Remote Access keeps dropping randomly (to me)

Plex Media Server Remote Access
1

UPDATES IN REPLIES AT THE BOTTOM - STILL ONGOING

Server Version#: 1.23.3.4707
Player Version#: 4.60.3
OS: Windows 10

From Latest Plex Logs
It seems to lose internet connection in the log text, but my router says otherwise.
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None of my other “connected” programs have a connection loss in their logs. I checked them in the same time frame Plex lost it and they were chugging along just fine.

X.X.X.X was my correct external IP in the below log snips.

Jul 05, 2021 06:57:37.362 [6840] DEBUG - EventSource: Got event [data] ‘’
Jul 05, 2021 06:57:37.362 [6840] WARN - PubSub: Received notifyConnectivity event with incorrect async identifier (, expected 754978af-6a0e-4222-a506-0c5cb7f996bb)

THEN

Jul 05, 2021 06:58:39.834 [6840] DEBUG - EventSource: Got event [data] ‘’
Jul 05, 2021 06:58:39.834 [6840] DEBUG - HTTP requesting GET https://downloads.plex.tv/relay/relay_v1.pub
Jul 05, 2021 06:58:39.881 [6840] DEBUG - HTTP/2.0 (0.0s) 200 response from GET https://downloads.plex.tv/relay/relay_v1.pub
Jul 05, 2021 06:58:39.881 [6840] DEBUG - Relay: refreshed host key from https://downloads.plex.tv/relay/relay_v1.pub
Jul 05, 2021 06:58:39.881 [6840] DEBUG - Relay: starting relay.

So, now I’m assuming it’s all on Relay at this point.

Jul 05, 2021 06:58:39.881 [6840] DEBUG - [JobRunner] Job running: set “PLEXTOKEN=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx” & “N:\Plex Media Server\Plex Relay.exe” -p 443 -N -R 0:127.0.0.1:32401 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=yes -o “UserKnownHostsFile=N:\Plex Media Server AppData\Plex Media Server\Cache\relayHostKey.txt” -o LogLevel=VERBOSE -o PreferredAuthentications=password -o PubkeyAuthentication=no -l Zer0Squared 162.216.19.157
Jul 05, 2021 06:58:39.903 [6840] DEBUG - [JobRunner] Jobs: Starting child process with pid 8536
Jul 05, 2021 06:58:40.586 [4504] DEBUG - [PlexRelay] Authenticated to 162.216.19.157 ([162.216.19.157]:443).
Jul 05, 2021 06:58:41.003 [4504] INFO - [PlexRelay] Allocated port 29669 for remote forward to 127.0.0.1:32401

Not sure what that 162 IP address is to, I’m (again) assuming it’s on plex.tv side?

Then, 30 minutes later, it did it again.

Jul 05, 2021 07:29:16.708 [6840] DEBUG - Relay: starting relay.

More and more I keep seeing people connecting through Relay and when I go check the server settings, sure enough - it’s not connected. I click “Apply” and it goes back to being fine. It just randomly thinks the connection is being dropped but I’m watching online videos or playing games when these events happen and I’m not seeing my internet drop at all. I have a Gigabit connection so there’s plenty of bandwidth for everything.

I have some unedited Plex logs, if needed.

I have tried letting it automatically set up the port and I’ve also done it manually (I have screenshots, if needed, of my router settings) - both work just fine, but then drop randomly later on.

2

Not sure of your router but try adding it to the DHCP also. Worked for me, since I run my VPN on my router and needed to split tunnel the PMS, but Remote Access kept dropping off after a little digging around the web, I added it to my DHCP and haven’t had issues in 3 years.

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You mean the DMZ?

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No the DHCP in your router, try googling your router (make and model) and DHCP settings.

5

Ok - I may be wrong but I was pretty sure DHCP is just how the router automatically assigns IP address on the network. What setting exactly are you referring to?

I have a Fios Quantum Gateway router from Verizon.
User Guide

6

I have an Asus Router running WRT-Merlin firmware, so not sure if it will work for you.
On my router I have my PMS Manually Assigned IP around the DHCP (PMS is hard-lined into the router if this makes a difference on your setup) but ever since I did this I have had no issues with Remote Access dropping, which is exactly what it was doing before, like you said yours is doing. Just an idea to try, I’m no IT person, just a tinkerer.

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Plex Documentation → Remote Access and Server Sharing → Troubleshooting Remote Access.

Manual port forwarding will be more reliable than Automatic.

For manual port forwarding to work, the IP address of your Plex Media Server must be fixed.

You need to assign a Router Reserved IP address or a Static IP address to your Plex server.

Router Reserved addressing appears to be on page 141 of the User Guide you linked, in the DHCP Connection section. This ensures the router always assigns the same IP address to your Plex Media Server.

You also need a port forwarding statement in your router. The default is TCP port 32400. You can change this if desired.

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Ok, so I was correct. @Forkboy gave his PMS machine a static IP address. This has never been an issue for me. I’ve had the same IP address on my network for a long time now (months, at least), even using DHCP, and I rarely reboot - only when I have to or when Windows pulls a fast one and decides to update overnight.

I make sure of it because I’m running other apps that are hard-coded to that same IP address 24/7 as well. So, if my IP address ever changes from .1.15, they would let me know with error messages and I would have to make those updates myself. Assigning a static IP address would really only fix the problem if I were shutting down every night and my router was throwing me a new IP on every boot up.

