Category: Technology

Private Internet Access (PIA) OpenVPN with Synology DSM 6.2

Update 29, November 2020 – There’s been a change in how PIA connects. Following the directions I wrote below will not work. Instead, follow the directions here with the following edits (from /u/cossadone on Reddit) to your openVPN config file of choice.

  • Delete the “compress” line
  • Delete the entire “<crl-verify>” section
  • Add the line “comp-lzo no”

I recently signed-up for Private Internet Access‘ (PIA) VPN service. I do a lot of traveling and work in various places away from home. Having the extra – if not essential – security layer regarding my web traffic is something I’ve been wanting for a while now. The PIA iOS and Mac apps are easy to set up and use. Since I also use my Synology NAS to transfer content I wanted to figure out how to make that device also take advantage of my VPN account.

I found some directions for setting this up with the Synology DSM software version 6.1 and since I didn’t perceive much difference between 6.1 and 6.2 as a user I followed the directions. Except, things didn’t work!

Every time I went to connect the VPN connection in the Network control panel I was met with a connection error. I tried recreating the connection, resetting my password, and yes, even turning the NAS off and on again. Everything worked fine from my other devices, but the Synology would not successfully authenticate.

Here’s what worked.

First, download the files from PIA as described in the directions linked to before.

https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/openvpn/openvpn.zip

Unzip that file and keep the resulting folder handy.

Second, log-in to your Synology running 6.2. Open the Control Panel then select Network. From there, select the Network Interface option. You’ll want to click Create from the top menu and then Create VPN profile. Now this is where things diverge from existing directions. Select OpenVPN and click Next.

Now give the profile a name you’ll recognize. For the server address, remember that zip file you downloaded? In that file is a bunch of .ovpn files. These are OpenVPN configuration files. They are just text files. Select the file that matches the server location you wish to use. I chose one that is geographically near me. You may wish to select one that is geographically far. it doesn’t matter. 🙂 Open it in your favorite text editor. I used BBEdit.

There are a few bits of information we want from the file. Look for the line that starts with remote and then an address and port.

remote hk.privateinternetaccess.com 1198

Return to your window with DSM open and enter the information into the Create profile window. Enter your PIA user name and password. Make sure you change the port to match what you found in the OpenVPN config. You should have something that looks like this.

For the last step on this window, you’ll want to select the CA certificate from the zip file. It’s the file that has a .crt extension. Then click Next.

Leave the Enable compression on the VPN link setting checked. Check the Use default gateway on remote network and Reconnect when the VPN connection is lost option. Then click Apply.

Now, select your newly created VPN interface and click Connect. Viola! Your Synology should now be connected to your VPN account.

One last thing. If you want all traffic to go through that connection (which you probably do!), click the Manage option in the Network Interface menu and select Service order. Put the VPN connection first. Then click OK. Return to the General tab in the Network control panel and set the default gateway to your VPN connection. Set the order here as well; VPN first.

Now, to test your connection! Visit https://ipleak.net in a new window/tab in your web browser. Navigate to the section that says Torrent Address detection. Activate that feature and then copy and paste the Magnet link into the DSM Download Station app. Start the download and wait for ipleak.net to refresh. Check the IP address. It should not match your local machine, but that of your VPN connection.

Two quick notes. There is no intelligent dead switch to stop transfers if your VPN connection goes down. My experience has been that it’s quite reliable. Your mileage may vary. In researching this topic I found comments related to the remote features of your Synology not working properly and requiring further configuration. I don’t frequently use my NAS off my local network so I have not bothered looking into this aspect. There are numerous guides online for both issues that may be helpful.

I hope this guide helps folks. Leave a comment if it helped, if made a mistake in my instructions, or if you have a better suggestion for setting this all up! Thanks for reading.

A Wikimedia social network is a bad idea, but I still want it

I am of two minds.

A large part of the problem with social media of any kind is the interests and agendas of the organizations who fund the service are often opaque and definitely not innocent. Also the fact that as a user of a service that makes their money from selling advertising against the data you provide – you are not the customer. 1

The bigger issue, at least in my opinion, is that social media is not a healthy thing for any individual to consume.2 The psychological impact of seeing the perpetual “highlight reel” of everyone you remotely know – and comparing it to the “behind the scenes” of your individual daily life – is not healthy. These companies have built features to be addictive. The dopamine drip of notifications, updates, chat, ads, video, etc. all lead to an entire populace of people inundated with distractions from much more important things.3

Distraction is good, I enjoy playing video games as an example, but building something to purposefully prey on human behavior is the worst.

I’m not saying the Wikimedia moment couldn’t do it better, with more transparency and with the users as the customers. What I question is, should they?

