How can I make remote access IP-independent?

[TheMovieJerk 0]

Hi everyone,

I'm sharing my Emby server with my dad, and I'm trying to find a way to make accessing the server easier for him. Currently, as you might expect, he needs a new URL every time my IP address changes.

I'm thinking a domain name might be the solution. If so, could someone point me to a simple guide on how to set this up? I'm not very tech-savvy, so a step-by-step explanation would be greatly appreciated.

I apologize if this question has been asked before. If so, please feel free to share a link to the relevant thread and close this one.

Thanks a lot!

[Abobader 3464]

Hello TheMovieJerk,

** 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

[GrimReaper 4740]

11 minutes ago, TheMovieJerk said:

I'm sharing my Emby server with my dad, and I'm trying to find a way to make accessing the server easier for him. Currently, as you might expect, he needs a new URL every time my IP address changes.

Hi there, you could use Emby Connect, which would enable your dad to connect to your server without knowing/entering IP address (nor care if/when it changes).

Emby Connect

[TheMovieJerk 0]

22 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

Hi there, you could use Emby Connect, which would enable your dad to connect to your server without knowing/entering IP address (nor care if/when it changes).

Emby Connect

Thanks for your quick response, Grim.
I tried following the guide step-by-step many times, but I'm still getting this error message when I try to access the server.

[GrimReaper 4740]

Your browser is likely force redirecting you to https://app.emby.media - if you don't have SSL setup on your server, make sure the address in the address bar is http://app.emby.media. 

[Luke 42078]

2 hours ago, TheMovieJerk said:

Thanks for your quick response, Grim.
I tried following the guide step-by-step many times, but I'm still getting this error message when I try to access the server.

 

Hi @TheMovieJerkdid you try any of the suggestions that are shown in your screenshot?

[TheMovieJerk 0]

9 hours ago, GrimReaper said:

Your browser is likely force redirecting you to https://app.emby.media - if you don't have SSL setup on your server, make sure the address in the address bar is http://app.emby.media. 

Thank you so much, Grim! It works perfectly. As you mentioned, Chrome was indeed force-redirecting to HTTPS.

Is it normal for smartphones to automatically redirect to HTTPS, even when manually changed to HTTP?

Additional Questions:

• Is using the HTTP version secure, or does it pose a risk?
• Does Emby Connect have the same 25-device limit as Premiere? If it works, I'd like to share it with my family and friends, you know.
• How can I set up SSL on my router? Is there a simple step-by-step guide available?
  
  Thanksss a lot, guys!

[GrimReaper 4740]

16 minutes ago, TheMovieJerk said:

Is it normal for smartphones to automatically redirect to HTTPS, even when manually changed to HTTP?

Most browsers (both desktop and mobile) do it nowdays. 

 

16 minutes ago, TheMovieJerk said:

Is using the HTTP version secure, or does it pose a risk?

It is unencrypted (insecure) connection. 

16 minutes ago, TheMovieJerk said:

Does Emby Connect have the same 25-device limit as Premiere?

Those two are unrelated, Emby Connect is just an alternative (optional) means of establishing client-server connection. Premiere device limit always applies to your server(s) only. 

Is there a limit to Emby Premiere?

16 minutes ago, TheMovieJerk said:

How can I set up SSL on my router? Is there a simple step-by-step guide available?

Number of guides/pinned topics in General/Windows forum section (and several scattered around in other sections), and related KB article:

Secure Your Server

Using secure https connections

Edited October 29, 2024 by GrimReaper

[Tigga5 39]

1 hour ago, GrimReaper said:

Most browsers (both desktop and mobile) do it nowdays.

 

Huh?? Where are you getting this idea from? I've never seen a browser that automatically redirected from http to https. That's just simply not true. Nearly every web server will do that these days, but that's Apache/Nginx/etc doing the redirect. That has practically nothing to do with the browser.

[GrimReaper 4740]

30 minutes ago, Tigga5 said:

I've never seen a browser that automatically redirected from http to https.

You should read linked topic (or any of the plethora of same/related topics around the forum) and/or do some Google search before commenting. 

[Tigga5 39]

3 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

You should read linked topic (or any of the plethora of same/related topics around the forum) and/or do some Google search before commenting. 

You should learn the basics about browsers and web servers before making false statements that are easily verified.

[Q-Droid 989]

38 minutes ago, Tigga5 said:

You should learn the basics about browsers and web servers before making false statements that are easily verified.

I have a shovel you can borrow. Let me know if you need it.

[TheMovieJerk 0]

5 hours ago, GrimReaper said:

Is there a limit to Emby Premiere?

Those two are unrelated, Emby Connect is just an alternative (optional) means of establishing client-server connection. Premiere device limit always applies to your server(s) only. 

So, correct me if I'm wrong, an unlimited number of people can access my Emby server using my Emby Connect credentials, right?

Thanks again, Grim.
 

