Plex Publish Server

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Plex media server is one of the leading entertainment platform for viewers around the world. It offers access to latest movies, songs, and channels from all over the world.

Where Plex is a great entertainment suite for users, it can often lead to trouble. First world countries including USA, UK, Canada, and even Australia have restricted content access. Anyone who tries to access this restricted content is illegally watching it. So, in order to remain anonymous, users tend to go with VPN servers. VPN servers keep the users anonymous while they watch their favourite shows.

Why we need VPN for Plex?

From your Plex Media Server Dashboard, click the screwdriver and wrench icon to open server settings. On the top right, click “Server” to navigate to the server options list. Plex Pass opens the Plex doors wider. As mentioned, you don’t need to buy a Plex Pass to use Plex or even a Plex Media Server, however, doing so opens the doors to more features and a richer.

VPN are necessary for watching Plex from your computer while remaining anonymous. The VPN servers keep the identity anonymous while providing a seamless connection between Plex and your device, providing a enticing entertainment experience with zero restrictions. In short, you can use plex vpn to bypass channel security.

The problem arises when users have to make a choice between various Plex VPN companies. We have tried to help them by providing a detailed comparison of the 5 best VPN for Plex. This will allow the users to watch geo-restricted data safely and anonymously.

Here is the complete list:

Best VPN for Plex Media Server

Plex allows its users to watch content from geo-restricted websites. This content is blocked in other regions and users can easily land themselves in jail for watching the content illegally. However, these best VPNs for Plex media servers are a great way to keep you anonymous at all times.

After selecting VPN out of these, you can watch content from BBC iPlayer, HBO, ESPN, NBC, USTV, and other geo-restricted channels.

1- NordVPN

We have kept NordVPN on top of our list because it is compatible with all geographical regions. The service offers 5000+ servers in more than 62 countries. You can easily watch geo-restricted content from UK, USA, and Australia. It lets users stream all video and audio content available on Plex media center.

2- PIA


The PIA service can also work on IPTV live, Smartphones, and PC. The VPN service has won many awards. It has also won the title of PC Mag’s editor choice award.

3- IPVanish


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IPVanish is a simple and fast Plex VPN service. It was essentially developed to cater to the growing need for anonymity in the online world. It has more than 850 servers in over 23 countries. IPVanish is a great choice for anyone looking to stream movies or play games online. The best thing about IPVanish is that it completely removes the hassle of buffering during online streaming.

4- PureVPN

Multiple

PureVPN offers complete internet freedom to the Plex media server users. Whether they want to watch their favourite show, or just browse the internet in a restriction-less manner, PureVPN service can do that for them. It has over 4000 servers in more than 60 countries. Unlike others, PureVPN offers a complete money back guarantee and is available with a free trial. It also offers plex vpn apk for watching shows on mobile. The VPN service also offers plex vpn invitation code with great discount.

5- ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN offers an unobtrusive way of watching movies and tv shows on Plex home media suite. It does all that while keeping your identity secure from authorities and hackers. The ExpressVPN service offers servers in 94 countries so users can easily select a server of their choice. It is available on Android, iOS, Windows, and Linux. It also offers a 30 day money back guarantee so users can try the service with ease.

Bypass Geo-Blocks on Plex Through VPN

When you tune into any channel on Plex from outside of USA, you will automatically get a prompt saying that ‘This channel is only available to US residents.’ This happens because the channel’s algorithm automatically detects the IP address and bars your entry. But if you are using a VPN, you can instantly watch the tv channel without any additional prompts.

A VPN site did an experiment in which they tried to tune into CBS channel, and they were instantly greeted by the following message.

Then they used a plex VPN server and US IP to connect to the same channel on Plex. They were able to bypass the channel’s restrictions easily.

That’s why it is essential for Plex viewers to get a VPN server to easily access geo-restricted content from their media theatre.

How to use Plex with VPN

Well there are so many benefits of using Plex VPN. Let’s learn how to configure it with Plex entertainment suite.

In our example, we will be using PureVPN with Plex media center. The setup is quite easy. No manual configuration or coding is required in your behalf. Start Plex VPN download and install to your desktop.

