PLEX cannot find a server

gurdalal

Cadet
Joined
Feb 18, 2018
Messages
3
At the initial Plex Media Server Plugin setup, a valid plex account needs to be associated with server. Otherwise Plex will not let connections to the server. FreeNAS jail is not allowing http://<your plex media server jail IP>/web/index.html# to connect server itself. You need to open a SSH tunel to the server and make initila setup. Pls follow steps below :

1. Enable SSH access to PMS jail :
13.2.1.1. Accessing a Jail Using SSH
ssh can be used to access a jail instead of the jail’s Shell icon. This requires starting the ssh service and creating a user account for ssh access. Start by clicking the Shell icon for the desired jail.

Find the sshd_enable= line in the jail’s /etc/rc.conf and set it to “YES”:

sshd_enable="YES"

Then start the SSH daemon:

service sshd start

The first time the service runs, the jail’s RSA key pair is generated and the key fingerprint and random art image displayed.

Add a user account by typing adduser and following the prompts. If the user needs superuser privileges, they must be added to the wheel group. For those users, enter wheel at this prompt:

Login group is user1. Invite user1 into other groups? []: wheel

After creating the user, set the root password so that the new user will be able to use the su command to gain superuser privilege. To set the password, type passwd then enter and confirm the desired password.

Finally, test from another system that the user can successfully ssh in and become the superuser. In this example, a user named user1 uses ssh to access the jail at 192.168.2.3. The first time the user logs in, they will be asked to verify the fingerprint of the host:

ssh user1@192.168.2.3
The authenticity of host '192.168.2.3 (192.168.2.3)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is 6f:93:e5:36:4f:54:ed:4b:9c:c8:c2:71:89:c1:58:f0.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
Warning: Permanently added '192.168.2.3' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.
Password: type_password_here

2. Create a SSH tunnel to PMS:
Opening the Plex Web App on a Device Other than the Server Itself
On the Same Local Network
To open the Plex Web App from a different device than the server computer while still on the same network:

  1. Open a browser window
  2. Type http://server.local.ip.address:32400/web into the address bar (e.g “http://192.168.1.5:32400/web”)
  3. The browser will connect to the server and load Plex Web App
On a Different Network
If you’re on a different network than the server computer, you’ll first need to set up a SSH tunnel so that you can access things as if they were local. This is only necessary for the initial setup. After initial setup, you should be able to access by using the network IP address as normal.

OS X or Linux
  1. Open a Terminal window or your command prompt
  2. Enter the following command (substituting the IP address of your server as appropriate):
    ssh ip.address.of.server -L 8888:localhost:32400
  3. Open a browser window
  4. Type http://localhost:8888/web into the address bar
  5. The browser will connect to the server as if it were local and load Plex Web App
Windows
If you’re using Windows on your local system and your server is on Linux or OS X, you’ll need to use an application such as Putty that can create the SSH tunnel for you. You can use instructions like these for setting up the Putty/SSH connection. If following that, you would use this information:

  • Gateway: ip.address.of.server
  • Source Port: 8888
  • Destination: localhost:32400
Once you have the SSH tunnel set up:

  1. Open a browser window
  2. Type http://localhost:8888/web into the address bar
  3. The browser will connect to the Server as if it were local and load Plex Web App
If your server is running Windows, then you could do a standard Remote Desktop session or similar.


3. Connect to "http://localhost:8888/web" and finish initial server setup.
Once the server is added to your account, it will be activated and will become discover-able.
 

IonutZ

Contributor
Joined
Aug 17, 2014
Messages
108
At the initial Plex Media Server Plugin setup, a valid plex account needs to be associated with server. Otherwise Plex will not let connections to the server. FreeNAS jail is not allowing http://<your plex media server jail IP>/web/index.html# to connect server itself. You need to open a SSH tunel to the server and make initila setup. Pls follow steps below :

1. Enable SSH access to PMS jail :
13.2.1.1. Accessing a Jail Using SSH
ssh can be used to access a jail instead of the jail’s Shell icon. This requires starting the ssh service and creating a user account for ssh access. Start by clicking the Shell icon for the desired jail.

Find the sshd_enable= line in the jail’s /etc/rc.conf and set it to “YES”:

sshd_enable="YES"

Then start the SSH daemon:

service sshd start

The first time the service runs, the jail’s RSA key pair is generated and the key fingerprint and random art image displayed.

Add a user account by typing adduser and following the prompts. If the user needs superuser privileges, they must be added to the wheel group. For those users, enter wheel at this prompt:

Login group is user1. Invite user1 into other groups? []: wheel

After creating the user, set the root password so that the new user will be able to use the su command to gain superuser privilege. To set the password, type passwd then enter and confirm the desired password.

Finally, test from another system that the user can successfully ssh in and become the superuser. In this example, a user named user1 uses ssh to access the jail at 192.168.2.3. The first time the user logs in, they will be asked to verify the fingerprint of the host:

ssh user1@192.168.2.3
The authenticity of host '192.168.2.3 (192.168.2.3)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is 6f:93:e5:36:4f:54:ed:4b:9c:c8:c2:71:89:c1:58:f0.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
Warning: Permanently added '192.168.2.3' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.
Password: type_password_here

2. Create a SSH tunnel to PMS:
Opening the Plex Web App on a Device Other than the Server Itself
On the Same Local Network
To open the Plex Web App from a different device than the server computer while still on the same network:

  1. Open a browser window
  2. Type http://server.local.IP.address:32400/web into the address bar (e.g “http://192.168.1.5:32400/web”)
  3. The browser will connect to the server and load Plex Web App
On a Different Network
If you’re on a different network than the server computer, you’ll first need to set up a SSH tunnel so that you can access things as if they were local. This is only necessary for the initial setup. After initial setup, you should be able to access by using the network IP address as normal.

OS X or Linux
  1. Open a Terminal window or your command prompt
  2. Enter the following command (substituting the IP address of your server as appropriate):
    ssh IP.address.of.server -L 8888:localhost:32400
  3. Open a browser window
  4. Type http://localhost:8888/web into the address bar
  5. The browser will connect to the server as if it were local and load Plex Web App
Windows
If you’re using Windows on your local system and your server is on Linux or OS X, you’ll need to use an application such as Putty that can create the SSH tunnel for you. You can use instructions like these for setting up the Putty/SSH connection. If following that, you would use this information:

  • Gateway: IP.address.of.server
  • Source Port: 8888
  • Destination: localhost:32400
Once you have the SSH tunnel set up:

  1. Open a browser window
  2. Type http://localhost:8888/web into the address bar
  3. The browser will connect to the Server as if it were local and load Plex Web App
If your server is running Windows, then you could do a standard Remote Desktop session or similar.


3. Connect to "http://localhost:8888/web" and finish initial server setup.
Once the server is added to your account, it will be activated and will become discover-able.

THIS POST SHOULD BE PINNED!!!! Thank you sir - by far the most valuable post when it comes to running Plex in Freenas.
 

easterneas

Cadet
Joined
May 16, 2018
Messages
1
At the initial Plex Media Server Plugin setup, a valid plex account needs to be associated with server. Otherwise Plex will not let connections to the server. FreeNAS jail is not allowing http://<your plex media server jail IP>/web/index.html# to connect server itself. You need to open a SSH tunel to the server and make initila setup. Pls follow steps below :

1. Enable SSH access to PMS jail :
13.2.1.1. Accessing a Jail Using SSH
ssh can be used to access a jail instead of the jail’s Shell icon. This requires starting the ssh service and creating a user account for ssh access. Start by clicking the Shell icon for the desired jail.

Find the sshd_enable= line in the jail’s /etc/rc.conf and set it to “YES”:

sshd_enable="YES"

Then start the SSH daemon:

service sshd start

The first time the service runs, the jail’s RSA key pair is generated and the key fingerprint and random art image displayed.

Add a user account by typing adduser and following the prompts. If the user needs superuser privileges, they must be added to the wheel group. For those users, enter wheel at this prompt:

Login group is user1. Invite user1 into other groups? []: wheel

After creating the user, set the root password so that the new user will be able to use the su command to gain superuser privilege. To set the password, type passwd then enter and confirm the desired password.

