[Solved] Plex not publishing to myPlex

[talkto_menow]

Previously Plex had no problem to publish libraries and I was able to stream content outside of my LAN. But recently docker.img got corrupted and I had to start everything from scratch an reinstall Plex container (my-PlexMediaServer). /config is located on /mnt/user/plexmediaserver so container is using previous libraries.

 

I am logon to my plex account and under Settings/Server/Connect I entered my credentials and there is message "signed in as" . However, I do get an error message that there was en error connecting to Plex and when I manually specify port 32400 I am still not able to connect. I have plex server installed on other PC and there is message "server is mapped to port".

 

I checked my router's firewall settings (set to medium) and under port forwarding I have following info:

 

Computer: 192.168.1.2:32400 (tower)

Applications: Plex Media Server

                    TCP Any -> 18677

 

I lowered firewall settings to Minimum (low) and still I was not able to publish libraries.

 

Any idea how to fix it?

Please help

[Squid]

 

Computer: 192.168.1.2:32400 (tower)

Applications: Plex Media Server

                    TCP Any -> 18677

Is 192.168.1.2 the IP of your server?  The fact that it works from your desktop implies that the IP is that of your desktop

 

You don't state what router you have, but from what you've written it appears to me like you're forwarding port 32400 to port 18677.  I believe that 32400 is hard coded into plex and can't be substitued

[talkto_menow]

192.168.1.2 is a IP of my unRaid box

 

The other computer is HTPC and it's address is  192.168.1.4 and port forwarding works, because I can see recorded library outside of my LAN.  I'm using Actiontec MI424WR revision 1 from Verizon FIOS

 

This below comes from Port forwarding setting section from my router and this port 18677 must be router's internal redirect

 

Computer: 192.168.1.2:32400 (tower)

Applications: Plex Media Server

                    TCP Any -> 18677

 

I do not have any problem accessing Plex WebUI in my browser over LAN with address 192.168.1.2:32400/web/index.html# from unRaid box

 

unRaid: 6.0-beta12

[jonp]

Under your docker container settings for Plex, are you using host or bridge networking?

[talkto_menow]

I used defaults.

Network Type: Host

Privileged: checked

Bind Type: checked

[dirtysanchez]

Plex itself is hard coded at port 32400. You can also change the external port that Plex is published under (appears to be 18677 in your case). Your router then needs to port forward external port 18677 to internal port 32400 at 192.168.1.2.

 

If you have multiple Plex servers, each would need to be published on a different external port and the port forwarded to port 32400 at the corresponding IP for the server.

 

Example:

Server1 192.168.1.2

External port 18677 forwarded to internal port 32400 at 192.168.1.2

 

Server2 192.168.1.3

External port 18678 forwarded to internal port 32400 at 192.168.1.3

 

Hope that helps.

[ljh89]

I had a lot of trouble with my plex.  I could connect internally from the network but not from outside.  I had to set DCHP to auto and it fixed it.

[HellDiverUK]

Mine's set to "Host" and works perfectly. 

[talkto_menow]

@ dirtysanchez

 

Tried your suggestions and it does not work. With network type "Bridge"and specified ports 32400 --> 18677 and reversed values WebUI did not load (401 error, unathorized access denied). Then switched back to Host type and entered port manually 18677 in connect settings , the same result, connection cannot be established. I disabled firewall on my router and no luck either.

 

@ljh89

Where are those DCHP settings located?

[dirtysanchez]

Disabling the firewall on your router won't in and of itself let an external client access your Plex. The router needs to know where that request needs to go when it comes in.

 

Let's assume in Plex settings -> connect it shows the internal port as 32400 and the external port as 18677. This means Plex will attempt to tell your router (via uPNP) to forward incoming requests from the Internet on port 18677 to the Plex server (192.168.1.2) on port 32400. This works most of the time but can fail depending on a number of factors. If your router is failing to map the port forward via uPNP an Internet client will never reach your Plex server, whether you disable your routers firewall or not. The request would come in on port 18677 and the router would have no clue who it is supposed to forward that to and so would just drop the packet.

 

Assuming you can reach the Plex interface at 192.168.1.2:32400 from inside your network, your best bet is to hardcode the external port and hardcode the port forward in the router. Plex setting -> connect -> show advanced settings. Check "manually specify port" and enter the port you want to use. 18677 will work. You then need to login to your router and create the port forward. All routers are different and a quick google search will show you how to do it on your router if you don't already know. To specify the port forward there are usually 4 pieces of information.

