Server keeps disconnecting to "Not available outside your network" port is open

[appel22]

Server Version#: 1.19.3.2852
Player Version#: Plex app for Windows and Mac; Browser play via Chrome; Apple tv app; iOS app iPhone/iPad

Server: Windows 7 SP1 64bit
CPU: Intel i5 4690 @ 3,5 ghz
RAM: 24GB
Drive: Samsung 840EVO 250GB (+ other data disks)

Internet connection; 250Mbit Down // 100 Mbit Up

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For months I cant get to hold a “Fully accessible” status for my family to stream my video files.
Whenever I press retry, often it shortly is accessible but not to far there after it mentions yet again " not available outside your network" after multiple updates restarts refreshes i come here to hope for some support in this matter. Lifetime Plex-pass holder.

Ports 32400 is forwarded, as on the below screenshots it does show as working. Canyouseeme.org shows 32400 is open whenever Plex says fully accessible, and says not open whenever plex isnt accessible from outside my network.
To show it cant be my network somehow, I also have a Synology device where port 5001 is forwarded too, while checking 32400 i also check 5001, this port is always open and accessible.

Over LAN, never any issues always perfect streaming quality and speed.
Remote stream via iPad on Plex app, while RETRY is pressed and made accessible, full quality stream shortly possible before server goes to " indirect " again.

Stream to AppleTV Plex app, always notifications connection speed to server is low, stream does not want to start, and usually straight for the indirect 2MBIT connection which is not what i want.
Sending file from host to client via Synology file share goes easy 50MBIT max client download speed.

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Plex settings:
Auto adjust quality; OFF
Internet streaming video quality; MAXIMUM
Direct play; ON
Direct stream; ON
Internet speed set to; 75MBIT
Limit remote bitrate set to; Original (no limit)
Support for ipv6; enabled
Secure connections; required
Transcoder quality; automatic

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Thank you kindly for any helpful advise on this matter.

[MariusMS]

This has been happening to me all day. At first it took rebooting to correct, now I can just hit retry and it works again, but it seems to only last for a few minutes before dropping again.

[appel22]

Update after last nite’s Plex connection issues, ran the update which was available today, Plex version 1.19.4.2902.
For a few hours the connection was there, i did a test run with 3 streams on 4K, direct secure connection.

AppleTV 4K -> Direct play both video/audio (HEVC Main10 / AAC7.1)
AppleTV 1080p -> Transcode 1080p / EAC3
iPad -> Direct stream both video/audio 4K

Nothing changed on the setup, worked like a charm all of a sudden Plex says, “not available outside your network” streams stop downscale to lego brick quality for no reason.
Ran the port check for Plex and 32400 and it says not open, confirmed with my Synology on port 5001 it is open. (Windows server firewall/virusscan turned off to see if anything here holds it back, but no change).

With checking all of this, in my opinion its the Plex server that just stopt forcing its availability through 32400 and just goes in to some kind of sleep mode. Between my server and the Plex main servers ?
Meanwhile local connection is 4K direct play and flawless.

How do i force this in something that actually works, everything is set up and this is the main bottleneck for months after months, quite disappointing.

Thanks

[pl_5309]

What Router and ISP, I noticed my router added Bitdefender into a firmware upgrade to “protect” me.

Probably end up being a DNS issue but look at the Plex Media Server log for lines around plex.direct.

[appel22]

I have Etisalat as ISP, fiber connection Dubai.

Modem; Huawei EchoLife HG8240H
Router; D-Link DIR-850L

I do not like the Router, with its possibilities wifi speed, settings and all that sorts, hence i have a Bridged router that does the port forwarding in my home network (D-Link forwards everything to the Linksys).

Bridged router; Linksys WRT 1900ACv2 -> flashed with DD-WRT v3.0-r28788 std (01/13/16)
Server is hardwired to the Linksys, as is the Synology.

DNSMasq; enable
No DNS Rebind; disable
Additional DNSMasq options; rebind-domain-ok=/plex.direct/

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Jun 03, 2020 12:14:44.240 [7556] WARN - NAT: PMP, got an error: NATPMP_ERR_RECVFROM.

