Prevent hibernate/standby/sleep

[DenyAll]

Hi blopa, Yes, I have seen the problem you describe.

It will happen with either my script or J.M.'s as it is caused by the TCP session being held up. NETSTAT (which we both use in much the same manner) reports it as established, even though the remote device has long since been turned off. My reading on the web is that if a TCP session - effectively the link between your TV and the Serviio server - is not explicitly closed properly (eg. maybe if the TV is turned off, while still watching a stream) then it stays as established until the server works out it is no longer active. Some stuff on the web suggests there is a half an hour inactivity timer, but it doesn't seem to kick in for me (and your post confirms). I have had cases where it never seems to drop off, but I also have had cases where it does work it out (usually within 15 minutes). Maybe any TCP experts in the forum can shed some light...

The difference between my script and JM's is that

1. I have used ports now rather than specific IP addresses to search for active TCP sessions. This is optional (an earlier script used IP addresses), but I think it makes it more robust (you don't have to worry about changing IP addresses, setting static IP's, or adding new devices. You also needed worry if your device, say an iPad, establishes a connection to the server for other, non-Serviio reasons). I also think it will be easier for most users as they don't have to change the script to match their individual IP addresses; and
2. On detecting an active session on port 8895, I don't change power scheme profiles as JM did. I call a Windows API command to tell the PC not to go into full sleep, but rather enter a "half sleep" mode which still enables Serviio to run (technically this is called the AWAY MODE state - it is a mode specifically recommended for media streaming). The advantage is that you don't need to set up special power schemes. Once the session is closed, I then call the same command, but this time to tell it revert back to normal sleep mode.

In my script everything down to the line starting $str is to establish the ability to call the Windows API command. After that, we set up an array of ports we want to monitor (in this case two ports 8895 and 23424), then run the NETSAT command and then search for those ports in the resultant output. If found we call the Windows API to turn on the "half-sleep" mode on your PC; if not found, we tell it to revert to the normal state. Hopefully that explains how the script works - any queries, come back to me.

The problem of the session remaining established is on my to-do list to work thru, but at the moment isn't a big concern (and I can't think of what the answer might be at this stage - maybe to find a WIN API commend to better test whether the session is active). This issue for me isn't a big deal - it means the server occasionally (when the session isn't closed) goes into "half-sleep" mode when sleeping (rather than normal "full sleep") - which for me is preferable than the alternatives (no sleep at all, falls asleep during a movie, or coffee.exe which sleeps as soon as you pause the movie). I have got rid of coffee.exe on my PC and am using this exclusively now.

ps. All cudo's and thanks to J.M. for this. I have simply suggested a few iterations on his/her scheme, but it was the work done in coming up with the approach that deserves the credit!

DanyAll,
What I searched on the web is that a TCP connection will drop when "X" packets are sent to the remote device with no response.
What I understand is that "X" depends on how much time that connection was active. The more packets were sent, the more it will keep trying to get a response from the remote device. See below, from microsoft:

"TCP starts a retransmission timer when each outbound segment is handed down to IP. If no acknowledgment has been received for the data in a given segment before the timer expires, then the segment is retransmitted, up to the TcpMaxDataRetransmissions times. The default value for this parameter is 5.

The retransmission timer is initialized to three seconds when a TCP connection is established; however, it is adjusted on the fly to match the characteristics of the connection using Smoothed Round Trip Time (SRTT) calculations as described in RFC793. The timer for a given segment is doubled after each retransmission of that segment. Using this algorithm, TCP tunes itself to the normal delay of a connection. TCP connections over high-delay links will take much longer to time out than those over low- delay links"

source: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/170359/en-us

I've added to the registry the parameter "TcpMaxDataRetransmissions" (and set the minimum decimal value: 1) as described in the link above with no luck.
Also, I recently added the parameter "TCPInitialRtt" so I plan to test during the next couple of days and post results.

So basically, the TCP timeout seems to be dependent on the OS. XP, Vista and 7 seems to have different values by default. But I wasn't able to find what they are exactly.

As you said, I will check from the TV if stoping the movie first instead of just exiting will cause the TCP negotiation to end properly.
(I need to induce the problem first so I'm not sure how much time It could take me to post results back)

Thank you for explaining me more on your script and for taking the time to post about my problem, I really, really appreciate it

Blopa

Is this implemented in version 1.0?

no

Is this still "planned". Seeing that Serviio now has a pro version, maybe this feature could provide another incentive to buy it.
Also not having this is quite a show-stopper imho. But i'll guess there's nothing one could do (except more or less dirty hacks).

