Login from Raspberry Pi, is it possible, if so how?
I have a Raspberry Pi version 4, with a fresh, updated OS install, but if I try to login, I get no response from the server. After a minute or so, I get a message and the page will not load.
* I don't know why, but if I connect via a VPN, it works fine, so I am using this as a workaround.
Answers
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If the Pi has a working (supported) web browser and internet connection it should be fine.
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Hi there.
First of all, a disclaimer: I'm a developer at D2L, not a support person, but I *do* have a Raspberry Pi at home so I was asked if perhaps I could help.
- Are you running Raspbian on your Pi, or something else?
- What version, exactly, of the OS are you running? (On Raspbian you can find this out via terminal command: cat /etc/os-release)
- What browser are you using? (Firefox, Chrome, something else?)
- What version, exactly, of the browser are you running?
- What URL are you typing into your browser address bar?
To rule out networking issues:
- Can you successfully load other pages on the internet from your browser?
- From a terminal window please "ping" the host at the address for your D2L portal? (The host is <host> in http://<host>/<page>); can you show me / attach the result of this "ping" command from your terminal window?
I have personally just successfully loaded our corporate deployment of the D2L platform in a Chromium version 78 window on my Raspberry Pi 3 running Raspbian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)
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Yes, I am running Raspbian. I have tried the Chromium (78) and the Firefox versions for Rasbian.
I am setting this up specifically for my daughter's learning, so I am not tied to Rasbian if there is a better choice of OS. Nor am I tied to a specific browser.
I can load other web pages, including some in the cbe.ab.ca domain, but if I try to access brightspace it fails.
From the same network, using the same wi-fi,, same DHCP server, Nameserver, etc, I can log in from my Mac, or from my iPad,.
It looks to me like your setup is very close to what mine is.
* another update if I go to the system check page, it tells me that I have what I need
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Follow up information. I also cannot load this community page using that browser. I must be missing something, but I don't know what that would be. I tried allowing popups and redirects from the cbe.ab.ca domain, cookies are enabled. I disabled the default ad blocker.
Since I can't access this page from the machine in question, I can't paste the ping results, but there are essentially none - pinging (address) with 56 bytes of data: and then nothing.
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Thanks to @Dale Hennessey letting me know it could work, I was able to find a workaround. Though I still don't know why it didn't work for me, by connecting through a VPN, it does work.
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I'm glad that you found a workaround, even though I can appreciate that you must be frustrated that it didn't work without resorting to a VPN. The fact that it DOES work on VPN, though, means your browser and OS aren't likely to be the source of the problem. it's a long-shot, but I would recommend double-checking how the network connection is defined, especally w.r.t. what the Pi thinks is your gateway, and making sure that the IP Address doesn't conflict with another device on your networks, and that the netmask is correct for your network. (Most of this should be fine if you use DHCP to connect your Pi, although I've seen _some_ routers not always properly communicated DNS and Gateways to client devices; there's more of a change of a typo if you connected your Pi to your network with static settings.)
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Yes, @Dale Hennessey Those are exactly what it seems like, but it's somehow more subtle. The Mac that I use goes to the same DHCP server, the router from my ISP, and it works.
The gateway, DNS, and everything else look identical, the results of tracert look the same too. I'm thinking it must be some interaction between more than one thing, but I am stumped as to what it could be. The weird part of it is that it seems limited to the D2L-related sites - including this one, while all the other sites I've tried load just fine.
I once had an issue (back in the stone age) on an X.25 network where an application was sending a stream of characters that one router was interpreting as an EOF. I had to look at actual data packets to find it. I think I'll probably leave this one unsolved since I have a way to make it work without trying to sift through raw data.
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I'm sorry, Doug -- if you have checked all of that then this might be beyond my ability to troubleshoot. Are you okay to continue using the VPN work-around, or would you like me to find another person who might be able to help when the work-week starts tomorrow?
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Again, thanks for your effort, @Dale Hennessey I think that my work-around is plenty for my kid to get her school work done, and it is probably not worth pursuing unless a bunch of other people have this problem. I already have a VPN subscription that I use on public wi-fi, so now that I've figured out the Openvpn client on Rasbian, I amn't really inconvenienced. I am willing to help if other folks are encountering this as they move to on-line school for the next few months.
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Thanks, all - this discussion has resulted in the creation of Community KBA 000012069. We will expand this knowledge as more becomes available.
