I will have to get back to that in the morning, as I’m going to bed now, but what I can say is that I had full access to my server. I could watch media that was already in my library, but when trying to add new music to my music library I got this error:
An internet connection is required to scan library files. Please check this server’s connection and try again.
And as soon as the API server was back I was able to add the music.
According to several reports on here, those settings don’t always work. My settings were already at preferred, and several of us weren’t able to get local range to work either.
May be some bug hunt needed, if it was supposed to work this way it doesn’t look like it is at the moment
Alan,
Plex is critical for me too.
I didn’t invest in a TVS-1282 and rip all my DVDs (54 TB available to stream) just so I could get hung-up “when the cable goes out”.
I think you are missing the point here.
The default settings in pms should be that if it cannot reach the outside world, it will still work on your internal network so you don’t lose complete access.
No other program in the entire world locks out your access completely when it uses and internet connection. Could you imaging enterprise apps doing this? It would be chaos.
When an issue happens with Plex’s authentication api and users are upset, they have already lost access and can’t implement those settings–and even when they do, they don’t always work the way they should.
That is why the much larger discussion needs to be had for Plex to code their software so that the default is local access is available even when connection to the outside world is lost. That is only logical and is industry standard for server software.
Why was my post deleted from this thread?
That’s not how they wrote it. PMS requires the internet. It has required the internet since day 1.
Prior to PMS 1.0.0, all the codecs were shipped with PMS. External corporate forces required Plex change. Now, Plex must keep records of codecs and pay for those usage licenses. This wasn’t Plex’s doing.
The only way to keep track of codecs for Plex use (which any business must do in order to survive) is to have a download point. To prevent folks stealing codecs, you need sign in. No way around it. Sorry.
As for metadata, the same thing applies. You have to download it.
Hi @ChuckPa - Many thanks for that info. Certainly a little more comforting to know that things have been / are being considered.
Just to inform, my experience was this…
Setup = secure preferred, LAN networks defined as 192.168.195.0/255.255.255.0, networks allowed without auth 192.168.195.0/255.255.255.0, no manual servers defined in PMP.
Experience = Was mid way though watching Star Wars on PMP, with no interruptions, but local Plex Web would not connect. Then it did, but could not load home page, however libraries were still available. All the time I was still able to continue watching in my current PMP session.
Hope this helps…
Thanks for addressing concerns, ChuckPA
To confirm:
All correct Chuck.
Even a remote session that was already running was able to continue. Was just unable to start any new session and obviously management was not possible.
This isn’t accurate at all, I am sorry. The “always connected” requirement is fairly recent. I have been a supporter and user from the beginning and never had an issue until a few months ago.
Checking licenses dependencies doesn’t require to always be connected in order for PMS to be accessible. In face it could be coded so that in the event it cannot reach out to submit such a report, it has a call to check the connection until it is successful and sends the report immediately once it is available.
There is absolutely 0 reason to deny access on a local infra due to this as there are a plethora of industry acceptable practices that deal with this very issue.
OH and fyi, there has been an issue since at least last night around midnight eastern time as I added some movies and some of the metadata was not downloading.
I was here and involved with the Engineering team when the always-connected requirement was implemented and it wasn’t “fairly recently” unless one considers 2015 “fairly recently”.
I fought hard against the always-connected requirement.
It is absolutely vital to distinguish between the server being always connected and the apps being always connected.
This matches what I saw. It finished playback on the current episode, refused to play the next or anything else even within the same app connection. No management or settings changes were allowed.
Anyways… That was a rather nice distraction from corona!!
As I mentioned, I’m happy that “things” are being considered, and hopefully there may be some extra redundancy built up in the near future, as lets face it… With the way that things are going, more and more of the globe is gonna get locked down and therefore the Plex central servers are gonna get hit even harder in the coming weeks and months.
Outta here for tonight. Stay safe eveyone 
Fair enough. I will clarify by saying I never once had an issue connecting to my own server from the server it is hosted on until fairly recently. 
Not sure what changed but until I posted here back a few months ago about this issue, even when my internet went out, I could still use plex from that server and my laptops by accessing it via the local IP.
That no longer works.
Ah, curious… I was watching a movie so didn’t have to start a new stream. That would certainly be more annoying for sure.
EDIT: Actually, I did stop the movie stream whilst talking to a mate on the phone, and was successfully able to restart the movie. Maybe because I was using PMP? Not sure…
Think back if you can.
Now for the fun:
Yeah, checking auth at each episode seems excessive, if codec licensing is the issue surely monthly checks would do, and it’s no wonder the servers are being overloaded.
Remember, Every action is atomic. Think how a web server works.
You post the URL.
The server takes that URL, plus any info it knows about you from cookies,
Processes that as stand-alone transaction
Returns the reply.
PMS is a web server. A pretty darn fancy one.
All those checks aren’t excessive now. They are, unfortunately, required.
@ChuckPa
I appreciate the information.
As for the first part, back until this year, I could always access my plex server from my local infrastructure with no internet by simply going to the IP of the server plus the port number. ie 1.1.1.1:1111
As for the second part, yes, I could do all of that, however it was never necessary before and that is what everyone is upset about.
Plex needs to be coded in a way that if the outside world disappears, there is no impact locally. Default settings on PMS should be set in this regard without end user intervention and without users having to search for old posts or go to a site like howtogeek to find the information to make this happen.
Industry standard for any server is that you never lose local access in any situation.
Plex has no reason not to follow this golden rule of technology.
