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How do you build your own DNS based Hulu/Netflix Tunnel?
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How do you build your own DNS based Hulu/Netflix Tunnel?

chrispchrisp Member
edited March 2013 in Help

Hi folks,

I will start this thread by using some words from @nikc in another thread:

I would love to be able to run something like this, SSH / VPN all work nice for my PC's but would love to get a UK IP for the Xbox / PS3 .....

This was related to that DNS topic. Where can I find information on building my own DNS redirector with all that magic stuff between my german ip, that DNS server and Hulu. Sure a VPN is a nice thing, pretty easy to install and stuff, but it's not as neat for any other devices than a PC/Mac. Most mobile devices rather like to use L2TP and on hardware media players that sure is even a bigger problem.

So, do you know where to look for building something like UnoDNS, Unblockus and others. And please don't tell me about Tunlr, I know you can just use this for free but I'd rather build this myself if it's somehow possible.

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Comments

  • netomxnetomx Moderator, Veteran

    Get a cheap router, like tplink 740nd and install ooenwrt. Done.

  • You can set up multiple VPNs on your router and depending on the destination IPs route the traffic through the correct VPN.

  • chrispchrisp Member
    edited March 2013

    @dmmcintyre3 The problem here is, that you're absolutely dependent on your own router at home. I would really like to set this up like "Just change the dns ip to 123.45.6.7" and then on that server you would implement the magic. That would make it an independent solution that I could even share with friends.

    Edit:
    @netomx ok you could use openwrt and set it up with DNSMasq to use it for the solution you have built before or to use tunlr or others, but that doesn't solve the actual problem.

  • mikhomikho Member, Host Rep

    Basicly what you need is your own DNS servers with a host file that has netflix domain names pointing to one of your proxy servers instead of directly to netflix.

    So when your computer asks your DNS server, it will be directed to your proxy who opens the page for you.

    Good thing is that its only needed when browsing netflix, when you click stream, it doesn't have to go thru your proxy.

    Thanked by 1Mark_R
  • I have tried to do this myself. Using dnsmasq and a squid reverse proxy. It all works great untill you start dealing with ssl. I gave up trying to setup a mitm just to get it to work

  • @MikHo So basically what you need at first is bind to set the requested domain name's ip to your own server in the US, which will then tunnel the request from there to hulu. How would you do the tunneling part then?

  • Yeah no one seems to want to explain how they get around the ssl issue with multiple sites. I had it working using iptables to re-direct all traffic coming into the server on 443 to netflix but then I couldn't get other services to work. If you just want netflix then this is a solution for you.

  • mikhomikho Member, Host Rep

    Squid would probably do the trick.
    As said the tricky part is SSL, but it's doable.

  • pechspilzpechspilz Member
    edited March 2013

    Why dont't you install a local, configurable DNS forwarder (or maybe your router has one built in) and "redirect" *.hulu.com to resolve on Tunlr's DNS while sending all other queries to a DNS server you trust?

    A Rasperry Pi makes a great low cost low power DNS forwarder btw.

  • netomxnetomx Moderator, Veteran

    So i didnt understand what you need... i use openwrt to have that router c9nnect to a vpn.

  • I will tell you, I found partial explanations about doing this but nothing that was good at setting up your own actual dns service even for personal use that took the packets and did the right filter etc. I know that Tunlr has said they use their own custom written code to do it so from what I have seen and the others have said here, I just do not think the SSL part is possible without writing your own setup.

  • lpnlpn Member
    edited March 2013

    I'm curious if the OP or anybody else found out how to do this.

  • bnmklbnmkl Member
    edited March 2013

    I doubt it @lpn . Apparently Tunlr does the Geo IP Authentication part themselves , making Hulu accept your IP , then you interact directly with Hulu . So the code to do this would need to be found or created yourself.

    At least that is the only difficult part... ?

  • MrAndroidMrAndroid Member
    edited March 2013

    @chrisp said: So, do you know where to look for building something like UnoDNS, Unblockus and others. And please don't tell me about Tunlr, I know you can just use this for free but I'd rather build this myself if it's somehow possible.

    What they do is use a DNS server that forwards nearly all request to a normal DNS server (e.g Google DNS). But when you lookup Netflix (or sometimes just the geo IP part), they serve you modified DNS entries that points you to a US HTTP Proxy that you appear to be from the US.

