Plex Needs a Reinstall Every Server Restart

[klimeka001]

So, some backstory. I have pretty much nothing but plex installed, plus the necessary jails and storage. Every time the server restarts of the power goes out and i have to turn it back on. Plex refuses to boot up. I get a "This site can't be reached", the exact same page you get when putting in the wrong ip address. This forces me to delete the current plex plugin, redo the jail and subsequent storage, and add all of my media back to the new plex plugin. This makes me effectively lose all my "save data" wit plex (ie. what episode i'm on, watch history) and its a hassle obviously. So if you can think of any fixes or require further information (i'm sure this obvious stuff i forgot) let me know!

Thanks!

(TL;DR **Read title**)

 

[nojohnny101]

We need way information to help you out. Please read the forum rules as it outlines all what I'm about to say:

- What version of FN are your running?
- Full hardware specs
- how do you have plex installed (GUI? pkg?)

 

[klimeka001]

We need way information to help you out. Please read the forum rules as it outlines all what I'm about to say:

- What version of FN are your running?
- Full hardware specs
- how do you have plex installed (GUI? pkg?)

yeah i figured okay so:

FreeNAS-11.1-RELEASE

Mobo: M4A78LT-M LE
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Processo
Ram : 8 GB
HDD: 2TB WD Green

This current Plex is installed through the GUI. I tried installing though package and i got an error halfway though, so i gave up just to get it up and going the way I knew how.

 

[Jailer]

You need more memory if you want to run Plex. 8GB is the bare minimum for just running a file server.

 

[nojohnny101]

As @Jailer stated, you are running bare minimum/inadequate hardware. If you are just running plex and do not really care about the other benefits that ZFS/FreeNAS offers then you should look at a different software package to run plex, there are so many out there.

In order to be a bit more helpful though, I have always used this tutorial to setup my plex installation and it has worked flawlessly through many installs/reinstalls.
Install Plex in Jail

Good luck!

 

[klimeka001]

As @Jailer stated, you are running bare minimum/inadequate hardware. If you are just running plex and do not really care about the other benefits that ZFS/FreeNAS offers then you should look at a different software package to run plex, there are so many out there.

In order to be a bit more helpful though, I have always used this tutorial to setup my plex installation and it has worked flawlessly through many installs/reinstalls.
Install Plex in Jail

Good luck!

So, honestly the lack of RAM and adequate hardware are requiring a reinstall? I find that reallllllyyy hard to believe, and i cant understand why, especially cause every other aspect of the server runs great.

Also, I used that tutorial and ran into an error when i tried to install it that way.

Thanks alot!

 

[nojohnny101]

So, honestly the lack of RAM and adequate hardware are requiring a reinstall?

I can see why you thought that from my response, but that was not what I meant. I meant to say that the fact you have the minimum amount of hardware required to run FreeNAS but additionally are running resource intensive plugins simply increases the chances that hardware might be a contributing factor. Not that it is, just that your chances are higher given the hardware and use case.

Also, I used that tutorial and ran into an error when i tried to install it that way.

Thanks alot!

It seems you might be frustrated and I'm sorry for that. You never stated how you installed plex so I was simply sharing what had worked for me. What kind of error are you getting during install?

In order to further troubleshoot, can you be a bit more specific.

Plex refuses to boot up.

What does that mean?

After your server restarts, is plex not running within the jail you setup? What happens when you run the command "service plexmediaserver restart" or "service plexmediaserver_plexpass restart" from within the jail after a reboot. Does plex work after running those commands?

The more detailed information you can provide, the greater the chance someone on here can help you. It would also be helpful to list what troubleshooting steps/actions you have already taken.

 

[klimeka001]

I can see why you thought that from my response, but that was not what I meant. I meant to say that the fact you have the minimum amount of hardware required to run FreeNAS but additionally are running resource intensive plugins simply increases the chances that hardware might be a contributing factor. Not that it is, just that your chances are higher given the hardware and use case.


It seems you might be frustrated and I'm sorry for that. You never stated how you installed plex so I was simply sharing what had worked for me. What kind of error are you getting during install?

