Methods for running uTorrent on local-only account

P

Pada

Executive Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2009
Messages
8,191
Reaction score
6
Location
Stellenbosch
There are many people out there looking for a solution on how to run uTorrent in the background, using only local cap, whilst allowing other applications to use international (and/or local) cap.
Using RouteSentry or any other form of traffic splitting works well in most cases, although as soon as the peer/tracker's IP address falls out of the local IP range set used by the application/script to split the traffic, uTorrent will consume international bandwidth.

I would appreciate it if I can get testers for Solution #4, where you don't split traffic in the normal fashion, instead only routing uTorrent's traffic through the local account. You could of course use normal traffic splitting AND that method to force uTorrent to use only local bandwidth. I have done a quick test and it seemed to be working nicely.

Here are my solutions:
Solution #1: (safest solution)
Run uTorrent on a separate PC that is connected to ONLY a local account. If you run out of cap, uTorrent would stop downloading & uploading​

Solution #2: (safe solution - should be as safe as with Solution #1)
Setup a Socks5 (or HTTP) proxy on a separate PC on the LAN that is ONLY connected to a local account.
Then setup uTorrent to use that Socks5 proxy for all the traffic (incl. peer-to-peer).
If you have managed to configure uTorrent to route all the traffic through the proxy server, then it would be as safe as Solution #1.​

Solution 3: (fairly safe - if uTorrent & traffic splitting is correctly utilized)
Using the router in half-bridge mode (aka bridging mode with PPPoE passthrough enabled), where you let the router dial the local only connection.
The safety of this solution depends on how good your IPFilter for uTorrent is and the specific torrent tracker that you're using AND on the list of local routes that you're using for splitting traffic.
Next step would be to run uTorrent in combination with RouteSentry or another method of traffic splitting, where you dial your international connection from the PC (and select it as your international interface in RS) and select your Ethernet (LAN/WiFi) adapter as the local interface in RS.
The cool thing about this solution is that when your local cap is depleted, the routes to the local sites would still be in tact, denying access to all local sites. This would cause uTorrent to stop downloading & uploading too.​

Solution #4: (safer than solution #3 / same safety level as Solution #2)

This solution is my attempt on routing all the uTorrent traffic through the local account. I hope to stop all international bandwidth being used by uTorrent, which can happen in the case of Solution #3 where your IP filter & list of local routes isn't including the local peer/tracker.

I'm using uTorrent, my Traffic Splitter app & FreeProxy.
FreeProxy setup:
  • Socks 5 server
  • Local binding: Ethernet Adapter (IP 10.0.0.4)
  • Remote binding: WAN (PPP/SLIP) interface (IP local only PPPoE connection)
  • Allow incoming connections: checked
  • Incoming connections: (same as Remote binding)
uTorrent setup:
  • Connection:
    • Socks5 proxy: 10.0.0.4:1080
    • Resolve hostnames through proxy: checked
    • Use proxy server for peer-to-peer connections: checked
  • BitTorrent:
    • Enable DHT Network: unchecked
    • Enable DHT for new torrents: unchecked
    • Enable Local Peer Discovery: unchecked
    • Enable Peer Exchange: unchecked
  • Advanced: I'm also using an IP filter for extra measure.
    If someone can verify that it blocks all international traffic without using an IP filter, I would appreciate it very much!
Routing table setup:
  • Set the international connection to be the default connection, using the command-line app: "route.exe add 0.0.0.0 mask 128.0.0.0 <international connection's (gateway) IP>" AND "route.exe add 128.0.0.0 mask 128.0.0.0 <international connection's (gateway) IP>"
    You could use my Traffic Splitter application for this instead, by selecting the international connection as the International interface.
  • Set the local only connection to route all destinations too, using by configuring the local only connection to be the default gateway. To do this, simply ensure that the "Use default gateway on remote network" option is checked. If you're using RouteSentry, leave that option unchecked.
    You could use my Traffic Splitter application for this, by adding 0.0.0.0,0.0.0.0 to the Auxiliary routes and then selecting the local only connection for the Auxilary (and/or Local) interface(s), but I would advice you to rather check that default gateway option on the local connection's TCP/IP v4 properties and then not selecting the local only connection in my application OR only selecting it for the local interface

Disclaimer/Warning:
Since I haven't fully tested this method yet...
I can't say for sure that this will PREVENT the international connection from being used at all OR that only uTorrent will be using the local only connection where as all the other applications will be using the international traffic
If someone could test this thoroughly, I would appreciate it :)​

If you've tried out my solution 4, give a rough description on your configuration that you used to test it. eg. router in bridging mode; dialing both connections from the PC running uTorrent; using no IP filter; left "Use default gateway on remote network" checked; used Traffic Splitter to make the international connection the default connection & selected the local connection for the local interface
 
Last edited:
Trying to set up FreeProxy.

I'm using a .bat file with route commands to route local via my router ISP login, I don't run a "Program" to do the routing and then I dial PPPoE for international, so I'm trying to get FreeProxy to direct its traffic via 10.0.0.2, my router, but at remote binding it only gives me the option of 10.0.0.4 (My PC) or Any IP and neither work with uTorrent.

UTorrent say: Proxy connect error - Connection closed by peer.

However I can browse with firefox via the proxy, what am I doing wrong? Sorry, I don't really know the terminology so I hope I explained my self correctly.
 
Last edited:
Hey Willem,

If you want to redirect your traffic via 10.0.0.2, you shouldn't install FreeProxy on the PC having a 10.0.0.4 IP address. Install it on the 10.0.0.2 one instead, and set its local binding to 10.0.0.2 interface & its remote binding to the local only connection.
Once you have FreeProxy running, then setup uTorrent to use the proxy on 10.0.0.2 port 1080 (or whatever port you've configured in FreeProxy on 10.0.0.2).

