subsonic.org domain not registering

[GrantG]

I have attempted to register my preferred subsonic.org domain name:

Access your server over the Internet using an easy-to-remember address.

[x] Use http://vinylcafe.subsonic.org

[ ] Use custom URL (advanced) http://

Status: vinylcafe.subsonic.org responded successfully. <<<<<<<<<

However, doing a DNS query on this name returns an incorrect result:

$ host vinylcafe.subsonic.org
vinylcafe.subsonic.org has address 52.51.15.224 <<<<<<<<<<

which is definitely NOT my external IP (which is 99.x.x.x). In fact,

$ host -i 52.51.15.224
224.15.51.52.in-addr.arpa domain name pointer ec2-52-51-15-224.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com.

Looks to me like the dynamic registration server is picking up the address of a CDN or other web proxy ???

I also tried registering a different name, and it too resolves to the amazonaws server.

This is not an urgent problem for me as I happen to have dynamic DNS already set up at mynetgear.com, but I'm sure I'm not the only person experiencing this issue.

[Skywatcher]

Hi GrantG,

The address that the paid version of subsonic grants you is a domain redirection and not a domain registration.
I.e., you'll always see the DNS of subsonic.org's because what indeed happens is that the request first goes to the subsonic redirection server that will then check which is your current IP address and redirect the connection there. If I do a DNS dig for my address it will also not return my public IP address.

The big advantage in this is that since most if not all of subsonic customers are on dynamic IP addresses provided by ISPs, whenever your ISP changes your public address the only thing your subsonic has to do is to inform the subsonic redirection server to redirect to the new address. This way your subsonic become immediately accessible by you/your friends again when the ISP changes addresses.

I suspect that this was SIndre's way of having a lightweight system that works well and updates really fast without having to have the huge infrastructure of companies like no-ip.com and similar. But of course he'll be the one to know why he went with this solution.

Anyway, if you try accessing your subsonic instance via the subsonic.org redirection you'll notice that it should work perfectly.

[GrantG]

Hey Skywatcher

Thanks for the reply, but of course I tried (many times) to use the subsonic domain, including just now, but it doesn't work.

Otherwise, subsonic is working great and meets my needs, so I'll just stick with my existing dynamic DNS.

[alphawave7]

Might be a cache issue because I reach your login page just fine. ( Indeed begins with 99.xxx).

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[GrantG]

Sigh ...

I suppose I should have read between the lines. I hadn't picked up on the fact that *this* redirector is also redirecting port 80 to port 4040. I was attempting to connect to vinylcafe.subsonic.org:4040 (as I would do for other dynamic DNS servers). Leaving off the port solves the problem.

[alphawave7]

Sigh ...

I suppose I should have read between the lines. I hadn't picked up on the fact that *this* redirector is also redirecting port 80 to port 4040. I was attempting to connect to vinylcafe.subsonic.org:4040 (as I would do for other dynamic DNS servers). Leaving off the port solves the problem.

The way I understand it ( and I could be wrong), the redirect server doesn't affect anything on your end (not redirecting 80 to 4040, etc.). When Subsonic server starts, and every overnight, a daemon pings the redirect server to update your current ISP's public IP and subsonic port. This is indeed similar to a conventional DNS updater provided by DYNDNS type services, but is independent of your port assignment. When you alter the port, it is simply sent to the redirect server in the next 'update'. We sometimes see comments about the redirect server NOT updating, either a name not accepting or 'already used', new port assignment, or a new server re-install, and often the overnight update can resolve these (or by manual update), still other more problematic ones require Sindre's magic. It helps to remember that in those rare cases when the redirect server fails, you can always use either your public IP:port, or another dynamic DNS service as a fallback. In my experience, the redirect server typically 'hiccup's a couple of times a year, ranging from a few hours to a day or so...and the forum is a usually the first to report it.
Cheers!

[GrantG]

Alphawave

I think you misunderstood my message. Everything is working fine, I just misunderstood how to use the redirection. Since my server is running on 4040, I had (mistakenly) assumed that I needed to connect to vinylcafe.subsonic.com:4040 -- but in fact, the :4040 is the problem, any client *must* connect to port 80 and the redirector will take care of mapping 80 to the server's port -- 4040 in this case. The redirector is not even listening on 4040, hence my failures.

It's just not the way I would have expected it to work.

Anyway, nothing more to see here ...

[alphawave7]

It's just not the way I would have expected it to work.

That's actually one of the advantages of SIndre's server..clients/listeners aren't required to know your port, and you are free to change it at will without disrupting the user experience. Cheers!