MP2 - V2.1 MP2.1 server does not wake up from S3 (1 Viewer)

[BlueMax1916]

Hi,

my media server (see system specs) running MP 2.1 does not wake up from S3 when a MP 2.1 client is started. In the client the TV part throws an error 'no TV provider available' or so in German. Also the video screen is empty with only OnlineVideos available. No movies, no series, no videos. Client log attached.

While I am running MP 2.1 on my media server this is for testing only. My clients (HTPC 1 and HTPC 2) normally are used with MP 1.15 and MP 1.16 Pre with Moving Pictures and MPTV-Series getting the video files from the media server. Only when I start MP 1 on a client then the media server will wake up from S3. The server is using windows to handle the standby. Which is configured in the PowerScheduler Plugin of the TV Server.

With MP2 S3 did not work at all when standby was handled by windows. With the power scheduler handling the standby the media server would go into S3 but would not wake up. Similar story. Before that I was using MP 1 TV server on my media server. And there everything worked fine.

I thought I would file a bug report as there was a topic on the change log that stated that standby handling by PowerScheduler has been improved.


Cheers

Blue Max

 

[HTPCSourcer]

I thought I would file a bug report as there was a topic on the change log that stated that standby handling by PowerScheduler has been improved.

Waking up a PC is not subject to an improved PowerScheduler but solely depends on your hardware and windows to recognize wake-up events.

How exactly are you trying to wake up the machine? What happens when you press the power button?

 

[Lehmden]

Hi.

MP 2.1 does not wake up from S3 when a MP 2.1 client is started.

This is correct and an expected behavior. This is definitely no bug.

In the client the TV part throws an error 'no TV provider available' or so in German. Also the video screen is empty with only OnlineVideos available. No movies, no series, no videos.

This also is correct and an expected behavior if the MP 2.x client is not connected to a MP 2.x server. This is definitely no bug.

Only when I start MP 1 on a client then the media server will wake up from S3.

You need to send a "WakeOnLan package" to the server to wake it from S3. The days I used MP1 there wasn't any function in-build to do such. But there was a community plugin "WOLPowerManager" that was able to do this. It is possible that such a function is build into MP 1 in meantime...

There are several (free) tools to wake up a PC by WOL. I'm using the MP2 Plugin AppLauncher to launch wolcmd.exe. It then wake up my Movies server once I need it from inside the Client GUI. The MP 2.1 Server is running on the same system than my main client, so there is no need to have a server waked up before using MP 2.1 here.

So you have to raise a feature request instead of a bug report. I also would like to have such a feature, so you're not alone.

In meantime you can add a tiny batch with a single line in it to the Windows startup folder to wake the server system when starting a client machine. This line can look like this if you are using wolcmd.exe:

wolcmd [mac address] [ip address] [subnet mask] [port number]

where port number normally is 7 and subnet mask normally is 255.255.255.0

 

[HTPCSourcer]

Ah, BlueMax1916 was expecting to see a WOL feature that is included in the client...

Indeed, this doesn't exist at this time. As Lehmden is pointing out there are several external tools to provide a solution to this challenge. Some people like me are already using LightsOut.

As a quick solution I would propose to go and locate one these small 5 kB exe's that send a magic package to pre-defined IP's, then setup a task on your client, which is executed upon resume/wake-up only that executes this wake-up tool. This can be achieved with the appropriate "trigger" information in the task scheduler. Details can be searched in the Internet.

 

[BlueMax1916]

So you are telling me a central function for client <-> server interaction is not built in in MP 2.1? If I think about what the average user expects when using MP 2.1 client <-> server setup then an automated wake-up process comes to mind. I do not think the average user will fiddle with his Windows system to get that functionality. It is definitely built in in MP 1. I have a client server setup since MP 01.2.0. In MP 1 configuration there is a learning step for WOL included - at least for several versions now - which involves the MAC adress of the media server where the MP 1 client gets his content from. I thought MP2.1 would be geared more towards client <-> server architecture and functionality. At least this is my impression from the releases and announcements.

I Will make a feature request. Maybe the code from MP 1 can be reused.

Cheers

Blue Max

 

[Lehmden]

So you are telling me a central function for client <-> server interaction is not built in in MP 2.1?

Per definition a server is a computer to serve functions to other computers and it's running 24/7. So no need to wake up a server...
But I completely agree, this function should be implemented asap...

at least for several versions now

The last MP1 version I've used was 1.09 or 1.10 and there definitely wasn't such an option. If it would be there I wouldn't fiddle around with WOLPowerManager until I finally dropped MP1 completely.

 

[BlueMax1916]

Yes, a server can be 24/7 but it does not necessarily need to be. In the private home environment I am pretty confident the average user rather would save money and not waste electrical power on a MP 2.1 server running 24/7 when its only used maybe 6/7 on work days or 16/7 at the weekends or something in between.

I think a media server is not in the same target range as a high availability critical tasks server like for Wall Street stock trading for example.


Cheers

Blue Max

 

[Lehmden]

Hi.
In General you're completely right. It could be useful to have such option and I'm pretty sure it will be added in future.

rather would save money and not waste electrical power on a MP 2.1 server running 24/7

Depends on the hardware and the usage. You can run MP 2.1 Server on e.G. a LattePanda or a ComputeStick that really don't waste that much power. It can run on a system that is used for something different e.g. a internet media server something like Spotify for private usage or an FTP server or the PC who does home automation... The use cases are countless. So you can not say an average user never would run a 24/7 server.

But WOL is very easy to achieve from outside MP and only a smaller part of the users will use it from inside the client. Also waking up the server with client start may be easy it never will be very comfortable as it takes it's time until the server is awake and then it needs another time until the client has connected to the server. So it really is better and more comfortable to wake the server on Windows start of the client PC, something that can not be achieved from inside MP 2.1 client. That's why there is no extreme urgency on this.

Personally I wouldn't use this option and stay with the external solution. My MP 2.1 server needs a lot of time to wake up, due to the many HDD I have build into it (16 HDD) that all need to spin up one after the other before Windows even can begin to wake up. This will last more than a minute (around 90 seconds) so I definitely would avoid doing this after client start because I will have more than 2 minutes wait time before I can use the client.

 

[HTPCSourcer]

So it really is better and more comfortable to wake the server on Windows start of the client PC, something that can not be achieved from inside MP 2.1 client.

We could easily add a scheduler task during the install to launch a small WOL tool for waking up the server at Windows start..

 

[Lehmden]

We could easily add a scheduler task during the install to launch a small WOL tool for waking up the server at Windows start..

Yes we can, but his tool needs to know the IP and MAC of the MP 2 server before it can do it's job, something we don't know during installation. Even if we find a solution for this (e.g. write a config file somehow as soon as the client is connected to a server) it still is an external solution in my understanding if we use e.g. wolcmd.exe. And it could be tricky if a restart is needed after installation (e.g. some DX or VS updates need a restart) it then leaves the wake up task without config...

If we really want to do this, I would prefer to do it right and use UPnP (or similar) inside the wakeup tool to find the system that has to be waked up. This is not a small WOL tool any longer but a "real" MP 2 tool (like e.g. TrayLauncher) that has to be written and maintained...