Hopefully I don’t add to the confusion, but I’m not sure how reliable an indicator this is…
Mine routinely will show green for a few moments when I access this page, but will go red in a second or two. It works flawlessly outside the network.
Troubleshooting online and read something that says that the Public IP listed on Plex should match the IP address on the router. It does not, at all.
I’m looking to get Plex Public IP to match the router, or get the router to match Plex’s Public IP.
As for the post above mine, I’d like to know as well.
Link for the source: ‘Ability to manually set public IP for remote access - #16 by kantlivelong
Not sure if this is the right path or a dead end
Also, something else I notice. Might not matter.
My iMac seems to have 2 MAC Addresses.
And this one:
I’m guessing due to a lack of responses, this thread is going to remain unresolved?
What´s your problem? Just make sure your router gets a publicly routable IPv4 address from the ISP, your modem is set to bridge mode, then allow incoming traffic to port 32400 and setup port fowarding. If you have an additional firewall enabled on mac then allow incoming traffic via port 32400. Easy peasy.
AI is your friend.
I wish it was so simple for me.
I’m guessing you are much better at this than I am. I’m thinking it’s likely an issue relating to user error.
The ISP has provided me a publicly routable IPv4 address. The ISP also claims that with this public IP address, they are in bridge mode. If there is something more to making the modem into bridge mode, I’d like to know how. As far as I know, I can’t access their modem.
As for allowing incoming traffic to port 32400, if it’s a step that’s different from port forwarding, then I haven’t done this. If it is port forwarding, it’s set up. I’m wondering if there is something else using port 32400, or if there is a conflict somewhere.
I turned my firewall off on my Mac, just to ensure that it isn’t a problem at all. I didn’t know I could add an exception for a port. The options I’ve seen so far are to add Plex to the “allowed” list.
I’ll give it another go. I’ve tried to reach my Plex from an outside network and still no go. Again, I suspect this is likely some sort of user error.
I’ll go through your directions bit by bit.
I appreciate the help. Though it’s discouraging, I can’t stand not being able to solve this problem.
So, while working, I noticed that the window Plex played in has a completely different IP address. One I’ve never seen before.
Does this matter?
127.0.0.1 is the customary loop-back address, and generally used for communications completely inside/within the host. For all intents and purposes, this address is available on all IPv4 connected hosts. Edit: while PMS will listen on this address/interface (lo0 in my world,) nothing outside this host will be able to connect to it.
Maybe a bit of a step backwards, don’t hold this against me.
What’s the default gateway address on your Plex Media Server?
What’s the WAN address on the default gateway?
Thats local loopback IP address.
Selfhosting without basic networking knowledge is kinda dumb.
Shows WAN configuration of your router, port forwarding setting and traceroute to google.com
I remember you mentioned you are using a Mac Sequoia and know how to run terminal commands. Try to run the following commands to see if we can get a list of IPs or hosts between you and the internet:
traceroute 8.8.8.8
This should show the path of packets between you and Google’s DNS server.
brew install mtr
mtr 8.8.8.8
More modern approach will combine traceroute and ping and continuously update.
Post results or screenshots here to get more details.
So as for the
brew install mtr
mtr 8.8.8.8
I received this back
mtr 8.8.8.8
mtr-packet: Failure to open IPv4 sockets
mtr-packet: Failure to open IPv6 sockets
mtr: Failure to start mtr-packet: Invalid argument
I’m assuming I’ve done something wrong.
As for traceroute 8.8.8.8, I did have more success.
traceroute to 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
1 192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1) 6.981 ms 3.346 ms 2.442 ms
2 192.168.5.1 (192.168.5.1) 39.043 ms 27.423 ms 3.832 ms
3 10.29.155.1 (10.29.155.1) 111.028 ms * 8.852 ms
4 216-18-203-150.hosted.static.webnx.com (216.18.203.150) 6.530 ms 6.295 ms 6.147 ms
5 et-1-0-20.bar3.saltlakecity1.level3.net (64.157.21.241) 6.532 ms 8.156 ms 34.744 ms
6 ae0.11.bar4.saltlakecity1.net.lumen.tech (4.69.219.50) 9.571 ms 7.092 ms 7.238 ms
7 142.250.166.128 (142.250.166.128) 20.980 ms 21.192 ms 20.621 ms
8 216.239.40.253 (216.239.40.253) 22.579 ms
142.251.224.37 (142.251.224.37) 21.963 ms
216.239.63.85 (216.239.63.85) 23.560 ms
9 216.239.50.79 (216.239.50.79) 26.789 ms
216.239.54.189 (216.239.54.189) 27.481 ms
216.239.50.79 (216.239.50.79) 26.387 ms
10 dns.google (8.8.8.8) 21.362 ms 21.337 ms 22.979 ms
I hope posting this won’t put me at risk. Perhaps this will provide a solution?
