Android through work proxy.

[Everso]

Hi all,

I have just set up subsonic. It is working great through 3G and wifi at home. When I connect to work it will not connect. This is through a proxy which I have entered.

Strange thing is that if I go via the web page it connects and plays just fine. I have even entered the IP address the the web page resolves to as the server but this does not help.

This makes me think it is some sort of a client issue? Am I missing some setting I need to make to allow the client to connect through the Proxy? I thought all I have to to was enter the proxy details and away I went.

Everso



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I have done some more work. I have removed and re-installed the android client (V2.7) while at work and through the proxy to see if it picked up some setting. I am now able to see the demo server but still not the one on my PC. I can still get to the web page and play music quite happily from there though.

I have installed a terminal program and can ping my domain address as well.

Has anyone got any idea why I can get there through the web but not through the client?

I was really hoping to use subsonic as a replacement for AudioGalaxy as the file organization is so much better for large collections but if all I have is the web client it is not going to be of much use to me. I am open to any suggestions and will try anything to get this working.

Everso

[Everso]

*Bump*

No one got any ideas?

[Kirk]

I'm inclined to think it's a firewall restriction at your work... it's possible that your work is blocking "*.subsonic.org" as 'streaming media'. Or it may be blocking port 4040 or w\e port your server is on for being non-standard.

Anyway, I'm not sure why you'd be able to get to it from the browser, unless you're going to a different URL than the one you put in your Subsonic application?

-Kirk

[Everso]

Nope- I got the same address in there .


In desperation I even put the IP address:port in as the server. Again - works just sweet from everywhere except behind the proxy

It's such a shame because this is an excellent product. The annoying thing is one of the competitors works fine but is no where near as good in most other aspects apart from actually working.

As it is very easy to download files with SS I am looking at instead picking what I fancy for the day and saving it in the morning before I go to work. If I could just figure out how to send it to my SD card instead of internal memory I would be happy with that I suppose.

Everso

[Kirk]

If your home ISP doesn't block port 80, try running your Subsonic server on port 80. That might prevent some web filtering software from trying to block it... whereas 4040 or 8080 might be blocked for being an odd port.

-Kirk

[Everso]

OK. I'll give that a try tonight.

Yesterday as an experiment I turned off my firewall and put the PC in the DMZ - just to remove any local blocking... still no joy.

I will give the port 80 thing a go and report back. Thanks for the suggestion.

Everso

[Kirk]

If it works from an offsite location, then the firewall at your Subsonic server is not at fault. It's probably restrictions at work. Try the port 80 attempt and let us know how it goes.

-Kirk

[Everso]

Right. Port 80 is not blocked by my ISP and the port forwarding site reports it is open. Now I get to work tomorrow and see if that fixes it...

Everso

[Everso]

Bummer - is still is not working.

I have to admit I am still thinking this is a client issue not a proxy issue given that I can get to the web site through the proxy just fine.

I'm total out of ideas. It's a real shame because a couple of other programs work just fine behind the proxy but are no whee near as good when it comes to organizing large collections.

Everso

[GJ51]

I see this issue raised frequently, but of course, no two at work environments are identical.

The first issue I'd like to see clarified concerns port blocking by the proxy at work. I don't understand how ports that are blocked by the proxy are affected by which port you have Subsonic set to on your home network. Doesn't the browser traffic travel through port 80 through the proxy to make the request to the Subsonic server? Just because Subsonic uses a specific port on it's host PC, I don't believe that affects the port that is used by the client PC making or recieving the data. Doesn't the router track the internal ip of the requesting system and route the response back to the requesting PC? If that's the case (as I understand it) then changing the port that SS uses should not have any effect at the recieving end. Again, I'm not positive on this point so if anyone has definitive information to the contrary, please share.

Second. The work environment can be using many different techniques to block specific traffic. White lists, black lists, and packet inspection for specific data types come to mind. I've seen it reported by some users that enabling ssl allowed them to get by their proxy, the conclusion being that once the proxy was no longer able to determine that the data was music, it was then allowed to pass through.

Hopefully others who've solved the problem on their company's networks can help shed more light on the subject.

Lastly, when you're at work, try connecting to my server below to see if that works.

[Kirk]

The first issue I'd like to see clarified concerns port blocking by the proxy at work. I don't understand how ports that are blocked by the proxy are affected by which port you have Subsonic set to on your home network. Doesn't the browser traffic travel through port 80 through the proxy to make the request to the Subsonic server? Just because Subsonic uses a specific port on it's host PC, I don't believe that affects the port that is used by the client PC making or recieving the data. Doesn't the router track the internal ip of the requesting system and route the response back to the requesting PC? If that's the case (as I understand it) then changing the port that SS uses should not have any effect at the recieving end. Again, I'm not positive on this point so if anyone has definitive information to the contrary, please share.

I didn't catch the proxy part. Actually, I did, but I assumed he meant like a Squid caching proxy work was running or something.

-Kirk

[GJ51]

We have found one way around nasty proxies that try to lock you out of connecting to anything but what they approve, but it only works if you have WHS or a VPN back to your network. My inventive son was trying to get around the proxy at his school and realized that he could bypass it by establishing a remote desktop connection back to his desktop at home through Windows Home Server. Pretty creative kid!

[Everso]

I did not have a chance yesterday to test this (I had multiple PC failures to deal with). I have got the encrypted port open and checked. Do I need to do anything to the standard port like turn it off to get SS to use the encrypted or will it allays take that in preference?

Everso

[GJ51]

No. When you enable ssl leave all other settings in place. Remember that to reach your site using your subsonic.org address you still use http://servername.subsonic.org. Subsonic will respond to the request usning ssl to establish the connection.

[Kirk]

We have found one way around nasty proxies that try to lock you out of connecting to anything but what they approve, but it only works if you have WHS or a VPN back to your network. My inventive son was trying to get around the proxy at his school and realized that he could bypass it by establishing a remote desktop connection back to his desktop at home through Windows Home Server. Pretty creative kid!

RDP isn't all that creative, most good filters would block that protocol too. A protocol I've found Websense fails to block correctly is OpenVPN, since it's so similar to HTTPS. I found this out by accident, because I'm employed at a school in the IT Department, and I had full Internet access rights without registering my computer, and it didn't occur to me as to why until I remembered I had OpenVPN auto connecting on boot. lmao.

-Kirk