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I am running two Terramaster NAS (F5-422 and F4-424 pro) and both have PLEX on them. I cannot get Remote Access enabled on either one. I am in UK and my son is in USA and he can view my content on his mobile devices but when trying to view on a TV he just gets the spinning circle on Plex.
I am not tech savvy at all and managed to set up the servers and plex myself but have probably done something wrong. Plex works well in my home (direct ethernet cable to the router from the TV). Plex works well for family who live local to me - even though remote access is showing as disabled.
I have gone into my router (virginmedia superhub 5) and reserved IP address for both NASs. I have put Nord VP on both NASs. I have ensured uPnP is checked on the router. I have set up port forwarding on my router (superhub 5) for both NASs. I have put the reserved IP addresses and for both NASs I have put the port to 32400 for both internal and external port number. I have used TCP as the protocol and clicked ENABLE. Obviously I haven’t got both port forwarding to 32400 at the same time - I have tried port forwarding on both NASs (one at a time), but get the same result. I don’t care which one I get remote access working on though.
When I do this and go back to plex web and click on remote access, I then manually specify public port as 32400 and click retry. The status then changes to FULLY ACCESSIBLE OUTSIDE YOUR NETWORK, but almost immediately it changes back to NOT AVAILABLE OUTSIDE YOUR NETWORK.
I feel I am almost where I need to be to enable remote access but am missing something. I have read the Plex Guides but I am lost.
Just to note that because I have Nord VPN running on the servers, the private and public IP addresses are different but are both showing port 32400 so I don’t think that’s part of the issue.
Many thanks for any support anyone can give me.
Edit: Forgot to say, I have tried disabling my firewall but I get the same results (firewall now back on)
The best course of action is to not use a VPN with Plex.
If you need the VPN for other applications, find one that supports Split Tunneling. That should allow Plex to bypass the VPN.
When researching, make sure the VPN supports split tunneling when installed on a NAS. Some VPNs support split tunneling on Windows, but not on NAS or other systems running Linux.
The VPN is absolutely part of the problem. Disable it (or better, uninstall), then restart Plex Media Server. Plex remote access will not work with the VPN running.
Also, the servers must have different public ports in the router port forwarding statements. They cannot both use 32400.
You can use 32400 for one of the NAS. Pick a different port (ex: 33400) for the second NAS.
On both NAS, you must manually specify the public port and it must match what is in the respective port forwarding statement in the router.
Thank you for all your help. I now have both NASs working with remote access enabled (any my son in USA has confirmed he is able to access both of them with no spinning circle issues any more).
I have removed the vpn from both NASs. VPN is installed on all laptop/desktop devices in the house anyway. The NASs are used for backups and Plex only so I guess I don’t need to worry about a VPN on those.
I really do appreciate your help and how quickly you came back to me with advice. Thank you.
Just a thought - if I used a separate router (put virginmedia superhub in modem mode) could I install a vpn on that without it causing issues for plex? Because superhub will not allow for vpn installation on it… so could order a separate router that will allow vpn to be installed.
You would have to find a VPN that (a) runs on a router, (b) can assign you a unique, public IPv4 address, and (b) supports forwarding multiple IP ports (you have multiple Plex servers).
Assuming such a VPN exists, accessing Plex remotely would be dependent on the VPN being up and available.
You would be adding additional hardware and software to support and increasing troubleshooting complexity when things go bad.
If you want/need to run a VPN on the same system as Plex, make sure it supports split tunneling so Plex can bypass it.
Having monitored remote access for a few hours (on both servers) it is still dropping out and switching to no remote access. VPN deleted from servers so it can’t be that.
It does stay on remote access for a while - the longest I have seen it stay ‘on’ is about fifteen minutes.
Any other suggestions on what I can try next?
Edit: I think it may be an issue with my virginmedia superhub router. I set the port forwarding and press apply, but when I have gone back into check it has not saved the information and there is no port forwarding rules at all. So, I have order a router and will put my virginmedia router in modem mode and try again with the new router (which arrives today). I will let you know how I get on.
Just a quick update. I didn’t get a separate router but decided to stick with just the Virginmedia Superhub 5. I was worried that I was just adding an additional piece of hardware that would bring more (but different) problems. I really know very little about the technical/back room software side of computers and NASs - which likely makes me fiddling with my working set up (well it works now) worrying.
The ‘fix’ I have implemented is to just untick .‘manually specify public port;’ in plex, and to ensure that UPnP Discovery is ticked on both the superhub router and on both NAS;s.
I say ‘fix’ because I didn’t really want to use UPnP (because I have read on the internet it could leave me more open to being hacked than if I didn’t use it) and would prefer to port forward and manually specify the public ports in Plex - however as someone fast approaching her 70s who is not computer savvy I have just decided this fix (along with the super helpful info about VPNs and Plex) works and that will have to do.
The problem with this is that most routers will disable an automatically created port forwarding (i.e. created per UPnP) after some time (hours to a few days).
After that time you’ll either have to stop and restart Plex server, or smash that Apply buttom in the Remote Access settings.
Thank you for that info - I will monitor the remote access and if it does prove to continue dropping out, then I will look at the option of buying a separate router and putting my existing superhub router into modem mode… that may sound like I know what I am doing but google and youtube (and now this forum) are my only sources of knowledge and google/youtube can be a) confusing sometimes, and b) outright dangerous, or c) really helpful - if I strike it lucky by fluke.
However, using UPnP has shown me that the issue is the port forwarding and not some other technical glitch that I have mistakenly overlooked or inadvertently done incorrectly (as was the case with my installing the VPN on the servers).
