Alexa now needs remote access to work?

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

Server Version#: 4.63.0 and several previous versions
Player Version#: Alexa autoupdates by itself so no idea. last 6 months?

Hi folks. probably a frequent question but my searching can find nothing relevant. I’m running plex on a desktop and it has lots of music and no remote access (intentionally). I’ve been using the Alexa integration with Alexa devices on my home network, “Alexa, tell plex to play…”. About six months ago, this stopped working: Alexa said that while it can see the plex server, remote access is not enabled so it can’t play. I’ve tried re-installing plex and rebuilding the Alexa connection with no luck.

I don’t want remote access and didn’t used to need it to stream music between the plex server and the alexa device (both on the same network). How do I fix it? If Plex and amazon decided that I now need it, is there a way I can narrowly allow plex to talk just to the amazon servers that think they now need to be part of my streaming?

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IIRC Alexa had always required a working remote access connection. This is because the Alexa side of things is managed from Amazon’s cloud.

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Fascinating. I wonder if I had a relay enabled. It’s hard to tell - the relay article isn’t very clear about how to know if it’s enabled or the general relay architecture.

I did a simple test: I enabled remote access, but did not configure anything on my router (pfsense, so won’t respond to plex’s request to do an auto port-forward). As expected, plex gave me an error, that it’s “Not available outside your network” with the option to map a port.

Oddly, Plex is now accessible from Alexa both in my home network and outside it - the relay must be active.

Thanks!

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