Install OpenVPN on fireTV (no root required) for NORD (MAC, Windows, Linux)


DISCLAIMER: No copyright infringement intended. This article is for entertainment and educational purposes only,


Alright!! now that’s out of the way I’m going to keep this short and simple 


Scope : – 

Install OpenVPN client
import profile with username and password
connect to your preferred VPN server


Use case : – 

  • Secure your fireTV traffic using any OpenVPN supported VPN services=
  • Connect to your home file server/NAS and stream files when traveling via your FireTV or Firestick using your own VPN server (not covered in this article)
  • Watch Streaming services when traveling using your own VPN server (not covered in this article)
 
 
 
Guide :- 


Project Summary 

Hardware – FireTV 4K Latest firmware 

Platform – Windows 10 Enterprise

in this guide im using ADB to install OpenVPN client on my fireTV and use that to connect to the NORDVPN service

All Project files are located on C:NoRDVPN


Files Needed (Please download these files to your workstation before proceeding)

OpenVPN client APK – http://plai.de/android/

NORDVPN OpenVPN configuration files – https://nordvpn.com/ovpn/

ADBLink – http://jocala.com

01. Enable Developer mode on Fire tv 

http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-enable-adb-debugging-on-an-amazon-fire-tv-or-fire-tv-stick/

  1. From the Fire TV or Fire TV Stick’s home screen, scroll to “Settings”.
  2. Next, scroll to the right and select “Device”.
  3. Next, scroll down and select “Developer options”.
  4. Then select “ADB debugging” to turn the option to “ON”.
 
02. Install OpenVPN client via the network using ADBLInk
 
Install the ADBlink program
 
Download URL – http://jocala.com
 
Create Device profile and connect 
 
Launch ADBLink and click on “New”
 
 
Fill out the information 
 
Notes – 
 
Address  – this is the IP assigned to your FireTV you can get this from the fireTV Network status page under 
 
“Settings”.> “System”.> “About” > “Network”
 
 
You can also get this information from your ARP table, DHCP leases on your DHCP server, etc 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Leave everything else with default values and save the profile
 
Install APK using ADBLINK
 
 
Browse to the location you download all files to and select the OpenVPN APk file 
 
In this guide the location is “C:NoRDVPN”
After a successful install, you will be greeted with the following dialog box 
02. Configure and copy(ADB Push) OVPN configuration files
 
this step is very important
 
02-01 Create Login configuration files
 
Under the same folder where you downloaded files Example – C:NoRDVPN
 
create a text file with the following name – login.conf
 
Edit the file with your favorite text editor 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Enter your NORDVPN credentials in two separate lines (Email address and password)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Save Changes
 
 
02-02 Edit the VPN configuration file
Open the VPN configuration files in my case, I picked a US server so my filename is 
 
us226.nordvpn.com.udp1194.ovpn
File the line that reads “auth-user-pass” and replace it with “auth-user-pass login.conf
Save Changes
 
02. Push configuration files to the FireTV
 
 
  • Click on “File Manager” on adbLink
               Notes – By Default, it will connect to the root of the SDcard on your FireTV 
  • Create a folder (I’m going to call it NORD_VPN)
 
Find the created “NORD_VPN” folder and double click on it via the left window pane 
Click on “Push”
 
 
Browse to the folder (C:/NoRDVPN) and select the two configuration files 
 
Note – 
 
Use Shift to select multiple files
 
Files will be pushed out to the FireTV as soon as you select Choose
 
 
 
Now we are done with the work from your workstation
 
By the time you reach this step you will have completed the following 
 
  • Installed OpenVPN on the FireTV system
  • Customized the VPN configuration files
  • Copied the VPN configuration files to the Root of the SDcard on the FireTV system
Note – Next steps are really simple and you only need the fireTV remote to complete these
 
03. Import VPN profile on FireTV and connect
 
 
Browse to your Apps and Games > See All 
 

Select and launch OpenVPN Client

Use the + sign to add a profile 

Click Import

Browse and Select the ovpn configuration file using the browser 

 
 
Click on the imported VPN profile to initiate the connection 
Under the “Settings” Tab make sure “use System proxy” is enabled
Now your fireTV is routing traffic via the VPN 
 
This is the only outbound connection from the FireTV connecting to the NORDVPN server IP via openVPN port UDP 1194
 
You can find this IP in the configuration file or by going to the OpenVPN logs Tab
 
Until next time….Stay Awesome Internetz : ) 

Server 2016 Data De-duplication Report – Powershell

I put together this crude little script to send out a report on a  daily basis

it’s not that fancy but its functional 

I’m working on the second revision with an HTML body, lists of corrupted files, Resource usage, more features will be added as I dive further into Dedupe CMDlets.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh848450.aspx

Link to the Script – Dedupe_report.ps1

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/bltp675prlz1slo/Dedupe_report_Rev2_pub.txt

If you have any suggestions for improvements please comment and share with everyone

