Emby And VPN

[TurnerJo 0]

Hello all,

I have been trying to get Emby running behind a VPN (Private internet access) however every set up i have tried doesnt seem to work. Iam running emby version 4.6.7.0  and PIA version 3.1.2 running on windows 10. I have remote connections routed as a url to a ddns service (no-ip) which then points to the ip address given by the pc, this set up works fine with original ISP given IP address. I have:

1. Diabled auto port mapping

2. PiA gave me a forwarded port of 41104. using their settings, i set 41104 to map to local 443 port (which emby uses, have tried both http and https)

3. Can ping the port using ncat using http and gives a response

4. Trying to connect to emby via app / url or manual IP doesnt do anything. 

Please can you advise or let me know if you require further information

[Garbonzo17 26]

am I misunderstanding or are these actually two separate machines, one running emby server configured with your no-ip ddns pointing at it, and a 2nd machine using the PIA client from a different location? correct?

I am just trying to get my head around what the situation is, and what you are trying to achieve exactly.

[TurnerJo 0]

Hello, they are all one machine

The emby server in question has no-ip running in the background and also has the pia client on it as well. I essentially just trying to run the server behind my VPN. 

[Luke 37248]

@cayars may have some PIA tips. Thanks.

[Gilgamesh_48 948]

I tried PIA and in the process found that it was pretty unstable and very slow but that may have changed in the three or four years since I tried it. I took advantage of a very reduced price to get a lifetime for PIA but I have not really used it since but, after I contacted them years ago, I was told that for PIA to work with Emby (or Plex) for remote access they have to assign a static IP and that would cost extra each month and, since I never really use or allow remote access, I never even tested that.

I suggest you contact PIA and see if that still applies.

BTW: I now use ExpressVPN and I have pretty thoroughly tested it and I have found that it is well worth the extra it costs each month. I even tested remote access and, with proper port forwarding, it works fine with ExpressVPN.

[Carlo 4331]

No that doesn't apply.  To use any VPN with Emby Server you will however have to do one of two things.  First is using split tunneling which allow Emby Server to bypass the VPN and run as usual.  The second way using the VPN would be to get port forwarding from the provider. When you think about it this makes sense because if 100 people are sharing an IP and traffic comes in where do they route it?  They would have no idea.

PIA does both split tunneling and port forwarding using OpenVPN or Wireguard included.  They also have static IPs but that will cost about $10 a month and not worth it.

[Carlo 4331]

On 12/13/2021 at 4:39 PM, TurnerJo said:

2. PiA gave me a forwarded port of 41104. using their settings, i set 41104 to map to local 443 port (which emby uses, have tried both http and https)

Don't try and forward the port they gave you.  Instead set your port to 41104. If you have a cert then this will be the https and if not it will be the http port (guess you use this).

[Carlo 4331]

BTW, the above assumes you're running PIA software on the Emby Server.  If you make the connection on your Router you may or may not be able to forward this depending on your router.  Some home routers aren't smart enough to forward incoming VPN connections as they probably never considered this a use case. This is pretty unusual.

[TurnerJo 0]

@cayars

I have tried using the 41104 port and no avail. when using canyouseeme it detects the port but no external connections can connect. Also i dont want to use split tunneling for the server.

Any other suggestions?

 

[GrimReaper 3330]

44 minutes ago, TurnerJo said:

Any other suggestions?

Change VPN provider? I've been running secure connection via domain through AirVPN for some time, so far rock-solid performance.

[RDSII64 4]

If we are using cloudflare for reverse proxy, do we even need a vpn? @pir8radio

[pir8radio 1293]

On 2/19/2023 at 7:52 AM, RDSII64 said:

If we are using cloudflare for reverse proxy, do we even need a vpn? @pir8radio

if setup correctly cloudflare will hide your server.    if that is the goal.