Plex Remote Access on Synology without Plex Relay

Synology
1

Will’s recent video on port forwarding has me revisiting an issue I’ve wrestled with in the past.

I’m running Plex (Version 1.30.2.6563) on DSM 7.2-64570 Update 3 on a Synology DS920+. Everything is up and running. In addition to me assessing it locally, my four children and I access my Plex server remotely. Plex client apps used for remote access include the Plex Web app, the Roku app, the WebOS app on LG TVs, and the Tizen OS app on Samsung TVs. When I connect remotely, I’m pretty sure I’m being routed through Plex Relay. This belief is based on the fact that my Plex dashboard shows the bandwidth capped at 2Mbps. It is known that the bandwidth through Plex Relay is capped at 1 Mbps for “regular” users and 2 Mbps for PlexPass users; I have a PlexPass.

I know there are ways to remotely access my Plex server without going through Plex Relay. Googling this reveals that there are a lot of opinions out there on how to do this. However, I’m not savvy enough to determine what is the smartest/safest way to do it. I’m very leery about opening up my NAS to the internet.

So, what’s the smartest/safest way to remotely access my Plex server without going through Plex Relay? How do I implement it (i.e., Plex Server settings, router settings, Plex client settings)?

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I’ve had similar issues. You can simply port forward on your router to plex and disable plex’s remote relay. If it can’t directly connect then you won’t get a connection (for example if behind cgnat this won’t work).

Could use tailscale (works on devices that support it, not so good if your trying to share with family who refuses to use the Apple TV you gave them and only will use their old TV built in plex…ask me how I know).

Could set up a reverse proxy and then allow the site plex.yourdomain.com to access through this only. This has benefit of not using plex or port forwarding to plex, but now has a port forward to 443 to your local network, so needs to be secured.