Need Help with Plex, Can't make it to work

Darklion

Explorer
Joined
Oct 18, 2019
Messages
62
Let me start saying that I am new to FreeNAS and that I am an old dog who is trying to learn new tricks as the last time I thouch a computer for other thing than just regular google searches and social media was on 2005, So I got pretty rusted. On top of that, the last time I did something serius like this on 2005, I was on a country whit almost no internet conection and most of the learning was done thrught books, asking teachers and maybe getting lucky and someone was able to search on google, so this is my first time on a community that I might be able to get asnwers, so please forgive me if I am not elloquent on what I am saying and I will try to be as explicit as posible as I have to other barrier of the leguaje, as english is not my first.

I have being collecting movies for years but I have being either burning them on to s DVD or copying it on a flash drive to play it on my xbox, that has being the most complicated thing I have done for years, abut tree months a go a decided that I wanted a better solution and I just want to see what is on my computer right away on my tv. I start playing with "universal media player" witch is a DNLA but it works for a couple hours and then just stops for no reason and then I couldn't make it work, so I start researching and long story short and came to this FreeNAS community because there is a lot of people talking about how great plex is and how great FreeNAS is as well, so I start learning a researching. I run into a lot of problems by not researching about hardware as I just though everything should be strait forward as a regular computer is, but big mistake.
I have a Dell PowerEdge r510 eight bay with 2 xeons, 64gb of ecc ram, 8 2tb HDD's and a SLI 9211 that was a pain to get it flash as this server came with a h700. I have being fighting for over a month already with the hardware and I think I am done whit that part and I was able to figure everything my self. Now this is where I have find a brick wal, on setting plex up.
I am able to created a pool, datasheet, user account and samba runing and am able to put movies on the datasheet, it was hard and dificult to learn but I was able to do it, but now plex it seems like it doesnt want to cooperate. I installed the plugin, create my plex account but when adding the mounting point it will just not let me choose it on the library, regardless if I choose a empty folder right away or if I create one just by adding "/Movies" on a folder when making the mounting point or by using SSH and conecting from a shell and creating the empty folder by hand, it is always unable to be selected so I am giving up by now on this FreeNAS nightmare.

I am atachign a picture so you can see how it looks on my end the folder, unable and not letting me click it to choose it. As far as I have being reading and seeing o videos, there is no permitions I have to give plex, I far as I see the user we create and then give permitions on the datasheet is just to be able to conect from the computer to drop the files, I thought this unablelign it could be a permitions issue but I don't seem to find how to give plex the permitions of the user I created that allows me to conect throught the computer and transfer the files.

any help will be greatly apprecciated.
 

Attachments

  • plex.jpg
    plex.jpg
    30.8 KB · Views: 256

JaimieV

Guru
Joined
Oct 12, 2012
Messages
742
I think your problem is that you need to set up the mount point in Jails first, then go to plex.

First stop Plex if it's running - Plugins, plexmediaserver, ..., stop.
Now go to Jails, plexmediaserver, ... , mount points.
Actions - Add
In the Source text field, click the folder - that'll take you to /mnt. You'll want to navigate to the FreeNAS folder (or dataset) you have your video in, whatever you created already.
In the Destination text field, again click the folder and that'll take you to the virtual root of the jail. Create your media folder in there, so /mnt/(your pool)/iocage/jails/plexmediaserver/root/media
That'll map your FreeNAS videos folder to the /media folder in Plex's jail.

Now you can go back to where you are in your screenshot, and it should work.
 

Darklion

Explorer
Joined
Oct 18, 2019
Messages
62
That is exactly what I am doing. I don't see any other way to do it. As you can see on the screenshot the folder selected on the jail appear but is unable to be selected.

That method you are telling me is pretty much the only one being teach, on the freenas tutorials tells you to add / and the name of the new folder you want, some other people said that if you do that, sometimes it doesn't work so is better to select a folder that is empty right away like /mnt/media. Some other said that you have to create the folder from the shell. And obviously you can't select the folder without stopping the plugin first. I have try the 3 methods of selecting the folder (shortcut of the jail) but is always unable to be selected.
 

JaimieV

Guru
Joined
Oct 12, 2012
Messages
742
I remember there was a bug in an earlier 11.2 that made the UI path picker screw up.

