I've installed Plex Media Server on my home server (Windows Server 2012) with a multihomed configuration and I'm unable to login and/or utilize this new software after installing it. It seems to be able to scrape the internet for media information as it's expanded on my media library but attempting to sign in results in "There was an error connecting to Plex" and the remote access Server Mapping page shows the Private 192.168.0.1:32400 <- Public 123.456.789:1999 x Internet (the public is obviously my address), so it's picked up the port redirection but it's unable to connect despite that.
I'm wondering if this is due to multihoming issues? Or does the software bind to each NIC? I can't seem to find an option to review this.
It sounds like you haven't opened the Plex port in your Windows Server firewall, and/or need to set up a port forwarding (NAT redirection) in your router. Have you done those things? If you have, is 1999 the actual port on the public side of your router that is being forwarded to the Plex server's port 32400?
It sounds like you haven't opened the Plex port in your Windows Server firewall, and/or need to set up a port forwarding (NAT redirection) in your router. Have you done those things? If you have, is 1999 the actual port on the public side of your router that is being forwarded to the Plex server's port 32400?
The installation itself created inbound firewall rules allowing Plex DLNA Server, Plex Media Server, and Plex Scripting host allowing edge traversal so presumably there wouldn't be port allowances required on the incoming on the LAN side since those allowances would give those services whatever access they needed locally.
Yes, port 1999 is the port on the public side and considering how it's reported under 'Server Mapping' in plex with the green arrow pointing between Public to Private, it's picked that up okay. However it has x for internet...
Have you tried using a port scanner like this http://www.whatsmyip.org/port-scanner/to double check that you do indeed have the port open and forwarded on the router?
On installation the program files are added as general exceptions but no inbound rules are created. These need to be manually added
With regards to multi IP Addresses, there is no mechanism for selecting a specific one for Plex Media Server to bind to and there have been requests for such facility.
There are various forum topics on multiple NICs and how to get Plex Media Server to use a specific one and I there are suggestions on how it can be achieved - by settings of gateway. You can search forums for multiple NICs and bind IP and you may find them
Have you tried using a port scanner like this http://www.whatsmyip.org/port-scanner/to double check that you do indeed have the port open and forwarded on the router?
I knew it was but to show my appreciation for your interaction I double checked and indeed the right port is open.
With regards to multi IP Addresses, there is no mechanism for selecting a specific one for Plex Media Server to bind to and there have been requests for such facility.
There are various forum topics on multiple NICs and how to get Plex Media Server to use a specific one and I there are suggestions on how it can be achieved - by settings of gateway. You can search forums for multiple NICs and bind IP and you may find them
Thanks, I expect this is my issue which explains why Plex is functioning in terms of harvesting internet information for media yet claims to not have internet access. I've done a cursory glance on the forums and I haven't easily found the method for completing this in Windows but I'll give it a bit of time tomorrow.
If I can't get this to go I'll probably pursue other media hosting options as my network & server are mostly vanilla in terms of software and configuration.
I can't help but think that it would be a good idea to create a rule in the Windows firewall for port 32400 anyways - I've seen the Windows Firewall do interesting things when you use the Program or Service rule that the installer does by default.
Also, if your server's IP is 192.168.0.1, then am I correct in presuming that you are using the Windows Server as a router on it's own right? That isn't something I have a lot of experience with, as I wouldn't place router and application server functions on top of each other in one device. I'm willing to try to help anyways, I don't see any reason why it can't be made to work. But if the server does have multiple IPs, an internal and an external, then it would seem to me that the issue is that Plex is using the internal IP, and you don't have proper routing in place for that. I've seen issues with even proper routers (cisco, Mikrotik, etc) with accessing an internal IP from an interface bound to an external IP. As sa2000 wrote, there isn't a way to guarentee which IP Plex uses, but I think you need to look at routing rules for that.
I can't help but think that it would be a good idea to create a rule in the Windows firewall for port 32400 anyways - I've seen the Windows Firewall do interesting things when you use the Program or Service rule that the installer does by default.
Yes, I did that as well, unfortunately to no effect.
No, I am not using the Windows Server as a router itself, it is simply a server that serves up data, DHCP addresses, etc., typical server stuff.
