WAN IP (172.58) tagged as Local IP by Emby

[MBSki 1020]

So, this is rather odd, and only started when I decided to get a shiny new Netgear Orbi mesh router. My phone, connected to the same network and IP range as my Emby Server is behaving as if it's coming from a completely separate network. What tipped me off is when I went to the login screen and saw users that are hidden when on the local network. I had another Netgear router for 10 years and never had this problem. And, it only seems to be an issue when I use a fixed IP for the Emby Server. If I use DHCP and let it set dynamically by the router, everything is fine. Problem is I can't do that because I need to port forward to a fixed IP for remote access.

I know this isn't a networking forum, but anyone got any ideas as to what's going on here? Or, is there an alternative to using a fixed IP and port forwarding to establish a remote access connection?

Edited April 10, 2021 by mbarylski

[rbjtech 4283]

Hi - so if it's working ok using DHCP, then we know fundamentally the networking layer is working as we would expect it to.  On a DHCP enabled client - what are the allocation details - ie the IP, subnet and g/w addresses ?  As long as you manually set a static IP outside the DHCP range but on the same subnet - then you should be good ...

[rbjtech 4283]

Alternatively, just reserve a DHCP IP (using the servers MAC address), that way it won't change and you can setup your port forward to that IP.

[pwhodges 1532]

Is the new router's default IP range different from the old one, in which presumably your chosen fixed IP address falls? Typically the third octet may vary, as between 192.168.0.0 and 192.168.1.0 for instance.

Paul

[MBSki 1020]

20 minutes ago, rbjtech said:

Alternatively, just reserve a DHCP IP (using the servers MAC address), that way it won't change and you can setup your port forward to that IP.

That's the strange thing. On a DHCP enabled client, IP, subnet, and g/w addresses are identical to when I use a fixed IP. And, I tried reserving the IP in the router, and that didn't work either! I was certain that would work, but unfortunately it didn't. 

It really seems to be a bug in the Orbi router. Absolutely perplexing why it's not working given all the details are identical. It's like there's some hidden parameter that the router is handing out with DHCP that allows it to appear as if it's local. But with the reserve an IP option, the router is managing that too, so I can't figure out why that doesn't work.

[MBSki 1020]

1 minute ago, pwhodges said:

Is the new router's default IP range different from the old one, in which presumably your chosen fixed IP address falls? Typically the third octet may vary, as between 192.168.0.0 and 192.168.1.0 for instance.

Paul

Nope, same exact range. Every device is in the 192.168.1.2 - 255 range. 

[pwhodges 1532]

Have you checked on the Emby dashboard what it thinks the IP address is?  Because it's the Emby server's decision what users to show, based on its understanding of the addresses.

Paul

Edited September 4, 2020 by pwhodges

[MBSki 1020]

7 minutes ago, pwhodges said:

Have you checked on the Emby dashboard what it thinks the IP address is?

Yes, all the devices are in the same IP range as the Emby Server. 

8 minutes ago, pwhodges said:

Because it's the Emby server's decision what users to show, based on its understanding of the addresses.

Can you explain this one?

[rbjtech 4283]

.. so I've just had a quick scan through the manual .. it all looks pretty standard stuff.

try setting the DHCP scope smaller to give you some room for non-DHCP assigned or reserved IP's 

ie 192.168.1.2 - 192.168.1.99

then try setting your server to be 192.168.1.100 

https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/RBK50/Orbi_UM_EN.pdf

Also make sure you on not using any of the guest network's ...

 

Edited September 4, 2020 by rbjtech

[pwhodges 1532]

8 minutes ago, mbarylski said:

Can you explain this one?

You choose which users are visible on the login screesn for internal and external access separately.  Emby decides which kind of access it is according to the IP addresses of the clients and itself - therefore what IP address it thinks it has is crucial.

Paul

[rbjtech 4283]

14 minutes ago, mbarylski said:

Yes, all the devices are in the same IP range as the Emby Server. 

Can you explain this one?

Emby will assume the network is 'local' if the IP's originate from one of the networks ranges below :-

10.0.0.0        -   10.255.255.255  (10/8 prefix)
172.16.0.0      -   172.31.255.255  (172.16/12 prefix)
192.168.0.0     -   192.168.255.255 (192.168/16 prefix)

https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1918

Yours does, so I don't believe that is the issue here.

If you can't set a static address and get the devices talking to each other on the same 192.168.1.x network, then there are more fundamental issues.

Can you 'ping' the gateway address and each other ?  ie ping 192.168.1.1 from the emby server ?

 

 

Edited September 4, 2020 by rbjtech

[Carlo 4330]

Hi,

If you can't figure this out I can likely assist you remotely with this.

I haven't looked to see what router you have but many have an option to isolate the WIFI from the Ethernet LAN kind of like a guest network works and would therefor make the traffic pass through the router which could make it look remote.  Sounds strange but happens (has to do with loop back settings as well).

But I'd be happy to take a look with you.  Send me a PM if you want some help for a few minutes.