[DenyAll]

PedroBurito's post bumped this thread for me - for your info Pedro, the next release will make Serviio recover from sleep/hibernation far better (a related issue). It does not yet address this issue of preventing sleep when streaming. As I understand it the problem facing zip here is preventing sleep is OS dependant, whereas Serviio is written in Java allowing it to be used on multiple OS's. While it can be done in Windows by making OS dependant system calls, its not as easy as it seems across multiple platforms and OS's.

Anyway's the reason for my post: I have updated the script I use. I have reverted back to using IP addresses, while still testing the relevant Ports, as a means to reduce the number of false positives (from the TCP session being held up). I have been using this now for some time and it works well - you still get false positives (which means the server doesn't go into full sleep even though serviio isn't streaming) but that's far preferable to either sleeping while streaming or (if using coffee.exe) as soon as you pause. The new script:

  Code:

$IPAddresses = @("192.168.0.7", "192.168.0.90", "192.168.0.95")   <# Monitored Renderer IP addresses #>
$Ports = @("8895", "23424")  <# Monitored Serviio Ports #>
$code=@'
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto,SetLastError = true)]
  static extern void SetThreadExecutionState(uint esFlags);

public static void KeepSystemAwake(uint esFlag)
    {
        SetThreadExecutionState(esFlag);
    }
'@

$keepAwake=Add-Type -memberDefinition $code -name "SystemSleep" -namespace SleepFunctions -passThru
$ES_CONTINUOUS = [uint32]"0x80000000"
$ES_AWAYMODE_REQUIRED = [uint32]"0x00000040"
$ES_DISPLAY_REQUIRED = [uint32]"0x00000002"
$ES_SYSTEM_REQUIRED = [uint32]"0x00000001"

$str=""
$NetStat = netstat -a -n | select-string -pattern "ESTABLISHED"

foreach ($IP in $IPAddresses) {
    foreach ($port in $Ports) {
        foreach ($ln in $NetStat) {
         if (($ln -like ("*:" + $port + "*")) -and ($ln -like ("*" + $IP + "*"))) {
                $str = $str + $ln + "`n"
          }
        }
    }
}

if ($str) {
   "$str"
   "Away Mode Activated"
    $keepAwake::KeepSystemAwake($ES_CONTINUOUS -and $ES_AWAYMODE_REQUIRED -and $ES_SYSTEM_REQUIRED)
} else {
   "Normal Sleep Mode Activated"
    $keepAwake::KeepSystemAwake($ES_CONTINUOUS)
}

You must enter the IP addresses of your renderers (TV's, Players, etc - but not the PC Serviio is located on) in the first line.

Thanks for your effort, DenyAll. The resume from standby issue was fixed for me in of the latest releases. But tbh I dont really see the problem of OS-Specific Calls for StandBy prevention; Yes, Java is multiplatform, but not looking outside the JVM and "ignoring" the issue for like a whole major version is a too easy way out.

[DenyAll]

For anyone still monitoring this thread, I decided to teach myself C# this week (painful language that it is, but it is a good learning exercise none-the-less). Anyway, this looked like a good project.

I have attached an exe file if anyone would like to test my efforts in different Windows environments (eg. in Win-64). I have only tested on Win 7 32 bit. The app requires .NET 4.0

What this app does is:

• Scans Serviio using the Serviio Configuration API for a list of active renderers. To help minimise false positives (as discussed in this topic above) it is best to disable any devices that are not used as renderers in Serviio Console;
• Every five minutes (not user definable at this stage), it will scan for active TCP sessions between Serviio (ports 8895 and 23424) and the listed renderers;
• If an active session is found, it will put the PC into an "Away" sleep mode - when sleep is requested the screen will sleep but the CPU remains available for streaming. If no active session is found the sleep mode will be reverted back to whatever you have set up in Windows.
• You can also refresh the status manually by pressing the Refresh button or using the Context Menu (right click on the system tray icon)

Some things to note:

