Plex connection indirect on lan network

General Discussions
1

hi peeps im scratching me head at this one. cut long story short plex was working fine i have server in the house so family can watch stuff running through lan. after doing firefox update and a new router installed it now comes up as indirect connection.
not firefox as tried it on chrome and it the same
tried disabling firewall
tried entering ip manually and to list ip without requiring authorisation
looked at settings in router but if honest networking not my cup of tea so not sure what to press, it looks like its automatically forwarded port 34200 as i can see that in my port forwarding area.
anyone any ideas as its driving me crazy… i already own enough grey hair
the new router is talktalk hub made by sagem
any help or ideas be great

2

Having the same problem here with our LAN feeding a Roku over wifi and a VIZIO through an Ethernet line. Problem started a few days ago. Have not figured it out yet!

3

You could switch from uPnP automatic port configuration to having a port forward in the router and ticking the manually specify port in the server settings for remote access. It would be more reliable

To have indirect connection within the local LAN indicates a number of issues

First of all - indirect connections through the Plex Relay service only kick in if the normal remote access route is failing or requests take too long and timeout

Second - remote access route may get used within the local network if there is DNS Rebinding Protection in the router and the secure connections url for the local network IP gets blocked by the router

So there are a couple of areas to look at

  1. Switch from uPnP automatic router configuration for remote access to a port forward etc
  2. Look into DNS Rebinding Protection and see if you can whitelist plex.direct

To switch to a port forward

  • Make sure the local IP Address of the server is setup as a DHCP Reservation or static IP address outside DHCP Range
  • Setup a port forward to port 32400 for tcp and forward it to the local IP of the server. You can decide if the public port is 32400 or another port but it needs to be forwarded to 32400 to the local IP of the server
  • In server settings for remote access with show advanced, tick the box manually specify port and in the box enter the public port chosen - the port that is forwarded to 32400

DNS Rebinding Protecion
Have a look at the section within https://support.plex.tv/articles/204604227-why-can-t-the-plex-app-find-or-connect-to-my-plex-media-server/

4

When changing routers, windows decides that because the gateway MAC address is different, to change the windows firewall profile from home to public. I’d check the windows firewall.

5

Im having the same issue, since the last update. Slow connections, alot of interruptions and failed connections during streaming now all of a sudden it wont find my server.

Its worked fine for years now im struck with this… Whats going on?

6

mine still working but only on indirect connection and sometimes it wont find server but keep hitting retry and it finaly does. i too done all plex updates aswel. its very annoying as it has worked fine for years

7

Ive had that indirect connection thing since last update aswell. (using a sony bravia to play) thats whats making every super slow and interruptable. Years working now all of a sudden al these shoddy updated. :confused: so frustrated just wanted to sit down and enjoy some hows ended up throwing in a usb drive lol.

8

sa2000
thanks for ideas mate i looked into the rebinding but there doesnt seem to be any setting in this new hub to change or anything about rebinding. my remote access says its ok and the router has port forwarded 32400 itself along with the port i use for utorrent which works fine. im just wondering what else it could be.
i will see about white list but very little info on this new hub as its not been out long
talktalk hub fast 5364
going try disable avast , win firewall if no joy
reinstall last hub if still no joy
install old version of plex
matter of ruling things out seems strange others having same issue to.

thank you for help and suggestions if i do find out what was causing it i will post back and keep you all posted

1 Like
9

quick update checked firewall, plex is an app thats allowed trhrough but turned off firewalls again to double check and still the same so its not a firewall issue. i disabled them on both server and pc.

10

ok i just unplugged new router and switched back to last one. it worked fine unfortunately i cant use this router though as the wireless is terrible on it hence had to replace router. so we know this isnt a plex issue or firewall within windows etc. must be a setting or configuration in the router itself.
so still looking for help with it but at least its now narrowed down to router issue

11

Lets do one thing at a time.

Have you switched to a port forward and manually specified port and DHCP reserved local IP address ?

The plex.tv settings on your account for HomeServer shows a random uPnP port being used.

