Linux PMS Symlink Issues (moving plex data to a new folder)

[wazlecracker]

Server Version#:1.18.1.1973-1

I’m on 5.3.7-2-MANJARO using plex-media-server-plexpass from the AUR. I have my system set up with separate root and home partitions, and realized the metadata in /var/lib/plex/Plex Media Server/ is gobbling up my limited room in the root partition. So I moved the ‘Plex Media Server’ folder to my home folder and ran

systemctl stop plexmediaserver.service
ln -s '/home/user/Plex Media Server' '/var/lib/plex/Plex Media Server' 
chown -R plex:plex '/var/lib/plex/Plex Media Server'
systemctl start plexmediaserver.service

But when I go to the web interface, I just get “Server unreachable”. What am I doing wrong here?

[ChuckPa]

That’s not how you do it on Linux. Linux is strict on permissions.

Moving PMS 'Library'

Moving Plex’s metadata (Library) directory on systemd based systems This information is intended for those systems where cat /proc/1/comm returns systemd. If your system returns init, please see the next post in this thread. While you may change /lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service, it is under the control of the package manager and subject to replacement without warning at any time during an update. To provide stability, systemd allows creation of an override.conf file to customiz…

[wazlecracker]

Thank you very much! So the ownership in the systemd file should be my user and not plex:plex?

[ChuckPa]

You can have it any way you want it.

If you want to leave it as plex:plex then don’t change it.

My example shows you 3 different things you can change:

1. Location
2. User
3. Permissions

The override.conf file changes only those runtime parameters you specify. The rest remain as the defaults

[wazlecracker]

Gotcha. So then I don’t need to have a plex folder in /var/lib/ after I do this, correct?

[ChuckPa]

Correct.

No more symlink
No more having PMS in your home directory (which has its own permissions and why Linux is blocking execution)

[wazlecracker]

For anyone coming to this from an Arch based distro using a package from the AUR, you must manually change the build files before building.

I used the Plex Pass package and had to edit the plexmediaserver.conf.d file and change the PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR= line to /home/plexdata. Then you have to get the new sha256sum of that file, replace it in the PKGBUILD file or it won’t build. Build the package, finally you have to add your user to the plex group and it should work.