Setting up remote access

Plex Media Server Remote Access
61

if they wont remove it from you asking nice they might require you sign up for a static IP to get out of it.

62

Reading this now. I am on an unlimited 100mb/s down plan. Wonder what “worthy” means - high paying tier, and not much usage? I may have gone nuts lately updating old movie files haha.

How do I Opt-Out?

If you have a valid reason and need to opt-out of CGNAT you can call our technical support staff on 1300 880 905 and we can opt-out your service. Opting out of CGNAT will result in your unique public IP address changing unless you have a static IP applied to your service. If you have a static IP address you do not need to opt-out and will not be part of CGNAT.

If I can get opted out, that is best? I then get a unique ip that isn’t bunched with other devices and is truly public, not private?

Or I buy the static IP ($5 per month), this static IP though is good - so I can use for Plex. But also not a problem for security, because externally, I have proton VPN and they’ll only see that? :thinking:

63

If you can get out for free, yes, do.
But $5/mo is supa-cheap for a static IP, too.

Don’t run Plex over the VPN.

64

Gotcha. Will have a crack.

“If you have a valid reason and need to opt-out of CGNAT you can call our technical support staff on 1300 880 905 and we can opt-out your service.”

Valid reason? I have a Plex server? OR I run a non-profit website for Orphans, and hosting their website for free? :thinking:

65

“Valid reason” gives them a bunch of wiggle room. Addresses are in shorter and shorter supply, too, so it’s not completely unreasonable.

They might not care at all, and allow you to opt out if you just say “Plex”.

Or it might work to say “My XBox says I’ve got a limited NAT, and I can’t play Call of Duty with my buddies.”

Or “My job as an X-Ray technician requires me to be able to use proprietary software to view on-call images, and the vendor won’t support me if I’m behind CGNAT.”

A static IP address is a small nicety, but probably not strictly necessary. Most of the time a public IP address is pretty stable, and Plex’s system does a good job at detecting what the current public IP address is.

There are only a few ISPs that forcibly rotate IP addresses really often. Mostly they only change if your router disconnects or reboots.

66

I honestly don’t know how they will react to “I want to run a Plex server on my connection.” Many providers have ToS that specifically say you can’t run servers on your connection, but frankly almost everyone is now in one way or another with all the devices we own now that phone home to their corporate overlords. Also your ISP’s page about this topic (why did I have to pass a captcha to see that???) mention servers so they seem cool with it.

67

For multiple reasons, including my favorite: it doesn’t work.
(With rare exceptions.)

ProtonVPN on your PC won’t have any impact on Plex on the Jail on TrueNAS anyway.

68

Multiple studies have shown that judges give more favorable verdicts earlier in the week, and earlier in the morning.

If you talk to JoeBob the Support Agent, and he has his own Plex server, he’ll be cool. Totally tubular, man. I gotchu fam. l33t. YOLO.

If you talk to FrumpyJohn the Luddite, he’ll read from the script and deny deny deny.

:slight_smile:

69

Will advise lol. I know how CS tends to work.

Interesting I cannot go static IP unless I buy from ISP.

The whole ipv6 thing, I can enable -but that’d require ISP to do something too?

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It’d be setting up VPN - pfsense or something on router? Or for truenas entirely?

70

The Aussie BB CG-NAT page implies that they don’t have IPv6 ready right now.

Plex’s IPv6 support works well with iPhones and other Apple clients, but I don’t think it works on Android devices or other set-top boxes.

Don’t put Plex behind VPN, it just breaks stuff.

71

You can set up OpenVPN client. There a service for it on TrueNAS itself but really you would generally want to do it on a VM or in a jail specific for what you are using it for.

You don’t want everything going over a VPN anyway. Plex will generally not work well, and Plex clients should be connecting over SSL anyway so they are already secure without a VPN in use. There is a setting in Plex you can set to even require secure connections (see Settings > Network, right under that IPv6 checkbox).

72

Well 9pm on a Sunday with a public holiday tomorrow. Thanks Brad at Aussie for taking me off CGNAT for free. :sunglasses: no fuss.

So now what? haha. Just works?

Testing

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Public IP is same as its meant to be and can access faster on mobile. :smiley:

EDIT: manual connections - updated the IP and fine on pixel 3 it seems. But on iphone; says not able to, error code 409.

73

Thanks. Prospecting a plugin - torrent; and have that over vpn but guess needs to be VM? Or you can put a jail through VPN specifically? ;o

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This best setting to have?

74

Take 'em out. Don’t need em or want them. Let it discover the server normally.

75

Don’t I need them for remote access?

76

Nope! Leave it blank. Plex provides some magic here.

The server discovers its public IP address, and registers it with the Plex Cloud, and gets a nifty automagical hostname and SSL certificate.

The client asks the Plex Cloud for available servers, and the connection gets protected with the SSL certificate.

When you’re inside the LAN, it will use the registered private IP address to connect. When you’re outside, that won’t be reachable, so it will use the registered public address.

Using a manual connection will just break in multiple ways. Those are really old, and I’m surprised they’re still in the mobile apps at all.

77

Ha! Wtaf.

Ok, that’s handy.

claps

Best connection type settings to have? Insecure connection happens when then, if plex is ‘secure’?

78

The same mechanism works for https://app.plex.tv/ from anywhere. After authentication the web app gets the same list of available servers. It’s slick.

The “best” connection setting is:

Server → Settings → Network → Secure connections : Required

That makes sure any connections to the server are encrypted with SSL (really TLS).

It doesn’t obfuscate the server - anybody who makes a connection (securely!) can see that it’s a Plex server. If there are bugs in Plex, the server is reachable on the Internet.

Encryption means that your ISP (for instance) can see that it’s a Plex server, and they can see if data is being transferred. But they can’t eavesdrop on the authentication tokens, or see what data is being transferred.

Secure connections : Preferred is only necessary for local devices that are so old and crusty that they can’t support the encryption.

79

UPnP has been the reason 10s of thousands if not more NAS’s were hit with Qlocker and Deadbolt in the last 2 years. Also, the reason many end up with their PCs turned into part of a malicious botnet.

UPnP does not belong on any network exposed to the internet. Internal WANs sure, edge facing NEVER. :woozy_face:

80

Thanks. Keeping UPnP off. Much appreciated all for the help. Been exceptional.

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Add the IP to list of IP addresses and networks that are allowed without auth?

– A question as well; speed is 100mb/s down, and 25mb/s up


With inviting a bro as a user remotely; if he is downloading at 10mb/s, and I am then uploading at 10mb/s, means there is 15 mb/s left uploading
 bandwidth, and if someone else a mate was also streaming at 10mb/s, that’d put it at 25/mbs for my server
 and basically slow down my own internet?

If that makes sense? I gather I can control that, adding a few people - them using it at once would hardly effect my own experience?

Basically wondering about giving access to my bro/friend, but then not wanting to regret it later b/c now my own session lags etc.