Remote media access with BubbleUPnP

My Cloud OS 3 Personal & Network Attached Storage My Cloud
1

For my Android devices, I access the Twonky media server using BubbleUPnP, which works nicely, and is cheap for multiple licences.

Now, in a recent upgrade, they added Cloud access for commercial clouds, but I don’t use commercial clouds, and the ‘Cloud’ option cluttered up the Library pane. So I asked the developers to add a switch to remove it, jokingly saying MyCloud access would be nice. They replied very promptly to point me to an existing switch…

But, whilst nosing through the settings again, I remembered I have BubbleUPnP Server installed on my little Android Media Box, which provides a proxy server for Twonky. And part of that proxy service is https cloud access to the Twonky media server.

After a little playing (there’s a disconnect between the terms used in the Server and Client apps), I think I now have remote access enabled for my cloud-accessible MyCloud; whilst I’m still local to my network, the client app is reporting successful access to the externally-visible IP address, and the remote proxy server appears as an available media server.

The steps:

Create a window in my firewall to support this service.

Configure the Server (select which media servers to make available remotely, enable remote access, create access user and password, note public IP address from Status page)

Check that the Server can access the internet (i.e. the firewall is set up correctly)

Configure the client using the ‘Setup Network Wizard’ (enter public IP address and port, user and password, and name the proxy server, select allowable connection bearers)

Test and confirm the proxy access settings.

The security of this…? hmmm. I guess the firewall holes are no different from what is needed for MyCloud remote apps.

2

whilst I’m still local to my network, the client app is reporting successful access to the externally-visible IP address, and the remote proxy server appears as an available media server.

I’m now remote, and, unfortunately, BubbleUPnP isn’t able to access the remote BubbleUPnP Server…  Some more investigation required. This is a bit tricky when you can’t do remote access when you’re local…

3

cpt_paranoia wrote:

This is a bit tricky when you can’t do remote access when you’re local…

One way to solve that problem if you haven’t already done is is to disable the WiFi on the Android phone and use the phone’s data connection to do remote testing. Of course this isn’t a good solution if one has a low data rate plan or has poor phone reception at their location.

4

Just did a quick and dirty setup with Bubble UPnP Server on a Windows 7 PC and the BubleUPnP app on Android. Couple of comments.

  • Take care with the login and password creation for BubbleUPnP Server Credentials. I setup the login as all lower case, same for password to avoid any potential issues.
  • Make note of the “Public host name” IP address. This is the IP address you will input into the Android Bubble UPnP app “Server address” setting.
  • Make sure to select or enable “Make this Media Server available in BubbleUPnP for Android and foobar2000 for Internet access” and “Create a proxy Media Server on this LAN”.
  • Make sure to modify the gateway or router settings to pass BOTH ports 58050 and 58051 through to the IP address of the computer running the BubbleUPnP Server. Do NOT point those two ports to the WD My Cloud.
  • Make sure when entering the “Server address” in the BubbleUPnP Android app to append port 58050 to the IP address. For example Server address: http://12.345.678.910:58050.
  • On the Windows version of BubbleUPnP Server there is the option on  the  “Status” page to run a “Internet Connectivity Test” which will test if remote connectivity is possible.

Was able to successfully connect remotely through the BubbleUPnP server to the WD My Cloud and play media using the Android BubbleUPnP app.

5

One way to solve that problem if you haven’t already done is is to disable the WiFi on the Android phone and use the phone’s data connection to do remote testing

Yes, it would be a way to solve the problem.  Only I don’t have an Android phone.  Or any smartphone…

Went through your checklist:

user and password: check

public IP address: check

make server available: check

create proxy server (for a selected server): check

redirect both http and https ports: check

ports mapped to Bubble Server machine: check

append port to IP address: check - tried both http and https ports

run internet connectivity test: check

I’m wondering if my public IP address is particularly dynamic; I didn’t check local access this morning.

Either that, or it’s finger trouble.

Thanks for trying :wink:

6

Also check the computer running the BubbleUPnP to ensure the computer’s firewall, if its running a firewall, isn’t also blocking access to the computer on the two ports BubbleUPnP Server uses.

If you run the connectivity check and no errors are shown then the problem is probably outside your local network or a wrong configuration setting on the Android BubbleUPnP app. Possibly your local broadband provider is blocking inbound access (for what ever reason) or the android device may have a configuration issue. Typically dynamic IP’s from broadband providers only change when either the router/gateway is rebooted or the DNS lease is up (or the DNS stack is cycled to release and renew).

7

Also check the computer running the BubbleUPnP to ensure the computer’s firewall

The BubbleUPnP Server is running on and Android Media box, so no firewall.  The connectivity checks for http and https ports both pass.

Typically dynamic IP’s from broadband providers only change when either the router/gateway is rebooted

My router has been known to reboot itself… That’s the kind of thing I was thinking about.

The BubbleUPnP settings were unchanged from when it was able to access locally last night (and display the proxy server name as expected for a remote server), but I’d imagine that something in the system ought to know that I’m trying to access my local network, even if I’m using my global IP address to do so, and prevent traffic going out of my network and back again.

