Birdnet-Pi accessible as hostname.local but blank screen if I enter the IP adress.

[mistaoh]

Hi and thanks for a wonderful product. I really enjoy going through what it has heard during the day.

I installed it successfully on a rpi3b+ (I think) and it works like a charm if I enter hostname.local, or birdpi.local in my case, in firefox. But if I try to connect by using only the IP address, 192.168.2.224, on my internal network I only get a blank screen in my web browser and nothing more happens. I'm not sure why this happens and It could be some issue on my side but I never noticed it on any other similar device I use.

The reason I'm unable to use the mDNS name is because I connect through VPN wich is set up to use a specific DNS.

[nilspupils]

Hi @mistaoh and welcome to BridNET-Pi!
Could you please provide the output of "ifconfig" in the terminal for now? Also, did you try to "ping 192.168.2.224"?
MOST important: Did you put in your Custom-URL (BirdNET-Pi-IP) in "Tools->Settings->Advanced Settings"???
See more info here:
https://github.com/mcguirepr89/BirdNET-Pi/wiki/Sharing-Your-BirdNET-Pi

I am sure the others are going to chime in soon!

[svc-user]

I think it eventually comes down to this line listening to localhost, hostname.local and the configured birdnet-pi URL.
I don't know if any kind of wildcards are supported in a Caddyfile, since I don't know Caddy :)

Edit: Just read a bit on the Caddyfile. Changing the first line in my /etc/caddy/Caddyfile to just http://localhost http://birdnetpi.local http:// { and my BirdNET-Pi now responds to ip's hostnames and external IP's :) This requires access through the web terminal or SSH.

Alternatively; You can, in your browser by right-clicking and inspecting the element, change the BirdNET-Pi URL: input box, under the advanced settings, from url to text. Then fill in http:// and save your settings. Then the BirdNET-Pi page should be accessible from any URL or IP that goes to your PI on port 80.

[mistaoh]

@nilspupils
Thank you very much.
My ifconfig output: (I replaced mac address and ipv6 address with xx)

eth0: flags=4099<UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        ether xx  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING>  mtu 65536
        inet 127.0.0.1  netmask 255.0.0.0
        inet6 ::1  prefixlen 128  scopeid 0x10<host>
        loop  txqueuelen 1000  (Local Loopback)
        RX packets 10552850  bytes 7874242771 (7.3 GiB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 10552850  bytes 7874242771 (7.3 GiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

wlan0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet 192.168.2.224  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.2.255
        inet6 xx  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether xx  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 193914  bytes 26487019 (25.2 MiB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 241804  bytes 345181025 (329.1 MiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

birdpi:~/BirdNET-Pi$

It does also respond to ping 192.168.2.224

@bdoner

Just read your reply while writing my answer, tried it and it works now. Huge thanks!
Edit: To clarify, I changed thefirst line in Caddyfile from:
http://localhost http://birdpi.local {
to:
http://localhost http://birdpi.local http:// {

[ehpersonal38]

Quoting Patrick for how to use IP address instead of hostname for anyone in the future:

"1. SSH into the BirdNET-Pi
2. Get its IPv4 address hostname -I or ip a
3. Set your BIRDNETPI_URL in $HOME/BirdNET-Pi/birdnet.conf to those results, example:

BIRDNETPI_URL=http://192.168.1.120

Example of how to do this without a text editor:

$ sed -i 's|BIRDNETPI_URL=.*|BIRDNETPI_URL=http://192.168.1.120|' $HOME/BirdNET-Pi/birdnet.conf

4. Then run sudo $HOME/BirdNET-Pi/scripts/update_caddyfile.sh

Then your installation is accessible at the IP address."

Glad you got it working!

[mistaoh]

@ehpersonal38
Ok, I think it could be something to reference in the installation instructions. I could not find any information about it when I was trying to find what the issue could be.
After adding the preferred URL in the web interface the Caddyfile line was modified to reflect the changes as well.

Thank you to everyone that chimed in to help!

[ehpersonal38]

@ehpersonal38 Ok, I think it could be something to reference in the installation instructions. I could not find any information about it when I was trying to find what the issue could be. After adding the preferred URL in the web interface the Caddyfile line was modified to reflect the changes as well.

Thank you to everyone that chimed in to help!

It's now in the installation wiki! Thanks for making BirdNET-Pi better. Happy birding!!

[kinteki]

Hi!
birdnet.conf overwritten to my IP address, but now 403 Forbidden error. What can I do?
Sinc, Zoltan

[svc-user]

Hi @kinteki

What is your currently set URL under the advanced settings for the field " BirdNET-Pi URL:"? That setting will overwrite your birdnet.conf.

[kinteki]

Hi @bdoner

birdnet.conf : BIRDNETPI_URL=HTTP://192.168.1.157/birdnet

after reboot: 404 :(

[mcguirepr89]

Hi, @kinteki -- the BIRDNETPI_URL cannot contain a path -- you will have to remove the /birdnet and then reboot

[mcguirepr89]

also, the http:// protocol ought not be capitalized -- it should read http://192.168.1.157

[kinteki]

sure not capitalized. when i try just http://192.168.1.157 this is the answer: