iocage plex metadata and transcoding issue

[thePWNin8r]

I edited that file and restarted... I have the 192.168.1.1 under Default Gateway and Nameserver 1... no Nameserver 2 since I don't have anything there and i'm still getting nothing... Here the settings I think are pertinent. Am I doing something wrong?

 

[ace1780]

I edited that file and restarted... I have the 192.168.1.1 under Default Gateway and Nameserver 1... no Nameserver 2 since I don't have anything there and i'm still getting nothing... Here the settings I think are pertinent. Am I doing something wrong?

View attachment 26563 View attachment 26564 View attachment 26565

Your results from ipconfig looks virtually identical to mine, as do the global interface settings.

Do you have multiple interfaces/ports on the freenas host? I recall encountering a bizarre goof on my machine where the VNET only bound to one physical interface, and would work ONLY with that interface, whether active or down.

 

[thePWNin8r]

I have a 2 Port NIC... both are plugged into the same switch. Should I switch it to the other port somehow? How would I do that since the jail is set for the vnet0 interface anyways?

 

[thePWNin8r]

I think I figured it out... Under Network Properties i changed the "vnet_default_interface" to bce1 instead of "none" and its at least showing up!!

 

[ace1780]

I have a 2 Port NIC... both are plugged into the same switch. Should I switch it to the other port somehow? How would I do that since the jail is set for the vnet0 interface anyways?

So it was another case of the vnet interface quirk? You may have to reboot after changing that interface value. Let me know if that worked for you.

 

[thePWNin8r]

So far so good - pulling Metadata ... now I just have to figure out how to port all my watched movies/cover art/yadda yadda over! :D

 

[Th3RadMan]

I'm not about to let this thread die. I'm having the same issue, not being able to open plex with vnet.

I have vnet on, ipv4 interface as vnet0, with my default router as my router ip. Allow.raw_sockets enabled, vnet_default_interface set as my main network interface (vmx0) and an autogenerated vnet0 mac address.

On the network global config page my default gateway is my router ip, in addition to my nameserver1.

I think I have tried every option with no luck. My last thought is that I might be having trouble with the extra layer of complexity, using vmware esxi as a host. However I kind of doubt it.

 

[cygnus]

Great work thanks! Sorted the issue nicely!

 

[cygnus]

Hey guys. I am new to Freenas. I was having the same exact issue where Plex Media Server was unable to load any metadata or transcode to certain devices.

I was just about to ask for the cli instructions for rookies, as i am not at all familiar with Linux command line, so i could not get the commands posted kindly by "John Digital" to parse without error. Interpreting what i could from his command line, and with some log information posted by another user in Bug Report #52548, i was able to piece together what needed to have to resolve this problem on my own using the WebGUI. I thought i should post it here because i am sure i am not the only .nix newbie user of freenas that may not be comfortable with the command line.

So, here i go:
-After installing the Plex Media Server plugin, i stopped it from within the Jails panel of the Freenas WebGUI. Once the Jail has stopped, select "Edit" from the control options to the right (you may have to scroll the page to your right).

Now in "Basic Properties":
-Enable "VNET"
-Enable "Berkeley Packet Filter"
-From the "IPv4 interface" drop-down, select "vnet0"
-For "IPv4 Address", type in the IP address on your local network that you would like to assign to your Plex Server.
-For "IPv4 Netmask" (I won't post a table of subnets here, but if your LAN subnet is 255.255.255.0 like the majority of home networks, select "/24" from the drop-down selector)
-For "Default IPv4 Route" This should be the IP address of your home router or dhcp server. Leaving this value set to use the Default Route assigned to FreeNas didn't work for me.

Now we'll click next and go down to "Jail Properties"
-About 85 to 90 percent of the way scrolling down the page, you'll see "allow.raw_sockets". This is unchecked by default. We need to check this box to enable the "allow.raw_sockets" parameter.

Now we'll click next and go down to "Network Properties"
-The very first value "interfaces". We just want to make sure that this is set correctly. The parameter here should be "vnet0:bridge0"

Click Save all the way down at the bottom of the Jail Edit page.

Now just for the sake of cleanliness, i rebooted my Freenas system after making these changes before even attempting to start the Plex Jail again. My Plex Server is now transcoding wonderfully, and is able to communicate with the outside world to download metadata, movie covers, album art, etc.

