Move Metadata Library to different folder on Ubuntu 18.04 fails

Server Version#: 1.14.1.5488
Player Version#: 3.77.4

I am running my plex server on an Ubuntu 18.04 VM.
The host system is unraid 6.6.6.

A vanilla install of Plex server works well and has no problems with accessing the /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/ directory and putting all the metadata in there.

I want to keep the VM disk as lean and portable as possible and put the metadata on a different disk. In order to do that I mount the unraid folder in the Ubuntu VM at startup as a virtual filesystem. That works well and gives me access to all the files on that disk and I can do all sorts of file operations (rename, copy, permission change etc.).

Now I tried to move the metadata for the Plex server to that mount using the override.conf for the service [documentation]

The new /etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.d/override.conf lookes like this:

# Customize Plex's config
#
# Identify this as a service override
[Service]
#
#  Move the data directory
Environment="PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR=/serverconfigs/plex/Library/Application Support"

That option however results in Plex not being able to start properly - I also can’t access it in the browser. Result:

:~$ sudo systemctl status plexmediaserver
● plexmediaserver.service - Plex Media Server for Linux
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
  Drop-In: /etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.d
           └─override.conf
   Active: activating (auto-restart) (Result: exit-code) since Fri 2019-02-15 10:39:37 EST; 2s ago
  Process: 20538 ExecStart=/bin/sh -c LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/plexmediaserver "/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Server" (code=exited, status=255)
  Process: 20536 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: 20538 (code=exited, status=255)

I have no idea why this error happens as it does not happen if I remove the override. Without the override /usr/lib/plexmediaserver works fine and the server starts normally.

Process: 20538 ExecStart=/bin/sh -c LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/plexmediaserver "/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Server" (code=exited, status=255)

it seems to me that override itself is successful as in:

Process: 20536 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)

I also tried symlinking the directory to /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library which also didn’t work even though the owner/group is plex and permissions are 777.

Does anyone have any idea what I might do wrong or what I could do to move the metadata to the /serverconfigs/ folder?

Thank you all for your help!

Hi chuckpa , thanks for the link. I did follow everything in there and I do have a systemd environment. But i’m sad to say that nothing has changed. After following your link I still get the following error:

plexmediaserver.service - Plex Media Server for Linux
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
  Drop-In: /etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.d
           └─override.conf
   Active: activating (auto-restart) (Result: exit-code) since Fri 2019-02-15 18:44:56 EST; 3s ago
  Process: 20563 ExecStart=/bin/sh -c LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/plexmediaserver "/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Server" (code=exited, status=255)
  Process: 20561 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c /usr/bin/test -d "${PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR}" || /bin/mkdir -p "${PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPO Main PID: 20563 (code=exited, status=255)

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