I would like to see a local authentication server built into Plex that would perform a couple functions:
Mirrors the functionality of plex.tv for authentication purposes.
Replicates from Plex.tv only the account data needed for our own PMS server (main account and friends).
This service should be locked down so it is not manageable locally, its only source of data should be official replication of applicable accounts from Plex.tv.
So, now when a local authentication request is performed, Plex.tv is first tried, if unavailable then our local authentication service would be used.
The entire purpose being that we would never get locked out of our own servers when Plex.tv is unavailable.
No idea if this is the best way to go about it… I agree though, we shouldn’t need to rely on Plex.tv at all for our servers to work. They should work internally without a hitch, infact… I’d say this should be the first priority really.
I like this. You never know what happens in the future. Maybe plex, inc goes out of business or the developer team gets another interest, this would be a nightmare for the users.
This has my vote aswell, plex should be able to work all by itself when either the servers or your local ISP is having an outage
Internet outages for the user is also another excellent reason that local authentication should be possible.
I of course would like to have the option of completely cutting out external cloud authentication if I could, although I have doubts that the Plex Team would even consider such an option. So I present a compromise, local authentication still under the control of plex.tv.
It’s even possible that they could use such a system to reduce their own authentication server loads, if that would be useful to them
Nope. This needs to happen… I actually do not like plex.tv handling authentication. I would prefer my server handle it… In fact why does plex need to handle it? If you want external access off your home network than simply NAT the server or port forward 32400 for it, which most are already doing.
This gets my vote! We often get outages and renders my Sony TV access to Plex useless. Using RasPlex seems to work as you can set the local address I also remember being able to do this on my Samsung TV. Not sure however what happens if my Plex server is no longer authenticated.
Anyway, we plan to move further into the country where internet access will not be 24/7. This concerns me a little and this is why having my own internal Plex network would be ideal as an option.
I was about to create a new feature request for this until I found this thread.
It’s crazy that there isn’t a local authentication backup option for when plex.tv is unreachable!! Not everyone has a reliable, always available internet connection or wants client devices to have internet access! My Plex Pass is largely useless until this gets implemented due to personal circumstances.
I hope more people will see this thread and click the like button on the first post to get this feature on the radar for development!
I travel a lot and a lot of places I go do not have internet, so I just want to run plex server on my laptop and only for my laptop. But, instead if I don’t have internet it just says this server can not be reached even if I open the server from the web admin page. All the meta data is already on the laptop and I don’t want any other device to have access to it at all especially if I’m on a motel or hostel wifi.
It would be really nice to have an option in settings called mobile mode or something that would set the program to not even try accessing the internet and just run the server on this computer. Instead of having to go through a bunch of network settings to add the IP addresses and hope you have it set right.
Something doesn’t sound right. Even without internet, you should be able to access you server if you’ve accessed it before. Internet is only required to authenticate your account. If you’ve connected to the internet before, your credentials should be cached and reused.
What URL are you using to access your server? Keep in mind that your browser will treat each URL as a different connection to your server, so if you are use to using a specific IP at home to access your server, then at the hotel you use it’s IP, which may be different, this will be treated as a new client and will need to be authenticated. When accessing your server, and you are on the same machine, use either 127.0.0.1 or localhost. These won’t change, even if you are on a different network or have no internet at all, and you should be able to access your server with Plex Web at the very minimum.
+1
Local authentication server would eliminate worries of plex shutting down or their authentication server going offline.
IMO Plex should store the login ID of each user (encrypted) in any case.
My internet went down for several days. I couldn’t watch my local movies. What a bummer.
Im not sure what approach should be taken to solve this issue, but some way to access the plex library in case of external authentication error would be welcome.
It’s ridiculous, that one can not access his/her own Media-Library when the Internet connection is down.
Plex used to be the perfect media-center even without constant iNetConnection.
Why do we get forced to look for another media-center-solution?
I don’t want to give up my lifetime subscription & I love Plex and use it for over 7 years now.
But the fact, that now without Internet I can’t watch my own movies anymore, makes me wonder about solutions providing the “old plex ways” …
Besides: Every page that has a social (Google F***book etc) login is always being tracked by these companies … why on earth would I like to get tracked, each time I login to my PMS locally? Is this about selling user data or what?
I also remember being able to do this on my Samsung TV. Not sure however what happens if my Plex server is no longer authenticated.
