Remote access failing every few hours

[bluesuedeuk 1]

Hi, I have several family members connected to my Emby server on remote access using Fire TV/Chromecast etc and up until recently had few problems. Over the last few days when starting the Emby app they've been getting the 'Server Unavailable' message. If I restart the server (Windows 10) at my end it works again but seems to fail after a few hours.

There have been no changes to my setup that I'm aware of (other than maybe Win update) so I'm confused as to why it's started to be a problem. I did have a similar issue a few months ago but I discovered that switching my AV from Avast to Windows Defender seemed to fix it at that time.

Hopefully someone can help. Thanks!

[Luke 42085]

Hi, have you checked to see if your remote ip address is changing?

[bluesuedeuk 1]

Hi Luke, thanks. Yes I checked that and it seems to be the same as it's always been. I'm not having any problems in the house on my local network. Is there anything else I could check that might have changed?

[Luke 42085]

On 10/25/2022 at 2:43 PM, bluesuedeuk said:

Hi Luke, thanks. Yes I checked that and it seems to be the same as it's always been. I'm not having any problems in the house on my local network. Is there anything else I could check that might have changed?

How did you verify that exactly?

[bluesuedeuk 1]

I'd made a note of the In-Home (LAN) access and Remote (WAN) access IP's back in February this year and they are both still the same as of today

[visproduction 316]

Suspect issue may have to do with recent Chromecast update.  It looks like Mesh type Wifi software has been updated.  This could affect both Mesh and non-Mesh Wifi in house setups.  It is preferrable to turn this off and not broadcast streaming data on a Mesh Wifi.  See: https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/7124014?hl=en

[Luke 42085]

Can you please attach the emby server log from when this happens? Thanks.

[bluesuedeuk 1]

Hi Luke, I attempted to access my Emby server today at 13:28 from my phone app (with wifi switched off) and I got the 'select server' screen. I've attached the log this time. Thanks.

embyserver.txt

[Lee 212]

do you mean outside of the home? i use no-ip dynamic dns and it works a dream. also worth noting you need to set up port forwarding for the server.

[bluesuedeuk 1]

Thanks Lee, yes it's only outside Remote server that's the problem, it works fine inside the house. What is no-ip dynamic dns? I don't know if port forwarding is set up but I've got the 'Port Mapper' plug-in installed. Everything was working great up until a couple of weeks ago.

[pwhodges 2014]

Maybe your IP address has changed.  Check with whatismyip.com or equivalent.  If it's changed then you need to correct your DNS entry, and maybe the external address entry in Emby.  

Dynamic DNS is a system that keeps your DNS up to date when the address gets changed by your ISP; no-ip is one of many options for this (check whether your router has a built-in client for one or another of them).

If you are just using plain http without a domain name (which is only required for secure https), then ignore all mentions of DNS!

Paul

[Lee 212]

Yeah so basically what was said above. 

I've got a free domain name. 

Like> http://myserver.ddns.net

There is a plug in you put on the server and that relays the ip address to no-ip piece of cake! 

The port mapping can be fiddly depending on what router you have but there are plenty of online tutorials for both of these. 

I've only used no-ip as it was an if its not broke don't try and fix it scenario. The one annoyance is for a free account you have to verify it every month. But they email you and it takes like one minute... 

Hope this helps!