Migrate PMS from TrueNAS (Core, v13) to Unraid (v6.12.9) [Migrate PMS from anything → anytthing!]

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
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1

Hello,

I have made a fresh PMS install (Official docker app) in UnRaid (v6.12.9) and followed the Move an install to another system. Although the UnRaid install initially worked (web-UI is accessible), after unzipping all TrueNAS files & folders (all expect the not-needed Cache folder) PMS went “dark” and although the container stars there is no web-UI functionality any longer. Setting all files and folders to “root” user as owner (the user under which PMS was installed) made no difference.

Any ideas/hints on how this TrueNAS to UnRaid migration can be made please?

Thank you.

George

2

Seems that the Web-UI disappearance was a glitch and after a container restart it was fine. Still, although I stopped the container, unzipped all past Plex files (FreeNAS), restarted the container, the server is visible via web-ui and registered to my account but NO Library is visible, showing just as a fresh PMS install. Any ideas?

3

The migration described by Plex didn’t worked in the OFFICIAL PMS docker app, even after setting the proper owner (chown -R nobody:users ./) and access rights (chmod -R 755 ./) to all copied files. Strangely the SAME procedure using the BinHex PMS docker app, works fine and all content and metadata appear intact in the new installation (Unraid) from the past one (TrueNAS Core).

On a side note, it seems that following the OFFICIAL instructions, I have “sign out of your account under Settings > Server > General in Plex Web App” which led to losing the server and thus all configured shared-users and history! Do NOT do so! The first time I tried the BinHex install I have NOT signed out of the new-server and all users and history was maintained just fine. After a few tries to make the OFFICIAL PMS docker app to work, I did the mistake to remove the server and thus lost users and history.

…really strange how one docker (BinHex) worked fine but the other (Official) didn’t. I would prefer to use the official docker-app (I tried quite a lot and even broken the users and history!) but since another release does the job i will stick with this one I guess!

Any ideas about the broken users (library access by friends) and watch-history?

4

May I ask, the primary problem is the server is still signed out of the main account?

  • Watch history can be pulled from an old .DB file if still avaiable
  • Friend assignments are stored at the account level. If you have the original Preferences.xml file, everything will come right back
5

Hello dear @ChuckPa,

The old server (FreeNAS) was not signed-out. Currently it is offline but i have all PLEX data in a big zip file (50GB+).
The new server (UnRaid) is up and running, with all libraries, metadata and content (files) operational. How can I “revive” the USERS watch history and sharing? (I see my Friends fine but all previously defined shares are gone and the sharing page is blank).
Thank you.

6

  1. You will want to extract the “Preferences.xml” and “Databases” directory from the zip

  2. This work will be done in the Unraid terminal command window

How skilled are you at the Linux command line so I know how much to write ? :slight_smile:

7

@ChuckPa i am not a sw-dev but i am pretty confident on CLI. I have extracted in a temp-folder all my old Plex data (zipped from FreeNAS, 50GB+) and i have the Preferences.xml file (1.18KB) and the Databases folder:

image
image1439×593 77.6 KB

Both the Preferences.xml and the latest DB files are dated 29 MAR, when FreeNAS went offline to migrate to UnRaid. So, how may i reinstate the server-history and users-shares?

Thank you.

8

Here’s part 1 – Recovering the old server’s identity (which reconnects shared users)

