I recently upgraded my Ubuntu headless server to 21.04 from 20.04 (don't ask me - I am adventorous) :D

But I found out thereafter (of course) that NordVPN CLI client, which have worked flawlessly with 20.40, now is crappy and unstable in 21.04. I have tried every which way to stabilize the connection to at lest overnight but I found out when I ran a PING script that echoes the timestamp that the connection lasts roughly 3-4 hours at a time.

Please note, I have tried every NordVPN setting in many diferent configurations in my script (below):

#!/bin/bash
settings() {
    timeout 5s nordvpn s technology NordLynx (or openvpn)
#   timeout 5s nordvpn s protocol udp #ovpn only
        timeout 5s nordvpn s ipv6 on
    timeout 5s nordvpn s killswitch on
    timeout 5s nordvpn s cybersec on
#   timeout 5s nordvpn s obfuscate off #ovpn only
    timeout 5s nordvpn s notify off
    timeout 5s nordvpn s autoconnect on
    timeout 5s nordvpn s dns 1.1.1.1 8.8.8.8
    timeout 5s nordvpn whitelist add subnet 192.168.0.0/24 #my local subnet
        timeout 5s nordvpn whitelist add ports 137 139 #NetBIOS
        timeout 5s nordvpn whitelist add ports 443 445 #HTTP over SSL, MSFT DS
        timeout 5s nordvpn whitelist add port 143 #IMAP4
        timeout 5s nordvpn whitelist add port 2302 #Halo
        timeout 5s nordvpn whitelist add ports 6881 6889 #BitTorrent
}

blahdi blah...

So, instead of giving up, I rolled my sleeves and went to battle.

First, I found this nice bash script in this subreddit community. I saved it as "nordvpn_boot.sh" to /etc so the filepath is "/etc/nordvpn_boot.sh":

#!/bin/bash
settings() {
    timeout 5s nordvpn s technology NordLynx
#   timeout 5s nordvpn s protocol udp
        timeout 5s nordvpn s ipv6 on
    timeout 5s nordvpn s killswitch on
    timeout 5s nordvpn s cybersec on
#   timeout 5s nordvpn s obfuscate off
    timeout 5s nordvpn s notify off
    timeout 5s nordvpn s autoconnect on
    timeout 5s nordvpn s dns 1.1.1.1 8.8.8.8
    timeout 5s nordvpn whitelist add subnet 192.168.0.0/24 #my local subnet
        timeout 5s nordvpn whitelist add ports 137 139 #NetBIOS
        timeout 5s nordvpn whitelist add ports 443 445 #HTTP over SSL, MSFT DS
        timeout 5s nordvpn whitelist add port 143 #IMAP4
        timeout 5s nordvpn whitelist add port 2302 #Halo
        timeout 5s nordvpn whitelist add ports 6881 6889 #BitTorrent
}

reconnect() {
    timeout 5s nordvpn d    
    timeout 5s nordvpn c us
}

restartvpnservices() {
    systemctl restart nordvpn.service | systemctl restart nordvpnd.service
}

check() {
    timeout 5s bash -c 'nordvpn status | grep -q "Status: Connected"'
}

checkdis1() {
    timeout 5s bash -c 'nordvpn d | grep -q "You are disconnected from NordVPN."'
}

checkdis2() {
    timeout 5s bash -c 'nordvpn d | grep -q "You are not connected to NordVPN."'
}

# Connection check.
settings
reconnect
echo "$(date) [Checking VPN connectivity]"
if ! check; then
    echo "$(date) [Check failed, trying again in 3s]"
    sleep 3 
    reconnect
    if ! check; then
        echo "$(date) [Reconnect failed, trying again in 3s]"
        sleep 3
        reconnect
        if ! check; then
            echo "$(date) [Second reconnect failed, restarting NordVPN (30s)"
            restartvpnservices
            sleep 30
            settings
            reconnect
            echo "$(date) [Checking VPN connectivity]"
            if ! check; then
                echo "$(date) [Check failed, trying again in 3s]"
                sleep 3
                reconnect
                if ! check; then
                    echo "$(date) [Check failed again, starting VPN]"
                    reconnect
                    if ! check; then
                        echo "$(date) [Reconnect failed, trying again in 3s]"
                        sleep 3
                        reconnect
                        if ! check; then
                            echo "$(date) [Second reconnect failed, restart the system to regain connection with the VPN service]"
                            sleep 99999999999999999999999999999999 #practically waits for infinite time
                        fi
                    fi
                fi
            fi
        fi
    fi
fi

# Disconnect check to ensure it doesn't claim to be connected while it actually isn't. Blame NordVPN for this one, not the script.
if ! checkdis1; then
    echo "$(date) [Disconnect check failed, restarting NordVPN (30s)]"
    restartvpnservices
    sleep 30
    settings
    if ! checkdis2; then
        echo "$(date) [Disconnect check failed, restart the system to regain connection with the VPN service]"
        sleep 99999999999999999999999999999999 #practically waits for infinite time
    fi
fi

# Final connection attempt activated when everything goes well.
reconnect
echo "$(date) [VPN connected!]"
sleep 5
# exit cleanly
exit 0

Important: you need to make "/etc/nordvpn_boot.sh" readable and executable by running this command in the terminal:

sudo chmod a+x /etc/nordvpn_boot.sh

If you are asked your root credentials, please do so.

Then add a cron job (or tab) to run this script automated every 3 hrs. So, let's add an automated cron job to do just that. Open the terminal (bash shell) and type the following:

crontab -e

Note: If this is your first time running or adding a cron job, it will ask for your favorite bash command line editor. In my case I was asked for 1) nano 2) vi 3) vim. I chose nano as I am more comfortable with it and it it the easiest. If you are an old timer (no offense) you are probably very familiar and prefer vim or vi (YIKES!!)

Upon selecting your default CLI text editor, your current cron jobs/tabs are listed.

Obviously, if this is your first time doing any crons then it will be empty sans the instructions how to add and format the cron jobs, etc.

At the bottom of the cron tab list, add the following:

0 */3 * * * /etc/nordvpn_boot.sh

That means run the nordvpn_boot.sh every "3" hours. If you need to modify that to, say, every hour then just replace the "3" to "1". Simple.

Then close out the CLI text editor. With nano it's CTRL-O to save then CTRL-X to exit. Yup just like Wordperfect. :D

To view your cron tabs without editing (it works like the command 'cat some-text-file.txt' does)

crontab -l

Last note:

Since you are already running Ubuntu, or any other Linux distro, I assume cron is already installed as it is a standard *nix application since I can remember. For some reason yours do not have cron installed, install it first.

Hope that helps with your NordVPN connection issues!! Please modify the script's NordVPN settings to your environment as it pleases you. Some settings do not work with NordLynx (aka WireGuard VPN protocol)

Enjoy!!

AdmiralRickHunter

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