Exactly what I needed thanks!

 

[enemy85]

Now in "Basic Properties":
-Enable "VNET"
-Enable "Berkeley Packet Filter"
-From the "IPv4 interface" drop-down, select "vnet0"
-For "IPv4 Address", type in the IP address on your local network that you would like to assign to your Plex Server.
-For "IPv4 Netmask" (I won't post a table of subnets here, but if your LAN subnet is 255.255.255.0 like the majority of home networks, select "/24" from the drop-down selector)
-For "Default IPv4 Route" This should be the IP address of your home router or dhcp server. Leaving this value set to use the Default Route assigned to FreeNas didn't work for me.

Now we'll click next and go down to "Jail Properties"
-About 85 to 90 percent of the way scrolling down the page, you'll see "allow.raw_sockets". This is unchecked by default. We need to check this box to enable the "allow.raw_sockets" parameter.

Now we'll click next and go down to "Network Properties"
-The very first value "interfaces". We just want to make sure that this is set correctly. The parameter here should be "vnet0:bridge0"

Thanks man, you solved my problems too!
Actually I installed plex plugin, but it had the same problem...didn't know why...

 

[wooley-x64]

Hello,
I also wanted to echo that from an out of the box plugin standpoint Plex in FreeNAS 11.2 does not function as it did in 11.1 with Warden.

Transcoding is broken and we cannot get cover art. Due to the above mentioned vnet=off

Also you can use the following cli at the freenas level to correct the issue as well.

iocage set ip4_addr="vnet0|<insert-ip>" vnet="on" allow_raw_sockets="1" defaultrouter="<insert-default-gateway>" boot="on" host_hostname="plex" <name of jail>

Legend:
<insert-ip> = IP address you want assigned to Plex
<insert-default-gateway> = IP of your gateway router ie: 192.168.1.1
<name of jail> = Plex in most cases and if you installed via the FreeNAS plugin. you can get the name of the jail from "iocage list"

working exmaple:

Code:

iocage set ip4_addr="vnet0|192.168.1.99/24" vnet="on" allow_raw_sockets="1" defaultrouter="192.168.1.1" boot="on" plex

iocage restart plex

After you restart you can send ifconfig to the jail to see if your new static IP has been applied:

iocage exec plex ifconfig

I found this ref helpful in figuring out these commands:
https://iocage.readthedocs.io/en/latest/networking.html

 

[spacecabbie]

Great that we have a solution (it works) But whats the cause of this ? why do we need to enable vnet on the plex forum there was mention there is an issue @plex as wel. Any one can shed some detailed info about whats going on here ? So i can decide if i should close my issue @plex.

 

[wooley-x64]

I do not know why the vnet needs to be on specifically. From what I had read people were saying something about Plex needing to know the MAC address and I assume it has something to do with the way Plex is going to bind to the network interface which without this setting on only applies a partial working system. (I hope someone comes along and explains this better, I know I have failed on that front)

However, from the page I linked at the bottom of my last post. Apparently there are stability issues with VNET=ON.
https://iocage.readthedocs.io/en/latest/known-issues.html#known-issues

More on the stability issue: https://github.com/iocage/libiocage/wiki/Network

That is probably why it is disabled or in other words not configured in the plugin from FreeNAS as I would assume they would figure that stability is paramount to functionality.

 

[pschatz100]

I do not know why the vnet needs to be on specifically. From what I had read people were saying something about Plex needing to know the MAC address and I assume it has something to do with the way Plex is going to bind to the network interface which without this setting on only applies a partial working system. (I hope someone comes along and explains this better, I know I have failed on that front)

However, from the page I linked at the bottom of my last post. Apparently there are stability issues with VNET=ON.
https://iocage.readthedocs.io/en/latest/known-issues.html#known-issues

More on the stability issue: https://github.com/iocage/libiocage/wiki/Network

That is probably why it is disabled or in other words not configured in the plugin from FreeNAS as I would assume they would figure that stability is paramount to functionality.

The reason you need VNET is so that the jail will have its own network stack, including a unique mac address. If you don't have VNET enabled, then the jail shares its network interface with the main system. Some limited Plex functionality will work without VNET, but transcoding won't.

As for the stability issue referred to in the link, that is an old reference page. VNET will work OK for you. What you don't need is the setting allow_raw_sockets="1"

 

[wooley-x64]

Thank you for the speedy reply and clarification.

