Hi Everyone So seen loads of posts but can someone just recommend a VPN service they use with PLEX to get the port forwarding to work. If I can just get a simple answer that says use this one it works that would be great. I know lots of them do 3 day trial etc. but you have to give them payment details etc. and then have to cancel. A lot of fuss. So if you use one and recommend please can you let me know. Thanks in advance Rob
Your question isn’t clear to me. Port forwarding is a feature of a router. VPN is just a virtual NIC whose end point you can choose. Your combining them into one “thing” is confusing. So, I’ll try to answer the questions I think you’re trying to ask. If you want your Plex server to be accessible from the Internet (i.e. not just your home’s LAN), then one way or another, your router better be able to port forward to your machine running Plex, and usually port 32400 (there are other protocols and ports, but 32400 is the one needed for visibility).
Now, with respect to VPNs, you can use a VPN provider’s client software on your device (desktop, smart phone) to establish a VPN connection. This seems independent of the Plex server to me. Alternatively, you can put an OpenWRT compliant router behind your ISP provided modem/router/firewall/switch/WiFi and then connect all your home based devices (smart phones, PlayStation 3s and 4s, DVD players, TVs, laptops, desktops, anything else that consumes or produces IP traffic) to this OpenWRT compliant router, provided it is running some VPN provider’s (OpenWRT) firmware. When you do this, you probably will have to create a DMZ on your ISP’s router and then place this second router into the DMZ. This appears to be required in order for the Plex server (now sitting behind two routers) to remain visible on the Internet. And, I believe, you will still need to port forward 32400 on the second router as well.
And… I’ve been using ExpressVPN for a couple of months now. I have their firmware loaded into a Linksys WRT3200ACM router. I then connect to the VPN user interface (by going to 192.168.42.1, the Linksys router’s LAN IP address) and pick an endpoint they provide. I typically pick Germany so that my PlayStation 3 sees a German Internet. This allows me to watch German programming on Netflix (I use the PlayStation to watch Netflix, Amazon and Plex).
That’s it, I think.
I’m certain you don’t understand the challenge of the original post.
With VPN tunneling and all traffic going through the tunnel, not all VPN providers allow traffic to come back through to you to host a server. (Be it Plex, or torrent, or, any server)
You might be able to host a server and connect over a VPN at the same time, but unless the VPN provider allows port forwarding from the VPN address (the end router, virtual or not), you have to advertise your non-protected address to Plex.
EDIT - Per this article, Your VPN provider does not offer port forwarding - any traffic to / from your Plex server is using your public IP.
There isn’t always a simple answer.
I don’t use a VPN, BUT, I’ve searched for similar before, and answered the same question.
This Reddit article from 2 years ago had a list of providers that would allow forwarding for P2P servers… I only presume the same would apply to plex servers, with different port numbers locally of course (ie, your local port for Plex is 32400 normally, I think P2P runs on 6667)
So they problem is. I have nvidia shields. I want to have the ITV and bbc players on them. But I live in Australia. I set up my router with dad-wrt firmware. But found that I fixed one thing to break another. My remote access to my Plex server broke. I set up port for Arosha but did not work. I spoke to the VPN provider and they said they did not support port forwarding Hence for my question
Though two years old, you should find the reddit link I posted a good start of services that provide forwarding.
Useless to the original poster’s question - They need a VPN app for their server that allows port forwarding across the private network.
The site you link is a Google Android app that lets android surf using some unknown VPN proxy.
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