How Does iTunes Know?

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  • #2160
    jimindc
    Guest

    Pretty new to home networks, and media servers and all.

    I finally got firefly set up on an old 300MHz notebook repurposed as a Debian server. It’s definitely nifty — but then, I’m still pretty awed by the whole package manager thing.

    So – three questions:

    How does iTunes know there’s a Firefly server out there? Obviously, iTunes is not polling every possible IP for servers. There’s more than a modified http server going on here.

    Do I need to pass through any port other than 3689 on my router/firewall if I wanted to access from outside my home network?

    Also — disregarding the SoundBridge and similar dedicated devices that require a daap server — what is the advantage of a Firefly/iTunes combo over my home network over, say, Samba/Winamp?

    Thanks in advance.[/list]

    #16029
    rpedde
    Participant

    @jimindc wrote:

    I finally got firefly set up on an old 300MHz notebook repurposed as a Debian server. It’s definitely nifty — but then, I’m still pretty awed by the whole package manager thing.

    Yeah, debian is really nice that way.

    How does iTunes know there’s a Firefly server out there? Obviously, iTunes is not polling every possible IP for servers. There’s more than a modified http server going on here.

    Using multicast discovery. Specifically, multicast dns (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeroconf) aka zeroconf, rendezvous, bonjour, etc.

    It’s a nice enough protocol, but suffers from the fact that multicast seems only haphazardly supported on consumer grade equipment. When it works, though, it works well.

    Do I need to pass through any port other than 3689 on my router/firewall if I wanted to access from outside my home network?

    Nope, just 3689. Although if you are on a remote network, you won’t see the server show up on the remote network — limitation of multicast, so you’ll need to use a mdns proxy on the remote workstation to “push” the server into your iTunes shared music list. (more details at: http://wiki.fireflymediaserver.org/SSH_Tunnel).

    I’d strongly advise against making 3689 public though. I’d recommend using ssh tunneling as described in the document above.

    Also — disregarding the SoundBridge and similar dedicated devices that require a daap server — what is the advantage of a Firefly/iTunes combo over my home network over, say, Samba/Winamp?

    None, really, just preference in clients is all. Mostly this was just an exercise in reversing the protocol that got out of control. I won’t argue there aren’t better/more efficient/more standards based solutions for media sharing, just that it’s one that convenient for some folks.

    — Ron

    #16030
    wwarren
    Participant

    I’d strongly advise against making 3689 public though. I’d recommend using ssh tunneling as described in the document above.

    Is that for the security of the network or to avoid a letter from some legal department?

    #16031
    rpedde
    Participant

    @wwarren wrote:

    I’d strongly advise against making 3689 public though. I’d recommend using ssh tunneling as described in the document above.

    Is that for the security of the network or to avoid a letter from some legal department?

    From a security standpoint. Just my opinion.

    — Ron

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