Hi guys

 

📜Background 

I'm coming from ESXi which was simple compared to unRAID. First off, the whole thing about not using VM's and using Docker instead, with the don't use Docker container use Community App instead seems very strange. I did try installing Ubuntu to get Plex installed but it ran VERY slow with lots of display issues with the remote viewer (I needed to minimise and maximise it to refresh the screen). I switched to docker which runs better but have some issues with that and ended up tying myself up in knots trying to get it to work so I've started this post just to ask some very simple questions.

 

⚙️Setup 

Plex now runs on the same IP as my unRAID server 192.168.1.2. The only thing I now have installed is Plex from plexinc/pms-docker repo installed from the community app (store thingy). I have all my libraries in Plex setup and it's got all the meta data in there too. Life is wonderful.

 

🚦State 

When I go to Plex settings>>remote access it tells me that I have no internal (private) IP address, it doesn't know my public IP address and it thinks there is not internet access. I know this is rubbish as it's downloaded a ton of meta data (which I've just refreshed on some music), I'm also getting the latest headlines from one of the Plex-sub-service feeds.

 

🙀Issue 

When I go to https://app.plex.tv it apparently cannot find my server. I'm using the standard 32400 port which has been setup on my NAT in my pfSense setup. I know this worked for my ESXi setup for my Lubuntu OS with Plex installed but can't seem to get anywhere with this.

 

I don't know if it's unRAID, my pfSense (which I doubt), Docker, Plex Docker Image I've chosen (plexinc/pms-docker) or Plex settings?

 

Can anyone help?

Many thanks ☺️

 

Edited June 6, 20197 yr by Dal1980
Added images (removed potential sensitive info)

unRaid keeps dropping off the network. I'm using a 4 port nic + the nic on the mobo.

I'll have times where it won't respond to http in the browser but shows up on the network when I use a network scanner and I'm able to ping. Other times it doesn't exist at all, I'll plug a screen into the box and I'll not get a signal yet I'll get a warning when I press the power button.

I've only got 8 days to left and so far I haven't been able to successfully keep anything stable and working and I've only needed two things unRaid and Plex

 

At least I know the hardware I've invested in isn't letting me down but I fear my next move will be FreeNAS or OpenMediaVault as I'll be pushed out on the unRaid free trial before I manage to solve problems.

Damn it, its just all of a sudden worked, I noticed that it wasn't set to what dhcp said it should be set to after restarting and ended up over at 192.168.1.193. I started up the array then docker and checked plex (I wasn't hopeful as I'd not changed anything other than removing static IP on unraid network eth0) except all the fields were present in remote connection and I was successfully able to connect using external plex player/app. 

 

Is there something up with making static IP assignments? 

 

 

In fact, my Nat rule for 32400 is still applied to only 192.168.1.2 which means traffic coming in on that port is told to take a dive, there is no device at this IP. Eh, I'm lost? 

41 minutes ago, Dal1980 said:

In fact, my Nat rule for 32400 is still applied to only 192.168.1.2 which means traffic coming in on that port is told to take a dive, there is no device at this IP. Eh, I'm lost?  

If you remove static IP setting, then IP assign will be by DHCP, this is normal behaviour. Even no one use that IP, but DHCP / Client may get different IP each time.

 

You should bind the MAC address in DHCP for static IP allocation and confirm it work perfect all times.

 

 

I haven't any experience on plex, does plex run well on what platform before ?

May be you could run Unraid under ESXi and Unraid just provide NAS function.

Edited June 7, 20197 yr by Benson

11 minutes ago, Benson said:

If you remove static IP setting, then IP assign will be by DHCP, this is normal behaviour. Even no one use that IP, but DHCP / Client may get different IP each time.

 

You should bind the MAC address in DHCP for static IP allocation and confirm it works perfect all times.

I already had the MAC address of eth0 bound to 192.168.1.2 which is why I thought I'd just remove it from being static on unRAID. For some reason (which I've not looked into yet) unRaid requested an IP from DHCP using a different nic (hence no MAC match and it got assigned from the DHCP pool). None of this is my issue btw...

 

My issue is that since I've moved from static 192.168.1.2 Plex started working, this then led me to uncover that potentially this all comes down to the NAT rule of passing traffic through as currently there is no NAT rule on any IP that helps Plex yet it has gone from not working to fully working and I'm trying to understand why.

 

11 minutes ago, Dal1980 said:

None of this is my issue btw...

As you use pfsense so you should a experience user, does pfsense run in same machine with Unraid ?

 

11 minutes ago, Dal1980 said:

My issue is that since I've moved from static 192.168.1.2 Plex started working, this then led me to uncover that potentially this all comes down to the NAT rule of passing traffic through as currently there is no NAT rule on any IP that helps Plex yet it has gone from not working to fully working and I'm trying to understand why.

Do you means plex actually run well, just some network issue make it doesnt work.

Edited June 7, 20197 yr by Benson

Yes, pfSense is dedicated barebones. It used to run off a VM on ESXi but I've switched all my setup around so I can setup unRAID and in that process decided to keep pfSense on it's own box so that there was less setup issues, complication and it means I can unplug the unRAID without losing internet connectivity.

 

The NAT rule for forwarding 32400 was working on ESXi, and, from what I've read, everywhere, is required for Plex to work. Since having this IP hiccup has unearthed that this NAT rule has potentially been the issue. I'll have to get some screen grabs of pfSense NAT rule to see if there's anything in there that is throwing it off (I'm at work atm so it'll be later).

 

Plex works locally and from my current working location (remotely)

 

Open Port Check Tool reports "Port 32400 is closed on (my server IP)"

 

There is something I was always puzzled about. Why docker shows so many ports being mapped since I thought plex only required one (either the 32400 or a custom one which I don't use) 

I had several issues with accessing Plex with a PFSense router. It would tell me I had no remote access, my connection wasn't secure (even locally), etc. This thread helped me get it up and running, maybe it can assist you as well: https://forums.plex.tv/t/secure-connections-lan-and-pfsense/123319

 

Edited June 7, 20197 yr by weirdcrap

I've looked at my settings again for unRAID and pfSense and supplied the image below. In summary:

 

The MAC addresses match from Eth0 and pfSense DHCP reservation yet after restarting unRaid it has been assigned 192.168.1.193

The current NAT rule should not be doing anything as it is applied to 192.168.1.2 and I can confirm that 32400 port is closed from outside of my network (how Plex is working I do not understand)

 

I'm going to see if I can get this moved back onto the IP address 192.168.1.2 and remove the NAT rule all together to see if that's the ultimate cause of the original complaint I had (no access to outside my network to Plex server).

 

Please feel free to chip in on anything that looks odd with anything that I'm doing.

To be honest, I don't know what has or is going entirely

 

I noticed that a NIC that I was using to assign a static IP was reporting as disconnected which explains why the IP assignment wasn't working properly.

 

Since putting that in place having the NAT rule disabled Plex works fine. I went back and enabled it which then didn't have any issues. I've tried restarting and everything seems stable. I think I'm just going to disable the NAT rule since it clearly works without it (for now at least).

 

I hope this helps someone in the future.

 

Cheers

Dal1980