• The app is designed to be run as an icon in the system tray (normally bottom right corner in Windows). You can double click on the system tray icon to hide or show the app. Pressing the OK button will also hide the app.
• The app can only be closed from the system tray icon (right click to show the context menu and press Exit) but is designed to be left running.
• This app has its own timer (5 minutes) so no need to set up any task scheduler or the like. For this to then work your windows sleep/hibernate time must be greater than five minutes.
• The app will also add itself to your autostart list in the registry so that it will start automatically every time you login (at this stage this will have to be manually removed if you cease using the app).
• Hover your mouse over the system tray icon to see the current sleep mode.
• The connection status is not the same as the connected status in Serviio Console. The connection status in this app means that an active TCP session has been detected.
• You may see active connections (and Serviio sleep mode being set) even when not streaming. This is because TCP sessions do not always terminate when you turn your TV/renderer off or otherwise cease streaming. This is one of the limitations of the approach used - review this topic for further discussion on this issue.
• To avoid some false positives the app will not monitor connections from Serviio to software running on the same PC (eg. VLC or MediaBrowser on the same PC). Pointless doing so anyway (as you are presumably active on that PC so it wont sleep anyway).

This is my first go at this (and indeed at C#). I have been using for the last few days and it operates as the powershell script did, but provides visual feedback on the status of connections and the sleep-mode. Although a single purpose app, I have ambitiously called the app "Serviio WinHelper" in case there are other Windows specific functions we can add later.

Have a play and let me know any issues. If there is any interest I'll add this to the Third Party Tools part of the forum. Obviously user defined timer and removing the registry key on removal (it's at HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\ServioWinHelper by the way if you need to remove it manually) is something I need to think about.

@zip - please review and let me know if you'd like anything changed wrt using the good name of Serviio.

[DenyAll]

As Murphy's law would have it, have discovered an issue with the app not going into Serviio Sleep mode in some circumstances. Have removed the file from previous post - will replace as soon as resolved.

<edit> Found the issue and fixed it. Fixed version added back to previous post. Apologies to the five people who downloaded the previous version (0.1.0). Please test and let me know any issues - have a concern this may not work with Win XP....</edit>

[DenyAll]

I have updated the Serviio WinHelper tool (see post 2 above). This will be the last update here - I will move this to the Third Party Tools part of the forum soon, but I am looking for feedback (particlaurly any critical issues) before doing so.

Changes since the last version:

• Prevent multiple instances running.
• Added new application icon, probably infringing everyone's copyright
• Coded to better handle cases where the Serviio Service is not running
• Added a Tools (and settings) Tab with the following tools:
  
  • Stop or Start the Windows Serviio Service. This is not the same as stopping/starting the server in Serviio Console - this stops or starts the windows service. This process requires UAC elevation (administrator privileges) and as such you will be prompted to allow the "changes to your computer".
  • Edit profiles.xlm. If you have Notepad++ installed you will have the option to use this as an editor (otherwise the only option is Notepad).
  • Edit log4j.xlm (for debug mode setting)
  • View the Serviio log.
  • Settings - Added ability to set the Scan Interval (1 to 30 minutes - remember it must be less than your Windows sleep timer setting otherwise this helper won't do much),
  • Settings - Set your prefered Text Editor (notepad or notepad++ supported)
  • Settings - Allow you to set whether Serviio Winhelper is started automatically at windows startup (user login).
  • Settings - Added ability to erase all settings from the registry. Use this to Uninstall the Serviio WinHelper (make sure it’s the last thing you do before closing otherwise settings may be added back to the registry).

Any feedback appreciated. Please let me know of any issues (in particular with Win64 or XP systems). Thanks.

[DenyAll]

Serviio WinHelper Tool moved to: viewtopic.php?f=17&t=12136

Hey guys,

For anyone interested I had the same problem on my Windows box and I knocked up an application that I now use to control the standby action on my system.
The application is called "Sleep Streamer" and basically it allows you to prevent standby while there is activity on a NIC, then either follow the sleep rules of the host or just disable the system suspend options and you can tell the application to wait a specific period of time after no network activity, then either suspend or shutdown.

There's no license just use it as you see fit. Please note that this is Windows only!
I've attached the application, You just need to copy the two files somewhere convenient and run the executable.

I should point out that you will need to have the .NET framework 4 installed already on your machine for this to work.. If you don't have it then download and install it from Microsoft. Chances are you'll already have it..


Cheers

I have somewhat of a Mac solution for those interested:

On Mac OS X 10.6.8, I use the application "PleaseSleep". It has an option to prevent sleep if an applescript you input returns true. I used the following applescript to ping my Blu-ray player, so that whenever it is powered on my Mac will stay awake:

  Code:

set IP_address to "Blu-ray player IP address"
set ping_result to (do shell script ("ping -c 2 " & IP_address & "; echo -n"))
if ping_result contains "64 bytes" then
   return true
else
   return false
end if


Note that this requires you to assign your Blu-ray player a static IP address, which you then input in place of "Blu-ray player IP address" in the first line of the script (keep the quotation marks).

