View Full Version : [OT] Network Experts' tips needed
Okay, so I have W:A running, online and playing, Camtasia Recorder recording the screen and feeding a virtual cam, and WebCamXP receiving the feed from the virtual cam and streaming it to the local host.
I have two computers running under Windows Xp, connected through LAN. One of my computers connects directly to the Internet, and the other one uses the Shared Internet Connection.
When streaming from the computer that is directly connected to the Internet, everything is okay. Internet users can acces the feed without problems. My issue is when streaming using the other computer.
Let's say the computer that connects directly to the Internet (which is also a webserver) is assigned the following IP address: 92.81.166.27. When I'm streaming from it, I can locally access the stream opening 127.0.0.1:8080 or 192.168.0.1:8080, and Internet users can acces it opening 92.81.166.27:8080. When I'm streaming using the other computer, I can acces the stream by opening 192.168.0.2:8080, but I can't find a way to provide access to the stream to Internet users.
So, can anyone tell me how to get access to a stream across the network from a computer that is not part of the LAN?
Portforwarding doesn't help in any way. I am most certain the solution is to gain direct stream access, but I can't manage finding the streamed file's location. I used all sorts of file/directory monitors to detect the stream and a bunch of other techniques to capture/redirect the stream to another computer, but with no prevail.
So, if anybody can give a tip or valid solution, it would be greatly appreciated.
EDIT: I know it is possible to access network drives through Internet, because apache allows aliasing of folders located on network drives, I just don't know how where to find the damned streamed files- it's like they don't get written on the hard disk. :(
You cannot port forward with M$ ICS. You will need a router in your network for this. That's why you can locally see the stream but not from the internet side. Solution is to get rid of ICS which is a very crappy way of sharing the internet anyway. Either put a real router in the network, or use a software router like Freesco (http://www.freesco.org) on an old pc which is eating dust.
CyberShadow
9 Oct 2008, 11:01
Gnork is wrong. To forward a port using Internet Connection Sharing, open the Internet connection's properties on the gateway computer, go to the Advanced tab with the ICS options, and click "Advanced". There you can add a service and specify the port and IP to forward to.
Also, mind that data doesn't have to be written to disk to be served to web users. The software can feed data directly from memory to the network.
Well, regarding port forwarding I tried this on the computer from which I share my Internet connection:
Note: firewalls are not enabled, so they don't restrict data access.
http://www.flash-bug.com/_RubberWorm/_01_str.jpghttp://www.flash-bug.com/_RubberWorm/_02_str.jpghttp://www.flash-bug.com/_RubberWorm/_03_str.jpg
I have decided to use other server software like BroadWave or SHOUTcast DNAS for testing purposes. You know, when accessing 127.0.0.1:85 / 127.0.0.1:8000 (or 192.168.0.1 on either ports) you get displayed a webpage specific to the running server you accessed- the same goes with WebCamXP on port 8080. When using the external IP on any of those ports, there is no problem accessing that interface (that is on the computer that connects directly to the Internet). Though I can't get to those over the Internet through my local network (permissions problems excluded, as I give full permission). I guess the only solution is to know the exact path of the files that get streamed. TinCam, for example, permits you to specify the streaming location (so there's no problem for me to access that location, even if I chose to stream on the computer that the server is running on or on another computer on the network), but the software itself doesn't meet my Worms live game broadcasting requirements. So, does anyone know a way of capturing/redirecting/locating a stream?
Gnork is wrong. To forward a port using Internet Connection Sharing, open the Internet connection's properties on the gateway computer, go to the Advanced tab with the ICS options, and click "Advanced". There you can add a service and specify the port and IP to forward to.
Haha, yes, I was posting about. Thanks.
Also, mind that data doesn't have to be written to disk to be served to web users. The software can feed data directly from memory to the network.
Yes, I thought about that. Though, when streaming, I can note some slight hard-disk activity.
Anyways, does anybody know some stream relaying/cloning/restreaming software?
Gnork is wrong. To forward a port using Internet Connection Sharing, open the Internet connection's properties on the gateway computer, go to the Advanced tab with the ICS options, and click "Advanced". There you can add a service and specify the port and IP to forward to.
Also, mind that data doesn't have to be written to disk to be served to web users. The software can feed data directly from memory to the network.
No offence, but ICS is really really one of the worst ways of sharing anything more than what a normal end user would need. Not to mention the unreliability you might experience. Things will work one day and completely NOT the next day. How can you advise this guy to continue with ICS? I still suggest you use a real hardware tool in your network (a router ain't expensive), and not this crappy windows nonsense utility which will give you grey hairs in a month from now. About the streaming part, did you have a look into videolan (http://www.videolan.org)? Maybe something for you? Meh, forget it, It's probably just what you weren't looking for, though it has nice streaming options :)
Regarding ICS, I must say it works fine for me. Gnork, thanks for providing the link.
I already searched the entire web for appropriate software and/or answers, but I was not able to find a stream relaying software, nor a solution for that. Though, I did find some forums with some guys asking similar questions- too bad nobody replied to them.
