SqueezePlay on Linux does not connect to Logitech Media Server

[Man in a van]

I might have missed something somewhere but if the PC is a dual boot, then it is either in Windows or Lubuntu .

The OP says

Windows > Squeezeplay > LMS installed on this partition: works.


Lubuntu > Squeezeplay > Is LMS installed on this partition? : does not work

Maybe consider a raspberrypi running LMS that can be accessed by either partition.

[CJS]

I might have missed something somewhere but if the PC is a dual boot, then it is either in Windows or Lubuntu .

The OP says

Windows > Squeezeplay > LMS installed on this partition: works.

Lubuntu > Squeezeplay > Is LMS installed on this partition? : does not work

Maybe consider a raspberrypi running LMS that can be accessed by either partition.

Just to explain my situation, I have 2 PC's:
PC 1 runs Windows and has LMS installed.
PC 2 is dual boot Windows / Lubuntu, and both boot partitions have Squeezeplay installed. With the ufw firewall enabled on the Lubuntu system, SqueezePlay on Lubuntu won't connect to LMS on PC1.

In first instance I misinterpreted the information in the UFW log file. But I think I now understand. In my own simple words: After the LMS client (i.e. Squeezeplay) has contacted the LMS server on PC 1, the LMS server sends back a message from port 3843 to a random port on the LMS client, using the UDP protocol. In the ufw log file that I showed this happened to be port 40162, but I have also seen various other (seemingly random) port numbers. Since the random ports are blocked by the firewall on Lubuntu, the LMS client can't establish a working connection with the LMS server.

Give me some time to configure the firewall on Lubuntu to receive information on random port numbers from the LMS server, as suggested by BosseJ. My first thought is to define an application based firewall rule that only allows the LMS client (i.e. Squeezeplay) to receive udp packets on a random port number above 1023.

[Man in a van]

Thanks for the full explanation

I now understand

I'm still confused but that has nothing to do with your problem

I hope you succeed and get it all tickety-boo

I'm all emoji'd out

[BosseJ]

Just to explain my situation, I have 2 PC's:
PC 1 runs Windows and has LMS installed.
PC 2 is dual boot Windows / Lubuntu, and both boot partitions have Squeezeplay installed. With the ufw firewall enabled on the Lubuntu system, SqueezePlay on Lubuntu won't connect to LMS on PC1.

In first instance I misinterpreted the information in the UFW log file. But I think I now understand. In my own simple words: After the LMS client (i.e. Squeezeplay) has contacted the LMS server on PC 1, the LMS server sends back a message from port 3843 to a random port on the LMS client, using the UDP protocol. In the ufw log file that I showed this happened to be port 40162, but I have also seen various other (seemingly random) port numbers. Since the random ports are blocked by the firewall on Lununtu, the LMS client can't establish a working connection with the LMS server.

Give me some time to configure the firewall on Lubuntu to receive information on random port numbers from the LMS server, as suggested by BosseJ. My first thought is to define an application based firewall rule that only allows the LMS client (i.e. Squeezeplay) to receive udp packets on a random port number above 1023.

It's probably simpler to follow bpa's excellent advise and set the LMS PC IP-address in the settings. That will most likely circumvent the discovery procedure and set up connections directly to LMS.

[CJS]

Can you not do
Squeezeplay >Settings > Advanced > Networking > Remote Libraries > Add New Library > input the IP address of the server you wish to connect to?

This indeed works. After setting the IP address of the LMS server in Squeezeplay, Squeezeplay can connect to LMS with firewall enabled. Firewall rules for ports 3843 and 9000 can be removed. Only caveat is that after a fresh install of Squeezeplay, you will need to temporarily disable the firewall (sudo ufw disable), otherwise the Squeezeplay Home menu is not available such that the Settings menu can not be entered. Thanks again for your help!

