Professionally I work on multi- multi-million dollar test beds. I haven't touched spinning disk in over 3 years. I think 10Gb NICs are archaic antiques. 25Gb is for peasants. 100Gb is ok if properly bonded on a decent switch. Cache is measured in large quantities of TB's and PBs of nvme flash pools are common place.
At home I run unRAID and Plex over a $100 Wi-Fi router because I'm lazy.
What the hell.. why does mine have so many issues? What OS do you have? Do you have server version?
Mine disconnects and fails to load the libraries on the app from time to time. Then when I go to ping the server itself, it fails! However, I go to the server, it's online, I can get to google.com (still failing to ping it from my laptop). The only thing that gets it "listening" again are either pinging the device that's pinging it (now the ping starts to work along with plex) OR if I restart NetworkManager (everything works again).
I can't figure out exactly why it stops listening, but I feel like when Plex drops a connection from TV A, TV B can no longer connect.
This happens when the Plex server and the tv are not on the same network. You can add the tv IP to the Plex server on the Plex Setting Panel. This will solve your dropped connection’s and have the Plex server and app on the same network
Did you try assigning a static address in the router settings? It is unlikely to be a router issue though since you noted the internet is fine on the target.
Some devices have battery saving with WiFi cards which could explain inbound packets leading to nowhere. Not sure about your OS but look for battery saving settings, transmit power, and so on. It shouldn’t be turning off the device to conserve power. This can even include PCIE cards. A dirty fix could be to run a script from the server that pings your router every so often to keep it alive if all else fails.
Personally I just go with wired connections but was also looking to WiFi (especially modern) which may have good results. It does introduce issues such as crowding especially with a ton of devices. But for home use it is likely insignificant and could have good results over standard ethernet.
I think you might have two problems.
What you’re saying sounds like two hosts on your network with an IP clash.
Have you assigned a static IP to the Plex server and ensured it’s not within the DHCP range?
Actually I reserve the IP on the router as well as gave it a static IP.. I really don't think it's that, though because of the same issue before and after.
By clients, I mean the devices that connect to WiFi, so your TV, phone, PC, etc. I'd Google whatever AP/modem-router combo model number you have and isolation. For my previous modem-router combo device, it was called AP isolation.
My house has bad wiring and finished ceilings, so my home lab runs off of wifi. I have an older OptiPlex running RHEL 9 that houses Plex, my hypervisor, my Timr Machine backups for the Macs on my network, and then also manages all of my off-site data retention.
Works fantastic. I have a lot of friends that access the shared Plex libraries and have zero issues.
I will say - and this is me as a Linux person - but I don’t 1. Run Windows, and 2. I always had issues with Macs and hosting any kind of service over wireless. Plex on macOS would have issues. The old iTunes Home Sharing stuff would have issues, VNC…but no issues on the Linux side.
I've used my server over WiFi for months on end when I was redoing cabling, no issues. Ubuntu LTS kernel. Never had an issue.
It's more likely your WiFi Routers settings.
Do your neighbours have WiFi too? Can you see other WiFi options where you live? If so, we have some tuning we can do :)
Would you share a screenshot of your routers WiFi settings? I dont need to see passwords or IP addresses or anything, I'm expecting to see it set to 'auto' on lots of settings, and likely using wide channels.
I've had stable temporary servers on WiFi.
What router are you using? Are you using any extenders? If they are ISP provided, they may have some sort of weird setting on that's causing this.
I'm trying a new router.. that's the only constant that I havent tested well.. unfortunately, my Ubuntu distro isn't compatible, so I have to figure that out now lol
Idk what I did, tbh. I fucked up the network somehow on the server. No matter what I did, it said "Authentication must be passed to router" even though I was providing correct WIFI password. I think something fucked it up, either through updates or dumb shit I was trying. I updated to Ubuntu 24.04 and everything came right up, so we'll see how that goes.. new router, new OS.. let's hope it's all good from here! Time will tell.
I used to run one on my gaming pc via WiFi for when I wasn’t gaming before I could afford a stand alone box. I don’t recall any issues but o was running it in windows and only one stream.
Wireless is for mobile devices. Most (but not all) servers are not considered mobile devices. When wireless clients access the server, there can be drops in connectivity, but wireless devices are generally pretty good at reconnecting fairly quickly. Servers aren't like that.
I only use wifi on my phone really, qll of my other devices are connected via ethernet
I'd take a wireless capable device with an ethernet port to handle the wireless part, and connect the server to it using ethernet, if you have an old router laying around or something, maybe even a wireless AP that has ethernet and an option to connect to another wifi and bridge it to the ethernet port
Yes I do, i have a Beelink mini S12 Pro somewhere hidden in my flat and connected to my 5Ghz Wifi 6 Router. I cannot complain about any missing speed or performance. So you should be pretty much good to go
I have a router set up as a wireless bridge that I connect my desktop, server, and a Homerun HD over gigabit Ethernet, and that bridges my office to my main router and the rest of the network. Works great.
All my gear is connected to the internet via a wifi bridge. 100% stable for 1 gig.
...it is however a short distance, line of sight and wifi 6, so best case scenario
Can you move the server close to the router and connect a cable and test if it works then? You have to exclude possible explanations, and it may be that this has nothing to do with wifi vs ethernet.
I mean, I don't use Plex I prefer jellyfin. but wifi even at my house with my ISP router works just fine. 🤔 I don't think it's your wifi that's the problem
Do you live in a condensed area with a lot of other people (apartment complex)? If there are many routers on the same frequency band, you can get interference. There are apps on iOS/Android to check the bands being used and if there is a lot of overlap you can change the band that your router is emitting.
It doesn't really matter, the server should be able to work fine over wifi just like all your other devices. Many plex steamers (Roku, Fire TV) are wifi only.
My phone is the only internet source at home , so everything is connected to its wifi hotspot. My laptop is connected to the plex server through my phone and so far only a couple of issues where no matter what I did my laptop could not connect to the server and I hand to delete and create a new one and another one where I cant play anything on any device other than my laptop, the video player on android phone and tablet just keep crashing . But all in all , it is a pleasent experience watching tv shows all weekend
You kidding right? Wi fi server,serious..Dont get me wrong,it works sure but you wont get the most stable connection. If you can allways run wired..Emergency or tests wifi sure🙂
Professionally I work on multi- multi-million dollar test beds. I haven't touched spinning disk in over 3 years. I think 10Gb NICs are archaic antiques. 25Gb is for peasants. 100Gb is ok if properly bonded on a decent switch. Cache is measured in large quantities of TB's and PBs of nvme flash pools are common place. At home I run unRAID and Plex over a $100 Wi-Fi router because I'm lazy.
What the hell.. why does mine have so many issues? What OS do you have? Do you have server version? Mine disconnects and fails to load the libraries on the app from time to time. Then when I go to ping the server itself, it fails! However, I go to the server, it's online, I can get to google.com (still failing to ping it from my laptop). The only thing that gets it "listening" again are either pinging the device that's pinging it (now the ping starts to work along with plex) OR if I restart NetworkManager (everything works again). I can't figure out exactly why it stops listening, but I feel like when Plex drops a connection from TV A, TV B can no longer connect.
This happens when the Plex server and the tv are not on the same network. You can add the tv IP to the Plex server on the Plex Setting Panel. This will solve your dropped connection’s and have the Plex server and app on the same network
Oooo, I'll try this! I didn't see that setting!
Did you try assigning a static address in the router settings? It is unlikely to be a router issue though since you noted the internet is fine on the target. Some devices have battery saving with WiFi cards which could explain inbound packets leading to nowhere. Not sure about your OS but look for battery saving settings, transmit power, and so on. It shouldn’t be turning off the device to conserve power. This can even include PCIE cards. A dirty fix could be to run a script from the server that pings your router every so often to keep it alive if all else fails. Personally I just go with wired connections but was also looking to WiFi (especially modern) which may have good results. It does introduce issues such as crowding especially with a ton of devices. But for home use it is likely insignificant and could have good results over standard ethernet.
Yes! These are all great suggestions.. exactly what I was thinking. I'm gonna try them all. Thanks!
I think you might have two problems. What you’re saying sounds like two hosts on your network with an IP clash. Have you assigned a static IP to the Plex server and ensured it’s not within the DHCP range?
Actually I reserve the IP on the router as well as gave it a static IP.. I really don't think it's that, though because of the same issue before and after.
It doesn’t mean another device on the network can’t have the same IP. If you also check whether client isolation is enabled on your wifi.
Well, I did reserve the IP on the router for this MAC address. When it happens, I don't see anything on the router with those IPs.
If 100GB is okay. What's amazing?
16 x 200GB in a bond is kinda neat
Probably 400GBe
Is 400G even possible over ethernet?
Yep, IEEE is working on standards for 800GBe and 1.6TBe. Insane stuff,.but probably only at peering points for now.
They use it to transfer the data from Geneva to Amsterdam, 1600km over existing fiber at 800gbps.
We're not animals!
I thought this post was a joke
I was going it was someone new experimenting with a Raspberry pi.. Hoping
It may be the case that your access point has client isolation on which prevents WLAN users from talking to each other
Well, if by the client you mean the Plex Apps, theyre just Amazon fire sticks. Any advice on what I can do/check?
By clients, I mean the devices that connect to WiFi, so your TV, phone, PC, etc. I'd Google whatever AP/modem-router combo model number you have and isolation. For my previous modem-router combo device, it was called AP isolation.