Jun 03, 2020 12:14:44.361 [6548] DEBUG - Streaming Resource: Estimated bandwidth for xxxx to be 739kbps over 10.08s
Jun 03, 2020 12:14:44.577 [7556] DEBUG - HTTP 200 response from GET https://xxxx.plex.direct:32400/identity

Video file above is an 4k one, so doesnt make sense to come up with a 739kbps

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Ports are and remaind forwarded, 5001 port is always open if i check.
32400 is open when plex says available for outside connections, 32400 is not open when plex says not available outside your network, when i press retry it usually comes back. But i dont want to press retry over and over again obvs.

Router 1 (D-link), 192.168.1.1
Router 2 (Linksys), 192.168.2.1
Server hard wired to Router 2 with a static ip address.

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Also random 10-15min into the movie 2 different clients get " There was a problem playing this item, the video did not start playing in time". message on the tv. (Apple TV and Samsung TV Plex app).

[Kjettern69]

I have the same problem on my Synology DS918+… Plex has been working like it should and nothing is changed in the settings, but after yesterday I can’t reach it from outside of my network…

[thatguy_za]

I’m having the same issue - no remote access since the latest docker update (Plex v. 1.19.4.2902)

What is strange is that it is showing me a random German IP where my WAN IP should be. Not sure if this is contributing to the problems?

Port forwarding is all fine, there have been no changes since the update was made and remote access was working perfectly before.

Here are the docker logs when I start the containter and nothing is added to the logs when I try to access Plex remotely.

[s6-init] making user provided files available at /var/run/s6/etc...exited 0.
[s6-init] ensuring user provided files have correct perms...exited 0.
[fix-attrs.d] applying ownership & permissions fixes...
[fix-attrs.d] done.
[cont-init.d] executing container initialization scripts...
[cont-init.d] 40-plex-first-run: executing...
[cont-init.d] 40-plex-first-run: exited 0.
[cont-init.d] 45-plex-hw-transcode-and-connected-tuner: executing...
[cont-init.d] 45-plex-hw-transcode-and-connected-tuner: exited 0.
[cont-init.d] 50-plex-update: executing...
[cont-init.d] 50-plex-update: exited 0.
[cont-init.d] done.
[services.d] starting services
Starting Plex Media Server.
[services.d] done.

EDIT, I just checked the Plex logs and see this German IP causing trouble again. I am not in Germany and do not use a German VPN so I really don’t know how this IP got there. How cn I remove it?

[thatguy_za]

Update: It turns out that Plex was latching on to the VPN tunnel from my Transmission-VPN docker container - hence the VPN’s IP. Oops.

[sa2000]

@appel22

Ran the port check for Plex and 32400 and it says not open, confirmed with my Synology on port 5001 it is open. (Windows server firewall/virusscan turned off to see if anything here holds it back, but no change).

Don’t understand the bit about port 5001

Would need to check that the router still has a port forward in place for your selected WAN port - is it 32400 ? to forward to 32400 to your local IP of the server.

Is the local IP setup as a DHCP IP Reservation ? or static outside dhcp range?

Do you have xFinity xFi port forward?

We have a troubleshooting article here
https://support.plex.tv/articles/200931138-troubleshooting-remote-access/

[appel22]

Hi Sa2000,

In the opening post I explained about the part about the port 5001 is purely to show that it cannot be the fault of my port forwarding setup, since my Synology uses port 5001 and this is always open, while Plex on my windows server on port 32400 cycles between open/not open depending on Plex having a connection somehow.
In addition to verify that it is not the virusscanner/firewall on the Windows server, I do have multiple services/programs running that are continuously accessable from the outside while Plex goes to " unavailable for the direct connection "

Both my Windows server and my Synology have a IP address out of the DHCP range, they got their dedicated IP static and there is no IP duplication possible, nor has it ever been.

I have no what xFinity is so i guess not.
Hardware/software details in use i have described in the opening post.

I already looked through the Troubleshooting, and i did my research on the forum but nothing works thats why I am asking for some more deepngoing information or ideas to tackle this issue.