I worked around that by manually editing the settings file for the jail. I guess you could try that? The file is in /mnt/DataPool/iocage/jails/plexmediaserver/fstab, and mine looks like this. The final line is the only one of interest:

Code:
root@Sisyphus:/mnt/DataPool/iocage/jails/plexmediaserver # cat fstab
/mnt/DataPool/iocage/releases/11.2-RELEASE/root/bin    /mnt/DataPool/iocage/jails/plexmediaserver/root/bin    nullfs    ro    0    0 # Added by iocage on 2019-02-23 18:25:31
/mnt/DataPool/iocage/releases/11.2-RELEASE/root/boot    /mnt/DataPool/iocage/jails/plexmediaserver/root/boot    nullfs    ro    0    0 # Added by iocage on 2019-02-23 18:25:31
/mnt/DataPool/iocage/releases/11.2-RELEASE/root/lib    /mnt/DataPool/iocage/jails/plexmediaserver/root/lib    nullfs    ro    0    0 # Added by iocage on 2019-02-23 18:25:32
/mnt/DataPool/iocage/releases/11.2-RELEASE/root/libexec    /mnt/DataPool/iocage/jails/plexmediaserver/root/libexec    nullfs    ro    0    0 # Added by iocage on 2019-02-23 18:25:32
/mnt/DataPool/iocage/releases/11.2-RELEASE/root/rescue    /mnt/DataPool/iocage/jails/plexmediaserver/root/rescue    nullfs    ro    0    0 # Added by iocage on 2019-02-23 18:25:32
/mnt/DataPool/iocage/releases/11.2-RELEASE/root/sbin    /mnt/DataPool/iocage/jails/plexmediaserver/root/sbin    nullfs    ro    0    0 # Added by iocage on 2019-02-23 18:25:32
/mnt/DataPool/iocage/releases/11.2-RELEASE/root/usr/bin    /mnt/DataPool/iocage/jails/plexmediaserver/root/usr/bin    nullfs    ro    0    0 # Added by iocage on 2019-02-23 18:25:32
/mnt/DataPool/iocage/releases/11.2-RELEASE/root/usr/include    /mnt/DataPool/iocage/jails/plexmediaserver/root/usr/include    nullfs    ro    0    0 # Added by iocage on 2019-02-23 18:25:32
/mnt/DataPool/iocage/releases/11.2-RELEASE/root/usr/lib    /mnt/DataPool/iocage/jails/plexmediaserver/root/usr/lib    nullfs    ro    0    0 # Added by iocage on 2019-02-23 18:25:32
/mnt/DataPool/iocage/releases/11.2-RELEASE/root/usr/libexec    /mnt/DataPool/iocage/jails/plexmediaserver/root/usr/libexec    nullfs    ro    0    0 # Added by iocage on 2019-02-23 18:25:32
/mnt/DataPool/iocage/releases/11.2-RELEASE/root/usr/sbin    /mnt/DataPool/iocage/jails/plexmediaserver/root/usr/sbin    nullfs    ro    0    0 # Added by iocage on 2019-02-23 18:25:33
/mnt/DataPool/iocage/releases/11.2-RELEASE/root/usr/share    /mnt/DataPool/iocage/jails/plexmediaserver/root/usr/share    nullfs    ro    0    0 # Added by iocage on 2019-02-23 18:25:33
/mnt/DataPool/iocage/releases/11.2-RELEASE/root/usr/libdata    /mnt/DataPool/iocage/jails/plexmediaserver/root/usr/libdata    nullfs    ro    0    0 # Added by iocage on 2019-02-23 18:25:34
/mnt/DataPool/iocage/releases/11.2-RELEASE/root/usr/lib32    /mnt/DataPool/iocage/jails/plexmediaserver/root/usr/lib32    nullfs    ro    0    0 # Added by iocage on 2019-02-23 18:25:34
/mnt/DataPool/Stuff/Video    /mnt/DataPool/iocage/jails/plexmediaserver/root/media    nullfs    rw    0    0 # Added by iocage on 2019-02-23 18:53:04


Do it with the jail stopped, of course.
 
Last edited:

JaimieV

Guru
Joined
Oct 12, 2012
Messages
742
If you open a shell in the jail, does /media/Movies contain what you'd expect, all your movie files?

That's in Jails, plexmediaserver, ... , shell.

Code:
root@plex:~ # ls -l /media
total 437
drwxrwxr-x+ 55 1001  1001    62 Jul 31 20:29 Cartoons
drwxrwxr-x+  5 1001  1001    26 Jun  2 01:17 Comedy
drwxrwxr-x+ 54 1001  1001    64 Jun 29 09:50 Documentaries
drwxrwxr-x+  7 1001  1001   477 Jul  1 00:26 Movies
drwxrwxr-x+  4 1001  1001    16 Aug 19  2018 Other stuff
drwxrwxr-x+  3 1001  1001     4 Jun 27  2014 Programming
drwxrwxr-x+ 98 1001  1001   108 Sep 27 02:11 TV
drwxrwxr-x+  6 1001  1001     8 Aug 19  2018 Workouts

Only notable thing is to ensure that folders are at least r-x for Other, as above, and files are at least r--, else the plex user in the jail won't be able to read them.
 

