Connecting Outside LAN

[EZFrag]

Hi.  I have a windows 11 computer running Jellyfin.  My internet comes in through an arris cable modem.  I have a TP - Link Deco Mesh network throughout my house.  While on my LAN, everything works great.  Smart TV's and IPads all see my jellyfin server.  But I can't reach it outside the network.  I had tailscale installed, but I have more family than their offer of free accounts, so I would have to subscribe.  Is there anyway I can set things up to access Jellyfin without having to use a reverse VPN?  What I recently tried is putting the Arris cable modem into bridge mode and port forwarding the Jellyfin server on the Deco Mesh.  I had attempted to port forward Jellyfin on the Arris Cable modem, but I got an error message saying the iP address was out of range.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

[TheDreadPirate]

As long as it's just a modem, and not a gateway (modem + routr), there is no port forwarding that needs to be done on it. Only the TP Link mesh router.

Also, you probably mean reverse proxy. Which you SHOULD setup if you are going to make Jellyfin publically accessible without a VPN. This would enable you to setup https with a free DDNS address or a proper domain.

[EZFrag]

The Arris is a gateway. That was why I put it in bridge mode. But I still can't reach my jellyfin off the LAN.

[TheDreadPirate]

In this case your options are to port forward twice or put your TP Link router in a DMZ on the Arris Gateway. Even in bridge mode it still has a NAT firewall.

Jellyfin client port 8096 -> Arris -> port forward 8096 to TP link -> TP Link -> port forward 8096 to Jellyfin server