- Dec 31, 2019
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Guys, I'm new here and I need help troubleshooting a problem that is out of my depth because I don't know enough about networking to know where to really look. So I'm hoping that someone can assist. It's a long read because I'm not sure how much information to provide at the start, so I hope you won't mind.
The problem is with a little technology by Logitech called "Flow" and peer discovery. Flow doesn't always find the computers on the network, or takes a very long time to establish a connection - when I reboot my computer, I have no way to force Flow to find the other computer on the network and re-establish the connection. It can take overnight after a reboot. It's maddening.
I'm not sure if it's my rubber band and band aid assembled home LAN configuration, or Logitech Flow, and I'm looking to determine how I can prove one or the other.
Some background on Flow from Logitech:
~~~~~~~~~~
Logitech Flow allows you to automatically switch between computers by moving your mouse cursor to the edge of the screen. You can also copy and paste text, images, and files between your computers. If you have a supported Logitech keyboard, your keyboard can follow your mouse, giving you total control.
Logitech Flow uses the network to link multiple (up to three) computers and allow them to share a mouse and keyboard. To accomplish this, Flow uses a few different techniques depending on your network configuration:
For computers on the same subnet that can ping each other using UDP broadcasts, Flow uses a fixed UDP port (59867) to listen for and discover other peers.
For those computers that are behind routers or firewalls, Flow uses a Logitech cloud service to assist with peer discovery. This discovery technique uses TCP port 443 to communicate with the server and UDP port 59868 to listen for pings from peers.
Once peers discover each other, they use TCP port 59866 to establish a secure peer network to send control data.
~~~~~~~~~~
I have several peers on the LAN, but I'm only concerned with two machines that are on the same network and subnet. Win 7 PC, and a Win 10 PC. I have an Asus RT-AC3200 router, and a comcast residential gateway on the LAN. I know I have double NAT going on but have to do a lot of research to solve it, so "It's on the list".
Using resource monitor, I can view the discovery process and see that while it's listening to UDP and TCP ports, TCP Connections show it's using port 443 to communicate with their cloud service. I can see that data is being sent, but nothing is being received on the Win 7 or Win 10 machine that is listed in Network Activity. I assume then that it must not be using UDP broadcasting to communicate.
When communication is actually established, resource monitor shows that it's using TCP port 59866, and both machines are receiving bytes, thus, communicating.
So it establishes connection eventually, and appears to be via TCP 443 discovery instead of UDP port 59867 discovery.
Problem is, if I reboot the Win 10 machine, I can wait HOURS or overnight in some cases for communication to be re-established.
I considered firewall issues, but that doesn't seem a logical path to pursue because it does eventually establish a communication between the two. If it were firewall related, I wouldn't think they'd ever see each other. I can ping both computers, and in fact have no issues sharing resources across the whole LAN, and no issues with discovery on the LAN. Yet, I disabled Norton Firewall and Zone Alarm Free firewall, with no change.
Where can I focus my attention to jumpstart, as it were, peer discovery? It shouldn't take this long, and I wondering if there's a config in my network setup that may be impeding the discovery process.
I'd like to prove that it's me or wonky peer discovery implementation by Logitech.
Any thoughts?
The problem is with a little technology by Logitech called "Flow" and peer discovery. Flow doesn't always find the computers on the network, or takes a very long time to establish a connection - when I reboot my computer, I have no way to force Flow to find the other computer on the network and re-establish the connection. It can take overnight after a reboot. It's maddening.
I'm not sure if it's my rubber band and band aid assembled home LAN configuration, or Logitech Flow, and I'm looking to determine how I can prove one or the other.
Some background on Flow from Logitech:
~~~~~~~~~~
Logitech Flow allows you to automatically switch between computers by moving your mouse cursor to the edge of the screen. You can also copy and paste text, images, and files between your computers. If you have a supported Logitech keyboard, your keyboard can follow your mouse, giving you total control.
Logitech Flow uses the network to link multiple (up to three) computers and allow them to share a mouse and keyboard. To accomplish this, Flow uses a few different techniques depending on your network configuration:
For computers on the same subnet that can ping each other using UDP broadcasts, Flow uses a fixed UDP port (59867) to listen for and discover other peers.
For those computers that are behind routers or firewalls, Flow uses a Logitech cloud service to assist with peer discovery. This discovery technique uses TCP port 443 to communicate with the server and UDP port 59868 to listen for pings from peers.
Once peers discover each other, they use TCP port 59866 to establish a secure peer network to send control data.
~~~~~~~~~~
I have several peers on the LAN, but I'm only concerned with two machines that are on the same network and subnet. Win 7 PC, and a Win 10 PC. I have an Asus RT-AC3200 router, and a comcast residential gateway on the LAN. I know I have double NAT going on but have to do a lot of research to solve it, so "It's on the list".
Using resource monitor, I can view the discovery process and see that while it's listening to UDP and TCP ports, TCP Connections show it's using port 443 to communicate with their cloud service. I can see that data is being sent, but nothing is being received on the Win 7 or Win 10 machine that is listed in Network Activity. I assume then that it must not be using UDP broadcasting to communicate.
When communication is actually established, resource monitor shows that it's using TCP port 59866, and both machines are receiving bytes, thus, communicating.
So it establishes connection eventually, and appears to be via TCP 443 discovery instead of UDP port 59867 discovery.
Problem is, if I reboot the Win 10 machine, I can wait HOURS or overnight in some cases for communication to be re-established.
I considered firewall issues, but that doesn't seem a logical path to pursue because it does eventually establish a communication between the two. If it were firewall related, I wouldn't think they'd ever see each other. I can ping both computers, and in fact have no issues sharing resources across the whole LAN, and no issues with discovery on the LAN. Yet, I disabled Norton Firewall and Zone Alarm Free firewall, with no change.
Where can I focus my attention to jumpstart, as it were, peer discovery? It shouldn't take this long, and I wondering if there's a config in my network setup that may be impeding the discovery process.
I'd like to prove that it's me or wonky peer discovery implementation by Logitech.
Any thoughts?
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