In Squeezecenter Duet (and I guess other versions) the “Music Source” option is limited to IP-addresses and not hosts. This makes it quite hard to connect to other servers outside your home network.
By setting up a VPN-connection to your Squeezecenter box you could share/connect the server with family & friends without a big hazzle.
Follow this step-by-step guide by pressing the (more) button
First off, let me explain my network setup.
Note that every networkmask is: 255.255.255.0
Gateway (router):
IP: 192.168.0.1 (static)
Router uses a NAT-setup with a cable-modem to the internet
Windows home server / Squeezecenter:
IP: 192.168.0.30 (static)
My router is running the fabulous Tomato firmware so I had little hazzle with opening the ports.
You need to forward the ports 1723 & 500 to your Squeezecenter machine, in this example 192.168.0.30. Notice that in this example the machine is running Windows Home Server (WHS). Your router could be different so please consult the Portforward site and find your router!
Hostname setup
If you haven’t setup a simple dynamic DNS service or simular on your router you could download the DynDns client and run it on your Server/Squeezecenter machine.
This will give you a host like: mysqueeze.homeip.net and it will be updated when you change ip.
Please refer to the DynDns page (or simular for the setup)
VPN server setup
This can be done on Win2000/XP/2003/WHS/2008 (Dunno with Vista since nothing seems to work with that shitty OS).
1. Open the “Network Connections” (right-click on it for open)
2. Select File and then “New Connection”
3. Select “Set up an advanced connection”
4. Select “Accept incomming connections”
5. Select “Allow virtual private connections”
6. Select the users you want to enable the VPN-connection for
7. Just press “Next”, settings are defaulted to give ip by DHCP (usally your router)
9. You are now done setting up the incoming connections part
VPN Client setup
1. Go to your Network connection
2. Starting the wizard, Press Next
3. Choose “Connect to the network at my workplace”, press Next
4. Choose “Virtual Private Network connection”, Press Next
5. Write any info you like here, Press Next
6. If this window comes up, choose “Do not dial the inital connection”, Press Next
7. Write your friends / family hostname, Press Next
(If you get a Smartcard question, on the next window just choose no and go to the next picture)
8. You’re finished, press Finished
9. Now double-click the new connection you got
10. Enter your username & password
11. It should be connected and registered on the network
If everything went OK you should be able to see the Squeecenter server in the “Music source” list.
If not check the IP-address you got is in the same range as the server, in this example 192.168.0.x. If you didn’t get any IPs or you got connection refused you probably hasn’t forwarded the ports correctly. Double check it, and try a connection outside with CanyouSeeMeeeee
Then check if you could ping each other. If the ping does not reply, please turn off soft-firewalls like Windows Firewall and check if it works then.
Fire away a comment for questions regarding this setup…