  • After installation, open PureVPN and click on its settings tab.
  • It will ask you to enter your username and password.
  • Now select a location of server. It is important that you select United States, if you want to watch US based TV channels or movies.
  • Once, done hit enter to connect.
  • The connection between the proxy server and your computer will be automatically established, and you can verify that from the PureVPNs dashboard.

Plex Remote Access VPN

You can watch Plex remotely without a VPN easily. But once you enable a VPN connection for Plex, remote connection won’t work because most VPN servers are not configured for port forwarding.

So, to remotely access VPN with Plex, here are two options that you can try.

  1. Go to your VPN server’s settings and forward the port to ‘32400’, same internal port as Plex Server.
  2. Another option is to enable port forwarding by entering the advanced area of your VPN. This setting is only practiced on Private Internet Access (PIA) VPN for Plex. So, test with other VPN servers to make sure that it works.
  • After forwarding the port, select a gateway:
  • Netherlands
  • Switzerland
  • Canada
  • Romania
  • After connecting to one of your chosen gateways, hover mouse over the System Tray or Menu Bar icon. You will see a tooltip displaying the port number. For example: Connected – CA Toronto [Port: 24050].
  • Add this to Plex software in the section ‘Manually specify port.’ Now click ‘publish server.’ It will take a few minutes to publish. That’s it.

Use Plex with Open VPN

Here is how to use Plex with OpenVPN. OpenVPN is a networking software that provides end-to-end security and encryption for bridged connections. You can use OpenVPN with your current VPN server.

Let’s see how it can be configured for Plex.

Find default gateway

If you are on Windows, then find default gateway.

Go to CMD and enter the following command.

ipconfig find “Default Gateway”

Note the IP address shown.

Find all PLEX IP addresses

Similarly, you can will have to find the Plex IP address. Again, open CMD and type the following command.

nslookup my.plexapp.com

Note all addresses that appear in the CMD.

Now add custom routes to OpenVPN configurations.

Adding Custom Routes to OVPN

Here are some dummy addresses that we found by running the above command. Our Plex configuration pointed to the following servers.

184.72.32.81

184.169.183.121

50.18.115.47

184.72.61.129

50.18.176.149

50.18.182.212

Change Format of Plex IP

You need to turn the IP addresses into the following format:

route [plexaddresses] 255.255.255.255 [yourgateway]

Here, we have turned the default gateway in the following format. Below is the result.

route 184.169.183.121 255.255.255.255 10.10.10.1

route 50.18.182.212 255.255.255.255 10.10.10.1

route 50.18.176.149 255.255.255.255 10.10.10.1

route 50.18.115.47 255.255.255.255 10.10.10.1

route 184.72.32.81 255.255.255.255 10.10.10.1

route 184.72.61.129 255.255.255.255 10.10.10.1

Now add these to your OVPN configuration file and then try to connect to Plex for remote access.

Please note: You will need to add 32400 port number within Plex port settings.

How to add channels on Plex

  • Choose a channel in the sidebar and click install
  • You may need to select a category before installing the channel
  • Confirm the installation selection
  • It will appear in the Channels list after installation

If you are using an unsupported App store, you can watch many more channels. Here is how to add App store to Plex.

  • First of all download WebTools software from GitHub.
  • Unzip WebTools.bundle.
  • Add the extracted files to Plex Plugins folder.
  • On Windows, go to %LOCALAPPDATA%Plex Media ServerPlug-ins and add the files.
  • Now, go to Plex > Channels > Unsupported AppStore.
  • Open the URL available in App store in your browser.
  • Now, log in with your Plex credentials and install a channel of your choice.

Plex VPN Mac Installation Process

You can also install Plex VPN on Mac to watch TV, movies, shows and more. Here is how to do that.

  • Download and run the Plex installer.
  • It will launch a browser and ask you to sign in to your account
  • After accepting terms and conditions, a setup wizard will start to install Plex on your Mac.
  • Once done, open Plex media server and start browsing. It is this simple!

