Comments on: Implementing UPnP http://zbowling.com Self proclaimed software engineer and social networking expert Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:22:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Dee Holtsclaw http://zbowling.com/projects/upnp/#comment-284 Dee Holtsclaw Thu, 18 Aug 2005 03:10:14 +0000 http://zacbowling.com/upnp/#comment-284 One thing that springs to mind is checking the local routing table for it's default gateway address. Then you could either direct your initial UDP packet specifically there (instead of broadcasting) or compare the results against it. Another is restricting the broadcast to the local subnet which should, at least, eliminate external threats. It also gets around those lazy admins who, rather than block ports, point the gateway to a bogus address. Still, security will require a lot of thought since there is quite a potential for exploitation inherent in a procedure such as this. Nice work though. Pretty well sums up the issues quite succinctly. One thing that springs to mind is checking the local routing table for it’s default gateway address. Then you could either direct your initial UDP packet specifically there (instead of broadcasting) or compare the results against it. Another is restricting the broadcast to the local subnet which should, at least, eliminate external threats. It also gets around those lazy admins who, rather than block ports, point the gateway to a bogus address. Still, security will require a lot of thought since there is quite a potential for exploitation inherent in a procedure such as this.

Nice work though. Pretty well sums up the issues quite succinctly.

]]> By: jamesw http://zbowling.com/projects/upnp/#comment-259 jamesw Fri, 01 Jul 2005 15:04:20 +0000 http://zacbowling.com/upnp/#comment-259 I think one of the biggest hassles with instant messaging is that it’s tied to the computer. If I’m away from the computer, like watching tv, I may miss an important IM. I can leave the speakers on the PC really loud, but then I’m always jumping up and running back to the PC to read an incoming IM in case it’s important. Most of the time it’s not. I can subscribe to a service with my cell phone—but that costs money. So here is (I think) the perfect solution, and a good GAIM plug-in that’s not too much work. I just installed a Pluto Home system (plutohome.com). It’s a free, open source smarthome and media server. You put Bluetooth dongles on all the pc’s in your house, and then when you enter a room your Symbian Bluetooth phone turns into a remote control for everything in that room. It already tracks your movement—if you start listening to music in 1 room, your music will follow you as you move with your phone to another room. And it already sends messages to the phone based on events. For example, when the song changes, the cover art shown on my phone changes to show me what’s playing. So that got me thinking… Why not make a GAIM plugin for pluto so that whenever I get an IM, I see it on my Bluetooth phone? That way I can either type a reply on the phone, or go back to the computer if I want to use the keyboard, or ignore it if it’s not important. And I’m not having to run back and forth to the computer to check IM. And it’s free since it uses Bluetooth! Plus, I think it’s such a real convenience it would be a great way to get people to switch to GAIM. I talked to the programmers at Pluto and they said it would be really easy since their stuff is already written in small modules and plugins. However, since we’re all open source, we could also just take whatever pieces were useful and do something completely new using the same concept. Many of the other GAIM projects listed are either specific for only some users (like Apple iChat), or would only be used by geeks (like the Perl interpreter). But not having to run back and forth to the computer is something everybody wants (imho). I don’t see how to recommend a new idea for GAIM, so I’ll just try the forums and hope somebody else likes it too. I think one of the biggest hassles with instant messaging is that it’s tied to the computer. If I’m away from the computer, like watching tv, I may miss an important IM. I can leave the speakers on the PC really loud, but then I’m always jumping up and running back to the PC to read an incoming IM in case it’s important. Most of the time it’s not. I can subscribe to a service with my cell phone—but that costs money. So here is (I think) the perfect solution, and a good GAIM plug-in that’s not too much work.

I just installed a Pluto Home system (plutohome.com). It’s a free, open source smarthome and media server. You put Bluetooth dongles on all the pc’s in your house, and then when you enter a room your Symbian Bluetooth phone turns into a remote control for everything in that room. It already tracks your movement—if you start listening to music in 1 room, your music will follow you as you move with your phone to another room. And it already sends messages to the phone based on events. For example, when the song changes, the cover art shown on my phone changes to show me what’s playing.

So that got me thinking… Why not make a GAIM plugin for pluto so that whenever I get an IM, I see it on my Bluetooth phone? That way I can either type a reply on the phone, or go back to the computer if I want to use the keyboard, or ignore it if it’s not important. And I’m not having to run back and forth to the computer to check IM. And it’s free since it uses Bluetooth! Plus, I think it’s such a real convenience it would be a great way to get people to switch to GAIM.

I talked to the programmers at Pluto and they said it would be really easy since their stuff is already written in small modules and plugins. However, since we’re all open source, we could also just take whatever pieces were useful and do something completely new using the same concept.

Many of the other GAIM projects listed are either specific for only some users (like Apple iChat), or would only be used by geeks (like the Perl interpreter). But not having to run back and forth to the computer is something everybody wants (imho). I don’t see how to recommend a new idea for GAIM, so I’ll just try the forums and hope somebody else likes it too.

]]> By: zbowling http://zbowling.com/projects/upnp/#comment-255 zbowling Sat, 18 Jun 2005 03:53:35 +0000 http://zacbowling.com/upnp/#comment-255 That is one idea I thought of myself. Its really not hard to do really, but raises many many different security concerns and wouldn't be anything you can't really get from dmz (unless you might be using ftp behind a nat and another person has http or something). You can also can and get your external ip and you can forward a port to an internal ip only from a single host (so you can share a open port with other people on your network if you know the ip of the person wanting to contact you). That is one idea I thought of myself. Its really not hard to do really, but raises many many different security concerns and wouldn’t be anything you can’t really get from dmz (unless you might be using ftp behind a nat and another person has http or something). You can also can and get your external ip and you can forward a port to an internal ip only from a single host (so you can share a open port with other people on your network if you know the ip of the person wanting to contact you).

]]> By: danny http://zbowling.com/projects/upnp/#comment-252 danny Wed, 15 Jun 2005 16:59:18 +0000 http://zacbowling.com/upnp/#comment-252 hmm. that sums it up nicely. I was just wondering if there were any linux apps already using upnp. I was wondering if it wouldn't be a good approach to make some kind of deamon that would do all this, and allow you to configure which apps, users and ports should be forwarded by the device? This could allow a more general solution without having to patch each application to support this. If that is not possible, a small dietlibupnp would be nice. Sadly, I think I don't have enough coding skills for either:( hmm. that sums it up nicely. I was just wondering if there were any linux apps already using upnp.

I was wondering if it wouldn’t be a good approach to make some kind of deamon that would do all this, and allow you to configure which apps, users and ports should be forwarded by the device? This could allow a more general solution without having to patch each application to support this.

If that is not possible, a small dietlibupnp would be nice. Sadly, I think I don’t have enough coding skills for either:(

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