Auto Detect Connection Method not working as expected

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Auto Detect Connection Method not working as expected

Postby daled » Sat Aug 18, 2012 3:13 pm

I'm new to MobiLinc, having switched from Conductor. So far I like what I see, but I have an observation about Auto Detect Connection Method.

I'm able to successfully connect via http to the IP address of my ISY via wifi in my network, and I'm able to successfully connect via https to the external URL of my network via cellular data if I turn wifi off (or am out of range of my wifi).

If, however, I use the auto detect connection method, moblilinc fails to connect when I'm using wifi on my local network. I believe that this is because my router resolves the external URL to its address, but fails to port forward the internal request. Hence no connection to the ISY on 443 can be established.

I have the identical configuration using Conductor and Conductor seems to be smart enough to try to connect via http if the https connection does not work (even if the address is resolved). Can Mobilinc be made to work the same way? If not, then I manually need to change the connection method every time I switch between my local network and external network, unless you have another suggestion.
daled
 
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Re: Auto Detect Connection Method not working as expected

Postby AdminWes » Sat Aug 18, 2012 4:05 pm

Daled,

It sounds like two things are happening:

1. If you have local and secure HTTP/HTTPS settings in MobiLinc and the Connect Method is set to Auto, MobiLinc will search for your ISY using a UPnP ping on your Wi-Fi network and listen for ISY responses. If none are received then it assumes you are on a non-local Wi-Fi connection and will attempt to use HTTPS.

2. If you router does not support IP Loopback then the router will be unable to re-route the external (secure) connection request back inside your network. What router do you have? Most do support IP Loopback. Can you confirm if you have the latest firmware for your router?

If the connect method is set to Auto we need to determine why MobiLinc can't see the ISY's UPnP response. Can you describe your network layout? The simplest setup is the ISY plugged directly into the router with the Wi-Fi signal that your Android device uses to reach the internet. Is your network any different than this?

Have you tried rebooting your router and ISY?
Are you using 3.2.6 firmware (latest) on your ISY?

Bottom line is that the UPnP signal is not able to make the round trip through the network and the ISY for some reason preventing the Auto-Detection from "seeing" your ISY on your network.

Wes
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Re: Auto Detect Connection Method not working as expected

Postby daled » Sat Aug 18, 2012 5:18 pm

Wes,
I'm using a Mikrotik router. I have the latest firmware on the ISY and on the router. I know that the router is not looping back on the internal request for the external address. I find it interesting, however, that the same configuration worked with Conductor. Conductor seemed to try the http connection if the https connection failed for any reason.

I guess I need to see how to configure the router for internal loopback.

Thanks for your quick response.

Dale
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Re: Auto Detect Connection Method not working as expected

Postby AdminWes » Sun Aug 19, 2012 9:26 am

Dale,

While it would be good to understand the IP Loopback issue with the router, I still believe there is something in the network chain between your device and the ISY that's preventing the UPnP signal from making the round trip.

Please forgive the basic troubleshooting advice, but did you try rebooting all network equipment including the ISY and your phone?

Also, can you confirm your network setup as outlined in my initial response?

Wes
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Re: Auto Detect Connection Method not working as expected

Postby daled » Mon Aug 20, 2012 7:15 am

Wes,
Yes my ISY is connected directly to an ethernet port on the router that is also functioning as the AP used by my phone where I'm running mobilinc.

I believe that the router is correctly processing upnp since other devices on the network, such as xbox, seem to be able to configure the router properly. I did notice, however, that I needed to configure external access for the ISY manually....that is, the automatic "File.Enable internet Access" option on the ISY menu did not work. The ISY Wiki says something about the upnp that it uses may not work with all routers, so I did not think much of it.

My router, a mikrotik, requires a bit of manual programming since it is a general purpose ISP router, but it seems to be working as expected for all other applications and devices.

Yes, I've rebooted the router, phone and ISY. Same issue remains: On the local network, if I enable only the https connection in Mobilinc, it fails to connect via the external URL. If I use "Auto Connect" it also fails to connect on the local LAN. If I enable "Auto Connect" an use 4G instead of the LAN (i.e., disable WiFi on the phone) I do connect successfully. It is acting like Mobilinc is trying the secure URL first and if it gets resolved to an IP address it does not try the local address even if the secure connection fails (because of loopback problems in my router for the external address).
daled
 
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Re: Auto Detect Connection Method not working as expected

Postby AdminWes » Mon Aug 20, 2012 8:18 am

Dale,

Try this just to confirm. With your device on local Wi-Fi set the connect method to Local. This should work and connect directly to your ISY.

The issue is that the UPnP signal is not reaching your wireless mobile device which causes MobiLinc to only use the external address. Since your router does not support IP Loopback this fails.

It sounds like this router is more than what you'd find with a home product like Linksys/netgear/cisco/etc. Look to see if there are any UPnP settings or broadcast/multicast settings in the router that would prevent these kinds of signals from being propagated to the WI-Fi network.

Wes
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Re: Auto Detect Connection Method not working as expected

Postby daled » Mon Aug 20, 2012 3:20 pm

Wes,
As I think I mentioned, it does work via Wifi when set to local, just not on Auto.

I agree with you that if upnp and loopback are both not working properly then Mobilinc may be getting confused and not trying local, only secure. If it just tried secure first and then went to local if it failed (or vice versa) it seems like auto would then work.

I will do some futher research regarding loopback and upnp with my router. It might be that upnp is not being bridged properly between the ethernet and Wifi portions of the router. I know that loopback is not working because it fails in a browser if I try to connect to https://external.URL.of.router:443 from inside the network.

Thanks,
Dale
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Re: Auto Detect Connection Method not working as expected

Postby AdminWes » Tue Aug 21, 2012 7:41 pm

daled wrote:It might be that upnp is not being bridged properly between the ethernet and Wifi portions of the router.


This is exactly what I suspect is happening. Let me know how it goes and if I can provide any other info for your troubleshooting.

Wes
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Re: Auto Detect Connection Method not working as expected

Postby daled » Sun Aug 26, 2012 8:32 am

Wes,
I'm not sure it is a upnp problem. I installed Mobilinc Pro and it immediately found my ISY at the proper address. It failed to connect, however until after I changed the connection type to "Auto", even with nothing filled in for the Secure URL. Is this expected?
daled
 
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Re: Auto Detect Connection Method not working as expected

Postby AdminWes » Sun Aug 26, 2012 11:56 am

I'm not sure I followed. Were you running the Android Lite version before?

If MobiLinc finds your ISY on initial launch then UPnP would appear to be working...at least at that moment.

As for failing to connect, what exactly is the scenario where it fails vs. is successful in terms of settings? It sounds like you had to wipe out external address field, leave the connect method set to Auto and then it worked?

If that's true then there's still something going on with UPnP. MobiLinc will only use the external field to connect if you are on cellular or if MobiLinc doesn't reliably receive the UPnP signal from the ISY when it pings for it.

What's your ISY firmware version?

Wes
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