[CJS]

With the help of bpa and BosseJ, we have now the following 3 solutions for the Squeezeplay connection problem on Linux.
The solutions assume that you use Ubuntu / Lubuntu / Xubuntu with the ufw firewall:

Solution 1: Disable Linux firewall
> sudo ufw disable
This solves the connection problem, but compromises the security of your Linux system.
For this reason it is better to use method 2 or method 3

Solution 2: Enter IP address of LMS server manually in Squeezeplay
After initial install of Sqeezeplay, you temporarily need to disable the firewall, otherwise the Squeezeplay settings menu will not be availabe:
> sudo ufw disable
Then start Squeezeplay, and manually enter the IP address of the LMS server on your home network:
Squeezeplay >Settings > Advanced > Networking > Remote Libraries > Add New Library => Enter IP address
After you have tested that Squeezeplay can connect to the LMS server, you can enable the firewall again:
> sudo ufw enable

Solution 3: Define an application based rule for Squeezeplay in Linux firewall
Open an xterminal in folder /etc/ufw/applications.d
Create a text file called jive (replace leafpad with the text editor that you use):
> sudo leafpad jive
Copy the following text to file jive:

[jive]
title=Squeezeplay
description=SqueezePlay is a Logitech Media Server software player that can play music and internet radio streams on your personal computer.
ports=1024:65535/udp

The application rule allows Squeezeplay to receive udp packets on any port between 1024 and 65535
Save the text file, and load the application rule that you just created in the firewall:
> sudo ufw app update jive
> sudo ufw allow jive
Now start Squeezeplay, and check that it can connect to the LMS server.


Closing notes:
Advantage of solution 3 over solution 2 is that Squeezeplay will automatically detect the LMS server on the network. So no problem when the IP address of the LMS server is changed.
After defining the application rule for Squeezeplay (=jive) in ufw, "sudo ufw status verbose" shows the following:

Status: active
Logging: on (low)
Default: deny (incoming), allow (outgoing), disabled (routed)
New profiles: skip

To                         Action      From
--                         ------      ----
1024:65535/udp (jive)      ALLOW IN    Anywhere                  
1024:65535/udp (jive (v6)) ALLOW IN    Anywhere (v6)

A screenshot of Squeezeplay running on my Lubuntu system is shown below.



Regards,
CJS

[bpa]

With the help of bpa and BosseJ, we have now the following 3 solutions for the Squeezeplay connection problem on Linux.
The solutions assume that you use Ubuntu / Lubuntu / Xubuntu with the ufw firewall:

AFAICT There is a 4th solution - enabling very specific access on ufw probably just UDP is required on 3483- (not application specific) as others have made it work (thread below) but it seems it is a bit finicky to get working.

https://forums.slimdevices.com/showt...o-media-server

[CJS]

AFAICT There is a 4th solution - enabling very specific access on ufw probably just UDP is required on 3483- (not application specific) as others have made it work (thread below) but it seems it is a bit finicky to get working.

I tried that, see this post in this thread. It did not work for me, since LMS appears to send udp data to random other ports than 3843 on the client, that are then blocked by the firewall on the client. This is what I concluded from the UFW log, and is the reason for defining a firewall rule specific for jive that allows incoming udp traffic on all ports between 1024 and 65535. It was actually a remark from you that made me aware that initially I mixed up sending and receiving ports when reading the ufw log file.

[fallenturtle]

Is there an advantage to using Squeezeplay vs Squeezelite + Jivelite?

[bpa]

I tried that, see this post in this thread. It did not work for me, since LMS appears to send udp data to random other ports than 3843 on the client, that are then blocked by the firewall on the client. This is what I concluded from the UFW log, and is the reason for defining a firewall rule specific for jive that allows incoming udp traffic on all ports between 1024 and 65535. It was actually a remark from you that made me aware that initially I mixed up sending and receiving ports when reading the ufw log file.

Your firewall rule should allow UDP 3483 on incoming or outgoing port as required - ignore the other port which will be random.
For example the rules for NTP which is a UDP protocol on port 123

#----------
# NTP
#----------
iptables -A INPUT -p udp --sport 123 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A OUTPUT -p udp --dport 123 -j ACCEPT

edit:

An fourm old post showing iptables rules for 3483 amongst many other rules
https://forums.slimdevices.com/showt...ables-SBS-woes