I have had Plex running pretty flawless for years on Synology DS1512+. Once in a blue moon I get simple glitches that a simple stop and restart solves. However, out of nowhere, my remote access is not working and it appears to coincide with the Synology DSM update 6.1.2.-15132 on 06/14/17. I’m not certain its related, but that’s around when I noticed it started not working. I let the server do auto DSM updates so I have never worried about shutting down Plex before an upgrade.
Plex inside my network still works like it should. All my devices can access Plex perfectly fine as if everything is ok. Everyone on my friends list can no longer access my Plex. What do I need to do to troubleshoot what the issue is? I can download the Plex logs but not sure what I should be looking for.
Troubleshooting steps so far…
Tried shutting down Plex, server, router. Signed out, signed back into Plex in several ways. Nothing seemed to have any impact.
With the wifi turned off of my cell phone (to ensure I’m hitting Plex from outside my network) I can still access Plex somehow but it now complains about the connection and shows an “Indirect” connection. Though I seem to be able to hit Plex indirectly from outside my network, no one on my friends list can.
From my phone I can also access Plex just fine by going to http://myIPaddress:32400/web/index.html, so I know the port forwarding on my router is not an issue and apparently I can change settings on the running Plex server instance.
I was running Plex 1.5.3.xxxx when this happened. I did install the latest version 1.5.6.3790 in an attempt to see if it cleared the issue.
I have spent the weekend trying to debug this and I’m at a loss at what to look at next to resolve this issue. Can anyone point me in the right direction? I’m an IT professional so I can handle the technical stuff. Maybe I just need to learn the ins and outs of the Plex logs?
Update: I did just install Plex 1.7.3.3937. Still no change. Remote acess is still not working.
For as bizarre as it sounds, this is a 1/2 tear down of the remote connection so DSM can talk to it better. I have NO idea why the Syno does. It just does. Some modem/routers and their UPnP table get whacked up when the Syno talks to them even if not using UPnP.
With PMS stopped but Remote Access enabled before you did stop it,
Clear out the UPnP cache in the modem/router, Manually inspect Preferences.xml to make sure it’s still in ManuallyMappedPort mode (="1") and the ManuallyMappedPort value is correct. If “Automatic” anything is defined, remove the parameter & value.
Now start PMS, Let it get itself going. Check it after about 60 seconds.
My solution was more radical. I swapped out the modem. Took care of it in a blink making it not entirely clear where the root problem was.
I’m have an Asus RT-AC66U router and a stand alone Motorola SB6141, so I don’t have any ISP supplied combo device to worry about. I don’t see any place in the Asus router to clear out any type of cache. I did delete the 32400 port and redefined it in the port forward table, if that will help.
In looking at the Preferences.xml, there isn’t anything set to auto. I have the port manually defined as 32400. In the xml, I have ManualPortMappingPort=“32400”, but there isn’t any entry regarding mode=1 or anything like that.
I can try to just change the port altogether to something like 32401?
In Preferences.xml, the triplet to add is ManualPortMappingMode="1" to force set manual port mapping ON. It appears you have the port defined but the checkbox in the UI isn’t checked. Adding this setting will instruct PMS to use your manual port immediately at startup.
You can make the external port anything you like. 32401 is used by PMS itself with LAN client communications.
Yeah, changing to port 32401 didn’t do anything.
I disabled the uPnP on my router on now Plex’s remote access is fine. However, I don’t think this is a viable option since I’m sure other devices on my network want it enabled. While Plex’s configuration is showing remote access is enabled, my Android phone is still showing it as an indirect connection.
To verify, Is your Android using internal (LAN) or external (WAN) connectivity at that time?
Internally indirect is a firewall issue. WAN indirect is the Remote Access port.
I always turn my wifi off to ensure I’m hitting the server from outside my network and going through the router. Granted, wifi also goes through the router but not from outside the network and the firewall. As I stated in my original post, I can hit http://myIPaddress:32400/web/index.html from outside my network perfectly fine. I also tested it from a website like http://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/open-ports/. Everything is telling me my ports are not the issue.
The fact that the issue goes away when I turn uPnP off in my router and then comes back when I turn it on tells me that it may be uPnP related. I did not perform any kind of router firmware upgrade so I fail to see how the router all of a sudden becomes the issue one morning.
My router firmware was updated back in March and I made no recent updates to its settings since and it was working fine from March until the morning of 6/15. I would be surprised if the router was the cause of the issue.
Only new thing that was introduced to the equation was the Synology DSM update last week (2017/06/15). So my guess is its a Synology issue, though I don’t see anything related in the DSM upgrade release notes. I’m also not ruling out some Synology and router combination issue.
https://www.synology.com/en-us/releaseNote/DS1512+
Are there any other places in the log files I should be looking at?