Hmmm. I should be able to test this if I unplug my router ADSL.  That will probably cause a ressignment of my global IP address, but I’d be able to tell if the proxy server access is actually contained within my LAN, and sort out the new IP address later.

8

The proxy server name for the WD My Cloud showed up as a second entry in the DLNA server list when using  DLNA client (including the android BubbleUPnP app) on my local network. It was something like “WDMyCloud-”. Setting up the BubbleUPnP server software wan’t that hard, it was the BubbleUPnP Android app where I had the trouble with first finding the area to input the remote access information, then fat fingering the info twice, then finding the network settings again buried in the settings menu to fix my fat fingered mistakes. The BubbleUPnP Android app also sets up the Android device  the app is installed on as a DLNA server too which will be beneficial to some. Obviously if one doesn’t want to share their video, music and picture folders on their Android device they will need to reconfigure the BubbleUPnP Android app to either not use the default video, music and picture folders or disable the server entirely on the app.

9

Got home and went to change the server configuration, only to find it wasn’t responding, either to opening the server app, or to the web interface. Eventually managed to restart it.

Stupidly, I didn’t check local access on the tablet before I started fiddling…

All looking lovely for local ‘remote’ access again. Will have to wait to try remote access tomorrow. Or unplug the ADSL…

Oh, the only setting I have differently to yours appears to be the ‘create a proxy server on this LAN’. I’m not sure if this is needed for remote access (I imagine it would complain if it was). I don’t want a local proxy; I only want a remote proxy. If I turn on the LAN proxy, I see the raw server, the [proxy] server and the [home] server. This leads me to believed that LAN and remote proxy servers are distinct.

10

Right, just tired unplugging the ADSL cable.

When I ran the internet connectivity test, it immediately failed.

I then tried to access the ‘remote’ proxy server, but it couldn’t browse the library.

I reconnected the ADSL, and noted from the router that my IP had changed, but the server status page didn’t, even when I refreshed the page.

When I restarted the server, it showed the new IP address. It now passes the connectivity tests.

The tablet BubbleUPnP can no longer see the remote proxy.

I changed the IP address in the tablet setting, and it passed the test and connected to the remote proxy, and I can browse the library.

So, I’ll enable logging, and try real remote access again tomorrow…

11

Well, I just had my IP spontaneously change again; looks like my router rebooted. Probably didn’t like being disconnected, got confused and restarted…

BubbleUPnP Server seems pretty fragile, too; keeps vanishing and needing to be restarted.

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cpt_paranoia wrote:

Oh, the only setting I have differently to yours appears to be the ‘create a proxy server on this LAN’. I’m not sure if this is needed for remote access (I imagine it would complain if it was). I don’t want a local proxy; I only want a remote proxy. If I turn on the LAN proxy, I see the raw server, the [proxy] server and the [home] server. This leads me to believed that LAN and remote proxy servers are distinct.

Supposedly, per this link, if you don’t enable “create a proxy server on this LAN” you may get ‘access denied’ errors on the remote device. Couldn’t hurt to enable it and see what happens.

If one is really daring I guess they could try to install BubbleUPnP directly to the WD My Cloud even though the processor on the My Cloud is probably under powered to do the transcoding. One person tried it with  their My Book Live apparently.

13

It’s pretty consistent behaviour now; server runs for a while after restarting, but stops after some time. No remote proxy viable, no life from the web UI.

I’m beginning to suspect some ‘demo mode’, even though I have a licensed copy.

14

Got up this morning: BubbleUPnP Server dead again. Restarted, only to have it disappear again within minutes. Restarted again…

Now accessing remotely; it’s been up since 9:23 this morning. Now 12:32… Working nicely, serving cover art and music very nicely.

As for the ‘Enable LAN proxy’, the developer confirms that’s not required for remote proxy use:

“It is not necessary to create a LAN proxy. LAN prioxies are just for the LAN and not at all related to remote access of the same servers”

Developer confirms ‘disappearance after random time’ is ‘unusual’. Currently have debug logging enabled to provide feedback…

15

cpt_paranoia wrote:

Got up this morning: BubbleUPnP Server dead again. Restarted, only to have it disappear again within minutes. Restarted again…

 

Now accessing remotely; it’s been up since 9:23 this morning. Now 12:32… Working nicely, serving cover art and music very nicely.

 

As for the ‘Enable LAN proxy’, the developer confirms that’s not required for remote proxy use:

 

“It is not necessary to create a LAN proxy. LAN prioxies are just for the LAN and not at all related to remote access of the same servers”

 

Developer confirms ‘disappearance after random time’ is ‘unusual’. Currently have debug logging enabled to provide feedback…

Yeah saw the reply over on XDA about not needing the enable lan proxy. I experimented with it late yesterday and it wasn’t needed on my Win 7 box.

Just an FYI for any others reading this thread who are interested in trying out the BubbleUPnP, the free  BubbleUPnP Android app is apparently limited to 30 minutes playback during remote (off local network) access and is ad driven. One can purchase the  BubbleUPnP License app (currently $4.69) which removes these limitations/ads. The  BubbleUPnP Server is currently free. See the  BubbleUPnP FAQ for more information including an entry on how security is handled.