Can't configure BBB with a subdomain name, only an IP address

[David]

Hi, 

I have BBB installed and running from apt packages on an Ubuntu 10.04  64-bit VPS. 

I have purged the BBB demo clients (apt-get purge bbb-demo). 

So my server is running with just the default client.

I get perfectly clean output from 'bbb-conf --check when 'bbb-conf --setip' is run using the server's IP address: no potential problems listed.

And when I try to configure the server to use a subdomain name ('bbb-conf --setip conference.mydomainname.com'), still no problems are listed. but when I try to connect to the server for a conference, via the BBB WordPress plugin, the server does not manage to connect: the 'Connecting to the server' message accumulates a long '.....................................................................' but never gets there (when the server is configured with the IP address alone, there's no problem and I can conference).

I've got no firewall running in either case.

Below is the output from 'bbb-conf --check' (using the IP address). Please would you have any advice about how I can resolve this little problem? TIA if so, and all the best in any case. :-)

root@conference:/var/lib/tomcat6/webapps# bbb-conf --check

BigBlueButton Server 0.81-dev (1124)
Kernel version: 3.0.20-xenU
Distribution: Ubuntu 10.04.4 LTS (64-bit)
Memory: 2440 MB

/var/www/bigbluebutton/client/conf/config.xml (bbb-client)
Port test (tunnel): 123.123.123.123
Red5: 123.123.123.123

/etc/nginx/sites-available/bigbluebutton (nginx)
server name: 123.123.123.123
port: 80
bbb-client dir: #/var/www/bigbluebutton

/var/lib/tomcat6/webapps/bigbluebutton/WEB-INF/classes/bigbluebutton.properties (bbb-web)
bbb-web host: 123.123.123.123

/usr/share/red5/webapps/bigbluebutton/WEB-INF/red5-web.xml (red5)
voice conference: FreeSWITCH
capture video: true

/usr/local/bigbluebutton/core/scripts/bigbluebutton.yml (record and playback)
playback host: 123.123.123.123

** Potential problems described below **
root@conference:/var/lib/tomcat6/webapps#

[Chad Pilkey]

What does your --check look like after running --setip <yourdomain>?

Are you running the development client or packaged client?

[David Nelson]

Hi Chad,

--check is perfectly normal, I've pasted it below (domain name obfuscated):

root@conference:~# bbb-conf --setip conference.mydomainname.com
Assigning conference.mydomainname.com for testing for firewall in
/var/www/bigbluebutton/client/conf/config.xml
Assigning conference.mydomainname.com for rtmp:// in
/var/www/bigbluebutton/client/conf/config.xml
Assigning conference.mydomainname.com for servername in
/etc/nginx/sites-available/bigbluebutton
Assigning conference.mydomainname.com for http:// in
/var/www/bigbluebutton/client/conf/config.xml
Assigning conference.mydomainname.com for web application URL in
/var/lib/tomcat6/webapps/bigbluebutton/WEB-INF/classes/bigbluebutton.properties
Assigning conference.mydomainname.com for record and playback in
/usr/local/bigbluebutton/core/scripts/bigbluebutton.yml
Assigning conference.mydomainname.com for playback of recordings: ..
Restarting the bigbluebutton server ...
* Stopping Red5 Server red5

[ OK ]
* Stopping Tomcat servlet engine tomcat6

[ OK ]
Stopping nginx: nginx.
Killing: 2689
Stopping OpenOffice headless server.
Record and Playback monitoring stopped

Starting FreeSWITCH
6593 Backgrounding.
Waiting for FreeSWITCH to start: ...............
Starting OpenOffice headless server
Starting nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful
nginx.
* Starting Red5 Server red5


[ OK ]
* Starting Tomcat servlet engine tomcat6

[ OK ]
Record and Playback monitoring started
Waiting for BigBlueButton to finish starting up (this may take a minute): done
root@conference:~# bbb-conf --check

BigBlueButton Server 0.81-dev (1124)
Kernel version: 3.0.20-xenU
Distribution: Ubuntu 10.04.4 LTS (64-bit)
Memory: 2440 MB

/var/www/bigbluebutton/client/conf/config.xml (bbb-client)