Carlo

[vdatanet 1549]

Do you still use your ISP router? I've seen people using the ISP router + the orbi mesh router, if that's the case, router should be setup as AP:

https://kb.netgear.com/31218/How-do-I-configure-my-Orbi-router-to-act-as-an-access-point

[MBSki 1020]

2 minutes ago, vdatanet said:

Do you still use your ISP router? I've seen people using the ISP router + the orbi mesh router, if that's the case, router should be setup as AP:

https://kb.netgear.com/31218/How-do-I-configure-my-Orbi-router-to-act-as-an-access-point

No, I'm using just the Orbi. Got rid of the Verizon router a long time ago.

[MBSki 1020]

12 minutes ago, cayars said:

Hi,

If you can't figure this out I can likely assist you remotely with this.

I haven't looked to see what router you have but many have an option to isolate the WIFI from the Ethernet LAN kind of like a guest network works and would therefor make the traffic pass through the router which could make it look remote.  Sounds strange but happens (has to do with loop back settings as well).

But I'd be happy to take a look with you.  Send me a PM if you want some help for a few minutes.

Carlo

Hmmm, interesting. I'm going to dig for a second and will PM you if I can't find the option you're referring to.

[Carlo 4330]

6 minutes ago, mbarylski said:

Hmmm, interesting. I'm going to dig for a second and will PM you if I can't find the option you're referring to.

Let me know. If you want help download TeamViewer from www.teamviewer.com and install it.  When you launch it there will be a userid and one-time use passcode.  Just PM those two things and I'll connect and open a chat window.

[vdatanet 1549]

Maybe you have setup an vlan for isolate the wifi clients, take a lot a this video:

 

[Carlo 4330]

I took a quick look.  There is no setting but his router is treating all WIFI as if it's on an isolated network.  His router has a guest network but it's not being used.

All outside IPs show up normally but all WIFI connections show up with the outside/WAN IP address.

He gets a valid IP and from the server you can ping the client but all traffic flows through the router vs the switch.

The workaround for Emby use was to add the ISP C block to the network section in Emby so it's treated as a local IP address. 

This is some type of BUG in the router code as this isn't normal.

[MBSki 1020]

So messed up! Definitely seems like a bug in the Netgear Orbi firmware. Thanks for checking it out @cayars.

[rbjtech 4283]

Hmm - very strange and something which I think will lead to lots of frustration down the road when you start adding IoT devices and such like.    Unless you have full control of a firewall on this device bridging these networks together, then I'm not sure of the point of it being honest. 

My network is setup with multiple VLAN's for LAN extended onto Wifi - but they are all still on rfc1918 addressing and routed to talk to each other via the firewall (bridge).  Other than a guest type network where you need to keep wifi traffic off your lan, I'm not really sure why you would you want your home wifi on a different network to your home LAN.

@cayars - Nice workaround, but the problem with tricking Emby into seeing the ISP range as local is now they will lose the ability to throttle WAN connections and all users will have WAN connectivity whether you like it or not ...

If it were me, I think I'd be returning it for something more standard.  If you really need the 'Mesh' aspect - then there are plenty of others out there, if you just need better wi-fi range, then just add AP's to your existing setup.

 

Edited September 5, 2020 by rbjtech

[MBSki 1020]

@rbjtech Yep. So far I'm not getting any admission from Netgear that they screwed something up, but hopefully they fix it with a firmware update.

[Carlo 4330]

4 hours ago, rbjtech said:

 

@cayars - Nice workaround, but the problem with tricking Emby into seeing the ISP range as local is now they will lose the ability to throttle WAN connections and all users will have WAN connectivity whether you like it or not ...

No actually he won't lose the this ability.  Anything coming from the internet does show up with the Internet IP.  Anything on Ethernet shows up with the local IP as well. Only his WIFI network shows up to Emby with the WAN address. 

However because it's a DHCP (router) on the WAN side and can change with a reboot, I did open this to the C block in Emby. So technically a neighbor with the same ISP could be on that C block and show up as LOCAL in Emby.  But other than this C block of IP addresses the local vs internet distinction should work just fine.

It's quite possible there could be a router update or alternate firmware like DD-wrt that could be installed on the router that would fix this.  @mbarylski also has his old router which could be used and he was going to play with.  So he could maybe use the old router for the WAN connection and the new one as an AP or vice versa which would likely fix the issue (but shouldn't have to).

[rbjtech 4283]

Thanks @cayars.  Without seeing the details it very difficult to understand what is going on here but there is nothing in the Orbi documentation to suggest this is 'normal' and nothing to suggest wifi is on a different subnet out the box.    If it were me - I would factory reset - if it still didn't work, then I'd put it back in the box and ask for a return/replacement .. as you said, you shouldn't have to fudge a new product to work.

 

[Carlo 4330]

Yea, it is most bazaar thing.  It can't be a feature and has to be a bug of some kind.  I too would try a factory reset and test, then check for firmware upgrade and test.  Quite possible was working correctly but a firmware update is wrong.

I'm with you on a return/exchange for different router as I wouldn't want to deal with this either, especially when it's not exactly a cheap router.  It's one thing to be able to "fix" it in Emby but it's going to be a problem potentially with many other apps on the LAN as well.

[MBSki 1020]

Yep, I'm thinking the same thing. Already tried a hard reset and that didn't work. I'm thinking the latest firmware screwed it up, but won't know for sure until I can talk with a senior tech.