OPENDNS "block internal IP addresses" feature makes Plex go indirect

[timtrace]

EDIT: Read my next post for the solution.

192-168-200-2.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.plex.direct

How often does that xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx change?

I was able to cobble together a quick solution for an indirect connection on my local network, by putting a host override in unbound on pfSense.

I pointed Chrome at http://192.168.200.2:32400/web, opened the devtools and grabbed the link from the console.

Then I put the host redirect into the pfSense DNS resolver config UI like this:

Host 192-168-200-2
Parent domain of host xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.plex.direct
IP to return for host 192.168.200.2

Seems to be working quite well … but when will xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx change?

[ChuckPa]

It’s best to set the LAN domain override this way:

(This is from pfSense – allow all the hosts on your lan to use plex.direct)

[timtrace]

Thank you - I’d tried that to no avail and was becoming more and more frustrated with the results.

This is my first rodeo with Plex, and I didn’t have much to lose, so I re-rolled from scratch just to make sure that I hadn’t done anything strange with the settings. I also removed the DNS entry from my OP, and cleaned up some other things.

Same problem. I made the suggested entry in the unbound custom options. No joy.

On a whim I plugged the URL into a browser, and this time I saw …

Hah. Yes, I use OpenDNS, and yes, they were the ones causing the problem.

I did this and the problem went away …

I’m still secure because ubound is protecting against rebinding attacks.

And to be certain, if I remove the private-domain: “plex.direct” setting from ubound custom options, it stops working again.

So friends, watch out for rebinding prevention at Open DNS - it will mess with your Plex.