Kavita port forwarding issues

[David Cavalli]

I have the comic book program manager Kavita installed on my home server (Nami, 192.168.1.14) and want to open access to it on WAN so I can read comic books outside the house. Docker locks down port 5000 for Kavita for some reason and I have the webserver working for Nami:5000 locally. I have a no-ip domain that points to my home and in theory my.noip.com:5000 should give me access to Kavita on the WAN. However, my Synology also uses port 5000 and also can't be changed.

From what I understand, I can use different ports externally than I need internally. I figured that I will use port 5021 externally to point to internal Nami port 5000. I thought I have configured this correctly with Asus. Here's what I have:

However, when I try my.noip.com:5021, it seems to show nothing. I'm not sure if I am doing the port forwarding wrong or if I have some sort of Kavita problems elsewhere. Nami:5000 works just fine, so I know I have the basic container configured correctly. Any advice greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[David Cavalli]

Interesting update:
AI help said to try PortCheckTool.com to test ports. Plex and Jellyfin ports 32400 and 8096 both work and show "open" on PCT. However, both 5000 (Synology currently off) and 5021 both don't seem to be open for some reason, despite the Kavita entry on port forwarding. I have no idea what I've done wrong, but other ports are working when I add them, just not Kavita.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Your port forwarding rule looks correct.

 

[David Cavalli]

Your port forwarding rule looks correct.

A good start, thanks! But I guess I'm confused by the PCT result then. If I've correctly set up 5021 externally (and I believe that to be the case), does PCT show a non-open port because there is no SERVICE it sees on the other side? I thought if I opened 5021 as configured, a tool like PCT would see it "open" post this configuration. It *doesn't*. If that's true, then it's a router problem. If not, then it's a server side issue on my part.

 

[ColinTaylor]

An external scan will only show the port as open if it is a) a TCP port, and b) it gets an acknowledgment returned. So it will fail if the server isn't running or there's a firewall in between that's blocking it.

Do you have any logs you can look at on the server?

 

[David Cavalli]

Good info, thanks! Still stuck as to what's not working, especially with every other service I use working fine when enabled, but will research more before asking next follow-up.

 

[Justinh]

Is your firewall on Nami blocking it? Can you access 192.168.1.14:5000 from a different device on your local network?

 

[David Cavalli]

Is your firewall on Nami blocking it? Can you access 192.168.1.14:5000 from a different device on your local network?

I can access it from *every* device locally. Nami:5000 (or your way of doing it) works just fine. I'm now starting to wonder if there's some cache that's failing in the router. Have some ideas to test some theories...

 

[David Cavalli]

Ha! I'm right! Kavita / internal port 5000 is working just fine!!! That being said, I now 100% have a router issue and am seeking help. Here's the latest port forwarding config:

Hypothesis: Steer (working) external Jellyfin port to internal Kavita port. This should help identify *where* the problem is. Kavita loaded on external port 8096 just fine!!! That means *all* my docker configuration internal and external are likely *not* to be the problem, but some confusion on how the router has some tables mixed up.

Anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do to isolate things from here? I think I'll reverse the order on a Kavita entry (i.e. external 5000 -> 8096 and see if Jellyfin loads). Other than that, I'm not sure what to do about it. Any suggestions appreciated!

 

[David Cavalli]

I think I'll reverse the order on a Kavita entry (i.e. external 5000 -> 8096 and see if Jellyfin loads).

Nope. External 5000 pointing to internal Nami:8096 also seems to do nothing. All I can think of is that it is somehow confused over a prior usage of external 5000 pointing to Synology:5000 once upon a time. No idea how to check that...

 

[ColinTaylor]

Check whether your port forwarding rules have applied by looking at System Log - Port Forwarding.

 

[David Cavalli]

Check whether your port forwarding rules have applied by looking at System Log - Port Forwarding.

Yes!!! No idea that was in the system log, but I think you're right! Here's the log:

.21 is my main computer, so I bet there's some generic config that points everything there via "GAME_VSERVER" w/e that is. Anyone who can point me there quickly, hooray! Until then, I'm now Googling. Think I randomly stumbled into why ext:5000 is the problem and now just need to reconfigure whatever I currently don't know I eventually need to know. Thanks!!!

 

[David Cavalli]

I bet there's some generic config that points everything there via "GAME_VSERVER" w/e that is.

Aha! Once upon a time, the game "League of Legends" suggested to optimize with an Asus server in configuration, seemingly using port 5000, among others!!! Deleting that "Game Profile", which I have no idea if it ever mattered, seems to have me back on course again. ...and LoL took range 5000:5500, another reason the ext:5021 port didn't work either. I think my work here is done and I coudln't have found it will all your responses. Thank you very much!

PS. Follow-up post *ONLY* if something else stops this from working. Take care!!!

 

[Justinh]

Right, I was about to say try an external port higher or lower than the 5000-5100 range. But, you fixed that already Good work.