Actually with ZA and with other firewalls you don't have to mess around with ports and you don't have to use the Pro version either.
I'm no longer using ZA on my main PC because it got too bloated and unstable, but I am using ZA Pro on my laptop. However I have 5+ years of experience with the free version. Just enter the Squeezebox's IP address into the "Trusted" zone if it has a fixed IP address or your DHCP range as a range in the "Trusted" zone. Then go to your applications list. SlimServer should be there. If it's marked "deny" or "ask" for the trusted zone, right-click and mark it "allow". I don't think you need to give it access to the Internet zone, unless you're streaming over the Internet. I can't recall whether ZA Free divides applications up between trusted and Internet - ZA Pro does. If ZA Free doesn't, just give SlimServer full access. I was going to say this info is probably in the beginner's guide wiki: http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.cgi?BeginnersGuide but it's not! No mention of firewalls at all, unless it's in a linked subpage. I'd like to contribute, but I've never edited a wiki before. Looks a little intimidating. Lawrence wrote: > I just received my SB3 today and successfully installed it over the > course of an hour or two. It should have taken me only fifteen minutes, > but I ran into a snag. > > Generally, I thought the set-up procedure was very straightforward and > easy, and Slim Devices is to be complimented on a job well done. > Unfortunately, it's the nature of these things that even if you do 100 > things extremely well in making your product easy to use, it only takes > a single hitch to cause the user frustration. > > I'd like offer a couple suggestions for improving the setup and/or user > support documentation (printed and web) to address the issue that cause > me a problem--my firewall. > > I can only guess that with *everyone* (ok, almost everyone) running a > firewall these days that many more people are likely to have an > experience like mine. > > Throughout the SB3 (and SlimServer sofware) setup process there is no > mention whatsoever regarding firewalls, and certainly no indication > that they can potentially cause a problem for the SB3. > > Consequently, when my SB3 did not initally connect to the SlimServer > (surprising to me, after it successfully navigated my 128-bit WEP setup > flawlessly), I thought I made some kind of error and went through the > setup procedure again, double-checking my entries and looking for > something gone awry. Eventually, I went into the "Troubleshooting" > section and there I read that the likely cause was my firewall. > > *** Suggestion #1: Put something in the "Connecting to SlimServer" > instructions section (page 8) that gives the user some immediate > suggestions as to what they should do if there is no connection (e.g., > "you may need to perform the following on your firewall" or even "go to > the troubleshooting section for a likely fix" etc.) The user should be > told right there that a connection problem is not unusual at all--in > fact is to be expected--if they haven't configured their firewall > correctly. > > *** Better Suggestion #1: Make checking the firewall an explicit setup > step. > > After I understood the problem was likely my ZoneAlarm firewall, I > tried to figure out how to add the required "port exceptions" to my > firewall program. I couldn't. It was very frustrating. Finally, I shut > down ZoneAlarm and put on the Windows XP firewall. I was impressed that > the required exceptions somehow already were entered into the Windows > firewall...and ta-da! My SB3 finally worked! > > While I was very happy to finally get the SB3 to work, my joy was > tempered by my discomfort over having to use the Windows built-in > firewall, which I've been told is not a good long-term firewall > solution. So I really wanted to figure out how to get my ZoneAlarm > working with the SB3 > > I eventually figured out that the capability to set those "port > exceptions" does not exist at all in the free version of ZoneAlarm. I > then upgraded to ZoneAlarm Pro, set the exceptions required and > everything worked fine. > > *** Suggestion #2: There are not very many major third-party Windows > (or Mac) firewalls out on the market (five? seven?). I'd recommend > strongly that there be instructions on the Slim website (if not > actually in the owner's guide) that provide configuration instructions > for helping the user set up their firewall to work with the SB3. It > would take someone knowledgeable a very modest amount of time to create > these instructions, yet would save users like myself lots of time and > frustration. I'd say it's an excellent return on Slim Devices labor > investment. > > Like I said, I was impressed with most of the setup process and > interface. I know a lot of time and effort went into making it as > smooth as it was. In the big picture, getting a piece of technology > this sophisticated (and cool!) to work in an hour or two is not > unreasonable. At the same time it's frustrating for the user to realize > that the additional time they spent figuring out how to get the product > to work could have been easily avoided with minimal additional effort > on the documentation side. In my case it would have saved 45 minutes. > Multiply that by the tens, hundreds, or thousands of future novice SB3 > buyers and there is a great potential to help the SB3 community with a > few setup instruction tweaks. > > I hope these suggestions will ultimately help others. > > -- ___________________________________ Mark Lanctot ___________________________________ __________________________________________________________ Find your next car at http://autos.yahoo.ca _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