VPN bypass for Plex media server

One problem associated with Plex VPN is that sometimes it gets difficult to route data through the VPN’s IP address. This problem was solved by a Plex user who created a script so Plex uses the VPN’s IP address instead of the PCs IP address. You can use the same script for your system.

Here is how to do it:

First download the file from Plex forums. Now follow the following steps if you are on Windows 7 or a higher version:

Launch run in windows and then type ‘Taskschd.msc.’ Create a task and give it some name. Click Ok and go to ‘triggers’ tab. Click on ‘New.’

Go to ‘Begin the task’ and select ‘At startup.’ Also check the box ‘Repeat task every 1 hour’ and set the duration to ‘Indefinitely.’

Now move over to the ‘Action’ tab and select ‘New.’ Now, browse the script you downloaded from the above link. Select it from the browser menu and hit ‘Ok.’ Click ‘Ok’ again once the file is available under ‘Actions’ tab.

This will allow you to access Plex media server easily through a VPN.

Plex Server Static IP

Plex can work just fine on a dynamic IP address. But if you want a static IP, you can get it from your ISP. The Static IP can be assigned to Plex from SETTING>SERVER>CONNECT. But that isn’t necessary as Plex searches for an IP address every 10 minutes.

You can find the IP address of Plex server from desktop, as is described here.

Type http://server.local.ip.address:32400/web into the address bar (e.g “http://192.168.1.5:32400/web”).

Plex VPN: How to Forward Port?

Plex Home Media Theatre works well with a static IP address or a direct internet connection. When using a VPN, the IP address changes and so does the port number. So, in order to forward port to the Plex’s specific port, watch this video.

The video shows how you can forward a port number 50000 to internet port in Plex 32400 from your Cisco router. However, it will work the same for your router but the layout will be a little different.

Forwarding a port is essential if you experience frequent disconnectivity while using Plex entertainment center with a VPN and would like to avoid that in future. We have already discussed how you can change the port by using a certain script. So if this way doesn’t work you can try that one or vice versa.

VPN with Plex and XfinityTV

You can use Plex with XfinityTV to watch streaming content and movies available. XfinityTV is a web based TV channel that offers latest movies and TV shows for $50 per month. However, if you are using Plex, you can get a plugin to install XfinityTV on your connected device.

The configuration requires that you are on your home network because without it you can’t watch Xfinity TV movies and shows. So, to get to your home network, you need a VPN.

The video provides complete details on how you can connect to your home network using a VPN server.

Bottom-line:

Plex is one of the best home theater for watching movies, game shows, and tune into channels that are available not available in your country. Use the best VPN for Plex to easily connect your computer and watch unlimited shown anonymously.

My Raspberry Pi is setup as a home server, providing me access and control of my content through several services:

  • A Deluge server for torrent downloads.
  • A Plex server to manage and stream my media collection.
  • A Pydio server for remote access and management of files.

This is great, but I want to access my content when I’m away from home. Previous experience with remote access solutions inspired some requirements:

  1. I should be able to access my services from any computer in the world.
  2. I should be able to punch in an easy to remember web address like deluge.crawford.kiwi. This means all standard HTTP/HTTPS ports should be used!
  3. All transmission of my content should be encrypted.
  4. Moving house or ISP shouldn’t break my remote access.

The hardest requirement to cater to is that moving house or ISP shouldn’t break my remote access. Why is this such an issue?

Plex Multiple Servers

May not have a static IP

Very rarely does a home connection come with a static IP. Getting a static IP typically results in extra charges, and would require updating the DNS record if anything changes. The solution is to use a dynamic DNS service which solves both these issues, but we still end up with the below problems.

May not have control of the router

Port forwarding needs to be setup on your router so incoming connections are forwarded to the home server. However, you may not have full control over the router to setup these rules. Many routers will also take the default HTTP/HTTPS ports for their own services, leaving you with non-standard port numbers for everything else.

May not be able to get incoming connections

Finally, once we’ve sorted out everything above, you may not be able to get incoming traffic to reach your house! As a result of the IPv4 address shortage and ISP firewalls, incoming connections don’t always work. Never fear, we can still tunnel traffic through the internet with the help of another computer with a more accessible connection.