Since to me it looks like Plex is creating a time-out or dropping connection to the main plex servers? that makes it offline even my ports are open to Plex and to my other running servers/programs.
This is purely a Plex configuration issue to my knowledge but i have no idea what.

[sa2000]

@appel22

ince to me it looks like Plex is creating a time-out or dropping connection to the main plex servers? that makes it offline even my ports are open to Plex and to my other running servers/pro

May be Plex Media Server is going into some lockout state - locking out new requests - but any freeze or lockout like that would also impact local requests within the local network - so if these continue to work whilst the remote connections are down then it can’t be Plex Media Server being in a locked out state

Is the first router definitely in Bridge Modem Modem ? May be it is not? There would then be Double NAT

You could run wireshark on the windows machine and see if any requests are coming into windows on local port 32400 from outside the local network. If not, then you need to investigate routers / ISP end. If requests are coming in and seen in wireshark - then I would need to have that packet capture (zip of the .pcap file) with server debug + verbose logging to see what is happening and if the packets are actually reaching the server process

[appel22]

Alright, when im back home im gonna check all as u said and come back to u. Thanks

[appel22]

Hi,

I threw the whole setup around, I recon my previous setup was not correct and your point of Double NAT was correct even I tough I thought was setup correctly.

Current setup;
Etisalat modem
DDWRT Linksys WRT1900ACS router

Issue with remote acces is now solved, port stays open remote acces does not disconnect and clients get the required direct secure connection.

---

Though there is still an issue that seems to exist after it seems to work out perfectly.
I have multiple users in different locations, but not all are able to utilize the high quality stream as intended. (file used is 1080p x265, but x264 and different bitrates also gives the issue)
Asked all users to

• set the quality to MAX
• auto adjust quality ON (and if it does not work properly to OFF),
• use old video player OFF
• Allow direct play ON

Local; Plex for AppleTV 4K, stream start buffer peaks shortly to 50-80Mbps.
Plex app for MacOS, stream starts buffer peaks 50-80Mbps and works fine.

User1; Plex for AppleTV, 1080p buffer peaks to 10-25 Mbps then streams fine (same country)
Plex for iOS, same buffer peaks and streams fine
User2; Plex for AppleTV 4k, buffer peaks to 10-25Mbps then streams fine (foreign country)
Plex for MacOS, buffer peaks then streams fine.
User3; Plex for Samsung, seems to keep stopping to buffer (same country)
User4; Plex for AppleTV, does not want to play in maximum quality, buffer according the dashboard peaks out at about 2Mbps even connection is direct secure. (foreign)
Plex for Windows, does not want to buffer and stream, peaks out 2Mbps, forced to lowest 720p quality to work.
User5; Plex via Chromecast, unable to stream full quality, has to set manually to 720p stream to work, stream peaks around 1Mbps. (foreign)
User6; Plex app for Windows, keeps on saying buffer, connection speed not enough. (foreign)

All users have a connection of 50Mbps and above (most clients are wired).
Have sent a file direct from my network to their network, consuming full bandwidth speed of 100Mbps on my side, or taking their maximum speed if applicable.

I would like to solve this, as well for the rest all works fine at the moment very happy with that.

Appreciate your input.

[sa2000]

@appel22

I threw the whole setup around, I recon my previous setup was not correct and your point of Double NAT was correct even I tough I thought was setup correctly.

Current setup;
Etisalat modem
DDWRT Linksys WRT1900ACS router

Issue with remote acces is now solved, port stays open remote acces does not disconnect and clients get the required direct secure connection.

Though there is still an issue that seems to exist after it seems to work out perfectly.
I have multiple users in different locations, but not all are able to utilize the high quality stream as intended. (file used is 1080p x265, but x264 and different bitrates also gives the issue)

That is good news and thanks for the level of detail for the quality issue.

This is not relevant to this forum thread so needs to be on a separate forum topic - could you raise a new topic please - i do not want to move this post to a new topic because partly the content is relevant to this thread and previous posts

You have mentioned a number of products and each would need to be looked into with diagnostics and logs from server / client at the time - you could start off with one forum topic but you may be asked to split it.