Some remote access stopped working

Plex Media Server Remote Access
1

Server Version#: 1.20.2.3370 running on Ubuntu 20.04
Player Version#:
iOS: 7.6.1
Android: 8.6.0.20351
Plex Web: 4.43.1

Today, I was unable to connect to my local plex server using the web (through plex.tv). It complained that it was unable to connect securely. Went and rebooted the plex server, it happened in the past and a reboot generally fixed the issue.

Since then, I am still unable to connect securely to my plex server, but I am also unable to connect remotely. From what I was able to test, it seems to be related to the way plex.tv redirect to my plex server.

If I connect remotely manually using http or https://my_external_ip:32400/web/, it works as it should (except for a certificate error that doesn’t match my IP address when using https)
If I connect locally manually using http or https://my_internal_ip:32400/web/, it works as it should (except for a certificate error that doesn’t match my IP address when using https)

If I connect using the plex.tv website locally, it takes some times then I see all my library as unable to connect securely. If I connect unsecurely, I can see my library correctly.
Same thing when connecting remotely.

Considering that https seems to be broken when using the plex.tv website, all of my mobile application (iOS and Android) seems to be unable to connect remotely, they all report “PMS is Currently Unavailable”. I tried allowing unsecure connection on my android device (into advanced setting) but it didn’t seem to work.

The remote access settings keeps complaining that my server is unavailable remotely even though I did test that the port forwarding is working correctly. Also, that page sometime refresh showing an IPv6 for my internal IP instead of the IPv4.

I’ve looked at the PMS log and the only thing I can find that seems related (at least, to me) is this:
CERT: incomplete TLS handshake: sslv3 alert certificate unknown

I am not doing any DPI inspection (decrypting and re-encrypting), and my DNS servers are just local servers doing a simple forwarding to 8.8.8.8 and 4.2.2.2.

Anyone got an idea?

1 Like
2

Just to test to see if it is my server that has a problem, I went and deployed a new Ubuntu 20.04.1 VM and installed Plex on it using the repository configuration.

I went and connected to http://new_server_ip:32400/web to configure it. It went and asked me my login credentials. After that, I ended up with this message:

No soup for you!

The server you’re trying to access doesn’t want to let you in. Make sure you’re signed in as a user with access to this server.

So, I searched for the forum, did some test (stop all PMS servers, log out every where, try again, check the Preferences.xml to remove some value that weren’t even there). Nothing work.

3

Something is clearly wrong and I would guess that it is somewhere on plex’s side.

I am still unable to access my new plex server using my plex account. I decided to try with a new plex account, so I created a new one and ta-dam! It logged in without any problem, no more “No soup for you” message. Problem is, that server is now linked to a test account which is not what I wanted.

How can I determine what is wrong with my account and why am I unable to link my new server to my account?

4

I am having the same issue can not get remote access to work at all my server has been working fine for months then boom!

3 Likes
5

May I have some DEBUG log files please (the ZIP or a tar.gz of the Logs directory) before marching folks off the plank? :smiley:

6

Same issue here. Never had a problem and now all of the sudden all my connections are insecure.

2 Likes
7

Updated and that may have worked.
Confirmed.
Was prompted for an update before the issue and thought ‘nah, can’t be that simple’
Yep
It was

8

Hi ChuckPa, here is the logs you requested, from both server. Old is the one that has been working for over a year and New is the one I just built to test.

New_Server_Logs.tar.gz (206.7 KB) Old_Server_Logs.tar.gz (2.0 MB)

Some other info:

I am using two bind9 server as local DNS resolver. I wasn’t able to confirm if bind9 protects against DNS rebinding by default. The “new” server is using 8.8.8.8 and 4.2.2.2 to bypass that but being unable to login normally, I was unable to really test if that might be the issue.

You will see in the logs that the server sometime report that the network is configured for jumbo frames. Some part of my network is using jumbo frames (my ESXi servers with their storage) but I can confirm that the port where the plex server is connected is set to a MTU of 1500 (no jumbo frame).

I am seeing error connecting to my_external_ip_and_some_string.plex.direct:32401 (external port I use, so this is ok). That hostname resolves to my external IP. If the Plex server try to connect to this, I would need an hairpin NAT configuration in my router, which is not the case right now. Actually, I never used any hairpin NAT configuration in my router and it used to work. Is this something new?

Let me know if you need anything else!

9

Ok, I managed to get secure connection working again.

