Remote Connections not working - Double NAT Issue I think

[johnortt]

Hi All,
I am struggling to get my Plex server to work remotely.
I expect this is due to a double NAT issue but I wanted to check with you guys first.

First off Plex works perfectly within the home network (192.168.1.X) and I have no issues.
The issue only occurs when I try to enable remote access, when I do I get:
“Fully accessible outside your network” for approximately 30 seconds.
After this it reverts to “Not available outside your network”.
If anyone can see something obviously wrong I would really appreciate it.
Thank-you in advance for your time.
Setup details follow:

UNRAID NAS (192.168.1.7)

My files are stored on an UnRaid NAS
This NAS has a Plex server installed (Version 1.15.2.793) but I rarely use it as the NAS isn’t powerful enough to transcode. For remote access I have manually set the public port to 32401.

Ryzen PC (192.168.1.8)

To overcome the limitations of the NAS I installed Plex on my main Ryzen PC (Version: 1.20.0.3181). This is still pulling the files from the NAS but the transcoding seems to work quite well now. For remote access I have manually set the public port to 32402.

Unifi USG Pro-4 (192.168.1.1 > 192.168.0.2)

I have a Unifi network behind a Unifi USG Security Gateway.
This has been assigned the 192.168.1.1 address internally and has the 192.168.0.2 address on the WAN

TP Link TL-MR6400 LTE Router (192.168.0.1)

This device is my main connection to the Internet via a 4G sim card.

PORT FORWARDING SETUP ON USG

In order to ensure that the ports are correctly forwarded i have put forwarding rules on the USG.
(Example shown below for 192.168.1.8)
I have setup port forwarding rules on the USG for the two servers along the following lines:
From: Anywhere
Port: 32402
Fwd IP: 192.168.1.8
Fwd Port: 32400
Protocol: Both

DMZ Setup on TP LINK

DMZ Status is set as enabled
DMZ Host: 192.168.0.2

[nokdim]

If I am reading this right you need to setup port forwarding on your TL-MR6400 as well.

I haven’t done much remote access with 4G so that might be a whole nother issue.

I’d setup port forwarding on your TL-MR6400 and make sure the WAN ip of that guy matches what canyouseeme.org shows as your public IP and go from there.

[Cafe_Diem]

I wrote this a long time ago for a similar double-NAT situation, and it might be helpful for you, too.

Router behind a router possible?

I can’t help you with the optimum router portion. But I can help you with the port forwarding part. The short version: You can’t use UPnP to automatically set it up. You’ll need to do manual port forwarding. First, here’s a primer on manual port forwarding: https://support.plex.tv/articles/200931138-troubleshooting-remote-access/ On your plex box, you’ll be using port number 32400. But on the router, it can technically be any port number you want, as long as you set that same external port nu…

[Volts]

@nokdim

you need to setup port forwarding on your TL-MR6400 as well.

I think the DMZ host → 192.168.0.2 configuration on the TP-Link should satisfy this.

@nokdim

I haven’t done much remote access with 4G so that might be a whole nother issue

I fear this could ruin everything. I would assume the worst and expect a 4G provider to be using CGNAT. If they aren’t, they may still block all inbound connections.

Fingers crossed on that one. I’m also very curious if the WAN IP address on the TL-MR6400 matches canyouseeme.org.

@johnortt

when I try to enable remote access … I get: “Fully accessible outside your network” for approximately 30 seconds

That’s not a perfect indicator if remote access is working. It has a history of being unreliable, and in difficult configurations, even if everything is working, it may not go green.