Xibo

Cant connect to xibo server via internet

Asked by Lewis Ninian

Hi guys,

A few weeks ago at work my boss informed me of xibo and thought we should have a mess around with the software, so we did.

We had a spare windows XP machine lying around so we decided to use that as the server and have a go at installing/setting up xibo. I followed the install guide provided by you guys pretty much to the letter. Installed XAMPP went fine, done all the settings all worked no issues and the same again with the xibo server install.

We then installed the xibo client on another pc that's connected to a large screen in the same workshop. Again followed the instructions everything worked, had a mess around with xibo went through trial and errorwith regions etc. So we were pretty happy with that.

The next thing we wanted to try with it, was to connect a new client outside of the workshop which is where the issues popped up. I tried to get into the server from home setting up the client in the same way we did with the one in the workshop. I just got an error in the browser when i tried. The url at the time was the ip, so we went through more trial error and had no luck, i then browsed launchpad and cae across a solved issue that was similar and it was resolved by using dyndns. So i set up a dyndns and put in the ip that it was to access etc. Tried again when i got home but still no luck.

Another issue that has happend since is that i can no longer access the mysql or php admins via the XAMPP interface(the ones the install gets you to access and set up passwords for during the install).

So yeah, the issue is that we can't access the xibo server/panel or register a display from home via the web.

I should also note that, i am no expert in php or servers so it's all still pretty new to me/us config wise. Hopefully it's something simple.

Any info would be great guys and if you need any information from myself i'll be happy to supply it. Cheers

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Alex Harrington (alexharrington) said : 		#1

You need to configure your firewall to allow access to your Xibo
server from the Internet. Or alternatively, you could use a hosted
installation of Xibo - where that work is done for you by a third
party company. You'll find companies that offer hosted SaaS
installations of Xibo in the directory.

Alex

Revision history for this message
kobus44 (kobus44) said : 		#2

When you use DynDNS, you should also forward Port 80 (the standard website port) or whatever port you are running your Xibo installation from, in your internet router or modem (if your modem has built-in routing capabilities, or in other words, if you are able to connect multiple cabled pc's to it). For the moment, let me assume you have set up a small office network with one router connected to the ISP modem. Your pc's then are individually connected to this router, thusly sharing the internet connection. The modem pops out DHCP requests in the range of 192.168.0.xxx (some routers use other ranges, say 192.168.5.xxx, but that is a matter of semantics). Now, your Xibo server computer is probably also connected to this router, and as such, has a network address of 192.168.0.ABC (where ABC could be any arbitrary, yet unique number). You can check this by opening the command prompt in Windows XP (i..e Click start --> Run, and typ in CMD, followed by <enter>), and typing: ipconfig /all

This will give you an overview of some network statistics, including the IP address. Now you need to connect to the administrator interface of your router. Your router is (almost) always the first number in the DHCP ranges it is providing, and it is mentioned as the 'Default Gateway' in the command prompt output we've just made. I am going to assume it reads as 192.168.0.1, as per my previous example. Open your browser, and enter http://192.168.0.1
This wil open up the admin-interface (it will probably ask you for a password, you should know this offcourse: if not, contact your system administrator, or read the manual of the router). Now, there should be an option around there somewhere that reads as 'Port Forwarding'. Here, you should forward Port 80 to the IP address of yor Xibo server computer. Save the settings, reboot the router, wait 5 minutes or so, and I can guarantee the DynDNS will work for you.

Note: if your router sends out dynamic addresses instead of fixed ones (meaning that whenever you shut down your computer in the evening, and restart it in the following morning, your ip address changed), you need to perform some additional settings. There will most likely be the possibility of linking a MAC-address to the port forwarding settings as well. Then, all you have to do is copy the MAC_address value of your Xibo server computer onto this. Conversely, you could fix the Ip address of your xibo server in the WIndows XP LAN settings.

Note2: many modern routers have built in options for using DynDNS. Check for them, it will make your task easier!

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