I’m a plex pass subscriber, with two small children in the home. I live in an area where the ISP is not very reliable: (Century Link). Lost internet service and noticed that one of my children could not watch plex. So I checked my account( Different user pin), and I couldn’t connect either. This is a “Plex Home” on a local network, why in the world does it have to rely on the internet to watch locally on our LAN? Just when I thought Plex was going to be our flawless media solution, this situation rears it’s head…
This information might help.
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200484903-Internet-and-Network-Requirements
@NewPlaza
I saw that article after the fact. It’s really not ideal to loose services locally, when internet service is down. I mean my server is in my house, we are trying to watch from in my house, but unable due to service being down.
@sld3258 said:
@NewPlaza
It’s really not ideal to loose services locally, when internet service is down
I know. It sucks.
If someone from Plex happens to read this, I literally just had internet service restored, some 26 hrs, after we lost it. In that time Plex locally at my house was not useable with “Plex Home”. Can this be corrected, or are there unseen security concerns I’m unaware of that the system has to be setup this way?
Plex Home requires the internet because you cannot log into an account without internet. Just like you cannot log into these forums without internet.
Only the last signed in user can continue to use a player app ( assuming you did not intentionally log them out )
The Player apps and other features which require internet are listed in the article mentioned above
@BigWheel
Yes, after reading that article after this whole situation arose, I’m aware, no internet= No local viewing, if logged out prior to losing internet.
Being that i have Plex running locally on a Synology unit, it would be nice if the “accounts” i.e my kids could log in to their account if we lose internet access.
Not sure why you put “accounts” in quotes. managed user accounts are actual accounts hosted on our authentication servers like any other. Only differences are they have no email or password and are linked to your account. managed user accounts are not local to your server or players. therefore they need the internet to log into them
@BigWheel said:
Plex Home requires the internet because you cannot log into an account without internet. Just like you cannot log into these forums without internet.Only the last signed in user can continue to use a player app ( assuming you did not intentionally log them out )
The Player apps and other features which require internet are listed in the article mentioned above
This to me is a design flaw and not obvious until you experience an internet outage. Home users should be authenticated by the local Plex Media Server.
Had I known this limitation in advance I would not have step Plex Home. It just makes no logical sense that your are locked out of your own Plex Media Server when in internet link is broken.
@BigWheel said:
Not sure why you put “accounts” in quotes. managed user accounts are actual accounts hosted on our authentication servers like any other. Only differences are they have no email or password and are linked to your account. managed user accounts are not local to your server or players. therefore they need the internet to log into them.
I use the different user accounts for parental controls for the kids. I just don’t understand why the different user accounts- (name and 4 digit pin) can’t be stored on the local server, for just this instance where internet can be lost. Which happens a lot… is this something Plex can address?
Guess this one will fade of in the wind… > @perrottg said:
@BigWheel said:
Plex Home requires the internet because you cannot log into an account without internet. Just like you cannot log into these forums without internet.Only the last signed in user can continue to use a player app ( assuming you did not intentionally log them out )
The Player apps and other features which require internet are listed in the article mentioned above
This to me is a design flaw and not obvious until you experience an internet outage. Home users should be authenticated by the local Plex Media Server.
Had I known this limitation in advance I would not have step Plex Home. It just makes no logical sense that your are locked out of your own Plex Media Server when in internet link is broken.
@perrottg
Well Said:) Would be nice if this could be addressed by Plex, to make a Life Time Plex Pass member Happy with the product.
@bigwheel - this thread is educational to me.
Can Home (2nd/3rd/4th) users view the PMS server remotely?
Yes, home users have both internal and external use of your servers. They just have “fast switching” ability which allows you to easily share a devices in your home with multiple users (easy switching between users).
@cayars - Thanks.
Then I have to agree with some in this thread - home users shouldn’t be limited to internet connected servers only. “Home” account keys should be created and stored locally, and Plex could remotely check if the home user was remote.
I agree with them and you as well. If that info was at least cached locally for a period of time (say a week), then we could continue to use Plex locally when outages happen. Could also make “portable” Plex systems (RVs, Cars, etc), but easier to use as well.
Carlo
Personally I think that plex has engineered this invasivness that requires a plex connection for god knows what nefarious purposes…
the excuse is that the connection is needed to download codecs… what to save space? you crap up PMS application support directory with GBs worth of crap a few MB of codecs is nothing
in the good ole days you could run plex server/media center on the same machine without an internet … no scratch that … any network connection at all … local or otherwise…
there is no reason that we should have to bind to the mothership other than they are getting someting out of it…
To clarify, I am not disputing the need for connectivity back to Plex. This is required to validate whether a Plex user has a current subscription and also to facilitate remote access etc.
However, the solution needs to be fault tolerant. Caching the information locally, as others have suggested, for a small period of time would provide enough robustness to deal with ISP outages and Plex doing maintenance.
@perrottg said:
To clarify, I am not disputing the need for connectivity back to Plex. This is required to validate whether a Plex user has a current subscription and also to facilitate remote access etc.However, the solution needs to be fault tolerant. Caching the information locally, as others have suggested, for a small period of time would provide enough robustness to deal with ISP outages and Plex doing maintenance.
I agree with this @perrottg
@BigWheel Do you agree? Could this be implemented as far as caching info locally for say 24hrs, for these isp outages? Although I had service out for 26 hrs this past go around.
Personally, I’d like to see this info cached for a few days (maybe 7 days). I’d think 72 hours (3 days) minimum.
I don’t see why this couldn’t be based on your renew date as well. If your a yearly or lifetime member does it really have to “phone home” more than once a week or two?
@cayars said:
Personally, I’d like to see this info cached for a few days (maybe 7 days). I’d think 72 hours (3 days) minimum.I don’t see why this couldn’t be based on your renew date as well. If your a yearly or lifetime member does it really have to “phone home” more than once a week or two?
If you are a lifetime member it should check once, then set a flag and leave it.
