I have a great PLEX media server system set up in my home. I have a lot of content, of virtually every type.
Sometimes I access my PLEX network when I am away from home, but most of the time I am accessing the content while I am within my home. In these situations I am sending large files OUT into the Internet and receiving these same large file back INTO my home from the internet. Thus, I am using up my internet data allowance in both directions.
Is there a way to set up an INTRANET within my home such that I could move data files around inside my home to various TVs, PCs and tablets . . . without having to go out and come back in through the internet?
Mainly I want to access the videos on my 5 TVs. I suspect I could use some home network to access the stuff on an in-home network, but I have no idea how I would get the data to the TVs.
I would set up two separate systems if that were required.
It’d be helpful if you gave some more details about how your network is currently set up. If you have the plex media server connected to the same LAN as the client devices it shouldn’t be sending data out over the internet.
I have my PLEX media server on a stand-alone PC which is connected by CAT 5 cable to my wireless router, which is connected to my cable modem.
I use Roku Streaming Sticks on all five TVs, which connect to the internet through several in-house Wifi networks (I have two Wifi routers connected to the same cable modem).
Because I don’t know better, I am connecting to all PLEX players (5 TVs with Roku sticks, 2 iPads, 1 Windows 10 PC, 1 dedicated Window 10 media server PC) through the internet.
I am not sure how to go about setting up my system such that all these devices could connect to the media server through Wifi.
I am not sure the media server is connected to the LAN, or if it can be connected to the LAN. But it is connected to the downstairs Wireless router, which is connected to both the cable modem snd the upstairs Wifi router by CAT 5 cables.
Is it possible for a PLEX media player to source its files from the media server via the LAN? If so, how do I set this up? I believe it is currently set up so the media players access the media server through the internet (though they do connect to the internet through the wifi networks that are part of the 2 wifi routers.
I am such a neophyte on this, my description of the setup might be flawed.
Given the way you’ve described your network it should already be connecting locally. Why do you think it isn’t? If you go onto one of the plex players and find the server status it should show as being ‘nearby’. If it does then you should be connecting over your own internal network.
Well, if he’s got 2 wifi ROUTERS and a Cable Modem (which also contains a router), then it’s not all the same network. If so, he’s likely in a double NAT situation and they’re treated as 2-3 different networks each with their own DHCP server (unless he’s static), not 1.
@JA-Motter I would recommend if you haven’t already, set both of your Wifi Routers to Access Point mode, this way your Cable modem handles the routing, instead of 3 separate routers attempting to do that job. From there, your cable modem/router will sort out and keep track of all the networking, and your devices will not need to go out to come back in.
No unless for some reason your devices can’t see the server locally, like each is on a separate subnet.
you basically want only one router giving out DHCP addresses the rest to be access points of the router. sounds like what you should look into a mesh system
Thank you all for your counsel. Why did I think I was not connecting locally? Only because I did not understand that it could do that. So, my Media Server is connected to Wifi Router 1, which is connected to the cable modem. My Wifi Router #2 is then connected to Wifi Router 1.
I have five TVs in the house which are connected to PLEX. I also have two PCs and two iPads that connect through the local network. I cannot seem to find how to determine whether the iPads and TVs are connected to the Media Server as “nearby.” But I can find this function on the two PCs. One PC is connected with Wifi Router 1, and it shows “nearby.” Perhaps that is to be expected as the Media Server and the PC 1 are both connected to Wifi Router 1. The good sign is that PC 2 is connected to Wifi Router 2, and it, too, reports the Media Server is “nearby.”
I think this means that all my PLEX players are connected locally, and that I am not going out/coming back in.
The Easiest way to tell if you’re remote or local would be to play something on one of your in-home devices, then go to settings>dashboard, and in the little graphic it says remote or local next to the IP address…
I do not seem to have the dashboard. Perhaps I disabled it months ago when I was just starting. Moreover, I never set various libraries to show items on the dashboard.
How can I re-enable the dashboard? (For at least one of my 20 libraries such that I could confirm “local” versus “remote”.)
I don’t think you can disable the dashboard… But It could be a Plex Pass only feature… You can get the same thing by downloading and installing Tautulli, it’s also more in-depth…
That is not a statement you can make without knowing more variables… The only way for him to check is to see whether the traffic is local or not, which he can do easily by using Tautulli.
The implications if I’m wrong: Nothing, it’s local and works fine
The implications if you’re wrong: Loads of ISP’s are putting data caps on, in fact my buddy has a 1TB cap on his data, he has to pay $50 for every 100GB after that I think… If you’re wrong, and he’s not local, every time he streams, even if he’s in the comfort of his own home, it’s counting against his data.
Odds are you’re right, but I’d rather be 100% correct than just guessing, and given the information he’s provided, you’re just guessing…
Yes i can make that statement, thats not how routing works. LAN traffic does not magically go out your router. Where would it even go? A random server? Routed internally around the provider, the world? Your isp does not even know how to route your internal IP adresses.
Do you know how tautulli determines remote and local? Different subnet? private IP adress? If you connect through a vpn tautulli will say local even though it’s random. No it’s not the only way, it’s not even a good way.
A firewall on the server machine blocking incoming port 32400 would cause the Plex clients to automatically use the Plex Relay (even local LAN clients). This would cause traffic to “go out and come back in”. In this case the Plex client would show “Indirect” instead of “Nearby”. So I agree with @JasonNalley, you cannot make a general blanket statement about LAN traffic without knowing more details.
Tautulli does not “determine” if traffic is local or remote (in fact Tautulli does not “determine” 99% of the info it displays). Nearly all the info in Tautulli is directly reported by Plex through the API. The Plex server tells Tautulli through its own API if the traffic is local.
Your server connects to Plex.tv
Your client signs in to Plex.tv
You go out of the network to sign in… IF it’s determined you’re on the same LAN, you get directly connected to the server LAN side, if not it’s connected WAN side. I know how routing works, and if he has his 3 routers all setup with their own DHCP servers, it’s 3 different networks, even though the subnets are all the same…
Tautulli looks at the IP address given by the Plex API connecting to the server to determine if it’s a WAN side address or a LAN side address, and if his Plex server is on one router, and he is on the other router, and they’re on 2 different DHCP servers the connected IP will show as the WAN side IP address, and not his local LAN address…
So yes, you’re guessing, because he’s not said if he’s set up his 2 additional routers as hotspots/accesspoints, or if he’s left the DHCP servers intact… Until that information is given, you cannot be 100% certain, none of us can…
All users free and Plex Pass have the “Now Playing” block on the dashboard. When you open up the individual stream info blocks by clicking on the button on top right (arrow is pointing at in image) local streams will say local. remote will say remote.
but since he mentioned that in each player it says “nearby” that means the player sees the server is local. (though i am not sure which player he is using)
He mentioned it says Nearby for 2 of his PC’s one on one router (which also contains PMS) and one on the other router, so he assumed from there, and it’s a valid assumption… But it’s not concrete, that’s why I directed him to Dashboard, just to be certain…
Sorry if this is a foolish question . . . but if I am sending the “request for media content” from one of my TVs that has a PLEX player might the “request” be going out of the house to some Comcast server?
Yes, my ISP is Comcast and they do have a 1 Tb cap. I have not blown through that yet, but if I provide access to PLEX to a few family members I probably will.
Thus, I am exploring Toast.net, a reseller of AT&T fiber services. Comcast provides 200 down, 10 up with a 1TB cap for $50 (soon to go up to $70 or $80. Toast offers 100 down, 100 up, with no throttling and no cap for $70. My son has it in Houston and he gets 130/130 with no cap. Toast.net is only available where AT&T fiber is available.
