easyfind issue (zerotier present)

Submitted by mikea on #1

Hi
Easyfind is activated on the server (7day trial, enabled and subscribed) but the hub is not showing up on the client. and yes it is added to the list of hubs.

Note that zerotier is installed on the server (raspios-buster) . In one sense, we don't need easyfind because we have zerotier running, but the latency seems bad and for some usb devices we have trouble opening the port (suspect there is a latency issue) so we decided to try easyfind instead for this traffic.

The easyfind id is:

The server has internet connectivity, but not sure what else to check to see why easyfind might not be working. Haven't tried buying an easyfind license yet

any thoughts
thanks
Mike

Submitted by Michael on Tue, 2020/10/27 - 08:35

#2

It sounds like the UDP port 443 is blocked for easyfind AND it sounds like zeroteir's port is also blocked.

ZeroTier will then use a relay server greatly increasing the latency.

Easyfind wont use a relay server because that increases latency too much. So it just wont connect

I think you will need more control over your network to at least open UDP 443

Submitted by mikea on Wed, 2020/10/28 - 07:29

#3

Thanks for the feedback. Put the server in the DMZ (it is running over wifi to a 3G modem) and turned off the firewall on the modem just to be sure. Still nothing. Symptoms are:
- easyfind cannot connect
- if we use zerotier and put the client and the server on the same (virtual) subnet, then the client connects to the server, but some usb devices do not function, such as:
a) prolific RS232-USB shows up in the client, but fails with a "Cannot start" or "Power failure" depending on the driver
b) other devices (such as PLCs) we cannot connect to over USB - they appear to timeout (we don't get a clear diagnostic of why)

These all work if the client and the server are on the same physical subnet (without zerotier)

thanks in advance for any thoughts

Submitted by Michael on Wed, 2020/10/28 - 10:16

#4

Yes it is because zerotier is using probably relaying so latency would become a problem.

In the virtualhere client, right click on the server and select Properties->(Latency) and see how high that shows. I think you need < 20ms

A 3G network will almost certainly not be up to the task. The reason is RS232 devices do need some bounded latency because of serial timing issues. Can you try a 4G or 5G connection instead? You might be better results with that.

I notice you are from Australia. I just signed up for the Telstra 5G network for my normal internet usage. Its very fast, although ping times still arent ideal. A quick test shows about 19ms ping, 140MBps download/12MBps upload at the gold coast.

Submitted by mikea on Thu, 2020/10/29 - 05:42

#5

Thanks Michael.

The latency is well above 20ms when using zerotier.

what confuses me is that we put the server (pi-4b buster) in the DMZ (and iptables is not running on the server). I was hoping that this would allow easyfind to work and reduce the latency - is easyfind a potential solution? In which case, can you suggest any steps to debug easyfind please? Does the client have to have ports open? or just the server?

thanks

Submitted by Michael on Thu, 2020/10/29 - 08:37

#6

Easyfind only uses UDP port 443 so if that's open it will work. However mobile networks do tend to use "carrier-grade nat" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrier-grade_NAT which means the NAT is symmetrical and UDP ports are scrambled to prevent servers being run behind their networks. In this case you need to ask your provide to make a static IP address. Although since ive been using the telsra 5G network easyfind still works OK so maybe its just a 3G thing