Alexa requests not completing
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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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@guyonabuffalo what's in your firewall log? Your hints might be there.
Ryan
Repeat, after me: MESH IS THE DEVIL! MESH IS THE DEVIL!
Requesting firmware for your Netgate device? https://go.netgate.com
Switching: Mikrotik, Netgear, Extreme
Wireless: Aruba, Ubiquiti -
@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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@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?
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@johnpoz Yes she is able to turn my lights on and off, this action is reaching Home Assistant. I am not using a VPN.
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@guyonabuffalo so the issues is playing stuff off your sonos?
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@johnpoz correct, any requests for music is followed by Alexa confirming she is doing the request...but then no music.
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@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?
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@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! -
@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.
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@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.
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@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 -
@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..
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@johnpoz I appreciate your help all the same. Unfortunately it has never worked since switching to pfSense.
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@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?
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@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.
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@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
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@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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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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@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.
