Photo station with reverse proxy in use

[Gerard]

Is anyone using photo station, and reverse proxy?

 

[Rusty]

Is anyone using photo station, and reverse proxy?

What's the problem/question?

 

[Gerard]

When accessing ds photo (iOS app) from outside the lan, using https the connection takes forever to log in. This only started when I changed over to using reverse proxy for everything else.

It should be noted that ds photo on iOS is hard coded to automatically connect thru port 443. Therefore a reverse proxy rule for photo station doesn’t exist since it uses 443.

If I turn https off while outside lan it connects right away. While inside the lan https connects right away.

 

[Rusty]

How are your PhotoStation ports configured INSIDE PS app? Under settings, I think?

 

[Gerard]

443 and port 80. If I choose anything other than that I would have to port forward custom ports on the router.

It should be noted when outside the lan https on ds photo takes forever to connect, but when I uncheck and turn off https it connects right away.

 

[Rusty]

443 and port 80. If I choose anything other than that I would have to port forward custom ports on the router.

It should be noted when outside the lan https on ds photo takes forever to connect, but when I uncheck and turn off https it connects right away.

So have you tried to change 443 port that PS has configured to a custom port and then reverse from your public 443 to the internal NAS IP on that custom port?

 

[Gerard]

So have you tried to change 443 port that PS has configured to a custom port and then reverse from your public 443 to the internal NAS IP on that custom port?

The reason why I didn’t want to go with a custom port is because I wanted the shared links to have just the domain name in it.

Previously I did have custom router ports forwarded to photo station and the login connection speed was good. This is only happening when I’m using 443 coming in. My guess it’s because I’m running reverse proxy too. If I set a reverse proxy rule for ps.mydomain.com https 443 to destination local host 443 it doesn’t work (just a guess but maybe because photo station is ipaddress\photo ?

It should be noted when outside the lan https on ds photo takes forever to connect, but when I uncheck and turn off https it connects right away.

 

[Rusty]

The reason why I didn’t want to go with a custom port is because I wanted the shared links to have just the domain name in it.

But you will not have to use a custom port. If you set a custom port for the PS (internal) you can just refer to that port using a public FQDN name via reverse proxy on port 443. So you will get a clean https/443 url towards your PS.

If I set a reverse proxy rule for ps.mydomain.com https 443 to destination local host 443 it doesn’t work

Not 443 to 443. But 443 (RP) to custom PS port.

 

[Gerard]

But you will not have to use a custom port. If you set a custom port for the PS (internal) you can just refer to that port using a public FQDN name via reverse proxy on port 443. So you will get a clean https/443 url towards your PS.


Not 443 to 443. But 443 (RP) to custom PS port.

So in photostation, set a custom port. In RP set it up just like all other rp rule, domain name for PS https 443, forwarded to localhost custom port of PS...right?

 

[Rusty]

So in photostation, set a custom port. In RP set it up just like all other rp rule, domain name for PS https 443, forwarded to localhost custom port of PS...right?

yep

 

[Gerard]

yep

On ios DS Photo app, I get "Login Failed. Please check if IP address is correct or check is PS has been installed correctly"

-- post merged: 15. Feb 2021 --

I think this doesn't work because the proper url for photostation is photo.domainname.com/photo. When doing a RP you can only point to photostation.domainname.com and therefore it is not resolving to photostation. Currently I cannot connect to ps at all, even when using photo.domainname.com:customport/photo. In order to get back into it, I have to delete out the RP rule, and then I can access on photo.domainname.com/photo, even tho the custom port settings is set to the custom port. I dont think photostation can be changed to something other than 443, which if set it'll work it will just take forever for the ios ds photo https to connect.

In photostation it defines the custom ports as what is your "router port" so I dont think this is necessarily changing the ps app ports.

 

[Rusty]

Ok I got it. There is a bug in PhotoStation when it comes to custom ports.

So in order to get this going you will need 3 things.

