Setup HTTPS For Plex Centos 7

7 minute read

Description:

In this post, I created a Reverse Proxy Server using Nginx for Plex Media Server.

To Resolve:

  1. First, in DNS manager for your domain, create two A records called @ and plex that point to your public IP address of the plex server.

  2. Allow HTTPS/HTTP at local firewall level and at host level

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    sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service=http 
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service=https
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

  3. Install packages

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    yum install nginx python-certbot-nginx certbot
systemctl start nginx
systemctl enable nginx

  4. Configure default HTTPS with certbot:

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    vi /etc/nginx/conf.d/domain.com
server {
   server_name domain.com plex.domain.com
}
certbot --nginx -d domain.com -d plex.domain.com
# should say congratulations

  5. Configure nginx for plex

    • create plex.conf inside /etc/nginx/conf.d :
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    [root] conf.d# cat plex.conf
upstream plex_backend {
   server localhost:32400;
   keepalive 32;
}

map $http_upgrade $connection_upgrade {
   default upgrade;
   ''      close;
}

server {
   listen 80;
   server_name plex.domain.com;
   return 301 plex.domain.com$request_uri;
}
server {
      listen 443 ssl http2; #http2 can provide a substantial improvement for streaming: https://blog.cloudflare.com/introducing-http2/
      server_name plex.domain.com;

      send_timeout 100m; #Some players don't reopen a socket and playback stops totally instead of resuming after an extended pause (e.g. Chrome)

      #Faster resolving, improves stapling time. Timeout and nameservers may need to be adjusted for your location Google's have been used here.
      resolver 8.8.4.4 8.8.8.8 valid=300s;
      resolver_timeout 10s;

      #Use letsencrypt.org to get a free and trusted ssl certificate
      ssl_certificate      /etc/letsencrypt/live/domain.com/fullchain.pem;
      ssl_certificate_key  /etc/letsencrypt/live/domain.com/privkey.pem;

      ssl_protocols TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2;
      ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;
      #Intentionally not hardened for security for player support and encryption video streams has a lot of overhead with something like AES-256-GCM-SHA384.
      ssl_ciphers 'ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:DHE-DSS-AES128-GCM-SHA256:kEDH+AESGCM:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA:DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA:DHE-DSS-AES128-SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA256:DHE-DSS-AES256-SHA:DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:ECDHE-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA:ECDHE-ECDSA-DES-CBC3-SHA:AES128-GCM-SHA256:AES256-GCM-SHA384:AES128-SHA256:AES256-SHA256:AES128-SHA:AES256-SHA:AES:CAMELLIA:DES-CBC3-SHA:!aNULL:!eNULL:!EXPORT:!DES:!RC4:!MD5:!PSK:!aECDH:!EDH-DSS-DES-CBC3-SHA:!EDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA:!KRB5-DES-CBC3-SHA';

      #Why this is important: https://blog.cloudflare.com/ocsp-stapling-how-cloudflare-just-made-ssl-30/
      ssl_stapling on;
      ssl_stapling_verify on;
      #For letsencrypt.org you can get your chain like this: https://esham.io/2016/01/ocsp-stapling
      ssl_trusted_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/domain.com/chain.pem;

      #Reuse ssl sessions, avoids unnecessary handshakes
      #Turning this on will increase performance, but at the cost of security. Read below before making a choice.
      #https://github.com/mozilla/server-side-tls/issues/135
      #https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Server_Side_TLS#TLS_tickets_.28RFC_5077.29
      #ssl_session_tickets on;
      #ssl_session_tickets off;

      #Use: openssl dhparam -out dhparam.pem 2048 - 4096 is better but for overhead reasons 2048 is enough for Plex.
      ssl_dhparam /etc/nginx/dhparam.pem;
      #ssl_ecdh_curve secp384r1;