Finally, test from another system that the user can successfully ssh in and become the superuser. In this example, a user named user1 uses ssh to access the jail at 192.168.2.3. The first time the user logs in, they will be asked to verify the fingerprint of the host:

ssh user1@192.168.2.3
The authenticity of host '192.168.2.3 (192.168.2.3)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is 6f:93:e5:36:4f:54:ed:4b:9c:c8:c2:71:89:c1:58:f0.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
Warning: Permanently added '192.168.2.3' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.
Password: type_password_here

2. Create a SSH tunnel to PMS:
Opening the Plex Web App on a Device Other than the Server Itself
On the Same Local Network
To open the Plex Web App from a different device than the server computer while still on the same network:

  1. Open a browser window
  2. Type http://server.local.IP.address:32400/web into the address bar (e.g “http://192.168.1.5:32400/web”)
  3. The browser will connect to the server and load Plex Web App
On a Different Network
If you’re on a different network than the server computer, you’ll first need to set up a SSH tunnel so that you can access things as if they were local. This is only necessary for the initial setup. After initial setup, you should be able to access by using the network IP address as normal.

OS X or Linux
  1. Open a Terminal window or your command prompt
  2. Enter the following command (substituting the IP address of your server as appropriate):
    ssh IP.address.of.server -L 8888:localhost:32400
  3. Open a browser window
  4. Type http://localhost:8888/web into the address bar
  5. The browser will connect to the server as if it were local and load Plex Web App
Windows
If you’re using Windows on your local system and your server is on Linux or OS X, you’ll need to use an application such as Putty that can create the SSH tunnel for you. You can use instructions like these for setting up the Putty/SSH connection. If following that, you would use this information:

  • Gateway: IP.address.of.server
  • Source Port: 8888
  • Destination: localhost:32400
Once you have the SSH tunnel set up:

  1. Open a browser window
  2. Type http://localhost:8888/web into the address bar
  3. The browser will connect to the Server as if it were local and load Plex Web App
If your server is running Windows, then you could do a standard Remote Desktop session or similar.


3. Connect to "http://localhost:8888/web" and finish initial server setup.
Once the server is added to your account, it will be activated and will become discover-able.

You earned my respect. This is actually WORKS!
 

SearchEngine27

Dabbler
Joined
Jan 5, 2019
Messages
24
I'm able to SSH into my Plex jail from the LAN, but I'm still not seeing the server show up when I log into the Plex client via the '192.168.X.X' (no, I'm not typing 'X.X' as part of my IP). I'm in the jail via SSH, and the web client comes up when I access it via webrowser 192.168.X.X:32400/web, to be absolutely clear so there is no network issue and the Plex server is indeed running.

Can somebody explain why having an SSH server allows my web browser's clientside detect the one-and-the-same server that served up the web page? There is this whole thing on the internet about "just do this" without ever explaining it, and you just have to do it and hope it works, because if it doesn't work, then you don't know the purpose anyway to triage why it doesn't work. Can anyone explain to me the why?
 

gregbert

Cadet
Joined
Jun 21, 2016
Messages
1
I'm able to SSH into my Plex jail from the LAN, but I'm still not seeing the server show up when I log into the Plex client via the '192.168.X.X' (no, I'm not typing 'X.X' as part of my IP). I'm in the jail via SSH, and the web client comes up when I access it via webrowser 192.168.X.X:32400/web, to be absolutely clear so there is no network issue and the Plex server is indeed running.

Can somebody explain why having an SSH server allows my web browser's clientside detect the one-and-the-same server that served up the web page? There is this whole thing on the internet about "just do this" without ever explaining it, and you just have to do it and hope it works, because if it doesn't work, then you don't know the purpose anyway to triage why it doesn't work. Can anyone explain to me the why?

Old thread, but I've tried the same steps that worked for others and can ssh in using the newly created account from another system, but when try to access using a browser, I still get the same "looking for servers" message.
I suspect there's a setting that needs to be modified somewhere, but I'm just not familiar enough with how the whole plex connection processing works to figure it out myself.

