Kinsky, MinimServer, and QNAP

[gnomus]

For reasons that I have discussed elsewhere, I have MinimServer installed on 2 NASs. One is a Synolgy DS213j (this is used for SONOS wirelessly throughout the house), and the other is a QNAP HS-210. The QNAP sits in the listening room, and is connected via a network switch directly to my Akurate DS.

I have an Apple Airport Express plugged into the same network switch, and this 'talks' to an Apple Airport Extreme elsewhere in the house (the Express is functioning as a wireless extender).

The DS system is controlled via Kinsky on iPad.

On Kinsky I can always see the Akurate DS and I can also see my Klimax Kontrol.

When I go to my libraries in Kinsky, I can always see MinimServer on the Synology. However, it is frequently the case that Kinksy does not see MinimServer on the QNAP. The wife has discovered that if she closes down Kinsky (that is 'sweeps it away'), then restarts it, MinimServer (QNAP) instantly re-appears. She claims this works every time.

That may be so, but it would be nice to be able to pick up the iPad and get going without having to go through this rigmarole.

By the way, this seems only to have been happening over the last few weeks or so.
Does anybody have any ideas?

[Peter@57m]

I have had the same problem for 18 months or so and have never found a solution. Up to that point it always had worked. However, Kazoo always finds MinimServer on the QNAP and since the latest release, Lumin always finds MinimServer on my QNAP too.

So I know others may give you tips on network snooping etc, you could just try Kazoo or Lumin as your control point instead of Kinsky

[simoncn]

(18-09-2014 16:17)gnomus Wrote:  When I go to my libraries in Kinsky, I can always see MinimServer on the Synology. However, it is frequently the case that Kinksy does not see MinimServer on the QNAP. The wife has discovered that if she closes down Kinsky (that is 'sweeps it away'), then restarts it, MinimServer (QNAP) instantly re-appears. She claims this works every time.

Have you tried using the Rescan button in Kinsky? Does this find MinimServer[QNAP]?

If MinimServer[QNAP] is always visible when Kinsky is started, this presumably means that Kinsky loses contact with MinimServer[QNAP] at some later stage. Does this happen after a certain amount of time, or after the iPad was suspended and resumed, or apparently randomly? If you can identify what happens before Kinsky drops MinimServer[QNAP] from its list, this might help to narrow down the cause of the problem.

[gnomus]

(18-09-2014 17:14)simoncn Wrote:  

(18-09-2014 16:17)gnomus Wrote:  When I go to my libraries in Kinsky, I can always see MinimServer on the Synology. However, it is frequently the case that Kinksy does not see MinimServer on the QNAP. The wife has discovered that if she closes down Kinsky (that is 'sweeps it away'), then restarts it, MinimServer (QNAP) instantly re-appears. She claims this works every time.

Have you tried using the Rescan button in Kinsky? Does this find MinimServer[QNAP]?

If MinimServer[QNAP] is always visible when Kinsky is started, this presumably means that Kinsky loses contact with MinimServer[QNAP] at some later stage. Does this happen after a certain amount of time, or after the iPad was suspended and resumed, or apparently randomly? If you can identify what happens before Kinsky drops MinimServer[QNAP] from its list, this might help to narrow down the cause of the problem.

I'll try to identify a pattern. For clarification, Kinsky always sees MinimServer on my Synology NOT the QNAP.

[simoncn]

(18-09-2014 17:19)gnomus Wrote:  I'll try to identify a pattern. For clarification, Kinsky always sees MinimServer on my Synology NOT the QNAP.

Yes, I understand and I hope there was nothing in my previous response that appeared to be inconsistent with this. For clarification, I believe the sequence of events is:

1) Kinsky is stopped and restarted
2) Kinsky sees MinimServer[QNAP] in its list
.... later ....
3) Kinsky no longer sees MinimServer[QNAP] in its list

If you could identify what happens between states 2) and 3), this would be helpful.

[gnomus]

(18-09-2014 18:09)simoncn Wrote:  

(18-09-2014 17:19)gnomus Wrote:  I'll try to identify a pattern. For clarification, Kinsky always sees MinimServer on my Synology NOT the QNAP.

Yes, I understand and I hope there was nothing in my previous response that appeared to be inconsistent with this. For clarification, I believe the sequence of events is:

1) Kinsky is stopped and restarted
2) Kinsky sees MinimServer[QNAP] in its list
.... later ....
3) Kinsky no longer sees MinimServer[QNAP] in its list

If you could identify what happens between states 2) and 3), this would be helpful.

No that is not what happens.

1) I launch Kinsky
2) Many (perhaps most) times I get an error message telling me that it cannot find the library on MinimServer [QNAP]. Going into the Library folder, I can see MinimServer [Synology], but not MinimServer [QNAP].
3) If I shut down Kinsky, then relaunch the programme, usually it can then see MinimServer [QNAP].
4) If, during the "no QNAP" state, I leave Kinsky running in the background and launch Kazoo, Kazoo can see MinimServer [QNAP], whilst Kinsky cannot.
5) If I launch BubbleDS on my Android, it can also see MinimServer [QNAP].

