I’ve got a Linux server running Xubuntu at the moment (It was a media player first), and it also runs two Minecraft servers for the family. It has two network cards that are both connected to the internet. Is there a way to bind the VPN to one of the cards and use the other one for regular use?

I’ve got Surfshark as my VPN, and it doesn’t allow port forwarding under Linux. I’ve got some software that I want to keep behind the VPN, but the lack of port forwarding is stopping me from sharing the Minecraft servers, and when the VPN is active, it slows down the connection to some of my services like Plex.

I’ve tried to look it up, but I just don’t know enough to get myself anywhere. I’ve found results that talk about name spaces and routing tables, but they assume a level of knowledge that I just haven’t got yet.

I want to use the Arr suite and qBittorrent as the main programs behind the VPN, and Plex, Mylar (a comic manager), Syncthing, and Minecraft as the main programs without it. If I set up qBittorrent and the Arrs as Docker containers, can I use Gluetun to bind just them to the VPN? The VPN is using OpenVPN connections if that makes a difference.

Thanks in advance :)

  • @[email protected]
    31•20 hours ago

    Yes that’s called routing.

    You don’t bind it to a NIC, you specify the destinations you want forwarded to each interface. Your VPN connection is just another interface.

    If you’re looking for good docs, you may want to Google split tunnel vpn, and also bone up on your networking.

    A few static routes should get you what you need

    • @[email protected]English
      2•12 hours ago

      Everything you said is true, but I don’t think it’s the complete answer the OP would like.

      For instance if somebody goes to Google, on the raw network, and on the VPN. They would correctly expect that traffic to take two different routes, and come from different IP addresses Even if the destination target IP address is the same

    • OrbituaryEnglish
      -13•20 hours ago

      Bro. Get a handle on the difference between “your” and “you’re.” Even if English is a second language, it’s worth knowing.

      Now everything makes sense.

      • @[email protected]
        7•20 hours ago

        Swipe keyboard. It picks random yours, and I’m exhausted from flying all day so I didn’t proof read.

        • OrbituaryEnglish
          -3•20 hours ago

          Even if that’s the case, the whole thing made no sense until you corrected it. Now it does.

      • @[email protected]English
        6•20 hours ago

        I haven’t met a foreigner confusing these type of stuff. Met lots of Americans that do though.

        • borari
          3•18 hours ago

          I mean is there a material pronunciation difference between the two conjunctions? I don’t think so, but I can still somehow manage to work out what people mean when they say use “your” and “you’re” in the same spoken sentence.

          • @[email protected]English
            2•12 hours ago

            There are differences in pronunciation, at least for my southern British dialect. “Your” is said “yorr”. “You’re” is said “yeur” and is far closer to the “you are” it comes from. It’s just said at speed blending the words.

          • @[email protected]
            2•16 hours ago

            There is quite the difference in the pronunciations. Yea, it’s not that it becomes unreadable, it’s just that it annoys me when reading…