Twonky gone

[conic]

Twonky is gone, QNAP dlna media server not working... folders dissapear, cant label as MEDIA FOLDER , Plex and Serviio is SLOW.

THANKS QNAP, never again buy your product

[Toxic17]

Twonky has not gone, just the QNAP volume license has not been renewed.

If you like Twonky, then buy a license for like $20 and you can use it on 3 devices.

[Briain]

Hi

I have just updated my TS-453 Pro and yes, Twonky didn't work, so I did a search and found the Twonky NAS build pages are still on the go, and indeed, the later ones seem to include various Qnap builds, so I removed the Qnap Twonky package and installed Twonky 8.3 (for my Qnap, it was the 'Qnap x86-64 package') from their site.

It all seems to behave itself (no high CPU issues, or the likes) and I already had a few Twonky 5 keys from the olden days (when I used to discuss issues directly with the Twonky engineers) so I applied one and it all worked as expected (and I installed a slightly tweaked music tree; changing the artist container to an albumArtist container).

Curiously, when installing the tree I noticed the installation directory is now called 'TwonkyServerEU', but everything else appears to be just as before (other than it now requiring a key).

I also updated my TS-219P and as expected, the Qnap supplied (ARM) version of Twonky was not disabled by the 4.3.3 update (though curiously, it didn't show as being running on the 'my apps' page, but it was all working okay; I've just shut down the 219, so next time it's up, I'll see if that status has changed on the 'my apps' page).

Bri

PS You can enter the key via the Twonky web interface (http://your.Qnap.IP.address:9000) or if you are as lazy as I am, you can RPC your new key into Twonky via entering the below command (though with a valid key) into your browser, then hitting the enter key:

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http://your.Qnap.IP.address:9000/rpc/set_option?cdkey=XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX

That pops it into the ini file and as per before, you can see all the Twonky settings via the below command:

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http://your.Qnap.IP.address:9000/rpc/get_all

As before, you can still also perform a rescan or full database rebuild via the below RPC commands (which you can also save as bookmarks in your browser) so that's all working as it should.

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http://your.Qnap.IP.address:9000/rpc/rescan
http://your.Qnap.IP.address:9000/rpc/rebuild

That last one (the /rebuild one) can be quite handy as although the earlier versions of Twonky used to have a database rebuild button in the settings, for some odd reason they removed it from Twonky 7 onwards (and if your indexing gets into a mess - which is unusual with the newer versions, but not impossible - that that rebuild can often fix things).

There are actually quite a lot of these RPC commands and many permit settings changes that are not brought out to the web interface, so it's a feature that is very useful to know about (saves faffing about with the ini file in vi).

[Toxic17]

Briain, welcome, havent seen you for here for a while.

I noticed also Twonky installed on my LAN1 interface (default gateway) but not on my LAN2 port which i use for management. do you know the command to allow ALL interfaces access to Twonky?

Oh yes it is also 64bit too! not sure if that make much difference howvever

[mstamate]

Twonky is gone, QNAP dlna media server not working... folders dissapear, cant label as MEDIA FOLDER , Plex and Serviio is SLOW.

THANKS QNAP, never again buy your product

Yes, indeed, dissatisfied as well....

Sent from my MI 5 using Tapatalk

[Briain]

Briain, welcome, havent seen you for here for a while.

I noticed also Twonky installed on my LAN1 interface (default gateway) but not on my LAN2 port which i use for management. do you know the command to allow ALL interfaces access to Twonky?

Oh yes it is also 64bit too! not sure if that make much difference howvever

Hi Simon. I do still pop in and read, but I haven't typed much for a while (Qnap told me to stop posting Twonky tedium as I was scaring potential customers away ). My Twonky knowledge is based on the Twonky 5 and Twonky 6 days as from Twonky 7 onwards, they limited the ability to build custom trees (though you can still tweak the existing containers).

The main problems I had with Twonky was that it occasionally advertised itself on the local loopback address and back in the day, that caused discovery problems on some control points, so I discovered that I could lock it onto the interface that I wanted by using the below command (obviously, that example shows how to lock it onto 192.168.1.20):

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http://192.168.1.20:9000/rpc/set_option?ip=192.168.1.20

I later found that you could stop it via the disablelocalssdp entry (the default used to be 0, but changing it to 1 stopped it advertising itself on the loopback address (so obviously, that was nas.IP.address:9000/rpc/set_option?disablelocalssdp=1)

From /rpc/get_all, I see that the ini file has somewhat expanded since my tinkering days, so I will have to look through it to see if I can spot anything obvious (I had a quick scan through it, but nothing jumped out at me) but the chances are that you can toggle many things via the set_option?<option>=<desired setting> and activate it by a restart (rpc/restart).