In order to further troubleshoot, can you be a bit more specific.

What does that mean?

After your server restarts, is plex not running within the jail you setup? What happens when you run the command "service plexmediaserver restart" or "service plexmediaserver_plexpass restart" from within the jail after a reboot. Does plex work after running those commands?

The more detailed information you can provide, the greater the chance someone on here can help you. It would also be helpful to list what troubleshooting steps/actions you have already taken.

So disregarding the pkg install for a moment. I've installed the working Plex through the GUI using the normal install method (Install through the gui under plugins and run through it, then created a jail and assigning storage).

when the server is powered off and and powered back on and i go to the Ip address of plex (in my case its now 192.168.2.4:32400) and nothing happens.

I will give the 2 commands a shot when i get home, and also try to install through the shell one more time, and screenshot the errors I get.

Thanks again!

 

[Jailer]

So, honestly the lack of RAM and adequate hardware are requiring a reinstall? I find that reallllllyyy hard to believe

It's not as hard to believe as you might think.

https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/302660/issues-streaming-from-plex-on-freenas-server

 

[klimeka001]

It's not as hard to believe as you might think.

https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/302660/issues-streaming-from-plex-on-freenas-server

yeah, i would understand if that was an issue, but in my opinion, I don't think it has anything to do with hardware (obviously i could be wrong) just because a) my cpu nor my ram is maxed out, and i would just go ahead and throw in another 8 gigs but sadly its an m-atx mobo and both slots populated.

 

[Jailer]

Lack of RAM can cause all sorts of weird unexplained things to happen and specifically the behavior you are describing. 8GB is the bare minimum for just a file server. Whether or not you want to believe it, if you want to run plugins/jails you need more memory.

 

[garm]

Just a basic housekeeping question: Are you sure the jail gets the same ip between reboots? Are you using DHCP or static ip? A commercial grade router might be simply stepping up the IP on each request, especially if the range is narrow compared to devices on the network. Have you tried https://plex.tv?

 

[klimeka001]

Lack of RAM can cause all sorts of weird unexplained things to happen and specifically the behavior you are describing. 8GB is the bare minimum for just a file server. Whether or not you want to believe it, if you want to run plugins/jails you need more memory.

That makes sense, sadly i'm gonna need a work around, cause dropping 100 bucks on ram would defeat the whole purpose of my (basically free) server, I compleltely understand im asking to have the cake and eat it too, but my money's on being software related rather than hardware!

Appreciate all the help buddy!

Just a basic housekeeping question: Are you sure the jail gets the same ip between reboots? Are you using DHCP or static ip? A commercial grade router might be simply stepping up the IP on each request, especially if the range is narrow compared to devices on the network. Have you tried https://plex.tv?

yes, i have. The plex server client wouldn't be up for me, or any of my friends.

 

[Nick2253]

So, honestly the lack of RAM and adequate hardware are requiring a reinstall? I find that reallllllyyy hard to believe, and i cant understand why, especially cause every other aspect of the server runs great.

Lack of memory leads to corruption in all sorts of applications. Your intuition for how much memory a server needs gets thrown right out the window with ZFS. It's a memory-gobbling SOB. It's not inconceivable that, during shutdown, some kind of out-of-memory condition occurs that cause's the Plex database to be corrupted. However, I do agree with you that the regularity of the problem points to something else.

I still would strongly recommend added at least 8 more GB of memory if you are serious about running Plex.

yes, i have. The plex server client wouldn't be up for me, or any of my friends.

I would bet dollars to donuts that this is an IP address issue.

However, we have no troubleshooting to really pin this down. In fact, I don't see anything you've done to show any kind of status for Plex.

First, we need to figure out what's going on with the Plex jail. You need to SSH into the server, and run jls. One of those jails should be your Plex jail; note the JID number. Run jexec <JID> /bin/tcsh to get into a shell in your jail. Now, we can start troubleshooting:

1. Run ifconfig and post the outputs here (in code tags!)
2. Run service plexmediaserver status and post the outputs here (in code tags!)

