I am new to plex but I am not new to IT and Computers. I really dont want to start doing packet captures so I am asking before I do that. What ports are needed inbound and outbound in order to watch plex from my phone with a direct connection.
I have forwarded port 32400 inbound to my plex server.
I have allowed the plex server out over TCP / UDP to the following ports: 32400,1900,3005,5353,8324,32410,32412,32413,32414,32469
It will connect via indirect. If i remove the port restriction and allow it out over any protocol then the direct version works just fine. I am trying to find out what port I am missing that needs to be allowed outbound or is there another protocol besides TCP / UDP that needs to be allowed out?
Thank you!
What security software are you using? We’ve seen plenty of examples of it interfering with the firewall.
For remote access, you only need 32400 through the firewall, as that is the sole port Plex uses to communicate remotely. I don’t recommend using UPnP - do a port forward instead.
Set up a static IP for your Plex server.
Go into your router and create a manual port forward rule for port 47222 (just an example but don’t use 32400), for protocol TCP, that points to your Plex server’s IP and port 32400.
Save that and power cycle your router.
Go into the Plex server remote access settings, tick the box next to manual port, enter 47222, click apply, then disable remote access, shut down and restart the Plex server application, and enable remote access.
Go to http://www.canyouseeme.org and test port 47222.
Go to http://www.whatsmyip.org and compare that IP address with what your router WAN IP is and what Plex reports as your public IP.
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I am using a Ubiquity Edge Router. The inbound portion is working ok, it has to do with an outbound port / protocol. I have a static IP for my machine, I have a static IP on my router.
If i allow my plex server out to the internet using any port and any protocol it works just perfect. But for security, I dont allow all my my devices out like that. I limit each device to just the ports it needs.
Are you also trying to control the remote ports? I just changed my Plex server firewall entry and limited it to TCP and local port 32400, and I can successfully access my server from my phone.
The other applications only talk on the local network so restricting them doesn’t matter.
only thing I am worried about it watching direct on my cell phone. I dont care about everything else. I guess I should mention the server is setup on a Windows 10 box and i have the local firewall on the box turned off. I am port forwarding TCP 32400 from outside to inside to the plex server. The plex server is only allowed outbound TCP and UDP ports: 80,443,32400
Why do you have the firewall disabled? I’ve been in the IT game for a long time, and I’ve yet to come across a situation where disabling the Windows firewall helped things. A properly configured firewall is essential for things to work correctly. If the firewall is enabled, and then Plex Server is installed, it will automatically create the necessary firewall rules. You can then edit them (as I did) to only allow the Plex Server to communicate through port 32400 (local) to any remote port.
Plex Server only requires port 32400. As I said in my previous post, I only have 32400 enabled and it communicates perfectly through my port forward. Also, don’t use 32400 as your external port, it’s a well known port and is scanned routinely.
Use the instructions I posted to set up your port forward.
As long as your VLAN’s are setup properly and your firewall between them is setup securely there is no reason to have the firewall turned on while you on your internal network.
I have changed my external port for it and its still not working. Guessing this might not be the software I go with.
@kegobeer-plex said:
Why do you have the firewall disabled? I’ve been in the IT game for a long time, and I’ve yet to come across a situation where disabling the Windows firewall helped things. A properly configured firewall is essential for things to work correctly. If the firewall is enabled, and then Plex Server is installed, it will automatically create the necessary firewall rules. You can then edit them (as I did) to only allow the Plex Server to communicate through port 32400 (local) to any remote port.
Plex Server only requires port 32400. As I said in my previous post, I only have 32400 enabled and it communicates perfectly through my port forward. Also, don’t use 32400 as your external port, it’s a well known port and is scanned routinely.
Use the instructions I posted to set up your port forward.
**For the record (as a Chartered IT Professional), I just want to let you know that it doesn’t matter what port you use, ALL ports get scanned routinely!
Most scanning software like Metasploit of nMap will determine the application based on the response they get from the scan, not the port being used. Things have become far more advanced now.
Not having a go at your feedback and comments, just advising you that hackers are far more intelligent that that and wont be fooled by a port change…
So its best to use standard ports and get a decent firewall and APT protection. Defence in depth is your best hope…
Have a nice day 
**
on the arris docsis router/modem from WOW! I had to add a port-forward and a port trigger to get it to work. Just sayin’
in case your not long gone, im struggling with the wow arris gateway as we speak. doesnt seem to provide an outside port option. is that what you set up as a trigger? or did you use the trigger as the inside port (32400) and the forward as an outside port?
I have a question for Plex Ninja types re: Plex remote access.
I have three servers, as follows:
Server1 (Movie server running on a PC with 1 wired network interface)
Server2 (Photo server running on Mac Pro #1 with 2 wired interfaces + 1 wifi interface)
Server3 (Music server running on Mac Pro #2 with 2 wired interfaces + 1 wifi interface)
All of the network interfaces have static IPs on the same 192.168.0.0 network, but on the servers with multiple interfaces, it’s possible from time to time that one or two of the interfaces may be on a different network.
I’ve set up port forwarding on the router to cover all possibilities as follows:
Server1-if#1: 192.168.0.111:32400<==WAN:32410
Server2-if#1: 192.168.0.121:32400<==WAN:32420
Server2-if#2: 192.168.0.122:32400<==WAN:32430
Server2-if#3: 192.168.0.123:32400<==WAN:32440
Server3-if#1: 192.168.0.131:32400<==WAN:32450
Server3-if#2: 192.168.0.132:32400<==WAN:32460
Server3-if#3: 192.168.0.133:32400<==WAN:32470
In the Remote Access section of Plex settings, I’ve set up remote access as follows:
Server1: 192.168.0.111:32400<==WAN:32410
Server2: 192.168.0.122:32400<==WAN:32430
Server3: 192.168.0.133:32400<==WAN:32470
For Server2, Plex has (arbitrarily?) chosen a wifi interwork interface on the server, which obviously isn’t as desirable as Plex always choosing a wired interface.
My question: Given multiple network interfaces on a server, is there any way to force Plex to choose a particular interface on that server?
