Local Server, Plex.tv availability and obvious concerns

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
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I am still using a pre - v1.x Plex Server and till recently, it has served all of my needs, so kudos to the Dev Team.

I will be honest and freely admit that I am not a fan of being forced to log my server and clients into Plex.tv in order to use what is essentially, my own property, for no good reason as a consumer, but for what I can only assume to be primarily for anti-Piracy protection on the part of Plex itself, with ‘the carrot’ being features etc…so I stayed ‘old school’.

While ‘test driving’ a friend’s setup, I was shocked that his local media playing abilities were ground to a halt, losing even the ability to manage his server locally, due to a problem with Plex.tv’s availability. For me, this would have been the ‘straw’…camel’s back…blah…blah.

I have recently had my needs change and am considering not only getting up-to-date with my software, but also a Plex Pass subscription, in order to enable Hardware Accelerated Transcoding.

Other than the obvious privacy concerns that I have with the forced login itself, what concerns me more is having my setup useless if Plex.tv availability is sketchy and if a ‘Lifetime’ Subscription is even worth it if Plex were to disappear, leaving me with multiple dissatisfied login screens prompting me to do the impossible.

At this point, the only question that I need answered is, does the server and all clients have online/Plex.tv dependencies that, even without PlexPass features, will disable everything if Plex itself is suffering from Network connectivity and Auth issues ?

Thanks in advance. I am looking forward to possibly spending my money.

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My internet was out for 4 days two weeks ago. My Plex server worked fine.

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If you log into your server you need to log into clients to access that server. The web app is a client, it is not the server. Authentication should, be cached in clients in the even of a network outage, but if you turn your TV off for example then it’s memory is gone. You can add local IPs such as the computer you generally manage the server on in the IP allowed without auth network settings.

Other info on what requires the internet can be found here https://support.plex.tv/articles/200484903-internet-and-network-requirements/

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So, Plex.tv outages in 2018 didn’t bring multiple user’s local streaming capabilities to a halt ?
Clients unable to find LOCAL servers, LOCAL servers unable to be logged into or even display the web app with [SERVER NOT FOUND] messages to greet them ?

I witnessed it myself on a friend’s setup and I have used Plex for enough years to know that my personal [OLD Plex Server pre.v.1] setup using OpenPlexHT has never suffered from anything even close to that.

I just want to know if it has been fixed/addressed. I understand that this might be a political point and may need to be handled carefully as to not scare potential subscribers…but I am just hoping for a straight answer.

thanks.

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put simply;

  • existing clients and servers that are already logged in should continue to work due to cached credentials
  • clients or servers that are not logged but attempting to log in, or that are switching users (ie home user profiles), will not be able to do so (1)

1 - before an outage you can do as already mentioned and allow local subnet clients to access the server without auth (does not include any remote users)
2 - you (may?) need also configure clients to use insecure (ie unauthed/non-ssl) connections

that is my understanding of the current situation in the clearest terms

plex outage will affect any non logged in client/server or any client/server attempting to change users. or any clients not on the subnet whitelist as described.

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