Questions on proper setup for remote access

[Magic815 18]

Hi all -

 

So I wanted to get some input on if I'm setting up Emby properly for remote access. I have a little bit of an interesting setup, so I wanted to make sure I was doing this right.

• I run Emby Server on a Windows 8.1 machine.
• I run my machine behind a VPN 24/7. The VPN provides a shared static IP.
• I have the shared static IP set to a custom dyndns, which I'll call '[mydyndns]'
• I use a reverse proxy, so under '[mydyndns]:10443', I have 'http://127.0.0.1:8096' proxy to '/emby'.
• I have port 10443 forwarded on both my router and my VPN service.

Thus, the way I remotely connect to Emby is by going to:

https://[mydyndns]:10443/emby

(I would have just done 'https://[mydyndns]/emby', but that defaults to port 443, which cannot not be port forwarded by my VPN. So I had to port forward 10443 on my VPN and router, and use the URL above.)

 

In advanced settings, I have "External Domain" set to: 'https://[mydyndns]:10443/emby' and I have "Report https as external address" checked.

 

However, when I look at my current dashboard settings I see:

Version 3.1.2.0

Running on http port 8096, and https port 8920.

In-Home (LAN) access: http://[local IP]:8096

Remote (WAN) access: https://[mydyndns]:8920

 

Shouldn't "Remote (WAN) access" say: https://[mydyndns]:10443/emby   instead of   https://[mydyndns]:8920 ?

 

What's weird is that with my current settings, I'm able to go to https://[mydyndns]:10443/emby on another PC off of my home network, and it's able to remotely connect to Emby just fine. But I'm confused as to how it can when the dashboard remote access line doesn't show the URL I have bolded above.

 

Am I doing this right?

Edited January 2, 2017 by Magic815

[Happy2Play 9783]

Don't know anything about the reverse proxy stuff, but you will still have to set the ports accordingly via Dashboard-Advanced-Hosting.

[Magic815 18]

Don't know anything about the reverse proxy stuff, but you will still have to set the ports accordingly via Dashboard-Advanced-Hosting.

 

So in that section, it's currently set to 8096, 8920, 8096, 8920 (top to bottom). And then again, the external domain is set to: https://[mydyndns]:10443/emby

 

If I try to change the last '8920' to '10443/emby,' it won't let me type it all out. I'm able to change it to '10443', but that's not the full address.

Edited January 2, 2017 by Magic815

[Happy2Play 9783]

But what happens when you navigate to https://[mydyndns]:10443?

Edited January 2, 2017 by Happy2Play

[Magic815 18]

But what happens when you navigate to https://[mydyndns]:10443?

 

I get a '404 Not Found' error. (And that's when I have my port settings to: 8096, 8920, 8096, 10443)

Edited January 2, 2017 by Magic815

[Happy2Play 9783]

@@pir8radio

 

might you be able to assist?

[Rumbaar 13]

Yeah, I never understood the reverse proxy setups.

 

I use dynamic DNS service.  Which forwards to my WAN IP.  Which I've assigned a static IP to my media PC, and in my router I just have a port forward to that static IP.

 

So can hit DDNS.net:8096 and it's connectable remotely without issues.  That DDNS URL is defined in EMBY server.   But I don't use https for my connections.

 

Not sure if any of that can offer an alternate method that might work for you.

[pir8radio 1312]

Yeah, I never understood the reverse proxy setups.

 

I use dynamic DNS service.  Which forwards to my WAN IP.  Which I've assigned a static IP to my media PC, and in my router I just have a port forward to that static IP.

 

So can hit DDNS.net:8096 and it's connectable remotely without issues.  That DDNS URL is defined in EMBY server.   But I don't use https for my connections.

 

Not sure if any of that can offer an alternate method that might work for you.

