How does Plex evaluates if a server is online?

Plex Media Server
1

I’m running PMS 4.47.3 with Docker on my own server, reachable via domain name myserver.com. There is a reverse proxy configured for myserver.com:443 to the internal PMS server port 32400. In this way I can access Plex via HTTPS on my own domain name.

The problem is that Plex is complaining saying that the server is offline, and it’s relaying the streaming.

Question: How does Plex evaluates if my server is online? Plex is incorrectly reporting the status as offline but the server is online.

Note: the only exposed ports on my server are 80 and 443.

Android client cannot connect to my PMS
2

I can see the server online now, with all my media contents.

When I access via Android client, the app is saying that my domain is unavailable, which is totally wrong.

Please let me know what’s going on, it’s been a very frustrating experience with Plex.

3

Did you configure your custom domain (and probably a certificate) in the plex network settings? It sounds like plex is not aware of the custom domain so it is relaying it through the ip that is registered instead.

4

“Custom server access URL”
5

I have all my services running behind a reverse proxy with a wildcard TLS certificate. Everything is working fine accessing via web browser.

Plex is aware of my domain, as I can see it in the sidebar of settings in the web. But I haven’t configured the certificate paths or domain name in the network settings. Are these settings mandatory for accessing my PMS with the Android client?

6

I would expect that they are if you are trying to use your own domain to relay through since plex.tv already provides all of this for you. The app is likely reaching out to plex.tv api and getting the connection data. Since plex is not explicitly aware of the additional domain it falls back to the relay routing. There is a link somewhere that you attach your token to for troubleshooting. It will show you what data the plex api is passing to your app for remote connections.

https://plex.tv/pms/resources.xml?includeHttps=1&X-Plex-Token=xxxxxxxxxxxx

replace the “xxxxx” with your plex token.

Finding your plex token:

7

Thank you for the information. I have invoked the URL you prodided for troubleshooting, this is the result (I have edited some private data):

<MediaContainer size="3">
    <Device name="cine.mydomain.com" product="Plex Media Server" productVersion="1.21.1.3830-6c22540d5" platform="Linux"
            platformVersion="5.4.0-58-generic" device="Docker Container (LinuxServer.io)"
            clientIdentifier="???" createdAt="1609112892" lastSeenAt="1609250820"
            provides="server" owned="1" accessToken="???" publicAddress="212.102.yy.xxx" httpsRequired="0" synced="0"
            relay="0" dnsRebindingProtection="1" natLoopbackSupported="0" publicAddressMatches="0" presence="1">
        <Connection protocol="https" address="172.17.0.2" port="32400"
                    uri="https://172-17-0-2.681b2668facf47a1b22d1f3283841f7b.plex.direct:32400" local="1"/>
        <Connection protocol="https" address="cine.mydomain.com" port="443" uri="https://cine.mydomain.com" local="0"/>
    </Device>
    <Device name="Chrome" product="Plex Web" productVersion="4.47.3" platform="Chrome" platformVersion="87.0"
            device="Linux" clientIdentifier="???" createdAt="1609102209" lastSeenAt="1609267814"
            provides="client,player,pubsub-player" owned="1" publicAddress="178.167.207.230" publicAddressMatches="1"
            presence="1"></Device>
    <Device name="CLT-L09" product="Plex for Android (Mobile)" productVersion="8.11.0.22186" platform="Android"
            platformVersion="8.1.0" device="CLT-L09" clientIdentifier="c5da5facbefe5a64-com-plexapp-android"
            createdAt="1609121025" lastSeenAt="1609268345" provides="player,pubsub-player,controller,sync-target"
            owned="1" publicAddress="34.241.xx.yy" publicAddressMatches="0" presence="1">
        <Connection protocol="http" address="192.168.68.105" port="32500" uri="http://192.168.68.105:32500" local="1"/>
    </Device>
</MediaContainer>

We can see that when accessing via web, Plex is aware of the domain name accessible via HTTPS. But when accessing via Android application, Plex is not aware of the domain name. Plex is providing a local IP address. Why!? This is very confusing to me.

If the server is on the internet and every client has access to the internet, so why it does’t work out of the box for the Android client? It should be straightforward.

This is what I get when accessing via Android client:

image

An empty library.

Please help me to access my library at cine.mydomain.com PMS via Android client.

8

Can you verify that this is populated.

image
image845×149 25.7 KB

Also, can you verify that the android app is using the same account to log into your server? It sort of looks like the app is working and you are using a different user with the sharing setup incorrectly.

9

Hi, I have filled the PMS URL there: https://cine.mydomain.com.

I’m using the same user on both web and Android client.

I have logged out from the Android client, logged in again, and I see the Android client reporting the domain cine.mydomain.com as offline.

One important information: I have protected the URL https://cine.mydomain.com with JWT (JSON Web token), so it’s only possible to access the domain with a valid JWT. Can this be the reason for the Android client reporting the server as offline?

10

Thats possible. we would need to get the attention of someone who knows how the app handles that. you could also trace the web calls and see what the app is trying to reach. I would think that the JWT would cause a problem if the plex.tv server is not using it to access your server. Can you try removing it? It seems like an unnecessary level of authentication if the plex server is already using ssl and requires a login.

Just in case you were not aware, Plex (as part of their service) provides all of this infrastructure for you.

11

I have removed the JWT for the cine.mydomain.com and now I can see my library on the Android client.

:smiley:

12

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