Issues setting up Plex and permissions issues

[djdwosk97]

you should never have to reinstall the plugin to get it to start. most of the times this happens it is because of user error.

what's the output of the following when run in the plex jail?
"service plexmediaserver onestart"

Yeah, I figured something was up.

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

Yeah, I figured something was up.

that's what I expected. I'm guessing you changed permissions of your jail dataset?
this breaks the jail. only ever change permissions of datasets you mount into your jail.

I suggest you backup /var/db/plexdata, and copy it over to a new plex jail.

 

[djdwosk97]

that's what I expected. I'm guessing you changed permissions of your jail dataset?
this breaks the jail. only ever change permissions of datasets you mount into your jail.

I suggest you backup /var/db/plexdata, and copy it over to a new plex jail.

How do I go about deleting the Plex jail though? For some reason it doesn't have the delete option where other jails do.

And to back up the data, it would be:
cp /mnt/RAID1/jails/plexmediaserver_1/var/db/plexdata /mnt/RAID1/jails/backup/
then create a the new jail/delete the old jail and copy 'backup' back to var/db/plexdata

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

How do I go about deleting the Plex jail though? For some reason it doesn't have the delete option where other jails do.

And to back up the data, it would be:
cp /mnt/RAID1/jails/plexmediaserver_1/var/db/plexdata /mnt/RAID1/jails/backup/
then create a the new jail/delete the old jail and copy 'backup' back to var/db/plexdata

for plugin jails you should delete any installed plugins, not the jail itself.

yes copy the folder out, but you will need to use the -R flag since it's a folder. also, once you copy it back you should set ownership back to uid+gid 972

 

[djdwosk97]

for plugin jails you should delete any installed plugins, not the jail itself.

yes copy the folder out, but you will need to use the -R flag since it's a folder. also, once you copy it back you should set ownership back to uid+gid 972

I've deleted the plex plugin before, and then reinstalled it, but that never to fixes it permanently (just until I edit something, at which point I wouldn't be able to turn the plugin back on without first deleting and resintalling it).

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

I've deleted the plex plugin before, and then reinstalled it, but that never to fixes it permanently (just until I edit something, at which point I wouldn't be able to turn the plugin back on without first deleting and resintalling it).

What are you "editing" that is causing the plugin to break? Are you editing permissions of the jail dataset?

 

[djdwosk97]

What are you "editing" that is causing the plugin to break? Are you editing permissions of the jail dataset?

I tried to change the IP address for the plex plugin from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.254, both of which are open/available for use, but when I changed the IP I was no longer able to turn the plug in back on. And when I uninstalled and reinstalled the plugin the IP reverted back to .1.1.

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

I tried to change the IP address for the plex plugin from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.254, both of which are open/available for use, but when I changed the IP I was no longer able to turn the plug in back on. And when I uninstalled and reinstalled the plugin the IP reverted back to .1.1.

doesn't sound like a plugin specific problem then if the jail's setting is reverting. sounds like a bug that the jail can't use that IP.

can you make sure to restart the jail after making the change. if plex does not start please show the output of the following command when run in the plex jail

Code:

service plexmediaserver onestart

 

[djdwosk97]

doesn't sound like a plugin specific problem then if the jail's setting is reverting. sounds like a bug that the jail can't use that IP.

can you make sure to restart the jail after making the change. if plex does not start please show the output of the following command when run in the plex jail

Code:

service plexmediaserver onestart

I changed the IP and then restarted the jail, and it seemed to stick. So hopefully it will work fine now.

Now, I managed to get my VPN working, however when I tried streaming (both networks have 50/50Mbps) I wasn't able to get a constant stream (and it took above 10 minutes to copy a 1GB~ file). So I'm assuming I just don't have the bandwidth required to stream the movie, so is there anything I should try that would use less bandwidth then simply streaming the movie and watching it in VLC?

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

I changed the IP and then restarted the jail, and it seemed to stick. So hopefully it will work fine now.

Now, I managed to get my VPN working, however when I tried streaming (both networks have 50/50Mbps) I wasn't able to get a constant stream (and it took above 10 minutes to copy a 1GB~ file). So I'm assuming I just don't have the bandwidth required to stream the movie, so is there anything I should try that would use less bandwidth then simply streaming the movie and watching it in VLC?

