DLNA: pfSense and IGMP Proxy – nope, use pimd

This is more of a note to myself than a real post…

If you have different subnets and want to use a DLNA-based media server it will not work. This is correct by design! DNLA is a local network, broadcast protocol! But, if you have the need it can be done by using an IGMP proxy to pass the network broadcasts across subnets; effectively “routing” it.

Unfortunately, it is broken on pfSense since, it seems, 2.2.x. I even downloaded the most recent version and it still did not work. There is an alternative, pimd.

pimd has to be manually installed and configured on the command line (i.e., ssh into your pfSense box). It is not hard to install or configure. My pimd.conf is simple:

 phyint igb0 disable
 phyint igb1 disable
 phyint igb2 disable
 phyint igb3 disable
 phyint igb4 disable
 phyint igb5 disable
 phyint igb3.30 enable
 phyint igb3.100 disable
 phyint igb3.25 enable
 phyint igb3.20 enable
 phyint igb3.201 disable
 phyint ovpns1 disable
 phyint ovpns2 disable
 #bsr-candidate igb3.20
 bsr-candidate priority 5
 rp-candidate time 30 priority 20
 group-prefix 224.0.0.0 masklen 4
 spt-threshold packets 0 interval 100

You only need to disable any physical interfaces or VLANs where you don’t want DLNA broadcasts and enable the physical interfaces and VLANs where you do want DNLA broadcasts. I keep a backup copy in a directory since it is not an official package your configuration may be removed by an upgrade.

Also, since this is not an official package you need use shellcmd to enable automatic startup:

/usr/local/sbin/pimd -c /usr/local/etc/pimd.conf

I put in feature request in pfSense’s redmine site to include pimd as a native package.

About Mike Pelley

Let’s see… A little about me… I’ve been around information technology since 1983 with computers such as DEC Rainbows (weird machine – the standard DOS couldn’t format its own floppy disks – remember them? – and I had to format them on a friend’s IBM PC) to Radio Shack TRS-80 to Apple ][e and Apple //c in the beginning. I have programmed in 8-bit assembly language on 6502, FORTRAN and COBOL on IBM System/370 (and I still hate JCL), VAX BASIC and COBOL (and a weird and massive WordPerfect 4.0 macro) on DEC VMS (Alpha), C/C++ on Digital Unix (ALPHA), and C/C++, Perl (it may be powerful but I still hate it), PHP on Linux (Red Hat, Centos, Ubuntu, etc.). I have work with databases such as Digital RDB (later to become Oracle RDB), Oracle DBMS, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL and PostgreSQL on VAX, Alpha, Sun and Intel. Check out my professional profile and connect with me on LinkedIn. See http://lnkd.in/nhTRZe I still think that Digital created some of the best ideas in the world: VAX clustering, DSSI disks (forerunner to SCSI) and the Alpha processor (first commercial 64-bit processor – Red Hat screamed on an Alpha!). DEC just could not seem to be able to give air conditioners away to someone lost in the Sahara Desert! VMware is one of the best ways to get the most out of an x64 server. And I have tried Oracle VM, Virtual Box and Microsoft Virtual Server. Outside of that I am a huge military history buff starting in the early 20th century. I love Ford Mustangs (my ’87 Mustang GT was awesome) and if I had the money I would have a Porsche 928S4. If I had a lot of money I would have a Porsche 911 Turbo. I also play too much AmrA 3 Exile mod. Over 5,000+ hours... I have a wonderful son, Cameron. I have a long suffering (Do you really need all that computer junk?) wife, Paula. I live in Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador.
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2 Responses to DLNA: pfSense and IGMP Proxy – nope, use pimd

  1. Loh Phat says:

    pimd is now a standard package with pfSense!

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