Darklion

Explorer
Joined
Oct 18, 2019
Messages
62
I will check that other code tomorrow, I have to go to sleep to be able to work tomorrow. I'll check after work.
 

Fredda

Guru
Joined
Jul 9, 2019
Messages
608
This problem has been discussed several times over the last week.
See this thread or this post. Changing to permissions with chmod is not enough as ACLs are involded.
You'll need to change the permissions of the folder with setfacl or you could also change the permission via Windows Explorer.
 

Darklion

Explorer
Joined
Oct 18, 2019
Messages
62
This problem has been discussed several times over the last week.
See this thread or this post. Changing to permissions with chmod is not enough as ACLs are involded.
You'll need to change the permissions of the folder with setfacl or you could also change the permission via Windows Explorer.

Thank you for the help but I still having issues, I guess is because I pretty mutch have no idea of what am I doing.

I did exacly what he said to do setfacl -m everyone@:rxaRc:fd:allow /mnt/path/to/dataset so I change it to setfacl -m everyone@:rxaRc:fd:allow /mnt/FreeNAS/PlexServer/peliculas nad finaly I was able to add that folder and when I was adding it I could see the movie file but once added the file just did't appear on my library.
 

Attachments

  • plex.jpg
    plex.jpg
    31.4 KB · Views: 262

Darklion

Explorer
Joined
Oct 18, 2019
Messages
62
sorry for that last message, I only had one file and even though is a MP4 it didn't appear on the library, I am able to watch it on windows not problem, maybe is because is a mexican movie and the codecs are diferent. as soon as I add other movies, thous one did appear.

is there a way to add codecs to plex?
 

Fredda

Guru
Joined
Jul 9, 2019
Messages
608
I only had one file and even though is a MP4 it didn't appear on the library, I am able to watch it on windows not problem, maybe is because is a mexican movie and the codecs are diferent. as soon as I add other movies, thous one did appear.
I doubt that. As now the permission of the folder is OK you should check the permissions of the mp4-file. You could also check the Plex logs to see what it did with the file.
is there a way to add codecs to plex?
No. Plex handles a lot of codecs. So I doubt that is a problem. It uses ffmpeg internally, so pretty much any codec ffmpeg can handle your Plex server can handle.
 
Last edited:

Darklion

Explorer
Joined
Oct 18, 2019
Messages
62
I doubt that. As now the permission of the folder is OK you should check the permissions of the mp4-file. You could also check the Plex logs to see what it did with the file.
No. Plex handles a lot of codecs. So I doubt that is a problem. It uses ffmpeg internally, so pretty much any codec ffmpeg can handle your Plex server can handle.

You are the first one that actually help me big time, so thank for that and for your patience.

So after say that I want to clarify that I am new and even though I try my best to find things my self before bother some I have found here a problem when I try to looks for something and is the wording I use to look things up. For sure the information is already being answer but even though I try looking for the information I just don't seem to find it, when you or others answer end up giving me what I need but whit a totally different wording of what I know. Example are: you guys use pool instead of volume or disk and other words like vDevs that I just don't seem to quite really get what you mean by vDev.

So I have 2 more questions, how to I check the permissions of an specific file? I guess it should be some type of issue that windows create whit the administrator privileges it gives to a file when being copy.

Second, I have the server with 8 bays and a rackable system extender with 16 bays, so I am planning to use 24 2tb sas drives. On the recommendation of how to cre6a pool it say to do raidz for 8 drives, raidz2 for 10 and raidz3 for 11 but it says as well not to go over 11 drives on a pool. I want to use the whole 24 and get 1 single volume, pool or drive, whatever it will be call.
So can I just make a pool with the 24 drives on raidz3?
 

Fredda

Guru
Joined
Jul 9, 2019
Messages
608
So I have 2 more questions, how to I check the permissions of an specific file? I guess it should be some type of issue that windows create whit the administrator privileges it gives to a file when being copy.
For extended permissions with ACL, you can use the getfacl command from the FreeNAS shell. They should also be visible with the windows explorer via properties->security.
Second, I have the server with 8 bays and a rackable system extender with 16 bays, so I am planning to use 24 2tb sas drives. On the recommendation of how to cre6a pool it say to do raidz for 8 drives, raidz2 for 10 and raidz3 for 11 but it says as well not to go over 11 drives on a pool. I want to use the whole 24 and get 1 single volume, pool or drive, whatever it will be call.
So can I just make a pool with the 24 drives on raidz3?
I don't think putting togeather 24 drives in one raid is a good idea. If you plan to have 24 drives IMHO it is probably the best to go with three VDEVS of 8 drives in a RAIDZ2.
 