The Twonky folks once sent me a comprehensive manual and I think it contained a list of RPC tricks, so I'll dig through my files and see if I can find it (then post the list of tricks).

Bri

[Briain]

I have found the document and there's a handy RPC to show which interface Twonky is aware of:

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http://nas.ip.address:9000/rpc/info_nics

Which is there to 'Return the list of network interfaces (NICs), which the server has detected. This may provide some help by configuring the server or for troubleshooting' though unfortunately, it isn't followed by a section explaining what to do when there's interface-related trouble to shoot.

On my TS-453Pro, I see the below result returned:

127.0.0.1:9000
10.11.11.22:9000,<MAC Address>
10.0.5.1:9000,<another MAC Address>
10.0.3.1:9000,<yet another MAC Address>

The above is from a 190 page confidential document relating to Twonky 5.1 (and I was under strict instructions to seek permission before letting anyone else have it) so if you want to look at it, I'd first have to ask permission then figure out a way for us to exchange e-mail addresses (darned pest about the PM feature being disabled). When I get some time, I'll also have a deeper dive through it and look for any references to 'interface', or the likes.

Bri

PS The lower two entries puzzled me, but it would appear that they are related to the Qnap virtual switch feature (which I have yet to read up on).

[louiscar]

PS You can enter the key via the Twonky web interface (http://your.Qnap.IP.address:9000) or if you are as lazy as I am, you can RPC your new key into Twonky via entering the below command (though with a valid key) into your browser, then hitting the enter key:

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http://your.Qnap.IP.address:9000/rpc/set_option?cdkey=XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX

That pops it into the ini file and as per before, you can see all the Twonky settings via the below command:

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http://your.Qnap.IP.address:9000/rpc/get_all

Sorry for reviving this thread Briain, but it is in the hope you may still be around to offer some advice.

I had Twonky 8.4.1 server working fine for some time after buying a license in Aug 2017. Today I needed to re-install it and after loggin in successfully it required the license to input thus sending me to the lynx page where my login information was shown. However the license key I put in came back as invalid and someone in another thread has suggested that it may be that the license server is down as the company has folded.

I failed to google any info on the state of the company - it appears to be still operating and offering the server for $19.95 via paypal so I'm assuming that this is still working.
I have not been able to get my Twonky to work since re-installing however and as suggested elsewhere have rebooted the NAS and tried and tried again.

So i saw your thread and with some hope tried the following

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http://your.Qnap.IP.address:9000/rpc/set_option?cdkey=XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX

however, this does not work as the response is "PROPERTY NOT FOUND!" and indeed I do not see the property cdkey in the ini file or listed with the get_all command.

I hoped putting a valid key in this way might get this working and so far no answer form Twonky help or support.

I wonder if you know of any other possibilities with license problems. I really can't think why simply re-installing the server has caused it to do this.

[Briain]

Hi

They changed things in version 8.4 and my understanding was that as well as requiring to apply the key via the Twonky interface (or via the RPC trick), you also had to log into the Lynx page (though it seems that only has to be done once; since doing that - after fixing an issue bespoke to my own network arrangements - I've updated the firmware on the NAS and rebooted it, several times, with no need to repeat the Lynx web page log on process).

All that said, I just rebooted the NAS and tried the rpc/get_all and I see that the cdkey= line no longer exists in the ini file for version 8.5.1, but I am pretty sure that it was there in version 8.4 (I could be wrong, but I think that it was there).

Anyhow, with version 8.5.1 the key also no longer shows up in the web interface (as it used to in previous versions) but there is instead now a 'License Key' button you can click on to view the key and when I do, a browser page is opened and I am taken to the Lynx site (a token is appended to the URL in order to identify the account) which immediately shows my own key as being active on just one device (and the Qnap's MAC address).

The problem with my initial installation of 8.4 (and this new calling home to verify the license nonsense) was that my firewall (Sophos UTM) was blocking the Qnap from calling home to Lynx (I posted about that here: viewtopic.php?f=320&t=141525&p=672678#p672678; Sophos is set to intercept HTTPS traffic, so my network is more like a corporate one) and after talking to the Lynx support people to ask how to check things, they told me of a test RPC to check the Twonky server status (in my case, they all failed - so Twonky could not call home to see that I had a license - and once I'd fixed that, all was well).

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http://rum:9000/rpc/check_backend

Shows the following results:

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Lynx authentication check list:

TIME: OK
RW: OK
TLS: OK
DNS: OK
HTTP: OK
HTTPS: OK
DB: OK

I don't think it needs all to be showing as being OK, but it will certainly need HTTPS and DNS to be at status OK (possibly also TLS, but I suspect the other two are the main ones).

