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Testing whether the VPN is running?

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  Testing whether the VPN is running? Adam Funk <a24061@ducksburg.com> - 2016-02-18 09:26 +0000
    Re: Testing whether the VPN is running? Ervin Hegedüs <airween@gmail.com> - 2016-02-18 10:45 +0100
      Re: Testing whether the VPN is running? Adam Funk <a24061@ducksburg.com> - 2016-02-18 10:03 +0000
        Re: Testing whether the VPN is running? Cameron Simpson <cs@zip.com.au> - 2016-02-23 19:24 +1100
          Re: Testing whether the VPN is running? Adam Funk <a24061@ducksburg.com> - 2016-02-25 13:25 +0000
        Re: Testing whether the VPN is running? Gisle Vanem <gvanem@yahoo.no> - 2016-02-23 10:40 +0100
    Re: Testing whether the VPN is running? Dan Stromberg <drsalists@gmail.com> - 2016-02-25 15:01 -0800

#103097 — Testing whether the VPN is running?

I'd like to test (inside a python 3 program) whether the VPN is
running or not.  The only thing I can think of so far is to use
subprocess to run the 'ifconfig' command, then check its output for
'tun0'.  Is there a better way?

Thanks.


-- 
Nam Sibbyllam quidem Cumis ego ipse oculis meis vidi in ampulla 
pendere, et cum illi pueri dicerent: beable beable beable; respondebat 
illa: doidy doidy doidy.                                 --- plorkwort

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#103098

Hi Adam,

On Thu, Feb 18, 2016 at 09:26:58AM +0000, Adam Funk wrote:
> I'd like to test (inside a python 3 program) whether the VPN is
> running or not.  The only thing I can think of so far is to use
> subprocess to run the 'ifconfig' command, then check its output for
> 'tun0'.  Is there a better way?

you didn't wrote, which system (OS) you want to use - based on
the "ifconfig" and "tun0" keywords, possible that's a Linux.

I think that the psutil modul could be better for you for this
task:

https://pypi.python.org/pypi/psutil/

and see the "Network" section.


Regards,


a.
 
-- 
I � UTF-8

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#103102

On 2016-02-18, Ervin Hegedüs wrote:

> Hi Adam,
>
> On Thu, Feb 18, 2016 at 09:26:58AM +0000, Adam Funk wrote:
>> I'd like to test (inside a python 3 program) whether the VPN is
>> running or not.  The only thing I can think of so far is to use
>> subprocess to run the 'ifconfig' command, then check its output for
>> 'tun0'.  Is there a better way?
>
> you didn't wrote, which system (OS) you want to use - based on
> the "ifconfig" and "tun0" keywords, possible that's a Linux.

Oops, sorry!  But your educated guess is right.  :-)

> I think that the psutil modul could be better for you for this
> task:
>
> https://pypi.python.org/pypi/psutil/
>
> and see the "Network" section.

if 'tun0' in psutil.net_if_addrs():
   # vpn is running

Brilliant!  I've used psutil for something else, but I didn't know it
did that too.  My excuse is that the version on my system was 2.2.1,
which does not do that, so I installed the newer version with pip3.
Thanks for pointing me to that.


-- 
XML is like violence: if it doesn't solve the problem,
use more.

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#103397

On 18Feb2016 10:03, Adam Funk <a24061@ducksburg.com> wrote:
>On 2016-02-18, Ervin Hegedüs wrote:
>> I think that the psutil modul could be better for you for this
>> task:
>> https://pypi.python.org/pypi/psutil/
>>
>> and see the "Network" section.
>
>if 'tun0' in psutil.net_if_addrs():
>   # vpn is running
>
>Brilliant!  I've used psutil for something else, but I didn't know it
>did that too.  My excuse is that the version on my system was 2.2.1,
>which does not do that, so I installed the newer version with pip3.
>Thanks for pointing me to that.

You might also want to check that the interface is up.

My personal hack (not for a VPN, but for "being online", which turns my ssh 
tunnels on and off) is to look in the output of "netstat -rn" for a default 
route. This may imply that an alternative test for you is to test for a route 
to your VPN's address range?  Just an idea.

Cheers,
Cameron Simpson <cs@zip.com.au>

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#103495

On 2016-02-23, Cameron Simpson wrote:

> On 18Feb2016 10:03, Adam Funk <a24061@ducksburg.com> wrote:
>>On 2016-02-18, Ervin Hegedüs wrote:
>>> I think that the psutil modul could be better for you for this
>>> task:
>>> https://pypi.python.org/pypi/psutil/
>>>
>>> and see the "Network" section.
>>
>>if 'tun0' in psutil.net_if_addrs():
>>   # vpn is running
>>
>>Brilliant!  I've used psutil for something else, but I didn't know it
>>did that too.  My excuse is that the version on my system was 2.2.1,
>>which does not do that, so I installed the newer version with pip3.
>>Thanks for pointing me to that.
>
> You might also want to check that the interface is up.
>
> My personal hack (not for a VPN, but for "being online", which turns my ssh 
> tunnels on and off) is to look in the output of "netstat -rn" for a default 
> route. This may imply that an alternative test for you is to test for a route 
> to your VPN's address range?  Just an idea.

Also interesting to know, thanks.


-- 
Mrs CJ and I avoid clichés like the plague.

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#103400

Cameron Simpson:

> You might also want to check that the interface is up.
> 
> My personal hack (not for a VPN, but for "being online", which turns my ssh tunnels on and off) is to look in the output
> of "netstat -rn" for a default route. This may imply that an alternative test for you is to test for a route to your
> VPN's address range?  Just an idea.

And for VPN in Windows *and* using WinPcap, one can check if this device
exist:
  \Device\NPF_GenericDialupAdapter

(controllable using 'sq query rasdial'). This works if you use
PPTP or L2TP but not OpenVPN.

BTW, a VPN on Windows doesn't come back up automatically after
a sleep/hibernation. The WOSB tool at http://www.dennisbabkin.com/wosb/
could be handy. What happens with your VPN on Linux (?) after coming
back from sleep/hibernation? Automatic or you need to script that too?

-- 
--gv

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#103522

On Thu, Feb 18, 2016 at 1:45 AM, Ervin Hegedüs <airween@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Adam,
>
> On Thu, Feb 18, 2016 at 09:26:58AM +0000, Adam Funk wrote:
>> I'd like to test (inside a python 3 program) whether the VPN is
>> running or not.  The only thing I can think of so far is to use
>> subprocess to run the 'ifconfig' command, then check its output for
>> 'tun0'.  Is there a better way?
>
> you didn't wrote, which system (OS) you want to use - based on
> the "ifconfig" and "tun0" keywords, possible that's a Linux.
>
> I think that the psutil modul could be better for you for this
> task:
>
> https://pypi.python.org/pypi/psutil/
>
> and see the "Network" section.

psutil is probably clean on Linux.

However, using the subprocess module to run ifconfig -a and check for
tun0 / utun0 should get you compatibility with both Linux and Mac.

Note that if I'm running a Linux in a VMware, and it's hosted on a
Mac, and the Mac has one of my VPN's up, then the Linux doesn't have a
tun0, but it can still see stuff only accessible via that VPN.

For that, it might be better to try ping'ing some host that's behind
the VPN.  In a way, that's a better test anyway.

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