John's Blog: Rumplet Connection Problems

March 20, 2012

Rumplet, the desktop applet for drop shipping files, has proven very, very popular. But initial setup can sometimes be tricky, so here are a few tips for those that have trouble.

Check The Errors Log

When a Rumplet client gets a connection error, the first thing to do is check the error log in Rumpus (on the "Logs" tab of the main control window, select the "Errors" log). Try a test shipment or just open the "view past shipments" sheet from the Rumplet client, then on the Rumpus logs tab, click the refresh button. If the client was able to connect, but the Rumplet request was refused by the server, a log entry should explain why. If no entry is displayed in the log, it's likely that a network connection from the client to the server can't be made, possibly for one of the reasons described below.

Make Sure The Client IP Address Is Allowed

In Rumpus, open the "Network Settings" window and flip to the "Remote Admin -> Mac Desktop" tab. Make sure that the IP address, or subnet, of the client is listed in the "Allowed Clients" list and that "Enable FileWatch Monitoring" (required for Rumplet access) is turned on. The "Allowed Clients" list uses a "begins with" check of client IP addresses, so an entry of "192." will allow any Rumplet client whose IP address begins "192.". If you want to allow Rumplet access from any IP address, anywhere on the Internet, enter the numbers 1 through 9, one number on each line, in the list. This will cause Rumpus to allow Rumplet users from IP addresses that begin with "1", "2", "3" and so on, in other words, all addresses.

Make Sure The Server Is Accessible On Port 2999

If you are running a firewall on the server, make sure the firewall is set to allow access on port 2999. If connections are going through a port forwarding router (as is the case when the server is on a private network and you want to allow outside users to run Rumplet), make sure port 2999 is set up for forwarding.

Check Your Rumplet Setup

For complete details on Rumplet setup, see the Rumplet article in the Rumpus package, but there are a couple of common mistakes worth looking for. First, the "Server Address" should be set to an IP address or domain name only, and the address should be the most expedient address possible. For example, on a private local network, you should supply the LAN address of the server, rather than the external address or domain name, with no "http://" or other extraneous protocol specifications. By contrast, the "External Server Access URL" must be a full URL that begins either "http://" or "https://". Put simply, this is the full URL external users enter in order to access your server.

© Copyright 2023, Maxum Development Corp.