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Multiple jDownloader2 instances behind VPN

Alternatively: How to run multiple jD2 containers behind VPN on a single host

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Here I describe the setup I came up with in order to use multiple jDownloader2 instances in parallel on the same machine. With it you can bypass the by many One-click hosters enforced limit that prevents multiple simultaneous downloads (or enforces a waiting period between downloads).

Currently I use five parallel jd2 instances, each behind its own VPN container. With my ProtonVPN plan I could use up to ten instances simultaneously. However there is nothing preventing you from using other VPN providers or mix multiple providers.

Note

Of course this setup is useless for One-click hosts that prohibit downloads from IPs associated with VPS or VPN. Geoblocking can also be an issue due to the random connections.

- Docker containers utilized

The following different containers are part of this setup:

  • walt3rl/proton-privoxy (GitHub, DockerHub) → I use this since my VPN provider is ProtonVPN, however they plan to sunset the method used here soon(ish), as discussed here for walt3rl/proton-privoxy, including a fix. In the future some other container might be required, maybe gluetun. In order to work best, this setup requires a VPN container that selects an exit server at random upon restart.

  • plusminus/jdownloader2-headless (GitHub, DockerHub) → Despite not been updated in a long time, this container worked best for me. The regular updates of jD2 are installed upon container restart.

  • lscr.io/linuxserver/syncthing (LinuxServer.io) → I run the setup on a VPS to circumvent disconnections caused by my ISP, so I need some tool to retrieve successfully downloaded files.

  • jamesread/olivetin (GitHub, DockerHub) → Used to restart individual components of the setup without requiring to log into the server’s shell, Portainer or something similar.

  • lscr.io/linuxserver/code-server (LinuxServer.io) → Only required to edit the config file of jamesread/olivetin, can be omitted/replaced as needed.

Warning

This setup includes no killswitch! If a VPN container fails, the corresponding jD2 instance connects through the host’s network to the internet. If you need it, check the experimental killswitch feature or better switch to gluetun.

- Docker-compose file

The following docker-compose.yaml and .env files create three jD2 instances:

  • jd2_0 connects without a VPN to the internet
  • jd2_1 connects through the container vpn_1
  • jd2_2 connects through the container vpn_2

The downloaded files (partial and finished files) are placed in the volume jd2_downloads, which is mounted into the Syncthing container at /data1.

.env
SYNCTHING_HOSTNAME=host
SYNCTHING_PORT_WEBUI=8384
SYNCTHING_PORT_LISTENING=22000
SYNCTHING_PORT_DISCOVERY=21027
TIMEZONE=Europe/Berlin
OLIVETIN_PORT=1337
VSCODE_PW=
VSCODE_PORT=8443
JD2_EMAIL=
JD2_PW=
PVPN_USERNAME=
PVPN_PASSWORD=
PVPN_TIER=2
PVPN_1_PORT=8080
PVPN_2_PORT=8081
docker-compose.yaml
version: '3.3'
services:
 
  syncthing:
    container_name: syncthing
    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/syncthing
    restart: unless-stopped
    hostname: ${SYNCTHING_HOSTNAME}
    environment:
      - PUID=0
      - PGID=0
      - TZ=${TIMEZONE}
    ports:
      - ${SYNCTHING_PORT_WEBUI}:8384
      - ${SYNCTHING_PORT_LISTENING}:22000/tcp
      - ${SYNCTHING_PORT_LISTENING}:22000/udp
      - ${SYNCTHING_PORT_DISCOVERY}:21027/udp
    volumes:
      - syncthing_config:/config
      - jd2_downloads:/data1
 
  olivetin:
    container_name: olivetin
    image: jamesread/olivetin
    restart: unless-stopped
    user: root
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
      - olivetin_config:/config
    ports:
      - ${OLIVETIN_PORT}:1337
 