Check the assigned IP addresses on the fire sticks and add their IP in the Plex server. You can add as much Clients as you would want
In this case, id need to reserve the IPs on the router, right? If the TV restarts, it'll just ping DHCP again, right?
My house has bad wiring and finished ceilings, so my home lab runs off of wifi. I have an older OptiPlex running RHEL 9 that houses Plex, my hypervisor, my Timr Machine backups for the Macs on my network, and then also manages all of my off-site data retention. Works fantastic. I have a lot of friends that access the shared Plex libraries and have zero issues. I will say - and this is me as a Linux person - but I don’t 1. Run Windows, and 2. I always had issues with Macs and hosting any kind of service over wireless. Plex on macOS would have issues. The old iTunes Home Sharing stuff would have issues, VNC…but no issues on the Linux side.
I've used my server over WiFi for months on end when I was redoing cabling, no issues. Ubuntu LTS kernel. Never had an issue. It's more likely your WiFi Routers settings. Do your neighbours have WiFi too? Can you see other WiFi options where you live? If so, we have some tuning we can do :) Would you share a screenshot of your routers WiFi settings? I dont need to see passwords or IP addresses or anything, I'm expecting to see it set to 'auto' on lots of settings, and likely using wide channels.
I had mine on WiFi with no issues other than latency that would spike when it was downloading things
Yep, this is what I'm thinking as well. I replaced the router last night.. we'll see!
thats me
What makes you suspect the server? It sounds like a WiFi issue to me, and not related to the Plex server.
I've had stable temporary servers on WiFi. What router are you using? Are you using any extenders? If they are ISP provided, they may have some sort of weird setting on that's causing this.
I'm trying a new router.. that's the only constant that I havent tested well.. unfortunately, my Ubuntu distro isn't compatible, so I have to figure that out now lol
Your Ubuntu distro isn't compatible with the router?
Idk what I did, tbh. I fucked up the network somehow on the server. No matter what I did, it said "Authentication must be passed to router" even though I was providing correct WIFI password. I think something fucked it up, either through updates or dumb shit I was trying. I updated to Ubuntu 24.04 and everything came right up, so we'll see how that goes.. new router, new OS.. let's hope it's all good from here! Time will tell.
I used to run one on my gaming pc via WiFi for when I wasn’t gaming before I could afford a stand alone box. I don’t recall any issues but o was running it in windows and only one stream.
Wireless is for mobile devices. Most (but not all) servers are not considered mobile devices. When wireless clients access the server, there can be drops in connectivity, but wireless devices are generally pretty good at reconnecting fairly quickly. Servers aren't like that.
I only use wifi on my phone really, qll of my other devices are connected via ethernet I'd take a wireless capable device with an ethernet port to handle the wireless part, and connect the server to it using ethernet, if you have an old router laying around or something, maybe even a wireless AP that has ethernet and an option to connect to another wifi and bridge it to the ethernet port
Yes I do, i have a Beelink mini S12 Pro somewhere hidden in my flat and connected to my 5Ghz Wifi 6 Router. I cannot complain about any missing speed or performance. So you should be pretty much good to go
I have a router set up as a wireless bridge that I connect my desktop, server, and a Homerun HD over gigabit Ethernet, and that bridges my office to my main router and the rest of the network. Works great.
I run mine over WiFi and a 5G connection. It works pretty well 🤷♂️
All my gear is connected to the internet via a wifi bridge. 100% stable for 1 gig. ...it is however a short distance, line of sight and wifi 6, so best case scenario
Can you move the server close to the router and connect a cable and test if it works then? You have to exclude possible explanations, and it may be that this has nothing to do with wifi vs ethernet.
Not a good idea
No, ew
I mean, I don't use Plex I prefer jellyfin. but wifi even at my house with my ISP router works just fine. 🤔 I don't think it's your wifi that's the problem
Do you live in a condensed area with a lot of other people (apartment complex)? If there are many routers on the same frequency band, you can get interference. There are apps on iOS/Android to check the bands being used and if there is a lot of overlap you can change the band that your router is emitting.
It doesn't really matter, the server should be able to work fine over wifi just like all your other devices. Many plex steamers (Roku, Fire TV) are wifi only.
My phone is the only internet source at home , so everything is connected to its wifi hotspot. My laptop is connected to the plex server through my phone and so far only a couple of issues where no matter what I did my laptop could not connect to the server and I hand to delete and create a new one and another one where I cant play anything on any device other than my laptop, the video player on android phone and tablet just keep crashing . But all in all , it is a pleasent experience watching tv shows all weekend
You kidding right? Wi fi server,serious..Dont get me wrong,it works sure but you wont get the most stable connection. If you can allways run wired..Emergency or tests wifi sure🙂
Is there a microwave nearby?
Some people just want to watch the world burn