Forum member and moderator of the MediaSmartServer.net forums Nigel “Cougar” Wilks has released his first Windows Home Server Add-In. Fireplay for Windows Home Server is an automation of the manual steps Nigel documented in the Wiki and allows the user to remotely stream over the internet all the music stored on their server. FirePlay is a Flash Add-In developed by Bo Mellberg for the Firefly media server, which is a media server designed to serve digital music to iTunes and is the “iTunes Server” solution delivered by HP as part of the MediaSmart Server software. Note that if you do not have an HP MediaSmart Server you’ll need to install the Firefly Media Server before the FirePlay WHS Add-In will work.
Bo Mellberg was kind enough to grant Nigel permission to deliver FirePlay as part of a Windows Home Server Add-In, making the installation a very simple process. Here’s what Nigel has to say about the Add-In and why he developed it.
I figured it was time for me to learn a little more on Add-in development, and also Wix. So, with the agreement of the author, I have put together an installer for the popular FirePlay MP3 streamer. I picked this as my first target as it is our most popular Wiki entry, and has many different areas to configure. It’s also useful for MediaSmart Server owners since Firefly is pre-installed.
The Add-In will install FirePlay 0.90 and then:
* Open the Windows Firewall to allow external access to Firefly
* Dynamically create the FirePlay.html file with the WHS Domain Name and FireFly port
* Attempt to instruct Windows Home Server to open the correct port in the users router to allow access from outside the homeOnce the add-in is installed, just point your web browser at http://your.domain.com/Fireplay/
I’ve personally been running FirePlay on my primary MediaSmart Server for quite a while and have really enjoyed it, and this Add-In makes the setup so much easier. If you own the EX485/EX487 MediaSmart Servers you already have a similar solution via the Twonky Remote Web Streaming feature, however due to some issues with the Twonky solution cutting off files part way through playback you may be interested in the FirePlay Add-In. For more information on how the two compare you can see some details in my EX487 review.
For full details on the FirePlay for Windows Home Server Add-In, please see this forum post. Thank you to Cougar for creating such a useful, easy to use Add-In, and thanks to Bo Mellberg for the permission to use his excellent FirePlay Flash client.
Article by Alex Kuretz
I'm Alex Kuretz, and I'm the founder of MediaSmartServer.net. I was the Lead Test and Integration Engineer at HP for the MediaSmart Server until April 2008 when I moved on to other opportunities outside HP. I've kept active in the Windows Home Server community, creating several add-ins and helping users make the most of their Home Servers.
{ 38 comments }
Hello Alex,
What a great add-in! I also used the FirPlay client yet locally but now I can easily share my music with familymembers and my router is automatically configed.
One question though, is it possible to turn off the “download” option?
Greetings and thank you for another great WHS addin.
Nic
Hi Nic,
Yes, according to the FirePlay readme, there is an option to allow you to turn off the Download link. You’ll need to Remote Desktop onto the server and edit the default.htm file in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Fireplay. In that file you’ll see a line that looks like this:
‘movie’, ‘FirePlay?host=yourserver.HPMediaSmart.com&port=9999&preventdownload=0′,
Just change that line to “preventdownload=1″. I believe there are 3 places in the file that this change must be made.
Let us know how it works!
Alex
Alex,
Okido, it worked. Thank you very much for this quick response
I didn’t find the exact file to make the changes but you pointed me into the right direction.
Greetings,
Nic
Uh oh, did I get path wrong? If so please let us know so other users can benefit. Glad you got it working!
Alex
Hey
I can’t see where you link to file is?
Tommy, the path is on the server c:\inetpub\wwwroot\FirePlay\default.htm
Alex,
Nono, I didn’t find it before your answer, your explanation was good to find the right file
Further discussion in the forum post now
Nic
I got it, but when I have installed this extension, I can’t get anything in my browser. I can only see “Connection to http://xxxxxxxx.com/MyHPhome and in my browser I have written
http://www.xxxxxxx.com/fireplay
I just installed it on my HP ex470 and it works perfectly. It would have been nice if it could show songs by folder as well. Is there any way to do that?
Unfortunately to the best of my knowledge this is a limitation of the underlying Firefly sofware.
Tommy, please try the new 0.90.0.5 version available in the forum topic. If you have further issues you’ll get the best support in the forums.
Hmmm this is not fun.
Here is a foul from the system.
“The selected add-in failed to install. The error code was 1603. Please contact the add-in author for accistance”
?
hi,
i can see the interfase (flash) but there is no music, its empty. Can you help me ?
Tommy, do you have the latest 0.90.0.5 release? It should have resolved that error that a few people were seeing.
Marcel, do you have UPnP enabled on your router? If not, you’ll need to manually forward port 9999 to your server.
I can’t install 0.90.0.5 on my homeserver.
aften I have uninstal 0.90.0.3 and I was trying to start my WHS consol up again, I am getting this foul now -
The previous attempt to open the Windows Home Server Console was not sussessful because there was a problem with the following fil: Home Server ConsoleTab.HP .dll. If the problem persists, please uninstall the add-in associated with file and try again.
To try to open the console with this file again, click retry. To open the console without the features associated with this file, click skip
——————-
I can’t see 0.90.0.3 on my system anymore, but my WHS is not working after I have tried to uninstall 0.90.0.3
Tommy; have you rebooted?
Actually Tommy…. jump onto the forums and PM me your error details in a bit more detail.
Yes I have. I am going to tried one more time now.
I am getting the same foul again.
Hi alex,
i have both done, its still empty. Where is the interfase searching ?
Marcel, pm me on the forum
Why is it not possible for me to use another port other than 9999? Every time I change it in the config.ini, it reverts back the next restart.
What port do you have firefly running on?
I can load up the fireplay page when viewing remotely but no music loads is this a problem that other people have? The only message is connecting to xxx.homeserver.com:9999
Is this working for you ok internally?
hello all,
where must i put the mp3 files in withs map????
Hi
I need help to uninstall Fireplay.
I tried every thing but wont work.
Please help
We need more details, such as what exactly you have tried, and what error message or scenario is occurring.
I can’t use this because I can’t use Remote Access. My ISP blocks ports.
FirePlay loads, but no music? Tested at home, works fine, testing remotely, page loads, no music.
@JeffC – Most likely port 9999 isn’t forwarded at your router.
It is…I confirmed by typing http://myip:9999 in my browser and can get into the web interface fine.
So, to clarify. It works remotely using your external IP?
No, I tested to ensure my router was forwarding port 9999 and it does, as you suggested. I tested that by using my server IP and the port 9999 as the instructions mentioned.
However, when I try to connect remotely using my TZO domain, as I mentioned the page/.swf loads fine, however no music is populated into FirePlay.
Ahh, ok. If you are using the local network then the router won’t be forwarding anything. You’d need to run the same test externally using your external name/IP to see if it’s ok. The page/.swf will be using your HTTP port (usually 80) but the FireFly data comes out over the default of 9999.
PM me in the forums if you want, and I can test for you.
Nigel, what’s your username in the forums? Mine is jeffc215
Doesn’t the pic give it away?
Cougar