Darklion

Explorer
Joined
Oct 18, 2019
Messages
62
ok, sorry for the delay on my answer but I had a familly trip that lasted 2 weeks and kids don't give much chance lol

well if I understand well and with the other research I have done (i couln't find out what IMHO means) I think you are telling me to do 3 pools with 8 drives each on raidz2 (witch I lose 2 drives) and unite them to hame like a master poll on witch inside are 3 pools and I end up having the 24 disks altogether but losing the size of 6 drives. I am not complaining on losing anything, it's just the words that I can find to explain my self.

Thank you for all your help.
 

Glorious1

Guru
Joined
Nov 23, 2014
Messages
1,211
I think you have the general idea @Darklion , but I believe what @Fredda is actually suggesting is:

1 pool, containing
3 vdevs, each with
8 drives in RaidZ2

You might need to study a bit on how this stuff works. Here is an old slideshow that is still valid and may be easy to understand:

(Don't worry about the zil and l2arch stuff) and a newer explanation:

(click the orange Download button in upper right)

The bottom line is, if any vdev fails, the pool and all your data are gone. So each vdev needs to have redundancy. You can lose up to 2 drives in any one vdev and replace them to recover.
 

Darklion

Explorer
Joined
Oct 18, 2019
Messages
62
Thanks a lot for all this information. It's being a little hard on me to keep up with all this lol

I have another issue that I can't figure it out and is with the raid card. my Dell R510 is giving me an error that the SAS B cable has a failure even though freenas works perfectly and I have read that is just a firmware error because the card is not Dell is a LSI 9211-8i. becasue of this I bought a actual Dell card h200 but the firmware can't be updated on the way I found on broadcom.com, over there I found a bootable CD that basically does everything and pretty easy but it updates the firmware to the version 17 and not the 20 that you guys talk about.

The reason that I haven't update to the version 20 is because you guys talk a lot on how to do it and are very good explinations that I think I can do, but you guys always miss one big and important step "Where to download all the tools you guys use"

could you be kind and tell me where on how to down load all thous tools?

this is the link of the only thing I have being able to find

 

Glorious1

Guru
Joined
Nov 23, 2014
Messages
1,211
Here are my notes from the last time I flashed my LSI card, but that was 2 years ago and it seems things are always changing. Don't feel bad - to me this process is very complicated, obscure, and poorly documented. This applies to my system, yours may be a bit different. No guarantees.

  1. Search for 9211-8i, it is a HBA version of my 9240-81 card so has the needed firmware. https://www.broadcom.com/support/do...pter&po=&pa=Firmware&dk=#tab-current-Firmware
  2. Download 9211-8i_Package_P20_IR_IT_Firmware_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Windows version 20.00.07 (even though I have a mac)
  3. Download Installer_P20_for_UEFI version 20.00.00
  4. Unzip. Copy to USB
    1. sas2flash.efi (and shellx64.efi ?) from UEFI installer
    2. 2118it.bin from HBA_9211_8i_IT in 20.00.07
    3. mtpsas2.rom from 20.00.07
  5. reboot server into UEFI Shell (through F11 Boot menu).
  6. In the UEFI Shell, you can see devices with map. Adding -b to most commands stops from scrolling off the screen.
  7. fs0: (NOTE THE COLON!) takes you to the first filesystem (should be flash drive).
  8. Now ls will work. cd flash; the file sas2flash.efi is in there.
  9. sas2flash.efi -o -e 6 to erase the firmware
  10. This will say the controller is not operational, then ask for a firmware version, this is the file 2118it.bin. The erasure takes time.
  11. Flash the controller to new firmware with IT-mode:
    sas2flash.efi -o -f 2118it.bin
  12. Program SAS address in IT-mode with the code on the green sticker on your RAID card (no hyphens or spaces, change to your number)
    sas2flash.efi -o -sasadd 500605B004E9D34D
  13. Verify success with sas2flash.efi -list. In the list will be a Firmware product ID. If that ends with (IT), you should be good.
  14. exit from UEFI shell, should take you to DOS (or if you didn’t start in DOS, direct to the Boot Menu). Type reboot, go into BIOS setup again, set boot priority and save.
  15. Reboot
 

Darklion

Explorer
Joined
Oct 18, 2019
Messages
62
finally someone put a link to where to download the firm where, unfortunally that link for the sear on a 9211-8i it only appear firmwares for 9310-8i cards and then only read me files for the 9811-8i.
I am thinking that maybe broadcom stop giving support for this cards.
 
Top