 

[klimeka001]

Lack of memory leads to corruption in all sorts of applications. Your intuition for how much memory a server needs gets thrown right out the window with ZFS. It's a memory-gobbling SOB. It's not inconceivable that, during shutdown, some kind of out-of-memory condition occurs that cause's the Plex database to be corrupted. However, I do agree with you that the regularity of the problem points to something else.

I still would strongly recommend added at least 8 more GB of memory if you are serious about running Plex.


I would bet dollars to donuts that this is an IP address issue.

However, we have no troubleshooting to really pin this down. In fact, I don't see anything you've done to show any kind of status for Plex.

First, we need to figure out what's going on with the Plex jail. You need to SSH into the server, and run jls. One of those jails should be your Plex jail; note the JID number. Run jexec <JID> /bin/tcsh to get into a shell in your jail. Now, we can start troubleshooting:

1. Run ifconfig and post the outputs here (in code tags!)
2. Run service plexmediaserver status and post the outputs here (in code tags!)

haha, alright if i get the opportunity i will 100% upgrade!

okay so for what you asked:

Code:

lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 16384			   
	   options=600003<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,RXCSUM_IPV6,TXCSUM_IPV6>				   
	   inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128												 
	   inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1							 
	   inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000									   
	   nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>							   
	   groups: lo															 
epair0b: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500   
	   options=8<VLAN_MTU>													 
	   ether 32:d8:2e:e6:8b:f4												 
	   inet 192.168.2.2 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.2.255			 
	   nd6 options=9<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED>									
	   media: Ethernet 10Gbase-T (10Gbase-T <full-duplex>)					 
	   status: active														 
	   groups: epair														   
root@Plex:/ #																   
					 

and:

Code:

root@Plex:/ # service plexmediaserver status									
plexmediaserver does not exist in /etc/rc.d or the local startup				
directories (/usr/local/etc/rc.d), or is not executable	 

this second one is very interesting hmm

 

[Nick2253]

192.168.2.2

Your IP is now 192.168.2.2. Try connecting on 192.168.2.2.

this second one is very interesting hmm

My guess is that I just misremembered the Plex service name. Let's try service --status-all | grep plex and see what we get.

 

[klimeka001]

Your IP is now 192.168.2.2. Try connecting on 192.168.2.2.


My guess is that I just misremembered the Plex service name. Let's try service --status-all | grep plex and see what we get.

my apologies, i chose the wrong jail. I gave you my failed shell install of plex try this one

Code:

root@plexmediaserver_1:/ # ifconfig											 
lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 16384			   
	   options=600003<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,RXCSUM_IPV6,TXCSUM_IPV6>				   
	   inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128												 
	   inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1							 
	   inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000									   
	   nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>							   
	   groups: lo															 
epair1b: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500   
	   options=8<VLAN_MTU>													 
	   ether ae:c2:0e:2b:de:a6												 
	   inet 192.168.2.4 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.2.255			 
	   nd6 options=9<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED>									
	   media: Ethernet 10Gbase-T (10Gbase-T <full-duplex>)					 
	   status: active														 
	   groups: epair   

Code:

root@plexmediaserver_1:/ # service plexmediaserver status					   
plexmediaserver is running as pid 87965.			

And that 3rd one spat out an "Illegal option --"

 

[Nick2253]

And that 3rd one spat out an "Illegal option --"

That would probably be my Linux slipping in ;). I can never keep straight which options service takes.

So, just so we're clear, is Plex not accessible on 192.168.2.4? If it is, can you reboot the server, and run the same commands to see if Plex is running and what IP it spits out?

 

[klimeka001]

That would probably be my Linux slipping in ;). I can never keep straight which options service takes.

So, just so we're clear, is Plex not accessible on 192.168.2.4? If it is, can you reboot the server, and run the same commands to see if Plex is running and what IP it spits out?

Yes, Plex IS accessible on ...2.4 its when i restart the server however, it will go down

 

[nojohnny101]

So to eliminate what @Nick2253 is getting at, reboot the server and then run those commands again (ifconfig) and see if it has the same IP address and if it is accessible.