Subsonic Forum

Hi all,

So I've recently discovered this service whilst searching for an iPhone app that will allow me to stream music from my desktop to my iDevices. So I thought I'd give it a go (the app I'm referring to is iSub for iPhone). I've read the tutorial on how to get things up and running, and was for the most part good to go. I hit a snag, however, when setting up the network.

In the network settings, as the tutorial states, it says to check the box that's "Access your server over the Internet using an easy-to-remember address." and leave the "Automatically configure your router to allow incoming connections to Subsonic (using UPnP or NAT-PMP port forwarding)." box unchecked, which I did. I entered a name and clicked on save. After a brief waiting period in which it checks to see if my connection is valid, I get this:

Status: otakureborn.subsonic.org is registered, but could not connect to it. (ConnectTimeoutException)

So I double check my router to see if I am forwarding the port correctly (the port I'm using is 8084) and it seems to be forwarded properly as well. Just to make doubly sure, I disabled the subsonic service and reassigned my VNC server to use 8084 and tried connecting remotely, and that seems to work, so I'm pretty sure 8084 is being forwarded properly. But no matter what I do, I can't get past this step. I also tried assigning my server machine a static IP, but that didn't seem to help. (For the curious, the static IP I used was 192.168.1.50).

Any help would be appreciated. I've been stabbing at this for about an hour and a half now with little progress.

Most problems are due to improper setup on the router. Setting a fixed internal ip address for the server and proper port forwarding rules on the router are essential for long term stability.

First read: http://monroeworld.com/android/subsonic/ This is the Windows tutorial but most of the concepts apply to any setup. Specific setup instructions for other Operating Systems are available in the Tutorials section. http://forum.subsonic.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=6 and on the Subsonic website at http://www.subsonic.org/pages/installation.jsp

Never use port 80 - ISP's often use it or block it. 8080,8081, work fine. 808X Always works. I've seen others use different port numbers that have caused install failure.

Start with a fresh Java install to the latest version. If you have Java already, uninstall, then do a clean install of the latest version. If you use a 64 bit browser be sure to get both 32 & 64 bit Java.
http://www.java.com/en/download/faq/java_win64bit.xml

In Subsonic Settings/Network - UNCHECK " Automatically configure your router to allow incoming connections to Subsonic (using UPnP or NAT-PMP port forwarding)." make sure to hit the SAVE button, you may have to scroll down to see it depending on your screen size. UPnP or Plug & Pray works sometimes, but not very often and you're better off learning what's going on anyway. You're dipping your toe into the network mgmt. thing anyway, might as well learn what's going on as home networks don't get simpler as time goes on. As your network gets more complex, you're going to have to learn this stuff! No time like the present.

Manually assign a fixed intenal IP and static route to your server at the upper end of the address range of the router, out of the way of DHCP, e.g. 192.168.1.254

Set up your router manually. uPNP might work, but most often it doesn't. Learing how to do it will be a skill you'll love having as your network grows.

Check the Subsonic Control Panel to make sure it's using the right port you're going to use. I typically use 8080, 8081, etc.

Set up port forwarding in your router to direct traffic on the selected port to your server. Consult your router documentation to do this, they are all a bit different.

Learn your external IP address assigned by your ISP. Go to http://www.canyouseeme.org/ enter your SS port number and click the Check box to be sure the Subsonic port is open.

Test your setup by entering your external IP:port# to see if it connects. e.g. http://108.17.27.224:8092/ If it works, you're good to go.

GJ51 wrote:Most problems are due to improper setup on the router. Setting a fixed internal ip address for the server and proper port forwarding rules on the router are essential for long term stability.

Done, I think. This would be the static IP, right? The 192.168.1.50?

First read: http://monroeworld.com/android/subsonic/ This is the Windows tutorial but most of the concepts apply to any setup. Specific setup instructions for other Operating Systems are available in the Tutorials section. http://forum.subsonic.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=6 and on the Subsonic website at http://www.subsonic.org/pages/installation.jsp

Sorry, I should have been more specific. That was the guide I was following and then hit a snag on. To be more specific:

Fill in the YOURNAME box with a friendly name you would like to name your address. I'm a big believer that "short is better".
Click SAVE. <--- This is where I see the error.
If your name is unavailable, you will have to keep trying until you get one that is. If your computer is behind a strict FIREWALL (especially a corporate one) there is a good chance this will fail.
Once you have your address, hit HOME. Note - you get 30 days to use this friendly web address without donating to the SubSonic cause. Once you do, this address is good indefinitely.

