Is it possible to have QNAP download Plex updates locally?

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
1

I don’t know how to word the question any better - hopefully it makes sense.

Right now my NAS is 700 miles away, and my only connection to it is via a 8mbps down, 1 mbps up DSL connection. I’m getting prompted to update Plex. It appears the only way to update is to first download the 100+MB file to my PC (at my remote location) and the upload it to the NAS over a 1mbps connection. No thanks. It’ll take 3+ hours to upload, and that’s IF it even finishes.

In the past, I’d have someone on the LAN where the NAS is, do the upgrade (they are on a Gbit connection). But coaching someone to do this each time is pretty painful.

So, is there a workaround to having the NAS download the Plex update file directly to the NAS and then run it locally so I don’t have to download/upload it via this smoke-signal connection?

Also, I’ve noticed in the QNAP app section, there are always a number of apps that need to be updated (Qsirch, PhotoStation, etc). I’m able to click “update” on those, and they suck the latest app to the NAS directly and install all on their own.

Likewise my PlexPy/Tautullil and Sonarr (both non-QNAP products) are able to download updates automatically and without any user input. Will Plex ever have that functionality?

2
  • Make a note of the download link from plex.tv
  • Open up an SSH console as admin
  • Type mkdir /share/CACHEDEV1_DATA/PMSInst
  • Type cd /share/CACHEDEV1_DATA/PMSInst
  • Type wget <download link from first point in the list>
  • File will now download
  • Type: chmod +x <Name of downloaded file>
  • Type ./<Name of downloaded file>

Note that last line contains a leading dot
You also might have to subsitute CACHEDEV1_DATA with something else, depending on disk layout, but above is the most common one

/Tommy

3

This is awesome Dane. Thank you for taking the time to explain this. I will give this a go tomorrow when there are fewer distractions (kiddos) competing for my attention.

Other than trying the CACHEDEV1_DATA path and it failing, is there a simple way to verify that it is correct? And if not, how to determine what the correct one is? Sorry, but I’m about as green as they come.

4

Ok, false alarm. I just followed your steps, and it worked like a charm. Much appreciated!

5

If you feel green, imagine me on a QNAP a year ago. coming from a completely different methodology, because I was worse! :smiley: lol

One thing I find which seems very universal is the use of /share/shared-folder-name. QTS creates the links to go from there to where the directory actually is. That directory is however you defined it in “Shared Folders”

Regarding your configuration and finding where things are; there’s a quick way to see it just DO NOT TOUCH what you see there. Breaking the contents of the directory will trash the QTS install.

  1. Sign in via ssh
  2. ls -l /share

As example, you’ll see something like this:

lrwxrwxrwx  1 admin administrators   17 2018-05-24 20:45 4k -> CACHEDEV2_DATA/4k/
lrwxrwxrwx  1 admin administrators   18 2018-05-24 20:45 6T-1 -> external/DEV3311_1/
lrwxrwxrwx  1 admin administrators   18 2018-05-24 20:45 6T-2 -> external/DEV3310_1/
lrwxrwxrwx  1 admin administrators   18 2018-05-24 20:45 6T-3 -> external/DEV3304_1/
lrwxrwxrwx  1 admin administrators   18 2018-05-24 20:45 6T-4 -> external/DEV3302_1/
lrwxrwxrwx  1 admin administrators   23 2018-05-24 20:45 animated -> CACHEDEV2_DATA/animated/
lrwxrwxrwx  1 admin administrators   21 2018-05-24 20:45 a-test -> CACHEDEV2_DATA/a-test/
lrwxrwxrwx  1 admin administrators   21 2018-05-24 20:45 backup -> CACHEDEV2_DATA/backup/
lrwxrwxrwx  1 admin administrators   18 2018-05-24 20:45 bin -> CACHEDEV2_DATA/bin/
drwxrwxrwx 24 admin administrators 4096 2018-05-23 03:04 CACHEDEV1_DATA/
drwxrwxrwx 81 admin administrators 4096 2018-05-24 01:40 CACHEDEV2_DATA/
drwxrwxrwx  6 admin administrators 4096 2018-05-20 16:51 CACHEDEV3_DATA/
drwxrwxrwx  5 admin administrators 4096 2018-05-18 23:16 CACHEDEV4_DATA/
lrwxrwxrwx  1 admin administrators   23 2018-05-24 20:45 cakewalk -> CACHEDEV2_DATA/cakewalk/
lrwxrwxrwx  1 admin administrators   23 2018-05-24 20:45 channels -> CACHEDEV2_DATA/channels/
lrwxrwxrwx  1 admin administrators   20 2018-05-24 20:45 chuck -> CACHEDEV2_DATA/chuck/
lrwxrwxrwx  1 admin administrators   18 2018-05-24 20:45 Chuck4G -> external/DEV3301_1/
lrwxrwxrwx  1 admin administrators   24 2018-05-24 20:45 classical -> CACHEDEV2_DATA/classical/
lrwxrwxrwx  1 admin administrators   24 2018-05-24 20:45 Container -> CACHEDEV3_DATA/Container/
lrwxrwxrwx  1 admin administrators   20 2018-05-24 20:45 debug -> CACHEDEV2_DATA/debug/

To explain what you’re looking at:

  1. external are the external USB drives I’ve plugged in to do backups
  2. 4k -> CACHEDEV2_DATA/4k/ tells me that my 4k share is on volume CACHEDEV2_DATA which we access as /share/CACHEDEV2_DATA/4k (the actual directory is here)

See how QNAP has given this a focal point to find things?

This help ?

6

@erkme73 said:
Ok, false alarm. I just followed your steps, and it worked like a charm. Much appreciated!

And according to timestamps of the posts, took less than 10 min :wink: