IPv6 support in Plex Server

Plex Media Server Remote Access
1

I know this topic has been brought up multiple times but I want to bring it up again as it becomes more and more relevant as many internet providers in the EU provide IPv6 only with IPv4 via shared GCNAT (which they do not allow to forward through).

Server IPv6

Allow the Plex server to advertise its public ipv6 address instead of IPv4. In this example my server has a dedicated IPv6 address, is publicly reachable but plex still says it isn’t reachable because it’s only using IPv4. Ideally you can also specify a domain that is used for external access (and if that domain is only an AAAA record you know it’s IPv6 only)

image

I’m using this setup for many years now, but mostly using the web UI by manually opening it using a custom domain with tls certificates configured for the plex server.

External Clients

(Specifically Sonos). To my understanding they receive the “public IP” of the plex server and connect to it. In my case this is the GCNAT ipv4 address from the screenshot, which causes the connection to go outside of the network, to the plex proxy and back. Making playback super unreliable. I don’t know the implementation details of Sonos, but 2 Points would be great:

    1. Similar to the first point, provide Sonos the IPv6 address of the server (which doesn’t even need loopback nat anymore in case of IPv6).
    1. In addition provide the local IP as well (assuming Sonos can try multiple destinations)

Business Case

I know Plex is a company, spending resources on implementing this might seem not really high priority, but supporting IPv6 natively would bring down plex-proxy traffic, thus saving money. Not sure if you have statistics how many clients this would affect, but my assumption is it’s a relatively large number in the EU (not sure how the US internet provider situation is)

Please think about it. I would also be happy to sponsor this feature if required.

2

See this comment @chris_decker08 about a week back…

3

Good timing!!

4

Great! Just updated to the beta, however I still only the ipv4 address is shown.

Should this be visible in the UI?

5

I haven’t updated, so not sure. Occasionally, when I’ve updated in the past, I need to do a second restart of the server to get new features to show up.

Hopefully one of the mods or a plex employee will be able to provide more details…

6

Which client are you using? You’ll need to make sure that IPv6 is enabled on the server. Settings > Server Settings > Network. Select either IPv6 Only or the dual stack option.

image
image251×178 6.3 KB

7

For testing I’m using the web client, but the server setting UI still shows ipv4 only, and the plex API also reports only the ipv4 IP as “not reachable”:

https://....plex.direct:32400/myplex/account

...
 "MyPlex": {
        "mappingState": "mapped",
        "mappingError": "unreachable",
        "signInState": "ok",
        "publicAddress": "94.176.251.188",
        "publicPort": 0,
        "privateAddress": "192.168.1.10",
}

Shouldn’t this report ipv6 and reachable (as plex is reachable via ipv6 from the outside)?

Yep always had ipv4/6 set in the settings:

image

In the “own URL” section (sorry for the German screenshots) I’ve already had a domain specified with an AAAA record:

image
image993×133 19.3 KB

8

Can we try a couple things first?

  1. Change the setting to IPv6, save, and restart PMS
    • Double check the Remote Access page to see your IPv6 address
    • Start a playback session with client with a IPv6 connection, view the Dashboard to see your IPv6 address
  2. Remove the custom domain field
    • Retest your original settings
    • Retest 1.
9

Hi Atomatth, I have a dual-stack connection and QNAP TS-464. The IPv6 address only appears on the remote access page if I set the network settings to “IPv6 only.” With open port 32400 for that address, I cannot find my Plex server—neither on my home network nor externally via my Samsung Handy S25. This might be because, at the moment, IPv6 support applies only to pure IPv6 connections??? BTW: The Windows app works fine here on the home network. A check for open port 32400 to my IPv6-Adress using S25 (mobile data) and the app “Ping & Net” works fine.

10

On you mobile device, can you please enable IPv6 Support (Settings > Advanced > Include IP V6 Connections), restart the app, and test again (remote and local).

Yes, when the PMS setting IPv6 Only is selected. For dual stack both should be supported. You may need to restart PMS after changing these Network settings.

11

Thanks for your quick support!
My Handy is working now, switching on IPv6 in the settings. But my Samsung TV (2023 Modell, Tizen 9, Plex-App 594.1) does not (with IP6-only). If i switch to “IPv4 and IPv6” in PMS network settings, I can only set an IPv4 for remote access. Restart PMS does not change this behavior.

12

When you’re running the dual stack, can you confirm that your mobile device (IPv6 support enabled on the client) is showing it’s IPv6 address in the Dashboard when you start a playback session?

13

Thanks, setting it to ipv6 only seems to work!

A small banner/popup would be nice to indicate a restart is required when changing this setting.

So far Plexamp works perfectly, so much faster loading than before, amazing!

One question though: in the changelogs it was mentioned that this is a temporary feature, may I ask why/what that exactly means?

14

There is currently an issue within the local IPv6 address space that causes local connections to be falsely identified as remote. This would trip the Remote Watch gating for Free users and potential issues for Remote Watch Pass holders. This won’t present an issue to Plex Pass holders. We didn’t want to hold this feature release back for any longer than we needed to.

15

Yes, the dash board is showing a IPv6 for the connection to my Handy (mobile data). Local connections are IPv4.

16

@Qtip Could you restart your PMS with the Dual stack setting, wait 2 minutes to settle, then download your PMS logs and share them with me or here?

17

Hello, Atomatth

I sendet to your PM.

18

As someone behind CGNAT, IPv6 support is amazing news!

Are all main client apps ready for it? (iOS, Android, Android TV…)
Didn’t see anything in recent release notes.

19

Hi, me too I try to go to ipv6 only.

I don’t understand one thing. If in network I select ipv6 only, that work perfectly on WAN, but my LAN clients use ipv4.

So 2 problems :

  • with ipv6 only, IPv4 stack is not completely disable
  • PMS don’t use ipv6 on LAN

I have correctly the last beta version, my clients are AppleTV or iPhone and I have a full ipv6 dual stack that perfectly working on my entire network (my LAN clients use ipv4 for speak with my NAS and I am network engineer). Of course, PSM have been restarted.

With the same iPhone on wifi → ipv4, disable wifi so use cellular → ipv6.

The is a problem.

20

This is to be honest the expected behavior for me.

The ipv6/4 settings doesn’t change the binding, only the reported IP address to the clients