    The reason they use DNS is so consoles, tv's etc can use it.

    I might be wrong, but from my research, that's what Tunlr etc do. I would love to sit down sometime and set up my own and open-source the implementation.

  • bnmklbnmkl Member
    edited March 2013

    @MrAndroid ... points you to a US HTTP Proxy .

    That is definitely possible . Because it is a free service , I lean towards them not doing that as the bandwidth transfer would be very costly . Tunlr also state :

    Some services depend on availability .

    I assume this is because they have not hacked solutions for all services . A proxy would work for all ?

    Thanks to Tunlr you will be streaming data in the best quality available . Since we don't route multimedia content over an intermediary network , only the speed

    of your internet connection is the limiting factor .

  • Well, I found this: http://corporate-gadfly.github.com/Tunlr-Clone/ so all that remains is getting the https working for netflix, which is the tricky part it seems.

  • mikhomikho Member, Host Rep

    One way is to get a ipv6 tunnel from HE.net or similar and use that for browsing netflix (since its supporting ipv6).

    That way you wont need to change much if you cvonnect to the "rest of the internet" via ipv4 and use ipv6 for netflix.

  • @MikHo said: That way you wont need to change much if you cvonnect to the "rest of the internet" via ipv4 and use ipv6 for netflix.

    I've noticed that too, Netflix does not geoIP IPv6.

  • netomxnetomx Moderator, Veteran

    so, the detail here is to get us netflix, it is only with dns?!

  • mikhomikho Member, Host Rep

    @netomx said: so, the detail here is to get us netflix, it is only with dns?!

    Instead of using a vpn connection, since some media boxes (like apple-tv) have problems using VPN.

    The easy to use (harder to set up) is to get your own DNS which changes some dns-entries for netflix/hulu/etc ... and points them to a reverse proxy in the country that you want to browse netflix with.

  • blackblack Member

    Trying to build your own service like unblock-us.com? :P

  • netomxnetomx Moderator, Veteran

    @MikHo said: The easy to use (harder to set up) is to get your own DNS which changes some dns-entries for netflix/hulu/etc ... and points them to a reverse proxy in the country that you want to browse netflix with.

    care to explain?

    how can you modify the dns so netflix knows youre from the us?

  • blackblack Member

    I think it works something like this -

    For all sites you're trying to proxy, like netflix or whatever, you point the DNS record to your own servers (which is a proxy of some sort)

    For other websites, you do regular DNS lookups

  • mikhomikho Member, Host Rep

    @netomx
    Basicly what it does is the the dns server you are using is mot pointing to a netflix server but instead to a reverse proxy ( in the us in this example).
    So when your home computer asks for dns entries for www.netflix.com it will get the iö of your reverse proxy.
    Your home computer wil then ask the proxy for netflix which it will send to you.

    Is that explaination any better?

    @black
    Yes, that is the topic of this thread.

  • mikhomikho Member, Host Rep

    Speaking of netflix, you shouldn't run *.netflix.com thru your proxy, it will eat up your bandwidth. You only have to login from a US proxy, you can stream the movie directly to your computer.

  • netomxnetomx Moderator, Veteran

    @MikHo said: Is that explaination any better?

    yes, thx

  • Actually, you need to debug the client and to find out which addresses have to be routed through a proxy and which ones are just handed off to a CDN. Which is quite a challenge if you want to support multiple services and delivery platforms. I personally know one of the fine folks who run Tunlr, that's what he told me.

  • FreekFreek Member

    @MikHo said: it will eat up your bandwidth

    Most VPS come with a ton of bandwidth. My highest usage is about 250GB on a VPS running 4 high traffic COD2 Servers and 1 TS3 server... I have 2TB.....

  • mikhomikho Member, Host Rep

    @Freek said: Most VPS come with a ton of bandwidth. My highest usage is about 250GB on a VPS running 4 high traffic COD2 Servers and 1 TS3 server... I have 2TB.....

    For personal use its often enough, but if you share one one VPS among friends, it's better to build a solution that would work out the best in the long run.

  • mikhomikho Member, Host Rep

    @pechspilz said: Which is quite a challenge if you want to support multiple services and delivery platforms. I personally know one of the fine folks who run Tunlr, that's what he told me.

    I have a list for netflix somewhere in a text-file on my computer. ..

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