Remote Access Issue w/ External Address on AirPort Extreme

[Semper Vaporo]

Sleep mode is basically the same on all computers and it is not much different than jerking the power plug out of the wall... i.e.: the computer is "OFF" and not doing anything at all, so it cannot process data (video in or requests for data to be sent out to the outside world). The only difference between "OFF" and "Sleep" is that in Sleep Mode the memory is being kept alive so that when the CPU (the computer part) gets power again, it can continue running programs at the point where it went to sleep without having to go to the disk to reload memory with the programs it is running.

Some computers have a method to be awakened by some external stimulus (such as an incoming internet request) so that it can respond to the request, but unless the computer is already awake, then Sighthound would not be executing to have any data to send in response to the request. i.e.: if the computer were "asleep" then all you could get is present video, not video from while the computer was sleeping prior to the wake-up stimulus.

[sleep_debt]

gussent's suggestions worked for me; specifically the external IP portion. i already had my port forwarded on my router, but putting the external IP into the login screen was what worked. thanks!

[demaier]

Has anyone figured this out? I was able to have this working on the previous version of Sighthound Video. However, now on the latest version 4.0.1 build 16769 it only times out!

[demaier]

So, after disabling the Mac Firewall this thing started working. But of course this is not acceptable.

Manually adding "Sighthound Video" application to the "Allow incoming connections" doesn't work! It used to but not anymore. It seems Sighthound Video may be using a different resource not associated with "Sighthound Video" allowed on the firewall.

Any ideas?!?!

[Devin]

Hello demaier,

Unfortunately the OSX firewall is simply broken as far as we can tell. Our application is signed with an apple certificate - you can verify that it is signed from the command line with the command "codesign -vvv /Applications/Sighthound\ Video.app". If an application is signed all traffic should be automatically allowed. Even if it wasn't signed, or wasn't properly signed, the firewall should be displaying the Allow/Deny popup. This post describes some of the odd behavior we were previously experiencing, which other applications have reported as well: http://www.sighthound.com/forums/topic11526


Note that depending on your machine usage case the OS X firewall may or may not be beneficial to you, as your router likely blocks incoming connections from outside your local network, the OS X firewall would only block additional incoming connections generated on the local network.

Regards,

- Devin

[demaier]

Hi Devin,

I actually saw the firewall prompt for Sighthound Video, however, that happened once and then after re-installing, installing it again, and troubleshooting it never asked again. I manually removed and manually added it back to the firewall "allow" list and it still didn't work. So I have it off for now.
When the firewall asked to allow or deny, after allowing it, it actually worked but then I was still troubleshooting other issues and it eventually stopped allowing it again.

Thank you for you explanation.

[HAL9000]

@ gussent, Thanks for that solution. I've been trying to figure out these network settings for the longest time- maybe about a year. Your solution worked for me. Before finally coming across your post, I've been using a Foscam iphone app. It's great to finally be able to use Sighthound's!

I agree. Your instructions should be posted on Sighthound's product set-up pages, not buried in the forums.