# Plex server and Remote Access

**URL:** <https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-and-remote-access/153790>\
**Category:** Feature Suggestions\
**Created:** [August 4, 2016, 11:35pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-and-remote-access/153790 "2016-08-04T23:35:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 11\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![RandyJCA](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/randyjca/32/19560_2.png) [@RandyJCA](https://forums.plex.tv/u/RandyJCA)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 11:35pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-and-remote-access/153790/1 "2016-08-04T23:35:54Z")

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I have a question dealing with Plex’s remote access. On occasion my ISP has some problems with their network and this causes the remote access connection to drop. I then have to go and either restart the Plex server or click the apply button to get the remote access connection to reinitialize. Since I am not always in a position to restart the process upon failure would it be possible to have Plex scan, using an interval defined by the user - i.e. :30 minutes - more or less depending on need, for a dropped connection and then re-initiate it with no intervention from me? Should I post this as a new feature request?

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**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 12:24am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-and-remote-access/153790/2 "2016-08-05T00:24:39Z")

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That’s a great idea. I have moved it to Feature Request for you.

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**Author:** ![scoony](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/scoony/32/89152_2.png) [@scoony](https://forums.plex.tv/u/scoony)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 3:18pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-and-remote-access/153790/3 "2016-08-05T15:18:12Z")

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Hi,

If you run the ubuntu server you can do it easily with a bash script set in the cron.

On Ubuntu 16.04:

#!/bin/bash  
service\_plex=`/usr/sbin/service plexmediaserver status | grep "active (running)"`  
if [[“$service\_plex” == “”]]; then  
service plexmediaserver restart  
fi

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**Author:** ![RandyJCA](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/randyjca/32/19560_2.png) [@RandyJCA](https://forums.plex.tv/u/RandyJCA)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 3:41pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-and-remote-access/153790/4 "2016-08-05T15:41:53Z")

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Unfortunately I am running PMS on Windows 7 so this will not work for me. If anyone has a script for Windows I would be interested in talking to you.

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**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\
**Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 1:21am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-and-remote-access/153790/5 "2016-08-06T01:21:42Z")

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Before going too far on this idea… there’s one rather **LARGE** caveat. If anyone is in the middle of watching something then the timer goes off, PMS will restart **regardless**. All playback will be rudely interrupted.

I believe the smarter test is to check network status first to detect a major change. That way, extreme measures are only used when needed.  
PMS can already detect WAN IP address changes on its own.

With respect to Windows, I think this would take a piece of VB-script, launched at startup, to check periodically as well. Not being a Windows person, I can’t speak to the intricate details.

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**Author:** ![RandyJCA](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/randyjca/32/19560_2.png) [@RandyJCA](https://forums.plex.tv/u/RandyJCA)\
**Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 2:27am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-and-remote-access/153790/6 "2016-08-06T02:27:02Z")

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If you are talking about local access then I absolutely agree with that. It would make little sense to restart a process or service that is already up and running and if that occurred as a user I would be pretty ticked off.

But if the service is down due to a network burp then most of my clients will be unable to use PMS anyway so restarting it is a no brainier for me but for those who believe this is a problem have a switch to turn on the checking process. Then we as the controlling user can decided what is best for our environments,

For my own understanding would not restarting the remote access manually cause the same problem you described?

I am not really interested in OS scripts written by the users. I have done that, been there and have found in the long run they can cause more problems then they fix. I believe the code is best done inside of PMS by those who know it the best and then it would be available to all users regardless of the OS they are using and not have a need for “nn” number of side scripts.

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**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\
**Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 2:36am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-and-remote-access/153790/7 "2016-08-06T02:36:38Z")

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I do have one question:

Your “Clients”? A business? Have you taken up the status of the internet service with the commercial side of your provider? They do have fail-over / redundancy configurations such that there will never be any interruptions. It’s your standard “H-A” package (High Availability).

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**Author:** ![RandyJCA](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/randyjca/32/19560_2.png) [@RandyJCA](https://forums.plex.tv/u/RandyJCA)\
**Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 2:46am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-and-remote-access/153790/8 "2016-08-06T02:46:33Z")

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Yes we looked at that and most cases the expense override the benefits. So I am looking for different cost-effective options that may work. If my request is getting in the cost question for your product then I can understand the reluctance for what is basically a free product. My clients are small colleges in CA whose IT budgets are stretched about as far as they can go.

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**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\
**Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 2:53am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-and-remote-access/153790/9 "2016-08-06T02:53:21Z")

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If I’m understanding you correctly, and please correct me where I’m wrong, You’re providing a Plex-based solution to small colleges in CA? Does your service run on your network or their network with their resources?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RandyJCA](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/randyjca/32/19560_2.png) [@RandyJCA](https://forums.plex.tv/u/RandyJCA)\
**Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 10:04am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-and-remote-access/153790/10 "2016-08-06T10:04:49Z")

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Theirs and theirs alone else we have a copyright infringement.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RandyJCA](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/randyjca/32/19560_2.png) [@RandyJCA](https://forums.plex.tv/u/RandyJCA)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 10:00am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-and-remote-access/153790/11 "2016-08-11T10:00:41Z")

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I’ve been thinking about this since I 1st posted the request. Now I am not so sure it’s a good idea because of the problems many experienced which includes myself with Remote Access and router configurations. By having PMS restart remote access when it disables would in this situation cause my suggestion to hide the problem with how a users router is configured. If this would put undue pressure on PMS and cause a measurable slowdown in it’s performance then I would like to scrap this whole idea and for myself go the VB script route.
