In short, I just want to build a media server for me and my family. Plex seems a great choice. But I cannot understand how does it manage users.
I have installed a plex server, and when I want to login by viewing http://myserver.com:32400/web, it is redirected to your official website. So it looks like a process similar with SSO? If I understand well, I actually login into your official system, and your system then let me access my private server.
In this case, I am wondering how could I access my server if I am in a local network and have no access to your official server?
Further, is a fully self-managed users system available? Or at least admin user need to connect official user manage system?
With Plex Pass (paid subscription) you can setup a “plex home”. This will allow you to setup “managed users” to whom you as the admin can grant access to certain of the libraries on your server. You can also restrict to certain media (e.g. by rating or certain labels).
This is described in a support page: https://support.plex.tv/articles/203815766-what-is-plex-home/
You can use the same approach with friends who have a Plex account of their own (works also with individual family members – so you don’t have to go via the Plex Home approach). https://support.plex.tv/articles/203887926-my-home/
As for your other question… Plex is designed to work with an existing internet connection and you will not be able to use it regularly if you’re fully offline. There’s a scenario where you tell plex to ignore this kind of authentication for your local network. You’ll need to search the forum for Plex Offline use (don’t have the link at hand).
However I found this support article on the subject: https://support.plex.tv/articles/207538527-do-i-need-a-plex-account-to-stream-locally/
@tom80H said:
With Plex Pass (paid subscription) you can setup a “plex home”. This will allow you to setup “managed users” to whom you as the admin can grant access to certain of the libraries on your server. You can also restrict to certain media (e.g. by rating or certain labels).
This is described in a support page: https://support.plex.tv/articles/203815766-what-is-plex-home/
You can use the same approach with friends who have a Plex account of their own (works also with individual family members – so you don’t have to go via the Plex Home approach). https://support.plex.tv/articles/203887926-my-home/
As for your other question… Plex is designed to work with an existing internet connection and you will not be able to use it regularly if you’re fully offline. There’s a scenario where you tell plex to ignore this kind of authentication for your local network. You’ll need to search the forum for Plex Offline use (don’t have the link at hand).
However I found this support article on the subject: https://support.plex.tv/articles/207538527-do-i-need-a-plex-account-to-stream-locally/
Thanks for your reply. So it seems I really need to connect to official website.
@“lzyl888@gmail.com” said:
I have installed a plex server, and when I want to login by viewing http://myserver.com:32400/web, it is redirected to your official website. So it looks like a process similar with SSO? If I understand well, I actually login into your official system, and your system then let me access my private server.
It only redirects to authenticate your account and provide the SSL certificate so you can make a secure connection to your server. It should not redirect the next time.
In this case, I am wondering how could I access my server if I am in a local network and have no access to your official server?
If you’ve signed in before, it should still work. The Plex clients will cache your authentication and continue to work even if you don’t have internet access. You will have issues if you try to connect from a new device that hasn’t been authenticated. In this case, the easiest method is to sign your server out from plex.tv, then no authentication is needed. Then sign back in once you can connect.
Further, is a fully self-managed users system available? Or at least admin user need to connect official user manage system?
