topic Re: Plex and Public IP address issue in Broadband & Landline

Plex and Public IP address issue

Fortgreen7 — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 16:39:20 GMT

I have recently joined EE. I was previously with Virgin.

My issue started a couple of weeks in joining EE and keeps happening every 2 weeks or so not sure on exact times but there abouts.

I use plex to access my Media remotely which works usually fine, but each couple of weeks I lose my connection remotely which means I cannot access my media content out and about.

The thing that resolves my issue is a restart of router. So I'm thinking is it to do with DHCP renewing my public IP address? Never had this issue with virgin and all settings are the same I.e port forwarding.

Has anyone had this issue or know the reason as to why this keeps happening every couple of weeks.

Thanks

Re: Plex and Public IP address issue

XRaySpeX — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 16:50:59 GMT

How are you addressing your Plex server remotely? Presumably just by your router's public IP addy.

Your public IP is dynamic, altho' generally quite sticky. That means that it could potentially change any time your router resyncs/loses connection. Presumably you had a Static IP addy with VM or it was highly sticky.

The only way to overcome this is to employ a Dynamic DNS (DDNS) service which assigns a fixed domain name to your public IP whatever it is at any time.

Re: Plex and Public IP address issue

Fortgreen7 — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 17:07:13 GMT

Thankyou for your quick reply.

I have created a static IP for the computer I use to access my media content.

I have copied the port forwarding and static addresses all over when I switched to EE. Nothing was changed or altered.

Is there any other way I could potentially address this issue as it appears to be something to do with EE and possibly router settings??

I know very little about DDNS and how to set that up.

Again it works flawless for around 2 weeks then I have too reboot router each time then works again.

Thanks

Dean

Re: Plex and Public IP address issue

mikeliuk — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 17:23:02 GMT

Hi @Fortgreen7 ,

If a restart of your router causes the issue to be fixed, I judge that the evidence makes it less likely that your public IP changing is the issue.

It would be best to make a note of the public IP address you use to access the server when it is working, and then when it stops working, to determine the public IP address that your router has at that second point in time (e.g. visiting a what is my IP service or looking on your router). I judge it's quite likely you'll find it unchanged if a router reboot fixes your external access issue.

I would guess that you should be able to test the functionality of your server inside the network instead of needing to test from outside, so before rebooting your router, you could verify that the server functions internally within your LAN.

Re: Plex and Public IP address issue

XRaySpeX — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 17:27:47 GMT

@Fortgreen7 wrote:

I have created a static IP for the computer I use to access my media content.

You have created a static internal private IP on your LAN. That's not the problem. It's the fact that you have switched to an ISP that only provides dynamic public IP addys. Most ISPs have the same. Presumably EE public IPs are sticky for about 2 weeks.

Search for DDNS on the Web. NoIP.com is a free 1.

Re: Plex and Public IP address issue

Fortgreen7 — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 18:06:32 GMT

Thankyou guys for the replys.

I have already noted my public IP to see if it changes next time it happens.

So by the sounds of things if EE change public IPs, which seems to be the issue??? Then I will have to try DDNS?

If I want to try this is it easy enough and also is there any different between a free DDNS and a paid one in terms of any premium services that I may need to resolve my issue ?

Thanks once more

Dean

Re: Plex and Public IP address issue

XRaySpeX — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 18:36:25 GMT

You can easily check your public IP from within your router's Status w/out having to go outside.

If it works remotely most of the time you must have the router settings correct. The only that could go wrong locally would be your Plex server going down.

Re: Plex and Public IP address issue

mikeliuk — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 19:12:26 GMT

Hi @Fortgreen7 ,

When your server next becomes inaccessible, you may wish to check whether the ports you have forwarded/opened show as open using an online port scanning service. It's possible that the port-forward might be falling over and is fixed by restarting the router.

You've mentioned that you've set the server to a static IP address within the LAN which is only sane. Such a configuration can usually be done either by reserving a particular IP for a particular MAC within the DHCP range, or statically setting an IP outside the DHCP range on the device.

Such a static setting is sane, otherwise your port-forward could in a highly unlikely scenario be forwarding traffic to an incorrect device if the correct device were to lose its DHCP lease and another device take up that IP address (highly unlikely unless you've turned off the correct device for some days).

Re: Plex and Public IP address issue

Fortgreen7 — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 11:02:45 GMT

Thanks guys

I think i will wait to see if the public address does change.

I just can't understand why when I swapped from Virgin to EE this is happening. All port forwarding settings are the same

I just wanted to check with you guys should UPnP be ON or OFF as it stands I have left it ON though it isn't ticked like other devices that use it. Does it matter?? If UPnP is ON should it not automatically resolve changing public IP addresses?