However I could create a manual route if I knew the CIDR block the Plex server was trying to get to.
I decided to spend a bit more time with the Plex Media Server.log file and I see a lot of debug notes but not a lot of errors, and in fact see the software binding on the right NIC. Perhaps this log would be helpful:
May 17, 2015 11:48:01:851 [154028] DEBUG - NAT: Initialized UPnP, result: Not an IGD device
May 17, 2015 11:48:01:851 [154028] DEBUG - HTTP requesting to: http://plex.tv/pms/:/ip
May 17, 2015 11:48:02:020 [154028] DEBUG - MyPlex: Got public IP from http://plex.tv: 74.6.50.150
May 17, 2015 11:48:02:020 [154028] DEBUG - NAT: Obtained public address of 74.6.50.150 (failed: 0 myPlex: 1).
May 17, 2015 11:48:02:020 [154028] DEBUG - NAT: Checking for change in address: old was and new is 74.6.50.150.
May 17, 2015 11:48:02:020 [154028] INFO - NAT: Mapping changed 74.6.50.150:1999 -> 10.20.30.1:32400
May 17, 2015 11:48:02:021 [154028] DEBUG - NAT: Updating mapping complete in thread 03E8AD80.
May 17, 2015 11:48:02:021 [154028] DEBUG - NAT: Deleting puncher.
May 17, 2015 11:48:02:021 [154028] DEBUG - NAT: Deleting NATUPnPPuncher.
May 17, 2015 11:48:02:021 [154028] DEBUG - NAT: Deleting NATPmPPuncher.
May 17, 2015 11:48:02:021 [155792] DEBUG - NAT: Updating mapping in puncher thread 03E8AD80
May 17, 2015 11:48:02:021 [155792] DEBUG - NAT: Creating puncher.
May 17, 2015 11:48:02:021 [155792] DEBUG - NAT: Switching to NAT-PMP strategy.
May 17, 2015 11:48:02:021 [155792] DEBUG - NAT: Creating NATPmPPuncher.
May 17, 2015 11:48:02:021 [155792] DEBUG - NAT: Initializing NAT-PMP, success=1
May 17, 2015 11:48:02:021 [155792] DEBUG - NAT: Finding public address failed the first way, switching.
May 17, 2015 11:48:02:021 [155792] DEBUG - NAT: Switching to UPnP strategy.
May 17, 2015 11:48:02:021 [155792] DEBUG - NAT: Creating NATUPnPPuncher.
May 17, 2015 11:48:03:385 [155328] DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:18039] GET /?X-Plex-Product=Plex+Web&X-Plex-Version=2.4.4&X-Plex-Client-Identifier=a107zb8i8wel&X-Plex-Platform=Internet+Explorer&X-Plex-Platform-Version=10.0&X-Plex-Device=Windows&X-Plex-Device-Name=Plex+Web+(Internet+Explorer)&Accept-Language=en (8 live) GZIP
That line above with INFO-NAT is pretty much the last time my server's NIC IP address is referenced, after that it's all loopback 127.0.0.1.
Is there any way of diagnosing this problem based on the logs?
It feels like I'm close, considering it's accurately reporting my internet IP, it knows about the port remapping, and it's bound to the correct NIC.
I have mine on a Windows system with two NICs. One for Internet access, the other for local network.
You will want to add a route for internal traffic.
I appreciate the suggestion, fortunately this is an appropriately configured routing table - traffic is leaving through the appropriate NIC and would be received on the appropriate NIC.
It needs to be understood the issue here is the Plex software suite connecting to whatever backend server it needs to connect to, this is a fully functional server on a finalized network without issue. I'm able to run other media streaming software suites without issue, I've evaluated at least six since experiencing this problem, but Plex is the one that looks the shiniest so far.
Also, in the event the issue was the port redirection I've temporarily directly forwarded TCP 32400 and that had no effect. TCP Port 32400 is not competing with any other hosted application.
Attempting to sign-in within Plex results in an immediate "there was a problem connecting to Plex", despite the fact that Plex is happily using the internet to fill in the information for all this media content.
Christmas has come early ! The feature of allowing the user to select a specific network interface is now available as from Plex Media Server version 1.13.5.5291 which was released to Plex Pass beta yesterday