# Malinda Ratnayake | 2016
# Can only be run on Windows Server 2012 R2
#
# Get the date and set the variable
$Now = Get-Date
# Import the cmdlets
Import-Module Deduplication
#
$logFile01 = "C:_ScriptsLogsDedupe_Report.txt"
#
# Get the cluster vip and set to variable
$HostName = (Get-WmiObject win32_computersystem).DNSHostName+"."+(Get-WmiObject win32_computersystem).Domain
#
#$OS = Get-Host {$_.WindowsProductName}
#
# delete previous days check
del $logFile01
#
Out-File "$logFile01" -Encoding ASCII
Add-Content $logFile01 "Dedupication Report for $HostName" -Encoding ASCII
Add-Content $logFile01 "`n$Now" -Encoding ASCII
Add-Content $logFile01 "`n" -Encoding ASCII
#
# Get-DedupJob
Add-Content $logFile01 "Deduplication job Queue" -Encoding ASCII
Add-Content $logFile01 "__________________________________________________________________________" -Encoding ASCII
Get-DedupJob | Format-Table -AutoSize | Out-File -append  -Encoding ASCII $logFile01
Add-Content $logFile01 "`n" -Encoding ASCII
#
# Get-DedupSchedule
Add-Content $logFile01 "Deduplication Schedule" -Encoding ASCII
Add-Content $logFile01 "__________________________________________________________________________" -Encoding ASCII
Get-DedupSchedule | Format-Table -AutoSize | Out-File -append  -Encoding ASCII $logFile01
#
#Last Optimization Result and time
Add-Content $logFile01 "Last Optimization Result and time" -Encoding ASCII
Add-Content $logFile01 "__________________________________________________________________________" -Encoding ASCII
Get-DedupStatus | Select-Object  LastOptimizationTime ,LastOptimizationResultMessage | Format-Table -Wrap | Out-File -append  -Encoding ASCII $logFile01
#
#
#Last Garbage Collection Result and Time
Add-Content $logFile01 "Last Garbage Collection Result and Time" -Encoding ASCII
Add-Content $logFile01 "__________________________________________________________________________" -Encoding ASCII
Get-DedupStatus | Select-Object LastGarbageCollectionTime ,LastGarbageCollectionResultMessage | Format-Table -Wrap | Out-File -append  -Encoding ASCII $logFile01
#
# Get-DedupVolume
$DedupVolumeLetter = Get-DedupVolume | select -ExpandProperty Volume
Add-Content $logFile01 "Deduplication Enabled Volumes" -Encoding ASCII
Add-Content $logFile01 "__________________________________________________________________________" -Encoding ASCII
Get-DedupVolume | Format-Table -AutoSize | Out-File -append  -Encoding ASCII $logFile01
Add-Content $logFile01 "Volume $DedupVolumeLetter Details -  " -Encoding ASCII
Get-DedupVolume | FL | Out-File -append  -Encoding ASCII $logFile01
Add-Content $logFile01 "`n" -Encoding ASCII
#
# Get-DedupStatus
Add-Content $logFile01 "Deduplication Summary" -Encoding ASCII
Add-Content $logFile01 "__________________________________________________________________________" -Encoding ASCII
Get-DedupStatus | Format-Table -AutoSize | Out-File -append  -Encoding ASCII $logFile01
Add-Content $logFile01 "Deduplication Status Details" -Encoding ASCII
Add-Content $logFile01 "__________________________________________________________________________" -Encoding ASCII
Get-DedupStatus | FL | Out-File -append  -Encoding ASCII $logFile01
Add-Content $logFile01 "`n" -Encoding ASCII
#
# Get-DedupMetadata
Add-Content $logFile01 "Deduplication MetaData" -Encoding ASCII
Add-Content $logFile01 "__________________________________________________________________________" -Encoding ASCII
Add-Content $logFile01 "note - details about how deduplication processed the data on volume $DedupVolumeLetter " -Encoding ASCII
Get-DedupMetadata | FL | Out-File -append  -Encoding ASCII $logFile01
Add-Content $logFile01 "`n" -Encoding ASCII
#
# Get-Dedupe Events
# Get-Dedupe Events - Resource usage - WIP
Add-Content $logFile01 "Deduplication Events" -Encoding ASCII
Add-Content $logFile01 "__________________________________________________________________________" -Encoding ASCII
Get-WinEvent -MaxEvents 10 -LogName Microsoft-Windows-Deduplication/Diagnostic | where ID -EQ "10243" | FL | Out-File -append  -Encoding ASCII $logFile01
Add-Content $logFile01 "`n" -Encoding ASCII
#
# Change the -To, -From and -SmtpServer values to match your servers.
$Emailbody = Get-Content -Path $logFile01
[string[]]$recipients = "[email protected]"
Send-MailMessage -To $recipients -From [email protected] -subject "File services - Deduplication Report : $HostName " -SmtpServer smtp-relay.gmail.com -Attachments $logFile01