Server Version#: PMS: 1.24.1.4931
Player Version#: DSM: 7.0-41890
I’m having an issue with Remote Access on my Plex server (Plex on Synology NAS DS918+, DSM 7). I created a manual port forward a few months ago and it fixed my issue of having an indirect connection when trying to to access my Plex server remotely. I updated to DSM 7 a week or two ago and that was a big mistake, now I can’t get a direct connection to my Plex even though it says “Fully Accessible outside your network” in the settings. What could be wrong here? It was working a few weeks ago. I tried creating new port forwarding with a new port number, uninstalling and reinstalling Plex Media Server on the NAS drive, restarting everything, double checking Plex permissions on NAS, probably more that I am forgetting.
To further clarify my specific issue. Plex is accessible remotely, however I only get an indirect connection and can only stream at 720p via a computer/browser and 480p on Roku TV both loading very slow and buffering sometimes. When my port forward was working correctly I could get a direct connection and I was able to watch all content at the original quality and it never buffered.
Thanks for your help! This is really stumping me… I’ve spent about 4 or 5 hours today researching this and I havent found anything that will work yet. I’ve been using Plex for 4 years now and have never run into this. My gut tells me this is a DSM 7 problem but maybe DSM 7 just requires more permissions or something to allow direct connections?
Everything connected to my network has an IP address that starts with 192.168.1, they also are set to DHCP connection type. I think that means they are on the same subnet right? The Synology NAS drive is the only device with a reserved type, everything else on the network would not need a static IP address right?
If I access my Plex Server locally I get a direct connection just fine, it is only when I try and access from outside my LAN that I get an indirect connection.
Forgive my ignorance if I am getting this all wrong.
I tried enabling and disabling Plex Relay and had a friend test remotely on another network. They couldn’t access Plex as you suspected might happen. So I re-enabled it.
My Port forward was set to TCP+UDP so I changed it to just be TCP. I changed my external port number to be 49200, I swapped in on my router and in the Plex settings just to be thorough. (I tried using TCP only yesterday and it didnt work, but I will try it again and restart my router to make sure the change sticks.)
Well that didn’t do it either. I even tried disabling some of the security settings in DSM 7 just to make sure it wasnt stopping a direct connection and still no luck…
I also tried disabling my port forward and enabling UPNP on my router. After I did this I went into the Plex settings, unchecked my manual port and let Plex reconnect. It connected successfully but when I tried remote I still got an indirect connection.
At this point I might run my PMS off of a Windows PC and use the NAS as a drive for my Plex content… Any other ideas though?
I figured out the problem here. Both the network with the indirect connection problems and the network of the PMS are serviced by the same ISP. When networks are on the same subnet this ISP will block connections between them. So they changed the Public IP of one of the networks and it all started working again.