I can stream live WA games at high audio/video quality when using streaming servers running on the computer that connects directly to the Internet. I just want to be able to do that using a computer from a network. That computer can be accessed from outside aliasing directories using apache server, but ironically, I am not able to locate the streams, or figure out a way to redirect them ((some of)the servers themselves don't have a built-in option for that). I kind of repeated myself throughout this thread, but this issue is really frustrating for me.
No offence, but ICS is really really one of the worst ways of sharing anything more than what a normal end user would need. Not to mention the unreliability you might experience. Things will work one day and completely NOT the next day.
ICS has always been reliable from my experience - and some of that was back with windows 98.
http://www.flash-bug.com/_RubberWorm/_03_str.jpg
Try ticking the UDP button rather than the TCP one (or maybe setting up a rule for each). I'm not familiar with the software you are trying to use, but live video is generally streamed over UDP as synchronisation is more important than lost packets.
CyberShadow
9 Oct 2008, 21:15
Try ticking the UDP button rather than the TCP one (or maybe setting up a rule for each). I'm not familiar with the software you are trying to use, but live video is generally streamed over UDP as synchronisation is more important than lost packets.
Never heard of that one. Port 8080 suggests that the video is fed from a web server that's continously sending images - that's also the only setup of online webcam feeds that I've seen.
No offence, but ICS is really really one of the worst ways of sharing anything more than what a normal end user would need.
ICS has been very reliable for me as well, when it was providing Internet to two notebooks and another desktop. Its most serious limitation is that you can NAT only one interface at the same time - you can't serve a home LAN and a wireless network from the same gateway simultaneously. But that's where Routing and Remote Access comes in :D (I wouldn't recommend trying it on Windows XP though)
That computer can be accessed from outside aliasing directories using apache server
One of the reasons why port forwarding "doesn't work" is when the server software is incorrectly indentifying its computer's IP. For example, it may enumerate the network interfaces, see that it has an interface with the IP set as 192.168.0.2 and then in the HTML output, add something like <img src=http://192.168.0.2:8080/getLiveStreamingImage.jpg">. After forwarding the port from the gateway to the LAN computer, check if you're connectable from the world using http://www.canyouseeme.org/ - if you aren't but you can access the stream via the gateway computer, then the problem is a firewall/router/modem/ISP blocking incoming connections on that port.
First of all, I wish to apologize for going off topic.
Okay, CyberShadow presented to me a very useful site ( http://www.canyouseeme.org/ ), so, here's what I did:
At the moment, my external IP is 92.81.180.9 . Okay, so I started (on the computer that gets shared Internet connection) a server feeding an audio stream on port 85 (of course, it streams on local host, a.k.a 127.0.0.1 / localhost / or in my case 192.168.0.2). I'm grabbing the stream (on the computer that is directly connected to the Internet) through LAN using Winamp (File> Play URL http://192.168.0.2:85/broadwave.mp3) and it's working fine (as it always did).
I have this entry added to the services list:
http://www.flash-bug.com/_RubberWorm/_04_str.jpg
When I check port 85 on the site which's link CyberShadow provided I get:
Success: I can see your service on 92.81.180.9 on port (85)
Your ISP is not blocking port 85
(I get that message when checking from both computers)
Then, when I closed the server that was feeding the stream, I got:
Error: I could not see your service on 92.81.180.9 on port (85)
Reason: Connection refused
(again, on both machines)
so I guess everything's okay regarding port forwarding, but still, when I try accessing 92.81.180.9:85 from any of the computers, I get a Failed to Connect message. :(
These facts being presented, can anyone further assist me please?
CyberShadow
9 Oct 2008, 23:09
http://92.81.180.9:85/
Works for me now.
The link may not work for you because port forwarding rarely works when you try to connect from within the network to the external IP.
When I tried first, however, the links were pointing to http://0.1.0.6/ . I assume you noticed and fixed that.
Man, I'm extremely grateful to you for helping me with this.
I get assigned a different IP each time I connect to the Internet. Before my last but one post I have disconnected and connected several times to the Internet. I don't know if you were redirected or not to http://0.1.0.6/ (unfamiliar situation to me) while my IP was still 92.81.180.9
Anyway, I still am connected to the Internet with this IP (92.81.180.9) and you said http://92.81.180.9:85/
May I ask you if it was this page your browser loaded when accessing the location http://www.flash-bug.com/_RubberWorm/_05_str.jpg
(large screen shot, that is why I didn't post the image here)
Also, before posting this, the server was feeding MIC input, so, if you checked one of the live BroadWave links, you didn't hear much (but noise).
I have now changed the input to StereoMix so you should hear some music now (I'll leave it streaming until your next post in case you check it).
Thanks a lot! :)
EDIT: Okay! I have tried accessing it from a friend's computer. It works. I also asked several other people to access it- displays for them ass well. Man, thanks! You are right regarding port forwarding working properly when trying to connect from within the network to the external IP. Is there a way to solve that? (if not, I'm happy it works anyway)
Thank you, CS and others!
EDIT 2: Ah, yes, I found out it redirected you to http://0.1.0.6/ It was because the server was set using a static IP. Though that must be the default action when not being online.
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