Recording to a network drive fails

[mvallevand]

The Recording service runs with different permissions then your user account so it won't necessary be able to able to write to the specified share. Start debugging by using the actual IP address and not "lounge"

Martin

[sub]

In addition to using the ip address, also try a share other than C$, which I think is one of the default administrative shares and probably not accessible from the recording service account.

[skippy_nz]

ok did some testing with some logs and screenshots to show some of my issues.

Playing a tv show from my client
* opened npvr on the client
* went to recordings
* played the happening
* waited for the black screen to appear and then pressed CTRL+s to stop
* exited NPVR

the logs show it trying to play C:\Recordings\Happening, The\Happening, The_20110821_21302325.ts which is the correct location if playing on the server.

these are the settings i have tried on the client
Server name = lounge | 192.168.1.100
Database location = \\lounge\c$\users\public\npvr | \\lounge\npvr | \\192.168.1.100\npvr


Recording to a mapped drive on the server
* Stopped the nrecord service
* Opened NPVR
* Changed the recording location to T:\ - this is mapped to \\lounge\recordings and the share permissions for this is that the logged in user has full control. (i have also tried using an ipaddress as the mapping i.e. \\192.168.1.100\recordings but no luck there either - this attempt was not in the logs)
* Started (well attempted to start) the nrecord service - this failed with the error in this screen shot below

I have also tried changing the permissions on the service to run as the logged in user but that didnt work either.

any other thoughts?

[sub]

In your server logs it looks like your recording path is set to c:\recordings. There is no sign of you setting it to record to some network path.

2011-10-20 18:53:23.513 [DEBUG][7] About to start recording (3421): C:\Recordings\ONE News At 6\ONE News At 6_20111020_18001900.ts
2011-10-20 18:53:23.517 [INFO][7] DigitalRecorder.StartStream(C:\Recordings\ONE News At 6\ONE News At 6_20111020_18001900.ts)

Or are you trying to record to a directory on the server? If you are then why are you trying to use network paths? ie, on server just have it set to c:\recordings. The recording directory setting on the client is ignored.

[sub]

Its normal for the client logs to the say the path as it would be on the server. There is no sign of an incoming connection on the server when you try to start playback on the client though, so I'd double check firewall software isnt getting in the way, and you've got the server name specified correctly on the client.

[jcjefferies]

Have you got both NextPVR and NRecord as exceptions on the Firewall on the server.

Most people also add both exceptions on the client. However I have just checked and my Vista client has neither exception set and my XP client which had both set still seems to work ok when both exceptions are removed.

[skippy_nz]

Ive just had a chance to do some more testing and i finally found the cause - as suggested it was the firewall - i thought i had enough exceptions to allow my client in but obviously that was wrong

i enabled logging on server and it was blocking nrecord.exe - i had only enabled nextpvr.exe to go through the firewall previously.
to tidy things up what ports i should allow here for the client and for my newa tv guide or is it better to just enable tcp and udp access for the exes as required?

src-ip = my client and dst-ip = the server

[TABLE="width: 50%"]
[TR]
[TD]action[/TD]
[TD]protocol[/TD]
[TD]src-ip[/TD]
[TD]dst-ip[/TD]
[TD]src-port[/TD]
[TD]dst-port[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]ALLOW [/TD]
[TD]TCP [/TD]
[TD]192.168.1.10[/TD]
[TD]192.168.1.100[/TD]
[TD]55932 [/TD]
[TD]445[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]ALLOW [/TD]
[TD]TCP [/TD]
[TD]192.168.1.10[/TD]
[TD]192.168.1.100[/TD]
[TD]55933 [/TD]
[TD]7969[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]ALLOW [/TD]
[TD]TCP [/TD]
[TD]192.168.1.10[/TD]
[TD]192.168.1.100[/TD]
[TD]55934[/TD]
[TD]7969[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]DENY[/TD]
[TD]UDP[/TD]
[TD]192.168.1.10[/TD]
[TD]192.168.1.100[/TD]
[TD]1900[/TD]
[TD]63124[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Cheers
Skip

[jcjefferies]

When I first setup a client the server Firewall was the main problem. People were advising me to use different port settings so was getting nowhere. Once someone mentioned that instead of setting ports it was far easier to just to add NRecord to the firewall exception list and immediatly got the client working. NextPVR is usually added as part of the install process.

[Nistrod]

If the recording service runs as a different user, the drive mapping may not exist for that user.
Recording directly to \\server\share should work, rather than T:\

[skippy_nz]

Thanks for the replies - i have it sorted out with the firewall rules - i might just look at cleaning up the rules a little to make the machine a little more secure.

nistrod - i tried changing the user that the service runs as to the logged in user so in theory it should have worked but still no go - im happy with having the firewall rules being changed to make the client work correctly.

cheers