You could also leave out the local binding in FreeProxy, which would allow you to either connect to the PC's IP address OR if you're connecting to the same PC, you could simply connect to localhost (127.0.0.1).

Its fine to split the traffic using a batch file, as long as you know what you're doing :)
 
10.0.0.2 is my router's IP, so I can't install freeproxy there.

The way I'm set up now: When I'm not connected to a PC dialed PPPoE connection, ALL traffic goes via my router, gateway 10.0.0.2, good for pre-capped TI account. As soon as I dial a PPPoE connection, local automatically get routed via my router, gateway 10.0.0.2 and the rest (international) go via the dialed PPPoE.

So I would like the proxy, or uTorrent to ONLY use the 10.0.0.2 gateway and ignore the dialed connection. Any ideas?
 
i'm interested in this traffic splitting thing but have always wondered about the following: Is it not possible to set up some kind of interface that will let you test wether it can connect on a cirtain line, if not then use another line.

So you have two connections on a machine, if you try and connect to a site eg MyBB, then it will frist try and route to the site via the local interface, if it can't then it will use the other connection. Surely this is better than having a list of ranges for local and international and updating them ?
 
pada i downloaded freeproxy... could you maybe give a guide on how to set it up as shown above for those of us like me who don't know where to click or what to do...
thanx

@ Sarcasm - it depends on who you leech off, if the torrents are local and the peers are local then it'll work on local bandwidth
 
willemvdm said:
10.0.0.2 is my router's IP, so I can't install freeproxy there.

The way I'm set up now: When I'm not connected to a PC dialed PPPoE connection, ALL traffic goes via my router, gateway 10.0.0.2, good for pre-capped TI account. As soon as I dial a PPPoE connection, local automatically get routed via my router, gateway 10.0.0.2 and the rest (international) go via the dialed PPPoE.

So I would like the proxy, or uTorrent to ONLY use the 10.0.0.2 gateway and ignore the dialed connection. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Willem, for your case, you would have to setup FreeProxy such that all the interfaces bind/listen on your LAN/Ethernet interface with the 10.0.0.4 IP address.

Nerfherder said:
i'm interested in this traffic splitting thing but have always wondered about the following: Is it not possible to set up some kind of interface that will let you test wether it can connect on a cirtain line, if not then use another line.

So you have two connections on a machine, if you try and connect to a site eg MyBB, then it will frist try and route to the site via the local interface, if it can't then it will use the other connection. Surely this is better than having a list of ranges for local and international and updating them ?
Click to expand...
You should be able to write a proxy/tunnelling application that is capable of doing just that, but I haven't seen such an application yet. It would work on the same principal as Proxifier, that injects a DLL into the system and then captures & redirects all the connections. The only thing that I'm uncertain about is whether you can force the traffic to use a specific interface. My guess is that if you bind on a specific interface, like I've tried to do with FreeProxy, that it would do just that :)

d7e7r7 said:
pada i downloaded freeproxy... could you maybe give a guide on how to set it up as shown above for those of us like me who don't know where to click or what to do...
thanx

@ Sarcasm - it depends on who you leech off, if the torrents are local and the peers are local then it'll work on local bandwidth
Click to expand...
I actually don't want to explain in more detail yet, because it prevents people not knowing about networking to test that method in the first place.
It seems like my approach already failed, since Sarcasm asked such a noob question that I tried to avoid in the first place :(

I'll definitely explain it in detail for everyone to understand/follow once I have people, with a good networking knowledge, confirming that the method works 100%.

Here are more instructions for you:
Once you've installed FreeProxy, run the FreeProxy Control Centre and double-click Port. Now setup FreeProxy as I've explained in my first post.
 
Ok, got the proxy to work with uTorrent (still don't know what I did right or wrong) and it seem to be doing the job. Those pesky IPv6 peers are no longer downloading while international is connected, however they still seem to be attempting to connect, they appear for just a second and then they are gone again, but definitely no longer downloading from me, so that would save a lot of international.

There are however still a small international leak. When I open the international connection's status window, every minute or two, it ticks on a few hundred bytes. Now that could be some other program doing something in the background like windows update, but most probably it is those international (IPv6) connection attempts even though they are failing.

Right now I'm downloading wireshark, I have no idea how to use it, but hopefully I'll learn quickly and hopefully it can shed some light on exactly what is happening on that international connection.

Pada, I think you got hold of a good thing here, thanks a lot.
 
Am I correct in saying this will only work if someone local is seeding?
 
willemvdm said:
...
There are however still a small international leak. When I open the international connection's status window, every minute or two, it ticks on a few hundred bytes. Now that could be some other program doing something in the background like windows update, but most probably it is those international (IPv6) connection attempts even though they are failing.
...
Click to expand...

I have this problem too, only mine even shows bandwidth being used up on my int connection with utorrent closed!!! I'm thinking its KIS. Kaspersky internet security...
 
Ok, I think I've now plugged the leak best I can. What I did was to block uTorrent in the windows firewall. uTorrent is still working fine via the proxy.

Over the past 20 minutes in the connection status window bytes received increased with 5kB, did not take note of bytes send. I think that is acceptable. I also no longer notice those IPv6 connection attempts as mentioned before.
 
Last edited:
Pada, I'm trying to set up Free Proxy but I'm getting stuck at the Remote Binding. I only get one option and its my ethernet adapter (the same thing that I put for Local Binding...
 
Camerongf, unfortunately you have to RESTART the FreeProxy Control Center AFTER you've dialed the PPPoE connections (aka WAN (PPP/SLIP)) to get the WAN (PPP/SLIP) interfaces showing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X