Migrated plex to DS918+ now remote access not available

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
1

So, I just migrated from Plex on Linux to Plex on a Synology DS918+. On my LAN, it seems to be working fine, however I cannot get it to enable remote access.

I’ve checked in the NAS, and the firewall is disabled.
I forced port 32400 on Plex, just in case.
My firewall is a Cisco ASA5505, so it will not do uPNP, but I have port 32400 forwarded from the outside to the inside.

I can also run a curl against port 32400 both locally and remotely, and they both connect and return the same information.

I’m at a loss here, and I’m still not familiar enough with the Synology to know where to look for logging information. Am I missing something?

2

So to make matters more interesting, I turned off wifi on my phone and brought up the plex app. I was able to connect to my NAS. I made no changes to the ASA or Plex.

Has anyone else had an experience like this with a Synology? I’m not extremely concerned, because I don’t typically use Plex outside of the house, but my kids do, and I’m concerned that they’ll experience the same in the future.

4

So, I’m sure that everything you said above is covered here:

  • Firewall disabled on NAS
  • NAS has static IP address
  • There is a port forward rule in the Firewall (ASA 5505) for 32400
  • Firewall allows all addresses on port 32400
  • Plex is set to ‘Manually specify public port’ and set to 32400
  • ISP is FIOS, using their router, and in router config, I have the outside interface of the ASA configured as the DMZ host
  • Currently only using one ethernet connection on the NAS

I don’t know if it was just a one time thing, or what was going on, but it seems to be working now over the internet. I’ve only had the NAS for a few days, but I’ve had this type of experience since setting it up. Sometimes it works outside of the network, sometimes it doesn’t.

6

Sorry, just getting back to this. Bypassing the ASA would not be trivial, and would leave me more exposed than I’m comfortable with. I still have some things to try on the ASA, and a little more troubleshooting to do, which I should be able to do by tomorrow. I’m also realizing that I really don’t use Plex much while not at home, so this might not be a huge deal for me. I’ll get back to this in the next week or so.