How to Backup Plex Config In FreeNAS

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
1

Server Version#: 1.14.0.5470-9d51fdfaa
Player Version#:
I am currently running my Plex on a FreeNAS box V11.1-U6 and I will be upgrading to FreeNAS 11.2 Release. Plex is run as a plugin in a Jail. What I need to know and haven’t been able to figure out is how do I backup and restore all of my Plex setting including all of the media folders I have setup and as an example the posters and names for each movie and TV show… I would rather back up this configuration rather than redoing all of it. I have had to redo it frem scratch once all ready and I was not very much fun.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Bob Ivey

2

This is what I did a while ago when I upgraded from 9.3 to 11.1. I think the 11.2 jails are slightly different and therefore paths may change.

plex
cd /mnt/Volume1/jails/plexmediaserver_1/var/db
tar cvfz /mnt/Volume1/media/Backup/plexdata.tar.gz plexdata

Restore
cd /mnt/Volume1/jails/plexmediaserver_1/var/db/
tar xvfz /mnt/Volume1/media/Backup/plexdata.tar.gz

3

I have been using rsync to transfer the config data from the old jail to the new jail. Another person made a separate FreeNAS/ZFS dataset for the Plex data folder and mounted that into the jail the same way you’d mount the media dataset. Which is a slick idea.

4

Back when I ran FN, I did the ZFS dataset for the config and mounted that in the jail. In fact, I did it for every jail. I did this for backup purposes (set automatic snapshot and replication jobs on the parent FS) but it meant I could destroy/recreate jails at will and the config is intact because it’s not in the jail.

2 Likes
5

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.