I have a Plex Server and would like to enable remote access. What is the best way to set this up securely?
Setup openVPN to home.
Since you already mentioned VPN in the post title: That, to me, is the most secure way to set up Plex. I have my Plex server publicly accessible using a port forward for friends and family, but I can still reach it via my remote access VPN if I turn that off.
If you’ve watched Tom’s videos on Tailscale, afaik Plex works somewhat like that: The server tells a central service what addresses clients should attemtp to connect to. It will do UPnP and of course direct connection using port forward, but it’s not as elaborate as Tailscale with its various ways of NAT hole punching.
Lol. Must have been a Freudian slip.
If you plan to share your server to friends through Plex’s remote access, you could also limit the port forward at the firewall to a known list of IP addresses.
Not really feasible, since most of these friends probably get dynamic IP addresses from their ISPs or even are behind CGNAT. You would then have to allow entire IP ranges belonging to these ISPs.