CrashPlan backup cannot see the remote computer

JohnK7

I use CrashPlan Home (version 4.8.0) on Mac OS to automatically backup to my friend's computer in a nearby town. CrashPlan uses ports 4242 and 4243. With Freedome operating, the remote computer shows as offline. When I stop Freedome CrashPlan reestablishes the connection in about 1 minute.

[Deleted User]

Hi JohnK7,

 

I am not sure if it is due to the reason that Freedome recognizes the devices only if it is in the same local network (to be on the same subnet). I will check on this and get back to you with an update.

JohnK7

Looking at the network debug instructions, CrashPlan advises checking the remote computer's IP address and attempting to Telnet to it on the assigned port. I can Telnet to it successfully regardless of whether the VPN is on or off. 

JohnK7

No, that's not it. I have been doing a lot of testing and it seems like the connection setup is taking a long time (up to several minutes, despite me hitting "retry" a few times), but then backups proceed as normal (with some bandwidth reduction of course). I'm exploring this with Code42 (developers of the CrashPlan apps and service). Please don't spend more time on this until I hear back from them with some reason that VPN would be the problem. Thank you.

[Deleted User]

Thanks for letting me know. Please do reply to this post if you have any news regarding this.

JohnK7

I've continued testing. I still see situations where connection takes a long time (for example, 5 minutes during which it says "Disconnected, retrying in < 1 minute)".  I have logs for this scenario tonight.

 

In other situations the connection is quickly established when I wake my laptop, only to become disconnected after a few minutes.

 

In both cases, all the while, I can access the remote computer via Telnet to the IP address and port shown in the Destinations -> Computers panel.

[Deleted User]

Hi JohnK7,

 

I did a followup with the Freedome team. They did a quick search which reveals that other VPN products based on OpenVPN are having similar issues with CrashPlan. It might be best to continue checking with CrashPlan support and ask if they have any ideas how their product could be set up to work better with OpenVPN based products.

 

JohnK7

Will do. I have an open ticket with Code42 (since 2 weeks) and have sent them logs. Thank you.

JohnK7

I went back and forth with Code42 support (which provides CrashPlan), providing logs and debug screen shots, etc. The last (from April 24, 2017) was "at this time OpenVPN is an unsupported configuration for CrashPlan". The support team was going to be sure that their engineering team was informed of the situation. Although sometimes backups do work (the connectivity test to CrashPlan's server always works), sometimes backups will run after a substantial delay, and sometimes they won't work at all. The work-around is to stop Freedome whenever backups are to be made.

 

I would like to see an option where Freedome can be configured to allow some apps to go directly to the Internet, bypassing the VPN tunnel. As an example CrashPlan backup traffic is already encrypted, and streaming services like Netflix block access. In these examples, traffic is not sensitive, large in volume, and delays can interfere with usability. Configurable bypass seems reasonable and feasible.

[Deleted User]

Hi JohnK7,

 

Just to keep you posted, Apps bypassing VPN feature in Freedome is already available in Android. However, as mentioned in this thread, we do get this request at times but it is not yet in the future plans. Ben has already forwarded this request to the attention of the Freedome team.