As far as port-forwarding goes, I have let PMS automatically assign the port for years with no problems. I even had it manually forwarded for a few weeks during an earlier issue I had with Plex - which I thought ended with a server update, btw - and it didn’t make any difference with the connection problem. Plex added the router entry itself, as it always has. (Just checked, and it’s there even now)

Also, as you quoted me saying, “and I’ve also done it manually,” with a manual entry in the router as mentioned by the having of screenshots - “both work just fine, but then drop randomly later on.” I also said,

None of my other “connected” programs have a connection loss in their logs. I checked them in the same time frame Plex lost it and they were chugging along just fine.

So, Plex is the only app that is having an issue staying connected…at least on my machine.

For any power users, another odd thing is that Tautulli doesn’t notify me when the connection is broken, even trying different server IPs/hostnames. 127, 192, localhost all Verify just fine,

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Update: This is still happening. I go to server settings/Remote Access and it’s disconnected. I’ll reconnect it and watch as people start streaming with their real IP’s (in Tautulli) but as soon as I see them connecting to a 127 IP address, I know they’re on Relay.

I actually can’t tell when it happens because Tautulli thinks everything is fine. Sometimes I can check server settings just randomly and the green checkmark is still there. I click off of Remote Access (like, click on General or any other setting) and click back and it will show that it’s actually disconnected…and sometimes it’s fine.

I don’t get it.

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Just an update that this has started again. No changes have been made to my system.

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After the latest patch ( 1.24.2.4973 ), along with continuously dropping remote connections again, most everything is now routed through Plex Relay - even when the Remote Access shows it as Connected at times.

Usually, when I go into Settings, I can see the green checkmark next to Remote Access. It isn’t until I actually CLICK on it and give it a couple of seconds before it will update and show that it’s actually down. (NOT helpful!) To reconnect it, I click the “Retry” button.

Once it reconnects, I always test it with canyouseeme.org afterwards to make sure it’s working properly. But there have been times when I’ve checked in Tautulli and have seen half my connections showing normal and half running through Plex Relay even though canyouseeme.org and Remote Access says it’s connected.

But, MOST of the time when I see Plex Relay connections in Tautulli, the server has, in fact, dropped the connection. After reconnecting it, sometimes it’s fine for a few minutes and sometimes it’s fine for over an hour.

Still no changes to my system made by me and my router is working fine - no drops in the log.

On a side note, after trying just now to reconnect it again and waiting for the spinning circle to go away, I refresh the page and see this!

image_2021-09-13_100606
image_2021-09-13_100606972×398 524 KB

Now, someone is streaming normally and someone just started a stream on Plex Relay!

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I have the exact same symptoms that you have described. I’m mainly using HDHomerun and OTA TV on the server, so when my remote connection doesn’t provide access to TV/DVR I know it dropped remote access (I have relay disabled). I then log into my server remotely using Google Remote access ( which works 100% of the time), proceed to disable, then re-enable remote access, which immediately allows remote access. Sometimes I get disgusted with Plex and just log into Emby instead ,which is running on the same windows server, and it works every time.
This problem occurs when either I connect using a Plex App or using a browser with url pointing to my router public ip.
However, once I am connected and actively streaming TV, it never drops. That happens after I close out and come back later.
My thoughts for consideration :
Some kind of timeout is occurring blocking incoming connections unless the outgoing connection by disable/enable unblocks it. In my experience I have no idea what that could be. My experience tells me that once you confirm that a ip/port connection, configured to originate traffic from the outside is working, you have verified that your firewall and router are happy with that. When this subsequently doesn’t work , you look for hardware, or Internet, or networks failures. Since Google remote access and Emby always work, I conclude that the Plex software is buggy. Now ,in fairness, this could be specific to my Windows PC hardware and configuration, but I think that’s not likely or at this point , not worth my time troubleshooting.
Too many others have also reported this issue. Something is closing the incoming connection.

1 Like
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Exactly. I don’t think I’ve actually come out and blamed Plex yet because I’m trying to remain impartial, but I’m fairly confident from doing my own research and testing of my equipment/logs/etc. that it is caused by the Plex interface.

I realize that not everyone is having this issue, so there may be something in our configurations that Plex can’t cope with, but all of my ARR apps are working with no issues and have not reported connection issues in their logs. (Sonarr, Radarr, etc.)

I’m assuming that they either don’t care about trying to fix it OR they know it’s an issue but don’t know how to fix it. I would almost rather be told to “eff off” or “we don’t know” than have silence.

16

Are you doing any geo IP based blocking? As in, blocking countries in your firewall? If so, one of the IPs on Plex’s side that checks for remote access being enabled is based in Ireland (the AWS region there).

Try allowing Ireland, or you can do what I do and use this text file in the firewall rule to allow these IPs:
https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/plex-sidekiq-servers-list/sidekiqIPs.txt

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No, no kind of blocking is being used. But thanks for replying and good to know.

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This is still happening, but here’s what I’m seeing now.

Remote Connection will stay connected until 3 or more people start streaming, then it ALL drops and everything gets thrown to Plex Relay.

Even when I reconnect it manually, the next stream will get a direct connection and then after that, it seems about 50/50 whether they get a direct connection to me or get relayed again on the following stream.

Also, question - is PlexRelay supposed to start with Plex normally now when it launches? I have 2-3 of them start every time.

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Enable / disable in Settings → Network.

20

Right. But the issue is my network connection (in Plex) keeps disconnecting. So, if I disable Plex Relay, no one would be able to stream anything.

21

so i had the same issues, plex server shows as remote access connected for 5 seconds and then disconnects. i have tried multiple things (router, windows firewall, repair of install) and still didn’t work.

i then tried to login to my Plex account on plext.tv using Edge and noticed my account was in a loop and then locked out. i waited 15 min and then logged into my plex.tv account using chrome and everything is now working. i checked remote access from chrome and it was succesfull and then checked in IE and still working.

may work for someone.

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