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    upnp & windows network discovery

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • S
      sharpy
      last edited by sharpy

      Hi everyone im new too pfsense I recently replaced my isp provided router for pfsense (running virtually hyper-V) things are up and running but hoping for some help on two problems i'm having

      1. upnp

      I have enabled this for the moment on pfsense while i'm still learning and setting up as its the fastest option,

      my smart tv uses upnp too talk too my openhab controller and xboxes for multi play but its extremely unreliable the pfsense dashboard says running but scanning with a upnp client i cant find the router or anything else the smarthome cant talk too the tv and the xbox says strict nat with upnp unsuccessful

      1. windows network discovery

      since adding pfsense windows network discovery doesen't work it shows no connected devices it used too be populated

      im not sure what information would help you here but ask and i will try too update it like i say i have a lot to learn about pfsense i have only been using for around 5 days have some networking understanding

      network setup
      modem > pfwan <> pflan > switch > wifi aps

      most of my network is wired i do have a small switch daisy chained no vlans yet
      pfsense doing all netjobs dns , dhcp etc

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      • johnpozJ
        johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
        last edited by johnpoz

        If your only on 1 flat network.. LAN.. Pfsense has ZERO to do with devices on lan talking to each other, or anything to do with any discovery method at all, be it broadcast/multicast, etc. etc..

        If device X is wireless and can not talk to Y that is wired - I would guess your AP are set in an isolation mode where wireless can not talk to wired, or even setup where wireless can not talk to wireless, etc.

        If your having issues wifi talking to wifi or just discovery wired to wireless or wireless to wired then your AP might be blocking multicast traffic that is normally used for say SSDP, UPnP, etc. etc.

        But pfsense has zero to do with devices talking on the same Layer 2 network..

        An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
        If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
        Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
        SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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        • stephenw10S
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
          last edited by

          In addition the upnp daemon in pfSense, miniupnpd, supports IGD only. So it allows devices behind it to open firewall rules and setup port forwards like the xbox is doing.
          It does not support DLNA so won't help at all with media streaming applications.

          But as said since you only have one subnet that shouldn't be needed anyway.

          Steve

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          • S
            sharpy
            last edited by sharpy

            Thanks both of you for the replys

            yes im on a flat network / LAN

            i thought pfsense has something too do with it as it is acting as the main router

            i have managed too get some of the windows network discovery working but i'm still experiencing some issues

            upnp for my smart tv and xboxes still not working no change

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            • stephenw10S
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
              last edited by

              Do you see anything in Status > UPNP?

              What exactly is the TV trying and failing to do? You won't see it doing anything DLNA related as I said. But if you have flat network that shouldn't matter.

              Steve

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              • S
                sharpy
                last edited by sharpy

                The smarthome controller (Openhab) uses upnp too discover the TV (Samsung) on the local network they then send information between themselfs openhab knows if the tv is on/off , volume levels ect it can also change these items

                i have had it working for a fraction of time but not since. the tv showed online on openhab so the upnp communications were sucessful but it quickly went offline and never comes back on

                Upnp Status is empty

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                • stephenw10S
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by

                  Ok that would just be directly between those devices, pfSense would not be doing anything there. Nothing IGD related.

                  The xbox could be though it doesn't always.

                  I have previously used Skype for testing upnp is working but that was some versions of Skype ago. Otherwise most bit-torrent clients will open ports with upnp and you should see that in the status.

                  Steve

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                  • S
                    sharpy
                    last edited by sharpy

                    Ok then i will keep looking on the devices and at the lan and post back

                    i will also try a bit torrent client too see what happens and post back

                    There must be something wrong with my LAN as its strange that windows network discovery is acting strange on some things and now not on others and the upnp communications if you say they both run on the local net only and have nothing too do with pfsense

                    the only major thing i changed other than adding pfsense was changing alot of the ip addresses too local machines do you think this could have upset them both inside my switches? maby i should reset my switches

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                    • stephenw10S
                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                      last edited by

                      It sounds like a subnet mask mismatch somewhere, I'd check for that first.

                      Steve

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                      • johnpozJ
                        johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                        last edited by

                        Did you change these IPs locally on the devices - then yeah its quite possible you have mask mismatch..

                        An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                        If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                        Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                        SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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                        • S
                          sharpy
                          last edited by

                          They were changed on the pfsense router using dhcp static mapping

                          I have been looking for mismatched subnets but can't find anything

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                          • S
                            sharpy
                            last edited by sharpy

                            Just an update here for anyone who's interested/following

                            I seem too have fixed all my issues now the only thing i need too do too finish setup is move the the xboxs from a strict nat to a open nat

                            What was the problem with the local upnp?

                            Quote from Wikipedia

                            "IGMP snooping and reliability

                            If IGMP snooping is enabled on a switch, or more commonly a wireless router/switch, it will interfere with UPnP/DLNA device discovery (SSDP) if incorrectly or incompletely configured (e.g. without an active querier or IGMP proxy), making UPnP appear unreliable.

                            Typical scenarios observed include a server or client (e.g. smart TV) appearing after power on, and then disappearing after a few minutes (often 30 by default configuration) due to IGMP group membership expiring."

                            What was wrong with Network Discovery?

                            im sorry i cant confirm what actually fixed this its been a combination of enabling different thigs and trial and error reading the net and watching videos it mainly seemed too be services stopped and features disabled (possibly from an windows update)

                            What was wrong with xbox upnp?
                            This was solved as soon as i fixed the upnp locally

                            Thanks everyone for the replys and tips it might not have seemed like it but they helped alot

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