As long as you connect to NMDC hubs, unfortunately probably not. The majority of schools have moved over to a solution from Packeteer or a similar company. This software/hardware solution has the ability to look into a TCP packet, decode the application layer data and then throttle/block accordingly.

If you connect to ADC hubs chances are the deep packet inspecting solutions aren't recognize ADC protocol yet. Moreover, ADC supports SSL encrypted secure communication and file transfers what makes packets transparent to packet shaping solutions. So at first, try ADC hubs from bigger hublists (their address starts with adc:// or adcs://). Don't forget to enable TLS support in DC++ settings.

If you want to connect to old NMDC hubs there could be a way to get around blocking, but it's no easy task. It would involve setting up a host off campus which is not influenced by the schools packet shaping. Then setting up a tunnel (socks, proxy, ssh, vpn, etc) and routing all your DC++ traffic through it. It will still be affected by the schools packet shaping, but there is a chance the tunnel you created has a higher priority/larger pipe than the P2P one.

Some schools might have their network behind a NAT, in which case you are SOL for an active connection. Furthermore, if this is the case, then they have full control over connections, and there isn�t anything you can do.  Try passive mode and cross your fingers.

A few schools just use simple port blocking. DC++ automatically uses a wide range of ports for outgoing traffic to help bypass port blocking.  If the school is smart enough to block port 411 outgoing connections, then you are pretty much SOL since that is the port most hubs use. One could try to connect to a hub that uses an alternative port (i.e. myhub.kicks-ass.net:2385). Once again, you could possibly set up a tunnel or port mapping, but those are complicated solutions that not many can achieve (and out of the scope of this FAQ).

A solution which might work is to use a proxy program/service to bypass their firewall, such as HTTP-tunnel or Hopster.

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by USR56K edited by eMTee
last modified: 2010-10-28 12:31:34