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kboghe / NordVPN-switcher

Rotate between different NordVPN servers with ease. Works both on Linux and Windows without any required changes to your code!
https://pypi.org/project/nordvpn-switcher/
189 stars 51 forks source link
nordvpn vpn webscraping

readme

New version: 0.3.0

(11/06/2022)

Updates for version 0.3.0:

Updates for version 0.2.9:

Updates for version 0.2.8:

Updates for version 0.2.7:

Updates for version 0.2.6:

Updates for version 0.2.5:

To all of those who've sent me feedback and/or reported bugs: thank you!

NordVPN-switcher

Rotate between different NordVPN servers with ease. Works both on Linux and Windows without any required changes to your code.

pip install nordvpn-switcher and you're all set!

Created by Kristof Boghe

But...why?

I realize there are multiple NordVPN-related packages available, but they only work for Linux and/or are not exactly user-friendly.

NordVPN-switcher is:

1. Able to run both on Windows and Linux

2. User-friendly

3. Forgiving

4. Able to check for captcha's on Google and/or YouTube

5. Flexible

Install

  1. Make sure NordVPN is installed.

Download the app here --> https://bit.ly/3ig2lU5

  1. Install the package

OR, for the ones who don't use pip for some reason:

  1. Import functions`from nordvpn_switcher import initialize_VPN,rotate_VPN,terminate_VPN

  2. Rotate between servers, for example: 

import time 

initialize_VPN(save=1,area_input=['complete rotation'])

for i in range(3):
    rotate_VPN()
    print('\nDo whatever you want here (e.g.scraping). Pausing for 10 seconds...\n')
    time.sleep(10)

will perform a truly random rotation between all available NordVPN servers.

That's it!

The building blocks

1. Setting up your NordVPN settings

initialize_VPN(stored_settings=0,save=0,area_input=None,skip_settings=None)

2. Rotating between servers.

rotate_VPN(instructions=None,google_check = 0)

3. Disconnecting from the VPN service

terminate_VPN(instructions=None)

How to use

--> Please check out the demo.py file on GitHub (https://github.com/kboghe/NordVPN-switcher/) for more examples <--

Option 1: save settings in environment The easiest and most user-friendly (although least automated) way of using NordVPN switcher is by saving the instructions into a new variable and feeding it to the rotate_VPN() function. 

from nordvpn_switcher import initialize_VPN,rotate_VPN,terminate_VPN

settings = initialize_VPN() 
rotate_VPN(settings) 
rotate_VPN(settings,google_check=1) 
terminate_VPN(settings)

resulting output option 1

In practice, you'll usually execute the rotate_VPN() function within some kind of loop. 

settings = initialize_VPN() #initialize VPN and save settings variable
for i in range(3): (e.g. you'd like to loop over 10.000 urls)
    rotate_VPN(settings)
    *perform some other code, e.g. scraping*
    rotate_VPN(settings,google_check=1) #with google and youtube captcha check

terminate_VPN(settings)

if you want to rotate between servers in an infinite loop, you can use the while true statement:

while True: 
    rotate_VPN(settings)
    time.sleep(3600) #e.g. rotate servers every hour

Thanks to the area_input parameter and the 'complete rotation' functionality, you don't have to provide any input at all. NordVPN will simply hop from server to server in a truly random fashion. 

initialize_VPN(save=1,area_input=['complete rotation'])

for i in range(3):
    rotate_VPN()
    *perform some other code, e.g. scraping*

terminate_VPN()

Option 2: save settings and execute on each run

If you want to make sure that certain NordVPN setting commands are executed (e.g. killswitch, whitelisting ports, etc.) on each run, save the instructions into your project folder once by setting the save parameter to 1 and execute the initialize_VPN and rotate_VPN function every time you run the script. NordVPN-switcher will alert you what kind of additional settings are pulled from the settings-file.