Never use port 80 - ISP's often use it or block it. 8080,8081, work fine. 808X Always works. I've seen others use different port numbers that have caused install failure.

Hopefully 8084 falls under the 808X clause?

Start with a fresh Java install to the latest version. If you have Java already, uninstall, then do a clean install of the latest version. If you use a 64 bit browser be sure to get both 32 & 64 bit Java.
http://www.java.com/en/download/faq/java_win64bit.xml

As far as I know, I am on the latest Java version.

In Subsonic Settings/Network - UNCHECK " Automatically configure your router to allow incoming connections to Subsonic (using UPnP or NAT-PMP port forwarding)." make sure to hit the SAVE button, you may have to scroll down to see it depending on your screen size. UPnP or Plug & Pray works sometimes, but not very often and you're better off learning what's going on anyway. You're dipping your toe into the network mgmt. thing anyway, might as well learn what's going on as home networks don't get simpler as time goes on. As your network gets more complex, you're going to have to learn this stuff! No time like the present.

Yep, this was already unchecked.

Manually assign a fixed intenal IP and static route to your server at the upper end of the address range of the router, out of the way of DHCP, e.g. 192.168.1.254

Yep, except again, mine is 192.168.1.50.

Set up your router manually. uPNP might work, but most often it doesn't. Learing how to do it will be a skill you'll love having as your network grows.

I'm not sure what you mean by manually. But if you mean turning off UPnP, then yes, that's also off.

Check the Subsonic Control Panel to make sure it's using the right port you're going to use. I typically use 8080, 8081, etc.

Check.

Set up port forwarding in your router to direct traffic on the selected port to your server. Consult your router documentation to do this, they are all a bit different.

Check.

Learn your external IP address assigned by your ISP. Go to http://www.canyouseeme.org/ enter your SS port number and click the Check box to be sure the Subsonic port is open.

This keeps telling me Connection Timed Out if I use Subsonic. I tested it with VNC using 8084, and that passed fine.

Test your setup by entering your external IP:port# to see if it connects. e.g. http://108.17.27.224:8092/ If it works, you're good to go.

This fails, obviously. But this doesn't pinpoint my problem.

I've never used VNC so I don't know what it is. You only need to set Subsonic to forward the TCP port. If Canyouseeme.org can't see the port as open then you'll not reach SS from outside.

If it's not the router that's blocking the traffic then it's got to be the firewall on the host PC.

I can't get to your log on page:

Oops! Google Chrome could not connect to 76.120.230.47:8084

So my best guess is that it's the router yet. Set the forward to just TCP, if it's still blocked, try rebooting the router.

I just did a little reading re VNC. If you remote connect to a desktop inside the network, then that desktop can bring up SS because it is communicating with the server INSIDE the network. That's why it works when you connect with VNC. To allow any other device outside the network to reach SS, you have to get the port 8084 get passed to the host PC by the router. If it doesn't pass the Canyouseeme,org test, it won't work. Check your routers documentation, they can be tricky even after you've done it right a few times. My Westell Verizon FIOS router gives me fits everytime I do another rule, and I've been using it for over 3 years now. It just has a very obtuse setup and it gets confusing.

It's always the router that gives everyone fits when setting up SS for outside access. We've had more than one instance where someone knocked their head against the roputer for a week or more until they finally agreed to let us go in remotely and do the setup. If you get to that point, just send me a PM and I'll find out when my 16 yr old tech wizard is available.

It's also a great idea to reboot the router after opening ANY port, and test with canyouseeme.org.

FFFFFUUUU---

Windows 7 Firewall seems to be the culprit. For whatever reason, turning it on causes it to block network traffic for Subsonic.

For future reference for anybody else on Windows 7, if you're using the built in firewall, allow both the SS-agent and the SS-service.

Good to know! (and why I'm still rocking XPpro!)

This is an interesting issue that seems to be comming up more often recently. I'm wondering if there has been a recent update that has changed something in the firewall settings that prevents SS from setting it up properly.

I've installed SS on both Win 7 32 bit and 64 bit numerous times without ever running into any issues with the firewall. When I get bored I'll do another install on my test box when I get a chance. Previously, the Windows install has always set itself up properly in the firewall for me.

I'm wondering if the users reporting this issue have done any customizations to the firewall previously.

I was beating my brains out against my desk over this VERY problem using the current stable!

It allowed access over Public networks by default but not Private.



Also, it doesn't like the LinuxIGD UPnP server when it comes to automatically configuring UPnP and is the first thing with UPnP support that I've come across that doesn't seem to recognize it.