HD200 - Auto connect to Sage server when remote

[madas]

Hello,

I just replaced my in-laws HD100 with a HD200

We have a VPN between the houses so I added my local server IP to their new HD200. I ticked the box "Auto connect" and set a delay timeout of 10seconds. If I hit my server in the list it connects perfectly.

If I power off the box and then power it back up it doesn't auto connect, it just takes me to the main menu.

I have a HD200 at home (on my LAN) which auto-connects fine....

My question, will it only auto connect if it detects the sage server on the local network?? if so, why did this change as the HD100 auto connects perfectly after power-on.

Thank you

Madas

[MrFusion]

Hi,

Originally Posted by madas

Hello,

I just replaced my in-laws HD100 with a HD200

We have a VPN between the houses so I added my local server IP to their new HD200.

Wow - you must have good bandwidth between the locations!

Can you tell us more about the network setup -- ie: bearer type/speed, what sort of VPN are you using (and what software / devices), and what are the IP subnets in both locations?

If I hit my server in the list it connects perfectly.

You mean -- you've manually defined the IP address of the server in the HD200, and you select that server & click 'connect'?

If I power off the box and then power it back up it doesn't auto connect, it just takes me to the main menu.

... but then you go to the server list, select the predefined server, and it connects????

My question, will it only auto connect if it detects the sage server on the local network?? if so, why did this change as the HD100 auto connects perfectly after power-on.

My understanding from other threads is that there's been a change in the way the extender connects from HD100 to 200.

It appears that, in the HD200s, auto connect (even for servers with predefined IP addresses) only works if UDP discovery broadcast gets a response from the server (I could be wrong, but that's my read -- as this is exactly what seems to be breaking wake-on-lan for servers with HD200 clients).


My guess is that the two locations are on different IP subnets, that the HD200 sends UDP discovery broadcast for its local subnet, doesn't get an answer from the server on the other subnet, and hence won't auto-connect. Thus all the questions to confirm.

If the above is true, then there are possibly ways we can make it work with a bit of an 'unusual' setup ... but it depends on what you are using to provide the VPN.

Cheers!

[madas]

Hello there,

First off, thanks for the response!

Can you tell us more about the network setup -- ie: bearer type/speed, what sort of VPN are you using (and what software / devices), and what are the IP subnets in both locations?

My end is a cable modem, their end is DSL. My Cable is 2Mbit up, and there DSL is I think 3Mbit down (on a good day). So in reality, not a lot of bandwidth. Sage does a great job of transcoding on the fly and they are more than able to watch from my system on their 32" TV (it doesn't look like HD, thats for sure!). The VPN is a hardware firewall-->hardware firewall VPN, just regular IPSEC. My subnet is 10.2.0.0/16 and theirs is 10.4.1.0/24. Firewall hardware is Snapgear on their end, and I use pfSense (linux firewall) on my side.

You mean -- you've manually defined the IP address of the server in the HD200, and you select that server & click 'connect'?

Correct, manually defined a server as 10.2.1.110 and I hit connect and it connects no problem. When I tick auto-connect it never auto-connects

... but then you go to the server list, select the predefined server, and it connects????

Correct, it always connects if I select it manually.

My understanding from other threads is that there's been a change in the way the extender connects from HD100 to 200.

Most likely the truth, the HD100 auto connects, but unfortunately lacks the ability to save a password, so either way they have manual steps!

M

[MrFusion]

Originally Posted by madas

Hello there,

First off, thanks for the response!

No worries -- sorry I took so long to get back, I've been a bit overcommitted the last few months...

The VPN is a hardware firewall-->hardware firewall VPN, just regular IPSEC. My subnet is 10.2.0.0/16 and theirs is 10.4.1.0/24. Firewall hardware is Snapgear on their end, and I use pfSense (linux firewall) on my side.

How much do you know about networking?

The 'simplest' solution would be to bridge your LANs rather than routing between them. That is, both sides on the same subnet (ie, the remote HD200 would be on 10.2.0.0/16), with broadcast traffic sent from your site to your in-laws. That way the HD200 should see the SageTV broadcasts & be able to auto-connect.

You could also use a combination of routing and bridging if your inlaws had several hosts & you didn't want to reconfigure everything.

Is this feasible in your situation?

Cheers!

[madas]

Hi There,

I know a lot about networking. Unfortunately the hardware that they have will not allow me to create a bridge over the VPN. So they will have to retain their own routed subnet.

I keep trying to get logs but unfortunately they live quite far away so its not easy to get the logs to send to sage.

M

[MrFusion]

Originally Posted by madas

Unfortunately the hardware that they have will not allow me to create a bridge over the VPN.

Hi,

That's interesting - I have an SG575, and you can, for instance, create GRE tunnels within IPSEC & hence bridge. What SG do the outlaws have?

Failing that, given that the HD200s currently seem to rely on the broadcast in order to auto-connect (bit of a braindead implementation, IMHO, which is causing people all sorts of problems with, eg, WoL etc), it seems you might be a bit stuffed, as it were.