Slimproto integration does not add new devices when in another subnet

[bernji]

The problem

I flashed the Raspiaudio Luxe box with Squeezelite-ESP32 installer and installed the Slimproto integration.
I connected it to the WLAN but it's in another subnet 192.168.30.xxx then home assistant 192.168.0.xxx
I do this due to security reasons (the subnet 192.168.30.xxx has only access to LAN but not to the internet)

The device does not get recognized but when I move it into the same subnet as HA then it works.

Not sure if this is a problem by the integration or by my network setup though. I am using Ubiquiti Unify.

Can you tell my how exactly the recognition works (protocol) to nail down to problem?

Thanks

What version of Home Assistant Core has the issue?

2022.5.5

What was the last working version of Home Assistant Core?

No response

What type of installation are you running?

Home Assistant OS

Integration causing the issue

Slimproto

Link to integration documentation on our website

https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/slimproto

Diagnostics information

No response

Example YAML snippet

No response

Anything in the logs that might be useful for us?

No response

Additional information

No response

[probot-home-assistant]

slimproto documentation
slimproto source
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[probot-home-assistant]

Hey there @marcelveldt, mind taking a look at this issue as it has been labeled with an integration (slimproto) you are listed as a code owner for? Thanks!
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[marcelveldt]

Discovery will not travel another subnet, let alone a firewall.
In my experience business grade solutions such as VLAN's do not play nice with consumer grade equipment such as media players etc.

Having the slimproto device in a subnet with no internet also means you will not be able to play any direct streams.
Maybe just include the device in your main network and apply a firewall rule allowing it to do only do DNS and HTTP/HTTPS to WAN ?

[bernji]

I see you point and disagree with the fact that "business grade solutions" do not use media players/equiment.
Also I have not seen problems with other integrations where I had devices in another subnet.
Also I am not using some fancy router. Unify is the gold standard regarding netowkr equiment also in homes and I think that some HA users also use that.
I kindly ask you to give me details regarding discovery so that I can condigure my network properly. On the other hand I ask you to check if your integration actually searches for other devices in subnets

[marcelveldt]

You can have a look here for the discovery protocol:
https://github.com/home-assistant-libs/aioslimproto/blob/main/aioslimproto/discovery.py#L145

It's a message on the broadcast address. Unfortunately nothing common like mdns or other standard which is supported by default by the mdns reflector in the unifi router (and yes, I have all Unifi equipment too).

For now we've kept things simple in this first release so advanced scenarios like discovery across different subnets are not yet supported. If you find out how to make it work, you can help others ;-)

Do note that slimproto devices connect to the server and not the other way around. So it is the server broadcasting its info. The slimproto device/client picks up that discovery info and connects to the server. So in your case it is as easy as manually typing the HA ip in the slimproto client and you're all set.

[bernji]

Thank you for the detailed answer. Very helpful!

[patdemko]

Thanks for the explanation too since I was having the same problem. Manually specifying the IP address of my HA server ("-s X.X.X.X" under the "Optional setting (e.g. for LMS IP address)" field on the audio tab in the squeezelite settings) allowed them to connect across different VLANs.

[marcelveldt]

Technically this issue can't be fixed but I think it would be good to place a small note in the docs about this.

[giantorth]

One more point to this, I've added a 2nd VLAN interface to my HA instance to attach it to the music network. The DLNA integration is able to see my squeezebox devices on this other network automatically now, but slimproto does not.

[marcelveldt]

slimproto is not meant to travel over multiple subnets nor will any mdns forwarders account for it.

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