Memory leak?

Plex Media Server
1

Hi guys.

Running my Plex server on a Proxmox Host with kernel 7.0.14-6-pve .

LXC container is running Ubuntu 24.04 .

Server Version#: 1.43.3.10828

When I check my host - it seems that my Plex server is consuming a lot of memory

ps aux --sort=-%mem | head -n 15
USER         PID %CPU %MEM    VSZ   RSS TTY      STAT START   TIME COMMAND
plex         323 11.5 44.3 14952120 11161892 ?   Ssl  Jul26 111:24 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Server

There is nothing running on the server now. Usually when I play a 4K movie with Dolby Atmos - I can see the memory goes insane like a memory leak. If I dont stop it and it just keeps playing, the server is crashing.

Server is having 24GB of memory. Stopping the service and start it again - everything looks normal:

 ps aux --sort=-%mem | head -n 15
USER         PID %CPU %MEM    VSZ   RSS TTY      STAT START   TIME COMMAND
plex        7743  0.0  0.2 241200 65620 ?        Ssl  14:00   0:01 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Server

What am I missing here?

Thanks

2

If enabled, turn off the Plex DLNA server. It has a known memory leak.

3

@FordGuy61 thanks for the quick reply :slight_smile: appreciated.

But I never have had DNLA enabled on my servers hence I never used it on my LAN.

But what concerns me - that memory is getting eat up by 4K movie streaming with content that seems to use DOLBY Atmos. When I play the same movie with AC3 5.1 its running smooth without issues. Memory stable .

This part over night that memory isnt down to a normal use ( even with no users on the server ) . Like memory isnt cleared by the plex server. Never seen that issue before ( well I havent noticed this before ).

But my external streaming dont allow 4K content, so thats not the issue. Its seen on normal resolutions on 1080P with Dolby 5.1 and Dolby Atmos sound. Really strange.

4

Did you set the transcoding temp folder to a RAM disk?

5

@OttoKerner Yes, but normally after a stream is done , it drops rapidly. This today was actually the first time over night I ever seen an idle plex server using over 10GB of memory .

No active streams or butler running.
Really strange

6

TrueHD and/or EAC3 audio?

Is the audio transcoding?

If so, also monitor memory utilization of EasyAudioEncoder. Plex uses EAE to decode TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus.

7

@FordGuy61 yes for external stream yes. And sound mostly is ac3

8

Why not try setting your transcode location to local storage to rule that out?

9

Well I could do that , but I moved transcode to memory to save the lifespan on my nvme drives.

Have plenty of memory . Maybe it was a onetime thing. Nothing to see on the server today.

Just curious - will download from the server have any impact on the storage/ memory? It need to optimize for the download right ? So transcoding and available for download. ?

10

When transcoding a download, Plex transcodes the entire file then downloads it to the client. The server will need enough space to hold the entire transcoded file. If enough space is not available, then the download will fail.

The Downloads temporary directory can be configured in Settings → Transcoder + Show Advanced. The default location is in the Plex Data Folder.

It is very easy to chew through RAM if transcoding to a RAM disk, especially if the person downloading has Quality = Original (default).

Consider setting the Downloads Temporary Directory to a physical drive.

11

In most cases, yes. That’s why there’s now a separate temp path setting for downloads and optimizations, because a ram drive usually cannot fit the optimized file of a whole movie.
So you should direct that one to regular storage. You could even use “spinning rust” for that, because the bitrates are typically so low that they don’t require SSD speeds.

12

GREAT - Didnt think of that one :smiley:

@OttoKerner @FordGuy61 and @pshanew

Thanks for all of you for the great inputs :slight_smile:

Will try make a folder on a nfshare for this job.

Cheers :slight_smile:

13

Ok stuck :confused:

I tried to make a nfs share ( which I see isnt recommended ) , but at least the conversion / optimizer was running, but download to the Plex app didnt work.

Then I tried to add a new folder under my /home/plex/downloads . Plex dont seem to start conversion at all - waiting for server to start.

Last I tried to use the standard folders of Plex

/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server

Didnt work either..

What am I doing wrong ? :frowning:

14

If the EAE is involved for transcoding audio, you probably don’t want to mount with NOEXEC. The EAE is working inside that folder.
I’m no Linux expert, but the strict separation of data and programs rule would speak against putting this temp folder underneath of /home.

15

Thanks @OttoKerner

But even with empty folder details under the transcode section won’t work .

So plex should use its standard folders to do the optimization I guess or does this transcode folder option need specific folder information for the download option to work ?

16

That means it’s falling back to the previous transcoder temp setting i.e. your RAM drive, which isn’t large enough.

Here’s an older post which lists the most common sources of trouble with the EAE: Almost none of my contents plays - #5 by OttoKerner

17

Thanks for the great support :slight_smile:

Will look into this right away .

Kr

Morph

18

Freaking… h.. :smiley:

Somebody kick me in the nuts..

@OttoKerner my system DIDNT work - because I wasnt on the WIFI :smiley: . The IOS Plex app writes that in the bottom of the app, very small.. didnt see that :smiley:

SO im trying again hah

CHEEERS