How to find what IP Plex is handing out to remote users

Plex Media Server
1

Is there a way to find the IP address that Plex has stored for my server and is being used
when remote users attempt to connect?

2

Settings > [Server Name] > Remote Access → Public IP

3

I have never seen a detailed explanation of what happens if my public IP address changes. Thus,
I can envision a scenario where the IP address shown on my Remote Access page is the correct
one and the one stored on the plex.tv site is an old one. Are you saying this is not possible?
What would happen if my public IP address changed but connectivity to plex.tv was being
blocked?

4

Simply put your server talks to Plex’s system and will let Plex know when your public IP changes. When clients try to access your system, they check with Plex’s system first to find out where they need to be routed and then they have a direct connection to your server.

If your server can’t talk to Plex’s system and your IP address changed, then you won’t be able to connect to your system remotely, unless you have “Custom server access URLs” under Settings → Network setup. That info would be stored in Plex’s system as well based on the description, but if that URL is handling IP updates (what’s known as dynamic DNS), then in theory your server should still be accessible. I haven’t messed with that, so I can’t really speak more on it.

-Shark2k

5
  1. The public IP is periodically tested by plex.tv systems.
  2. your server is periodically checking the public IP of your router. A changed IP is communicated back to plex.tv.
    Of course this won’t work instantly, so allow up to 2 hours for it to happen. If you want to force it, simply stop and restart Plex server.
  3. if your public IP is static/never changing, you can also put it into “Custom server access URLs”
6

Restating my question: how can I absolutely confirm that Plex is handing out the correct
IP to my remote users. Even if I were to enter the static public IP in “Custom server access URLs”,
if there is no network connection to plex.tv, the IP would never be available to the remote users.

7

If there is no connection to plex.tv, there won’t be a connection to remote clients either.

8

So you are saying that if my server does not have network connectivity to plex,tv, no remote
user will have access to plex.tv. I am no network expert, but that sounds strange.

9

The server uses plex.tv to authenticate remote users. If you cannot talk to plex.tv, you cannot verify users, thus access will be blocked.

Unless you are actively blocking access to plex.tv your use case is minimal. Also when your public address changes, plex automatically deals with it.

10

I thank you for all the input and attempts to explain, but without the in-depth knowledge of
Plex you possess and without a flow chart explaining the process of remote user connectivity
and the IP change process, the bits and pieces I am getting here just make it more confusing for
me. I liked it better when Plex just worked and I did not have to think about it.

11

Easy solution? Dont manually set a public address let plex handle it.

Detailed answer:

  1. When you start your Plex server it reaches out to plex.tv and asks what is my IP address?
  2. The plex.tv responds with your public address
  3. plex.tv then hands that out in the form of a plex.direct URL that connects to your server.
  4. The remote clients connect to plex.tv, are given the plex.direct URL and then access your media
  5. At intervals your Plex server connects out to plex.tv and as it either pulls metadata, does a status report or any other activity, it includes its current IP address
  6. Plex.tv sees your address change and updates the URL used in parts 3 & 4

That is the basic process

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12

If you want to be absolutely certain of the connection information Plex’s servers are handing out to your clients, you can also navigate to the following URL (after substituting your Plex online token):

https://plex.tv/api/resources?includeIPv6=1&includeHttps=1&X-Plex-Token=[your Plex online token]

(How to find your token)

The resulting page will be an XML listing of all your registered servers and clients, including their connection information (both public and private).

1 Like
13

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