We cannot define a static IP address for the device in Wiim apps to avoid a re-discovery?

[kenilElk]

Hi,
That is quite frustrating; we cannot define a static IP address for the device in Wiim apps for known Wiim devices each time it starts a new device discovery.

I have three or even four private networks at home, like 192.168.0.x, 192.168.1.x, and 192.168.2.x. Wiim Pro+ connected with wired Ethernet to .0.X, while my phone and tablets connected to.2.x or.1.x. Each time I have to reconnect a phone or tablet to the 0.x network for Wiim Pro+ management, it is not very good at all. For example, the old Dune HD Android remote app can see and manage all the old Dune HD media players on all my home networks.

It has been found that the Wiim application management of a remote Wiim device on another home network is still alive and fully functional when and after you switch back to your original network. Therefore, it is a bug or poor functionality of the Wiim application device discovery model (it does not save an old IP address and disallows putting the address manually and saving it).

I am sure I am not alone with this problem.

 

[Brantome]

Submit a feature request thru the feedback section in the WiiM Home app - the more who do, the better chance they may address it.

 

[Brantome]

That type of post normally has me reaching for the spam button

 

[Brantome]

But back to daily business...
There is definitively an electrical problem with the little cutie. A simple ground loop could be the issue, but I think it is more severe.

Hopefully WiiM will say something about it soon, but as I’ve said elsewhere, the best way for them to track the issue is by users reporting it thru the formal feedback route so device logs can be inspected for clues like pcb versions etc. It’s very difficult to track issues and trends just by what might be said on forums that the supplier may or may not frequent.

 

[Brantome]

But this seems to be a wrong thread anyway..
Another senior moment..
But hopefully the audience is smaller..

yeah, noticed that but decided to let it lie

 

[Balthazar B]

You bought already a few of these?

View attachment 4329

I should think this is closer to home for @Brantome...

 

[Brantome]

Depends on whether I'm a royalist, republican or Scottish nationalist

 

[kenilElk]

<...>.

It has been found that the Wiim application management of a remote Wiim device on another home network is still alive and fully functional when and after you switch back to your original network. Therefore, it is a bug or poor functionality of the Wiim application device discovery model (it does not save an old IP address and disallows putting the address manually and saving it to avoid full re-discovery).

Ticket created #495233

 

[robca]

BTW: I opened a similar thread back in November https://forum.wiimhome.com/threads/android-app-please-support-wiim-static-ip-address.1885

This is a common scenario, and the WiiM is not behaving properly. It's gotten worse lately, btw

 

[WiimNoob]

You bought already a few of these?

View attachment 4329

Ya know i deal with tickets all day long. We were contemplating getting these for work. I cant escape it.
I have added static addresses via mac into my router which so far is working.

 

[Nikita]

I have a somewhat similar setup running 4 VLANs. I never had any problems with the WiiM discovery. Would you be able to share more details about your network setup. @kenilElk

 

[robca]

I have a somewhat similar setup running 4 VLANs. I never had any problems with the WiiM discovery. Would you be able to share more details about your network setup

Not the original poster, but I have the same problem (has gotten worse lately, for a while everything worked, then something changed in the WiiM Home app, at least for Android)

I have a main lan and an iot vlan. The main lan can access iot (and wan), but the iot lan cannot access main lan, only specific protocols are allowed between iot and vlan: DHP and DNS. In order for casting devices like Chromecast (and WiiM) to be discoverable via mDNS (Bonjour), the router is running the Avahi reflector and multicast on port 5353 is enabled between vlans.

With those settings, all Chromecast devices work (including the WiiM as a chromecast streamer), all music services on the WiiM are discoverable by the respective apps (e.g. Amazon Music Alexa Cast, Tidal, etc). The WiiM Watcher Chrome extension also works just fine.

Problem is, the Android WiiM app uses UPnP SSDP discovery, and I have not enabled UPnP due to the security implications. So it doesn't properly "discover" the WiiM. It sees it, but refuses to connect saying it's on a different network (it's not).

The most frustrating part is that, if I connect my phone to the iot vlan, start the WiiM Home app, then switch the phone wifi to main lan, the WiiM app works just fine. Once the WiiM Home app has the WiiM IP address, the standard commands in the format

url = 'http://' + player_ip + ':49152/upnp/control/rendertransport1'

can travel across vlans without problems. Just UPnP SSDP discovery is broken. Of course my WiiM is set with a static IP address (from the WiiM app), so UPnP discovery is pointless: when it works, it always returns the same IP address. If I could store that address in the WiiM Home app, I would have no problems. Or even if the WiiM home app cached the last known address and tried that before using discovery, saving time. After all, in the majority of home networks, a device even on DHCP will retain the same address most of the times.