Port test (tunnel): conference.mydomainname.com
Red5: conference.mydomainname.com

/etc/nginx/sites-available/bigbluebutton (nginx)
server name: conference.mydomainname.com

port: 80
bbb-client dir: #/var/www/bigbluebutton

/var/lib/tomcat6/webapps/bigbluebutton/WEB-INF/classes/bigbluebutton.properties
(bbb-web)

bbb-web host: conference.mydomainname.com

/usr/share/red5/webapps/bigbluebutton/WEB-INF/red5-web.xml (red5)
voice conference: FreeSWITCH
capture video: true

/usr/local/bigbluebutton/core/scripts/bigbluebutton.yml (record and playback)

playback host: conference.mydomainname.com

** Potential problems described below **

root@conference:~#

[Chad Pilkey]

There's two things that stick out.

bbb-client dir:     #/var/www/bigbluebutton

That shouldn't have a "#" infront of the path.

After this line:

** Potential problems described below **

 

There should be stuff that atleast says that says something like:

# IP does not match: 
#                                     IP from ifconfig: <your local IP>
#    /etc/nginx/site-available/bigbluebutton: conference.mydomainname.com

But what you pasted doesn't contain that.

Have you made changes to bbb-conf at all?

[David Nelson]

Hi Chad,

Thanks for your responses.

Just for a reminder, I've got 0.81-dev running on Ubuntu 10.04 64 bit.
I've purged bbb-demo so I'm running with the default client you guys
supply.
I've implemented
http://code.google.com/p/bigbluebutton/wiki/FAQ#How_do_I_change_the_/client/_BigBlueButton_.html_portion_of_the
(How do I change the /client/ BigBlueButton .html portion of the URL?)
and the server was still running fine afterwards (with the IP address,
not the subdomain name)

I've got your 0.80 development VM running on my local machine, and I
successfully compiled a theme, and successfully installed that theme
on my 0.81-dev VPS.

Everything else is "out of the box".

To reply to your comments:

On Wed, May 22, 2013 at 3:01 PM, Chad Pilkey <capi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> There's two things that stick out.
>
>> bbb-client dir: #/var/www/bigbluebutton
>
> That shouldn't have a "#" infront of the path.

No, I did not edit bbb-conf in any way. To check that, I went and
fetched bbb-conf from git and ran the 'bbb-conf --check' command
again. The output is at the end of this message (same result as I
previously pasted, in fact).

I also checked the files I did edit, to make sure I didn't leave a
syntax error in there, but I didn't see anything. I have notably
opened or edited:

/etc/bigbluebutton/nginx/client.nginx
/etc/bigbluebutton/nginx/rewrite.nginx
/etc/nginx/nginx.conf
/opt/freeswitch/conf/autoload_configs/conference.conf.xml
/var/www/bigbluebutton/client/conf/config.xml
/var/lib/tomcat6/webapps/bigbluebutton/WEB-INF/classes/bigbluebutton.properties
/var/lib/tomcat6/webapps/demo/bbb_api_conf.jsp
/etc/nginx/sites-available/bigbluebutton
/var/www/bigbluebutton/client/swfobject.js
/var/www/bigbluebutton/client/swfobject/swfobject.js
all the JavaScript files in /var/www/bigbluebutton/client/lib
/var/www/bigbluebutton/client/BigBlueButton.html
/var/www/bigbluebutton/client/conf/config.xml

But it seems strange to me that if I corrupted one of those files,
then why is the installation working fine with the IP address set via
'bbb-conf --setip 123.123.123.123' but not after I execute 'bbb-conf
--setip conference.mydomainname.com'?
(as a reminder, when I'm accessing my BBB via Fred Dixon's WordPress
integration plugin. When I try to join a conference when the subdomain
name is set, the first 'Connecting to the server..." message (i.e.
BEFORE my custom BBB theme loads) lasts forever and no conference is
started. But, with the IP address configured, everything works fine).

But running 'bbb-conf --check' returns NO output after '** Potential
problems described below **'.

Got any other ideas, per chance?

