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Author Topic: Media Server question  (Read 1275 times)

Mr Swordfish

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Media Server question
« on: July 29, 2024, 11:52:42 am »

I'm trying to configure MC to play my main library from a remote location via the internet. So far, I've obtained a Windows 11 laptop, installed MC, set the license, configured the main MC instance with the library to use Media Server to share the library, and used the laptop to connect and play the main library. So far, so good, but this configuration uses the local network and I need to get it to work over the internet, not just here at home.

The documentation (https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Media_Server#Access_from_another_PC_over_Internet) is rather brief, and I'm not a networking engineer so I'm not quite sure what to do next.

The docs talk about using the "outside address" which can be found by visiting whatsmyip.org, but that website reports the hostname, not the "outside address". Are they the same thing?  And since the hostname is basically the ip address followed by a network path it's likely to change since I don't have a static ip address.

Further, when configuring MC to act as a Media Server, it talks about using port 52199, while the documentation says it defaults to using "...the first available port number between 80 and 90.the first available port number between 80 and 90.

Anybody got some more detailed instructions for making this work? I always had a team of network admins that dealt with ports and firewalls and connectivity so I'm rather ignorant of these details.  I'm hesitant to just open up port 80, and frankly don't really know how to do it.  I don't have a firewall, other than a standard AT&T modem and whatever Windows Defender does.

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JimH

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Re: Media Server question
« Reply #1 on: July 29, 2024, 12:18:47 pm »

The Access Key takes care of the problem with dynamic addresses.
https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Access_Key

The Network Access topic also has useful information.

At https://www.whatsmyip.org/  your address is at the very top.  Hostname and IP Address aren't the same.
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Mr Swordfish

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Re: Media Server question
« Reply #2 on: July 29, 2024, 01:54:13 pm »

The Access Key takes care of the problem with dynamic addresses.
https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Access_Key

The [url=http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Network_Access]Network Access[/url] topic also has useful information.

At https://www.whatsmyip.org/  your address is at the very top.  Hostname and IP Address aren't the same.

Yeah, the access key seems to point the client MC instance at the library, and when not on the LAN the client attempts to connect to the library.  But it is blocked and configuring the router to direct traffic to the MC library server is more complicated than the docs imply.  I suppose I'll have to find someone who knows what they are doing with this.
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JimH

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Re: Media Server question
« Reply #3 on: July 29, 2024, 02:39:06 pm »

From the Internet, the router needs to be configured to forward port 52199 to the server.  Look it up in the manual for the router.  Most manufacturers have good instructions on their websites.

It's also possible that a firewall can block access.

It's not that hard to do.  You're just telling the router that anything inbound from the Internet on port 52199 needs to go to the server.
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Mr Swordfish

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Re: Media Server question
« Reply #4 on: July 29, 2024, 03:34:14 pm »

I've got the manual for the router and there's nothing in about port forwarding that I can find.  https://usermanual.wiki/Humax/BGW320-4522445.pdf

However, fumbling around with the web-based UI  for the router, I found a link to "Adjust firewall settings for gaming and applications" and then "Manage Custom Service" that seems to have done it.  The UI uses different terminology, and is somewhat of a mystery as to which device gets the traffic - i.e. there's no option to specify which device to send the port 52199 traffic to, and when I look at the list of custom service configurations it shows another device in the drop-down-list.  If I change this, it snaps right back to the other device.   Yet, it seems to work.

Thanks for the help.  Hopefully, it will work when I get it to our vacation condo this week.

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Mr Swordfish

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Re: Media Server question
« Reply #5 on: July 29, 2024, 03:58:26 pm »

And strike most of that. I was testing the client laptop via a wifi hotspot on my cel phone to connect via an external network instead of the LAN. For whatever reason, the client laptop reverted back to using the LAN which is why it seemed to work.

The good news is that the router UI is now showing that the library PC is handling traffic on port 52199. Using https://canyouseeme.org/ I can verify that port 52199 is visible. The bad news is that it still won't connect. 

There's a sentence in the documentation that says "If a large library is failing, create a new smaller library and share that. You must load the smaller library on the Server machine before connecting from the client. " So maybe this is the failure point?

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craigmcg

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Re: Media Server question
« Reply #6 on: July 29, 2024, 07:16:17 pm »

In my experience, if I want anyone outside my home network to be able to access my JRiver media server I have to set a static IP for the network connection for my server pc so that I can tell my ISP modem/router to forward any traffic on port 52199 to the static IP address of my server. The static IP has to have the same first 3 sets of numbers as the internal IP of your ISP modem/router; in my case the router is 192.168.250.1 and my JRiver media server pc IP is 192.168.250.4.

Once this is done, I can use the library server functionality on any client/playback pc using the access key and tell Windows Firewall to allow traffic when it asks on both the server and client/playback pcs.

I don't have an AT&T modem but I found these links which might help

https://www.att.com/support/article/u-verse-high-speed-internet/KM1010280/
https://www.att.com/support/article/u-verse-high-speed-internet/KM1215101/
https://www.att.com/support/article/u-verse-high-speed-internet/KM1053197

Good luck because it's great to be able to share your library as desired!
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JimH

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Re: Media Server question
« Reply #7 on: July 29, 2024, 08:17:59 pm »

Your internal server needs to be at a static address, but most DHCP servers on routers handle that.  It's an internal address, assigned by the DHCP Server, usually running on your router.

If the outside address changes because your ISP changes it, the Access Key will still work, after a few minutes.
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Mr Swordfish

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Re: Media Server question
« Reply #8 on: July 30, 2024, 08:39:31 am »


I don't have an AT&T modem but I found these links which might help

https://www.att.com/support/article/u-verse-high-speed-internet/KM1010280/
https://www.att.com/support/article/u-verse-high-speed-internet/KM1215101/
https://www.att.com/support/article/u-verse-high-speed-internet/KM1053197

Good luck because it's great to be able to share your library as desired!

Thanks for the links.  I'll take a look when I get back to my main PC is a week or so.
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Mr Swordfish

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Re: Media Server question
« Reply #9 on: November 19, 2024, 10:25:53 am »

It took me a while to get back to this, but I'm still unable to get it to work.

One issue seems to be that when the client tries to connect to the instance with the library, the ip address it's trying is different than the ip address that is displayed at https://www.whatsmyip.org/

Is the access key looking up the wrong ip address?  If that's wrong noting is  every going to work...
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