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[Mebobo]

I'm not too knowledgeable about networking so bear with me. I've read several posts and how to's on the forum, but I'm not having luck accessing JRiver through my iPhone. I can access with my phone and JRemote while using my home wifi. Tried setting things up on my router, a TPLink Archer C9 V1 with port forwarding set to 52199 and my IPV4 IP address. Here is what I get on my phone.

WOL sent to MAC-address 'xxxxxxxxff-0b-4d-46-13'

Connecting to saved addresses

Connecting to IP: 192.168.0.*** Port: zzzzz

Timed out



Connecting to IP: c-24-****** Port: xxxxx

Could not connect (An error occurred while sending the request)



Fetching updated addresses from jriver.com using access key 'xxxxxxx'

Response received

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Response Status="OK">
<keyid>tGMVmF</keyid>
<ip>c-24-18-161-31.hsd1.wa.comcast.net</ip>
<port>xxxxx</port>
<localiplist>192.168.***</localiplist>
<macaddresslist>xxxxxxxxf-0b-4d-46-13</macaddresslist>
</Response>


2 addresses found (192.168.*** - c-24-1***)

No new IP-addresses found. Updated addresses identical to current.

It appears that something is blocking access. I use Norton and tried turning it off temporarily with same results.  I use Comcast for internet. Anyone have a way to make this work? I appreciate any help!

[bob]

It looks like you haven't setup the port forwarding from your router at c-24-18-161-31.hsd1.wa.comcast.net to 192.168.0.114 Port: 52199

When you do this make sure you put a strong username and password in the authentication on MC.

If possible, restrict the IP address access to where you are coming from, say your work static address.

[Mebobo]

I thought the port forwarding part was done on my TPLink router only. Do I need to access my modem as well? My router shows the IP Address as 192.168.***. I can't substitute the c-24***. Pretty confused at this point.

[bob]

I thought the port forwarding part was done on my TPLink router only. Do I need to access my modem as well? My router shows the IP Address as 192.168.0.114. I can't substitute the c-24-18-161-31.hsd1.wa.comcast.net. Pretty confused at this point.

If you think of it as a chain from the outside through each device you will get the idea of how it works.

Your public IP  ( available from https://jriver.jriver.com/cgi-bin/youraddr.cgi )
needs to get to your MC at 192.168.0.114

For each device in line between that outside address and your MC you need to do a port forward if the network address is different from the last one that proceeds  it.

For example most people only need one since their modem and router is the same.

outside address of the router/modem 1.2.3.4
Inside address of the router 192.168.0.1

You connect to 192.168.0.1 and setup a port forward of port 52199 (which will come in on 1.2.3.4) to 192.168.0.114

DONE.

If you have more than one router/gateway you will have to double port forward through each of the networks.

[RoderickGI]

First, you really should remove your Public IP Address and your JRiver Access Key from your posts above, as it is inviting people to take advantage. Comcast does seem to be protecting you a bit, but best not to tempt people.

Second, your "TPLink Archer C9 V1" appears to be just a router, and not a modem/router. So hopefully you just have a plain Comcast modem, that doesn't include a router with a NAT in it. If your Comcast device is a modem/router, but you have decided to use your own TPLink router, then your you should put your Comcast modem/router into "Bridge Mode", which will make it act like just a dumb modem without a router. If your Comcast device is just a modem you don't need to do anything.

Third, and pretty much most importantly, you appear to be trying to wake your MC Server from outside your home network using Wake On LAN (WOL) packets. Now the way this has to work is this. When a PC is turned on and running in your home network, your router will know the MAC Address of the PC and the associated IP Address. This information is stored in the router's Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) Table. When the PC is turned off the router will remember that ARP Table information for a little while, so packets from the internet can still be forwarded to the target PC for a time after the PC is shut down. But it isn't for long, as the ARP Table is regularly purged of non-current information. On my router (a Netgear), this appears to be true even if I try to set up Static Routes in the router. The Static Routes still don't allow network packet from the internet to be forwarded to a home network IP Address, because it requires the associated MAC Address, and Static Routes only link two IP Addresses. I haven't worked out how to create a Static ARP Entry, which is what is required.

So a router can forward packets from the internet to the PC using Port Forwarding, but it can't forward to a specific home network IP Address, 192.168.0.114 in your case, because it will most likely not have the ARP Table records required to forward the packets when you want to wake the PC. i.e. More than a few minutes after the PC was shut down. So what you have to do is forward any WOL packets from the internet, which typically arrive via UDP on Port 9, to the home network's Broadcast IP Address, which is a special address that when used, sends the packets to every device on the network, in a broadcast. If those WOL packets are received by the Network Interface Card of a sleeping PC, which has been correctly configured to receive those packets and use them to wake the PC, then the broadcast packets will wake the correct PC, based on its MAC Address, and all is good. All other devices that receive the broadcast packets ignore them, as the MAC Address doesn't match their MAC Address.

So in order to wake a PC from outside your home network (LAN), your router needs to be able to forward WOL packets to the Broadcast Address inside the LAN. Unforunately, most consumer-level routers and modem/routers don't allow WOL packets to be sent from the internet to an internal Broadcast Address. It is a security issue.

When I want to connect to my MC Server from outside my LAN, I just set my HTPC to stay on all the time. I can then port forward all the ports used by JRiver, 52100 to 52200, as required to the HTPC IP Address. This works fine.


