I am running a Synology DS1821 NAS running DSM 7.2.2-72806 Update 3, and PMS 1.41.5.9626.720096266. I am using a Netgear Nighthawk D7800 Router. I have a lifetime Plex Pass.
I can access media on all TVs, tablets and phones in the house (local directory), but only after I edited the Synology’s Shared Folder permissions to give Plex Media Server read/write access to both the TV and Movie directories.
Outside the house, I and other Plex user friends I have given access to, can log in to my Plex server, see my directory names, but there are no posters or media presented under those directories.
We can see posters for Watch History and My Watchist, but we cannot see the media.
I have done the port-forwarding setup in my router, external port 17528, internal port 32400, and the internal IP address of my server matches.
I have also set up a Dynamic DNS using the No-IP.com service. (my ISP was going to charge a monthly fee for a static IP address)
On the dashboard Remote Access Screen, I get the often-mentioned green “available” message for a minute or so, and then it changes to red “not available outside your network” error.
Looking for help please as to why the media is being blocked from leaving my local network. I have trawled through countless entries here and many YouTube instructional videos, but I am lost. I am not an expert IT person, just a run-of-the-mill movie and TV enthusiast, so please treat me gently and use simple language/ terms in your reply
In order for your router to be accessible from the Internet side, your router must have a publicly accessible (i.e. “routable”) IPv4 address.
CG-NAT does prevent this. Since routable IPv4 adresses are scarce and are traded for ever-increasing prices among ISPs, many ISPs take them away from their customers in typical residential applications, where they are typically not needed. Unless that customer wants to have a “server” of some kind – like a Plex server.
It is very likely, that your ISP has made a change, so that all their customers are now behind a Carrier-Grade NAT. So they all share one (or maybe a few) regular IPv4 adress.
It is therefore logical that your ISP is going to request additional payment if they need to give you one of the valuable IPv4 adresses just for yourself.
And this is unfortunately still needed for Plex remote access, because the IPv6 access is not fully implemented yet.
TL;DR: your ISP has likely made a change, which put you into a double-NAT situation.
Dear Otto
Thank you for taking the time to reply.
I have been through the support articles you suggest previously and again just now, and I do not believe I am in a double-NAT situation.
What I can’t understand is:- because I can see my Library names externally, I can see posters for my last played externally, I can see posters for my watchlist externally, doesn’t that mean that I am connecting to my NAS externally because I can see that metadata? But I cannot see posters for any library, or play media for any item externally.
Again with many thanks for your input
Cheers
Paul
Hi there
Just tested with both the mobile app on an iphone and and ipad, and then also going to app.plex.tv on both devices using Safari, and the result was the same. At one stage I did get the error “something went wrong. Paul’s Synology is off-line or not available” (or similar words)
Thanks again
Some general guidance for stable network connections:
Avoid VPN for the server (device).
Avoid wireless connections between server/media storage and the router.
If your NAS has several Ethernet ports, only use one of them. (unless you have an Ethernet switch which does support proper port aggregation/teaming)
Hi there
No VPN in use
Cat5 (wired) connection everywhere
Only one Cat5 plugged into the NAS
The NAS has a allocated/static IP address in the router’s table.
Cheers
Not using a wireless connection to the modem/router - using Cat5 from the NAS and from the PC I am using to type this.
To test the external connection I am disabling WiFi on my phone and using the cell connection only, and then bluetooth hotspotting to the Ipad to double-check the “external” cell connection.
I managed to stop and restart the Plex app on the Synology but still getting errors.
The error on the iPad is more verbose. It says
app.plex.tv is unable to connect to “Paul’s Synology” securely. It’s “secure connections” setting may be set to disable, or you may need to adjust some settings on your network.
Does Synology nowaydays use Docker containers to host apps?
If they do, see if you can activate “host networking” on the container of Plex server.
Otherwise you are indeed in a double-NAT situation.
Do you use some kind of enhanced security feature on the tablet? Those sometimes try to decrypt+inspect+re-encrypt the data packets between server and clients. Which then leads to the client dropping those packets, because they are not signed with the server’s original certificate.
Normally this should not be necessary. Plex will automatically give you a subdomain name on the .plex.direct domain.
Do you have a custom security certificate for your DynDNS domain name?
Did you put anything into Settings - [server] - ‘Show Advanced’ - “Custom server access URLs”? And if so, what?
I’m sorry, I am getting lost here and it’s getting late here in Australia. I need to log off now and will come back to this tomorrow.
Thanks again for your help, but I am not following the questions and will need to ask a friend for help
