Giving up on Truenas scale, Plex wont work

[sg4dk]

I have successfully installed Truenas Core and got Plex to work (it did take me some time to though) but i got it working and could watch my videos and listen to my music.

However I would like to start from scratch and use Truenas Scale and have successfully installed it.
I want scale because of the virtual machines should be much better and the menu is simplified
But I have use hours and hours and cant get Plex to work correctly.
I can get plex installed if I disable SMB on the share that I want to use for my videos and plex, but I cant find the videos in Plex when I have to add libraries.

Has anyone in this world got Plex to work on Truenas scale and if so, what or how to setup datasets , permissions, shares, and Plex

I hope someone can explain in terms that I can understand
Best regards
John

 

[LarsR]

which version are you trying to install?
The official app, the big blue launch docker image button or the truecharts version?

Your biggest problem most likely is the hostpath validation which prevents apps from launching if a smb share and hostpath use the same path.
You can disable that hostpath check in the advanced options of your apps pool.
I think the truecharts and official app use the same user, UID 568 "apps". If you give this user permissions on your dataset plex should have no problems reading your media.

 

[NickF]

John,
What you you trying to do? Plex as an APP or Plex as a VM. It's not clear based on what you posted and the path forward for either is different.

 

[sg4dk]

John,
What you you trying to do? Plex as an APP or Plex as a VM. It's not clear based on what you posted and the path forward for either is different.

Hi, I have installed plex as an app. I can start plex and under setup Plex cant find the videos in media folder that I have created as an smb share (to copy my files form my old windows machine)
I Install Plex on a Truenas Core test pc and it worked fine. But after some reading I found that Truenas Scale was a better option if I wanted to run some virtual machines. I am testing some Windows servers and wanted to use the new truenas scale server to do this. But I also need the Plex to run perfectly.
/John

 

[sg4dk]

which version are you trying to install?
The official app, the big blue launch docker image button or the truecharts version?

Your biggest problem most likely is the hostpath validation which prevents apps from launching if a smb share and hostpath use the same path.
You can disable that hostpath check in the advanced options of your apps pool.
I think the truecharts and official app use the same user, UID 568 "apps". If you give this user permissions on your dataset plex should have no problems reading your media.

The official App found under Apps. I did get it installed and running. I created a user plex that has full permissions to the media dataset. But plex cant find anything there.

 

[NickF]

Hi, I have installed plex as an app. I can start plex and under setup Plex cant find the videos in media folder that I have created as an smb share (to copy my files form my old windows machine)
I Install Plex on a Truenas Core test pc and it worked fine. But after some reading I found that Truenas Scale was a better option if I wanted to run some virtual machines. I am testing some Windows servers and wanted to use the new truenas scale server to do this. But I also need the Plex to run perfectly.
/John

Understanding the TrueNAS SCALE "hostPathValidation" setting

What is the “hostPathValidation” setting? With the recent release of TrueNAS SCALE "Bluefin" 22.12.1, there have been a number of reports of issues with the Kubernetes "hostPathValidation" configuration setting, and requests for clarification regarding this security measure. The...

www.truenas.com

This forum post describes the problem you are experiencing and why it does not work out of the box how you intend to. Read that thread before proceeding.

If you understand and accept the risks in the above post you can make it work by doing the following:
In applications, Click on Settings, Advanced Settings

Uncheck this box:

And accept the warning here:

Good Luck!

 

[Aipoc76]

I start plex with SMB share disabled, then once plex is running, you can enable it.

Ive had no issues doing it this way, other than on a restart. I have to disable the share, restart plex, then reenable share.

In plex library setup, i use the following path.

The movie folder is a sub of what i configured in Plex app settings of

 

[sg4dk]

Understanding the TrueNAS SCALE "hostPathValidation" setting

What is the “hostPathValidation” setting? With the recent release of TrueNAS SCALE "Bluefin" 22.12.1, there have been a number of reports of issues with the Kubernetes "hostPathValidation" configuration setting, and requests for clarification regarding this security measure. The...

www.truenas.com

This forum post describes the problem you are experiencing and why it does not work out of the box how you intend to. Read that thread before proceeding.

If you understand and accept the risks in the above post you can make it work by doing the following:
In applications, Click on Settings, Advanced Settings
View attachment 66968

Uncheck this box:
View attachment 66969

And accept the warning here:
View attachment 66970


Good Luck!