The concept of using a tunnel is pretty simple. We may not be able to get incoming connections to the home server, but the home server can setup an outgoing tunnel connection with some other machine on the internet. This other machine can be accessed from anywhere and forward connections through the tunnel to get to the home server.

The Other Machine

To meet my crazy requirements above, some other machine needs to be involved. There are services dedicated to providing remote access to your networks like Hamachi. These work well but require client software to join the virtual network, not meeting my first requirement of working on any computer!

Other than that, there are virtual private network (VPN) services which provide port forwarding, however it’s unlikely you’d be able to use the HTTP and HTTPS ports.

Last resort, DIY! A virtual private server (VPS) is a cheap way to get a small cloud server with a decant connection and its very own IPv4 address! For this I grabbed a VPS server from Vultr, whose cheapest server has more than enough grunt to provide remote access.

Reverse SSH Tunnel

A common way to get remote access through a firewall is with a Reverse SSH Tunnel. This is easy to setup and works well, but I discovered that HTTP based services through the tunnel run extremely slow. The most likely reason for this is that both SSH and HTTP use the TCP protocol to transmit data over a network. TCP ensures a reliable connection with built-in error checking and transmission control but this comes at a cost of speed. Running HTTP through the SSH tunnel is performing these error checks twice, resulting in much slower speeds.

The answer is to switch to something UDP based. UDP is much faster because it’s just packets sent straight over the network without error checking or flow control. A UDP based tunnelling solution means that only the HTTP layer is performing these extra tasks.

tinc VPN

The tinc VPN software was the answer. tinc can be used to create virtual networks between computers. It utilises UDP so runs quickly, all traffic is encrypted, and it’s continually re-checking the status of its VPN connection so works well even on unreliable connections.

I posted an article about how to configure tinc for this purpose, but this DigitalOcean tutorial is good resource too. This involves setting up the network’s configuration, generating key-pairs and copying the key-pairs between the machine.

Both my cloud server and Raspberry Pi run Docker so I created rpi-tinc for the Raspberry Pi and used jenserat’s tinc for the cloud server.

Proxying Connections

With tinc working, all the services on the home server can be accessed through a local IP on the cloud server, like 10.0.0.2:8112 for Deluge. Time to turn that into something nice like deluge.crawford.kiwi!

The subdomains point to the cloud server’s IP address. The cloud server has a NGINX server running with the official NGINX Docker image. NGINX is setup as a proxy server to the home server’s IP address using the NGINX documentation, meaning external traffic is forwarded through the tinc link to the home server.

HTTPS

HTTPS is used to ensure all data transport is encrypted. This requires valid SSL certificates which can be obtained for free with Let’s Encrypt through their automated verification process. To setup Let’s Encrypt to automatically renew I used bringnow’s docker-letsencrypt-manager and shared the volumes with the NGINX container. A very useful tool when working with HTTPS is SSL Labs’ SSL Test.

Using Plex

Plex is a powerful media server, allowing access to your media from anywhere. Plex offers Relay, a feature that allows tunnelling into your home server in a similar way to my setup. This works well, but does have bandwidth limitations. To setup MyPlex through the tinc tunnel I used this Gist to help with the NGINX configuration, and setup a custom URL in my Plex settings, like: https://plex.crawford.kiwi:443 (the port number must be explicitly defined for it to work). This works well, but I did have difficulties when Chromecasting from Android while on an external network, hopefully Plex will release a fix for this.

Computer For Plex Server

If you need some help crafting your NGINX configuration, checkout my NGINX example configuration on GitHub.

While my original requirements were pretty over the top, I’m happy I have a solution which satisfies them. I have been using this setup reliably for about three months and having an easy to remember web address for all my home services is great. This process has taught me a lot about Docker, NGINX, and networking, much of which has already become useful in other contexts.

Edit, 29 Oct 2017: Added a link to my new tinc setup guide.

Plex Public Servers

Edit, 13 Jan 2020: Added a link to my new NGINX configuration example.