The log kept complaining about this:

CERT: incomplete TLS handshake: sslv3 alert certificate unknown

I saw that some people managed to get the PMS to refresh its certificate by removing (with a backup) the Preferences.xml file and reclaiming the server. So that’s what I did. Since then, I am able to connect securely to my PMS again.

Still, the remote access configuration says that my PMS is unavailable remotely, it show the correct internal IP address and port and the correct external IP address but the external port seems stuck with a 0.

I tried connecting with my apps (Android, Android TV and iOS) and they all work correctly locally.

Remotely, iOS seems to work correctly although it was slow to load the home screen but I am still able to access and stream my content. Android is able to access the home screen remotely but it seems to be unable to stream anything. It starts the stream, but you just get the circle indefinitely. In the log, you get this while trying to start the stream:

Oct 01, 2020 09:17:04.350 [0x7f2daeffd700] DEBUG - CERT: incomplete TLS handshake: sslv3 alert certificate unknown
Oct 01, 2020 09:17:04.350 [0x7f2daf7fe700] DEBUG - CERT: incomplete TLS handshake: sslv3 alert certificate unknown
Oct 01, 2020 09:17:04.622 [0x7f2d71ffb700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Estimated bandwidth for a9b2cff187776eaf-com-plexapp-android to be 0kbps over 20.00s
Oct 01, 2020 09:17:04.704 [0x7f2d597fa700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Transcoder segment range: 0 - 22 (22)
Oct 01, 2020 09:17:04.706 [0x7f2d70ff9700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Transcoder segment range: 0 - 23 (22)
Oct 01, 2020 09:17:06.125 [0x7f2d717fa700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Estimated bandwidth for a9b2cff187776eaf-com-plexapp-android to be 0kbps over 20.00s
Oct 01, 2020 09:17:06.623 [0x7f2d717fa700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Estimated bandwidth for a9b2cff187776eaf-com-plexapp-android to be 0kbps over 20.00s
Oct 01, 2020 09:17:07.900 [0x7f2dadffb700] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: PLAYER departed after not being seen for 182.007240 seconds: 10.72.0.51
Oct 01, 2020 09:17:08.125 [0x7f2d5bfff700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Estimated bandwidth for a9b2cff187776eaf-com-plexapp-android to be 0kbps over 20.00s
Oct 01, 2020 09:17:08.623 [0x7f2d94ff9700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Estimated bandwidth for a9b2cff187776eaf-com-plexapp-android to be 0kbps over 20.00s
Oct 01, 2020 09:17:10.126 [0x7f2d5bfff700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Estimated bandwidth for a9b2cff187776eaf-com-plexapp-android to be 0kbps over 20.00s
Oct 01, 2020 09:17:10.624 [0x7f2d71ffb700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Estimated bandwidth for a9b2cff187776eaf-com-plexapp-android to be 0kbps over 20.00s
Oct 01, 2020 09:17:12.126 [0x7f2d717fa700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Estimated bandwidth for a9b2cff187776eaf-com-plexapp-android to be 0kbps over 20.00s
Oct 01, 2020 09:17:12.624 [0x7f2dadffb700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Estimated bandwidth for a9b2cff187776eaf-com-plexapp-android to be 0kbps over 20.00s
Oct 01, 2020 09:17:14.127 [0x7f2daffff700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Estimated bandwidth for a9b2cff187776eaf-com-plexapp-android to be 0kbps over 20.00s
Oct 01, 2020 09:17:14.625 [0x7f2d377fe700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Estimated bandwidth for a9b2cff187776eaf-com-plexapp-android to be 0kbps over 20.00s
Oct 01, 2020 09:17:16.128 [0x7f2dadffb700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Estimated bandwidth for a9b2cff187776eaf-com-plexapp-android to be 0kbps over 20.00s
Oct 01, 2020 09:17:16.625 [0x7f2dadffb700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Estimated bandwidth for a9b2cff187776eaf-com-plexapp-android to be 0kbps over 20.00s
Oct 01, 2020 09:17:18.128 [0x7f2d727fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Estimated bandwidth for a9b2cff187776eaf-com-plexapp-android to be 0kbps over 20.00s
Oct 01, 2020 09:17:18.626 [0x7f2d94ff9700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Estimated bandwidth for a9b2cff187776eaf-com-plexapp-android to be 0kbps over 20.00s
Oct 01, 2020 09:17:20.128 [0x7f2d94ff9700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Estimated bandwidth for a9b2cff187776eaf-com-plexapp-android to be 0kbps over 20.00s
Oct 01, 2020 09:17:20.626 [0x7f2d727fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Estimated bandwidth for a9b2cff187776eaf-com-plexapp-android to be 0kbps over 20.00s
Oct 01, 2020 09:17:22.129 [0x7f2d727fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Estimated bandwidth for a9b2cff187776eaf-com-plexapp-android to be 0kbps over 20.00s
Oct 01, 2020 09:17:22.129 [0x7f2d727fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: We’ve been measuring for 60s, so changing to client buffered on a9b2cff187776eaf-com-plexapp-android with an estimate of 0kbps
Oct 01, 2020 09:17:22.627 [0x7f2daffff700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Estimated bandwidth for a9b2cff187776eaf-com-plexapp-android to be 0kbps over 20.00s
Oct 01, 2020 09:17:22.627 [0x7f2daffff700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Segments have been delayed segment for 0.00 and last request was 60.15s ago, so changing to client buffering on a9b2cff187776eaf-com-plexapp-android

