Linux Plex server tmp folder filling up

Plex Media Server
1

Server Version#: 1.28.0.5999
Player Version#: 1.49.1.3146-73559c78

I have a problem with repopulating my Debian 11 Openmediavault Plex server. Plex server keeps filling up the /tmp partition with jpg files. These are the movie/TV/Music posters.
these are not deleted after use.

root@nas:/# df -kh /tmp
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
tmpfs 1.5G 62M 1.4G 5% /tmp

root@nas:/# ls -1 /tmp

12b7686c5f78ff6fbc575f3cc49545b0.jpg
137694ff321598b583c3e8124f36c7ee.jpg
1474c53c65d92f6534803e12f7a9088e.jpg
1f7a6bffcd01e44d1e519799dfd60329.jpg
1f89e4df777c70c422719a2054c592e1.jpg
2cb566498ea457577ed096ece9c8f1dc.jpg
…

Is there a way to redirect Plex media server to a different folder for these temporary files?
I have looked in the config files but cannot find any option to do this myself.

Thanks

2

PMS responds to the TEMPDIR or TMPDIR environment variables.

Did you set your transcoder temp to /tmp?

3

on Debian TEMPDIR or TMPDIR variable not set.
root@nas:/etc# systemctl status plexmediaserver.service
â—Ź plexmediaserver.service - Plex Media Server
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Thu 2022-08-04 09:18:57 AEST; 3h 4min ago
Process: 699605 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c /usr/bin/test -d “${PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR}” || /bin/mkdir -p “${PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR}” (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 699608 (Plex Media Serv)
Tasks: 52 (limit: 3531)
Memory: 400.7M
CPU: 1h 33min 37.302s
CGroup: /system.slice/plexmediaserver.service
├─699608 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Server
├─699670 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.system] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-97678ded3/Framework.bundle/Contents/Resources/Versions/2/Python/bootstrap.py --server-version 1.28.0.599>
├─699781 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Tuner Service /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Tuner/Private /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Tuner/Shared 1.28.0.5999-97678ded3 32600
└─737126 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Scanner --match --type 1 --log-file-suffix Matcher --files /storage/PlexMedia/LeenMovies/Trading Places (1984)/Trading Places (1080p HD).m4v

as this is a service, where to set these variables for plexserver only?

4

Start here:

In the override file

[Service]
Environment="PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_TMPDIR=/path/you/want"

This is not the same as the Transcoder Temp Dir which you set in Preferences.

NOTE: To clarify, on SYSV Linux systems, I map TMPDIR or TEMP or TEMPDIR to PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_TMPDIR for PMS.

2 Likes
5

Thank you for your response. The provided Environment variable “PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_TMPDIR” did not work on my Debian 11 server but adding Environment variables TMPDIR and TEMPDIR did fix my issue.
I won’t be running out of disk space anytime soon.

6

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