Media Unavailable - Part 2

General Discussions
1

Ive recently changed a Win10 box to an Ubuntu Server so i dont have to worry about updates always killing the services and everything… Now the challenge is getting the Ubuntu Server to see the network shares that store my media - what a nightmare!

Ive tried UNC and that doesnt work. Im very green when it comes to Linux so it seems there are at least 10 different suggestions on the web on how to map a network drive but i cant seem to make any of them work the way i need it to. All my shares are guest read (anon) only so no credentials required. I have the Gnome GUI configured and am able to browse the shares that way. But cant seem to make Plex see them. See my screenshot

I also tried the UNC without the SMB: in front and nothing. Any help would be appreciated.

dzd1wnwt3bd8.jpg800×640 137 KB

2

Ubuntu will mount NFS or SMB shares with ease, just as any linux will.

Trying to do it the way the file browser / explorer (nautilus) is showing you is your error

The system file /etc/fstab defines all disks and network shares which are made available to the system as ‘mounts’. This is ultimately where all your remote media shares will be defined and made available to everything on the system, including Plex. All you need to do then is point Plex at the local directory name and forget it. Done deal.

That having been said, I see you are referencing //mediastore1/media. This tells me the host name is mediastore1 and the share is media. the // prefix tells me it’s CIFS / SMB.

Is host Mediastore1 a NAS? If so, does it support NFS protocol? If it does, it is profoundly in your best interest to enable it and use it. It’s time to stop thinking from a Windows perspective.

To add what you need to Ubuntu, you need to install the nfs-common package (if not already installed since it is a ‘server’ load). That will provide your server NFS capabilities.

Please double check what you can enable on it and report back. Also, while there, prepare a list (if you haven’t done already) of what you will want ‘mounted’ on your Ubuntu machine.

3

Thanks for your quick response… Not sure why SMB is such a bad thing. In windows, it takes me all of 3 seconds to configure a share… but i digress

I found the NFS app on the Drobo5N NAS and enabled it. Also, i see where it auto configured the shares where my media is hosted. There are folders below that but this should be good.

/mnt/DroboFS/Shares/media 0.0.0.0/0(ro,insecure,async,no_subtree_check,no_root_squash,anonuid=99,anongid=99)
/mnt/DroboFS/Shares/media ::/128(ro,insecure,async,no_subtree_check,no_root_squash,anonuid=99,anongid=99)\

Ive also installed nfs-common on the Ubuntu server. So, i want to just configure the //servername/media share to automount and stay that way.

Then, i should be able to see all the folders under that share and i can configure my libraries, right?

thanks.

4

SMB/CIFS isn’t bad, It’s just not Linux-native. You’ll have a lot more control, able to squeeze out a lot more performance with NFS than you can with SMB. SMB is very much a ‘point and shoot’. NFS allows you to almost micro-manage it (just don’t overdo it :smiley: )

If you want to mount with SMB/CIFS, then you create an entry similiar to

//servername/share /local/mount/directory defaults,comma-separated-list-of-options-if-wanted 0 0

To do the exact same using NFS

servername:/share /local/mount/directory defaults,comma-separated-list-of-options-if-wanted 0 0

If you use servername in /etc/fstab, as I have done above, simply define the hostname and it’s IP address, using any text editor in file /etc/hosts. Just follow the format: Address hostname hostname_alias1 hostname_alias2

If you wish, just use the IP address, e.g. //1.2.3.4/share Linux is flexible. :smiley:

Before you actually commit all this and reboot the system the first time after defining your mounts (don’t forget to create them ), open a terminal window / command prompt, elevate to root (sudo sh if needed) and test the mounts using:

mount /local/mount/directory

That is the most abstracted way to mount it. If it mounts cleanly and you have everything you want, you’re all set. If not, umount /local/mount/directory and make changes. Then do the classic ‘wash, rinse, repeat’ cycle until satisfied.

The electronic man pages will be of great help.

man mount.cifs and man mount.nfs even more so. man 5 fstab will tell you ever wanted to know about /etc/fstab and then some :slight_smile:

5

im a complete idiot when it comes to linux… im learning…but very slowly. i created a folder to mount the share in /media/plexmedia

i edited the fstab file but im certain i left out stuff because when i test the mounts i get an error about ‘defaults’ not being the correct file system lol…

heres what my fstab looks like…

mcl3iorlcr94.png786×388 28.6 KB

im gonna get some sleep and read the nfs man tomorrow…

6

The last thing you need to do, now that the directories /media and /media/plexmedia are created, is make sure they have permissions of 755.

chmod 755 /media /media/plexmedia

This gives the user plex permission to read and traverse through the directories and over the network to wherever the files actually are.

ANY command you use on Linux has an electronic man page for it. man command-name will bring it up for you.

little things: Linux uses / whereas Windows uses \ in pathnames. Linux uses - for options, Windows uses /.

Try to grab yourself a read or two of Linux tutorials on the internet… It is easy to pick. It takes time to master because there’s so much it can do and so many ways of doing it.

You’ll be comfortable before you know it.

7

Regarding the /etc/fstab problem, It is I who forgot. I apologize profoundly. The hour here is late but not an excuse.

IP:/share /local/directory/name nfs defaults 0 0

For CIFS/smb, it is

//host/share /local/directory/name cifs defaults 0 0

8

no worries thanks for the assistance i will let you know how it works out.

Latest error is… access denied by server while mounting

9

Hey ChuckPa… its been a while since we chatted but wanted to let you know i finally got this working. I had the wrong remote share path but Drobo has a dummy mode that shows you the contents of the exports file which details all the current paths.
Thanks for your assistance.

10

Thank you for getting back to me. It’s nice to know it has that. Would you care to share the where/how that information is available so others may benefit?