Anyhow, I have just rebooted my own NAS (as I know from previous tests that doing so should definitely trigger any issues relating to Twonky starting and thus calling home) and the above test still works (everything is at OK status) and after accessing the Twonky interface and clicking on the settings tab, it tells me the below:

You are logged in as <I've obfuscated my email address>@gmail.com, then when clicking on the License Key tab, I am again taken to the Lynx page which shows me my actual license key number, so it all appears to be working for my installation (and the Lynx site appears to be working as it should).

Briain

[Briain]

PS Interestingly, although the URL and token open a page showing my own license key, when I instead try to access their general log on page (https://twonkyserver.lynxtechnology.com/user/login.php) nothing happens, so that aspect of things would indeed appear to be down. It's odd that the other page, the one linking to their database with my key, is still working as it should; it is at the below (obfuscated) URL

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https://twonkyserver.lynxtechnology.com/user/enter_key.php?token=<obfuscated>

I am not sure what is going on, but something certainly seems to be defective with their system.

Briain

[louiscar]

Thanks Brian,
cdkey wasn't there for 8.4.1 so I thing they changed before that.

Anyway, I finally got a message from their support telling they had to invalidate keys issued from Oplata.info and others as they were not authorised.
I did buy from Oplata and the seller has disappeared. Not sure how I ended up buying from them but at least I know now.

I'll have to buy a new key or better still ditch it and go to Bubble +Minim.
Thanks for taking the time to reply.

Regards
Louis

[Briain]

Hi

I started using Minimserver since not long after it first appeared and for music, it is a fabulous server (I have thousands of FLAC albums on my Qnap). I still use Twonky for my archive music collection (stuff I'd very seldom want to listen to - and thus I don't wish 'cluttering' my main collection - but that is nice to have available) and, of course, I still use Twonky for occasionally displaying pictures or videos.

I was (and still am) very irritated at them changing the Twonky license model - I really dislike being reliant on the presence of a third party server for a product I am using to keep working - but to their credit, they did respond quickly to my initial request for help (my key was showing as being in use many times as it was 'residing' in the ini file for several Qnaps, even though I had later installed the Qnap official version of 6.0.39 - as that works well with my custom music trees - so I had to resolve that then they reset the counters at their end) and they did also respond quickly with the information on that new RPC based test feature (which helped me resolve the firewall blocking issues) so certainly from my own personal perspective, the customer support appears to be working very well.

I would have been more than happy remaining on 6.0.39 (it works fine on my other Qnap units), but for my main NAS, I needed the 64 bit Twonky and though the first available 64 bits version (I can't recall if that was 8.2 or 8.3) does indeed work with a local license key (and no server connection) there was a bug which prevented it showing pictures on the web interface view (I think there was another minor issue, but I cannot now recall what it was) and the next version up requires the on-line activation process, so for that NAS, I am very reluctantly stuck with the new system.

The Oplata.info issue is very unfortunate; I wonder what that was all about (it sounds well dodgy)?

All the best,
Briain

[Briain]

I was having a look but it appears they might have removed the versions before 8.4; the site only lists the below ones:

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Downloads

    8.4
    8.4.1
    8.5
    8.5.1

If you can find 8.3, that might still work with your existing key. I'll have a rake to see if I have it saved anywhere and post back if I have a copy.

[Briain]

Hi

Having had a huge search, I found a copy of TwonkyServerEU_8.3_x86_64.qpkg (so suitable for a TS-453) so I am now pretty certain that that this will be the first version of Twonky 8 that was made for 64 bit QTS versions (and posted by Twonky on their own site) and thus this will now be the only 64 bit version whereby you can use a local license key to activate it (and not also have to log into the Linx site to activate it). I guess that is why they have pulled 8.3 (and all versions below 8.3, too) from their own site; they want everybody to use versions that call home - when starting up - before they will even show your media as being in existence (never mind streaming it).

I will have to think of a suitable way to make it available to anyone who requires a copy (shame the PMs are no longer available) as for anyone with a NAS running the 64 bit version of QTS and which has no Internet connection (as in one residing on a closed network, or one located at a holiday home, for just two examples) this will be the only version of Twonky that you can use on it (though it does still require a local license key to be entered, of course).

There was a minor bug in this version, and from memory, it was that some browsers (I think it was just Linux Firefox, but I cannot really remember) did not display my JPG images (via accessing the Twonky interface pages) but from memory, they still displayed on media renderers, so not a huge issue.

Bri

PS I do also have copies of the Qnap specific QPKGs for Twonky 6.0.39 (the ones that don't require a key) and I am still using these versions on all my other Qnaps (the ones with 32 bit QTS) as these versions work well with my customised music trees.