[Bug] During internet outage - local server is inaccessible

[jonalmeida]

Server Version#: 1.27.1.5916 (Synology DSM 7)
Player Version#: 4.85.1 (Web)

During a nation-wide internet outage, my local Plex server was inaccessible because it was failing on an external network request it would make. I consider this a bug because the local server was accessible from the Plex Android app (9.4.1.33413) during the same outage.

STR:

1. Induce/simulate an ISP network outage.
2. Access a local Plex server with it’s direct IP address.
3. Observe the spinning loader, followed by “We are unable to complete your request.”

Expected:

• Access to the local server should “just work” and allow you to view your local content similar to the Android app.

Actual:

• The network panel of my browser (Firefox 102.0 (64-bit) Mac OS) shows a failed request that continuously retries with several attempts.
• https://plex.tv/monitoring/health?X-Plex-Product=Plex%20Web&X-Plex-Version=4.76.1&X-Plex-Client-Identifier=[REDACTED]&X-Plex-Platform=Firefox&X-Plex-Platform-Version=102.0&X-Plex-Sync-Version=2&X-Plex-Features=external-media%2Cindirect-media&X-Plex-Model=bundled&X-Plex-Device=OSX&X-Plex-Device-Name=Firefox&X-Plex-Device-Screen-Resolution=2056x1200%2C2056x1329&X-Plex-Language=en

(will provide logs in a separate post - unable to upload them at the moment)

[ChuckPa]

Have you configured your server to allow LAN devices to connect without authentication for those cases?

( Settings - Server - Network - Show Advanced - List of IP addresses and networks that are allowed without auth)

You can either enter discrete IP addresses or the entire subnet.
e.g.

1. 192.168.0.21,192.168.0.202 – Discrete devices
   -or-
2. 192.168.0.0/255.255.255.0 – The entire subnet

I live in an area where internet outages during winter are common.
For this reason, I have configured the server to allow everything on my home LAN to run without authentication when there is an outage.

[jonalmeida]

Thanks Chuck, this is an excellent solution!