I used raw sockets to allow ping and traceroute from within the plex jail.

allow_raw_sockets=0 | 1

The prison root is allowed to create raw sockets. Setting
this parameter allows utilities like ping(8) and
traceroute(8) to operate inside the prison. If this is
set, the source IP addresses are enforced to comply with
the IP address bound to the jail, regardless of whether
or not the IP_HDRINCL flag has been set on the socket.
Since raw sockets can be used to configure and interact
with various network subsystems, extra caution should be
used where privileged access to jails is given out to
untrusted parties.

Default: 0
Source: jail(8)

I guess if VNET enabled is stable enough, the question is why was it decided to have this feature off which breaks a large function of Plex? (transcoding)

 

[spacecabbie]

I guess if VNET enabled is stable enough, the question is why was it decided to have this feature off which breaks a large feature of Plex? (transcoding)

This. And i remember first time going to iocage jails that vnet was not recommended for various reasons (my memory fails me i could be wrong)
So is vnet ok and ifso why is not std in the plugins and jail setup ?

ty !

 

[ThreeDee]

I had a second network interface I was trying to attach to plex so it could have its own real interface .. but alas .. I couldn't pull metadata until I enabled vnet

 

[pschatz100]

Thank you for the speedy reply and clarification.

I used raw sockets to allow ping and traceroute from within the plex jail.

I guess if VNET enabled is stable enough, the question is why was it decided to have this feature off which breaks a large function of Plex? (transcoding)

Yes, raw sockets will allow you to do that. However, they are not required for Plex.

Re: VNET. If the plugin does not enable VNET, then I would consider that an error in the plugin. You could file a bug report about this.

 

[rivey]

Hey guys. I am new to Freenas. I was having the same exact issue where Plex Media Server was unable to load any metadata or transcode to certain devices.

I was just about to ask for the cli instructions for rookies, as i am not at all familiar with Linux command line, so i could not get the commands posted kindly by "John Digital" to parse without error. Interpreting what i could from his command line, and with some log information posted by another user in Bug Report #52548, i was able to piece together what needed to have to resolve this problem on my own using the WebGUI. I thought i should post it here because i am sure i am not the only .nix newbie user of freenas that may not be comfortable with the command line.

So, here i go:
-After installing the Plex Media Server plugin, i stopped it from within the Jails panel of the Freenas WebGUI. Once the Jail has stopped, select "Edit" from the control options to the right (you may have to scroll the page to your right).

Now in "Basic Properties":
-Enable "VNET"
-Enable "Berkeley Packet Filter"
-From the "IPv4 interface" drop-down, select "vnet0"
-For "IPv4 Address", type in the IP address on your local network that you would like to assign to your Plex Server.
-For "IPv4 Netmask" (I won't post a table of subnets here, but if your LAN subnet is 255.255.255.0 like the majority of home networks, select "/24" from the drop-down selector)
-For "Default IPv4 Route" This should be the IP address of your home router or dhcp server. Leaving this value set to use the Default Route assigned to FreeNas didn't work for me.

Now we'll click next and go down to "Jail Properties"
-About 85 to 90 percent of the way scrolling down the page, you'll see "allow.raw_sockets". This is unchecked by default. We need to check this box to enable the "allow.raw_sockets" parameter.

Now we'll click next and go down to "Network Properties"
-The very first value "interfaces". We just want to make sure that this is set correctly. The parameter here should be "vnet0:bridge0"

Click Save all the way down at the bottom of the Jail Edit page.

Now just for the sake of cleanliness, i rebooted my Freenas system after making these changes before even attempting to start the Plex Jail again. My Plex Server is now transcoding wonderfully, and is able to communicate with the outside world to download metadata, movie covers, album art, etc.

This worked perfectly and I am now up and running and my media is starting to get new metadata. Great write-up.

 

[matt11601]

Thanks a lot for the guide. This helped me get Plex working correctly again. Out of curiosity, does anyone have slow upload speeds with these new settings?

I ran speedtest-cli and my download is consistently at ~100 Mbit/s but my upload 3-4 Mbits/s. If I turn off vnet on my plex iocage then the upload speed is ~100 like it should be so I'm pretty sure it's related to these settings which is why I'm posting in this thread.

System:
PowerEdge T30
24 gb ram
Intel PRO/1000 GT PCI.