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    Alexa requests not completing

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • G
      guyonabuffalo
      last edited by

      Hi all,

      I just recently moved from Unifi to pfSense. My setup consists of a pfSense firewall followed by two 8 port unifi switches and one unifi AP. I have several Sonos speakers that I use Alexa on to listen to music. One of the Sonos speakers is plugged directly into the switch.

      Since moving to pfSense when I ask Alexa to play music, she will respond with "Ok, playing yadda yadda" but then I get nothing.

      When I first setup pfSense I did enable pfBlockerNG until I realized I was having this issue. I have since turned everything off "I think" but still not getting Alexa to complete the commands.

      I've tried looking through firewall logs and doing a packet capture (I'll be honest I'm not well versed in reading packet captures). Nothing obvious is standing out to be as blocking the request from coming through.

      Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. I'm really at a loss.

      The only firewall rule on the wan side is RFC 1918 networks block private networks. On my IoT vlan my only rule is an allow all to all. I have it set this way for not until I can figure out what's going on with my Alexa. Once that is determined I'll start locking it down.

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      • R
        rcoleman-netgate Netgate @guyonabuffalo
        last edited by

        @guyonabuffalo what's in your firewall log? Your hints might be there.

        Ryan
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        G johnpozJ 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • G
          guyonabuffalo @rcoleman-netgate
          last edited by

          @rcoleman-netgate I'm looking through them but not finding anything obvious that is blocking. What I see a ton of is Default deny rule IPv4 (1000000103) but that is going to a totally different interface.

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          • johnpozJ
            johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @rcoleman-netgate
            last edited by johnpoz

            @guyonabuffalo And does she do other stuff? Turn your lights on and off, etc. I have 4 Alexa's and don't have any issues.. If you have an any any rule - how would you think your blocking anything?

            Are you using a vpn?

            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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            • G
              guyonabuffalo @johnpoz
              last edited by

              @johnpoz Yes she is able to turn my lights on and off, this action is reaching Home Assistant. I am not using a VPN.

              johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • johnpozJ
                johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @guyonabuffalo
                last edited by

                @guyonabuffalo so the issues is playing stuff off your sonos?

                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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                  guyonabuffalo @johnpoz
                  last edited by

                  @johnpoz correct, any requests for music is followed by Alexa confirming she is doing the request...but then no music.

                  johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • johnpozJ
                    johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @guyonabuffalo
                    last edited by

                    @guyonabuffalo Are you trying to play music off your own media server, or amazon music?

                    I just asked mine to play some grateful dead - and other than freaking trying to get me to sign up for amazon limited - arrghh.. Then it played just fine. But I am not using any external speakers, does it work if you play just off the alexa and not trying to do it on your sonos?

                    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

                    G 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • G
                      guyonabuffalo @johnpoz
                      last edited by

                      @johnpoz trying to play music from amazon music. I've also asked it to play music from Spotify but same thing happens. She confirms she is playing music from spotify but then nothing. I don't have an actual alexa device, only Sonos speakers that have an alexa integration.
                      haha I agree, Alexa likes to talk to much. Just shut up and do as I say!

                      johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • johnpozJ
                        johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @guyonabuffalo
                        last edited by

                        @guyonabuffalo so what are these blocks you are seeing, are they on your wan - then they are most likely just noise.. could you post some examples of these blocks - blocking out your public IP of course.

                        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

                        G 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • G
                          guyonabuffalo @johnpoz
                          last edited by

                          @johnpoz if I use the Sonos app, I can play music from Amazon music or Spotify. I just can't get anything to play via voice commands.

                          johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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                            guyonabuffalo @johnpoz
                            last edited by

                            @johnpoz this is what is filling my logs. From what research I have done I think it is just noise. Would be nice to tone it down but my current focus has been trying to get voice commands to work again.