But, to have a space to talk to like-minded Wikimedians that isn’t controlled by a terrible silicon-valley douchemobile would be very welcome. Something that would foster a healthy, ongoing community to talk to other contributors. A place to discuss the meta-work of Wikimedia projects in a space removed from the content. Not a talk page on-wiki, where the talk still feels like talking about the work, but in a separate venue. 4 There are Facebook groups already, but that’s not ideal. Not every is on Facebook and we’re giving more eyeballs – and predatory data collection practices – to a for-profit company. We do have in-person events which fulfill some of this need. But I feel our movement largely relies too much on these rare, expensive, and often inadvertently exclusionary in-person events.

A man can dream.

Inception for this post via: https://www.reddit.com/r/wikipedia/comments/87bupa/imagine_that_jimmy_wales_and_the_other_good/

Be sure to read the linked article for more context. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-kuttner-facebook-regulation_us_5ab7ec8be4b054d118e41c76

Ad-hoc is Not Enough at Scale

There’s been a few recent conversations regarding social behavior and how to improve things within the Wikimedia movement that have caught my attention. I think these are important conversations to have, difficult and rife with misinterpretation and misunderstandings. They are, again in my opinion, the single most important thing our movement needs to figure out to succeed in increasing the diversity and representation within our movement. In both the content of our projects and those that choose to share their time in participation. We don’t need better software, we need better soft skills.

There needs to be a systemic rethinking of how we make it easier for folks to report behavioral issues – in the interface of things like WP:ANI, the handling of the case (private vs public) – but more importantly in the advocacy of “This is a place where we don’t tolerate harassment across the community – full stop. We want you to feel safe in coming forward with a report”.

We can’t continue to grow as a movement if we solely rely on individual admins and editors working in good faith in an ad-hoc manner. We can’t rely on people being strong enough in the face of adversity to have the energy to submit a report in public (with rather explicit instructions and requirements to boot).

It’s too inconsistent, fractured and obscure for mere mortals. 🙂 We need a critical rethinking of processes like ANI. We need research, design, and opportunities for admins to feel empowered to do this work.

Related: These shared experiences of a non-male community member in a male-dominated community. Like Wikimedia. Granted this is from another community outside of Wikimedia, but within the same society. There are very observable similarities.

https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/8t0wpb/are_you_gonna_play_the_victim_all_life_long_my/

Link List – July 3, 2018

Here are some interesting links I’ve collected in the last few months. I want to share them. With you! So sit down, open a few tabs and enjoy. Beats spending your time doing laundry. 😉

I’m perpetually doubting my own skills and eager to improve and learn what I know; and what I don’t know. This short video and related articles on the Dunning Kruger effect is something everyone should watch. Especially those who think they’re unaffected.
https://kottke.org/18/06/the-dunning-kruger-effect-we-are-all-confident-idiots

You don’t have the right to believe whatever you want to
https://aeon.co/ideas/you-dont-have-a-right-to-believe-whatever-you-want-to

The whole family watched this fun video from PBS Eons (and Hank Green!) about how the T-Rex lost its arms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=772GiBXnWoQ

Something that might explain why some folks are on edge about race-related matters in America. Unfortunately they’re wrong, but it provides some thinking on how folks think. I always thought the US was a melting pot of multiple flavors. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/24/opinion/america-white-extinction.html

Mr. Rogers was a big part of my childhood. Both my parents worked and I was a latchkey kid for most of my adolescence. As such, Mr. Rogers raised me and he’s a model for what kind of man I try to be like. There’s a documentary and book coming out soon about him. One of the things that has come out of this look into Rogers work is this set of rules for talking to children. I think they apply in our writing and working with communities. “Freddish” imbues writing with clarity, positivity, and simple understanding.
5
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/06/mr-rogers-neighborhood-talking-to-kids/562352/

I find these sort of introspective investigations of journalistic entities by other journalists to be a weird hyper-meta narrative of how organization and the news they produce are created. This one in particular, as Vice is a rather unorthodox and divisive group.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/06/inside-vice-media-shane-smith.html

I’m not a people manager, but I’d like to be one day. Like many of Rands’ past writing on the subject, this one seems incredibly apt for me. I’m not a very confrontational person. Sometimes you need to say the hard thing. That’s hard!
http://randsinrepose.com/archives/say-the-hard-thing/

As someone who works remotely (and believes everyone within a single organization should if anyone does) I found this manifesto useful. It covers tips on creating a remote-only org, how it changes the act of working, and it’s advantages.
https://www.remoteonly.org

Related to the two prior links, personal development has been on my mind as of late. Austin Kleon shares a note on figuring out what you want to learn. “the easiest way to re-invent yourself is to find something new to learn.”
https://austinkleon.com/2018/05/16/what-do-you-want-to-learn/

When seeing someone who I don’t recognize, but who obviously recognize me, I like to remind them (and myself) that sorry, my brain stopped storing that pattern and I’ll need you to help me create a new one.
https://kottke.org/18/05/mosaicism-or-dna-differences-from-cell-to-cell-not-just-person-to-person

Ok, I’m running low on time here. So more links, less talking!