Apologies if my initial post did not make that clear.

[simoncn]

(18-09-2014 18:34)gnomus Wrote:  No that is not what happens.

1) I launch Kinsky
2) Many (perhaps most) times I get an error message telling me that it cannot find the library on MinimServer [QNAP]. Going into the Library folder, I can see MinimServer [Synology], but not MinimServer [QNAP].
3) If I shut down Kinsky, then relaunch the programme, usually it can then see MinimServer [QNAP].
4) If, during the "no QNAP" state, I leave Kinsky running in the background and launch Kazoo, Kazoo can see MinimServer [QNAP], whilst Kinsky cannot.
5) If I launch BubbleDS on my Android, it can also see MinimServer [QNAP].

Apologies if my initial post did not make that clear.

In 1) above, do you launch Kinsky from scratch or are you resuming it from a previously active state? I presume it is the latter, as otherwise there is no reason why Kinsky would know that MinimServer[QNAP] exists.

Using your sequence numbers, I believe the sequence is:

3) Kinsky is stopped and restarted
3a) Kinsky sees MinimServer[QNAP] in its list
.... later ....
1) You resume Kinsky
2) Kinsky produces an error message about MinimServer[QNAP]

If you could identify what happens between states 3a) and 1), this would be helpful.

[gnomus]

(18-09-2014 18:56)simoncn Wrote:  

(18-09-2014 18:34)gnomus Wrote:  No that is not what happens.

1) I launch Kinsky
2) Many (perhaps most) times I get an error message telling me that it cannot find the library on MinimServer [QNAP]. Going into the Library folder, I can see MinimServer [Synology], but not MinimServer [QNAP].
3) If I shut down Kinsky, then relaunch the programme, usually it can then see MinimServer [QNAP].
4) If, during the "no QNAP" state, I leave Kinsky running in the background and launch Kazoo, Kazoo can see MinimServer [QNAP], whilst Kinsky cannot.
5) If I launch BubbleDS on my Android, it can also see MinimServer [QNAP].

Apologies if my initial post did not make that clear.

In 1) above, do you launch Kinsky from scratch or are you resuming it from a previously active state? I presume it is the latter, as otherwise there is no reason why Kinsky would know that MinimServer[QNAP] exists.

Using your sequence numbers, I believe the sequence is:

3) Kinsky is stopped and restarted
3a) Kinsky sees MinimServer[QNAP] in its list
.... later ....
1) You resume Kinsky
2) Kinsky produces an error message about MinimServer[QNAP]

If you could identify what happens between states 3a) and 1), this would be helpful.

I generally shut down Apps when I stop using them, so I believe that I would normally be restarting Kinsky from scratch. When I do so it can see MinimServer [Synology], but not MinimServer [QNAP]. Why should Kinsky not be able to see the QNAP library if I start from scratch?

I'll take more notice over the next few days to confirm what I have just said.

[simoncn]

(18-09-2014 19:09)gnomus Wrote:  I generally shut down Apps when I stop using them, so I believe that I would normally be restarting Kinsky from scratch. When I do so it can see MinimServer [Synology], but not MinimServer [QNAP]. Why should Kinsky not be able to see the QNAP library if I start from scratch?

I'll take more notice over the next few days to confirm what I have just said.

In your earlier post, you said you get a Kinsky error message about MinimServer[QNAP] in your step 1). Now you seem to be saying Kinsky doesn't show MinimServer[QNAP] in its list.

There is a significant difference between these. An error message means Kinsky knows about MinimServer[QNAP], has tried to communicate with it and this communication has failed. If MinimServer[QNAP] is missing from the Kinsky list (with no error message), this means Kinsky doesn't know about MinimServer[QNAP] because of some issue with the UPnP discovery protocol.

[gnomus]

(18-09-2014 19:27)simoncn Wrote:  

(18-09-2014 19:09)gnomus Wrote:  I generally shut down Apps when I stop using them, so I believe that I would normally be restarting Kinsky from scratch. When I do so it can see MinimServer [Synology], but not MinimServer [QNAP]. Why should Kinsky not be able to see the QNAP library if I start from scratch?

I'll take more notice over the next few days to confirm what I have just said.

In your earlier post, you said you get a Kinsky error message about MinimServer[QNAP] in your step 1). Now you seem to be saying Kinsky doesn't show MinimServer[QNAP] in its list.

There is a significant difference between these. An error message means Kinsky knows about MinimServer[QNAP], has tried to communicate with it and this communication has failed. If MinimServer[QNAP] is missing from the Kinsky list (with no error message), this means Kinsky doesn't know about MinimServer[QNAP] because of some issue with the UPnP discovery protocol.

OK - I have been unable to reproduce the error message tonight. However, I have discovered that, as you suspected, Kinsky is losing the QNAP whilst it is still active. If I shut Kinsky down and then relaunch, it will often find the QNAP. However, it will not find it every time. (This might be why I thought it was losing it at relaunch.)

I will keep trying to reproduce the error message. I don't recall that it mentioned the QNAP specifically. I will almost certainly have had tracks from the QNAP in the playlist - I don't know if that would make any difference.