  vscode:
    container_name: vscode
    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/code-server:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - PUID=0
      - PGID=0
      - TZ=${TIMEZONE}
      - PASSWORD=${VSCODE_PW}
      - DEFAULT_WORKSPACE=/mnt
    volumes:
      - olivetin_config:/mnt/olivetin_config
    ports:
      - ${VSCODE_PORT}:8443
 
  vpn_1:
    container_name: vpn_1
    image: walt3rl/proton-privoxy
    restart: unless-stopped
    devices:
      - /dev/net/tun
    cap_add:
      - NET_ADMIN
    volumes:
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
    ports:
      - ${PVPN_1_PORT}:8080
    environment:
      - PVPN_USERNAME=${PVPN_USERNAME}
      - PVPN_PASSWORD=${PVPN_PASSWORD}
      - PVPN_TIER=${PVPN_TIER}
      - PVPN_CMD_ARGS=connect --random
      - PVPN_DEBUG=1
 
  vpn_2:
    container_name: vpn_2
    image: walt3rl/proton-privoxy
    restart: unless-stopped
    devices:
      - /dev/net/tun
    cap_add:
      - NET_ADMIN
    volumes:
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
    ports:
      - ${PVPN_2_PORT}:8080
    environment:
      - PVPN_USERNAME=${PVPN_USERNAME}
      - PVPN_PASSWORD=${PVPN_PASSWORD}
      - PVPN_TIER=${PVPN_TIER}
      - PVPN_CMD_ARGS=connect --random
      - PVPN_DEBUG=1
 
  jd2_0:
    container_name: jd2_0
    image: plusminus/jdownloader2-headless
    restart: unless-stopped
    user: root
    environment:
      EMAIL: ${JD2_EMAIL}
      PASSWORD: ${JD2_PW}
    volumes:
      - jd2_0_config:/opt/JDownloader/cfg
      - jd2_0_logs:/opt/JDownloader/logs
      - jd2_0_extensions:/opt/JDownloader/extensions
      - jd2_downloads:/opt/JDownloader/Downloads
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
 
  jd2_1:
    container_name: jd2_1
    image: plusminus/jdownloader2-headless
    restart: unless-stopped
    user: root
    network_mode: 'container:vpn_1'
    depends_on:
      - vpn_1
    environment:
      EMAIL: ${JD2_EMAIL}
      PASSWORD: ${JD2_PW}
    volumes:
      - jd2_1_config:/opt/JDownloader/cfg
      - jd2_1_logs:/opt/JDownloader/logs
      - jd2_1_extensions:/opt/JDownloader/extensions
      - jd2_downloads:/opt/JDownloader/Downloads
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
 
  jd2_2:
    container_name: jd2_2
    image: plusminus/jdownloader2-headless
    restart: unless-stopped
    user: root
    network_mode: 'container:vpn_2'
    depends_on:
      - vpn_2
    environment:
      EMAIL: ${JD2_EMAIL}
      PASSWORD: ${JD2_PW}
    volumes:
      - jd2_2_config:/opt/JDownloader/cfg
      - jd2_2_logs:/opt/JDownloader/logs
      - jd2_2_extensions:/opt/JDownloader/extensions
      - jd2_downloads:/opt/JDownloader/Downloads
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
 
volumes:
  syncthing_config:
    driver: local
    name: syncthing_config
  olivetin_config:
    driver: local
    name: olivetin_config
  jd2_downloads:
    driver: local
    name: jd2_downloads
  jd2_0_config:
    driver: local
    name: jd2_0_config
  jd2_0_logs:
    driver: local
    name: jd2_0_logs
  jd2_0_extensions:
    driver: local
    name: jd2_0_extensions
  jd2_1_config:
    driver: local
    name: jd2_1_config
  jd2_1_logs:
    driver: local
    name: jd2_1_logs
  jd2_1_extensions:
    driver: local
    name: jd2_1_extensions
  jd2_2_config:
    driver: local
    name: jd2_2_config
  jd2_2_logs:
    driver: local
    name: jd2_2_logs
  jd2_2_extensions:
    driver: local
    name: jd2_2_extensions

Enter your credentials in .env, then run docker compose pull and docker compose up -d.

