Setting up custom domains for Opera Unite

In this article, Lachlan Hunt explains how to configure your connection setup to allow you to access your Opera Unite services from a custom domain.

( Read the article )

I'm assuming this won't work behing NAT (1 external IP for whole office, city region)?

Originally posted by bomboze:

I'm assuming this won't work behing NAT (1 external IP for whole office, city region)?

No, unless you're able to set up port forwarding or have control over the router, it won't work. For that, you still need to go through Opera's proxy, and there's no way to set up a custom domain for that purpose.

Hello,

I've try something with an Apache server but it's seems to be buggy. I explain it.

I have an domain name and a server apache at home. So, I wondered if I can facilitate access to my Opera Unite for users – and don't have to route the port – and if it'll be possible to use Opera Unite on as many computer as I want behind a single external IP addresse. In order to do that, I try to make possible to use http://subdomaine.mydomain.net/ without have to specify any port – in fact, like Opera Unite's servers. It's not possible – or very difficult – to do that only with iptables. So I though that the better way is to do this thing with the server behind the port 80... It's here where Apache come into play, with the proxy module.

So I've made a new vhost for the subdomaine with proxy directives :

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName subdomaine.mydomaine.net
    ProxyPass / http://my.local.ip.address:8840/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://my.local.ip.address:8840/
</VirtualHost>

And, it's seem to work ! But only at the beggining.
Firstly, I can't join The lounge, it blocks at "Checking username" when I try to login or I get this error when try to resubmit the login form :

Could not connect, it is possible that the host has closed the loungeroom

And secondly... Sometimes, I can't access to my Opera Unite and my Apache server return a 503 error and add these lines in error_log :

[Fri Jun 19 18:18:59 2009] [error] proxy: HTTP: disabled connection for (my.local.ip.address)
[Fri Jun 19 18:19:01 2009] [error] (110)Connection timed out: proxy: HTTP: attempt to connect to my.local.ip.address:8840 (my.local.ip.address) failed
[Fri Jun 19 18:19:02 2009] [error] (110)Connection timed out: proxy: HTTP: attempt to connect to my.local.ip.address:8840 (my.local.ip.address) failed
[Fri Jun 19 18:19:02 2009] [error] ap_proxy_connect_backend disabling worker for (my.local.ip.address)

(But I can't reproduce the problem for the moment.)

(Edit)
Some times after login requests, I get these errors in Apache's error_log.

[Sat Jun 20 01:17:28 2009] [error] [client remote.client.ip.address] (70007)The timeout specified has expired: proxy: error reading status line from remote server my.local.ip.address, referer: http://subdomaine.mydomaine.net/the_lounge/?
[Sat Jun 20 01:17:28 2009] [error] [client remote.client.ip.address] proxy: Error reading from remote server returned by /the_lounge/entry, referer: http://subdomaine.mydomaine.net/the_lounge/?

So please, tell me if I've made something wrong or if The lounge doesn't work correctly in this situation for the moment. You can do it remotely with your servers, so it shouldn't be difficult to do the same thing within our LAN.

Thanks in advance.
 

Post edited Friday, 19. June 2009, 23:25:06

cedricpc, I tried to get TheLounge working on mine too, but it seems the issue is unrelated to your use of Apache. There appears to be a bug that prevents TheLounge working while using a custom domain. I've filed a bug report, so our developers should look into it.

I thought about doing this the other night when I first started playing with unite. going to localhost:8840 on my mac didn't work (spinning wheel of doom and no data transfered), yet going through operas proxy works fine.

Is there a problem with the mac version of the unite server or is it something local to my machine?

-markb

Ok thanks.

It's strange because when I try to get a username already used, I get the right message error (username is taken) so it seems that the request can be done yet. I sniff packets with WireShark and a good login request – username unused I mean – doesn't get any response. But in fact, it doesn't work even with 127.0.0.1:8840... So I can only agree with your inference.

However, it won't be possible to use Unite without have to be reachable by the Opera Unite proxy? Or if it's already possible, which settings I should change? I'm conscious that I won't be able to use my operaunite.com address but it'll be accessible through my local server without have to forward Unite port.

