@kopfpilot said:
Dockerized plex users can leverage a feature of the docker port mapping to bind a container port to a single ip and port of the host.Not exactly what you guys are asking for…
Question from a noob when it comes to virtualization: if you’re gonna run apps in a docker container, why would you not run your torrent client and vpn in one instead of Plex, thus isolating the cause of the problem from other apps that you don’t want to run over VPN (Plex, Sonarr, Radarr, etc.)?
Plex keeps finding my 10gbe nic even though I do not have the nic bonded in unRaid. Looking for a solution.
If the reason you need to control the interface plex binds to is to bypass a vpn connection then you may be able to use the script(or the idea behind the script) here https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/64600/using-plex-server-with-a-vpn/p3#Comment_602919 to use routing rules to force plex to use the connection you want it to for external access
It is annoying the we have to go to such lengths to get plex to work, but it may do what you need.
Dear plex team. I want to take the time to once more complain about the painfully missed option for controlling NIC binding.
At the moment my temporary “fix” is to add an additional NIC (arranging it in the system that plex takes it) and setting up the other system services arround the plex server. This is a nightmare! I do have a server environment where I know that as soon as something changes network wise I will get in deep trouble again. Please give us controll over the network settings!
I must emphasize that this is a very basic setting in linux systems.
Just wanted to note that Sonos integration can actually suffer because of this if the device Plex is running on has multiple NICs. One example given in a topic over in the Plex for Sonos area was someone who has their Plex server connected to a SAN as well as their LAN… and Plex was telling their Sonos devices to connect using the SAN interface instead of the LAN interface… and he has a firewall in place to prevent that from being possible (which would make sense - devices don’t connect to the SAN, servers do; devices connect to the servers).
Also, many NAS devices are multi-homed these days, either with multiple interfaces that can be connected to different networks, or with virtualization built-in that can provide additional virtual interfaces. Having the ability to bind Plex to a particular interface is still something needed, years after this topic was created. Still hoping there’s a chance, somewhere out there…
And yes, I know there’s a workaround setting to tell Plex what interface should be preferred… and IMHO it’s just that, a workaround. Let me control what interface(s) Plex listens on. If I want it to be listening on multiple interfaces, THEN that setting might prove to be handy. But if I only want it listening on one interface in the first place, let me set it up that way.
Christmas has come early ! The feature of allowing the user to select a specific network interface is now available as from Plex Media Server version 1.13.5.5291 which was released to Plex Pass beta yesterday
See Release Note Plex Media Server
Details of the new Advanced Network server setting can be found on this support article https://support.plex.tv/articles/200430283-network/
Please pay attention to the associated notes
Finally! I was just about to write up a huge rant about this and came across this post. It’s been years dealing with this nonsense, even though you could use ADVERTISE_IP to add and IP to the discovery list, it still wouldn’t make Plex listen to a particular interface. This would often result in Plex randomly picking an interface on startup and remote access would fail if you have any reasonable port forwarding or firewalls setup.
Will be testing this shortly.
Does this work? I still get error connecting when i have my docker container with OpenVPN running.
If there is a problem, please provide logs and logs need to cover launch of Plex Media Server and time of issue
https://support.plex.tv/articles/201643703-reporting-issues-with-plex-media-server/
https://support.plex.tv/articles/200250417-plex-media-server-log-files/
I’m not sure I follow what is supported here. From the referenced article:
The selected Network Interface will be used for local clients to use to connect to the server as well as the automatic mapping for uPnP port when Remote Access is enabled
But when Plex binds to an interface, it’s actually performing 2 functions. One is to allow remote connection, via the WAN, to allow “phone home” and access remotely. The other is to allow local clients, on the LAN, access to the server.
By selecting one interface, you would be limiting Plex to just one of those functions and locking out the other.
Unless I’m missing something fundamental here.
Cheers.
If you’re running Plex on your router, then yes, that might be an issue. But most people are running it on a PC or NAS that is within their LAN or other internal network, so the Plex server would only need one interface to accomplish both feats. The router would separately get a port forward to the Plex server, covering remote access.
But some NAS boxes and servers might have multiple NICs connected to different networks, or some virtual NICs for virtual servers, so this option allows selecting one NIC for Plex to use in those cases.
I figured it out.
You just have to set the TransmissionOpenVPN container on bridged mode. I use my server’s IP for the Host IP, select 9091 for the host port, 9091/tcp for the exposed port.
Problem solved. Plex is now remotely accessible.
How does this work with a single NIC with multiple IPs? Plex enumerates the IPs, but selecting any of them has no effect - it still uses the first IP for the NIC.
It does not.
There is an issue with the implementation anyway - eg if ipv6 is enabled.
Many thanks for the info. Is it something planned or would I be better served buying an addin card for an additional NIC?
When you say IPv6 enabled, is that at a Plex or NIC level?
It is not planned - as I said the existing implementation of selecting a NIC is itself incomplete and has issues - the ipv6 one I mentioned is one example
The setting within Plex.
Settings / Server /Network
Thanks. I’m not currently using IPv6 so I may look for an add-in card for an extra NIC to bind Plex to.
This doesn’t work for me… even though I pick my LAN interface it’s still trying to allow remoting in over my VPN interface. Every time I need to shut down my VPN, start plex, have it grab the correct external IP then start my VPN.
There are still issues with this and the functionality that came in with version 1.13.5 of the server is superseded now in 1.13.9 with option to select an interface for the local network connections.
There are further tweaks in the pipleline
I would suggest waiting for these to get released and then can look into evidence of behavior to see if it can be improved
