Plex Server Setup fails to execute - FIXED

[Andy McClements]

Hi, I've not used Plex before, though I'm a moderately experienced sysadmin and know my way around unix and networking.

I just installed plexmediaserver-1.18.2.2058 via 'pkg' into a jail running 11.3-RELEASE-p6, under FreeNAS 11.3-U1. I've enabled 'allow raw sockets' on the Jail, and IPv6 & IPv4 are enabled.

I previously created a Plex account via the Plex portal. After starting plexmediaserver using the start script provided in the package, I connected to the new server on port 32400. The browser was redirected to the Plex portal and a login was required, and I supplied the account credentials and was logged in.

'Some stuff happened', then, I saw the 'No Soup for You' message. I closed the browser session, and restarted the local plexmediaserver instance. After logging in again, the Plex portal appeared to be working OK.

However, the 'Plex Server Setup' process, which I believe should happen automatically at first login, did not happen. Sure enough, on the Plex portal, under Account:Authorized Devices, the newly-installed local plexmediaserver instance IS NOT LISTED.

At the top level of the portal, under 'Your Media', there is no option to add any media, instead there is just a button, labelled 'Get Plex Media Server'.

So, I'd be very grateful for any pointers to how to make this thing work. I can't find any manual, and Google didn't help much.

 

[mistermanko]

I can recommend installing plex via plugins, it just worked for me, flawless. Maybe give it a try.
Alternatively you can search the Researches Resources section for scripted installs of plex. Doing it by hand with pkg is just unnecessary pain.

 

[Andy McClements]

This problem occurred with the client browser on a different IP subnet to the jail running the plexserver instance.

I tried connecting with a browser on the same subnet as the server, and the Plex Server Setup process then executed successfully.

The two subnets are both within my 'trusted LAN' firewall zone, so there should be no IP ACL causing a problem on the firewall.

Are there any specific networking requirements to successfully run Plex across multiple LANs ?

 

[ornias]

I can recommend installing plex via plugins, it just worked for me, flawless. Maybe give it a try.

I've done both, Plex is a relatively simple plugin to install... Because it's mostly just "grab the pkg and attach storage".
The plugin is fine, but doesn't work for everyone depending on setup (for example plugins and vlans don't play nice).

I'm going to shamelessly promote my jail manager here, not because I think OP should use it (though it might work well for him), but the included install script is pretty easy to read (just browse to /jails/plex/install.sh). Other resources I can advice are also listed in the readme of my jailmanager, including the scripts I used to base my work on ;)

GitHub - Ornias1993/jailman: Automated iocage Jail manager for FreeNAS

Automated iocage Jail manager for FreeNAS. Contribute to Ornias1993/jailman development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[Andy McClements]

Thanks, the workaround to my issue was to access the server from a browser device on the same subnet. This allowed the setup to run, and I was able to complete the setup and add the new server as an authorised device in the Plex portal. Thereafter, I find I can use my local PMS between subnets normally. It was just the first 'setup' process that was affected.

 

[Jailer]

This problem occurred with the client browser on a different IP subnet to the jail running the plexserver instance.

I tried connecting with a browser on the same subnet as the server, and the Plex Server Setup process then executed successfully.

The two subnets are both within my 'trusted LAN' firewall zone, so there should be no IP ACL causing a problem on the firewall.

Are there any specific networking requirements to successfully run Plex across multiple LANs ?

Yes you have to add the additional subnet to the trusted networks in the network section of the admin page.