Can connect web, but not client through prism.

Hi There,

I'm trying to use a remote dektop client (4.0.0b5) over goprism. When I run the client, the Server Connection Status dialog comes up. When I type in https://myreflector.goprism.com and then hit the Connect button, I get a message that says "Failed to connect to Indigo server. The Indigo server is either unreachable over the network or is not running."

If I bypass prism and enter in the ip address in the client, I am able to connect without a problem. (My router has a fixed address which forwards the port (1176) to the specific mac running Indigo Server)

Also, when I attempt to connect via Indigo Touch, or from a browser, then I am able to connect through prism without issue. The problem appears to be limited to a remote Indigo desktop client accessing via prism.

Any ideas?
Bob E.

[jay (support)]

The Mac client wasn't designed to run over the Prism reflector because Prism was developed later. It uses a different protocol than the control pages and the Touch client.

And, to answer the obvious follow-up question, there are currently no plans to switch the communications protocol in the Mac client, for a variety of reasons that we won't get into here, although nothing is completely out of the question.

The Mac client wasn't designed to run over the Prism reflector because Prism was developed later. It uses a different protocol than the control pages and the Touch client.

Thanks Jay. That's what I get for making assumptions. I thought prism was just a protocol agnostic dynamic dns service

With respect to the future, I wouldn't expect the protocol to change to accommodate the reflector, rather shouldn't the reflector change to accommodate the existing protocol?

In any case, I have a remote cabin which has only dynamic IP. Do you think a dynamic DNS service would work, or do I need to stick with using only Touch or a web client?

One more question... When I am on site, can I use the remote client on my laptop and connect to the server (on another computer) using bonjour like is possible with Indigo Touch?

[matt (support)]

Hi Bob,

With respect to the future, I wouldn't expect the protocol to change to accommodate the reflector, rather shouldn't the reflector change to accommodate the existing protocol?

GoPrism.com is quite a bit more than a dynamic IP address service. It actually establishes a secure connection from your Indigo Server to our hosted server in Vegas. All HTTP traffic to your GoPrism.com URL is then reflected off of our hosted server back to your Indigo Server. This avoids all router and firewall issues (and dynamic IP address problems) because Indigo Server is the one that establishes the secure outbound connection. But it only works for HTTP based traffic and the native Indigo Client/Server protocol isn't HTTP based.

In any case, I have a remote cabin which has only dynamic IP. Do you think a dynamic DNS service would work, or do I need to stick with using only Touch or a web client?

Yes, a DynDNS.com will work as long as you also configure your router to do the correct port forwarding (and have your Mac firewall open). Depending on your network topology and networking hardware, the difficulty of this can be very easy or near impossible.

One more question... When I am on site, can I use the remote client on my laptop and connect to the server (on another computer) using bonjour like is possible with Indigo Touch?

The Indigo Mac client currently doesn't use Bonjour. It is on my ToDo list, but probably won't make it into 4.0.

Hi Bob,
snip--
GoPrism.com is quite a bit more than a dynamic IP address service. It actually establishes a secure connection from your Indigo Server to our hosted server in Vegas. All HTTP traffic to your GoPrism.com URL is then reflected off of our hosted server back to your Indigo Server. This avoids all router and firewall issues (and dynamic IP address problems) because Indigo Server is the one that establishes the secure outbound connection. But it only works for HTTP based traffic and the native Indigo Client/Server protocol isn't HTTP based.
snip--
Yes, a DynDNS.com will work as long as you also configure your router to do the correct port forwarding (and have your Mac firewall open). Depending on your network topology and networking hardware, the difficulty of this can be very easy or near impossible.
snip--
The Indigo Mac client currently doesn't use Bonjour. It is on my ToDo list, but probably won't make it into 4.0.

Thanks Matt. I'll give the dynamic DNS thing a try.