So odd. Now over night with uPnP turned off, it stopped working again. Flipped uPnP back on and now it’s accessible again. Can’t figure out which way it wants it.
@clear33765 Did you manage to solve this? I have the exact same issue that you mention. However, turning uPnP on/off makes no difference for myself.
No I haven’t. I’m baffled. I flip uPnP back and forth and it seems to connect but it doesn’t stay that way. I have no idea what to try next or what to even look at.
I’ve completely uninstalled Plex and reinstalled the officially signed Synology version, which is 1.5.3.3580. Nothing I do seems to make any difference and its way past frustrating why I can’t locate the issue.
I think I’m past the idea that it could be my router since I did not perform a firmware update on it, nor make any change in its settings and I can fully access http://myIPaddress:32400/web/index.html without any issues. The port forwarding is working fine. Like my original post said, this issue started when Synology did a DSM update. I’m not even sure what to look at in Plex’s logs.
UPnP can’t be rushed. Please remember that, on the backend servers, it is only expecting a ping from your machine once per hour to verify your IP hasn’t changed. Yes, it can handle more but toggling on/off/on/off repeatedly will mess up the back end. There are multiple hosts involved and, due to the multi-hosted nature of those servers, Plex.tv easily can see on/on/off/off/off as the sequence.
This is why it’s best to turn it on… let it settle… It will get there. Once there, leave it be
I’ve left uPnp on overnight as well as off overnight the next night. It has had plenty of time either way to settle in and work and it still refuses to grant access from outside the network. I would say uPnP is not the issue either, so just going to leave it on since that’s what I always had it set to when the issue first started.
1 Like
@clear33765 said:
I’m have an Asus RT-AC66U router and a stand alone Motorola SB6141, so I don’t have any ISP supplied combo device to worry about. I don’t see any place in the Asus router to clear out any type of cache. I did delete the 32400 port and redefined it in the port forward table, if that will help.
In looking at the Preferences.xml, there isn’t anything set to auto. I have the port manually defined as 32400. In the xml, I have ManualPortMappingPort=“32400”, but there isn’t any entry regarding mode=1 or anything like that.
I can try to just change the port altogether to something like 32401?
I have the Asus RT-AC88U and RP-AC66U. These routers/repeater are very fussy about certain things. I’ve tried to open ports in the past and even though it shows it’s closed on plex, it still works.
FWIW:
I just replaced my aging modem with the ActionTec T-3200. Instant remote access. 100% reliable, no muss, no fuss.
Previously I had to manually port forward, stand on my left toes, while balancing a plate on my right index finger… haha
@slimshizn said:
@clear33765 said:
I’m have an Asus RT-AC66U router and a stand alone Motorola SB6141, so I don’t have any ISP supplied combo device to worry about. I don’t see any place in the Asus router to clear out any type of cache. I did delete the 32400 port and redefined it in the port forward table, if that will help.
In looking at the Preferences.xml, there isn’t anything set to auto. I have the port manually defined as 32400. In the xml, I have ManualPortMappingPort=“32400”, but there isn’t any entry regarding mode=1 or anything like that.
I can try to just change the port altogether to something like 32401?
I have the Asus RT-AC88U and RP-AC66U. These routers/repeater are very fussy about certain things. I’ve tried to open ports in the past and even though it shows it’s closed on plex, it still works.
Like my original post said, I had this running flawless for years until the Synology did its DSM update on 6/15, and then it stopped working. I’m still assuming that my router is not the issue. Maybe something about the DSM update changed how it talks to the router? I’m still unclear what to look at to identify the issue. All my port forwarding have always worked fine.
Thing is, phones with the Plex app can still make “indirect” connections, yet Roku devices or Samsung TVs are unable to connect.
Update: I went into Synology’s Control Panel > Security > Firewall and edited my firewall rules. Previously I had no custom entries of any kind. I added port 32400 to allow all connections. Plex now works with full direct access from outside my network.
This tells me that there is something about the DSM update that did something to block access. In looking through Synology’s release notes, I still don’t see what part of the update could have been the culprit.
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Thank you for finding that. I don’t know why it impacted your machine but not mine.
Obviously another ‘DSM Security Improvement’. I’ll be certain to add that to get into the FAQ
@ChuckPA said:
Thank you for finding that. I don’t know why it impacted your machine but not mine.
Obviously another ‘DSM Security Improvement’. I’ll be certain to add that to get into the FAQ
I know this is a bit off topic, but did you update QNAP to the latest release yet? If so any issues with Plex? Makes me nervous to update lol.
