I must be missing something about up addresses or port forwarding. Let me know what additional info is needed. This is my first time doing something like this.
Right now, I have downloaded plex on all my devices(hardwired and wireless), I believe I am LAN(at this point only right?)
I CAN access my server(running FreeNAS) on all my devices inside my current network(hardwire/wireless).
I CANT leave my house say, go to the store and access my plex server outside of the network. where should I start? I looked into the port 32400(I believe on plex website). Thank you for the help!
-Mike E
Also, I apologies if I put this in the wrong place.
Welcome to the forum. I hope you’re enjoying Plex so far (beyond the issue with your remote access)
There’s a number of factors when it comes to Remote Access that can cause trouble.
Most important will be the capabilities and configuration of your home network / router. Many routers support an automatic or manual configuration to access a device running in your home network from the outside – personally I feel the manual configuration is more reliable (maybe that’s also due to me not being overly keen of letting systems in my home network establish outside connections of their own).
I’m assuming you have a flat home network where all devices connect to 1 router (wired or wirelessly) which is directly connecting you to the internet (no additional modems etc.). If you have multiple different routers/switches/access points in your home it might be worth double-checking they are setup to extend the main network (or have a port forwarding of their own if that’s not possible, e.g. if you need to keep multiple home networks separated).
Router setup
Check out the settings/configuration of your router:
The machine running your FreeNAS with the Plex Media Server should have a static local IP address (IP reservation).
If possible, establish a manual port forward:
external/public port → a value of your choice (preferably in the range of 20000 to 50000); if the router wants you to specify a range, enter the same value in both input fields
internal IP address / device → pick the FreeNAS device or its IP address; if the router is offering no selection you might need to enter the local IP address of the device manually
internal port → this must be 32400
protocol (internal + external) → tcp
Plex configuration
Open your Plex Media Server’s web interface and go to Settings > [Server Name] > Remote Access. Make sure remote access is enabled (obviously). Then go ahead checking Manually specify public port and enter the public port you had previously specified in your router.
If you don’t see this advanced option, you need to click on Show Advanced.
After clicking Apply / saving your changes, Plex should attempt to re-establish the server’s remote connection. You’ll see the “results” at the top of the remote access settings
If the setup did not succeed, we’ll need to dig into the nitty gritty details.
Connectivity
The first step should be to verify if you can access the specified public port from outside your home network. You can do that by e.g. using a service like canyouseeme.org.
If this test fails it implies the issue is somewhere between your ISP and your router (e.g. bad router configuration or your ISP blocking that port) – if it succeeds but Plex still fails to connect there might be an issue between your router and the Plex Media Server (e.g. some local firewalls, security apps…).
CGNAT
Some ISPs no longer assign IP addresses to their network (=your router) that can be addressed from the outside. To rule this out you can take a look at the public IP address showing in the remote access settings of your Plex Media Server to verify it’s an actual public IP address.
This mostly means it should not be associated with IP addresses reserved for private networks → Private network - Wikipedia
I will check the above when I get home. Thank you for the reply. When I check the can you see me…it’s looking for what up and what port? It auto fills with an ip address and port 80, is that correct?
from what I remember, canyouseeme.org will default to the public IP address of the requester (if you’re calling it from your home network, that should be your router’s public IP address) – use the public port specified in the manual port forward on your router instead of the default port.
Btw, my setup is as follows. I use spectrum isp(modem only), it goes out to a Google wifi router, out from the router to a 10port manageable switch, out to the server as well as the other 4 routers(all hard-wired).
