Remote access problems

Hi all:

I have been running Serviio Pro successfully for a couple of years. Recently, I had to change my modem/router, which gave me a new range of IP addresses for my local connections. Things went from the "typical" 192.168.x.x format to a 10.0.x.x format.

Local, in-home WiFi connectivity seems to be working fine after some initial hiccups. However, trying to connect remotely refuses to work any longer, even though it worked well with the earlier router/IP address.

I figured out that my base IP address -- that is, the number that the router works through -- had changed, which needed to be adjusted with the account I'd set up with DNSDynamic.com. After correcting that, I ensured that the computer running Serviio is using a static IP address. That same address has a TCP port forwarding rule on my router for port 23424. Serviio has also been set to use a specific address.

After doing all that, clicking the "Check Remote Connectivity" button on the "Remote" tab shows a green check mark. Yay, right?

Nope.

Trying to connect with ServiiGo, though, never completes. Every time I try, I get a timeout error.

Can anyone help?

Thanks,

Jon

[zip]

Try to connect through 3G, not your local wifi.

[MikeL]

Jon

Try 2 things:

1. Clear your dns cache on the machines you are using.

2. try using your IP address instead of your dnsdynamic.com id from the remote device:

e.g., instead of http://xxxxx.dnddynamic.com:23424/mediabrowser

type http://10.x.x.x:23424/mediabrowser and see if you can connect. If you can connect then the problem is that the dnsserver you use has not been updated with your new IP address.

I found that when you change your IP address on your dnsdynamic.com website that it takes a long time (if ever) before the dns servers get updated with the new info.

Mike

MikeL:

Thanks for the suggestion. That worked. Of course, it will only work when I'm at home, but that's okay for now.

Much appreciated!

Jon

[MikeL]

Jon

it should work remotely too. Use the IP address of your home network as supplied by your ISP in the http://xx.x.x.x:23424/mediabrowser URL. If your router is set up to forward requests for port 23424 to the static IP address 10.x.x.x of the computer hosting Serviio then things should work.

My daughter in Chicago streams stuff from my computer in NH all the time with that set up. We used to use dnsdynamic.com but when my ISP changed my external IP address and I updated dnsdynamic.com to reflect the change it never took effect. Substituting the actual IP address solved the problem.

For in home access use the IP address 10.x.x.x:23424 , which as you have discovered, will work. It doesn't rely on port forwarding in the router.

Mike

Thanks, Mike! I will try that out as well.

[atc98092]

The problem with using the public IP address instead of a URL is that the IP address will likely change constantly, or at least regularly. Most ISPs only issue a static IP address for an additional fee, so your router will occasionally change its IP address. That's the purpose of using a dynamic DNS service. But that means you need some sort of client to keep the DDNS service updated with any public IP address change. You shouldn't have to do that manually. Some routers have something built into them, but usually only for a specific DDNS provider. If you aren't using them, you need a client on a computer inside the firewall.

I use DNS Exit as my DDNS provider, and have the client installed on my Serviio computer, which is always powered up. I have no problems reaching my Mediabrowser when away from home. The usual issue I have is few hotels offer high enough bandwidth to stream anything.

[MikeL]

Agreed. But luckily, my ISP (Comcast) does not appear to change IP addresses very often. The last time it changed was last year when we lost power for 4 days so the cable modem was inactive. I had used a dynamic DNS service (dnsdynamic) - they supply a client utility and a manual way of changing your IP address in their database - unfortunately the change never seemed to make it out into the larger dns server world.

Hi Mike:

I tried your suggestion about using the modem's IP address, but it did not work. I checked the router, and I *think* I have the port forwarding set up correctly. I tried changing the type from TCP to TCP/UDP, and that worked. Once. Once it connected, I logged out, then tried my dnsdynamic connection. That timed out. So, I tried the external IP address again, and it, too, timed out.

Any idea what I'm doing wrong? Or what else I might try to make this work?

Thanks,

Jon

[atc98092]

Jon,

When you port forward, make sure both the external port and internal port are set to 23424. Although the fact it worked once is puzzling. Make sure your external IP address didn't change between tests.

[MikeL]

Jon

I'm assuming that you have set up your router to assign a static IP address for the computer that you have Serviio installed on. In my case that is 192.168.1.99

In the port forwarding section of my router I have a rule set as shown in the attachment.

What kind of model of router do you have?

Mike

Hi Mike:

Here's my current setup:

This is what I initially had:

Image1.jpg (18.41 KiB) Viewed 11196 times

After seeing your image, I added the following (after adding this, should I have reset the modem/router?):

Image2.jpg (18.41 KiB) Viewed 11196 times

And here is a little info on the device, which is an Xfinity combo cable modem/router:

Image3.jpg (12.41 KiB) Viewed 11196 times

I hope this helps.

Jon

[MikeL]

Jon

I don't use port triggering in my router so I have no settings to compare. I only use Port forwarding which I believe is the correct set up for Serviio.

What happens if you clear the port triggering settings in your router and try to access Serviio remotely?

I assume that 10.0.0.14 is the fixed IP address for the computer that is running Serviio. Have you checked at the computer that it's internal IP address is actually set to that? (If it's Windows run IPCONFIG from a command prompt).

Mike

I have been using Serviio for a little over a year now and i have remote access to my media server.
my question is that instead of using "http://myserviio.dnsdynamic.org:23424/mediabrowser" can it just be http://myserviio.dnsdynamic.org or even http://myserviio.org I am trying to use a shorter url address. does anybody know if this is possible??

[zip]

you would have to change your port forwarding on the router to go WEB:80 -> SERVIIO:23424.

You will probably not be able to get rid of the /mediabrowser though.

can you give an example on how to do this..

[atc98092]

can you give an example on how to do this..

If you look at the images above from jonwestcot, you will see his router does not have the option to send the external port to a different internal port. My Actiontec DSL router is the same way. With the router that MikeL has, you can see that this is possible. So, it your router offers both external and internal port assignments, just set the external to port 80 and internal to 23424. As Zip mentioned, you would still have to add /mediabrowser after the URL, but no port needs to be specified.

It is possible to have the internal routing configured to eliminate the /mediabrowser, but not with consumer level routers. You'd need something from Cisco or Adtran and spend a whole lot more. Not worth the hassle.

And to shorten it all the way to myserviio.org (or some other root level name), you'd have to pay for that domain name. Even from GoDaddy (the cheapest I've ever found), that's $8 per year. Then you have to ensure your public IP address is correctly listed in the global DNS servers. By the way, myserviio.org is listed as available if you want to jump on it!