I'm using plex in a jail on FreeNAS-9.10.2 that had been upgraded from 9.3. I think this all used to work, but have only recently started poking around in plex again and ran into this when I tried to access the configuration page.
 

jpeisen

Cadet
Joined
Jul 5, 2019
Messages
1
So I hit this and spent too many hours trying the various suggestions I found. Then I decided to try something different...
My home network has multiple internal networks, and my PC is not on the same network as my Plex server. Looking in "Plex Media Server.log", I noticed my requests to the server were tagged with "(WAN)", so I decided to try connecting to the Plex server's management address from its local network.
To do this I simply sshed into a machine on that network with a local port forward, like this:
Code:
ssh -L 32400:192.168.1.23:32400 192.168.1.99

Then in my browser I went to http://localhost:32400/web. This proxied my connection through the host I sshed into, so that machine's address was seen by my Plex server.. and ("viola!") the Plex service immediately found my server.
After the initial setup I was able to access the server from my PC just fine w/out the ssh hack.
Anyway, I hope this helps.
-J
Full path to the log file: "/Plex Media Server/Logs/Plex Media Server.log" (Yes, with spaces)
 

twf85

Dabbler
Joined
Apr 18, 2019
Messages
14
So I hit this and spent too many hours trying the various suggestions I found. Then I decided to try something different...
My home network has multiple internal networks, and my PC is not on the same network as my Plex server. Looking in "Plex Media Server.log", I noticed my requests to the server were tagged with "(WAN)", so I decided to try connecting to the Plex server's management address from its local network.
To do this I simply sshed into a machine on that network with a local port forward, like this:
Code:
ssh -L 32400:192.168.1.23:32400 192.168.1.99

Then in my browser I went to http://localhost:32400/web. This proxied my connection through the host I sshed into, so that machine's address was seen by my Plex server.. and ("viola!") the Plex service immediately found my server.
After the initial setup I was able to access the server from my PC just fine w/out the ssh hack.
Anyway, I hope this helps.
-J
Full path to the log file: "/Plex Media Server/Logs/Plex Media Server.log" (Yes, with spaces)

Thank you for this.

I was following along with the post from @gurdalal above, but I didn't have the `sshdenable` directive in my `rc.conf` file. I could've added it, of course, but the absence of it made me feel like perhaps the instructions did not apply to me or my setup.

My Plex server and the PC I was using are located on different subnets (VLANs), and simply accessing the Plex server from a PC within the same subnet was enough for me to finish the initial setup. I can now access the Plex server from any PC that has access to that subnet.
 

ZiggyGT

Contributor
Joined
Sep 25, 2017
Messages
125
I have a different but similar issue. My Plex server was working well. I added a new network connection. So now I have a 1GB and a 10GB NIC. Now the Plex server is not accessible on the network but the files are still accessible anywhere on my network. FREENAS is working fine. There is an error that says "DHCP error" in the Jail config screen. The Plex server is shown as up. I restarted Plex, no joy. It seems there is no connection from the jail to the network. I have the 1Gb network card as 192.168.10.1 and the 10Gb card as 192.168.0.9 the rest of the network is on 192.168.0.X. I would appreciate any help to resolve this. I had to press an old i5 computer to install a Plex to access my movies. Not an ideal config but a good backup
 

4p0k

Cadet
Joined
Jun 7, 2021
Messages
1
At the initial Plex Media Server Plugin setup, a valid plex account needs to be associated with server. Otherwise Plex will not let connections to the server. FreeNAS jail is not allowing http://<your plex media server jail IP>/web/index.html# to connect server itself. You need to open a SSH tunel to the server and make initila setup. Pls follow steps below :

1. Enable SSH access to PMS jail :
13.2.1.1. Accessing a Jail Using SSH
ssh can be used to access a jail instead of the jail’s Shell icon. This requires starting the ssh service and creating a user account for ssh access. Start by clicking the Shell icon for the desired jail.