Otherwise, I've got some others problems... The first, I can't reach the root page though all services are available – by typing address manually or by using links in Unite panel – since today. Maybe it's a global problem? (Edit: It works again. )
And the second, a cosmetic problem, is that when somebody makes an action on a service and a popup appear, its title is widget://.../index.html whereas it could be something like "Opera Unite - The Lounge" which is more explicit. But maybe I should report the problem directly to developpers?

Oh! And a last thing... Is it possible to get the same rights, if we don't access to Unite with the Unite panel, to be able to remove note on the Fridge or login with the owner name in the Lounge and kick user?

Thanks in advance.


(Edit: Erf... I've just seen that there is a Unite forum on General Opera topics. Sorry if some questions has been already asked.

Post edited Saturday, 20. June 2009, 18:16:31

I have Opera Unite running properly, but http://localhost:8840/ doesn't work for me? Any ideas?

In my case

http://localhost:8840/

is redirected to

http://localhost:8840/_root/content/

but nothing is displayed, although "view page source" shows the page source.

correction.

http://localhost:8840/

worked a few minutes ago. but no more. i have no idea why...

We have to keep in mind that it's the first Unite release. So there is some bug.
I've got sometimes a blank page too.

What's happening if you go to http://localhost:8840/the_lounge/ or http://localhost:8840/fridge/ ? (Be sure to have installed these services before. )

Those pages sometimes works, and sometimes does not work. I mean I can view page source but no display. Once it's working, it keeps working for a while.

I tested it with one of my dyndns adresses. The main page works and opens almost immediately (compared to a very slow connection and lots of breaks if I use my Opera Unite address).

But all links to the services are hardcoded to the full Opera Unite address. So calling a service from the main page is very slow again. The main page MUST use relatice links in order to work with a dyndns address.

Then I tried to access other services directly from my dyndns address. Media Player and File Sharing work fine, but the Lounge has a problem: after entering nick and password it is endlessly "checking username".

Guenter

Edit: Now I can access all services from the main page, using my dyndns address. Perhaps the page came from the cache when I tried it first time. But now all service icons are not displayed any more.

Post edited Thursday, 25. June 2009, 06:17:26

daniel15, if the port 8840 is in use by another application running on your computer, Opera will sequentially try ports 8841, 8842, and so on until it finds a free port. This may be the problem with yours, though it's hard to say without any diagnostic information. Try localhost:8841 and see if that works.

lachlan,

I juast discovered a really nasty security hole in Opera Unite services. If you use a dyndns account or directly the IP of your Internet connection, the password protection of the services (file sharing, media player) does not work any more.

So anyone who knows your IP and knows that you are running Opera Unite can access all the files you share and all the media. at least if you use the upnp option.

Guenter

why not just set opera unite's port to 80?
try opera:config#webserver|port

More steps in the right direction. Thank you Opera!

I didn't see anyone mention Open DNS and DNS-O-Matic as options to manage their ip. Here' a link if you don't know about them. http://www.dnsomatic.com/

Custom domains are not really necessary.

Opera might like to consider something similar to www.Tinyurl.com where the long domain is replaced by something short and easy to remember.

For example:

http://www.OperaUnite.com/Napster
http://www.OperaUnite/classical/john
http://www.OperaUnite.com/777
http://www.OperaUnite.com/Pirate-Bay


All these domains can point to any Opera customer's url.

These may be much better than having your own domain and it is good publicity for Opera!

I agree with you partially. But by using our own domain, we are totally freed of any third party, it's a way to say No! to the Minitel 2.0 and Yes! to the Free Internet. If I wan't to prevent Unite's servers to access to my computer and I wan't also to allow only people from my local network to access it, it would be possible. But currently, it isn't because we are redirected to Unite's Proxies servers everytimes.
Besides, by using my previous tricks, it's possible to make Unite's services reachable behind a NAT without have to route the port directly to the computer. It's a bit more secure and it's possible to control the traffic as you want with Apache.

Cedricpc - there is nothing stopping you registering a domain if you wish and pointing it to your opera url but I do not know if the local server is running truly independently of Opera's main server. If it were just a server Opera would not be able to link you with your buddies (and vice versa) so there must be some link between Opera and your computer even if you only use an IP address.

Opera's server must keep tabs on all the users but it probably does this only when you make a request to their server using a buddy's name. It then searched it's database to make the connection, otherwise how could it keep tabs on other users?

As for the need to do port forwarding - I can't see why you need to do this.