12

hi sa thats the server that has plex on it ie films etc
ive not switched to manually doing ports no im not best with it but will try that next
main reason i havnt yet is because i will then have to manuall do the other ports too. interesting it showing a random port as the router stating its 34200

13

Is that the server we are dealing with ?
If you have 2 servers on the local network you must make sure they are on different public ports - but both ports must be forwarded to 32400

Get screenshots to show dhcp reservations and the port forwards on the router and ip config /all for both

So pms 1 for example public tcp port 32440 forwarded to 32400 to dhcp reserved IP of pms1. And manually specify port ticked and 32440 entered in the box

And pms 2 for example public tcp port 32450 forwarded to 32400 to dhcp reserved IP of pms2. And manually specify port ticked and 32450 entered in the box

14

is there a way i can pm you or email as this router settings aint like my old one

15

You can PM me screenshots that have information you do not wish to have on the forum eg public IP address - other than that support is through the forums and it is provided by the community of users and ninjas and plex team members

16

ok will pm you with pic 2 min just sort kids

17

Thanks for the DHCP and Port Forwarding screenshots

They show you are using a TalkTalk Wi-Fi Hub as your router. It does not look like it offers features one expects and finds in other routers ! Too basic and very restricted in what you can do. There is nothing about DHCP Reservation on their help pages.

This is from their web site / forums about

which says

You can’t use DHCP reserved IP addresses at all. I have passed this to the developers, but I did not get a very favourable response. The only thing you can do is to assign static IP addresses on the devices themselves, which is the only way to configure a true static IP address anyway, as what most people want to do, still relies on the DHCP server.

You must configure:-

IP address, typically: 192.168.1.x
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Default gateway: 192.168.1.1
DNS server: 192.168.1.1

Then you must exclude your chosen address(es) from the DHCP IPv4 pool start & end range. This is done at:-

Dashboard > See Wi-Fi Settings > Manage Advanced Settings > TalkTalk WiFi hub > DHCP

So to go forward with a port forward ! we can try this - I am going to give the steps for the HomeServer - you can adjust later if you setup the Mel PC that way as well

  • Your two PCs have these IP Addresses (HomeServer 192.168.1.11 and Mel 192.168.1.32)
  • Lets make 192.168.1.11 static IP within windows and not use DHCP. So in tcp/ip v4 properties on the network adapter in windows on HomeServer, set

IP address: 192.168.1.11
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Default gateway: 192.168.1.1
DNS server: 192.168.1.1

Then follow the steps given in the linked talktalk web page to change the DHCP Range. Check what the range is. If it starts below 192.168.1.11 change it to start - at say from 192.168.1.20

Then restart the router and devices / computers to make sure all within valid DHCP Range and no IP clashes

Then pick an external port to use for the HomeServer for Plex - suggest 32440.

Setup a Port Forward with External Port 32440 to port forward to internal port 32400 to internal host 192.168.1.11 for TCP only. Ensure it is enabled.

Some routers need a reboot. No harm in doing that

Then on the HomeServer in Server Settings for Remote Access with Show Advanced selected, tick Manually Specify Port and enter 32440 in the box and click retry. Do not click too many times and leave 30-60 seconds at least between retries

The other problem area - which is what leads to the remote access route to be used on the local network and that is DNS Rebinding Protection
As your router is very very basic it won’t have any sophisticated options for this. Only possible action is probably to try different DNS servers in your router DNS configuration - trying out Google DNS Servers for example

To prove you have DNS Rebinding Protection we need to find the url for the secure connections on your local LAN. Have a look at this support article and try to get the resources xml https://support.plex.tv/articles/206721658-using-plex-tv-resources-information-to-troubleshoot-app-connections/
Then save to text file and send me by private message and I will give you the nslookup commands to use to test it

18

thank you sa2000 for kind reply i will have a look into it all. im away for next couple days so will have to have a play around with it when im back. these routers are what is being dispatched to all new talk talk customers so hopefully we can crack it and at least others can follow the steps.

19

I was not aware that TalkTalk is a leading ISP in the UK. The main contenders are BT, Virgin Media and Sky - but I may be wrong and some stats will prove me wrong

Is it not a budget ISP for very basic functionality?

20

talk talk are one of the main isp in uk most go with them as there cheaper than bt etc sky are bit expensive, bt are expensive and virgin media dont cover the whole of the uk they hav’nt laid cables everywhere yet. to be fair they all offer the same kind of service. we in the uk are so far behind compared to many other countries. some people are still struggling to get a 10meg connection.