Remote Connection Issues

[codelogic 2]

I've spent about a week banging my head against the wall on this one guys, and I'm at a loss.

 

I currently have about 25 active remote users, with normally 8+ active streams at any given time, for approx the last 8 months.  No one has any issues connecting whatsoever - except one person.  First, some information:

About a week ago I physically moved my server from one address to another, and in the process of doing so got a new ip address.  I have a registered domain through Google, and have it pointed to my home IP address.  (I of course updated the forwarding when I moved! - only this one user has problems connecting)  Since the move, this user has not been able to connect to the server.  We have tried on several different devices, roku tv, android phone, android box, samsung tv, and pc with no luck.  Currently in my server settings I have no blacklisted or whitelisted ip address (all remote connections allowed.)  We have also tried removing the password for the account and trying to log in, and also with a test account with no luck.  It will allow him to select the server, and then enter his credentials, and then it just sits at the black emby screen with the spinning circle.  The user also just (3 days ago) had the internet company at his house to check his lines, and also was given a new cable modem / router.  I've tried everything I can think of.  

As I was getting ready to type this post up, I happened to notice something interesting, and perhaps maybe related - or the cause - to the issue.  Both of our ip addresses have the first same 3 segments, the 4th segment being the only difference.  Is there anyway this could have something to do with him not being able to connect?  I've attached the server logs - users name is Myles1605.

 

Greatly appreciated!

embyserver.txt

[codelogic 2]

Okay, so I'm not sure what log file to attach for this, is there a specific log to attach that has the connection activity in it?

[codelogic 2]

Hate to be inpatient, but anyone have any ideas on this?

[Luke 42086]

Hi there, I would suggest checking out our Connection troubleshooter:

https://support.emby.media/support/solutions/articles/44001849007-connectivity

Please try the steps listed there and let us know which ones succeed and which ones do not. Thanks!

[codelogic 2]

Thanks for the reply Luke. I had already gone thru every step in that guide.  I have the problem resolved, but no root cause.

So, as I explained, this one user (out of 25 active users) who could not connect after I had received a new ip address.  As an example, both of our ip addresses were 100.82.237.* 

Once I had received that ip address that was so close to his, he was unable to connect to my emby server, my ftp, or vnc and vice versa me into his. If he connected to a VPN, he could then connect to me fine (without me being connected to a vpn) and vice versa as well.

So after some digging I found that Spectrum assigns their ip addresses based on the routers Mac address. (Also, spectrum does not offer static ips unless you have business class.)  So I dug out an old belkin wifi router, hooked it up in place of the spectrum wifi router, and voila, received a totally different (each segment totally different) ip address, and the issue was resolved on both ends.  

Fun fact: I went out and purchased a Nighthawk router (the old belkin was only 10/100), got home, hooked it up and while the new ip address wasn't as close as before the first two (100.82) were the same - and again had the same issue with not being able to connect.

Luckily I was able to configure the router to use the computers mac address instead of whatever it auto assigned, got another completely different ip and the issue resolved.

I'm now confident this isn't an emby issue, as other services were affected, even with my server in the dmz with firewall off. I've also spoke with spectrum and they swear they do not block ANY services.

So, I'm up and running fine now, but really wish I could have come up with a better solution.

[pwhodges 2014]

Sounds to me like an incorrect subnet mask somewhere...

Paul

[codelogic 2]

12 hours ago, pwhodges said:

Sounds to me like an incorrect subnet mask somewhere...

Paul

Subnet mask was 255.255.255.0 on both ends, on all devices.  Was one of the first things I looked into.

Plus, I don't think that would explain the issue resolving with a new ip address. Remember, even when our ip addresses only shared the first two segments (100.82.*.*) I still had the issue.  Once I changed the mac address of the router I received a totally new (67.249.*.*) on my end (the user kept his same 100 82.*.*) and there were no longer any connection issues.

Never once have I changed any subnet settings.

Edited December 13, 2020 by codelogic
More info

[Carlo 4561]

A  trace route from one IP to the other could help to figure out the issue.