 

@@Rumbaar reverse proxy setups are not a substitute for dynamic DNS..   Lets say you have three emby servers in your house three separate PC's all of them on port 8096 (for some reason you only want to open that one port number on your router), you port forward your router 8096 to server 1....   Uh oh how do users get to server 2 and server 3?   You cant port forward the same port to multiple server IP's.... A similar situation would be one server with three web server applications installed (they cant all use port 8096 you will have a conflict).    That is where the reverse proxy comes in...   Your reverse proxy will be set to 8096 and he will talk to server 1 on port 8001, server 2 on 8002 and server 3 on 8003     Now you only have one firewall port open 8096 but now you can setup your reverse proxy like this:   server1.yourdomain.com:8096, server2.yourdomain.com:8096 etc....    Where this comes in handy is people like me who run multiple websites/webservers using normal port 80 Emby, PRTG, HTTP, etc. yet my firewall only has two holes in it, HTTP port 80 and HTTPS 443.   Another example is google.com, they do not run all of google on one server its spread out on thousands of servers at different locations, yet you use one domain name; google.com.  Load balancing is similar to a reverse proxy you can spread one domain name over multiple servers.

 

 

 

@@Magic815  who handles your https?  your reverse proxy or emby?  You will want your reverse proxy to handle https.  Don't forget that the reverse proxy is a kind of a "man in the middle" It makes HTTPS slightly more difficult to implement.   I suggest you get http working with your setup first then we can get you going on https, its easier to troubleshoot http.  what reverse proxy are you using?

 

I would also un-check report https as external address.

 

Post your reverse proxy config please.

Edited January 2, 2017 by pir8radio

[Magic815 18]

@@pir8radio  I use Caddy Server for the reverse proxy, which I believe handles the https. I've unchecked 'report https as external address', and so the dashboard now says "http://[mydyndns]:8096".

 

However, I believe I currently have both http and https working with the reverse proxy (since I'm able to connect to emby by going to: https://[mydyndns]:10443/emby). I was mainly just wondering about how the inhome and remote access URLs in the dashboard basically go unused for me. Both 8096 and 8920 are not forwarded on either my router or VPN service. (The reason I did the reverse proxy was so that I only had to port forward 10443 for all my services).

 

I'll PM you my exact address, and you can see that it's currently connecting.

Edited January 2, 2017 by Magic815

[pir8radio 1312]

So in that section, it's currently set to 8096, 8920, 8096, 8920 (top to bottom). And then again, the external domain is set to: https://[mydyndns]:10443/emby

 

If I try to change the last '8920' to '10443/emby,' it won't let me type it all out. I'm able to change it to '10443', but that's not the full address.

 

I'm thinking your "External Domain" setting in emby should only be [mydyndns] not the whole port and path you are entering...   emby will piece together your "public http port" and "external domain" to create the "Remote (WAN) access:" value    don't worry that it does not reflect your proxy https port.

Edited January 2, 2017 by pir8radio

[pir8radio 1312]

@@Magic815 you good now?  

[Magic815 18]

@@Magic815 you good now?  

 

@@pir8radio - I believe so, yes. I made your suggested changes (unchecked 'report https as external address', and set the external doman to just '[mydyndns]'). It looks like it still connects remotely for me, through my reverse proxy. Thanks for your clarification on the settings!

Edited January 4, 2017 by Magic815

[VANESLER 0]

@@pir8radio I have a ftp server setup on Filezilla, can you instruct me on how I can point my Emby to it so that other users outside my home can watch my library without using my modems upload speed to stream to their location and use the server that the ftp is on? I went through the normal setup and added the etwork mapped file containing my ftp files, while they do show up in my Movies Library with correct artwork etc, they will not actually play. I've read everything on this site about setting up the ftp and nothings been clear. I have Kodi setup and if it can be configured to link my ftp serve to Emby and use Kodi as the UI I can setup outside users to use either software to watch my library. You seem very knowledgeable on this particular subject. Thanks in advance!

Edited January 8, 2017 by VANESLER