I am trying to access my plex content on a council open network.
I have port forwarded my server to a custom domain on port 32400 however on the app on my phone I access it through the default method as I have specified the port forward on my server.
When I go to access my content, plex will load their own content but my libraries are unacessible. This is true if it’s through the app or going straight to my custom domain.
Any help on what I should configure to fix this would be appreciated.
I’ve ran into the same issue. My setup is Unraid server >> hardware firewall >> ISP fiber gateway (set in bypass). My Unraid server has a public IP address. No changes have been made to the server. I have a CNAME setup in Cloudflare pointing to my domain (plex.mydomain.org) and a reverse proxy configured as well. This has been working for the past 2 years.
That said, if I access the local Plex web gui (http://192.X.X.X:32400/web), my libraries/content are available. As soon as I try to access my Plex server via the web (either via public IP address:32400/web or through DNS plex.mydomain.org), my content is not available. When I go to “More” >> “Your Media” I get the “Add your media to Plex” page, as if it is not detecting my server.
Under Remote Access, it says “Fully accessible outside your network” unless I check the “manually specify the public port” of 32400… then it fails. Verified the port is accessible via my public IP address
I resolved my issue. I’m thinking this was a DNS issue. My server has two Ethernet connections, 1 for WAN port on ISP gateway, 1 on local network router. I rebooted my local network router and was able to get my Plex library to show up externally as well as internally. Root cause still not discovered. I installed a container for Pi-Hole but didn’t progress further post-installation of it, so it is possible that this somehow created an issue somehow as that is the only thing that changed.
@otmpp… didn’t mean to hijack your thread, but I’d be glad to help however I can. You said that you are on a “council open network”. So, to clarify, you are connected (for example on your phone) to a public network using the Plex app and your server’s media content does not show up while doing this, correct?
The operator of that WiFi might have a port filter employed. Because even a single user streaming video from their home server can potentially block a significant part of the overall available bandwidth of that WiFi.
If your public port number is still the default 32400 for Plex, now is the time to try and change it to some random value between 20000 – 50000.
Another possible cause is the DNS resolver, that is used on this particular WiFi. Some are filtered and generally prevent certain domains from resolving, like the .direct TLD that is used for Plex servers by default.
Some DNS servers are simply too slow and don’t update their records fast enough.
In both cases, all you can do is to use a custom DNS server on your device. Google’s public DNS service has been found reliable (8.8.8.8).
If the WiFi operator also blocks DNS queries to all DNS servers but the local one, it is time to start using a VPN service for your mobile access.
Thanks for your input, I will have a look into this.
Sorry for my delay in replying, I have only just seen this for some reason.
I currently run a wireguard VPN which gives me access to the servers on my local network. However when I try to connect to it on the council network no data can be transmitted. Would I be right in assuming I’d have to play around with the ports until I find one which works?
