Plex movie/show posters no longer updating on Plex Plugin

[geopfarth]

I have been poking around the Plex forums trying to find a way to fix this and have not had any success. Re-ordering the agents and performing the "plex Dance" on the server do not seem to work. I can manually download all the posters I want, but that seems kinda time intensive with a library of over 1000 items. I don't think it is a permissions issue as I can manually edit and assign posters. Subtitles seem to be coming down pretty regularly. I haven't checked every TV episode and movie, but all of my spot checks show a subtitle option.

As always, thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[nojohnny101]

You provided almost no relevant information to the problem.

What version of FN are you on? (build number included pleas)
How did you setup your jail?
What version of FN was your jail created on?
What is the networking on your jail?
Can you ping things from inside the jail?

The most information you provide, the more help you will receive.

 

[geopfarth]

I'm running FN 11.2-U2.1 like it says in my signature. I just installed the 11.2 update 2 days ago and there were no errors or issues when I did that.

I built the new jail using the available Plex Plugin that came with the FreeNas build, looks like that is 11.2-RELEASE-p9. I did not try to migrate an existing jail created prior to FN 11.2 I just built a new one. The jails I had originally were created back on FN 9 so I thought a brand new build might be better.

Networking is pretty basic. IPv4 address assigned by DHCP. I used all defaults when setting up the plugin. The server is available both internally on my home network and is visible to remote users. I'm able to ping the DG, and 8.8.8.8 from the shell inside the jail. To me that seems like networking is set up correctly. New TV shows have been downloaded by my drone system (separate physical computer)and added to the library automatically last night, they have subtitles available and it looks like the metadata on the new episodes is correct.

Everything about the jail seems to be functioning correctly. The only thing that seems off about the whole server is the lack of movie thumbnails and the fact that refreshing metadata and re-scanning the library doesn't AUTOMATICALLY take care of the issue. Subtitles seem to be pulled correctly on every movie and TV show I have checked, so at least some metadata is coming down to the server.

There are only 2 pools on the system:

Tank which holds all of the media files

Jails which is where all of my jails are being created.

All of the media is mounted to "/mnt/iocage/jails/plex_2/root/media" in the jail.

 

[geopfarth]

UPDATE:

I got frustrated with the plugin and decided I'd manually create the jail using pentaflake's resource. The movie folder is still updating, but it looks like the poster issue is correcting itself. I'm not totally sure why the issue cropped up or how a manual jail creation fixed it, but at least it is fixed.

 

[nojohnny101]

Sorry I've been busy at work. I have always installed manually as I prefer the control that I have over things, and I don't believe the learning curve is too bad with manual installation.

Glad you were able to figure it out.

 

[geopfarth]

well, now I have a new issue. None of the videos will play and I don't know why. I get a playback error "please check that the file exists and the necessary drive is mounted."

Well the drive is mounted, and the server seems to see all movies and tv shows that are in the mounted drive. Kinda looks like a permissions issue maybe, but I've never had this issue before.

this is where all of the media is stored and the user that owns it is "plex"

Here is the mount point on the jail:

Here are the steps I took when creating the Jail in the first place. Did I miss something?

echo '{"pkgs":["plexmediaserver-plexpass","ca_root_nss"]}' > /tmp/pkg.json
iocage create -n "plex" -p /tmp/pkg.json -r 11.1-RELEASE ip4_addr="vnet0|192.168.0.214/24" defaultrouter="192.168.0.1" vnet="on" allow_raw_sockets="1" boot="on"
rm /tmp/pkg.json
iocage fstab -a plex /mnt/Jails/apps/plex /config nullfs rw 0 0
iocage fstab -a plex /mnt/tank/media /mnt/video nullfs rw 0 0
iocage exec plex chown -R plex:plex /config
iocage exec plex sysrc "plexmediaserver_plexpass_enable=YES"
iocage exec plex sysrc plexmediaserver_plexpass_support_path="/config"
iocage exec plex service plexmediaserver_plexpass start


Only thing I can think of is that I created the "plex" user back on a 9. server install and the path might have changed?

path for the home directory for the plex user is set to mnt/Jails/plex

path for plex application now is mnt/Jails/apps/plex

Here is the current user page:

 

[vilane]

I'm very curious to try and get to the bottom of this as well geopfarth because I'm in the same boat. I had tried hand spinning up plex in an iocage using pentalflake's guide also, but I did not have success. I had attempted to migrate my database from viewing data and ratings and such to the new jail and figured maybe that messed everything up, so I nuked the jail and started over from scratch. that iteration was still not populating the posters, so I tried the canned iocage plugin install, still no joy.

I have had my plex user and group created going back to freenas 9, I have nothing to lose by deleting the user and remaking it. I'll see if I get anywhere with it.

Did you deviate at all in the steps that Pentalflake listed for spinning up the iocage on 11.2?

