Failed to connect from remote location but connects at home

[craigap]

I installed placeshifter on my laptop and after only a few minutes it was up and running just fine at home. I brought my Laptop to work and plugged it in to a lan there, but it would not connect. My internet at home comes from cable then to a wireless Linksys wrt54gs router. The router has DHCP enabled and and also has UPnP enabled.
When I first configured Placeshifter at home I used the Automatic UPnP setup.
It reads:
Server TCP port: 31099, IP address XXX.XXX.X.XXX
Router: UPnP forwards port 31099 to IP XXX.XXX.X.XXX
(I didn't put in the numbers for the X's because I don't know if that is a security risk)
Could the Lan at my work be preventing me from acquiring a connection? I haven't been able to try from another location.

I read some posts about setting up a manual port forwarding path which seemed to entail putting my Sage Server on a seperate Static IP on the router, but I couldn't figure out how to have both a Static IP for the Server and still let the Router assign IP's to rest of the computer in my home.

EDIT: I should add that I tried to connect by checking the box that says to connect via the Host name or IP address, but wouldn't connect as well

[sainswor99]

Originally Posted by craigap

It reads:
Server TCP port: 31099, IP address XXX.XXX.X.XXX
Router: UPnP forwards port 31099 to IP XXX.XXX.X.XXX
(I didn't put in the numbers for the X's because I don't know if that is a security risk)

You are correct; it is a limited security risk.

Originally Posted by craigap

Could the Lan at my work be preventing me from acquiring a connection? I haven't been able to try from another location.

That's a very distinct possibility. You may want to google for a free port scanner to see if the port is registering as open.

Originally Posted by craigap

I read some posts about setting up a manual port forwarding path which seemed to entail putting my Sage Server on a seperate Static IP on the router, but I couldn't figure out how to have both a Static IP for the Server and still let the Router assign IP's to rest of the computer in my home.

On your server, set the IP address manually to match the rest of your network; if the server doesn't request an IP address, the router won't hand it out. The rest of your network should be fine.

Stu

[GKusnick]

Did you use the "Test Placeshifter Connection" button when setting up your Placeshifter server? That's the first step in troubleshooting connection problems.

[ke6guj]

One other thing, are you trying to connect with the locatorID or via the IP address? And the IP address you are using to connect, is it the external WAN address or is it the LAN IP address (most likely 192.168.x.x)?

[craigap]

I ran the test while everything was at home on my home network and everything works fine.

I am able to connect (while at home) by both the locator ID and the WAN address (not the 192.168.x.x), but neither while at my work.

At least I think I'm connecting using the WAN IP Address (and not defaulting to the Locator ID). I checked the box and typed in my IP address. It connects both ways and even says "Connecting to server XX.XXX.XXX.XXX" or something to that effect when the IP address is being used.

[GKusnick]

It's most likely your work firewall then. Find a coffeeshop with a WiFi hotspot and try it from there.

Regarding the DHCP question: on most DHCP routers, it's possible to reserve a specific IP for a given MAC address. So your PC can still use DHCP to get its IP address, if you configure the router to give it the same one every time. This lets you do all the necessary configuration from the router end, without disturbing your PC's network config.

[craigap]

Originally Posted by sainswor99

You are correct; it is a limited security risk.

That's a very distinct possibility. You may want to google for a free port scanner to see if the port is registering as open.

Stu

I downloaded freeportscanner and scanned from my work for TCP port 31099 on my WAN IP and also the Router IP. All said it was closed, contrary to what sage tells me when I set it up.

[ke6guj]

Try canyouseemee.org at your house to see if 31099 is open. If your router is set up correctly and forwarding 31099 to the server, then it should show open.

If it isn't open, then you have work do. It may be your ISP blocking you, or else your router settings are wrong.

Scanning from work won't work since you don't know if it is a work firewall, or your home firewall blocking you.


edit: do the canyouseeme scan first and we'll work from there. There are a lot of things we can do to work around a ISP block or a work firewall if need be. We just need to figure out where the problem is first.

[hemicuda]

mine tries to connect... goes to the "connecting to..." screen then drops back to the server list. doesn't matter if i'm on the LAN or WAN.

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by hemicuda

mine tries to connect... goes to the "connecting to..." screen then drops back to the server list. doesn't matter if i'm on the LAN or WAN.

haven't changed the placeshifter port or anything? Probably not, if you have the extenders working. They need 31099 also, so that should show the server's firewall is open on 31099 as well.

When you try to connect via LAN, are you using the server's IP address/hostname or by locator ID?

[hemicuda]

just tried to use the test feature on the server client window and it said the port was closed, but could connect to the IP. crazy. it was working w/ 6.1.9 and all I did was upgrade to 6.3.5.

the server list in PS has my named entry for WAN and it just pops up an extra entry when I'm on the LAN. I'll try it by the other way in a bit.

[craigap]

I think I need to get a little clarification. Where exactly is this port 31099 that needs to be open? Is it in the windows firewall that I have on my XP home OS on the PC that is acting as my sage server, is it a port in the firewall that comes with my Linksys wireless router, or is both? Do I need a port open on my laptop that has Placeshifter installed and is running Vista business?

[sainswor99]

Originally Posted by craigap

I think I need to get a little clarification. Where exactly is this port 31099 that needs to be open? Is it in the windows firewall that I have on my XP home OS on the PC that is acting as my sage server, is it a port in the firewall that comes with my Linksys wireless router, or is both? Do I need a port open on my laptop that has Placeshifter installed and is running Vista business?

It needs to be open on your server and your router; most software firewalls do not block outbound ports (ie, on your laptop), so it shouldn't be an issue there.

[Conejo]

Where exactly is this port 31099 that needs to be open?

All of the above:
Open on the PS machine
Open on the Cable router (this is probably passing 'everything')
Open on the Linksys router and forwarded to your SageTV box (should be doing this with UPnP)
Open on your SageTV box

Your PS machine and SageTV box need to have their 'firewalls' set to allow this port as an exception. If you are running AntiVirus that has it's own firewall then you'll need to make a setting in that software.

[craigap]

So when I ran through the setup for placeshifter on my main sage PC, when I chose to allow an automatic setup using UPnP did that only open the port on my router, or should it have made the exemption in my windows firewall as well?

[ke6guj]

the auto setup should have taken care of the firewall and the router. uPnP is to autoconfigure the router. Did you try www.canyouseemee.org to see if it can see 31099 is open?

I manually configure my router, I don't rely on uPnP.

[craigap]

I haven't been home yet to try. Still at work until midnight. I give that a try tonight. Does it matter with machine I run it on?

[ke6guj]

you have to run it on a machine inside your home network, any computer should do. canyouseemee will attempt to connect on 31099 and if your router is set right (uPnP should have done that), then the router will forward 31099 to the server. If the server's firewall is open on 31099, then if Sage is set correctly, it should show 31099 as open.

[craigap]

The program confirms my ports are open. Now I finally had a chance to try this other than at work and it is prompting for a username and password. However, I never had a username and password setup when I set this up what is going on?

[GKusnick]

When you connect from your home LAN, you don't need a password. When you connect through the Internet, you do, to prevent unauthorized use of your server. To create a username/password for remote use, go to Manage Placeshifter Users in the Server section of Detailed Setup. (Obviously, you'll need to do that step at home.)