Plex Media Server

[enemy85]

Questions from a Noob...

I read here on the thread about user authentication....but i can't figure out where user authentication is requested....can someone please explain better how it is suppesed to works?
I'm able to access plex media server on the same network where freenas is installed and i was trying to understand if there was a way to access it from another network, like FTP via DDNS...

thanks

 

[Whattteva]

I wouldn't recommend it for several reasons:

1. Security.
2. Most consumer broadband chokes your upstream speeds, so rather than streaming, it would resemble more like a slide show that updates once every 5-10 seconds.

 

[enemy85]

Hi, thanks for the reply.

Ok, it is not recommended, but at least "in theory" there is a way to do it?
And what about the user auth? i cannot figure it out

 

[Whattteva]

Sorry to tell you that I've never used Plex, so I can't really give you any pointers there. Maybe someone else will bite.

 

[enemy85]

ok, thanks the same for the answer

 

[enemy85]

who can explain me what are the different ip addresses supposed to do? ehat about NAT and VIMAGE?

 

[Whattteva]

NAT = Network Address Translation.
It means that connecting machines will see a different IP address from the actual IP address of the machine.
Your router is a good example of this. To your internal network, your NAS may be something like 192.168.x.x IP, to the outside world, it would be whatever IP your ISP gives you (ipchicken.com will tell you the IP). I think I generally leave this off.

I'm not too sure about VIMAGE since this option is new on FreeNAS 9.1.1.
I'm wondering why you're going through all this though. I'm pretty sure the plex plugin does not ask for these information.

 

[enemy85]

Hi,
I know that Plex plugin does not ask for these informations and works already without any problems, i was just asking what are that fields supposed to be used for always in order to understand if there is a way to access Plex from outside the network... i mean, the actual situation is:
Freenas server with internal IP address 192.168.1.73/24
Plex Media Server with an internal IP 192.168.1.75/24
I can access Freenas box and serveces (FTP,SSH, etc) from an external network via DDNS and i can access Plex media server from INTERNAL network using 192.168.1.75:32400/web, but i can't access it from EXTERNAL network.

Is there a way to make things working in a way that when i try to access the NAS from an external network with the hostname and maybe a particular port, it redirect the connection to 192.168.1.75:32400/web?

I hope to have made a more clear question

 

[Whattteva]

I'm pretty sure Plex uses UPnP, which is only usable within the same network. There may be an exception if you have a PlexPass.
If it somehow uses a protocol that can be used outside of its own network, it would require you to forward a port on your router.
Again, I've never used it before, so I'm not too familiar with what protocol it actually uses, but from what I understand, DLNA stuff like this tends to use UPnP, which is not really designed to work outside of its own network.
In any case, outside of VPN, I wouldn't want to open UPnP to the world as it is a very insecure protocol and there have been a number of security vulnerabilities associated with it in the past.

Of course, if all fails, you can also use VPN to make ANYthing work.

 

[enemy85]

Thanks for the clear explanation! I'm just learning everyday something new and it's important for me to have answers from who knows things much better than me!

 

[Whattteva]

No problem. Hopefully someone else who's actually used Plex extensively will come along and explain more.

 

[pirateghost]

All you should need to do is forward a port to the plex plugin. This is a function of your router, but there is one small setting that needs to be changed in plex if I remember correctly. I will look at my plex server when I get home today to see what setting that is.

 

[enemy85]

thank you for the reply, pirateghost. I already forwarded in my router, port 32400 to my plex media server ip address (different from the freenas ip address).

 

[wvh3]

Newbie to the FreeNAS side of things, but I use Plex Server extensively.... as asked for before ;-)


Authentication in Plex Server... first understand that on your Local LAN (ie on the same subnet), by default Plex server does not require authentication, and will allow admin rights/configuration from any device on the subnet...

If you are accessing the server from away from the local subnet then authentication comes into play.... Authentication is handled via the free "MyPlex" service provided by Plex. To this end the MyPlex site needs to be able to connect to your Server.. or in other words your server needs to be "Published" to the myplex service... from within the plex server settings, generally involving either the use of UPNP to autoconfigure your router (auto port forward) to the appropriate port on your server... or via Manually port forwarding the appropriate port and instructing Plex Server which port you've chose manually.

The Require Local Authentication setting should really never be used on a NAS or FREEnas environment... with it set the only device that can log into the server without authenticating is someone communicating to the server from on the server itself... which for obvious reasons can never occur on a nas or a freenas system... since you're ALWAYS going to be accessing it from a different computer...

 

[enemy85]

thank you for the reply wvh3,

i was just wondering if there was a way to access the plex media server from outside the lan of the server, but it seems to be hard because the Plex media server running on freenas has a different IP from the NAS box, so i can't settle the ddns working

 

[wvh3]

Ddns should not be necessary for publishing process.
Besides. Your jail ip you'll just set fixed so your port forwarding setting will stay correct.
And any ddns will refer to your wan IP anyway which has nothing to do with being nas IP or pms IP.

 

[pirateghost]

Ddns should not be necessary for publishing process.
Besides. Your jail ip you'll just set fixed so your port forwarding setting will stay correct.
And any ddns will refer to your wan IP anyway which has nothing to do with being nas IP or pms IP.

This.

This is basic networking 101 type stuff. You have an IP address on your jail, you create a port forward from your router to the jail IP, and that is it. DDNS is simply a service that goes out to the internet and tells your DDNS provider what WAN IP you have, nothing more. It doesnt magically make your FreeNAS box visible outside your LAN. It's ONLY job is to update your DDNS address. This DDNS applies to your ENTIRE network, not just your FreeNAS.

 

[enemy85]

Actually i'm so stupid...It was not such a big problem to access plex from outside freenas network! I thought that because of the different IP freenas ddns service wouldn't work, while instead it was just a matter of opening the plex used port on my router forwarded to the IP plex media server. Everything works now!