VPN Management

[skavan]

Hi,

I'm trying to use tfm in as wife-friendly a mode as possible and would give anything for more "configured" control over when the vpn commands are and are not run.

To give a couple of use scenarios (I have proxy needs as though I'm in the USA):
1. From MCE Main menu, enter tfm and choose BBC1.
2. Exit tfm and choose "internet TV" or anything else that DOES Not need proxy/VPN services.
3. Reenter tfm and choose HULU

If one does that kind of stuff, tfm is often setting the VPN and not killing it and thus one or more of the scenarios fails. Further, on e can easily get into a state where one doesn't know the VPN state - and for wives and kids, this takes us to a less than optimal place.

The winning solution might be:
1. all tfm tiles have a "country tag". (I suspect that exists now)
2. tfm keeps track of home country and "active/vpn'ed" country
3. users can configure Open and Close VPN pairs, per country [for now, maybe US and UK PAIRS if its easier, but the logic expands with the programming content].
4. tfm also has a a ON ENTRY command and a ON EXIT command (that activate on entry to tfm and on exit from tfm)
5. in TFM if a chosen tile has a different tag to th active tag, the CloseThatCountryVPN command is run, and the OPENVPN command for the Tile's country is run.
6. upon entry to tfm, the ON ENTRY command is run (and tracked as a variable, so it its active, its not rerun)
7. upon exit the ON EXIT is run (this one is really important, to ensure cleanup and known state of exit).

This small combo would turn tfm into an absolute multi-nation capable powerhouse. Any chance?

[Martin]

Hi,

I'm trying to use tfm in as wife-friendly a mode as possible and would give anything for more "configured" control over when the vpn commands are and are not run.

To give a couple of use scenarios (I have proxy needs as though I'm in the USA):
1. From MCE Main menu, enter tfm and choose BBC1.
2. Exit tfm and choose "internet TV" or anything else that DOES Not need proxy/VPN services.
3. Reenter tfm and choose HULU

If one does that kind of stuff, tfm is often setting the VPN and not killing it and thus one or more of the scenarios fails. Further, on e can easily get into a state where one doesn't know the VPN state - and for wives and kids, this takes us to a less than optimal place.

The winning solution might be:
1. all tfm tiles have a "country tag". (I suspect that exists now)
2. tfm keeps track of home country and "active/vpn'ed" country
3. users can configure Open and Close VPN pairs, per country [for now, maybe US and UK PAIRS if its easier, but the logic expands with the programming content].
4. tfm also has a a ON ENTRY command and a ON EXIT command (that activate on entry to tfm and on exit from tfm)
5. in TFM if a chosen tile has a different tag to th active tag, the CloseThatCountryVPN command is run, and the OPENVPN command for the Tile's country is run.
6. upon entry to tfm, the ON ENTRY command is run (and tracked as a variable, so it its active, its not rerun)
7. upon exit the ON EXIT is run (this one is really important, to ensure cleanup and known state of exit).

This small combo would turn tfm into an absolute multi-nation capable powerhouse. Any chance?

Thanks for your suggestion. The big problem what is why this has not been done is that Media Center has no concept of exiting an application. When you think you have exited TunerFreeMCE, all you have done is move on to something else, and it is actually still open and running behind the scenes. I don't know any app developers who think that is a good idea - we all want the applications to exit and for us to be able to clean up when you exit. But that's not the way microsoft chose to build media center, so there are no hooks to make this kind of VPN management happen.

Martin

[skavan]

How about, on entry a heartbeat is set...when the heartbeat stops fro more than x seconds, an On Exit command is run.
If the app is being closed, that would also be a trigger.

Also, while that is about the Onexit command, what about the country pairing command set?

I have jerry-rigged an on-entry and on-exit system for an external (non MCE app) that seems to work quite well - but maybe MCE apps behave differently.

s.

[Martin]

How about, on entry a heartbeat is set...when the heartbeat stops fro more than x seconds, an On Exit command is run.
If the app is being closed, that would also be a trigger.

Also, while that is about the Onexit command, what about the country pairing command set?

I have jerry-rigged an on-entry and on-exit system for an external (non MCE app) that seems to work quite well - but maybe MCE apps behave differently.

s.

Thanks for the suggestion. The problem with that is that the heartbeat would continue, because the app is actually still running in the background, so it still wouldn't quit.

Martin

[danielfelice]

Not sure if this helps, but this is what I do...

I am in Australia so I have two VPN's, one US and on UK. I use HULU and TFM.

When I use TFM it works fine, connects to my UK VPN and I can watch. The issue is when I wanted to watch HULU or the US "internet TV". I had to exit MCE and run a script I created to connect to the US VPN.

What I did was, in TFM options I set the KILL VPN script to kill the UK VPN but also connect to the US VPN. So each time I want to switch from UK to US, I hit "KILL VPN", it connects to the US VPN and then I either open HULU or internet TV.

It works pretty well, and it is only one click.

Martin, are you able to run the "KILL VPN" command on exit each time? Or would this not work as MCE doesn't "exit"? This would mean I wouldn't have to click the button and make it more automatic.

The script is easy, just create a windows VPN connection and paste the below into notepad and save it as a .bat then point the Kill VPN command to it...

rasdial /disconnect
rasdial <vpn name> <username> <password>

(eg: rasdial USA USAVPN tfmisthecollest)

Hope that helps...