Thank again

Re: Plex and Public IP address issue

XRaySpeX — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 11:33:48 GMT

uPnP has nowt to do with your public IP. It is solely used within LAN to sense devices. VM dynamic public IPs are said to be highly sticky. 1 I found on their Community was claimed to have lasted at least 2 years.

Re: Plex and Public IP address issue

Fortgreen7 — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 19:22:03 GMT

Thankyou for this info.

If EE change public IPs often, is there a way to get one static??

Re: Plex and Public IP address issue

Mustrum — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 19:42:10 GMT

EE does not offer the option of a static IP.

Re: Plex and Public IP address issue

XRaySpeX — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 20:49:05 GMT

Move to PN. They do static IP for £5 one-off last I heard.

Re: Plex and Public IP address issue

Fortgreen7 — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 18:43:11 GMT

Just a follow up from this original post.

I'm still not further on in terms of sorted this issue.

My reason for posting is this.

In event viewer the following message corresponds to this particular error I keep getting regarding my dns server that knocks my media server off and I have to manually restart router each time to get it back working again.

EVENT VIWER MESSAGE

"Name resolution for the name" My Media Server" timed out after none of the Configured DNS servers responded.

This used to happen around a fortnight but sometimes it happens much more frequently.

Is there anybody that could provide a solution other than moving providers as I'm tied into EE for a while at moment.

I have tried setting up a DDNS but failed to work. I tried swapping my static DNS servers for my static IP I've created as I need it for port forwarding.

If this is souly an EE techinal issue then I will just have to see out my Contract and put up with restarting my router each time it happens, but as I said previously in my original message, I had talktalk and virgin before and never had this issue, so I'm 100% sure it's something EE do

Thanks

Re: Plex and Public IP address issue

mikeliuk — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 18:53:43 GMT

Hi @Fortgreen7 ,

From your report here, it sounds like something is failing as it cannot resolve a domain name.

Assuming your media server is attempting to resolve the domain name, you can try configuring a different DNS that won't fall over, or the server may allow you to statically specify some IPs so that name resolution could be avoided.

DDNS pertains to enabling a public lookup of your router WAN IP so is unlikely to be related to a DNS lookup failing for a server inside your LAN.

Re: Plex and Public IP address issue

Mustrum — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 19:25:43 GMT

@Fortgreen7 you have not answered the basic questions that were asked when you first posted - how are you accessing the server when remote?

There may have been a couple of red herrings, static/dynamic IP's and DDNS.

APPS such as HIVE, Philips Hue and HP use neither of the above, and yet they can still be accessed remotely.

It would be worth finding out how your server is accessed and is meant to communicate.

Re: Plex and Public IP address issue

Fortgreen7 — Wed, 08 Dec 2021 15:05:50 GMT

Thankyou for your reply

I access my media server via an app. Certain devices with play via a "relay" which limits speeds and isn't convenient. If I try to access my media server on say a smart tv with app while this happens it won't work.

This happens each time EE switch the broadband ip address as I've recorded the IPs so I could clarify that was the issue. So seems to be EEs dynamic ip addresses that changes every so often.

Is there a way around this? If say EE upgrade there firmware each fortnight or update anything for that matter and it changes the broadband ip address, is there a possibility of buying anew router whereby the address wpuld stay static like my previous ISPs? Maybe a silly question.

Re: Plex and Public IP address issue

XRaySpeX — Wed, 08 Dec 2021 15:48:58 GMT

The only way round a changing dynamic public is with a DDNS. The public IP may change any time the router resyncs. Not just firmware updates which are rare anyway.

Re: Plex and Public IP address issue

Slowping — Wed, 08 Dec 2021 16:39:31 GMT

@Fortgreen7 I had a similar problem with my internal email servers after moving to EE from Virgin, move due to house move.

I had to use DDNS in the end as I have multiple domains it was not an issue when using DNS to access the server.

I am assuming your having a similar problem but not using a domain may be the reason as this points to my conclusion: "Name resolution for the name" My Media Server" timed out after none of the Configured DNS servers responded

I would suggest that if you own a domain create a record for it and get DDNS to handle the requests

Re: Plex and Public IP address issue

Slowping — Wed, 08 Dec 2021 16:43:42 GMT

@Mustrum you are correct in what you say about Hive etc, however Plex does not work on an external server/client relationship as does the ones mentioned hence this is not a problem for them.

Unless @Fortgreen7 is using the Plex cloud solution then their server is within their home so as you say will not work unless DDNS is employed or a static IP which as we know EE does not provide.