Lol, you don’t just have a double NAT problem — it’s actually a triple NAT. Until you sort out your network setup, direct remote access just won’t work.
No, this doesn’t expose your public address.
I’ve followed the thread, but I may have missed some information. Or if nobody asked, I’ll ask…
Who is your ISP?
Is this a hard line ISP (Cable, Fiber, etc) or cellular like Verizon, AT&T?
If you go to 192.168.5.1, you should reach the web portal of the device between your router and the public internet. Normally it would be branded with your ISP’s name. If you’re lucky, it will display your external IP address and some other information without having to actually log into it. You want to see that 207.* address tech support gave you. If you do, that that indicates the modem is not truly in bridge or passthrough mode.
If you can physically reach this device, it may even have login information printed on a sticker. If you tell us the ISP and the model of the modem, somebody here might be able help you navigate the interface to tell whether it’s really in bridge mode.
Well, as we can see, after the private address in 192.168.5.x, there comes yet another private IP, which starts with 10.x.x.x
So, not a good chance to get this working if that is already on the other end of the fiber optic.
Here is a link so you can check the range of private IPs:
Now, the first public IP we can see from your PC is 216.18.204.150, which seems to belong to an ISP called WebNX, and it is around LA somewhere. If you expect to have that ISP and location in your house, then there might be a chance that it is your actual public IP. Otherwise, it might be that your ISP is actually using that public IP in their CG-NAT, or getting from some other ISP before the translation. I dunno.
But it reduces your chance to Port Forwarding to almost zero, unless the ISP supports PCP, which would allow you do Port Forwarding up to their upstream router.
Based on some of the comments I’ve read, it seems I’m beginning to see why those who had been helping me abandoned ship. It seems I’ve gone from double NAT to triple NAT? I might be going backwards
I’ll give the ISP a call a little later on, again. It’s a fiber optic service I’d never heard of before, called Connext. Just moved here to help my parents.
I know the guy who does tech support, as I’ve called so many times, I know my account info when I call. I always reach the same guy first call. Small company, perhaps… He’s the same guy who disabled the routing capability and changed the connection to function as a modem. He gave me a public IP address.
My old address, I had Xfinity. Now, the red “x” on the remote connection page was there, but I could be reached outside the network.
I’m going to call him and ask if the router my parents have (as this all was set up before I moved in), is rented from them or not. Not sure if the answer will matter, but any information is good. Any other questions I should ask?
Also, in my frantic search to get Plex working correctly, I’ve also found two other options I read somewhere (probably reddit). Ever hear of these services?
Not sure if you’re familiar with them. I’m learning more and I’ve tried to get Plex working with these going. Either they don’t work, or it’s a case of user error.
Anyway, once I’m able, I’ll make another call to the ISP.
Thanks for sticking with me. Makes me wish I took more of these classes in college than my accounting ones. Ha, ha.
So…. Something came to mind. I have about 4 computers down here with me, and 2 of them have Plex Media Server on them. Not the Plex App.
Can deleting these other servers help? Dumb question, but I’m desperate.
You need to get the NAT situation solved. There’s no point trying anything else if you can’t get that triple NAT away.
Do you have access to devices with IP addresses 192.168.0.1 and 192.168.5.1?
I have access to everything in the house, via the router. I would have to find each device and check their IP addresses.
So despite what Plex shows, I can now be reached remotely. My brother, who had complained he couldn’t reach me since I moved, says he now can.
Very frustrating, in that Plex STILL shows that I’m unreachable, despite the fact that I can be reached remotely.
My solution? I completely reformatted this iMac. Might be a temporary fix, though.
Plex Media Server Logs_2025-08-23_07-29-49.zip (4.1 MB)
I’ve also added the logs so that we can see what is now different. I might have taken the cheap way out, but it works. Still, I’d like to have had a solid solution because this is an irritating issue.
I will still try and find those devices with those IP addresses listed by premikkoci, because I’m curious as to what they are. If they’re interfering, then I need to be proactive with it. I can only hope someone else is helped by all the hard work you all have put in.
Hard to believe I’m Triple NAT. I believe you guys, just I don’t understand how my connection is going through, not only 1 router, but 3? If I understand this all correctly. Understanding is key to preventing this again. Strange, though, how the issue disappeared on reformat.
Sorry, you´re clueless. I am out.
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