WOL not working in MP2 (server client setup) (1 Viewer)

[Stickers]

Hi

Been using MP1 for years, with Win 10 upon us I installed MP2 server and find MP2 clients have no issue connecting. However I have power scheduler plug in installed on server and find that MP2 clients will not wake server up. MP1 used to work with out an issue like this. If I install a 3rd party tool and send a magic packet to the server from the client there is no issue waking the server up.

Has any one else found this issue? BTW I dropped the Windows firewall on both client and server.

 

[MJGraf]

Hi Stickers and welcome to MP2!
MP2 does not have support for WoL, yet. We would need someone to write a plugin for that. So if you are interested, feel free
Michael

 

[Stickers]

Hi Michael, thanks for the reply. If I could code I would love to write a plug in but unfortunately I cant! I will have to use a 3rd party tool to send a magic packet on boot of the client. I was surprised that this wasn't included as its essential for server client set up unless you leave server on 24/7. You forget how many extra plug-ins were written for MP1 I guess! Im not complaining in any way, how can anyone complain about a system developed by volunteers!

Regards

 

[MJGraf]

I guess at the time MP2 was started to be developed, "wake on lan" was still something like a "playground for nerds"
Nevertheless, interesting topic...
What exactly would you expect from WoL support?
When a MP2-Client starts, I assume it shall send a WoL packet to the MP2-Server computer if it is not available.
What happens if you exit the MP2-Client? I would assume nothing from the MP2-Client side - the server needs to decide on his own when it goes to sleep - right?
How about Network MediaSources (i.e. you add a Server MediaSource, which is located e.g. on a NAS)? Shall we wakeup the NAS? If so, when? I assume when we try to access the NAS?

 

[osre]

I think sending a WOL to the server in a multi seat setup should be an fixed setting in MP2, and not an plugin.
Nowadays its totally normal that a computer (even servers like this) go to sleep when idle.

 

[MJGraf]

Yep, agree - that's why I found this interesting. I would nevertheless implement it as a plugin to keep our core clean, but the plugin should be included in our default installation.
Pinging @Lehmden as you seem to use WoL: how about Network MediaSources (e.g. On a NAS)? What should be the behavior there?

 

[Lehmden]

Hi.

When a MP2-Client starts, I assume it shall send a WoL packet to the MP2-Server computer if it is not available.
What happens if you exit the MP2-Client? I would assume nothing from the MP2-Client side - the server needs to decide on his own when it goes to sleep - right?

Agree to both...

How about Network MediaSources (i.e. you add a Server MediaSource, which is located e.g. on a NAS)? Shall we wakeup the NAS? If so, when? I assume when we try to access the NAS?

Also agree..
But not on MP2 Startup, please. As I only have my movies on the NAS I don't want to run it every time I'm using MP2

Atm I'm handling this by using AppLauncher and waking up the NAS and the MP2 Server if I'm on the other client(s) manually from inside the MP2 GUI. Would be much better if this can be done automatically.

 

[azzuro]

But not on MP2 Startup, please. As I only have my movies on the NAS I don't want to run it every time I'm using MP2

100% agree ( first my MP2 install, broke the sleep system of my PC ( TVE and PC with shared folder))

MP2 CLient Start :
MP2 Client send WOL packet to MP2 server

MP2 CLient start a movie
MP2 Server send WOL to NAS or other storage solution

 

[MJGraf]

But not on MP2 Startup, please

Understood - that's what I thought.
So thesea are basically two different use cases:

• Waking MP2-Server when a client starts (this one should be easy and can be handled by a client plugin)
• Waking another computer when someone tries to access a computer via a NetworkNeighborhoodResourceAccessor. This is the more complicated one.
  • It can happen on client and server (on the server-side: how do we handle nightly imports?)
  • In general, the functionality should be contained in the NetworkNeighborhoodResourceAccessor / -Provider, as it only affects MediaSources based on these Accessors. But it somehow has to happen "transparently" so that a caller doesn't even notice what's happening. So we basically need something in each method of the NetworkRA, which (a) first tries to access the resource - if it works all is fine and (b) if this does not work, try to wake up the computer, wait a bit and then try to access again. If it works now, all is fine. If not, finally fail...

After all, I think ít is best to have only one plugin for client and server. Functionality for the first bullet-point above is only activated if the plugin starts in a client (and the server is not on the same computer). Besides that it just provides the functionality that the NetworkRA-Plugin can use to do its job from the second bullet-point above.

Is there anything else we need to take care of?
I only had a short look into the MP1-wiki for the implementation there and there are some more things MP1 takes into account, such as sending the WoL package in certain intervalls to keep the remote computer running. Is that e.g. something we need?

 

[Lehmden]

Is that e.g. something we need?

Not sure... Personally I don't need it as I've set up my systems to keep running as long as they are needed. The NAS is going asleep after 20 minutes without any network traffic. If I don't use my NAS for more than 20 minutes it's OK for it to standby. The next time I'll try to playback a movie stored on the NAS this plugin should send another magic packet.

The MP2 server only allows standby if no more clients are attached. This already is working properly, so no further action is needed. Imho only the wake-up is required...

(a) first tries to access the resource - if it works all is fine and (b) if this does not work, try to wake up the computer, wait a bit and then try to access again. If it works now, all is fine. If not, finally fail...

Those magic packets don't do any harm if the NAS is running so they can be send every time. No need to first test if the NAS is available.

For nightly re-imports a magic packet can be send too. But imho it would be better if the refresh from a sleeping NAS is postponed until the NAS is online the next time... I don't use the automatic refresh as I need to refresh some share often per day and others only once a month or so... If we could configure this per share (or even better if we had a filesystem watcher that refreshes a share right after modifications are done) I can make use of it. But as it is now, I only do manual refreshes.