On Wed, May 22, 2013 at 3:01 PM, Chad Pilkey <capi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> After this line:
>
>> ** Potential problems described below **
>
>
> There should be stuff that atleast says that says something like:
>>
>> # IP does not match:
>> # IP from ifconfig: <your local IP>
>> # /etc/nginx/site-available/bigbluebutton: conference.mydomainname.com>
>
> But what you pasted doesn't contain that.
>
> Have you made changes to bbb-conf at all?

As I said above, no, I made no changes to bbb-conf.
It's a bit weird though, because before all my file edits, I *was*
getting an error warning after reconfiguring with the subdomain
name... But now, there seems to be no complaints after '** Potential
problems described below **'....

When I reconfigure with the subdomain name, I get this output below:

root@conference:/var/www/bigbluebutton/client/lib# bbb-conf --setip

conference.mydomainname.com
Assigning conference.mydomainname.com for testing for firewall in
/var/www/bigbluebutton/client/conf/config.xml
Assigning conference.mydomainname.com for rtmp:// in
/var/www/bigbluebutton/client/conf/config.xml
Assigning conference.mydomainname.com for servername in
/etc/nginx/sites-available/bigbluebutton
Assigning conference.mydomainname.com for http:// in
/var/www/bigbluebutton/client/conf/config.xml
Assigning conference.mydomainname.com for web application URL in
/var/lib/tomcat6/webapps/bigbluebutton/WEB-INF/classes/bigbluebutton.properties
Assigning conference.mydomainname.com for record and playback in
/usr/local/bigbluebutton/core/scripts/bigbluebutton.yml

Assigning conference.mydomainname.com for playback of recordings: .........

Restarting the bigbluebutton server ...
* Stopping Red5 Server red5

[ OK ]
* Stopping Tomcat servlet engine tomcat6

[ OK ]
Stopping nginx: nginx.

Killing: 3510

Stopping OpenOffice headless server.
Record and Playback monitoring stopped

Starting FreeSWITCH

8993 Backgrounding.

Waiting for FreeSWITCH to start: ...............
Starting OpenOffice headless server
Starting nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful
nginx.
* Starting Red5 Server red5


[ OK ]
* Starting Tomcat servlet engine tomcat6

[ OK ]
Record and Playback monitoring started
Waiting for BigBlueButton to finish starting up (this may take a minute): done

root@conference:/var/www/bigbluebutton/client/lib#

As a reminder, the output from 'bbb-conf --check' is pasted below. Any
more tips would be very welcome.... :-/

root@conference:/var/www/bigbluebutton/client/lib# bbb-conf --check

BigBlueButton Server 0.81-dev (1124)
Kernel version: 3.0.20-xenU
Distribution: Ubuntu 10.04.4 LTS (64-bit)
Memory: 2440 MB

/var/www/bigbluebutton/client/conf/config.xml (bbb-client)

Port test (tunnel): 123.123.123.123
Red5: 123.123.123.123

/etc/nginx/sites-available/bigbluebutton (nginx)
server name: 123.123.123.123

port: 80
bbb-client dir: #/var/www/bigbluebutton

/var/lib/tomcat6/webapps/bigbluebutton/WEB-INF/classes/bigbluebutton.properties
(bbb-web)

bbb-web host: 123.123.123.123

/usr/share/red5/webapps/bigbluebutton/WEB-INF/red5-web.xml (red5)
voice conference: FreeSWITCH
capture video: true

/usr/local/bigbluebutton/core/scripts/bigbluebutton.yml (record and playback)

playback host: 123.123.123.123

** Potential problems described below **

root@conference:/var/www/bigbluebutton/client/lib#


Puzzled and perplexed...

--
David

[Chad Pilkey]

David,

Can you check config.xml found here, /var/www/bigbluebutton/client/conf/config.xml and make sure that the all of the URLs have your correct domain name.

It's possible there's still a reference to your ip address somewhere in the various files. I know on one of the servers that I manage I've made changes to an nginx configuration file and because of that the --setip script gets confused and I have to manually go in and fix things. It might be worthwhile to look though all of the files that the script changes and make sure that they are correct.

If neither of those suggestions solve it though I'm at a loss.

Chad