Using Custom Network Settings in Source-Connect Studio/Facility

Source­-Connect transfers a real­time, high-­quality audio stream between remote locations via the UDP protocol, and thus relies on network access to UDP ports.

Generally, the machine running Source­-Connect is on a private network address (behind NAT, or Network Address Translation). The type of UDP request Source­-Connect uses is sometimes unable to independently negotiate NAT, so the network (secured by a router and/or firewall) must be configured with specific Port Mapping (or Port Forwarding) rules. 

If for some reason Port Mapping is not possible, e.g. the user has no administration access to the network, Source­-Connect will not be accessible from any computer not on the subnet. 

Available Network Settings

The following network settings can be customized:

• Network device: your current IP address - the address might change if you are using a VPN, if you are on WiFi or if you're on a cabled network. 
  • To find your IP address on macOS, you can enter the following command on your terminal: ipconfig getifaddr <interface name>. You can also check your IP address in the System Settings > Network screen.
  • To find your IP address on Windows, you can enter the following command on a command prompt: ipconfig
• Port Range: mapping your ports will route requests through to a designated port. Check out the following article for a port forwarding step-by-step guide - each router has a specific interface for port forwarding, so you might need to contact your ISP provider for help.
• Proxy mode: enabling proxy mode will route your connection through a specified proxy server instead of establishing a direct peer-to-peer connection. This option is very useful to improve connectivity in restricted networks, enhancing privacy by masking your IP address, or bypassing network firewalls. This might result in a slightly increased latency, but it ensures a more reliable conection in certain environments.
  • IP address: the IP address of the proxy server. Please ensure that the server is accessible and correctly configured to relay your connection.

Using other port numbers 

Source­-Connect Studio and Facility allow you to specify a particular set of UDP ports. First, you must configure the internal network settings to connect via a static IP, rather than DHCP, and then configure port mapping on the router. 

For example, you will configure the router to forward all incoming UDP data on ports 6000 and 6001 to their internal IP address, and enters the number 6000 in the Settings > Global Options tab of Source­-Connect. (Ports may be any even number between 1024 – 65534 and this number plus one).

How Source­-Connect determines its network status

• Source­-Connect determines the internal(private/local) and queries your external (public) via the API service.
• Source­-Connect determines the port mapping status by sending an HTTP request to our remote server to begin forwarding a series of test UDP packets to the specified ports (e.g. 6000 and 6001) on the determined IP address.
• If Source­-Connect receives these test UDP packets, it knows that port mapping is enabled, and will use these ports for the incoming audio stream.
• If Source­-Connect does not receive any of the UDP packets, it will time­out and inform the user with an error message saying ‘FAILED #113’. In this case, it is highly unlikely that there will be received audio by the person who wishes to listen to the audio stream unless you specifically have their public IP address allowed in your firewall.

More about Error#113

If you are able to properly configure your network for UDP port mapping, but your connection test does not return successfully, here are some possible causes:

• Your ISP will filter HTTP traffic
• You are behind a HTTP proxy
• All UDP ports are firewalled

In these cases Source­-Connect will not be able to determine the user’s public IP address, and the test UDP packets will be ‘lost’ within the ISP’s network. The test will not return successful.

Security options

In instances where port mapping is simply not possible, we suggest using a VPN. We support the Zero Tier One VPN network and any other VPN network conforming to RFC 1918.

For further support, please read through the error#113 article or  please contact us.