#do this once
initialize_VPN(save=1)

If save=1, the script will write a .txt file in JSON format to your project folder. It contains all the necessary information needed to execute the rotate_VPN function. Again, when the instructions parameter is missing in rotate_VPN, it will automatically look for the settings file in your project folder.

--On Windows, the contents of the nordvpn_settings.txt file look something like this (random example):

`{'opsys': 'Windows', 'command': ['nordvpn', '-c', '-g'], 'settings': ['belgium', 'netherlands', 'germany', 'spain', 'france'], 'original_ip': '82.169.108.182', 'cwd_path': 'C:/Program Files/NordVPN'}

-- On Linux, the file looks slightly different (different random example):

{'opsys': 'Linux','original_ip': '82.169.108.182','command': ['nordvpn', 'c'], 'settings': ['United_States', 'Canada', 'Brazil', 'Argentina', 'Mexico', 'Chile', 'Costa_Rica', 'Australia'], 'additional_settings': [['nordvpn', 'set', 'killswitch', 'disable'], ['nordvpn', 'whitelist', 'add', 'port', '23']],'credentials':[['name@gmail.com'],['coolpassword]]}

Thanks to the saved .txt file, you never need to go through the menu options of initialize_VPN() again. So, some time later, you simply perform:

initialize_VPN(stored_settings=1)
rotate_VPN()
#do stuff
terminate_VPN()

resulting output option 2

This option is only relevant for Linux users who wish to execute additional settings such as enabling killswitch etc. Executing these additional settings is not an available option on Windows machines.

Option 3: save settings and just use rotate on each run

This is similar to option 2, but without executing the initialize_VPN function on each run. This is relevant for all Windows machines or Linux machines who do not wish to execute additional settings.

#do this once
initialize_VPN(save=1)

#open project on a later date and just use the following two lines of code:
rotate_VPN()
#do stuff
terminate_VPN()

resulting output option 3

Option 4: manual option

Create or obtain your own settings_nordvpn.txt file, place it in your project folder and use the rotate function# For example, share particular settings with colleagues/friends who work on the same project by sending them your .txt settings file. Place it in your project folder and just use the rotate_VPN function.

rotate_VPN()
#do stuff
terminate_VPN()

> See the demo.py file for a summary

Some features and options

1. Rotate between all available NordVPN servers at random. This differs from any other connection method since NordVPN automatically picks the most 'appropriate' (as in fastest) server in a particular region. This means that connecting to, let's say, the Netherlands means you'll often end up with the same server time and time again. The 'complete rotation' functionality allows you to completely randomize server selection.

initialize_VPN(area_input=['complete rotation'])
rotate_VPN()
#do stuff
terminate_VPN()

2. Provide additional settings and save these for later use, if so desired (only on Linux)

additional settings gif

3. Login to NordVPN if logged out (only on Linux)

login nordvpn

4. Take a random sample from a larger region

random sample gif

5.Spellchecker

spellchecker gif

6. Provide a list of connection options, which will be automatically incorporated into the nordvpn_settings.txt file

range_servers = range(800,837)
server_list = ["nl"+str(number) for number in range_servers]
instructions = initialize_VPN(area_input = server_list)
rotate_VPN(instructions)

server list gif

6. NordVPN app starts automatically (if closed) on Windows. Connection process can also be monitored by checking the NordVPN app

windows app gif

Windows vs Linux

windows slowness gif

1.Being able to log in through the Python interface. Windows users need to make sure they're already logged into the NordVPN app. The Windows app remembers your log in by default though, so this shouldn't cause too much trouble. So even when the app is closed, NordVPN-switcher should work.

2.Executing additional settings (e.g. killswitch etc.)

Possible applications

In this case, the VPN switcher basically serves the same function as the often-used proxy lists while scraping the web (e.g. with BeauitfulSoup), but without the common disadvantages associated with the latter.

I'm pretty sure there are plenty of other viable applications out there. NordVPN-switcher is extremely easy to implement, no matter the particular problem/project at hand.

Questions, problems, nasty bugs to report?

kboghe@gmail.com

Have fun!