I've written about this before. For example, here: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,117759.msg814810.html#msg814810


PS: One last thought. The address you are sending WOL packets to is the Comcast URL of your router, which includes your Public IP Address in it. If you don't have a static Public IP Address from Comcast, then at some unpredictable time it may change to a different address, and then you will need to change your setup on your phone to point to that new address. Of course, you won't know that your Public IP Address has changed until a connection fails, unless you check it regularly. Frustrating.

You can get around that issue by using a Dynamic DNS Service such as DynDNS.org to provide a fixed URL which the service then translates to your current Public IP Address. For example, www.MyHome.dyndns.org could be directed to your current Public IP Address. Of course, the URL would have to be more unique than that example! 

Good luck!

[Mebobo]

Sorry for the delay getting back to thank you for responding. Although I understand the fundamentals of what is needed, the specifics are a bit beyond me. I have a Cisco modem with the TPLink router connected (computer is connected to the TPLink) and I have no idea how to access the modem to do port forwarding. No software seems to be available from the vendor. Easy with the router, not so much with the modem. Brick wall at this point. Thanks again for the effort to help!

[RoderickGI]

Which model Cisco modem do you have?

If it is just a modem, there is no need to do port forwarding on it. Only if it is also a router.

My post was intended as education as much as anything. As you have the iPhone connecting to JRiver via your home Wi-Fi, the issue that prevents it working from outside your home network using WOL (or Wake On WAN) will be the roadblock. If your router won't allow it, you can't fix it. This is not a MC or JRemote problem, but a networking problem.

You could ask TPLink if "The Archer C9 V1 router allows Wake On LAN (WOL) packet to be forwarded from the internet to the LAN Broadcast IP Address, so that a sleeping PC can be woken from the internet?" The manual doesn't say anything about that, but they usually don't, as it is a potential security issue. Sometimes a router will support it, and sometimes they won't. You could test it, but we would have to get a bit technical. I would have to look stuff up again!

The only other and simplest solution is to leave your PC turned on all the time and never let it sleep, and port forward JRiver ports to the PC. If you are happy with having the PC always on, that is your solution. If you're are not happy with leaving the PC always turned on, and the TPLink won't forward WOL packets, then the solutions are very technical and probably require changing hardware or putting different router software on to your TPLink router. Not for the technically challenged, particularly as there are potential security issues.

[RoderickGI]

Actually, I had a look at the manual for your router, and it may have the Static ARP Entry functionality that is required. It has something it calls "IP & MAC Binding", which looks to be to just be showing the current LAN IP Address leases, but might also allow you to create a Static ARP Entry. So let's try it!

Sorry, I am going to have to list some stuff to help, such as your LAN IP Address and MAC Address. That isn't a big deal because it is behind your router. But you still should delete the Access Key and your Public IP Address from all posts in this thread. They are still in your first post.

You need to do three things in your router to make sure this always works, if it works at all.

1. Set up a DHCP Reservation for the PC MC runs on.
This will mean that the MC PC always gets the same IP Address on the LAN, so that when you forward to that address it will always be going to the correct PC. See page 61 of the TPLink Archer C9 V1 User Manual, Section 5.7.3.
From your first post we know the IP Address of your PC is 192.168.0.114 (or was), but I'm not sure which listed MAC Address belongs to that PC. You can look that up a couple of easy ways. Just open "Network Status" in Windows System Settings, and then click on "View your network properties", then scroll down the list to find 192.168.0.114 and note the MAC Address associated with it. It is either 1c-6f-65-f9-64-30 or 00-ff-0b-4d-46-13, and will be written with colons instead of dashes.
The second way is to look at the ARP List in your router, page 97, Section 5.16.2 of the manual.
Set up the Reservation with those two bits of information and Enable it.

2. Set up the "IP & MAC Binding"  for the PC MC runs on.
If this does create a Static ARP Entry, this means that the router will be aware of the IP Address and its associated MAC Address you Port Forward WOL Packets to even if the PC is asleep and has been for some time. See page 95 of the TPLink Archer C9 V1 User Manual, Section 5.16.1.
Basically just put in the same IP Address and MAC Address as above, and click the Bind box.
Then when you look at the ARP List, page 97, Section 5.16.2, you should see the record in the list with a Status of Bound.

3. Port Forward the WOL packets to your MC PC.
Now you just need to get the Port Forwarding correct, for WOL packets. Page 67, Section 5.10.1, Virtual Servers.
Service Port: 9
Internal Port: 9
IP Address: As above (192.168.0.114)
Protocol: UDP
Status: Enabled


That should be it. JRemote should send WOL packets for you to your Public IP Address. Those packets will be UDP protocol, sent to Port 9, with the correct MAC Address for your MC PC, based on the information provided by your JRiver Access Key. Those packets should be sent to the correct MAC Address for the MC PC, based on the Static ARP Entry. The PC should wake up.

If that doesn't work after all that, reboot the router and check that the "IP & MAC Binding" still exists and that it is Bound in the ARP List. In fact, shut down your MC PC first, then reboot the router (power off, wait 20 seconds, power on), and see if MC PC IP Address still appears in the ARP List. That would prove that you now have a Static ARP Entry.

See how that goes, if you are willing. In looking at your router manual and some other stuff, I may have found another way to get my Netgear router to do what I want. So I'm going to give that a try again. Worth the time to research this stuff again.