      #Will ensure https is always used by supported browsers which prevents any server-side http > https redirects, as the browser will internally correct any request to https.
      #Recommended to submit to your domain to https://hstspreload.org as well.
      #!WARNING! Only enable this if you intend to only serve Plex over https, until this rule expires in your browser it WONT BE POSSIBLE to access Plex via http, remove 'includeSubDomains;' if you only want it to effect your Plex (sub-)domain.
      #This is disabled by default as it could cause issues with some playback devices it's advisable to test it with a small max-age and only enable if you don't encounter issues. (Haven't encountered any yet)
      #add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=63072000; includeSubDomains; preload" always;

      #Plex has A LOT of javascript, xml and html. This helps a lot, but if it causes playback issues with devices turn it off. (Haven't encountered any yet)
      gzip on;
      gzip_vary on;
      gzip_min_length 1000;
      gzip_proxied any;
      gzip_types text/plain text/css text/xml application/xml text/javascript application/x-javascript image/svg+xml;
      gzip_disable "MSIE [1-6]\.";

      #Nginx default client_max_body_size is 1MB, which breaks Camera Upload feature from the phones.
      #Increasing the limit fixes the issue. Anyhow, if 4K videos are expected to be uploaded, the size might need to be increased even more
      client_max_body_size 100M;

      #Forward real ip and host to Plex
      proxy_set_header Host $host;
      proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
      proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
      proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
      # Plex headers
      proxy_set_header X-Plex-Client-Identifier $http_x_plex_client_identifier;
      proxy_set_header X-Plex-Device $http_x_plex_device;
      proxy_set_header X-Plex-Device-Name $http_x_plex_device_name;
      proxy_set_header X-Plex-Platform $http_x_plex_platform;
      proxy_set_header X-Plex-Platform-Version $http_x_plex_platform_version;
      proxy_set_header X-Plex-Product $http_x_plex_product;
      proxy_set_header X-Plex-Token $http_x_plex_token;
      proxy_set_header X-Plex-Version $http_x_plex_version;
      proxy_set_header X-Plex-Nocache $http_x_plex_nocache;
      proxy_set_header X-Plex-Provides $http_x_plex_provides;
      proxy_set_header X-Plex-Device-Vendor $http_x_plex_device_vendor;
      proxy_set_header X-Plex-Model $http_x_plex_model;

            proxy_set_header        Host                      $server_addr;
            proxy_set_header        Referer                   $server_addr;
            proxy_set_header        Origin                    $server_addr;

      #Websockets
      proxy_http_version 1.1;
      proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
      proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";

      #Disables compression between Plex and Nginx, required if using sub_filter below.
      #May also improve loading time by a very marginal amount, as nginx will compress anyway.
      #proxy_set_header Accept-Encoding "";

      #Buffering off send to the client as soon as the data is received from Plex.
      proxy_redirect off;
      proxy_buffering off;

      location / {
               #Example of using sub_filter to alter what Plex displays, this disables Plex News.
               #sub_filter ',news,' ',';
               #sub_filter_once on;
               #sub_filter_types text/xml;
               proxy_pass http://plex_backend;
      }
}
    • Edit your nginx.conf to match this:
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    [root] nginx# cat nginx.conf
# For more information on configuration, see:
#   * Official English Documentation: http://nginx.org/en/docs/
#   * Official Russian Documentation: http://nginx.org/ru/docs/

user nginx;
worker_processes auto;
error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log;
pid /run/nginx.pid;

# Load dynamic modules. See /usr/share/doc/nginx/README.dynamic.
include /usr/share/nginx/modules/*.conf;

events {
   worker_connections 1024;
}

http {
   log_format  main  '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] "$request" '
                     '$status $body_bytes_sent "$http_referer" '
                     '"$http_user_agent" "$http_x_forwarded_for"';

   access_log  /var/log/nginx/access.log  main;

   sendfile            on;
   tcp_nopush          on;
   tcp_nodelay         on;
   keepalive_timeout   65;
   types_hash_max_size 2048;

   include             /etc/nginx/mime.types;
   default_type        application/octet-stream;

