No Remote Access - IPv4 CGNAT with Native IPv6

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
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Server Version#: 1.13
Player Version#:

I’m scratching my head on how best to do this. I’ve read a bunch of posts and support docs regarding CGNAT. I’ve enabled IPv6 on my Plex Server, I’m signed in on that server, and it still is unavailable remotely. There have been a bunch of mentions of setting up VPN’s and/or purchasing a static IPv4 address from the ISP. In a perfect world I would like to avoid that (though I suppose in a perfect world I would have a public IPv4 address). Is there any way to get Native IPv6 access working? I would think I should be able to avoid IPv4 entirely and still remotely connect even if that means registering a DDNS address with a AAAA record. Incase it makes a difference (and for the sake of trying to be thorough) my ISP gives me a /64 IPv6 space and I’m running pfSense as my router with port 32400 forwarded to the IPv4 address of my Plex Server (Ubuntu 16.04.5 LTS baremetal). I do not have a Plex Pass but my understanding is that it shouldn’t matter for what I’m trying to do.

Any help or ideas are appreciated.

Thanks,
CM

Edit: Vote to add IPv6 remote access here: ipv6 support for myplex

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IPv6 won’t buy you anything right now. There are no Public-facing IPv6 services for Plex.tv

This means your only choice is to get a Public IP from your ISP.

As far has having IPv6 enabled, you can disable it. It will only confuse PMS.

For those countries who are already entirely IPv6, there exist national IPv6<->IPv4 translation devices. Plex sees them as IPv4

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Thanks for the info @ChuckPa . Would you happen to know if IPv6 support is in the pipeline? Not asking for ETA’s just wondering if there are plans to support it or if I shouldn’t hold my breath. Or maybe there is somewhere I can vote to show my support for that feature?

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Plans? Yes.
Effort being expended? Yes.
Sense of schedule? No.

At this point, I recommend proceeding without it. You can always step to IPv6 after it’s stable.

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Thanks again. At least I can move forward now and avoid wasting time trying to “fix” my IPv6 connectivity problems with Plex.

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Hello ChuckPA

Frankly the response of the Plex team to the IPv6 issues makes me feel you guys don’t completely understand the problem. There is no such thing as “national IPv6<->IPv4 translation devices” which you mentioned in your previous post. There are no “countries that are already entirely IPv6.” Those statements just don’t make sense.

What happens that the ISP does not give public IPv4 addresses to their customers, and instead does NAT on ISP level (NAT used to be done on customer level previously). Yes, Plex sees such devices as IPv4 as you say, but that’s beside the point. The point is that Plex can’t contact those devices via IPv4 because they don’t have a public IPv4 address, they are behind a NAT, so remote access does not work.

Normally Plex documentation says that if you are behind NAT, you need to log in to your router and forward a port to your server in order to get remote access working. But you can’t do that if your provider does NAT on ISP level, you don’t have access to their router.

When people say they need IPv6, they don’t mean they need it to access the plex.tv website, or many of the other things mentioned in various posts on this forum. We don’t need complete IPv6 support, we just need IPv6 remote access. We need the clients to use IPv6 to connect to the server to play media. Now, as far as I understand, the various Plex clients can already do that on LANs, but not via internet. Obviously I don’t know what I am talking about :slight_smile: but to me as a software developer that sounds like the hardest part, media streaming over IPv6 is already done. You just need to publish my server’s IPv6 address to the myPlex service and let clients find that address and use it for remote access.

Ok, I am mostly writing this to vent my feelings about an issue that has gone unsolved for years (sorry). But also, I hope that you guys understand we are not requesting you convert all your services to IPv6 and only release the whole thing once it’s finished. We need one thing, remote access over IPv6, then we stop nagging you and you can convert the rest of your services at your own pace.

Thank you for listening to us

Matus

PS: If you need a beta tester for IPv6 remote access, please feel free to contact me. I am a software developer with some network administration background and would be happy to help.

5 Likes
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It sounds to me like you don’t have command of the term CGNAT (Carrier Grade Network Address Translation). Whether it be CGNAT or CPNAT (Customer Premise NAT), it’s still NAT. It is not possible to tunnel through the first router to the second and create UPnP / NAT-PMP port forwarding because you don’t have that level of authority with the ISP’s equipment nor can you direct broadcast packets to that next layer (between routers) in order to create a forwarding rule there. Their internal networks are ‘hands off’.

If you look at France, you will find the largest IPv6 deployment. There are many carriers who do not provide IPv4 at all, CGNAT or otherwise. For those countries, they do provide IPv6 - IPv4 translation at their national gateway points.

Regarding IPv6,

Again, PMS is getting native IPv6 support. When it’s at the point of testing, We will need and want input from everyone to see how well it’s working. I would be involved but unfortunately my ISP has not started deploying IPv6 to CPE at this time and won’t for at least another 18-24 months.

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@matushorvath as ChuckPA said previously and just reiterated, IPv6 support is “on the list”. I’m just as frustrated with the state of progress regarding IPv6 on Plex as anyone. I’m also frustrated that my ISP wants to charge me for an IPv4 address after I had one originally and they took it away to put all customers behind CGNAT.

I’m sure you can understand Plex devs not giving an ETA as you are a software dev yourself. The best I can do is encourage you to vote for the feature here: Ipv6 support for myplex - #212 by RedWolf. That will help the devs prioritize their efforts and show our need for IPv6 support.

Maybe @ChuckPa can put us on a special list for beta testing IPv6 support when it is ready!? :grin:

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