                            May 16 20:27:00	NOT	Default deny rule IPv4 (1000000103)	  192.168.4.109:49154	  255.255.255.255:6667	UDP
                            May 16 20:26:58	NOT	Default deny rule IPv4 (1000000103)	  192.168.4.117:40892	  152.70.159.102:123	UDP
                            May 16 20:26:57	NOT	Default deny rule IPv4 (1000000103)	  192.168.4.108:49154	  255.255.255.255:6667	UDP
                            May 16 20:26:55	NOT	Default deny rule IPv4 (1000000103)	  192.168.4.109:49154	  255.255.255.255:6667	UDP
                            May 16 20:26:54	WAN	Default deny rule IPv4 (1000000103)	  64.62.197.144:6760	  redacted:1434	UDP
                            May 16 20:26:52	NOT	Default deny rule IPv4 (1000000103)	  192.168.4.108:49154	  255.255.255.255:6667	UDP
                            May 16 20:26:52	WAN	Default deny rule IPv4 (1000000103)	  35.208.82.137:50468	  redacted:22138	UDP
                            May 16 20:26:50	NOT	Default deny rule IPv4 (1000000103)	  192.168.4.109:49154	  255.255.255.255:6667	UDP
                            May 16 20:26:47	NOT	Default deny rule IPv4 (1000000103)	  192.168.4.108:49154	  255.255.255.255:6667	UDP
                            May 16 20:26:47	WAN	Default deny rule IPv4 (1000000103)	  194.26.29.152:56859	  redacted:5223	TCP:S
                            
                            johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • johnpozJ
                              johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @guyonabuffalo
                              last edited by

                              @guyonabuffalo wish I could be more help, but there isn't anything special to do - especially if you have a any any rule.

                              Did this ever work? And now just stopped? Sometime alexa does run into problems - on amazons end..

                              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

                              G 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • G
                                guyonabuffalo @johnpoz
                                last edited by

                                @johnpoz I appreciate your help all the same. Unfortunately it has never worked since switching to pfSense.

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                                • johnpozJ
                                  johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @guyonabuffalo
                                  last edited by johnpoz

                                  @guyonabuffalo why are you blocking ntp out? that one to 152.x.x.x:123, thought you said you had a any any rule?

                                  the 6667 is noise from say smart lights... I have loads of that traffic as well, but I don't log it.. its to broadcast address.. But yeah the smart lights love to send out tons of that - I would prob setup a rule to just not log it.

                                  What interface are you seeing this 6667 and and ntp traffic? Is that not your network your sonos is on?

                                  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

                                  G 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • G
                                    guyonabuffalo @johnpoz
                                    last edited by guyonabuffalo

                                    @johnpoz all of that traffic is on a different vlan (NoT) which my Sonos does not reside on. That network is where I have all of my smart lights and such that don't need Internet access. On that vlan I do have a firewall rule that only allows traffic from that interface to my Home Assistant instance.

                                    I'm not really seeing any logs generate from the IoT network, where my Sonos reside.

                                    I tried refreshing the logs as I was making the request but not seeing anything.

                                    johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • johnpozJ
                                      johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @guyonabuffalo
                                      last edited by johnpoz

                                      @guyonabuffalo so your saying it works with the sonos app, but not with alexa - so you have a sonos skill enabled in alexa? Have you tried to disable that and re-enable it?

                                      I came across this that seems like what your seeing?

                                      https://en.community.sonos.com/amazon-alexa-and-sonos-229102/alexa-won-t-play-music-6820262

                                      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

                                      G 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                      • G
                                        guyonabuffalo @johnpoz
                                        last edited by

                                        @johnpoz Sonos has an Amazon Alexa voice service. At your suggestion I did just remove it and re-added it. Unfortunately still getting the same behavior.

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                                        • G
                                          guyonabuffalo
                                          last edited by

                                          Alexa does seem to be able to complete requests like what's the forecast for tomorrow and tell me a joke. The issue seems to be specific to playing music.

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                                          • G
                                            guyonabuffalo @johnpoz
                                            last edited by

                                            @johnpoz found in the Alexa app I could disable the skill and re-enable. This actually fixed the issue! Thanks again for your help. If there is a way to make your post as the resolution I will. On mobile ATM and am not seeing it.

                                            C 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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