   # Load modular configuration files from the /etc/nginx/conf.d directory.
   # See http://nginx.org/en/docs/ngx_core_module.html#include
   # for more information.
   include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;

   server {
      listen       80 default_server;
      listen       [::]:80 default_server;
      server_name  _;
      root         /usr/share/nginx/html;

      # Load configuration files for the default server block.
      include /etc/nginx/default.d/*.conf;

      location / {
      }

      error_page 404 /404.html;
            location = /40x.html {
      }

      error_page 500 502 503 504 /50x.html;
            location = /50x.html {
      }
   }

# Settings for a TLS enabled server.
#
#    server {
#        listen       443 ssl http2 default_server;
#        listen       [::]:443 ssl http2 default_server;
#        server_name  _;
#        root         /usr/share/nginx/html;
#
#        ssl_certificate "/etc/pki/nginx/server.crt";
#        ssl_certificate_key "/etc/pki/nginx/private/server.key";
#        ssl_session_cache shared:SSL:1m;
#        ssl_session_timeout  10m;
#        ssl_ciphers HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5;
#        ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;
#
#        # Load configuration files for the default server block.
#        include /etc/nginx/default.d/*.conf;
#
#        location / {
#        }
#
#        error_page 404 /404.html;
#            location = /40x.html {
#        }
#
#        error_page 500 502 503 504 /50x.html;
#            location = /50x.html {
#        }
#    }



   server {
   server_name plex.domain.com domain.com; # managed by Certbot
      root         /usr/share/nginx/html;

      # Load configuration files for the default server block.
      include /etc/nginx/default.d/*.conf;

      location / {
      }

      error_page 404 /404.html;
            location = /40x.html {
      }

      error_page 500 502 503 504 /50x.html;
            location = /50x.html {
      }


   listen [::]:443 ssl ipv6only=on; # managed by Certbot
   listen 443 ssl; # managed by Certbot
   ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/domain.com/fullchain.pem; # managed by Certbot
   ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/domain.com/privkey.pem; # managed by Certbot
   include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-nginx.conf; # managed by Certbot
   ssl_dhparam /etc/letsencrypt/ssl-dhparams.pem; # managed by Certbot



}

   server {
   if ($host = plex.domain.com) {
      return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
   } # managed by Certbot


   if ($host = domain.com) {
      return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
   } # managed by Certbot


      listen       80 ;
      listen       [::]:80 ;

   return 404; # managed by Certbot

}}

  6. Test your config and restart the service:

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    nginx -t
#output should read okay
systemctl restart nginx

  7. Create the PCKS #12 file:

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    openssl pkcs12 -export -out /root/certificate.pfx \
-inkey /etc/letsencrypt/live/domain.com/privkey.pem \
-in /etc/letsencrypt/live/domain.com/cert.pem \
-certfile /etc/letsencrypt/live/domain.com/chain.pem
      
# Next you'll be asked to enter a password to encrypt the .pfx file. Enter a password you won't mind saving in the Plex settings in plaintext.
# Hand it over to plex.
mv /root/certificate.pfx /var/lib/plexmediaserver
chown plex:plex /var/lib/plexmediaserver/certificate.pfx
  8. In the Plex Web UI, go to Settings:
    • Custom certificate location: /var/lib/plexmediaserver/certificate.pfx
    • Custom certificate encryption key: The password you entered on step 2 of last section
    • Custom certificate domain: https://plex.domain.com
    • Save your changes.
    • That’s it. You don’t even have to restart plex!
    • You can check the Plex\ Media\ Server.log file in /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Logs if you want to verify whether there were any errors.

  9. Add Auto renew

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    # open crontab
crontab -e
# add and save/exit:
15 0 */10 * * certbot renew >> /var/log/certbot-cron.log 2>&1

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