I have no idea, whenever I stream remotely I do it directly with Emby and not through OpenVPN.

You should do an iperf test throught and not through the VPN to verify that is what is causing your issue.

 

[djdwosk97]

I have no idea, whenever I stream remotely I do it directly with Emby and not through OpenVPN.

You should do an iperf test throught and not through the VPN to verify that is what is causing your issue.

How would I run an iperf test?

So last night I started to add the Plex libraries, and I had no issue with the first one (which targets drive 1), but when I tried to add the second library (which targets drive 3) nothing comes up: http://i.imgur.com/h7qTv05.png However, when I open /MediaStorage/Video3 from Finder/Windows explorer I can see it's contents are there. So in Finder I can see the contents of both Video1 and Video 3, but in Plex I can only see the contents of Video1, while Video3 appears empty. What did I forget to change that would only affect one of the two drives? (I already changed the GID of Plex to the group that owns all of my drives)

 

[djdwosk97]

I noticed I'm still having some permissions issue with Video3, so it's possible that has something to do with it? I was able to copy a 26GB folder from my computer onto the Video3 drive, however I was unable to open the new file (It said I didn't have permission), but then I went to that drives permissions settings and 'set permissions recursively', and then I was able to open it....so do I just need to check 'set permissions recursively' every time I add a new folder to a drive? (and should I do that to the drive that the jails are stored on and/or the jails drive itself?

I also tried connecting the plex web interface when I was on a different network (over a VPN) and I get the message: "Plex is not reachable". The firewall on my computer is disabled, so is there a setting I missed? or would it be an issue with a potential firewall on the router at my current location?

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

there's man pages for iperf. you basically run it on the client and freenas to see your connection speed with/without the VPN. not sure if they have it for windows if that's all you got.

as for Video3 not showing, make sure it shows in the jail and that the plex user can read the files.
'ls -l /path/to/jails/plexmediaserver_1/path/to/Video3'

####

that method of changing permissions works, but not how I would do it. I don't use CIFS personally, but when I do set it up for others I use 'force user' to set FreeNAS user I want CIFS to do operations with.

I have no idea what your network layout is to comment on your firewalls.

 

[djdwosk97]

there's man pages for iperf. you basically run it on the client and freenas to see your connection speed with/without the VPN. not sure if they have it for windows if that's all you got.

as for Video3 not showing, make sure it shows in the jail and that the plex user can read the files.
'ls -l /path/to/jails/plexmediaserver_1/path/to/Video3'

####

that method of changing permissions works, but not how I would do it. I don't use CIFS personally, but when I do set it up for others I use 'force user' to set FreeNAS user I want CIFS to do operations with.

I have no idea what your network layout is to comment on your firewalls.

Alright, I'll look into the iperf thing later tonight.

I was on someone else's network, so I just wasn't sure if there was something other than a firewall on their router that could be causing the issue.

P.s. I'm using AFP/CIFS (AFP is what I mostly use though)

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

Alright, I'll look into the iperf thing later tonight.

I was on someone else's network, so I just wasn't sure if there was something other than a firewall on their router that could be causing the issue.

P.s. I'm using AFP/CIFS (AFP is what I mostly use though)

looks like those files should be readable by plex.

 

[djdwosk97]

looks like those files should be readable by plex.

Well, when I try to add a library using /MediaStorage/Video3, Video3 shows up empty. So there must be something else that it needs to be readable.

When I run: ls -l /mnt/RAID1/jails/plexmediaserver_1/MediaStorage/Video1, it prints out the contents of the drive, but instead of:
-rwxrwxr--
like with Video3, it's:
drwxrwxrwx

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

Well, when I try to add a library using /MediaStorage/Video3, Video3 shows up empty. So there must be something else that it needs to be readable.

When I run: ls -l /mnt/RAID1/jails/plexmediaserver_1/MediaStorage/Video1, it prints out the contents of the drive, but instead of:
-rwxrwxr--
like with Video3, it's:
drwxrwxrwx

From your responses my conclusion is it isn't a jail mount or file readability issue. Maybe people who use plex/ plex forum members would know why files wouldn't show in the Plex interface.