Can't connect to Freenas but can browse shares

[Scyllanick]

Hi all
I am running freenas with Plex Media Server only. I recently had an issue where PMS appeared to be unable to get an internet connection, despite being on the network and being pingable and Freenas being able to connect to the internet.
Long story short, I removed the PMS plugin and re-installed it. I had to rescan my folders but the problems I was having seemed to be fixed.

Cut to next morning when I tried to log on to my Plex dashboard, and it was no dice. I logged into Freenas and looked at everything I could think of but everything seemed to be correct. Plugin was running, all of the network settings were as they should be. I then took a break but when I came back, I could no longer connect to Freenas either!!!

Tried resetting the server but that didnt help. My next option was going to connect a screen and keyboard to the server directly and see what I can find out from there (I am hoping it is a network interface issue as I really do not need the hassle of rebuilding the freenas server).

Since I could no longer ping or freenas or PMS (no ARP entries either), I was going to see if I could get some info off of the mapped drive details. Maybe the IP address had changed (I was fiddling in the router). What I was surprised to find was that I could still browse the mapped drive and shared folders. I know that it is not cached info because I can access and play various movie clips from the server.

So, somehow, the server is "on" the network but appears to be hiding. Maybe it is a serious ghost in the machine or maybe I simply do not have enough knowledge to explain this. It has given me a spark of hope that I can still fix this. But before I make the mess even bigger, I would like one of you to weigh in.
Thanks

 

[Scyllanick]

UPDATE: I took a flyer and decided to see what happens if I browse to other IP addresses on my network. Well, the very first one I tried took me to my Freenas server web gui.
I went to check the network settings and what had happened was that the IP address for the Server had been changed to DHCP. Obviously in my desperate attempts to try and get Plex working, I fiddled without success and must have neglected to save the changes when I reverted to the previous setup, hence the ip address was different after the reboot.

ANyway, Problem solved.........for now!

 

[DrKK]

Pro tip: Get yourself an app like 'Fing' for your Android phone. Fing will explore your network in about 10 seconds (of course, you'll have to be on your wi-fi network), and tell you exactly who is connected to what IP address. DrKK recommends.

 

[droeders]

Pro tip: Get yourself an app like 'Fing' for your Android phone. Fing will explore your network in about 10 seconds (of course, you'll have to be on your wi-fi network), and tell you exactly who is connected to what IP address. DrKK recommends.

+1 for this @DrKK and thanks

Just downloaded 'Fing' and love it. It's like 'nmap -O' for my phone.

 

[DrKK]

+1 for this @DrKK and thanks

Just downloaded 'Fing' and love it. It's like 'nmap -O' for my phone.

It is my pleasure to assist you sir.