Alexa IP range

[Ninko 78]

Hi,

Does anyone happen to know the IP address range Alexa uses to connect to emby (Alexa skill), as I try to keep my server as locked down as possible?

Thanks

[Luke 42079]

Hi, this question has come up before. @chefmay know the answer, but I think it will also vary depending on where you're located.

[Ninko 78]

I'm in the UK, if it helps @chef

[rbjtech 5284]

Locking by IP is not the way to do this as they change frequently - if you decide to do it, you'll need to get a firewall that can restrict by content - ie a URL based filter.

[Ninko 78]

1 hour ago, rbjtech said:

Locking by IP is not the way to do this as they change frequently - if you decide to do it, you'll need to get a firewall that can restrict by content - ie a URL based filter.

Right, ok, I'm going to assume there's no way to do that using Synology's firewall?

[chef 3810]

Hi sorry, I missed this. Had COVID for the third time.

A benefit of working in long term care I suppose.

 

Alexa wants to connect on https ports only.

I know that emby's official skill uses their Emby Connect, so I would imagine that as long as you have emby connect up and running then only the one (or two) emby ports need to be open.

 

Now, for custom skills you create your self, I can confirm that you need a domain name which has https. So Alexa doesn't care about ports, except perhaps 443 which doesn't show up anyway.

I hope that helps.

 

Edited April 9, 2023 by chef

[Ninko 78]

Hi @chef,

So sorry to here you've had covid 3 times now! If only had it once (that I'm aware of) and that was one too many.

Regarding the Alexa thing, I have my Synology firewall only open one emby port to only those based in the UK. Now that seems to work for Emby Connect, but it seems to block Alexa.

I am using a HTTPS port already, by the way.

[chef 3810]

3 hours ago, Ninko said:

Hi @chef,

So sorry to here you've had covid 3 times now! If only had it once (that I'm aware of) and that was one too many.

Regarding the Alexa thing, I have my Synology firewall only open one emby port to only those based in the UK. Now that seems to work for Emby Connect, but it seems to block Alexa.

I am using a HTTPS port already, by the way.

It's possible that the official Alexa skill is set to utilize north American aws servers.

In that case, the requests could have a signature originating outside the UK.

Most likely what is happening there.

Can you Synology allow specific connections? Mainly anything originating from amazons aws services?

 

[Ninko 78]

As far as I can tell, it only allows you to filter by country or IP address range. Hence why I was asking what IP address(s) Alexa used.

[chef 3810]

Would you be interested in trying out an Alexa custom skill that I made?

Do you have a domain with https at all?

[Ninko 78]

I don't mind weighing up all options, thanks.

I do indeed have a HTTPS domain.