How to make Virola server app publicly accessible on macOS

When you install Virola corporate messenger server app on your macOS server, it is necessary to make it publicly accessible so that other users within your network or from any other location could connect to their Virola client apps. When launching Virola server, you need to provide port and host which will be used for connection. From this article you will learn how to choose host and port, how to make Virola server accessible within your intranet and how to setup ports forwarding to make it accessible to the public Internet.

How to make Virola server app accessible in your intranet

After installing Virola server application on your macOS, you can easily make it accessible in your internal network. The procedure is similar for different macOS versions but the details can differ. The following instructions are for macOS Ventura:

1. Determine your machine private internal IP address

First of all, you need to determine the private IP address of the machine you are running the Virola server on. This is the IP assigned to your machine by your network router. There are two ways to get it:

2. Launch Virola server

Then you need to launch Virola server with the private IP address of your machine and a port number. Use the following command: 

virola-server --listen 192.168.0.15:8888 --storage-dir ./

Where:

You can assign any unused port to Virola server. To check which ports are occupied on your mac, use the following command in Terminal: 

sudo lsof -i -n | grep TCP

3. Allow incoming connections to your Virola server

Once you have executed virola-server command, you will get the Firewall prompt where you will need to allow Virola server app to accept incoming network connections:

Allow server network connections on macOS

After you allow incoming network connections for Virola server, it will become available and users from your local network will be able to connect to it with their Virola client apps. If you deny incoming network connections, Virola server won't be be available for connections from your local network and you'll need to configure the permission manually.

As Virola admin you can use the following details for the first login into Virola client:

Example:

After creating profiles for your users in Virola, you can provide them their connection details to log into Virola client.

Possible issues

If for some reason Virola server cannot connect, you need to check whether the port you use is occupied. You can do this with help of Terminal, where you need to run the following command: 

netstat -an | grep LISTEN

It will show the list of all ports listening on your macOS:

Example of macOS listening ports

If client applications start getting "Server unreachable" message when connecting to Virola server, you need to check if your server is still running and if your machine private IP is not changed. To prevent changing your machine private IP, we recommend to reserve a static private IP for it in your router settings.

How to make Virola server app accessible to the public Internet

1. Get a static public IP address for your router

Most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) distribute IP addresses to clients' routers dynamically and can change them at any moment. But for a stable access to your Virola server you will need a permanent IP address that you can share with your server users as the Host Name.

The best way to obtain a static public IP address is to purchase this service from your ISP. To find out what your current public IP is, you can use "What is my IP address" service.

2. Configure port forwarding in your router settings

Port forwarding (or port mapping) is a technique that allows to give external devices access to services running on computers in private networks. For this, external port is mapped to a combination of an internal IP address and port in a router settings.

So, port forwarding will make your Virola server running on your local computer available from anywhere via your router public IP address and a port you choose.

There is a number of possible names for port forwarding in routers' settings: Port Range Forwarding, Apps & Gaming, Virtual Servers, etc.

When setting up port forwarding, you need to specify

Virola server app uses both TCP and UDP protocols. Thus, if you would like your Virola users to have access to all Virola features, including video and audio meetings, you need to setup port forwarding on your router for both these protocols.

3. Reserve a static private IP address for your machine

Private internal IP addresses for intranet devices are distributed by routers and usually the distribution is dynamic. So, one day your machine may have private IP 192.168.0.15 and after restart it may change to 192.168.0.16. This means that port forwarding rules that you set up today may stop working tomorrow. IP reservation (or DHCP reservation if you do this via your router DHCP settings) solves this problem. Thus, to make your Virola sever access stable, we strongly recommend to reserve a static private IP for your machine.

Both port forwarding and IP reservation are configured in a router settings. Here is a list of most widely used routers with links to instructions for port forwarding configuration and DHCP reservation:

4. Make sure that Open Virola server port in open macOS Firewall

When you first started Virola server, you were asked for a permission for Virola to accept incoming network connections. If you granted this permission, then you can skip this step.

If you denied incoming network connections, then you now need to open Virola port with TCP and UDP protocols in Firewall on your macOS machine manually. TCP is used for messages exchange and UDP is used for audio and video broadcasting. Thus, ensuring that those connections are not blocked is important for smooth Virola performance.

MacOS Firewall does not manage ports individually, but on a per-application basis. To open Virola server port on macOS Ventura do the following:

  1. Follow System Settings / Network.
  2. Add an application there by clicking "+" below the list of apps. There are two available options in the Firewall:
    • Allow incoming connections
    • Block incoming connections
    For Virola server app "Allow incoming connections" option in the applications list should be selected.

There are other settings for macOS Firewall, please be careful with them:

We provided your with the basic information for making your Virola server app internally and publicly accessible. However, there can be more complicated network configurations and in such cases it is better to let technician with required skills configure everything within your network.