Mobile apps troubleshooting - Connectivity

Symptoms to Resolution

It's easy to state symptoms:
My BI server started crashing.
My recordings are missing.
No alerts are being sent.

Much harder to know how to investigate and self-correct or provide the needed information for support to help.

The articles here are frameworks on how to think about the issue and get to resolution.
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varghesesa
Posts: 90
Joined: Thu Jul 11, 2019 9:52 pm

Mobile apps troubleshooting - Connectivity

Post by varghesesa »

Introduction

This article provides the framework for troubleshooting connectivity issues with your mobile app.

Troubleshooting

Sample Issues:
  • User states cannot connect to the WAN and/or the LAN.
  • User states the app crashes.
  • User states live view, playback etc is not working or intermittent.
Diagnostics
Needed steps to diagnose/understand the issue.

Server
Windows
Always good to run through the Windows Tuning article just to make sure Windows is not in conflict with BI. Pay attention to Anti-virus and Firewall sections.

Logs
Always check the logs for errors.

Connectivity issues
Connectivity issues are issues associated with app crashes or connectivity issues to the server.
Restart
Could be as simple as restarting the app.
Could be as simple as rebooting the phone.
Could be as simple as reinstalling the app.

Lookup (iOS) / Get IPS (Android) key
If the apps worked before, the fix could be as simple as updating IP addresses on the app. The Mobile devices article -> Lookup key section explains how to easily update those values on the app.

Mobile app server settings
Confirm your mobile app server settings.
  • License key
  • Http vs https protocol
  • LAN/WAN addresses
  • Username
  • Password
This section also has screenshots of the phone settings needed for the app to work correctly. Confirm your phone settings as well.

BI server settings
The Network connectivity section provides guidelines on how to trouble shoot mobile app connectivity issues.

Video streams
Issues with live view, playback of alerts.
Scope
Is the issue with a subset of cameras or all the cameras? If the issue is with one camera, you may need to troubleshoot that one camera. See troubleshooting articles in the Cameras section of the Troubleshooting toolkit.

Streaming Settings
If all the cameras are affected, maybe the stream is too complicated for the media player on your phone. Try simplifying the stream.

Submitting tickets

Support information
It's easy to share support info. It's important as well in order to understand your computer stats and the version of the software you are running.
Before submitting a new ticket, click the Help button (? button).
Copy Email support info to copy critical system info to the clipboard.
Then paste the clipboard into the top of your support email. Below is a snippet from my "Email support" button.

Email to: support@blueirissoftware.com

Support data:
Version: Release 5.3.8.12 x64 (1/22/2021)
Service: No
License: XXX
Name: John V
Email: <email>@yahoo.com
Support: Basic

Steps to reproduce
What are the steps to reproduce the error? A video is always helpful.

Remote access wizard
Any errors? If so, did you go through help to self-correct. Screenshot of any errors.

Remote device tests
Test 1: Can you access the web interface from the local machine?
Test 2: From a browser on the phone, can you connect via UI3 to the server on the LAN?
Test 3: From a browser on the phone, can you connect via UI3 to the server on the WAN?

Screenshots
Global settings -> Web server tab
Global settings -> Web server -> Advanced button
Mobile app: Server settings

Gotchas

Learnings from past tickets.

Gotcha 1: Cameras are not visible

There are many reasons why a camera is not visible on the mobile app.
  • The camera could be marked as hidden. Camera settings -> General tab.
  • Webcasting could be disabled. Camera settings -> Webcast tab.
  • Permissions. The username logged into the app is a limited account that does not have permission to view all cameras.
Gotcha 2: Group/mosaic view is not visible

Similar to above.
  • Group webcasting is off. Gear icon (top right of console) -> Enable group webcast stream.
  • Permissions. The username logged into the app is a limited account that does not have permission to view all groups.
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