root@Jemini:/mnt/user/appdata/unplex# ls -la
total 4
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody users  54 Mar  7 19:44 ./
drwxrwxrwx 1 nobody users  63 Jan 10 17:31 ../
-rw------- 1 root   root  161 Apr  1 08:00 .bash_history
drwxr-xr-x 1 root   root   41 Jan 10 17:31 Library/
root@Jemini:/mnt/user/appdata/unplex# cd Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/
root@Jemini:/mnt/user/appdata/unplex/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server# ls -la
total 32
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody users   313 Mar 27 21:40 ./
drwxr-xr-x 1 root   root     39 Jan 10 17:31 ../
-rw------- 1 nobody users    42 Mar 27 21:39 .LocalAdminToken
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody users  4096 Mar 27 21:39 Cache/
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody users   165 Feb 25 17:16 Codecs/
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody users    70 Mar 27 21:39 Crash\ Reports/
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody users    10 Jan 10 17:31 Diagnostics/
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody users    74 Jan 10 17:32 Drivers/
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody users  4096 Mar 27 21:40 Logs/
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody users    31 Jan 10 17:34 Media/
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody users    48 Jan 10 18:48 Metadata/
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody users   120 Jan 10 17:33 Plug-in\ Support/
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody users    10 Jan 10 17:32 Plug-ins/
-rw------- 1 nobody users   847 Mar 27 21:39 Preferences.xml
-rw------- 1 nobody users 12330 Mar 27 21:39 Setup\ Plex.html
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody users    10 Jan 10 17:32 Updates/
root@Jemini:/mnt/user/appdata/unplex/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server# ls -lan
total 32
drwxr-xr-x 1 99 100   313 Mar 27 21:40 ./
drwxr-xr-x 1  0   0    39 Jan 10 17:31 ../
-rw------- 1 99 100    42 Mar 27 21:39 .LocalAdminToken
drwxr-xr-x 1 99 100  4096 Mar 27 21:39 Cache/
drwxr-xr-x 1 99 100   165 Feb 25 17:16 Codecs/
drwxr-xr-x 1 99 100    70 Mar 27 21:39 Crash\ Reports/
drwxr-xr-x 1 99 100    10 Jan 10 17:31 Diagnostics/
drwxr-xr-x 1 99 100    74 Jan 10 17:32 Drivers/
drwxr-xr-x 1 99 100  4096 Mar 27 21:40 Logs/
drwxr-xr-x 1 99 100    31 Jan 10 17:34 Media/
drwxr-xr-x 1 99 100    48 Jan 10 18:48 Metadata/
drwxr-xr-x 1 99 100   120 Jan 10 17:33 Plug-in\ Support/
drwxr-xr-x 1 99 100    10 Jan 10 17:32 Plug-ins/
-rw------- 1 99 100   847 Mar 27 21:39 Preferences.xml
-rw------- 1 99 100 12330 Mar 27 21:39 Setup\ Plex.html
drwxr-xr-x 1 99 100    10 Jan 10 17:32 Updates/
root@Jemini:/mnt/user/appdata/unplex/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server# ls -lan
total 40
drwxr-xr-x 1 99 100  4096 Apr 12 12:38 ./
drwxr-xr-x 1  0   0    39 Jan 10 17:31 ../
-rw------- 1 99 100    42 Mar 27 21:39 .LocalAdminToken
drwxr-xr-x 1 99 100  4096 Mar 27 21:39 Cache/
drwxr-xr-x 1 99 100   165 Feb 25 17:16 Codecs/
drwxr-xr-x 1 99 100    70 Mar 27 21:39 Crash\ Reports/
drwxr-xr-x 1 99 100    10 Jan 10 17:31 Diagnostics/
drwxr-xr-x 1 99 100    74 Jan 10 17:32 Drivers/
drwxr-xr-x 1 99 100  4096 Mar 27 21:40 Logs/
drwxr-xr-x 1 99 100    31 Jan 10 17:34 Media/
drwxr-xr-x 1 99 100    48 Jan 10 18:48 Metadata/
drwxr-xr-x 1 99 100   120 Jan 10 17:33 Plug-in\ Support/
drwxr-xr-x 1 99 100    10 Jan 10 17:32 Plug-ins/
-rw------- 1 99 100   847 Mar 27 21:39 Preferences.xml
-rw------- 1  0   0   847 Apr 12 12:38 Preferences.xml-backup
-rw------- 1 99 100 12330 Mar 27 21:39 Setup\ Plex.html
drwxr-xr-x 1 99 100    10 Jan 10 17:32 Updates/
root@Jemini:/mnt/user/appdata/unplex/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server# mv Preferences.xml Preferences.xml-unused
root@Jemini:/mnt/user/appdata/unplex/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server# mv Preferences.xml-backup Preferences.xml
root@Jemini:/mnt/user/appdata/unplex/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server# chown 99:100 Preferences.xml
root@Jemini:/mnt/user/appdata/unplex/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server# ls -la
total 40
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody users  4096 Apr 12 14:08 ./
drwxr-xr-x 1 root   root     39 Jan 10 17:31 ../
-rw------- 1 nobody users    42 Mar 27 21:39 .LocalAdminToken
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody users  4096 Mar 27 21:39 Cache/
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody users   165 Feb 25 17:16 Codecs/
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody users    70 Mar 27 21:39 Crash\ Reports/
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody users    10 Jan 10 17:31 Diagnostics/
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody users    74 Jan 10 17:32 Drivers/
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody users  4096 Mar 27 21:40 Logs/
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody users    31 Jan 10 17:34 Media/
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody users    48 Jan 10 18:48 Metadata/
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody users   120 Jan 10 17:33 Plug-in\ Support/
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody users    10 Jan 10 17:32 Plug-ins/
-rw------- 1 nobody users   847 Apr 12 12:38 Preferences.xml
-rw------- 1 nobody users   847 Mar 27 21:39 Preferences.xml-unused
-rw------- 1 nobody users 12330 Mar 27 21:39 Setup\ Plex.html
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody users    10 Jan 10 17:32 Updates/
root@Jemini:/mnt/user/appdata/unplex/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server#

This method allows you to keep both the new server and restored server’s identities until you’ve verified it’s correct.