 

[Skro]

Ok, a few things to clear up...did you use an 11.1 iocage template to create a jail in 11.2 in this command?

iocage create -n "plex" -p /tmp/pkg.json -r 11.1-RELEASE ip4_addr="vnet0|192.168.0.214/24" defaultrouter="192.168.0.1" vnet="on" allow_raw_sockets="1" boot="on"

Did you use iocage fstab -a plex /mnt/tank/media even though you said your media is located in /mnt/iocage/jails/plex_2/root/media

iocage fstab -a plex /mnt/tank/media /mnt/video nullfs rw 0 0

Did you also create the /mnt/video directory in your jail since this isnt a default directory?

iocage fstab -a plex /mnt/tank/media /mnt/video nullfs rw 0 0

To give plex permissions to your shares in FreeNAS, it helps to set the plex account UID to match the user to the same as the user in the jail, which you can get from entering:

Code:

id plex

Also make sure your plex user is a member of the group that owns the media share.

 

[vilane]

Ok, a few things to clear up...did you use an 11.1 iocage template to create a jail in 11.2 in this command?


Did you use iocage fstab -a plex /mnt/tank/media even though you said your media is located in /mnt/iocage/jails/plex_2/root/media



Did you also create the /mnt/video directory in your jail since this isnt a default directory?



To give plex permissions to your shares in FreeNAS, it helps to set the plex account to match the user to the same as the user in the jail, which you can get from entering:

Code:

id plex

Also make sure your plex user is a member of the group that owns the media share.

I tried with both 11.1 and 11.2 templates, had the same results.

I created the video share inside the jail as /mnt/media, which full paths to /mnt/mynas/iocage/jails/plex/root/mnt/meda, and i made the /mnt/mynas/apps/plex directory map to /mnt/mynas/iocage/jails/plex/root/config

my plex user in the console of my webgui is created as uid 972 which is what plex will create/run as inside the jail from installation. My local plex user is configured as a /nonexistent home dir user with nologin and no password.

inside of the jail, i also created the group "media" with matching gid as my global media group that owns the video file drectories, so the plex user is part of media internally in the jail as well as globally.(my media group and user id's are set to 816). code below run inside of a shell in the jail, and mimicked in the global through the webgui using the auxiliary groups assignment on the plex user.

Code:

pw groupadd -n media -g 816
pw groupmod media -m plex

I have been using the group write permissions style across my dataset for access, but through troubleshooting this, i've gone as far as globally allowing permissions on my media dataset to be in full 777, one step shy of setting owner/group on it to nobody/nobody with full guest access allowance.

It has be some weird service quirk with the Agents in Plex, because if I added a new movie via Radarr, and it didn't provide a poster, despite there being a poster.jpg in the directory. If I tell plex to build video thumbnails for previews it successfully creates those (but i think those are stored in the /config folder inside the db)

I'm tapped out on options short of just opening the dataset up to run with full 777 on guest access and nobody ownership.

 

[Skro]

I created the video share inside the jail as /mnt/media, which full paths to /mnt/mynas/iocage/jails/plex/root/mnt/meda, and i made the /mnt/mynas/apps/plex directory map to /mnt/mynas/iocage/jails/plex/root/config

Something I find odd is that both of you have long convoluted paths to your NAS media directories.

The command "iocage fstab -a plex /mnt/tank/media /mnt/video nullfs rw 0 0" creates a symbolic link between your NAS media share and your jail. The first path is your path to your NAS media share and the second one is the path in the jail that is symbolicly linked to your NAS media.

The first one should be something like /mnt/YourPoolName/NameOfMediaShare, it should not be a location buried in your jail which is suggested by the location you listed: /mnt/mynas/iocage/jails/plex/root/mnt/meda

So, where is your media share?

 

[vilane]

When you manually create the symlink with fstab, it's shorthand, but in the mount points listing in the GUI of FreeNAS, the directory is actually the listing that we have. reason being is that you're using iocage to target and execute inside of the root directory already. i use the same fstab commands you do from command line.

my media share is located at /mnt/mynas/media in my global datasets.

 

[Jailer]

and i made the /mnt/mynas/apps/plex directory map to /mnt/mynas/iocage/jails/plex/root/config

What is this mount point for?

 

[Skro]

Ok, gotcha. I was confused because the discussion was asking about CLI setup and those paths are not appropriate for that.

Rather than try to troubleshoot your setup, I thought it might be more useful to tell you how I set mine up. These commands have worked perfectly for me, I've repeated them several times, and used them on 11.1-U6 and 11.2 RC1 through 11.2 stable (have not set up on U-1 or U-2 but the jails have continued operating in both).

Note, I didn't use the pkg.json because the jails never set up properly when I did. I also installed Plex from ports.

Now for share permissions. My share is a unix share, owned by user nobody, owned by group media. Plex has user ID 972, /nonexistent home, and is a member of the media group. I did NOT add the media group to my jail.

From the CLI:

Code:

iocage create -n "Plex" -r 11.2-RELEASE ip4_addr="vnet0|IP.OF.YOUR.JAIL" defaultrouter=" IP.OF.YOUR.ROUTER" vnet="on" allow_raw_sockets="1" boot="on"

Note: The template should match your version of FreeNAS.

Code:

iocage fstab -a Plex "/mnt/mynas/media /media/mymedia  nullfs  rw  0  0"

Note: the SECOND path directory MUST exist in the jail before you start the jail. You can use the CLI or FTP in to make sure they exist.