Find the sshd_enable= line in the jail’s /etc/rc.conf and set it to “YES”:

sshd_enable="YES"

Then start the SSH daemon:

service sshd start

The first time the service runs, the jail’s RSA key pair is generated and the key fingerprint and random art image displayed.

Add a user account by typing adduser and following the prompts. If the user needs superuser privileges, they must be added to the wheel group. For those users, enter wheel at this prompt:

Login group is user1. Invite user1 into other groups? []: wheel

After creating the user, set the root password so that the new user will be able to use the su command to gain superuser privilege. To set the password, type passwd then enter and confirm the desired password.

thanks for this, after adding the correct user ID to my media ACL and following https://support.plex.tv/articles/200288586-installation/ i was finally able to conquer my troubles.

for anyone else working with VLANs - you need to do create the SSH tunnel and use localhost as described in the plex docs + this thread. don't forget to check logs as mentioned in this thread as well. GL!
 

stualden

Explorer
Joined
Apr 11, 2015
Messages
80
As an alternative to SSH tunneling into localhost, you can modify Plex's Preferences.xml to permit access from other networks - see here. (I realize this is a fairly old thread, but hoping it will help someone.)
 

guest1

Cadet
Joined
Jul 15, 2021
Messages
1
So I hit this and spent too many hours trying the various suggestions I found. Then I decided to try something different...
My home network has multiple internal networks, and my PC is not on the same network as my Plex server. Looking in "Plex Media Server.log", I noticed my requests to the server were tagged with "(WAN)", so I decided to try connecting to the Plex server's management address from its local network.
To do this I simply sshed into a machine on that network with a local port forward, like this:
Code:
ssh -L 32400:192.168.1.23:32400 192.168.1.99

Then in my browser I went to http://localhost:32400/web. This proxied my connection through the host I sshed into, so that machine's address was seen by my Plex server.. and ("viola!") the Plex service immediately found my server.
After the initial setup I was able to access the server from my PC just fine w/out the ssh hack.
Anyway, I hope this helps.
-J
Full path to the log file: "/Plex Media Server/Logs/Plex Media Server.log" (Yes, with spaces)
thanks for this, after adding the correct user ID to my media ACL and following https://support.plex.tv/articles/200288586-installation/ i was finally able to conquer my troubles.

for anyone else working with VLANs - you need to do create the SSH tunnel and use localhost as described in the plex docs + this thread. don't forget to check logs as mentioned in this thread as well. GL!

This is what happened to me. I got my Plex on a "server" VLAN, and I'm on a "user" VLAN. For whatever reason it didn't work when I did local port forwarding, so I did dynamic/SOCKS instead and now it's working. Whew!

So for anyone else, these two folks pointed me in the right direction
 

dannoer1

Cadet
Joined
Oct 17, 2021
Messages
3
I am trying to follow the advice given above to enable SSH access to PMS jail. When I click on the shell icon for the Plex jail and then enter sshd_enable="YES" I get the response that command not found. I'm new to this so how exactly do I "find the sshd_enable= line in the jail’s /etc/rc.conf and set it to “YES”:"?

thx

dan
 

Samuel Tai

Never underestimate your own stupidity
Moderator
Joined
Apr 24, 2020
Messages
5,398
In the jail shell, try the command sysrc sshd_enable="YES" as root.
 

dannoer1

Cadet
Joined
Oct 17, 2021
Messages
3
Thanks, that did allow me to use the shell to complete the SSH process but it did not resolve the issue of Plex not seeing the media server on TrueNAS
 

Samuel Tai

Never underestimate your own stupidity
Moderator
Joined
Apr 24, 2020
Messages
5,398
@dannoer1, you need to browse to https://<IP of your PMS>:32400/web, so you can login and join this PMS to the Plex mothership.
 

dannoer1

Cadet
Joined
Oct 17, 2021
Messages
3
I did open up a web browser and navigate to the ip address in the instructions, and plex loads but the folders on the server are not there. Plex was previously working, last time I used it might have been a few months ago. The migration to TrueNAS is an issue? I did also change from a fire stick to a fire cube. Plex on the TV also doesn't see the server.

Is there something in shell that I can run to confirm the plugin and jail configuration is correct?
 
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