Trump stuff 🤮

Other stuff

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Link List – April 24, 2018

I’m from St. Louis and choose to live here. While I don’t agree with the article in its entirety, I do think it hits on some of the pain points the region faces.
https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/maraprmay-2016/the-real-reason-middle-america-should-be-angry/

In a weird way this was both expected and unexpected.
https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/843zzy/the_average_faces_of_42_different_subreddits_oc/

I talk to people a lot. I often worry about looking like a goober. This is a helpful and healthy guide to appearing confident (even if like me you’re internally screaming when presenting publicly) 🙂
https://i.redd.it/72ykszmke5k01.png

The Jedi embody a form toxic masculinity in which emotions should be controlled, hidden, and not discussed. That leads to their downfall at the hands of Darth Vader. 6

“That passage gives us some clues as to the real reason why Anakin Skywalker can’t handle grief or loss. He’s been well-trained by the Jedi to stifle his emotions and hide his vulnerabilities. He’s never learned how to process and work through painful emotions in healthy ways. The results are as predictable as they are dysfunctional; Anakin is left completely unprepared for tragedy, and like too many young men in our own culture, he eventually lashes out in anger and leaves behind a trail of horrific violence.”
One of my favorite things from the new Star Wars film, The Last Jedi, was the message that we should learn from the past, but not ensconce the people present as heroes. The Jedi did some bad/stupid things and yet for years popular culture has been enamored with their zen-like understanding of the universe. Useful, but flawed. The starchy ‘on a pedestal’ style of the Jedi order should die, but the lessons should live on.

Luke: “We are what they grow beyond”.

Apply this to religion, patriarchy, Christopher Columbus, etc.
http://popculturedetective.agency/2018/the-case-against-the-jedi

“Some thoughts on what can be lost, and what can’t be, when we share what we love.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESyJop31cmY

SAVE HILL VALLEY! (and the history of video games)
https://uncrate.com/video/saving-lost-video-games/

I’v always been a fan of folks over at Penny Arcade. I have taken my family to PAX. The guys at PA aren’t perfect, but they seem like good people who are continuously improving themselves. These two recent comics and notes are evidence of that.
https://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2018/03/07/toxic-masculinity (discussion)
https://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2018/03/09/everything-old-is-new-again1 (discussion)

This video of Fred Rogers testifying before the Senate Subcommittee in 1969 should be annual viewing for all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKy7ljRr0AA

There’s many little robots inside you. Growing up I always thought nano machines would look like little metal robots. As I read and learned more, I have a feeling that our future nanobots will be organic – highly modified, but based on CGAT vs the microprocessor. I think humans might one day surpass the biological machines that live in the body, but that day is not today. This is some impressive evolutionary engineering.
https://www.reddit.com/r/specializedtools/comments/7te9zy/dna_polymerase_iii/

That giggle at the beginning kills me. 11-year-old kids man. Dealing with this shit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiQaIaI9xmk

Spike Jonze is one of my favorite directors. Particularly for his shorter works. My fandom extends to seeking out a DVD of his collected works (which is now woefully out-of-date). His latest music video (and incredibly small advertisement) does not disappoint.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=305ryPvU6A8

One of the larger teams I support at work recently deployed a significant feature to the last two (and largest) Wikipedias. It feels good.
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2018/04/17/wikipedia-page-previews/

I went and saw Hamilton this past week. I didn’t quite understand the hype and purposefully avoided listening to the soundtrack. 7 I can confirm that it did not disappoint. It is easily one of my top 4 theatre productions.

Jackie and I are a few episodes into Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which is co-created by Michael Schur who also created Parks and Recreation and The Good Place. I don’t know why we missed this show, but I’m happy that I have 5 seasons to catch up on.

I don’t know what to believe is real anymore.
http://prostheticknowledge.tumblr.com/post/173230067806/image-inpainting-for-irregular-holes-using-partial

I bought Skyrim (again) for the Nintendo Switch. This was one of the first games Kari and I played together. She would sit on my lap at my computer and tell me where to go and what to do. When the game got scary I’d tell her to look away as I beat up the monsters. I wonder if Kori will be as interested to play with me?

My dad and I went to a book signing by John Scalzi. He was as thoughtful and funny in person as his online persona – and obviously as witty as his writing. It was also a special event as science fiction, and John’s books in particular, are a bit of a bonding experience for my dad and I. My dad got to ask John a question and I had him sign our book “Mike + Chris”. []The question my dad asked John was if he had read the book Earth Abides, which my dad considers one of his favorites next to Old Man’s War – one of John’s first books. The answer was, “No, but I’ll look into it.” and, “Thank you that means a lot.”[/efn_note] If you like good books, check out Scalzi.

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