Troubleshoot network connections

Setting up a player to connect to a server, be it a file server or DISE Server, you may run into troubles connecting. Below is a checklist for common connection problems.

General

• The server has no IP address or a different one than expected

If it has been dynamically assigned, is there a possibility it has changed recently?

To determine the IP address of the server, bring up a command window (Start [> Run] > cmd) and type ipconfig. The IP address is visible under the connection.

If using DHCP and the IP address starts with "169" it has not been able to connect to the DHCP server and instead been assigned a private address.

Read more: DHCP - Wikipedia

• Once you know the IP address of the server computer, proceed to ping it from the player to see if there is a network problem preventing you from reaching it.

To ping, bring up a command window (Start > Run > cmd) and type ping <server IP address>. If you can reach it you should see something like "Reply from X.X.X.X: Time=0ms TTL=128".

• The address has been specified with a hostname but the name server cannot be reached.

For example, the download source in DISE Probe is set to \\SERVER\Share. Try using the IP address of SERVER instead for example: \\192.168.1.100\Share.

• If the server has a software firewall, you need to make an exception for the port used for the connection.

The port(s) used is often configurable, for example, by default when connecting to a MySQL database, the port 3306/tcp is used. You should have to open up only the port that the server is listening on. Please consult your firewall manual for more information.

• If you are connecting to a server behind a router using NAT, you may need to open/forward ports correctly in the router.

Please consult your router manual, or visit portforward.com for more information.

Network share

• When experiencing problems saving to a network share, please make sure that the server is properly patched with the latest service packs.

Read more: You cannot access a remote server that shares files and printers by using the SMB protocol from a computer that is running Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7 - microsoft.com

Read more: Troubleshoot uploads

Multicast

In Remote Control, for triggering or synchronization, the message are commonly sent out using multicast. Multicast is also used for DISE Discover. In some cases and if players are not on the same subnet multicast requires router configuration, else the packets will be intercepted and not reach the subscribers to the multicast. Consult the network administrator and/or your router manual for information about how to go about this.

Read more: IP multicast - Wikipedia

There may also be a firewall or packet filter that blocks the multicast signal. Temporarily disable any firewall (including the Windows built-in) or antivirus software and check if messages come through.