I am trying to set up remote access for my Plex Server for the first time and am getting the Not Available Outside Your Network error. I am running my Plex Server on a Synology DS916+ NAS. I’m running PMS version 1.15.4.994-107756f7e. My router is a Linksys EA6500 with UPnP enabled. I tried having the router automatically set up the port forwarding but that didn’t seem to work. I have also tried the manual forwarding by setting up a single port forwarding entry in my router but that doesn’t seem to work either. When I Disable Remote Access and then Enable Remote Access, I get the green check mark by Remote Access for just a couple of seconds and then it changes to a RED ‘x’ . Can you help me?
Here are some screen shots from my Plex configuration and my router.
I’ve worked through the Plex Remote Access troubleshooting Blog, but nothing I try seems to resolve my issue. I would appreciate any assistance you can provide.
you could always try the dmz zone, even though that is not the best practice but it could help to see if it does at least change to connected to make sure nothing is wrong with your router. Have you also checked your windows firewall settings to allow plex and port 32400?
My modem is not an ISP provided modem. I’m using a Linksys cable modem that I purchased because I did not want to pay the five dollars a month for an ISP provided modem. Unless I’m wrong, I don’t think the cable modem has any firewall smarts in it.
I’ve done all that you’ve indicated in your message. I’ve got the IP address entry in my router with port 32400 and TCP only as the protocol. I’ve also set up the manual Forwarding in Plex as you’ve indicated. See my screenshots above. It still doesn’t work.
I found some logs under troubleshooting and I’ve tried to go through them to see if I can find a specific error. Can you or Saad flex team direct me to a specific log file and provide information on what I should search for? Any steps you can provide would be appreciated. I’m assuming I would disable remote access and then enable remote access and then save off the logs and search a specific file. Please provide step-by-step instructions.
A friend of mine and I finally figured out what the problem was. In my firewall on my Synology DS916+ NAS I had TCP port 32400 open for any Source IP Port in the United States. Since I live in California, and am anticipating friends only from the U.S. to be accessing my Plex server, I thought this was sufficient access to my Plex Server. However, we found in the Plex log that an error was occurring, when we tried to enable Remote Access, because Plex couldn’t reach Plex.tv in IRELAND. I have no idea why my Plex Server needed to communicate with a server in Ireland, but apparently it does. When we opened port 32400 TCP for Source IP Ireland Plex Remote Access connected successfully. I’d like to understand why we needed to open this up for a server outside the United States. Can someone shed some light on this?
Plex uses a matrix of hosts, distributed around the world, which are dynamically load balanced.
When the load at the server geographically nearest you becomes too high, resulting in slower response time than the one further distant, it switches to that distal host.
Some time later, when loading allows the host to return to a more proximal host, PMS does so automatically.
All the hosts share the same database so your information initially established on one is available the moment you get switched to a new host.
My advice to you would be to allow all of Plex.tv’s user-facing hosts to access the server.
In no way does this compromise your security to make you vulnerable to users outside CONUS unless the user you are sharing with is him/herself outside the continental US.
Thanks for the explanation. I would like to request that you get more than one Plex.tv user-facing host in the U.S. so that users in the U.S. don’t have to leave North America in order to get whatever information is required to establish Remote Access. I was just surprised that I needed to access Plex.tv in Ireland to make Remote Access work.
So, do you recommend that I open port 32400 to any source IP address in the world? The reason I’m asking is because clearly having port 32400 to any U.S. address was not broad enough to make Remote Access work. I’m assuming this is because there is only one Plex.tv user-facing host in the U.S. Is there also one in Canada? Right now I’ve got my firewall configured to allow port 32400 from the U.S. and Ireland. Is that broad enough or should I enlarge it to include other Plex.tv locations? If so, what locations? Ideally, I don’t want to have port 32400 opened to the entire world, in case the port is compromised, but on the other hand, I don’t want to have Remote Access suddenly stop working for me due to an overloaded Plex.tv server.