Hey guys,

For anyone interested I had the same problem on my Windows box and I knocked up an application that I now use to control the standby action on my system.
The application is called "Sleep Streamer" and basically it allows you to prevent standby while there is activity on a NIC, then either follow the sleep rules of the host or just disable the system suspend options and you can tell the application to wait a specific period of time after no network activity, then either suspend or shutdown.

There's no license just use it as you see fit. Please note that this is Windows only!
I've attached the application, You just need to copy the two files somewhere convenient and run the executable.

I should point out that you will need to have the .NET framework 4 installed already on your machine for this to work.. If you don't have it then download and install it from Microsoft. Chances are you'll already have it..


Cheers

Thanks. I like coffee except for the fact it will often sleep your system if you pause for longer than a minute or two. This looks similar but with the much needed wait period after network activity stops.

Yeah, that's why I put this together
I actually heart about coffee from this forum and found that it had the problem you described. I put this together to solve the issue and figured others may also benefit.

I was thinking of putting together a version that runs as a service so that it can function even if you're not logged in. On my machine I auto-login so I don't really need it (because originally I was running Plex until I discovered the awesome serviio).

This is quite a simple application; if you have any suggestions or whatever then let me know and I'll make some mods.


Cheers

Yeah, that's why I put this together
I actually heart about coffee from this forum and found that it had the problem you described. I put this together to solve the issue and figured others may also benefit.

I was thinking of putting together a version that runs as a service so that it can function even if you're not logged in. On my machine I auto-login so I don't really need it (because originally I was running Plex until I discovered the awesome serviio).

This is quite a simple application; if you have any suggestions or whatever then let me know and I'll make some mods.


Cheers

Is yours configurable? What does it consider "network activity"? I started using Coffee again as Serviio WinHelper was keeping my computer on even though all I had running remotely was Windows Media Player playing something else (it picked this up as an "active" Serviio connection...). Coffee can configure kb/sec what it continues enough network activity to keep the computer switched on.

Edit: Just tried it. I was playing with the UI when my system inexplicably just went into Standby??? I had it on "System power management" setting. Something is wacky with it...

Reproduced - randomly going into unprompted standby while changing the kb/sec boxes... I strongly suspect rather than resetting the "sleep timer" it's just putting it into standby. It just put my system into standby about 5 times in 3 minutes - I bet my RAID array loved that!

Hi,

The application works by monitoring network activity on the specified adapter. It considers network activity as any data that is sent/received through that adapter. From what you describe it seem almost certain that there is an issue when changing the values that it's picking up the partially edited information and then promptly shutting down; as you say, a bug. To be perfectly honest, I don't use it that way. The way I am using it is to set it to the "Application Power Management" setting with the period of inactivity I'm interested in and setting it to "Standby". In this way it will entirely ignore your Windows settings (blocking them) and programmatically issuing the sleep/shutdown instruction when the timer expires. I find this is a lot simpler than messing around with the power management stuff in Control Panel.

Apologies if the application didn't work right for you / caused you problems with your setup. Like I said previously I'm happy to go and look in to any issues; this is just an application that I flung together because it solves the problem for me exactly as I require and I figured that it might help other's too. Thanks for the feedback!

If the application is not itself triggering a standby, then it must be doing something with the standby timer (ie. setting it to 0) or something causing the system itself to think it needs to go into standby. Otherwise it has potential. I just wish the Coffee author would add my suggestion

Still no good all around solution for this, sadly. Coffee has annoying limitations (the 2-3 seconds between programme changeover is sometimes enough for the silly thing to put itself to sleep!), the other tools are overly complicated and limited to just Serviio or buggy.

Wish I had the tools to compile the coffee sources.

Still no good all around solution for this, sadly. Coffee has annoying limitations (the 2-3 seconds between programme changeover is sometimes enough for the silly thing to put itself to sleep!), the other tools are overly complicated and limited to just Serviio or buggy.

Wish I had the tools to compile the coffee sources.

Does Coffee work for Serviio?

Another good (and VERY simple) tool to prevent PC sleep is Insomnia: http://goo.gl/uyb97

Sad there is still not a good solution for this major issue... Coffee with a minor change would be perfect.