Firewall issue with StreamFab downloader

HuubL

I have been using StreamFab downloader for some time now, but since I installed a new firewall (Ubiquity USG Pro) StreamFab is de-authorized every time I start it.
The authorisation verification process is not successful (after a few minutes it stops) and also manual updating is not possible: both with the notification "no internet connection available".
Most likely the internet ports StreamFab uses for authorisation and updating are blocked by the firewall.
What ports does StreamFab need to be open to function properly?

signals

This is a shortcoming in your firewall, suggest you turn it off or uninstall it if it does not provide a list of blocked sites with controls to allow them to pass at your discretion. You can update StreamFab by downloading the offline installer.

HuubL

Thank you Signals,
Turning off the firewall (this is a device that protects our entire home network) is of course not a realistic option, at that moment our entire network is vulnerable.
All that is needed is to open the port(s) that StreamFab needs to function for the PC where StreamFab is installed in the firewall .
Unfortunately, the Ubiquity firewall does not contain functonality to find out which port(s) is(are) blocked, so that's why the question...

signals

You are welcome, sorry you are having a problem with it. I will pass a link to this thread to the Fab developers. Perhaps you could do the same for Ubiquity. A product with that much power over your network should have some feedback mechanism and better user controls in my opinion.

HuubL

Thank you for passing a link to this thread to the Fab developers.

You are right, the fact the Ubiquity USG Pro en UDM Pro do not have an integrated log viewer to view blocked sites and/or ports is a known issue / shortcoming.
I have allready voted for a feature request to provide such a viewing option.

For your information: my guess it is not a blocked site but a blocked (non HTTP) port because the entire site including forum of dvdfac.cn (HTTPS) is not blocked by the firewall.
And if I activate a VPN before i start StreamFab there is no issue with authorisation and updating.
Using a VPN is also not a viable solution, as many streaming sites do not allow VPN connections.

october262

Thank you Signals,
Turning off the firewall (this is a device that protects our entire home network) is of course not a realistic option, at that moment our entire network is vulnerable.
All that is needed is to open the port(s) that StreamFab needs to function for the PC where StreamFab is installed in the firewall .
Unfortunately, the Ubiquity firewall does not contain functonality to find out which port(s) is(are) blocked, so that's why the question...
HuubL

have you tried resetting your firewall back to factory default settings ??
when doing so, it should allow you to let streamfab through the next time you start it.
also, make sure that you have windows firewall disabled since you are using a 3rd party firewall
as it might cause problems.

jimc115

HuubL,

If you have the time, search Willie Howe on youtube....he has some excellent tutorials on using the firewall...and you sound correct in your assumption. It's not port blocking or site blocking, it sounds more like it is blocking components of the program. If it is blocking network access to the streamfab.exe file, you can't communicate with the server using the program, but can still access the website.Setting up a firewall rule to allow the program network access will work and is not really that difficult.

If you still have problems, you can add a switch after the modem and isolate the computer using streamfab from the rest of your home network while allowing it access the outside world. I think
one of the basic tutorials he has for the firewall will work for you though.

Great Choice on firewalls though....as you can see, sometimes they work better than you expect.

HuubL

Morning all,

@october262: thank you..
yes to all questions, allready tried, these are not causing the issue...

@jimc115: thank you too,
Willie's guides have been my starting point for setting up the Ubiquity firewall.
I can only recommend them, certainly his guides on firewall rules and creating VLAN's for Internet of Things.

I'm waiting to see if the StreamFab developers come up with information or ideas.

If not, your option to add a switch between modem and firewall is indeed a possibility.
I have a spare Intel NUC lying around, what I will have to figure out is how I can make safe contact to this computer from the secure home network for screensharing and file transfer.
The (free) home version of TeamViewer might do the trick ...

HuubL

Morning,
Is there any news from the developers?
Surely it should be easy to specify which network addresses and ports should be open for the authorization and update mechanism?

signals

Sorry but no, they may consider this information to be proprietary. Suggestion: Report this as a false positive to Ubiquiti and urge them to provide whitelisting ability for their product.

HuubL

Disappointing.
There is a whitelisting ability in the Ubiquity products, so that is not the problem.
To consider ports and adresses as proprietary is in my humble opinion short-sighted and not in the interest of users,
Security at StreamFab should be solid enough that sharing this information shouldn't be a problem at all.
There are plenty of products to further analyze network traffic, i will have to figure this out myself ...

signals

If it can whitelist, what is all this carping about? Does it not work?

HuubL

To dismiss this post as "carping" frankly does not seem friendly. But i will make a last attempt to clarify the background of the question:

The Ubiquity firewall has no problem with whitelisting, but in order to whitelist it must be known which addresses/ports have to be opened.
What the Ubiquity firewall does have a problem with is providing insight (by means of logging) which addresses/ports are blocked given the chosen security levels.
This is a known shortcoming and also a feature request that has already been submitted by many users to Ubiquity.

In other words: given the lack of adequate logging, the only route that was open is to request the necessary information from StreamFab.
If the information on ports and adresses is considered proprietary, please close this post.