Originally posted by londonlinks:

Cedricpc - there is nothing stopping you registering a domain if you wish and pointing it to your opera url

Of course, but we need to use a third party server and it's not the Free Internet. Besides, Opera Software claims that with Unite, our data are in "total privacy and complete control", and if we couldn't bypass Unite's proxies, it would be false.

Originally posted by londonlinks:

but I do not know if the local server is running truly independently of Opera's main server.

Currently, it's partially independent of Unite's servers. Services are accessibles but a lot of things didn't work because it redirects to the Unite's proxy address.

Originally posted by londonlinks:

If it were just a server Opera would not be able to link you with your buddies (and vice versa) so there must be some link between Opera and your computer even if you only use an IP address.

I don't know exactly what Opera calls buddies. But if it's Opera Community users, nothing prevent the service to make a request to an Opera server. Also, it seems to be normal that some Unite services can't work in a closed local area. But there is no reason with current available services.

Originally posted by londonlinks:

Opera's server must keep tabs on all the users but it probably does this only when you make a request to their server using a buddy's name. It then searched it's database to make the connection, otherwise how could it keep tabs on other users?

Sorry, but I'm not sure to understand what do you want to mean?

Originally posted by londonlinks:

As for the need to do port forwarding - I can't see why you need to do this.

You must forward a port inside a NAT if there is no uPnP server for security reason. That's truly the major problem, with the impossibility to use a real — and not a simple redirection — custom domain.

Judedon seems to have the simplest solution:

Why not just set opera unite's port to 80?
try opera:config#webserver|port

There would then be no need to forward traffic on this port as the Opera server would be assigned to use it.

However, the author states above that having a custom domain won't work if the machine is behind a NAT, which doesn't make sense to me because if you are beind a router then surely NAT is applied by the router?

Originally posted by cedricpc:

I currently we are redirected to Unite's Proxies servers everytime.

Does the setting in Quick Preferences |Enable/Disable Proxy Servers have any application?

In Preferences |Advanced | Network |Proxy Server maybe there is some setting there where Opera can work without connecting to Unite's proxy servers everytime?

Originally posted by londonlinks:

Why not just set opera unite's port to 80?
try opera:config#webserver|port

No, it's impossible if you have already another server behind the port 80 — and it must be frequent behind a NAT. Besides, it isn't further anything as it's still redirect to Unite's proxy.

Originally posted by londonlinks:

There would then be no need to forward traffic on this port as the Opera server would be assigned to use it.

No, it's still needed behind a NAT. At least, with first Unite's releases. Actually, Unite doesn't work correctly with me so I can't check it.

Originally posted by londonlinks:

However, the author states above that having a custom domain won't work if the machine is behind a NAT, which doesn't make sense to me because if you are beind a router then surely NAT is applied by the router?

Why it shouldn't work? By forwarding the port or using a proxy server between « Internet » and the computer with Unite services, it must work. I've try both ways and it's working.

Originally posted by londonlinks:

Does the setting in Quick Preferences |Enable/Disable Proxy Servers have any application?

In Preferences |Advanced | Network |Proxy Server maybe there is some setting there where Opera can work without connecting to Unite's proxy servers everytime?

Unite proxy has nothing to do with Internet proxies in Opera's settings. The first is to connect anyone to a Unite services user. The second is to allow a Opera user to access to Internet. It's not the same thing at all.
The only way to prevent Unite's proxy connection is to block it from a firewall or by using an unreachable port.

A Unite's setting should do something like that (Allow my services to be visible on Opera Unite Web Pages) but I haven't seen any difference when it's disable. In fact, I can't currently access to my Opera Unite Webpage even if it should be possible. However, I can still access it by my trick with an Apache server.

Post edited Sunday, 9. August 2009, 02:07:59

According to this forum post by lucideer you have to check opera:config#do not use opera account to get it working with a dynamic DNS service without an Opera account. It would be nice if that makes it into the article too.

It's a great thing, thanks. But there is still some problems...

Firstly, there is no way to administrate applications — links in Unite panel use the LAN's IP.
And secontly, the Lounge application still doesn't work correctly, we can't join the room while a popup says that we have joined the room. So mixed with the first problem, there is no way to join the room.

Happy day all , Opera Unite is best software to use Internet very fast. But some time it does not works so improve its runtime and quality. Thanks.