 

Name: just a name for the forwarding rule, you can call it Plex

External port: 18677

Internal port: 32400

IP address: 192.168.1.2

 

That tells the router that when a request comes from the internet on port 18677, change the port to 32400 and send it to 192.168.1.2 on the internal LAN.

 

Hope that makes sense.

[Squid]

On my system, in order to get it to work, I had to disable my modem's internal router, and then set up my "real" router to log into my DSL account.  After that everything worked great.  No matter what I tried, I just could not get plex to communicate to the outside world by using the modem's internal router.

[dirtysanchez]

On my system, in order to get it to work, I had to disable my modem's internal router, and then set up my "real" router to log into my DSL account.  After that everything worked great.  No matter what I tried, I just could not get plex to communicate to the outside world by using the modem's internal router.

 

That's because you had a double-NAT situation with 2 routers, each doing network address translation (NAT). It is possible to port forward successfully in a double-NAT setup, but would have to be done manually. uPNP would never work in a double-NAT situation.

 

Anyway, the best solution in that type of situation is to do exactly what you did by placing your ISP modem/router in bridge mode (passthru mode) and letting your own router handle everything.

[Squid]

It is possible to port forward successfully in a double-NAT setup, but would have to be done manually. uPNP would never work in a double-NAT situation.

Tried that - no go.  Tried it without the second router installed (only using modem's) - no go.  Didn't feel like investing any more time so I just stuck it into bridge.  No problems.

[talkto_menow]

Problem solved. I would like to point out that provided suggestions may work for other users. In this case problem was related to corrupted docker.img file and installation of Plex container on top of the previous existing Plex folder and files.

 

This issue is not related to router and port forwarding, however setting IP as static on your router maybe be beneficial. Before you proceed make sure you backup Plex library database and metadata.

 

plexmediaserver\Library\Application Support\Plex Media Server\Plug-in Support\Databases\

plexmediaserver\Library\Application Support\Plex Media Server\Plug-in Support\Metadata\

 

 

1. Remove all content from plexmediaserver folder

2. Install Plex container

3. Go to Plex WebUI and logon with your credentials

4. Go to your router and delete forwarded ports from Plex for your server

5. Go to Settings\Server\Connect and enter credentials. Plex should provide info that server was mapped to some port. You can verify this info on your router, the same port should be added in port forwarding section

6. Stop Plex server and change file permissions  for files in Plex folder. Plex creates its own unraid-plex user, so you will not be able to delete files unless you change the ownership

7. Copy database and metadata files from your backup

8. Start Plex server

 

Everything should be working now and you should have access to previous libraries.

 

I repeated this steps twice and I was able to publish plex each time.

 

 

Thank you for your help

 

[LordShad0w]

On 3/1/2015 at 1:45 PM, talkto_menow said:

Problem solved. I would like to point out that provided suggestions may work for other users. In this case problem was related to corrupted docker.img file and installation of Plex container on top of the previous existing Plex folder and files.

 

This issue is not related to router and port forwarding, however setting IP as static on your router maybe be beneficial. Before you proceed make sure you backup Plex library database and metadata.

 

plexmediaserver\Library\Application Support\Plex Media Server\Plug-in Support\Databases\

plexmediaserver\Library\Application Support\Plex Media Server\Plug-in Support\Metadata\

 

 

1. Remove all content from plexmediaserver folder

2. Install Plex container

3. Go to Plex WebUI and logon with your credentials

4. Go to your router and delete forwarded ports from Plex for your server

5. Go to Settings\Server\Connect and enter credentials. Plex should provide info that server was mapped to some port. You can verify this info on your router, the same port should be added in port forwarding section

6. Stop Plex server and change file permissions  for files in Plex folder. Plex creates its own unraid-plex user, so you will not be able to delete files unless you change the ownership

7. Copy database and metadata files from your backup

8. Start Plex server

 

Everything should be working now and you should have access to previous libraries.

 

I repeated this steps twice and I was able to publish plex each time.

 

 

Thank you for your help

 

I know I am into some serious thread necro here, but I had to post to say, you sir, are my hero. This fixed the issues I was having after a botched install of another docker.
Sadly, my backups did not migrate back over as I had hoped , but all else went smooth as silk.
 

Thank you!