1) change the custom ports in PS settings
2) create a reverse proxy entry from your custom port to 443
3) create a reverse proxy entry from your custom domain name (443) to PS custom port

So if we say that your custom PS HTTPS port is 1234 then this should look like this.

When that is set, then open up your RP settings and make the 1st RP entry that will force custom port back to 443. Note that you DO NOT enter a hostname in here, leave it as *

Once that is done, create the final RP entry using your FQDN name on 443 and push it to that custom port:

Once that is done you should be able to get to your PS instance using your FQDN but be sure to add the /photo at the end.

So the url needs to be https://photo.yourdomain.com/photo

and here we are...

 

[Gerard]

Ok I got it. There is a bug in PhotoStation when it comes to custom ports.

So in order to get this going you will need 3 things.

1) change the custom ports in PS settings
2) create a reverse proxy entry from your custom port to 443
3) create a reverse proxy entry from your custom domain name (443) to PS custom port

So if we say that your custom PS HTTPS port is 1234 then this should look like this.

View attachment 3070

When that is set, then open up your RP settings and make the 1st RP entry that will force custom port back to 443. Note that you DO NOT enter a hostname in here, leave it as *

View attachment 3069

Once that is done, create the final RP entry using your FQDN name on 443 and push it to that custom port:


View attachment 3071

Once that is done you should be able to get to your PS instance using your FQDN but be sure to add the /photo at the end.

So the url needs to be https://photo.yourdomain.com/photo

and here we are...

View attachment 3072

I followed the exact same steps, but when I type the FQDN I'm getting 400 Bad request, Request header or cookie too large. nginx

-- post merged: 15. Feb 2021 --

You didn't do the custom port on the router right?

 

[Rusty]

You didn't do the custom port on the router right?

Nope. This was pure reverse proxy with custom PS ports. The port on the router is still just 443 that RP uses

 

[Gerard]

-- post merged: 15. Feb 2021 --

If i click the photo station app from within DSM desktop, it will open photostation https:/localip:customport/photo/#!Albums

 

[Rusty]

View attachment 3073

-- post merged: 15. Feb 2021 --

If i click the photo station app from within DSM desktop, it will open photostation https:/localip:customport/photo/#!Albums

Ok try and enter the custom port in PS settings and also hostname value to your fqdn (my 1st image).

Then use the RP entry number one. Custom port to 443.

Delete the list RP entry from my tutorial.

Ofc beforehand remove both RP settings to get PS up and running again.

See if that will help you. So do step 1 and 2 but not step 3. In step 1 enter the hostname that you would use in step 3.

 

[Gerard]

Ok try and enter the custom port in PS settings and also hostname value to your fqdn (my 1st image).

Then use the RP entry number one. Custom port to 443.

Delete the list RP entry from my tutorial.

Ofc beforehand remove both RP settings to get PS up and running again.

See if that will help you. So do step 1 and 2 but not step 3. In step 1 enter the hostname that you would use in step 3.

Ok, url https://photo.domain.com/photo works on computer web browser.

ios DS Photo app also works, but it still takes forever to sign in when using https. if i uncheck https it logs in in less then a second.

So far same behavior as my original setup which was no custom port, and no rp rules. Remember, the issue is in DS photo app. The web browser connects fine speed wise.

 

[Rusty]

Remember, the issue is in DS photo app

hmm not sure you will be able to fool mobile app. Apps are hard coded so not sure how they will work. Haven’t tried that.

 

[Gerard]

hmm not sure you will be able to fool mobile app. Apps are hard coded so not sure how they will work. Haven’t tried that.

Guessing to just wait for Syno Photos on DSM 7. I doubt submitting ds photo as a bug will gain much traction.

-- post merged: 15. Feb 2021 --

one minor issue with the above changes. Sharing out a photo with the public, uses my fqdn but also adds the custom port. Since the custom port isn't open to the public, there is no access to the shared links.

I guess easiest way to resolve this for the time being, is to just full blown open a custom port from router to photostation.