Server Version#: 1.16.2.1297-4b7ace214_amd64
Player Version#: 4.18.1
Hello,
I have Plex Media Server set up inside a linux box (ubuntu 18.04) inside my lan.
The box has two NICs, both connected to the internet via their own respective routers.
For NIC 1, I can set up port forwarding and properly access the server remotely from outside the LAN
For NIC 2, I don’t have access to the WAN interface on the router (stupid ISP) so no port forwarding.
For some reason, when trying to set up a port and verify remote access from the Plex media server interface on the web, the server seems to prefer the 2nd NIC for remote access and consequently reports it is not available.
Is there any way to force Plex to bind to a specific NIC for remote access only and then use all available interfaces for local access?
BTW, local access works just fine from both LANs/NICs. (so specifying an interface for local clients doesn’t seem to apply)
Thank you.
LE: Having swapped the NIC configurations and connections (wires) I get the same result. So there seems to be a logical preference for the way the server code checks for remote access: even if one of the two interfaces does offer port forwarding and internet access, the server treats it as if none offer internet access.
LE2: Having temporarily disabled the NIC for which I can’t set up port forwarding, the server now reports full remote access available. So it seems that indeed it’s a logical design that says: if any of interfaces does not offer port forwarding and internet access (even if some do offer), the server treats it as if none offer internet access.
My understanding was that specifying a nic was primarily used for wan/remote access not lan/local access.
Do you have a gateway specified for both NICs?
Maybe try and specify a gateway only on NIC1 where you want remote access and leave NIC2 with no gateway so it would only be used locally.
Also I hate to ask but why do you have this odd setup with multiple NICs?
I can’t do that as I need internet access for both.
I have this setup since internet here (Romania) is very cheap and the 2nd internet connection was bundled with other connected services. I’m using it for non time critical applications as streaming / downloading.
The detailed explanation seems to refer to local clients only, but it’s not definitive.
Preferred network interface
For the benefit of users with multiple network cards and for systems such as NAS or Docker where there is always another network interface which Plex client applications may try to use to connect to the Plex Media Server, there is now the option to ignore the extra interfaces and for users to select a specific interface that Plex Media Server would announce to plex.tv thus ensuring local Plex clients would only try that interface. (Requires Plex Media Server 1.13.9 or later)
Ideally, we should be able to select "preferred with fallback: or something less strict here.
I have a similar setup: one NIC connected to a 4G router which is superfast but data capped and behind CG-NAT, and another NIC connected to a DSL modem which is super slow but with direct access.
Last time I tried it was impossible to make Plex use the second line for remote access, it keeps trying to publish the first (CG-NATted) IP to plex.tv, which of course fails.
I think it might work to add the correct IP manually to the Custom Server URL list, using the Plex dynamic domain name, which is constructed from the IP address and the server id: https://123-456-78-90.[serverid].plex.direct:32400