I know it's possible to write custom firewall and routing rules to enable UPnP discovery for just a static address on the vlan. It's juat a lot of hassle for something that should not be needed.

There's no reason in 2024 for WiiM to use a protocol as insecure as UPnP discovery, and more and more networks disable UPnP for security reasons. Especially considering that every other service on the WiiM uses mDNS instead. WiiM Home should also use mDNS for its discovery (in addition to caching the last known address)

 

[simbun]

There's no reason in 2024 for WiiM to use a protocol as insecure as UPnP discovery, and more and more networks disable UPnP for security reasons.

Is connecting to UPnP servers and speakers not a good reason?
UPnP on a LAN is fine, it's the Internet Gateway Device Protocol that's insecure and should be disabled.

Why do you even need UPnP if you're using WiiM which uses mDNS?

 

[cooky560]

Why can't you define a static IP for your WiiM from your dchp server?

I did this and now every time it asks for an IP, the dchp server gives it the same one.

 

[simbun]

Why can't you define a static IP for your WiiM from your dchp server?

@robca is struggling with mDNS discovery across VLANs so would like to be able to specify an IP address in the WiiM Home App instead.

 

[d6jg]

Quite simply mDNS will not traverse VLANs. If I was WiiM I’d quite reasonably put a sticker on the box that says this product will not work with VLANs.

 

[simbun]

Quite simply mDNS will not traverse VLANs. If I was WiiM I’d quite reasonably put a sticker on the box that says this product will not work with VLANs.

We're all using mDNS reflectors/repeaters, which work well, but for some reason @robca is having discovery issues with the WiiM Home App even though other apps are able to discover the hardware.

 

[robca]

Why do you even need UPnP if you're using WiiM that uses mDNS?

I sure don't need UPnP nor want it It's the Android WiiM Home app that wants it, at least according to WiiM support and starting from a few releases back. My network and the WiiM app were working well with just mDNS reflector enabled, until it started not working anymore. As I said, that's purely the WiiM app, not the WiiM. All other services on the WiiM use mDNS and work just fine. If you use a Bonjuor browser, you see the WiiM and all its services. Alexa Cast can send music to the WiiM, while the WiiM Home app on the same phone is not working

The problem with UPnP is that, if you enable it on your router, it can also be used by devices to "punch thru" your firewall. I know I can set rules to enable just specific UPnP packets from specific devices to traverse a vlan (but also requires changing TTL) and not enable it at the firewall level. But the message I got from WiiM was "just enable UPnP", which if taken literally is a bad idea.

But we keep missing the point. None of this would be needed if the WiiM app used a static address. The app itself lets you set the WiiM with a static address, yet doesn't use it to connect to it. There's no reason for me to hack my home network to work around a WiiM-specific problem that has no reason to even exist: my WiiM will always be at the same address.

 

[robca]

Quite simply mDNS will not traverse VLANs. If I was WiiM I’d quite reasonably put a sticker on the box that says this product will not work with VLANs.

I'm sorry, but this is completely wrong. Yes, mDNS by itself won't traverse vlans, but with any type of redirector or smcroutes, it does. My network works for any other device and app, excluding only the WiiM Home app. Everything else, including the WiiM when acting as a Chromecast, Alexa Cast, Tidal, Airplay end point works. Just the WiiM app has problems

If WiiM put such a sticker, they would shoot themselves in the foot with all the people who learned a long time ago that you can safely run IoT devices in a vlan, and understand enough networking concepts to make it work. What WiiM should do, is either fix the discovery problems (why can Bonjour browser see the WiiM but not the WiiM app?) or allow the use of static addresses.

WiiM, instead, tells you that your device is online but in another network. So discovery kinda works, but not really

 

[robca]

Why can't you define a static IP for your WiiM from your dchp server?

I did this and now every time it asks for an IP, the dchp server gives it the same one.

Yes, of course: you can define a static DHCP lease for the WiiM. But how the WiiM gets a static address is irrelevant, that's not the issue. The WiiM app doesn't allow you to enter a static address to find the device at. It lets you set the device as a static address (so clearly they support the scenario where a device has a fixed address), but doesn't use it to look for the device. However you do it, my WiiM has a fixed address: the app, though, starts discovery every time instead of using the static address. Sometimes that doesn't work.

To be clear: they have good reasons, I'm not saying that they are clueless or bad: if there are multiple WiiM devices on the same network, with discovery you would be able to find all of them and manage them. Trying to have an UI that allows the manually enter multiple static addresses can get ugly when there are more than one or two devices. But if the app cached all the previously found devices and tried contacting them at the previous address, then it would work in all cases: for a single device, it's always at the same address, ready to work.