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05. Monitor Options
The Monitor tab in the Settings menu contains a bunch of different options that affect the add-on behaviour.
Starts the VPN connection as soon as Kodi starts the add-on service. Requires that at least one connection has been validated.
If this option is off then a connection will not automatically be made. Filters can be used to connect to a VPN when an add-on is accessed. Depending on the revert setting this can lead to a VPN only being used when necessary.
This first connection will not output a log to the expected location, but subsequent attempts to connect to a VPN will write a log.
Modifies the start up procedure of LibreELEC to start the VPN connection at the same time as Kodi. Requires that at least one connection has been validated.
Be aware that if your openvpn connection takes a long time to connect then it maybe that Kodi starts up before the openvpn connection has been established. I don't see this on a wired network using PIA but your experience maybe different.
Once Kodi and subsequently the add-on has been started, if an openvpn task is found to be running a notification will be displayed to inform the user a VPN connection is running. If no task is found, and there is no VPN connection then a further attempt to connect will be tried (with the usual set of notifications or connecting and success or failure).
Will delay for a given number of seconds all VPN connections from starting, either as part of the automatic connection, the filtering, the API or manually selected. Any connection attempt during the delay will be ignored. Once the delay has completed, any outstanding connection will be attempted. This option is not available if the Connect VPN before Kodi starts option is selected.
Enabling this option will delay the service from starting, and also delay it detecting a shutdown which could in turn slow a restart or power off. For this reason you should keep the delay to a minimum.
The VPN connection will be repeatedly checked to see that it's still running and reconnected if it's not. This is only done when media is not being played.
Also checks and reconnects VPN connection during playback. I've found that this can cause audio drop outs on lower end hardware when it's busy. If you experience this then turn this option off, but realise there may be a delay in fixing any break in your VPN, during which time your connection is insecure.
Checks and reconnects VPN connection only during streaming. This option is a selective alternative to Reconnect if connection lost during playback that maybe a good compromise.
If the VPN is lost or changes during playback, this option will stop all streaming media on the current connection so that a new VPN connection can be established. Local media such as files or PVR streams will not be stopped. Turning this option off may lead to data being continually streamed across an unsecured connection. If the option to reconnect during playback is disabled, then this option will have no effect.
Only appears when debug is switched on as most users should just leave this setting alone. Let's the user enter a series of space separated values that are used to identify streaming media. The values are matched against the leading characters of the media name, and if there's a match it'll be identified as a string. Values that start with a "!" can be used to exclude a media previously matched as a stream (such as local network streaming media)
The VPN should reconnect when Kodi is recovering from a suspended state because the connection is kept alive with ping and if it's not alive, it'll restart. This is an alternative which will always force a reconnection. For most people it won't be necessary.
How often the connection is checked, in seconds.
An IP location service will be called after connection to check that the DNS is working and the network connectivity is allowing data to flow. If it fails, the connection attempt will return an error. The connection is checked in this way during validation, and should not generally be needed once the connection is validated. It will also extend the time required to connect. But where the network is less reliable this might be something to enable to try and retain connectivity (ie without a VPN if the VPN connection doesn't establish correctly)
This gives a really simple failover mechanism if a connection is bad. It's really not sophisticated enough to do the right thing in most environments as it'll just try to use the next connection if the attempted connection fails and then continue to retry the second connection (rather than try the first again). It'll also not fail back to the first connection once the second has been established.
If you're using filtering, then you should be aware that if a filtered add-on is not filtered on both the attempted connection AND the next connection then filtering will do some reconnection the first chance it gets.
Where you could use this is if you have a preferential connection that can be a bit dodgy. If that fails, you might want to have a second connection that is more reliable. It's the up to you to move back to the first connection when it suits you. The good thing is that you'll always have some VPN connection using this option, which maybe preferable to having none on at all.
Because of the limitations and the need to think about filtering carefully this is off by default.
Sometimes VPN connection failures can be because your Kodi box needs an unexplained kick. If the connection fails 10 consecutive times, then a timed dialog will appear asking if you want to reboot to try and fix the problem.
Determines whether a VPN connection that has been made due to a filter will persist, or whether the VPN connection will revert to the previous connection when the user leaves the add-on.
If your VPN provider does load balancing on or during connection then having the ability to force a reconnect to the current VPN connection may allow you to switch to the least loaded server. This option will allow you to select an existing connection to force a re-connection, and it will include the reconnect option in the VPN cycle.
As with the previous option, if your VPN provider does load balancing on or during connection then reconnecting to the current VPN connection may allow you to switch to the least loaded server. This option will force a re-connection after a number of hours of being connected, providing no media is playing. If media is playing, it'll reconnect when the media stops.
What it says. I like to default this off to avoid accidental disconnection caused by users sitting on the remote control.