Code:

iocage fstab -a Plex "/mnt/Primary/appconfigs/Plex /config nullfs rw 0 0" 

Note: the FIRST path directory MUST exist in the NAS before you start the jail

Code:

iocage start Plex

Jexec into jail:

Code:

jexec jail# csh

Code:

portsnap fetch

Code:

portsnap extract

Code:

cd /usr/ports/multimedia/plexmediaserver-plexpass/ && make install clean
-OR-
cd /usr/ports/multimedia/plexmediaserver/ && make install clean (if you dont have a plexpass)

Code:

sysrc plexmediaserver_plexpass_enable=YES

Then exit your jail

Code:

iocage exec Plex chown -R plex:plex /config

Code:

iocage exec Plex sysrc plexmediaserver_plexpass_support_path="/config"

Jexec back into the jail

Code:

service plexmediaserver_plexpass start

I hope that helps.

 

[vilane]

What is this mount point for?

Creates a storage section of your config information for the jail that is stored in a warehoused location of your pool so that you can nuke a jail and remount the /config location with this mapping to have it pickup where it was without needing to import or shuffle a db backup around

 

[vilane]

Ok, gotcha. I was confused because the discussion was asking about CLI setup and those paths are not appropriate for that.

Rather than try to troubleshoot your setup, I thought it might be more useful to tell you how I set mine up. These commands have worked perfectly for me, I've repeated them several times, and used them on 11.1-U6 and 11.2 RC1 through 11.2 stable (have not set up on U-1 or U-2 but the jails have continued operating in both).

Note, I didn't use the pkg.json because the jails never set up properly when I did. I also installed Plex from ports.

Now for share permissions. My share is a unix share, owned by user nobody, owned by group media. Plex has user ID 972, /nonexistent home, and is a member of the media group. I did NOT add the media group to my jail.

From the CLI:

Code:

iocage create -n "Plex" -r 11.2-RELEASE ip4_addr="vnet0|IP.OF.YOUR.JAIL" defaultrouter=" IP.OF.YOUR.ROUTER" vnet="on" allow_raw_sockets="1" boot="on"

Note: The template should match your version of FreeNAS.

Code:

iocage fstab -a Plex "/mnt/mynas/media /media/mymedia  nullfs  rw  0  0"

Note: the SECOND path directory MUST exist in the jail before you start the jail. You can use the CLI or FTP in to make sure they exist.

Code:

iocage fstab -a Plex "/mnt/Primary/appconfigs/Plex /config nullfs rw 0 0" 

Note: the FIRST path directory MUST exist in the NAS before you start the jail

Code:

iocage start Plex

Jexec into jail:

Code:

jexec jail# csh

Code:

portsnap fetch

Code:

portsnap extract

Code:

cd /usr/ports/multimedia/plexmediaserver-plexpass/ && make install clean
-OR-
cd /usr/ports/multimedia/plexmediaserver/ && make install clean (if you don't have a plexpass)

Code:

sysrc plexmediaserver_plexpass_enable=YES

Then exit your jail

Code:

iocage exec Plex chown -R plex:plex /config

Code:

iocage exec Plex sysrc plexmediaserver_plexpass_support_path="/config"

Jexec back into the jail

Code:

service plexmediaserver_plexpass start

I hope that helps.

I'll give it a shot using ports instead of pkg installs from the guide. there definitely could be a dependency issue or something missing that's not in the pental guide, ports would take care of that. worth a shot.

Update: Didn't change anything for me. I have Radarr doing movie file renaming and compiling poster info and metadata, by default, Plex is set (that i'm aware of) to look at the files themselves for metadata and images before it goes to agents to download, but I guess I should ask, how do you have your agents configured in Plex for this? and, do you have a downloader that is renaming or adding information to the movie folder?

 

[JasonRosales]

Just wanna stay tuned to this thread!

 

[TravisT]

Watching as well... I'm having the same problem - no movie posters or metadata is downloaded. This is using the GUI install for plex-plexpass.I fiddled around and googled a bunch yesterday trying to resolve this problem, but didn't get too far. I spun up a ubuntu VM on my ESXi box, installed plex and movie posters download correctly without any additional configs.

From my research, it seems that IPv6 can cause problems with the lookup, but I haven't been able to isolate the problem. I am monitoring my firewall logs, and I do not see any traffic leaving my network trying to perform lookups from my jail IP, which tells me it's something within the jail itself.

Here's my info if it helps:
Freenas Version: 11.2-U5
Jail: 11.2-RELEASE
Plugin: plex-plexpass
Plugin Version: 1.16.6.1592

I'll be glad to provide any more info if necessary. I'd love to get plex running correctly on freenas, as it currently performs better there than on my VM host.

 

[drinking12many]

its almost always a permissions issue its happened a couple times to me make sure you have set your media libraries to plex: plex for ownership chown -R plex: plex /mnt/mystuffishere or whatever your path is. Doing this from inside the jail shell is the easiest way. without the space cause it keeps trying to make the command an emoji.

 

[TravisT]

I'll give that a shot.