Multiple PMS servers unable to claim - WIndows & Ubuntu

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

Server Version#: 1.16.6.1592
Player Version#: N/A

I have had a PMS instance running on Ubuntu for a few years with minimal problems. About 6 months ago, built a new Ubuntu PMS server for my son on Ubuntu to use for his content. Last week, built another on Windows 10 for my daughter to use for her content. All three sign in to my Plex Pass account. The main server still works fine and everyone can access. The 2 new servers, both say unclaimed server, claim server now. If you click claim now, they just spin for 5 minutes or so, then go back to 'unclaimed server.

I surmised that the problem might be due to having 3 servers listening on 32400, so I went to the remote access tab for the new servers, but no matter how many times I sign in and sign out, the remote access tab on the new servers always says sign in and has all options greyed out, so I cannot change the port.

The new servers can be accessed locally using the http://127.0.0.1/web/index.html# link, but cannot be seen on any other devices.

I am a Linux Systems Engineer as my profession, and can get you any logs needed to help troubleshoot. Please let me know if you want verbose or debugging logging turned on for either or both servers, and where to upload logs.

For ease of discussion, the names of the servers are:

Mine, working fine, Ubuntu 16.04: REZ
My son’s, only works via 127.0.0.1, can’t claim, can’t sign in on remote access tab, Ubuntu 16.04: DYSON
My daughters, only works via 127.0.0.1, can’t claim, can’t sign in on remote access tab, Windows 10: TESLA

REZ version: 1.17.0.1709
DYSON version: 1.14.1.5488 (Yeah, I know I need to update, will do so shortly)
TESLA version: 1.16.6.1592

Thanks in advance for any help.

2

Upgraded DYSON to version: 1.17.0.1709

3

Updating DYSON to the new version caused it to fail with:

Plex Media Serv[2769] trap invalid opcode ip:b72a0995 sp:bff93790 error:0 in libopencv_imgproc.so.3.1[b7173000+289000]

googling around seems to indicate the newer version of plex is asking for CPU capabilities his processor doesn’t have, so putting it back to the 1.14 version. Luckily I kept the deb file.

4

Downgraded DYSON to 1.14.1.5488, working again. At least locally. Still unable to claim and remote access tab shows I must sign in.

5

logs seem to indicate that plex isn’t sending a token:

HTTP 401 response from GET https://plex.tv/media/providers?X-Plex-Token=

6

Logs from the two servers I can’t claim.TESLA Plex Media Server Logs_2019-09-25_20-46-20.zip (1003.7 KB) DYSON Plex Media Server Logs_2019-09-25_20-44-21.zip (1.3 MB)

7

  1. Plex doesn’t list your token in the logs for security reasons.

  2. The invalid opcode is most likely from an old 32 bit intel? (the pentium) If this is true, it looks like you’ve hit the SSE2 requirement of the new compiler introduced in 1.15.0 along with the glibc 2.14.1 update. Requiring these is nothing new (at least in the past 12+ years) so perhaps it’s time to retire the 32-bit box?

8

Old cpu on the Ubuntu server doesn’t explain why I can’t claim server on the Windows box, which has a new quad core i7.

9

OK, I got 3/4ths of the problems solved. Used a cellular hotspot to connect the two servers (serially) directly to the internet, and disabled the ethernet connection inside my network, and both were able to be claimed. Then disconnected the hotspot, and re-enabled the internal network ethernet, and both still show claimed, and remote access tab is no longer greyed out.

On TESLA ‘manually specify public port’ is set to 28764. Router is set to pass traffic on 28764 external to 28764 internal and TESLA IP address. Works a charm.

On DYSON ‘manually specify public port’ is set to 32401. Router is set to pass traffic on port 32401 external to 32401 internal and DYSON IP address. GIves “Your server is signed in to Plex, but not reachable from outside your network” Since the configuration is the same on all three servers, other than the public ports, and works on 2 out of three, I am at a loss. Attaching most recent log from DYSON.DYSON Plex Media Server Logs_2019-09-27_04-03-16.zip (901.7 KB)

10

That isn’t how it is supposed to work and indicates that you have a local firewall/vm/bridged network on each machine.

Plex only listens on 32400 which is why if you only have one public ip and in order to set up multiple internal servers you would use multiple external ports forwarded to the local IP/32400.

Checking my settings-> remote access middle area shows the mapping.

Private 192.168.1.x : 32400  Public xxx.xxx.xxx.243 : 65534   Internet
11

Yeah, in Plex they are set up as:
Private 192.168.x.x : 32400 Public x.x.x.x : 32400 Internet (REZ, works)
Private 192.168.x.x : 32400 Public x.x.x.x : 32401 Internet (DYSON, doesn’t work)
Private 192.168.x.x : 32400 Public x.x.x.x :28764 Internet (TESLA, works)

And on the router, port forwarding rules for Plex:
External 32400 -> (REZ IP) 32400 Internal
External 32401 -> (DYSON IP) 32401 Internal
External 28764 -> (TESLA IP) 28764 Internal

You can say that Plex only listens on 32400, but I checked via netstat and see it listening on the specified ‘public port’:

root@dyson-plex:~# netstat -plnt|grep 3240
tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:32400 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 1057/Plex Media Ser
tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:32401 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 1057/Plex Media Ser

Oddly enough, I see REZ listening on 32401 as well, when that port is NOT specified in the ‘manually specify public port’ field . . . since DYSON is the only one not working at this time, and it is also the only one using 32401 as its public port, maybe Plex uses that port as well for some reason, and I need to specify a different one for DYSON to get it to work? WIll try setting DYSON to 28754 in Plex and in the router and see if that makes it work.

root@REZ:~# netstat -plnt|grep 3240
tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:32400 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 10991/Plex Media Se
tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:32401 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 10991/Plex Media Se

12

https://support.plex.tv/articles/201543147-what-network-ports-do-i-need-to-allow-through-my-firewall/

13

Switching DYSON to 28754 in both Plex and in the router worked, all three of my servers are now claimed and fully accessible outside my network.

14

Posting the solution here for future users who have trouble.

For servers unable to be claimed, I had to connect the servers I couldn’t claim directly to the internet, and take them off my internal network, to get them claimed. Once claimed, they work fine on the internal network.

To get the additional servers to be publicly accessible, once claimed, I had to set the ‘manually specified public port’ on the second and third plex servers to use a port other than 32400 or 32401 (Specifically in this case, server 2 to 28754, server 3 to 28764) and configure my router to route traffic on these nonstandard ports externally to the nonstandard port and server IPs internally.

15

No firewall in use on the server; I use a custom firewall/intrusion prevention system/intrusion detection system OS I wrote myself that filters all traffic before it even hits the router or any machines internally. My logs on that system show it passing all my plex traffic.

16

I don’t doubt you that somehow this works for you but this is not how it was explained to me… I have two servers running on my local network, 192.168.1.10 and 192.168.1.11… I specified different Public ports, 32410 and 32420 respectfully, on the Remote Access page of each server…

Then on my routers Port Forwarding tab I set the public port for each server to the private IP and 32400 port of each server, ie;

From Public 0.0.0.0:32410 to Internal 192.168.1.10:32400
From Public 0.0.0.0:32420 to Internal 192.168.1.11:32400

I’ve never had a problem with remote access…

17

I did try that at first, but my particular model of router (on this network, a netgear R6050) will not allow 2 port forwarding rules for the same destination port, even if they are going to different IPs. Poor router design, in my opinion, but as you said, I found a way to make it work.

18

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.