Cannot connect to server in home network using EMBY Connect account

[bkx201 0]

Hi,

i have an issue connecting to my emby server using Emby connect account. My IP is set to be dynamic for the device that is running the server, hence EMBY connect sounded as an excellent option for me to connect across device without going back and forth to my host device for IP address.

However, i am unable to connect to the server from any device using the EMBY connect.

I read somewhere, opening port solves the issue, unfortunately i am weak in networking skill. I have configured the port to open at 8096 and 8920 with the 192.168.0.xxx (The IP is binded to the device in which the Emby server exists). 

Yet, nothing is working on the side of EMBY connect. 

If it makes any difference, the server is running on an android mobile phone, as i thought it would be a good idea to have a portable server which i can connect to my another device using Mobile Hotspot.

Long story, short. I want my other devices to connect to the server using EMBY connect without adding the IP manually.

Kindly do suggest if there is any fix for it, or am i doing something wrong?

[Abobader 3243]

Hello bkx201,

** This is an auto reply **

Please wait for someone from staff support or our members to reply to you.

It's recommended to provide more info, as it explain in this thread:

Thank you.

Emby Team

[Luke 38825]

Hi there, I would suggest checking out our Connection Troubleshooter:

https://support.emby.media/support/solutions/articles/44001849007-connectivity

Please try the steps listed there and let us know which one succeed and which ones do not. Thanks !

[Carlo 4478]

Emby connect will help when your WAN side IP changes.

But internally you should have your Server on a dedicated IP either by specifically setting it on the machine and not using DHCP or by going into your DHCP server (likely your router) and creating a rule to always give the same IP to the server machine.

This way the ports opened on the router always point to the server machine.

Now since you're running on mobile server you likely don't want to set a specific IP on the phone so you would set this up in the router so when on your home network remote connections are working.  However if you are at another location using a hotspot your server won't be on the Internet as you have no control to open ports. You would need to have a tunnel in order to do that.

With all that said, IMHO a mobile server is fine to have for vacation, travel, etc but should not be your main server unless you media libraries are very limited. A phone isn't going to be able to hold that much info.  I'm sure I couldn't possible store all movies that I have with Tom Cruise in them let alone the 150,000 other videos I have on my system.

Edited October 15, 2021 by cayars

[Luke 38825]

@bkx201?

[bkx201 0]

Thank you @cayars for your answering. 

So long story short, emby connect will only be helpful if i am going to connect my server through the internet. If i want to connect my other devices through my local network. I will have to input manually the local ip address of my server device to connect it. Emby connect will not work for local networks. So if my local IP changes then i will have to re enter the local ip manually again. 

I have a home router through which my mobile device has a static IP attached with my MAC address, unfortunately i am unable to open my port as it is a two device process through which i get my internet from, and i dont think my ISP will be assigning me a static IP from there end as well. Regardless, manual entry it is for me then.

As for storage issue, i am a debrid user, so all my streams are modified through .strm files, so i dont have to think much about storage files at the moment.

 

[ebr 15435]

1 minute ago, bkx201 said:

So long story short, emby connect will only be helpful if i am going to connect my server through the internet. If i want to connect my other devices through my local network. I will have to input manually the local ip address of my server device to connect it. Emby connect will not work for local networks. So if my local IP changes then i will have to re enter the local ip manually again. 

Connect should still work locally - as long as the server knows the proper local IP address and can get out to our servers to update that information (and it doesn't change super often such that the information would be out of sync).

Also, you shouldn't have to know the local IP address if everything on the local network is setup properly.  All of our apps have the ability to automatically find your Emby server on the local network - as long as that isn't being blocked by something.

[bkx201 0]

Well @ebr i am not sure why, but I have tried it multiple times, and every ways the internet mentioned, but ended up with dead ends. I have to enter the IP at least once at the start to access my server.

[ebr 15435]

Since you are running on a phone things are probably a lot more locked down than they would be on a "normal" device.  UDP (what we use for auto discovery) may be blocked.

[Carlo 4478]

While @ebr is of course correct on this, I myself would try and persuade you not to use EC for local connections.
Think about an Internet outage as an example of why this could hinder you from access to your own server.

But regardless of my own reasoning, it should still work, so we need to figure out why it's not.

If you like, send me a PM and we can setup a remote session to explore this more with you from your own system.

[Carlo 4478]

He sent me a PM with an account setup for EC.  I can see the server but not login as well.
Waiting for the remote URL to see if that works or to to get to the login screen.

[ebr 15435]

1 hour ago, cayars said:

He sent me a PM with an account setup for EC.  I can see the server but not login as well.
Waiting for the remote URL to see if that works or to to get to the login screen.

Did he already delete that user connection?

[Carlo 4478]

Don't know.  I do know from him sending me the remote access URL that his server isn't available for remote use as I don't get a login page from a browser.
That to me is a pre-requisite to using Emby Connect for all practical purposes.

I gave him a KB article to try using to get his server setup for remote use but haven't heard back yet.

[ebr 15435]

I think he did because I cannot find you connected to a server today via a Connect link.  I was going to look and see what address Connect was reporting and then we could compare that to the address he thinks should work.

[Carlo 4478]

Yes, he must have removed my Emby Connect username from the test account as his server no longer shows up.

[bkx201 0]

Hi @cayars and @ebr,

I didnt remove the account per say but uninstalled the whole app and reinstalled to see if it would fix the issue.

 

However, it didnt change a thing. I am unable to connect across device in local area network without inputting the ip manually. 

for the record, i am not using mobile hotspot, and i have my mobile device attached to a static ip of the router.

so i am not sure, what am i doing wrong that doesnt allow me to connect to it.

P.S i have already given up connecting my device remotely over the internet.

Edited October 21, 2021 by bkx201

[Luke 38825]

On 10/12/2021 at 12:06 PM, Luke said:

Hi there, I would suggest checking out our Connection Troubleshooter:

https://support.emby.media/support/solutions/articles/44001849007-connectivity

Please try the steps listed there and let us know which one succeed and which ones do not. Thanks !

@bkx201 did you do this? What were the results of each step?