I’m pulling my hair out and can’t figure out what to do. I’ve been working on moving my media server over to my new OpenSUSE Tumbleweed install. I have the software installed and setup. Everything is also setup in my router. However, no matter what I do, I can’t access the server even on my internal network. I can ping the server but can’t actually connect. I spent more than an hour on the phone with my router’s tech support thinking that was the issue but afterwards, I happened to boot into my previous distro’s install (Mint) and everything worked and connected perfectly (with the same router settings).
From what I can tell, oST has a built in firewall (that I’m guessing Mint just doesn’t have). Obviously, this is great for security, even if I didn’t realize it was the problem at first. I have a Calibre book server, and media server and none of them can be accessed so it’s not limited to just one of these therefore it’s not an issue with the server itself. I do know the ports each of these use.
I’ve gone into YaST and into the Firewall setting. I’ve added both emby and Plex (users/programs?) to the internal and home lists. But I still cannot connect even within my home network. I’ve read it’s better to use YaST to resolve this but not sure what to do since neither of these worked. I also have to add a port for my Calibre server. Does anyone have any idea what this could be or where/what I do to fix it? It is better to add the users/software from the like like I tried to do above or is it better to try to just open ports and leave the other? I’ll also eventually need to be able to access my media from outside my home network, but I know I have to be able to access it internally first. I do already have a static address for my computer in my router so that won’t change an I’ve already setup port forwarding on the router, too. It’s just the oST firewall right now. I did find the command with some help to completely (temporarily) disable the firewall to be sure that’s the issue. Everything worked with it disabled so I’ve definitely found the issue. I just need some pointers now, in order to resolve it. I appreciate any help so much. I’m going crazy trying to sort this out. Thanks so much in advance!
I think I mentioned in another one of my posts that people around here don’t refer to Tumbleweed as oST (I assume openSUSE Tumbleweed).
People normally abbreviate with TW.
The firewall manager invoked using YaST is called “firewalld”
You can find its online documentation to learn more about it.
There is also the LEAP documentation at https://doc.opensuse.org/documentation/leap/security/html/book.security/cha-security-firewall.html
Although firewalld is very sophisticated (It supports uncommon concepts like hierarchical rules), it’s also unfortunately complex… It’s not something most people will pick up in an evening. There are little quirks which you find in “better” Enterprise type applications like any changes you make to the firewall are transitory and not persistent (The idea is that you can test your modifications and if they can’t be undone easily (maybe forgot what you did?), you can reboot and your changes will be undone automatically. This means that you have to do that extra step to make your modifications persistent.
Or,
Although firewalld is the default and what most of us know because it’s what is installed,
You can install an alternative firewall management if you are more familiar with something else.
Nowadays, unless you want to run a more complex firewall (eg a proxy), the essential parts are in the Linux kernel and are common to nearly all Linux firewalls.
You can use any firewall manager you wish that knows how to manipulate these Firewall objects in the kerne (typically iptables and ebtables).
Over the years, a few people have posted about using an alternative firewall managger, and that’s fine.
If any of this is still giving you problems, post again.
And try to include details such as a command you used from the local or remote machine and the results (copy and paste is helpful)
Hard to say what the issue is, as the OP hasn’t come back with any further definitive information about their media server. It could well be that the firewall (if active) does need adjusting, and the OP hasn’t shared the existing configuration to assist further. There are references to Emby, Plex, and Calibre…each of these needs to be allowed for with respect to the firewall.
I appreciate any help so much. I’m going crazy trying to sort this out. Thanks so much in advance!