this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2023
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Hi! I used to run Plex and forward a port through my vpn so I could access the service outside my network, like on vacation. This meant I could keep my vpn on and still access my content. I use Cloudflared to access other services in this way.

Now that my vpn has stopped allowing port forwarding, how can I again access my content while keeping my network private and secure?

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

First, you don't really need a VPN to view Plex content. Plex can be configured to require a secure connection. That ought to be enough. But if you want the VPN tunnel for some reason, the answer is simple: self-host your own VPN server. I recommend OpenVPN or Wireguard.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The vpn was a general privacy and security addition. I just have it on all the time. I’ll look into wireguard.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

You can also try tailscale which is easy to set up, but their wireguard implementation is quite a bit slower (latency).

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

I've used wireguard for a few years. The container isn't essential, but I prefer to have all my service configs contained and separate from the host OS.

So basically you'll just have one WAN->LAN port forward for Wireguard. Connect to that remotely, and you'll be able to access everything inside your LAN.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You had your Plex open to the public with that setup. That's not secure at all, unless you wanted anyone to access it.

If you can port forward from your own IP and it's kind of stable, you can run a wire guard server to access your network and Plex.

If you can't portforward you can try a mesh network like tailscale.. there are other solutions as well. The fastest apparently is netwmaker, but you need to have a server with public IP. You can use a cheap VPS.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Tailscale would take less than 30 minutes to set up including software install and login on server and any client device (phone, laptop, etc). It uses wireguard, it just hosts the public part for connection management.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

This was my recommendation too. Simplest setup you could ask for to create a VPN connection between devices with wireguard as the base.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You don't need to port forward or anything for Plex to work outside your network, right? That's the whole point of Plex. All my friends can access my server wherever.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Are you using aVPN? I have Mullvad running

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago