I currently have my Plex server open to the world. I realise that’s probably not best practice, so I’m trying to find a solution that can work for me.

I’ve been looking at cloudflare tunnels and it seems like thats probably what I want. Giving me access to my home server from outside. And it’s free, which is a nice perk

I’ve noticed however that the terms of service don’t allow for video streaming, but is allowed in the paid tier. Before I commit to spending money, I’m curious if it’s even technically possible. Plex tends to phone home to allow users to authenticate and locate their servers, so is that possible through tunnels?

Is this a waste of time? Is there a better solution? How are others dealing with this problem?

  • ѕєχυαℓ ρσℓутσρєEnglish
    13•1 year ago

    If you want a free solution, wireguard and tailscale are your friends. It you’re willing to pay, get a cheap VPS (the one I use for this is from RackNerd for ~$12/yr). It’ll make the process very user friendly if you’re planning to share it with others.

      • ѕєχυαℓ ρσℓутσρєEnglish
        1•1 year ago

        You don’t actually need to do reverse proxy while using tailscale. You can just use ports as if you’re on a local network.

        The price is super low, but it’s been very reliable. Will highly recommend. You can see their current offers here.

        • @[email protected]OPEnglish
          0•1 year ago

          You can just use ports as if you’re on a local network.

          This is the bit I find confusing. Doesn’t Plex need that port to be open to the outside world?

          Or is your setup only open to devices on your private tailscale network and therefore seeing it as local?

          If that’s the case, I’ll need to see if tailscale can work with osmc, since that’s what I have running on my raspi behind my tv

          • ѕєχυαℓ ρσℓутσρєEnglish
            3•1 year ago

            For tailscale/wireguard, you just need to open the port in your machine as if you’re using it locally. No need to forward port in your router. For all intents and purposes, you can treat all devices in your tailscale network as if they were local devices.