Proper Server Setup

[IronCondor]

Hello all. I have been using JoinFS for some time now. Works well on the P3D side. I am in XP11 more and more and would like to set up my own server. I have read the manual several times but have several questions if someone can assist.

1.) When I select create a creates a unique number. I noticed the IP address is not shown. In settings I see make Hub public and I assign a name. I see this name in the hub.

a.) Is the hub name the official server name that people connect to if it's public?

b.) Can I provide the unique number instead of creating a publicly hub for people to connect to?

c.) How does the security aspect work if setup either way above?


2.) In XPlane I notice model matching does not work well. I see white airplanes. I have set up 3 so aircraft. I can't seem to scan my FLAi model library like I can for P3D .


3.) Is it ok to run the server on my summing machine. I do have a 16 core CPU with 32gb of Ram?

Thanks for all your help.

[Peter]

Hi.

1a. Yes, the Hub Name is what other people will see in the View|Hubs list.

1b. Yes, you can give people either your router's external IP address or the unique number. Both will work when entering addresses.

1c. If you enable Hub mode then everyone will be able to see your server in the list and be able to join it. There's currently no support for private hubs. What other aspects are you referring to in term of security? You can safely run it behind a standard firewall with the correct port open for JoinFS.

2. Model matching has quite a simplistic implementation on X-Plane at the moment. It will only scan for the main installed aircraft in the aircraft folder. You could try substituting for another aircraft. I'm not sure why they are appearing white though. I'll be changing the model matching soon to use CSL objects so that should improve the situation.

3. Should run fine on any machine. JoinFS typically uses less than 1% of the CPU. Monitoring it in Task Manager, a lot of the time it shows as 0% (negligible) on my own machine. It uses around 30Mb, perhaps more with a lot of connections. So 32Gb should be enough. JoinFS doesn't do much in the way of processing, it's main task is to link machines together and synchronize aircraft data.

Hope that helps,
Peter

[IronCondor]

Hello Peter,

Thank you for the reply. Looking forward to the XP Plugin update for CSL libraries. Works very well on the P3D side.

Do I need to open a port on my router? It looks like I do not have to as people can connect to the server.

Final question is if the unique number is used I am assuming my IP address will not be known to the public?

Thanks for you help!

Good day!

[Peter]

Thanks. You don't need to open a port unless you want to allow others to join directly to your machine.

That's correct, others will not be able to infer your IP address from the number.

Peter

[IronCondor]

Thank you Peter. I have tried connecting with a person using the Public mode. I have green for simulator, network, and show up in the hub. The only time I see the other person is when I select Global and they select Global?

[Peter]

If you both select global then you'll both be in the same session.

Peter

[IronCondor]

I see. I however see so many other aircraft in the list of aircraft when selecting global. Like 20 more. Just curious to know where they are being injected from? Is it us only or other users connecting.

We seem to not be able to connect to each other using my IP unique number. I have green everything and the other user has orange. But once we go global we connect.

[Peter]

It sounds like you don’t have port foward enabled on your router. You need to have port forwarding enabled on 6112 UDP-only to the static IP address of your simulator machine. You should find it in your router settings.

Peter

[IronCondor]

Hi Peter,

Thanks. I set up the UDP port 6112 to be forwarded to the JoinFS server router . The only time anyone can connect is when I select Global. However , when I do that I see like many more aircraft in orange for their status? What does Global do and do I need it selected to set up the server?

I also did select local port 6112 in settings within the JoinFS app.

Thanks for your help.

[Peter]

Selecting global will automatically join the global session. That's why you see lots of other aircraft who are also in the global session.

If they still can't connect then it must be your port forwarding. Did you set your server to have a static IP address?

Peter

[IronCondor]

Yes the sim which also runs JoinFS is static. Just double checked.

Do I need to enable Local Port in settings? I have done this with no avail.

Thank you,

[Peter]

As an example, set your server machine IP address to static 192.168.0.10. Open the router settings and enable port forwarding, UDP-only, port 6112, IP address 192.168.0.10 and you should be good to go.

Make sure JoinFS is allowed through the Windows firewall.

That's all there is to it. There's a possibility that your ISP doesn't allow this kind of setup but that depends on your country and region.

Peter

[IronCondor]

Thanks Peter. Seems to be working ok. We are testing out 1.4.29. Happy to send you logs if you need it.

One thing we have noticed is sometimes the other pilots mention that my server shows the older version in orange even though I have updated to 1.4.29 for example and that is the only thing running.

I also notice sometimes pilots coming online and offline. They are running Join FS as Admin as well.