WAN Connection Issue (Kind of)

[PaulE123 20]

Hi all, this problem is brand new to me. Nothing has changed about my setup whatsoever, barring maybe some updates to my reverse proxy dockers (DuckDNS and Swag).

Unraid Server (6.12.4)

Emby Docker (latest stable release)

Swag & DuckDNS Dockers, both fully updated.

Today I happened to be on my Emby Dashboard on my PC (Windows 11), and noticed testing the WAN connection results in a web page timeout. I figured it must have been something to do with a Swag update, and spent a good while going through all of that & updating some files that the log was complaining about. No joy, nothing seems to allow me to connect via the WAN address using my PC (which I've ALWAYS been able to do for testing purposes.) LAN connection test works perfectly.

Very oddly though, using my phone on a data connection, I can connect using the official Emby app over the WAN, so there's nothing actually wrong with the functionality it seems, but I just can't connect to Emby using the WAN option on my PC as I normally could. 

Has anyone ANY idea how to troubleshoot this?

[Luke 42079]

Hi, have you actually tried this on a remote connection? there's no guarantee that you'll be able to use the WAN address from insider your network. For that your router has to support and allow loopback connections.

[PaulE123 20]

2 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi, have you actually tried this on a remote connection? there's no guarantee that you'll be able to use the WAN address from insider your network. For that your router has to support and allow loopback connections.

Hi, yes as mentioned I took my phone off of the lan, and used the data/wan connection instead where it works perfectly.

I also don't see why my router would stop allowing loopback connections when it had no problem allowing it a few weeks back.

The Emby app on my Nvidia shield is crashing if I try play a file now, despite restarting both it and the server. A lovely day of tech issues today. 

Edited December 9, 2023 by PaulE123

[darkassassin07 652]

That sounds like an issue with NAT hairpinning no longer functioning.

Presumably your domain resolves to your WAN ip?

For a quick test, can you forward an external port directly to emby, then use http://<wanip>:<port> to connect from within your lan?

(remove that port forward after testing)

If that doesn't work, NAT hairpinning on your router is your culprit.

[PaulE123 20]

42 minutes ago, darkassassin07 said:

That sounds like an issue with NAT hairpinning no longer functioning.

Presumably your domain resolves to your WAN ip?

For a quick test, can you forward an external port directly to emby, then use http://<wanip>:<port> to connect from within your lan?

(remove that port forward after testing)

If that doesn't work, NAT hairpinning on your router is your culprit.

Interesting, thanks for the info. Funnily I'm noticing more strangeness to do with devices attached to the router via Ethernet here.

Emby via PC won't access via wan check

Emby client on Ethernet connected shield crashing trying to play video (but can play audio files)

Deco M4 mesh wifi unit can't check for firmware upgrade

Wifi via M4's has been spotty all day

I'll try the port forwarding test, have you any suggestion as to which port would be a good test? 

[darkassassin07 652]

Router had a firmware update lately? Seems odd, but I can't think of anything specific as to why it'd be like that.

 

Pretty much any port will do, 8093 8096 is embys default. I'd use that if it's not already open. +/- 1 if it is.

Edited December 10, 2023 by darkassassin07

[seanbuff 1318]

1 hour ago, darkassassin07 said:

8093 is embys default

8096 is the default

[darkassassin07 652]

Woops, not sure how I messed that one up...

[PaulE123 20]

8 hours ago, darkassassin07 said:

Router had a firmware update lately? Seems odd, but I can't think of anything specific as to why it'd be like that.

 

Pretty much any port will do, 8093 8096 is embys default. I'd use that if it's not already open. +/- 1 if it is.

Using - http://192.168.0.2:8096/web/index.html#!/home - works perfectly on the LAN (port 8096).

Using https://XXXXXX.duckdns.org:443 - nothing, page took too long to respond error.

I've changed nothing about my setup whatsoever. It was literally working perfectly Friday night, and by Saturday morning it's collapsed.

[sskwhiteshadow 2]

Are you using port 443 for ssl on your EMBY if so u dont need the :443 and https defaults to 443 but it should still work. 

Curious what tcpdump/wireshark for port 443 i assume unless u are port forwarding 443 to another port that u are listening on EMBY. 

Either way tcpdump will show if connection is coming through and tls/ssl  will show connection went through?
Are you using SSL certs? 
can you connect https locally?
 

[darkassassin07 652]

10 hours ago, PaulE123 said:

Using - http://192.168.0.2:8096/web/index.html#!/home - works perfectly on the LAN (port 8096).

Using https://XXXXXX.duckdns.org:443 - nothing, page took too long to respond error.

I've changed nothing about my setup whatsoever. It was literally working perfectly Friday night, and by Saturday morning it's collapsed.

That's using your lan ip and skipping NAT hairpinning. You've completely skipped the test we were trying and just used a direct local connection instead...

 

 

You have to use your routers wan ip from within your lan for this test. After forwarding port 8096 from wan to emby.

Edited December 10, 2023 by darkassassin07

[Luke 42079]

@PaulE123?

[PaulE123 20]

Apologies folks, haven't had a minute to get back to this over the last few days.

@sskwhiteshadowyep I'm using 443 for my Emby remote connection. I followed the Spaceinvaderone guide for setting up an Unraid reverse proxy some years back. It has worked perfectly up until now. I've added a forwarding rule in my router, pointed at my Unraid server (Emby). Validation through Emby is handled by reverse proxy (SWAG and then DuckDNS for DNS).

@darkassassin07I've tried the hairpinning test there using 8096 (created new rule to forward to Unraid IP, and then tried to connect using browser & the format you advised....same result, site can't be reached.

[darkassassin07 652]

That tells me NAT hairpinning is not functional on your network. That's why you're typical remote test from within lan isn't working, while regular wan connections are.

 

Why hairpinning isn't working I'm not sure. You'll have to look into your router config for that.

[sskwhiteshadow 2]

what kind of router and firmware u running? 

[PaulE123 20]

15 hours ago, sskwhiteshadow said:

what kind of router and firmware u running? 

It's standard issue equipment provided by my ISP (Virgin Media, Hub 3). It's quite poor by all accounts when you want to go beyond simple everyday use, but it def did work up until recently. It's possible they've updated the firmware recently, there's no way to check via the router control panel.

@darkassassin07yeah I've a feeling you're right, my hunch is equipment problems here. I've a service engineer schedule a call out in two weeks, so I won't know more until then. Phone support went through the basic checks and felt an engineer call was warranted.

Thanks for the pointers folks, hopefully the hunch is right and it's an equipment problem. I'll update when I know more! 

 

[PaulE123 20]

@darkassassin07Well friend, you were spot on. New router provisioned today by my ISP and the issue is resolved. A bizarre hardware issue! Thanks all so much for the help & input, even though it turned out not to be an Emby issue at all!