Plex update hangs

[nick779]

I currently have Plex 0.9.11.4.739_1 installed and running fine. I noticed that there was an update available to 0.9.11.7.803 so I tried to update it. It just sits at updating plugin for a few hours and just chews up tens of GB of space and eventually the progress bar just vanishes with Plex being stuck at the same version and a 7.9GB plex jail turning into a 30+ GB jail with no update.

I have a snapshot to roll back to, but Im curious as to whats going on here.

 

[cyberjock]

This is very well known. Updating plex can take significant time. Depending on the size of your Plex server it could take anywhere from a few minutes to a few days. If you are patient, don't reboot the box or anything, it will eventually finish.

The problem is that the update process has to copy your entire Plex database to a separate location, then back. This is very time consuming as it does not take very many entries in Plex to end up with a million or more files that have to be copied.

If this time frame is unpalatable I'd recommend you not use the PBI and create your own jail (which you can update yourself in whatever fashion is appropriate based on how you installed it).

 

[nick779]

This is very well known. Updating plex can take significant time. Depending on the size of your Plex server it could take anywhere from a few minutes to a few days. If you are patient, don't reboot the box or anything, it will eventually finish.

The problem is that the update process has to copy your entire Plex database to a separate location, then back. This is very time consuming as it does not take very many entries in Plex to end up with a million or more files that have to be copied.

If this time frame is unpalatable I'd recommend you not use the PBI and create your own jail (which you can update yourself in whatever fashion is appropriate based on how you installed it).

Well, im just going to start the update and let it go. I couldnt imagine it would take super long, because ive zipped the database before and it only took like 20 minutes and was roughly 6.5GB. We will see though.

Anything I can check to verify its still updating when the bar vanishes?

 

[cyberjock]

Not that I know of. I don't use PBIs because they have too many drawbacks and since I can do what I want in jails without the drawbacks I don't even concern myself with PBIs.

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

as cyberjock says your plex metadata takes a long time to deal with.
if you are able to upgrade to 0.9.11.7 this was somewhat fixed by moving it to /var/db/plexdata. this will be done for you during the upgrade, or if you like you could do this before attempting the upgrade.

Code:

mv /usr/pbi/plexmediaserver-amd64/plexdata /var/db/plexdata

 

[nick779]

So, I ended up uninstalling everything plex. I went to reinstall and somehow screwed things up. I wiped all traces of jails, templates, and plex from my system and am letting it all download fresh.

I can get everything installed and running fine. The problem im having is that im mounting my media to the jail as read only, and the shell in the jail can see it, but Plex cant from the add library wizard...

Im kinda at a loss as to whats going on there.

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

just a guess, but what are the permissions on that dataset? can 'other' read files.

 

[NickB]

As cyberjock mentioned, it'd be better to install Plex via your own custom jail and the BSD ports (it's like yum or apt-get if your familiar with linux). I went with the option to compile mine - only took a couple minutes.

I recently went through the same thing and decided to go with jails rather than the plugins. And with snapshots that can be taken on the jail before upgraded, you can roll back a failed install.

http://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/tutorial-how-to-install-plex-in-a-jail.19412/

 

[nick779]

just a guess, but what are the permissions on that dataset? can 'other' read files.

I did recently remove that permission so that could have caused it. If I ever get plex reinstalled ill give it another shot.

As cyberjock mentioned, it'd be better to install Plex via your own custom jail and the BSD ports (it's like yum or apt-get if your familiar with linux). I went with the option to compile mine - only took a couple minutes.

I recently went through the same thing and decided to go with jails rather than the plugins. And with snapshots that can be taken on the jail before upgraded, you can roll back a failed install.

http://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/tutorial-how-to-install-plex-in-a-jail.19412/

I just want to clear all my jail templates, datasets and everything at this point and start from scratch. I may go this other route though, because this plugin system is occasionally buggy.

I have another thread for the jail issues.

 

[cyberjock]

You know how i created my plex jail?

1. Created the jail
2. # pkg install plex
3. PROFIT!

Literally.. it's that freakin' easy. Why *anyone* would use the PBI when it's a single darn command is beyond me. Now go make babies with some supermodel with the newfound info you just got. ;)

 

[nick779]

You know how i created my plex jail?

1. Created the jail
2. # pkg install plex
3. PROFIT!

Literally.. it's that freakin' easy. Why *anyone* would use the PBI when it's a single darn command is beyond me. Now go make babies with some supermodel with the newfound info you just got. ;)

In going that route now.

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

In going that route now.

just don't forget to enable+start the service. I don't think the supermodel will want to stick around if you're fiddling trying to start up Plex.

Code:

sysrc 'plexmediaserver_enable=YES'
service plexmediaserver start

 

[synthetiq]

I'm going down the route of installing Plex via own Jail. Before I do this, how do I ensure that I completely remove the existing Plugin and delete any left-over files of the Jail?

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

I'm going down the route of installing Plex via own Jail. Before I do this, how do I ensure that I completely remove the existing Plugin and delete any left-over files of the Jail?

deleting a plugin from the Plugins > Installed tab deletes its jail, if there are no other plugins installed to that jail.
The only other files that could be left over are folders you mounted into the jail, but you likely want to keep these.

 

[synthetiq]

deleting a plugin from the Plugins > Installed tab deletes its jail, if there are no other plugins installed to that jail.
The only other files that could be left over are folders you mounted into the jail, but you likely want to keep these.

Joshua, thank much for the incredibly fast reply.

I will delete the Jail now and go to the instructions provided earlier . I just wanted to make sure that Plex didn't store all of its INDEX files in some non-jail location.

Thanks again for the help!

 

[synthetiq]

I should have read that instructional post further. I got Plex up and running, then I see that there is a separate PlexPass port I could have used. My assumption is I just replace:
cd /usr/ports/multimedia/plexmediaserver/ && make install clean
with:
cd /usr/ports/multimedia/plexmediaserver-plexpass/ && make install clean

And the rest would be the same.

A question about the Mounts:
I am mounting a FreeNAS volume to the Jail and it seems to have detected fine without messing with the permissions (so far). Would it be bad if I mounted the volume to the Jail as Read-Only? I drop files into a folder on the mount, then hit Refresh within Plex to detect the file. To my knowledge no write access is needed. I assume the Index files are placed in the Jail, not the volume.

Any advice is appreciated.

 

[SweetAndLow]

I have mine mounted read only with no issues