Allow Plex Media Server traffic to bypass VPN connection

English_Man · 12-20-2015, 10:29 AM

I looked around and couldn't find any similar posts. My apologies if this has been asked before.

I am running a simple plex media server on a Kubuntu 15.10 machine.

Everything works fine, including remote access.

However when I activate my VPN (its included in my Broadband package) remote access stops working.

The VPN that I have setup is a simple PPTP connection.

It works fine, no problems at all except for the plex server issue.

Is there anyway, that the traffic to and from this program is routed around the VPN?

The plex website says the following about the ports it uses;

Quote:

The most important port to make sure your firewall allows is the main TCP port the Plex Media Server uses for communication:

TCP: 32400 (for access to the Plex Media Server) [required]

The following ports are also used for different services:

UDP: 1900 (for access to the Plex DLNA Server)
TCP: 3005 (for controlling Plex Home Theater via Plex Companion)
UDP: 5353 (for older Bonjour/Avahi network discovery)
TCP: 8324 (for controlling Plex for Roku via Plex Companion)
UDP: 32410, 32412, 32413, 32414 (for current GDM network discovery)
TCP: 32469 (for access to the Plex DLNA Server)

Any help in getting this to work would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

English_Man · 12-29-2015, 04:48 AM

Would it help matters if I used openvpn instead of PPTP?

I was hoping there would be a magic iptables rule I could use to divert the plex traffic around the vpn.

jefro · 01-02-2016, 08:46 PM

Just some ideas off the top of my head since this has sat there for a while.

In general, a vpn isn't meant to be broken to allow this. It's suppose to prevent this but I've seen it done many times.

I forget what it takes to bypass a vpn but I get the feeling that you might be able to set up an alias network outside of the vpn for plex. I do know that there are ways to bypass a vpn for ip addresses. You wouldn't want to change or try to test for media or protocol types.

Cisco may allow you to use a split tunnel.

Another idea may be to see this. http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/config...x-systems.html

Not much help but at least an answer.

English_Man · 01-02-2016, 10:49 PM

I have actually managed to fix this using a virtual machine.

I use my physical machine with a full VPN for all my day-to-day needs and a virtual install of ubuntu on VirtualBox that's running a plex server.

VirtualBox have a nice easy way of sharing folders/drives with a virtual machine.

I configured it with a bridged connection back to my nic so it bypasses the VPN and allows remote connections to the plex media server.

Its working like a dream and hardly impacts the system at-all.

Thanks for you input anyway.