Config

- jD2 configuration

…

  • Open “https://my.jdownloader.org/” and login with your credentials.
  • Stop all instances of jdownloader2-headless but the one you want to configure.
    All fresh instances have the same name so you can’t identify them otherwise.
  • Select your new instance
  • Settings → General
    • Set “Default Download Folder” to /opt/JDownloader/Downloads/D/<jd:packagename> (tick “subfolder as package name”)
    • Disable “Automatic reconnect”
    • (optional) Set speed limit. I noticed that all containers connected to VPN containers might crash if all download simultaneously with a very high rate.
  • Settings → Plugins
    • (optional) Change settings for different hosters.
  • Settings → Extension Manager
    • Install “Folder Watch” and enable it.
    • Enter the value for “FolderWatch: Folders”, depending on the jd2 instance:
      • jd2_0 → ["/opt/JDownloader/Downloads/watch/all","/opt/JDownloader/Downloads/watch/0"]
      • jd2_1 → ["/opt/JDownloader/Downloads/watch/all/added","/opt/JDownloader/Downloads/watch/1"]
      • jd2_2 → ["/opt/JDownloader/Downloads/watch/all/added/added","/opt/JDownloader/Downloads/watch/2"]
      • jd2_3 → ["/opt/JDownloader/Downloads/watch/all/added/added/added","/opt/JDownloader/Downloads/watch/3"]
  • Settings → Archive Extractor
    • Disable the extension.
  • Settings → Professional settings
    • GeneralSettings: If File Exists Action → Skip the file
    • GeneralSettings: Auto Start Download Option → Always
    • GeneralSettings: Auto Start Countdown Seconds → 0
    • MyJDownloaderSettings: Device Name → enter an individual name
  • Click “JD restart” (under Settings → General) to make sure your settings got saved. Recent setting changes might get lost if a container is stopped/restarted through the docker cli.
  • Proceed the same way with your other new instances.

- Olivetin configuration

Open the vscode container’s WebUI, navigate the explorer to /mnt/olivetin_config, create a new file called config.yaml (next to installation-id.txt) with the content

config.yaml
actions:
  - title: restart jd2 stack [1]
    icon: '<img src = "https://jdownloader.org/_media/knowledge/wiki/jdownloader.png" width = "48px"/>'
    shell: docker restart vpn_1  jd2_1
    timeout: 30
 
  - title: restart jd2 stack [2]
    icon: '<img src = "https://jdownloader.org/_media/knowledge/wiki/jdownloader.png" width = "48px"/>'
    shell: docker restart vpn_2 jd2_2
    timeout: 30

See the documentation for more options. The container vscode can (and should) be stopped now.

- Syncthing configuration

…

  • General
    • set a fitting folder label, like jd2_${SYNCTHING_HOSTNAME}
    • Folder Path: /data1
  • Sharing
    • select your desired (home) Syncthing instance
  • File Versioning
    • No File Versioning
  • Ignore Patterns
    • set as follows:
    *.part
jd_accessCheck_*
<jd:default>
  • Advanced
    • …

→ folder structure for .dlc files

/data1
 ├── .stfolder
 ├── D
 └── watch
     ├── 0
     ├── 1
     ├── 2
     └── all
         └── added
             └── added

Additional topics

- Browser setup, useful Windows software

…

- Solve captcha with 9kw.eu integration

…

- Download workflow

…

- Improvement ideas

Just some bullet points of improvement ideas:

  • automatically split download links best between containers
  • reduce required browser interaction
  • remove the need for https://my.jdownloader.org/ (maybe through only local connections?)
  • build a script to detect idle containers (maybe by network load?) and restart the associated containers
  • script to identify (and resolve) problems related to <jd:default>
  • script to identify (and resolve) problems related to too long filenames (Synology problem?)

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