CLOSED: Remote Access: Didn't get OpenVPN, IPsec VPN, or Amahi Anywhere to work

[rjtkhaff]

With new hard drives, I repurposed an older build that once had Windows Home Server working on it. I first installed Amahi this past Sunday on to a 500 GB hard drive and verified I could stream mpeg4 files from the HDA to my Sony Bluray player and to my Mac. All was good, so I purchased on Monday a 3 TB drive and, using the add a 2nd hard drive tutorial, successfully installed, formatted, mounted, then moved all the shares to the 3 TB drive. Now I have a few movies on the larger drive, and I've watched them both on the bluray player in the living room (wifi) and the Mac in my bedroom (wired).

So far so good. Then I installed OpenVPN but could not get it to work. Using the troubleshooting guide, I tried ports 443 and 1194, both with UDP and TCP. (The client I used for OpenVPN was a Windows XP machine at work.) The OpenVPN tester on the control panel at amahi.org always returned inactive.

After poking here and there on the forum and in the guides and in the app store, I then tried IPsec VPN. Since I have an iPhone, this looked like it would be a no brainer. Couldn't get that to work either. I went so far as to use some iffy settings in my Netgear router (making the HDA a DMZ, for example).

Well, I uninstalled the VPN servers and removed all the port forwarding and other settings from my router and poked around amahi.org some more today (Wednesday). This is when I found Amahi Anywhere. Seems to be even more of a no brainer to get working than the 2 VPN options. Step 1: install Amahi Anywhere on the server. Step 2: install Amahi from the Apple App Store on my iPhone. But when I try to log in with my amahi.org credentials, it tells me the user name or password is wrong.

So I guess I need to ask 2 questions. (1) Am I missing some prerequisite, like ports 23, 80, 443, 4125, etc. already have to be forwarded before adding port 1194 for OpenVPN to work? Or (2) Is my HDA just not being allowed to be accessed from the internet yet because the installation is new or because I have a free and not paid account?

Bottom line, it seems Amahi is exactly what I was looking for in a home network server whether or not I can access media from the internet or on my iPhone. But it would a nice bonus if I could.

[bigfoot65]

(1) Am I missing some prerequisite, like ports 23, 80, 443, 4125, etc. already have to be forwarded before adding port 1194 for OpenVPN to work?

There could be a firewall blocking it from work and/or some ISPs have additional protection which could cause issues. The router could also have something causing this problem.

Is my HDA just not being allowed to be accessed from the internet yet because the installation is new or because I have a free and not paid account?

This has nothing to do with your issue. It's something to do with your ISP, router, or a firewall possibly in between most likely.

The first thing you need to do is test things internally. Then check your that your ISP and/or router is not causing any issues.

[rjtkhaff]

Thank you for the prompt reply. I will try to get Amahi Anywhere working and report back.

[bigfoot65]

No problem Good luck and hope it works out.

[rjtkhaff]

Last night I uninstalled Amahi Anywhere from the dashboard, rebooted HDA, then reinstalled Amahi Anywhere. With my iPhone connected to the LAN thru wifi, I could not login to the iPhone client. I get a username/password incorrect error. I am using amahi.org username and password. Could the problem be that my username and the HDA nickname are not identical?

Also, I went looking for a log and/or configuration file and didn't find them. Is the app in etc?

[rjtkhaff]

And now I'm at work connected via wifi to my work network with Internet access...

...and it works. I logged in instantly and was able to see my HDA shares. As a test I'm streaming Big Hero 6 and it seems to be working perfectly. Tonight I will see if I can login within the home network.

[bigfoot65]

Interesting. Hopefully it works at home too. Please let us know how it goes.

[rjtkhaff]

And Amahi Anywhere works at home on iPhone 5S (iOS 8.4.1) connected to network via wifi. Very strange. I don't think I powered the phone on and off, but does the HDA periodically renew IP addresses, and could that affect connectivity?

When I noticed my iPhone working I had my wife download the app and try it on her iPhone 5S at her work. Worked fine.

I've also put the app on both of my daughters' iPod Touches (4th generation, iOS 6.1.6) and it works, too.

[bigfoot65]

Just like a router the HDA DHCP leases expire and typically autorenew.

Is this considered resolved?

[rjtkhaff]

Yes. I will work on OpenVPN next but start a new thread if I have questions/need help. Thanks.