How to Fix Boonex Dolphin Error - Can't Connect to RMS

The Ray Media Server is Red5 based service that is used for media streaming features on the Boonex Dolphin platform. FastComet offers free RMS service on all Dolphin Hosting plans with full FFmpeg support. When trying to setup up Dolphin on a shared hosted environment to connect to your RMS server, oftentimes, an error would display the “Unable to connect to RMS server”' message. There are ways to fix the error, which we will address in this post. Here is what we will cover:

• What is the Difference Between UNA and Dolphin
• Media Server (RMS) - What It Is and How to Use It
• RMS Client Can't Connect to RMS Server
• How to Solve the Unable to Connect to RMS Server Error Message

What is the Difference Between UNA and Dolphin

Boonex created UNA Community Management System as the next generation Dolphin platform, launched in 2016. The new Dolphin Solution includes all UNA CoreApps, UNA PowerApps, as well as an opportunity to order custom features development and modifications. UNA effortlessly scales from a small group site to a multi-million social network. 

• UNA has been designed with a "mobile-first" approach from the beginning, while Dolphin adapted to mobile screens;
• UNA platform is Open Source, licensed under the terms of the MIT license, allowing you to review, use, modify, and distribute the code any way you want. On the other hand, Dolphin PRO (aka Dolphin 7, aka Dolphin Classic) requires licenses for the core platform and base module packages.
• One of the unique features of UNA CMS is the support of multiple profiles per account.

Media Server (RMS) - What It Is and How to Use It

RMS stands for Ray Media Server. It is a server-side feature that provides the application the ability to stream media using some of its modules – for example, video chat, instant messaging, video, and audio players, photo modules, and video commenting.

Dolphin comes with a free Media Server software (formerly Ray Media Server - RMS), based on open-source ​Red5. The Media Server is a requirement for the media streaming feature of some of the Dolphin modules. The service is also commonly used for enabling the video comments feature, as well as for video streaming on the chat module. Additionally, you can use the media server for lots of other custom modules and features that can be added to your Social Community.

With some hosting providers, you would have the Media Server preinstalled, and all you have to do is enable it. It is important to note that Media Server (RMS) consumes a lot of server resources. Even if it was formerly possible to install it on some shared hosts, they will no longer let you due to the additional load on the server, which would affect the overall performance of the other customers situated on the same server. As a solution, you may consider using a 3rd party RMS service provider. That way, you can use your current hosting provider (FastComet), along with the RMS provider, without having to upgrade to a more powerful Cloud VPS or a Dedicated server plan.

RMS Client Can't Connect to RMS Server

In order to have the Media Server software (formerly Ray Media Server - RMS) communicate with your Boonex Dolphin application, you need to enable it properly. The required configuration is fairly simple. For that, you can check our tutorial named Enabling the RMS service in Dolphin. If there are any issues with the connection, you will be prompted with a message indicating it.

This is where you would most probably hit the error  “Can’t connect to RMS.” The reason for that is that you either have not configured your RMS settings properly, or your domain name has not been added to the allowed hosts to connect to the RMS service. Make sure to verify your settings once again.

How to Solve the Unable to Connect to RMS Server Error Message

The easiest approach in such a case is to contact your web host’s technical support team and request to have your domain name added to their RMS server. They should be able to provide you with the RMS IP address as soon as your domain is added.