Need networking help! Can’t connect to Plex, Qbittorrent, or even Remote Sharing!

[prxmetheus]

Hey guys! Need some help setting up all my network settings.

 

My setup is a bit complicated because I sublet my apartment and can’t directly access the router that’s all the way upstairs so as a solution I have a wireless extender extending my network and I have the Ethernet connecting my server to the extender. Because of this, pretty much anything that needs a network to work on Unraid (everything lol) doesn’t work. The issues I have worked out (i could totally be wrong) are that it might be a port forwarding issue, or subnet issue. Unfortunately a powerline adapter isnt feasible right now either so I am sort of stuck with this extender solution.

 

I’d love if someone could help me to figure out exactly what setting to change on the router, then the extender, and then finally to the various apps on Unraid. I do also have all the login credentials for both the xfinity router/modem and my own extender so I can get on just fine. I just cant physically access the xfinity router.

 

- Plex: Remote Access Settings say 172.xx.x.x : 32400 <- Public 73.xxx.xxx.xx : X Internet

- Qbittorrent: As soon as I click webUI, I get the following: Unable to connect. Firefox can’t establish a connection to the server at 10.x.x.xxx:8080. And yes I get similar results on both Chrome and Safari as well.

- Remote Sharing: Going on my Mac, my server appears in the Locations sidebar with my server name, however, when I click it it either says: There was a problem connecting to the server "servername". This file server will not allow any additional users to log on.

Or if it does let me go, clicking on any folder brings up this: The operation can’t be completed because the original item for “foldername” can’t be found.

 

If people need screenshots, let me know what to take it of and what info to hide to protect myself. I am pretty new to Unraid and networking so i apologize if theres simple stuff i am missing or dont understand.

Thanks and let me know what other info I can provide!

[Squid]

There should be no issue with outgoing access.  Incoming access (like to Plex) would be a challenge without the ability to do any port forwarding on the main router.

 

Effectively you need to ability to gain access to the main router so that you can stick your router into the main's DMZ or individually forward the ports from the main to yours and then from yours to the server.

[prxmetheus]

1 hour ago, Squid said:

There should be no issue with outgoing access.  Incoming access (like to Plex) would be a challenge without the ability to do any port forwarding on the main router.

 

Effectively you need to ability to gain access to the main router so that you can stick your router into the main's DMZ or individually forward the ports from the main to yours and then from yours to the server.

So I do have the ability to log in to the xfinity router and do various port forwarding if needed. I don’t believe I would need to physically be at the router to do any of that right?

 

Also as a last resort, if nothing I’m doing works, eliminating the extender and getting a power line adapter should in theory help to simplify the process right?

[Squid]

15 minutes ago, prxmetheus said:

So I do have the ability to log in to the xfinity router and do various port forwarding if needed. I don’t believe I would need to physically be at the router to do any of that right?

Yeah, it's all done via a browser

 

How I would go about it would be to stick your router into the xfinity's DMZ to make life easiest and then do port forwarding from your router.

[prxmetheus]

Sorry if this is a dumb question but could you elaborate on doing DMZ on xfinity and then doing port forwarding on the router? For me it’s all the same all in one unit that’s a modem/router combo that uses the same login. 
 

From doing some research online, it seems I can go to the xfinity gateway and then enable DMZ using the IPv4 and IPv6 for just my server correct?

 

This is the article I’m using: https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/configure-dmz-wifi

 

The issue I see is that there 2 different ways of doing it and #1 seems simpler to me. Would that be the way to go?

 

Then after this I check to see if everything works, and if not, then I do port forwarding and add in individual ports in the ports section on xfinity right?

 

Lastly, there shouldn’t be anything I need to touch on my extender right?

 

Sorry for all the questions, I hope I’ve made sense. I’ve had this server up for 32 days and still don’t have the basic features working right so it’s frustrating lol. 

Edited February 25, 2022 by prxmetheus
Added another question.

[prxmetheus]

So I went to xfinity and enabled DMZ. Then went to port forwarding and added 32400 with TCP/UDP for plex alone but it still is transcoding to 480p with no visible change. Any other ideas as to what I can do?

[Squid]

21 hours ago, prxmetheus said:

can go to the xfinity gateway and then enable DMZ using the IPv4 and IPv6 for just my server correct

Maybe there's some miscommunication here

 

You have an xfinity router that your landlord controls, but you have access to it.  That router feeds your router which then feeds your server

 

I suggested to put YOUR router into the xfinity's DMZ and do all of the port forwarding from YOUR router to YOUR server.  Do not put YOUR server into YOUR router's DMZ.  Doing any port forwarding on the xfinity isn't going to accomplish anything

[prxmetheus]

Ahh I see the miscommunication! There aren’t 2 different routers. 
 

I have my landlord’s xfinity router/modem that I cannot physically get to but have the logins and passwords for. There is no separate router that I have. I just have an extender for the sole purpose of my server needing a direct connection via Ethernet. 
 

I think you might be saying to add my extender’s IP into the xfinity’s DMZ section instead of adding my server’s IP into xfinity’s DMZ right?

[Squid]

8 minutes ago, prxmetheus said:

I think you might be saying to add my extender’s IP into the xfinity’s DMZ section instead of adding my server’s IP into xfinity’s DMZ right?

NO

 

Do the port forwards on the xfinity and don't do any DMZ  (the extender does not create it's own isolated network).

[prxmetheus]

Ok so we are no longer doing any DMZ. I took DMZ off the xfinity and I just have my server along with the 32400 port and 8080 port added into the port forwarding sections. I’m still getting no luck getting Plex to play beyond the 480p from the relay connection and I still have no access to qbittorrent at all.