Server Version#: 1.23.2.4656
Player Version#: Alexa/Echo
I’m asking Plex via Alexa to “play music by Garbage”. it tells me “playing music by Garbage”.
Remote access is enabled fully, and in the Console I can see it seems to be communicating, but nothing comes out.
Echo and the Plex server are on the same LAN.
Plex Media Server Logs_2021-06-18_17-41-15.zip (6.8 MB)
Is that exactly what you are saying? That won’t use Plex. You need to say.
“Alexa, tell Plex to play music by Garbage”
Getting the first player to work was frustrating, but once I have gotten things working no problem I’ve encountered, to date, has failed to be corrected by power cycling the Alexa device and/or rebooting the server. Hope you have the same success.
I use “Alexa, ask Plex to play music by Garbage.” Is tell and ask equivalent in this context?
I have the same (or similar) problem. Raised it back in May here (thread 715669)
Yes, ask and tell are equivalent.
yes, I’ve tried both “Alexa ask plex to play music by garbage” and I’ve also tried via “Alexa Open Plex → Play music by Garbage”.
Both end with Echo saying “playing music by garbage”… and then thats it.
So it seems to recognise what I want, its just not doing it at all.
I asked, using your specific query of “Alexa, ask Plex to play music by Garbage”, and my Alexa device started playing Garbage for me. I will acknowledge that this service is fragile, to be generous, but I have every instance of malfunction/misfunction I’ve encountered has been cleared by power cycling the client and/or the server. I have even had cases where other Alexa clients were working, but the one I wanted to work wouldn’t… that issue cleared by restarting the server. It is my hope that the need for the power cycle workaround will become a rare event as the software matures.
@bitspiel - If restarting your PMS helps, that sounds more like remote access may be breaking for you. That would lose the connection for Alexa to work.
@ian.addison - Can you provide your PMS logs after trying to issue the command again?
@anon18523487 I have had cases where I will have one Alexa device misbehaving but the other Alexa devices are happy/working and a reboot of the devices (Alexa and/or server) returns to a functioning state. If remote access was an issue for one Alexa device, why wouldn’t it be an issue for the rest of the known devices? (They are all on the same subnet and same wifi hub.)
That’s hard to diagnose. If one Alexa device works, they all should work.
Thanks @anon18523487
Plex logs attached
Plex Media Server Logs_2021-06-22_09-32-17.zip (5.2 MB)
In the few seconds before the logs were downloaded I first did an “Open Plax” and “Play library radio” As usual, Alexa responded with “Playing library radio…” but nothing played.
Then I said “Alexa, Stop” and “ask Plex to play dark side of the moon”. Similarly, Alexa responded with “Playing the album dark side of the moon 2011 Remaster by Pink Floyd…” but nothing played. NB, Alexa responds with the full album title and the artist which must surely be coming from PMS.
You mentioned remote access as being the potential problem for some others. I am usually accessing my server remotely and I do get occasional responses where Alexa will report that my “Plex server is available but remote access is not enabled”, but if I just repeat my request it goes on as above. However, I get the issue of not playing even when accessing from a local Echo.
Nevertheless, I do see that my server’s “Remote Access” page consistently shows “Not available outside your network. Your server is signed in to Plex, but is not reachable from outside your network.”
However I can always play music remotely using the IOS app and from a browser and, given that I still have prolems with a local Echo, I tend the the view that the Remote Access page is giving false info.
Hope the logs help.
Thanks again for coming on board to help.
Ian
Looking at your log, I see that Plex Relay is being used which means your remote access is not setup properly. You’ll need to solve that before Alexa will work. Can you start a new thread for this remote access issue. Provide a new PMS log after restarting and waiting not doing anything for 5 minutes before grabbing the logs. Ping me in the thread so I’ll see it.
Since I posted originally I’ve updated Plex and restarted the server as new versions and firmware have come out. I’ve tried different Alexa devices and my remote setups been setup for years and still has a green marker
The first attempt I tried today failed but it mentioned the server name I notice before going silent.
But on the second try this one worked. Slightly oddly this Alexa (bedroom) started the music via my Sonus. I do usually use ‘Alexa play music on Sonus’ in this room without Plex so maybe it’s learnt to use the Sonus somehow.
Playing via Plexamp on mobile (WiFi off) does work 100%, no Alexa involvement there
I did forget to say… yeah I’m using “Alexa, Ask plex to…”
One thing I’ve noticed that’s driving me completely bonkers.
For the most part, Plex and Alexa get along. However, any time an update is available on the Plex server, it starts misbehaving. I can always tell when an update is available because Alexa will do the "Playing music by. " and then never starts playing.
I will then log into the Plex web interface and sure enough, there is a notification of a pending update. I don’t know what about the pending update causes this, but I keep hoping it will get fixed by an update and it keeps happening!
The update notification is controlled by the client, in your case Plex Web. This should not affect Alexa working as your server doesn’t do anything special when there is an update.
If you can provide your PMS logs after the next time you see this and try using Alexa, I can take a look.
Hi,
Heres todays logs of me trying to get Alexa<>Plex working to play music by Lorde.
I also tried via PlexAmp via 3G, forcing that to be outside the LAN (therefore proving that the Plexserver → Internet access is good), and that works fine.Plex Media Server Logs_2021-08-22_17-23-43.zip (3.5 MB)
Your server logs indicate you have DNS rebinding enabled on your local network. This is also preventing remote access from working properly so PMS has enabled it’s Relay connection. That is why PlexAmp works, but Alexa cannot work through Relay it needs remote access working properly.
Hi can you point me to something to help me understand that some more?
What in the logs shows that ?
I’m running on a QNAP NAS. I can see the NAS itself runs dnsmasq.
I tried pointing the QNAP DNS config to 8.8.8.8 away from my local router, but no difference. (and a PLEX restart).
And if that’s an issue… shouldn’t the PLEX remote access UI be telling me something is wrong ?