Hi
I did as you described. But Plex still cannot se the video directory. I made a dataset called media and made it a SMB share. Then acl to @Everyone full controll (just for testing) I thn mounted the smb share on my pc and cretated a folder named FILM and copied a video to that folder. But when adding a library in Plex all that shows up is media but no folders. I am probably doing something wrong here, but I just cant seem to catch it.
/John

 

[sg4dk]

I start plex with SMB share disabled, then once plex is running, you can enable it. View attachment 66978

Ive had no issues doing it this way, other than on a restart. I have to disable the share, restart plex, then reenable share.

In plex library setup, i use the following path.
View attachment 66979

The movie folder is a sub of what i configured in Plex app settings of
View attachment 66980

I already did this, but no luck

 

[sg4dk]

I start plex with SMB share disabled, then once plex is running, you can enable it. View attachment 66978

Ive had no issues doing it this way, other than on a restart. I have to disable the share, restart plex, then reenable share.

In plex library setup, i use the following path.
View attachment 66979

The movie folder is a sub of what i configured in Plex app settings of
View attachment 66980

Understanding the TrueNAS SCALE "hostPathValidation" setting

What is the “hostPathValidation” setting? With the recent release of TrueNAS SCALE "Bluefin" 22.12.1, there have been a number of reports of issues with the Kubernetes "hostPathValidation" configuration setting, and requests for clarification regarding this security measure. The...

www.truenas.com

This forum post describes the problem you are experiencing and why it does not work out of the box how you intend to. Read that thread before proceeding.

If you understand and accept the risks in the above post you can make it work by doing the following:
In applications, Click on Settings, Advanced Settings
View attachment 66968

Uncheck this box:
View attachment 66969

And accept the warning here:
View attachment 66970


Good Luck!

I tried this and after a restart Apps (Plex) will no longer start, so this idea is not so good. I enabled it again and apps started again
So I am back on Truenas Core. It works, and I will just have to live without the Virtual machines.

/John

 

[Aipoc76]

I already did this, but no luck

Not sure of you just clicked the wrong path in config, but your pointing to the wrong folder. You selected Pconfig when you should of selected media. Im just looking at the pic you posted. As for ACL settings, Here is what mine look like. User = My login for Truenas, and when i mapped the network drive on my windows pc i used my Truenas login info.

 

[sg4dk]

Hi
Thanks for all help and answers.
I have stopped using the scale version of truenas.

I have successfully installed Truenas Core and Plex on my media server.
I might install the Truenas Scale on another computer just for Virtual machines

/John

 

[jgreco]

You do know that CORE can act as a hypervisor, right?

 

[sg4dk]

You do know that CORE can act as a hypervisor, right?

Yes, but it seemed to be very slow.

 

[sg4dk]

Hi

I know I wrote I was giving up but I couldn't let it go.
I gave it at last try, and behold I got it working.

It all comes down to ACL and SMB
I created 3 datasets ,
The first dataset for plexdata: "Host Path for Plex Transcode Volume" and "Host Path for Plex Config Volume" and the second dataset for plexmedia "Host Path for Plex Data Volume"
The third dataset is for VMs
All are set up to "Open POSIX Permissions" as I am the only one accessing the computer (at least for now)
All are the set up as SMB shares using the "Shares/WIndows SMB Shares"
I then created folders i needed and copied all the files I needed
Deactivated all SMB shares and ran the Official plex setup
Plex installed without any problems, and started successfully. I could then setup the plex libraries and voila I could se the video folder, music folder and photo folder.
Plex seemed to work very fast as did the VM i created. (The Vm was somewhat slow on the core version on the same computer)

Thanks for all the info
/John

 

[Aipoc76]

Hi

I know I wrote I was giving up but I couldn't let it go.
I gave it at last try, and behold I got it working.

It all comes down to ACL and SMB
I created 3 datasets ,
The first dataset for plexdata: "Host Path for Plex Transcode Volume" and "Host Path for Plex Config Volume" and the second dataset for plexmedia "Host Path for Plex Data Volume"
The third dataset is for VMs
All are set up to "Open POSIX Permissions" as I am the only one accessing the computer (at least for now)
All are the set up as SMB shares using the "Shares/WIndows SMB Shares"
I then created folders i needed and copied all the files I needed
Deactivated all SMB shares and ran the Official plex setup
Plex installed without any problems, and started successfully. I could then setup the plex libraries and voila I could se the video folder, music folder and photo folder.
Plex seemed to work very fast as did the VM i created. (The Vm was somewhat slow on the core version on the same computer)

Thanks for all the info
/John

congrats, after plex is launched you can reactivate your shares with out issue. Just deactivate when you need to restart plex.