I am still trying to figure out why is the remote access marked as unavailable.

10

Another piece of information, the fact that I am unable to stream remotely with my Android might not be related. The test above were done using cellular (LTE) connections on the devices themselves. I tried again by connecting my Android phone through the hotspot of my iPad (again, this is through an LTE connection but the Android sees itself as connected on a WiFi) and it worked.

11

After much test, I just realized that I am actually accessing my PMS remotely through the relay proxy feature (“Enable Relay” under the Network section). If I disable that, I am unable to access the PMS remotely.

Whenever I try to retry or disable/enable the remote access, I am getting this in the logs:

Oct 01, 2020 10:11:08.796 [0x7f5a84ff9700] DEBUG - MyPlex: Requesting reachability check.
Oct 01, 2020 10:11:09.820 [0x7f5ae9394700] DEBUG - MyPlex: reachability check - current mapping state: ‘Mapped - Not Published (Not Reachable)’.
Oct 01, 2020 10:11:09.820 [0x7f5ae9394700] DEBUG - MyPlex: mapping state set to ‘Mapped - Not Published (Not Reachable)’.

Which is weird since it IS accessible if I connect to https://my_external_ip:32400/web (I changed the port back to 32400) it works.

Also weird, shouldn’t some external process from Plex try to connect to my external ip address on port 32400 to validate if the ports is open before considering it closed? I’ve done some network sniffing on my router to see what was connecting to my external interface while retrying the remote access and there is nothing trying to connect. And I can confirm that the sniffer works because if I try to connect manually (again, using https://my_external_ip:32400/web) from outside, I do see a bunch of packets going through.

I am slowly getting out of idea! :stuck_out_tongue:

12

@chuckpa, any news on this? Did you have time to look at the logs?

Thanks!

13

Hi,

It seems I have the same issue. All of my remote users show my server as “offline” however I can connect directly using my public IP:port. It has been remotely accessible in the past, not sure when this issue began but one of my remote users told me yesterday.

Is there any fix to this?

Thanks!

Plex Media Server Logs_2020-10-03_11-15-00.zip (1.8 MB)

2 Likes
14

same here. I can access via localhost, but app.plex.tv and the android app on phones just don’t connect at all. It appears to allow remote access for a brief moment, but then immediately disconnects again. Confirmed that this has nothing to do with router issues - all ports and firewall rules have been working for months and are still accessible. This is purely issues that happened recently on the plex.tv servers/routing. It also doesn’t appear to be from the recent updates in the plex server app, as this happened before I updated to the latest, so must be something external.

1 Like
15

Plex Media Server Logs_2020-10-03_10-16-28.zip (1.7 MB)

Please do something !

Plex admin are aware of this problem ?

1 Like
16

Same issue here.

Couple of days ago I stopped being able to connect securely via any web client.

Plex app on devices works ok, just the web client!

17

I’m having the exact same problem. All the apps work fine but web requires me to enable insecure connections.

18

@Codie90
@Sefjoe

Please restart PMS
Wait about 1 minute
Download the logs ZIP file
Attach it.
Shutdown the server until I reply.

I will confirm

If indeed a certificate problem, I will l reset the certificate.
When it starts, it will obtain a certificate the right way

19

@chuckpa Sorry to bother again
 :frowning: Did you have my message on my thread
 ?

20

@yevaman44

It is Sunday evening in Europe. I do not know if anyone will check in before their morning or not.