[GrimReaper 4740]

6 minutes ago, TheMovieJerk said:

So, correct me if I'm wrong, an unlimited number of people can access my Emby server using my Emby Connect credentials, right?

Unlimited number of people can access your server using either their local user credentials or their Emby Connect account credentials (single user can only be linked to a single Connect account). Premiere devices limit still/always applies, irrespective of connection method (and irrespective of number of users). 

[TheMovieJerk 0]

Hi, everyone!
My dad successfully connected using Emby Connect (via HTTP) until my IP changed again. I don’t understand what the problem is. Can somebody me?

[Luke 42078]

42 minutes ago, TheMovieJerk said:

Hi, everyone!
My dad successfully connected using Emby Connect (via HTTP) until my IP changed again. I don’t understand what the problem is. Can somebody me?

Hi, does your server dashboard display your new remote address?

[TheMovieJerk 0]

8 minutes ago, Luke said:

Hi, does your server dashboard display your new remote address?

Hi, Luke. Yes, of course. 
And strangely enough, or maybe not, the remote address he gets there (the one I've just crossed out on the image) does not correspond to the actual one

Edited November 22, 2024 by TheMovieJerk

[Luke 42078]

Is it the old address?

[TheMovieJerk 0]

8 minutes ago, Luke said:

Is it the old address?

I honestly do not remember the old one, but this one is the same as the new one except for the last 3 digits

[TheMovieJerk 0]

12 hours ago, Luke said:

Is it the old address?

Yeah, upon further inspection, I found out it is indeed the old one.
I helped him in manually entering my new IP address under the 'Add Server' option, which solved the issue for now.

But the main advantage of using Emby Connect is lost if I still need to rely on my IP address.
 

Edited November 23, 2024 by TheMovieJerk

[rbjtech 5284]

If you have a dynamic ip (which 99.9% of people will) - then I'd personally suggest using ddns.

if you can logon to your router and see what ddns options you have / what it supports, then we can go from there.

Future TLS/SSL will need a domain setup (you can't use TLS/SSL with an IP) - so if you do plan on going this route, ddns/dns is going to be needed anyway to keep your public IP address aligned with your DNS name.

[TheMovieJerk 0]

3 hours ago, rbjtech said:

If you have a dynamic ip (which 99.9% of people will) - then I'd personally suggest using ddns.

if you can logon to your router and see what ddns options you have / what it supports, then we can go from there.

Future TLS/SSL will need a domain setup (you can't use TLS/SSL with an IP) - so if you do plan on going this route, ddns/dns is going to be needed anyway to keep your public IP address aligned with your DNS name.

Hi, @rbjtech 
Thanks for your response, first of all. I found this in my router's settings. Please let me know what steps I should follow, as if you were explaining it to a 5-year-old .

Thanks so much!

[rbjtech 5284]

ok - so assuming you have setup a dyndns name (the dropdown I presume gave you a choice of suppliers and you have chosen to use dyndns?) - and you enter a username and password that dyndns have given you - now you can simply use this DNS name instead of the IP address in anything related to your public ip.

so if your dyndns name was 'myembyserver.dyndns.org'

then on the remote emby clients - you would simply configure - 'http://myembyserver.dyndns.org:8096' - or 'http://myembyserver.dyndns.org' and the port as 8096 for some clients.   (no quotes..)

Any changes to your public IP - will be automatically sent by your router as DNS changes and the remote client (the world..) will pick this up and use the new ip address.  There may be a few minutes delay - but usually it's very quick to update even globally.

The DDNS Service state update box above is nice - as it will show you when it last sucessfully updated.    It's currently empty, so it hasn't done anything yet - as you need a valid dyndns username and password.

What are the other options in Service provider ?  Some may be free, others may be cost options.

Edited November 23, 2024 by rbjtech

[visproduction 315]

This is the original request:
 

Quote

I'm sharing my Emby server with my dad, and I'm trying to find a way to make accessing the server easier for him. Currently, as you might expect, he needs a new URL every time my IP address changes.

If you have access to a personal website and you know HTML, you could add a hidden page, put up a few random images on the page, perhaps family shots and link one or part of one using a mapped area of one, back to your Emby IP access.

Image map area link creator:  Make only one spot on the image linkable.  https://www.image-map.net/ 

Don't include this hidden page in any sitemap nor post the link anywhere. Once you do this, just give your member this private link to the page and tell them it's secret, and not to email, not to text nor post it to anyone.  The member would have this bookmarked link, know to click on the cute dog or whatever and they get access to your Emby server.  They don't need to know an IP address.  When your IP happens to change, you update the image link on your private hidden page.  The member won't even know anything changed.  You will still be protected by Emby sign in.

Don't do this on any social media or someone's else's site.  The site has to belong to you where you can create a new page in some subdirectory with a hidden encrypted names:
Something like this:
www.mypersonalwebsitename.com/picketfence/alt.html
 

[Q-Droid 989]

Before it gets buried in the thread - Why would Emby Connect not stay up to date with server IP changes?