9

Part 2 is run from inside the container.

  1. Download my tool and place it in the filesystem under where /config is mapped

  1. docker exec into the container

  2. Untar the tool & run it.

  3. In the menu

    • Stop Plex
    • Import watch history (type in the path to the DB – AS SEEN BY THE CONTAINER)
    • Perform automatic optimization if you wish while there :wink:
    • Start Plex

  4. Externally, verify restoration of users and watch history

  5. ‘Exit’ the tool (it will ask to keep or remove temporary DBs)

10

Hello dear @ChuckPa,

I have preformed Part-1 to a FRESH PMS install (the original PMS docker-app, hoping to work this time!), I have removed container and all past appdata and restored the old-server’s Preferences.xml.
I have run DBRepair.sh within the PMS container but PRIOR to doing Import Wath History let me please ask:

  • I am trying to restore the old-server’s SHARED-USERS and SHARED-USERS-ACTIVITY and NOT my own watch-history. My own watch-history appears in the restore already done (simply unzipping all old-server files to the new-server’s PMS folder). So, do i need to run the “Import Wath History” or not? (I will hate to see all my watch history appear as duplicates in my Trakt!)
  • If indeed the “Import Wath History” is to import SHARED-USERS SERVER HISTORY, please clarify to which DB should it be pointed? Should I copy the old-server db file in /config (the same folder with DBRepair.sh) and do import?

Finally, at which point shall I restore (extract) the old-server files? Shall I just keep the new DB and Preferences.xml (your step-1 and 2 above) and overwrite everything else?

Thank you!

11

I understand you want the SHARED USERS.

The viewstate (watch history) for all users is stored in one table in the com.plexapp.plugins.library.db.

You do not need to overwrite the entire DB unless that’s what you want.

My tool exports the single table from the referenced DB path and imports it into the current server’s DB.

It’s performing this operation with some extra cleanup to avoid negative viewstate counts

https://support.plex.tv/articles/201154527-move-viewstate-ratings-from-one-install-to-another/

The task of migrating from anything → anything is comprised of 4 basic steps

  1. Copy Preferences.xml (and email + token) to the new machine
  2. Copy the Databases directory
  3. Fix all the paths to match the new system (as appropriate)
  4. Adjust preferences settings as needed for the new server hardware
12

@ChuckPa the last part with the 4-points of “migrating from anything → anything” was really helpful. KUDOS!

I used to be following the “Move an Install to Another System” guide but after doing the new-PMS install and copying all old-server-data (unzip & overwrite) to the new-PMS, things were getting broken. Strangely only the BinHex-PMS docker-app worked while the official-PMS and LinuxServer-PMS never managed to restore my libraries.

Following your hereby guidance I took another path this time:

  • Fresh install of Official-PMS docker-app
  • Setup docker path /media → /mnt/user/Videos, /config → /mnt/cache/appdata/Plex-Media-Server, /transcode → /mnt/user/tmp/transcode, NOT using Plex_Claim token
  • Stop PMS
  • Restore Preferences.xml (just copy from the old-server, chown 99:100)
  • Restore database by copying the full Databases directory OR copy the DBs files (com.plexapp.plugins.library.db and com.plexapp.plugins.library.blobs.db, chown 99:100) and delete -shm and -wal files in the target directory (new-server) [See more details in the next post below]
  • DB automatic maintenance (using your great tool!), within the PMS container. I had no report for anything “fishy” with the old-server DB (798MB) and blobs.db (2,36GB)
  • Start PMS
  • My media folders worked out of the box (the path was set in the docker setup above as /media → /mnt/user/Videos)
  • Run PMS
  • The old-server name & libraries were present just fine
  • Run a full Library Scan
  • Run a Refresh all Metadata
  • …wait (a lot!) for the library to fully update

This setup the OFFICIAL PMS Docker-app in the new UnRaid server just fine.

A small “glitch” is that the shared users (Settings/Manage Library Access) were not restored BUT the old-server users history was fine (for all users) and the Friends appear fine too. I just have to redo the sharing setup from scratch (minor work).

@ChuckPa thank you and please feel free to comment if you may improve this bullets-guide for future PMS trans-system migrations! Keep up the good work!

13

Only comment:

“Databases” folder/directory – In its entirety – not just the .DB

Reason: If the target machine has -WAL and/or -SHM files , a foreign DB (with different media id numbers & pointers IN THE DB) will corrupt it the moment you start it up and make your first “Scan Files”.
– Blobs is paired with main DB too. It’s all got to be in sync.

Either:

  1. Copy the Databases directory (keep the ‘full set’ of files together)
    -or-
  2. copy the DBs and delete -shm and -wal files in the target directory.

the SHM and WAL files are pending operations. It’s better to bring them along with the DB (a complete set)

1 Like
14

Edit made within the bullets-guide. Thank you!

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