 

[firewelltech]

For my part, I was able to get the Plex App working from the official channel (I haven't fussed with Truecharts yet). Running TrueNAS Scale 22.12.2.

I more or less followed the principals Tom from @LawrenceSystems outlines in this video: https://youtu.be/vXGs221il3g

The key concepts Tom covers include:

• Mapping storage locations for app configs (including a useful digression on the "Enable Host Path Safety Checks" Kubernetes Setting under Applications > Settings > Advanced)
• General ACL permissions for app access to shared folders (i.e. a "Media" folder where you're keeping your Plex media libraries which you also want to access through an SMB share)

Consider adding the built-in "Apps" user to the ACL for your Plex media folder(s). This is what I've done, and I have had no issues getting Plex to see all of the media in my various folders and libraries.

Ultimately, you should not have to stop SMB shares in order to start the Plex server and have Plex recognize media in your libraries.

Hope this helps!

 

[a.dresner]

Got pretty close today. I could see the contents of the media share (Movies, TV, Music) inside shell, mounted in the right spot, but could not see inside the app. Pretty awful 48 hours on this… was up and running in 30 min using proxmox/LXC with HW transcoding, pointing back to the share on my TrueNas.

I would prefer to let Plex run on my TrueNAS box… but this is a really tough sticking point for many of us. Really not sure where to start again

 

[NickF]

TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin is based on Debian 11 Bullseye, which is where the kernel being in the 5.1 family is coming from. 5.10 was replaced by 5.15 as LTS, so that's how Bluefin got it over Angelfish.

Debian 12 Bookworm was JUST RELEASED last month with kernel 6.1, and to the best of my knowledge and understanding that is what TrueNAS SCALE Cobia will be based on.

Debian version history - Wikipedia​

As for the Linux Kernel story in general?

Linux kernel version history - Wikipedia​

• 6.1 is the newest LTS release.
• 6.2 will likely only ever exist on Linux ethusiast/hobbyist systems running Arch, and was already deprecated in favor of 6.3: https://9to5linux.com/linux-kernel-...fe-users-urged-to-upgrade-to-linux-kernel-6-3
• As of literally yesterday, 6.3 was already deprecated https://9to5linux.com/linux-kernel-6-3-reaches-end-of-life-users-urged-to-upgrade-to-linux-6-4
• Linux Kernel 6.4 is set to be end of life in September

So, If I were you, I wouldn't wait around for anything newer than 6.1 on TrueNAS until 2024

This is squarely an Intel problem that was created by Intel. This does not just affect TrueNAS SCALE, but literally every other distro that uses the LTS branch of Linux kernel. I don't think it's fair to ask the safety of other people's data be compromised so Plex will work for you the way you want. Unstable short-term Linux Kernels will impact many more things than just Intel graphics cards. Perhaps consider a known-working graphics card like an NVIDIA GTX 1650. Prices have really come down since this thread was started.

 

[a.dresner]

TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin is based on Debian 11 Bullseye, which is where the kernel being in the 5.1 family is coming from. 5.10 was replaced by 5.15 as LTS, so that's how Bluefin got it over Angelfish.

Debian 12 Bookworm was JUST RELEASED last month with kernel 6.1, and to the best of my knowledge and understanding that is what TrueNAS SCALE Cobia will be based on.

Debian version history - Wikipedia​

As for the Linux Kernel story in general?

Linux kernel version history - Wikipedia​

• 6.1 is the newest LTS release.
• 6.2 will likely only ever exist on Linux ethusiast/hobbyist systems running Arch, and was already deprecated in favor of 6.3: https://9to5linux.com/linux-kernel-...fe-users-urged-to-upgrade-to-linux-kernel-6-3
• As of literally yesterday, 6.3 was already deprecated https://9to5linux.com/linux-kernel-6-3-reaches-end-of-life-users-urged-to-upgrade-to-linux-6-4
• Linux Kernel 6.4 is set to be end of life in September

So, If I were you, I wouldn't wait around for anything newer than 6.1 on TrueNAS until 2024

This is squarely an Intel problem that was created by Intel. This does not just affect TrueNAS SCALE, but literally every other distro that uses the LTS branch of Linux kernel. I don't think it's fair to ask the safety of other people's data be compromised so Plex will work for you the way you want. Unstable short-term Linux Kernels will impact many more things than just Intel graphics cards. Perhaps consider a known-working graphics card like an NVIDIA GTX 1650. Prices have really come down since this thread was started.

Totally agree that security comes first.

Are you saying that mapping a network share in a container compromises the security of the entire server?

And I wonder has anyone tried the Plex offering in Truecharts?