Unknown ip address in Status connected devices

Hi all,

I am a bit concerned because the Connected devices Status is not updated with known WAN or LAN clients (ServiiGo- and web browser users).
The only DLNA device that has been discovered correctly is my Windows Media Player from my workstation when I double click on Serviio in my Network.
And now suddenly a strange ip not in the network range that I use is listed "10.96.#.#".
I saw other posts relating to this issue, but they didn't make me worry less and I disallowed the strange IP, but I wonder if that is enough.

This is a new Serviio install that I recently started using, so it could not be related to something lingering from an old network setup.
Because it does discover my WMP I assume that my setup is correct, but I can not confirm or deny that.
The only way to connect to Serviio is with the SSL/HTTPS protocol with strong passwords and I use Fail2ban on Serviio and my OPNsense box to ban bots and hackers after 1 failed login attempt, but obviously that is still not enough.

Please tell me what you need to investigate- and most of all to prevent this from happening and to discover the legit clients that connect, so I can start adding the required profiles.
I use a reverse proxy because Serviio doesn't support the SSL/HTTPS protocol with a Let's Encrypt certificate.
My setup is like this:
Proxmox container with Serviio - switch - OPNsense box - bridged router - Internet

Please advice

PS.
Don't tell me to reinstall Serviio, because that would make no sense and would still not prevent this from happening again.

[atc98092]

Most likely you connected something to your network (such as a laptop) that had previously been connected to a network that uses 10.96.x.x address, and when it connected to your network it tried to refresh that same IP address, which of course failed. But in that short time Serviio might have detected it and that's why it appears in the list. Serviio does not purge the list once the address is no longer visible, so you can manually delete it just to clean it up. The 10.x.x.x address range is still a private IP address, but because it can support so many IP addresses it's most likely used in a business network.

The lack of discovery of your other network items is likely due to your network configuration. As long as Serviio works as expected, I wouldn't worry about other devices not being detected. Serviio never sees any of my Roku players until I actually attempt to use Serviio to play media on one, then it shows up in the list and I can assign the correct profile to it.

Thanks for responding.

I discovered that it was my phone that uses VPN with that IP address.
But it still does not explain why this didn't happen before because I use it on a daily bases and why my other devices (with and without VPN) are not recognized at all from the LAN and WAN.

Disallowing the phone on the Status page of the console didn't make any difference, because I was/am still able to logon with ServiiGo, so I didn't suspect that this was the device.
Also even when I play media with my devices (ServiiGo and web browser) they are still not recognized.

I could simply follow your advice and not worry about it, but it would mean that Serviio 2.4 doesn't work like it is supposed to and that makes me worry still.

[atc98092]

Thanks for responding.

I discovered that it was my phone that uses VPN with that IP address.
But it still does not explain why this didn't happen before because I use it on a daily bases and why my other devices (with and without VPN) are not recognized at all from the LAN and WAN.

Most likely a setting within the VPN was impacting if the device was seen or not. Why it just changed on the phone might relate to a recent update to the VPN that altered a setting. I have zero experience using a VPN on anything other than my work laptop, and when it was activated my laptop was pretty much invisible to the rest of my network devices. Beyond the IP address nothing else was visible on the network, and my laptop could see nothing on my network when the VPN was active.

Thanks for responding.

There are 2 kinds of VPN that I am familiar with:

Enterprise VPN client
Connects to my private server's network securely, effectively making my device part of that network. It allows access to shared resources like files or printers, as if I were physically on-site.

Commercial VPN client
Primarily used for privacy, encrypting internet traffic, and bypassing geo-restrictions by routing traffic through the provider's servers.

Only when I use the commercial VPN my devices are invisible to the rest of the local network, but with an enterprise VPN my device remains visible on the local network.
No settings where changed and no updates have been applied.
Further more the devices are still not recognized when not using any VPN.

But I realize that I use BlueStacks as an emulator on my Windows laptop and -workstation what could be a reason why they are not recognized.
My Android phone still has an orange question mark on the Status page (even when I play media with it).
Other Android phones that connect true the WAN are not recognized at all and that makes me wonder, because afaik they should be.
They are used for casting videos to TV so I would like to add profiles to them for the required TV's.

Please advice.

[atc98092]

I really can't provide an answer for VPN issues. Since I worked (just retired yesterday) for the federal government, the VPN we used completely blocked my laptop from anything on my local network. If I wanted to use my home printer, I had to disconnect the VPN. As I mentioned, I have no experience with a personal VPN for home use, so I can't begin to guess what settings might be an issue.

Serviio often shows a question mark for devices that don't follow the DLNA protocol exactly. Roku devices are one example that never show anything but the question mark. Nothing Serviio can do about that.

If you're saying you have Serviio running within an emulator, that certainly could also be an issue. My limited experience using virtual machines tells me that how you configure the network adapter for the VM determines if it's seen on your network.

Thanks for responding Dan.

Of course the VPN of a federal government will limit you from accessing your local network, but that's because of security reasons.
I use OpenVPN to connect to my home server without those kind of limitations, so I can access everything on the LAN from the WAN.
But that's not the point ... the point is that only my phone with VPN is recognized by Serviio.
Even when it doesn't use a DLNA protocol.

Serviio is running on my Debian server (in an LXC container), but ServiiGo is running on my Windows workstation and -laptop under a BlueStacks Android emulator ... no VM is involved.
It's also not a VPN issue, because that part works and if I wanted to I could add a profile to my phone on the Status page.

The problem is that ServiiGo without VPN is not recognized from the LAN or WAN, so I can never add a profile for those devices no matter what protocol they use.
Maybe someone else can jump in who can point me in the right direction.

[atc98092]

Yeah, hopefully someone else has an idea. I've reached the end of my knowledge in that particular area.

The problems are still not solved and I would like some feedback to at least point me in the right direction before the end of the year.

I might be able to help you, however I do not really understand what your question is?
Is it regarding your phone beeing visible in the console as potential candiate for DLNA playback? If the phone has DLNA discovery enabled it will find Serviio and (this is now a guess) it will submit its default IP Adresse to serviio which might be the address it uses to connect to the VPN.
Other phones are not visible, maybe because DLNA discovery is not turned on?
DLNA discovery and serviigo or mediaplayer/Bowser playback are two different things, AFAIK in the Serviio console you will never see a client using serviigo or the Browser bases player - at least it behaves this way on my Serviio Server - I even have DLNA playback disabled for any devices, I only use the Web-Player or Serviigo. Authentication is handled by Serviio based on the username+password. DLNA authentication is done by the IP of the client.

If you ask why you cannot add a profile for a client with serviigo: You dont need to add a profile. If you would like to add one, you dont need to use serviigo on this client you need a DLNA player (VLC will do for a test). However, DLNA discovery will only work in the same subnet, If you want to use DLNA playback (in addition to running DLNA discovery on the phone) with your phone you have either to put it in the same network where the server is running or use a VPN which uses a TAP device or ARP proxy to make discovery possible.

If you want to use Serviigo, you need only a network connection Layer3, no need to be locatedin the same network. only the port of the server has to be reachable. Open serviigo, type in the IP Adress of the server, authenticate. Done.