let you know. If anyone has time before that, please share here your thoughts.

Cheers,
K.