Server Version#: 4.145.1
Player Version#: Sony TV app 10.26.0.2578
Hi Plex peoples,
I have a fun one, looking for help. I have a Plex server that today is accessible via my ISP WAN (WAN A) via its public IP, and also via a second WAN (WAN B) that connects to my apartment block’s LAN. I have successfully set up my network and plex server so that:
Friends can connect to my server and stream easily via WAN A, which again is my ISP’s public IP address for my place
Recently I also set up my network and also Plex server so that my friend who is in my apartment complex can access Plex via WAN B, using just the building network and not via WAN A. He is able to manually type my URL into a browser and stream over WAN B with local, full gigabit speed from his PC. The building network is outside of both of our firewalls, and can route traffic between our respective WAN B connections. The benefit is that he is streaming via WAN B and not using any of my (limited 200Mbps) ISP bandwidth on WAN A
Our problem and where I need help is this: on his TV (Sony Bravia) the Plex app does not seem to offer the ability to set a manual server address. The is different from the IOS app, or the LG TV app which both offer this feature
So here is my question- is there a way to either setup a manual server on the Sony app (suspect not but would be great if so as this already works for us on IOS/PC), or is there a way to setup our networks to force Plex to traverse via WAN B vs WAN A? I have already setup the WAN B IP as a local network for Plex
This is only for the bandwidth restrictions. It has nothing to do with connectivity as such.
The most likely reason for things not working is DNS rebinding protection.
In this specific case, it is a setting in your friend’s router (or whatever they’re using as their DNS resolver.)
Otherwise your server’s private IP is not reachable over an encrypted connection. https://support.plex.tv/articles/206225077-how-to-use-secure-server-connections#toc-4
[edit] Actually that might only be true if you and your friend are using IP adresses from the same private IP range for your networks. Judging by the content of your above input “local networks” field, you have separate IP ranges and established proper routing between them.
Still, it is worth a shot to use Google’s DNS server, instead of the one from their ISP.
(rant)I would never, ever use DNS from google, they sell our personal info for a living! In fact I block their DNS IPs across all of my sites so rogue apps don’t try to use it (/rant)
The re-bind is interesting, I was wondering if the client is smart enough to use the customer server Access URL if it appears local/fewer hops
It’s much simpler: It will try every address that’s known for a server. Even the private ones, which it usually might never be able to reach.
But if you have a route to that other network, it will try and use it – unless the WAN connection provides a working encrypted connection but the LAN route doesn’t.
You definitely want to set Secure Connections to Preferred instead of Required.
I changed this and added the URL that my friend would see as local to his LAN as well here, just in case (same actual destination, but this applies his NAT mapping
So this is now WAN B actual, and LAN NAT mapped IP just in case. We will test again tonight and report back. Too bad the simple, obvious, and easy feature of just typing the IP was deprecated…
If you have a proper route, you wouldn’t use NAT, IMHO.
Your server only exists on your network, not on theirs.
Keep in mind that config changes like the above will take a while until they reach the clients. You better count in some hours waiting time and maybe even a proper reboot of the clients, so that they are forced to contact plex.tv and read the list of IPs of your server again.
That is great, the missing piece. So we will test based on that functionality. Is there a doc that shows the hierarchy or logic by which the client decides which server URL to use?
Cloudflare is okay (just not on windows…) but I prefer opendns for their content filtering. A redundant layer above my pi-hole
Once you’ve accessed the resources page, find your server. Its connection information will be listed; each connection will contain the URL and whether or not it’s a local connection (local=“1” is local, 0 is remote). A route is published as “local” if its IP address falls in one of the RFC-1918 address ranges.
My experience is Plex clients prefer local connections over remote and secure connections over insecure. Depending on certain client and/or server settings, insecure connections can be prohibited.
Okay all right, it worked when I set the WAN B IP as a custom server access URL. Streaming over our building network in glorious 4k HDR, and not using any ISP bandwidth. Thanks all for the info and help
