luzifia
I just rechecked and reread much.
First I would not (yet) give up on NordVPN. I read so much about it and for very most users P2P (torrenting) works very well with them and they even promote this and provide many guides to setup this explicitly and also with Deluge in particular.
I checked our DietPi-NordVPN install and it follows exactly their docs:
- Installing OpenVPN and run with official configs from NordVPN: https://support.nordvpn.com/Connectivity/Linux/1047409422/How-can-I-connect-to-NordVPN-using-Linux-Terminal.htm and https://nordvpn.com/de/tutorials/linux/openvpn/
- Our dietpi-nordvpn.service runs the openvpn command with mentioned arguments (using the chosen server config) and login credentials.
- You chose a P2P capable server (all in Germany are)
- Your Deluge config to configure SOCKS5 exactly as: https://support.nordvpn.com/Connectivity/Proxy/1049258992/Proxy-setup-on-Deluge.htm and https://nordvpn.com/de/tutorials/socks5/deluge/
So again with this I would consult the NordVPN support.
I also found the guides you obviously used to setup a split tunneling connection:
- Enable split tunneling for a certain user/group: https://www.htpcguides.com/force-torrent-traffic-vpn-split-tunnel-debian-8-ubuntu-16-04/
- Configure Deluge to work with split tunneling: https://www.htpcguides.com/configure-deluge-for-vpn-split-tunneling-ubuntu-16-04/
However to keep things separated assure first that torrenting (seeing) works with default setup, tunneling all traffic through the VPN. This split tunneling setup breaks local connection to Deluge from outside the VPN (in the first place), which is what you faced before.
One quick note:
Since you explicitly forward the configured Deluge/torrent ports within your router, disable UPnP in your Deluge web UI as well. This is only relevant if you want to allow Deluge opening the required port(s) within the router automatically, and, in case the router supports this + enabled. But it is a security vulnerability, so I would always configure port forwarding manually and disable all remote control protocols within the router.