Plex GUI not in 'netstat' :32400 for IPv4, no relevant errors in 'Plex Media Server.log'

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
,
1

I’m facing an issue where PMS does not report any errors (as far as I can tell) but is not successfully opening port :32400 on my server either. Three changes have been yesterday, in order of execution:

  1. Moved 'PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR' to NAS via NFS mount. The plex systemd service is fooled via the override, as recommended in the knowledge base. Had an issue with permissions at first and learned the hard way that UID and GID had to be in sync for NFS mounts. Fixed via simple chmod/chown. Plex started successfully and GUI was available at this point.
  1. Added a Custom Server Access URL (whilst Plex was successfully running). No visible errors in PMS GUI at this point. I do however think that this is what killed PMS after I restarted the PMS service later that day. Have not found a solution since.
  2. Moved the /mnt/Movies and mnt/TV Shows shares from CIFS to NFS. I’ve noticed the error below today though so I’ve changed back to CIFS. GUI still not running correctly, unfortunately.

ERROR - Couldn’t check for the existence of file “/mnt/Movies/.grab”: boost::filesystem::status: Permission denied: “/mnt/Movies/.grab”

Because my guess is that the issue is in the second step (as GUI ran successfully after step 1, and step 3 is rolled back to original state), I checked to see where PMS settings are stored so I can edit it while GUI is offline. Seems to be in Preferences.xml, which by itself looks awfully clean compared to what I configured. Also noticed that permissions looked wrong, so did a chmod 777 (whilst PMS service was stopped). No change in there too, unfortunately.

Also tried connecting to PMS via app.plex.tv (instead of the bundled GUI) but because port 32400 is not listening at all for any inbound connections, the online GUI also cannot connect back to my PMS.

Connection requests from client (10.10.0.5) making it into the box on which PMS is running (10.10.4.6), and PMS responding, which is weird by itself because there is no socket open locally on IPv4/TCP4 if shown in netstat:

[root@plex Plex Media Server]# tcpdump -i ens160 'port 32400'
tcpdump: verbose output suppressed, use -v or -vv for full protocol decode
listening on ens160, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet), capture size 262144 bytes
20:18:19.012053 IP 10.10.0.5.60483 > 10.10.4.6.32400: Flags [S], seq 102296045, win 65535, options [mss 1460,nop,wscale 6,nop,nop,TS val 812714524 ecr 0,sackOK,eol], length 0
20:18:19.012075 IP 10.10.4.6.32400 > 10.10.0.5.60483: Flags [S.], seq 1113523644, ack 102296046, win 28960, options [mss 1460,sackOK,TS val 3206384 ecr 812714524,nop,wscale 7], length 0
20:18:19.012927 IP 10.10.0.5.60483 > 10.10.4.6.32400: Flags [.], ack 1, win 2058, options [nop,nop,TS val 812714525 ecr 3206384], length 0
20:18:19.012991 IP 10.10.0.5.60483 > 10.10.4.6.32400: Flags [P.], seq 1:518, ack 1, win 684, options [nop,nop,TS val 812714525 ecr 3206384], length 517
20:18:19.012997 IP 10.10.4.6.32400 > 10.10.0.5.60483: Flags [.], ack 518, win 235, options [nop,nop,TS val 3206385 ecr 812714525], length 0
20:18:19.013075 IP 10.10.4.6.32400 > 10.10.0.5.60483: Flags [F.], seq 1, ack 518, win 235, options [nop,nop,TS val 3206385 ecr 812714525], length 0
20:18:19.013907 IP 10.10.0.5.60483 > 10.10.4.6.32400: Flags [.], ack 2, win 752, options [nop,nop,TS val 812714525 ecr 3206385], length 0
20:18:19.013913 IP 10.10.0.5.60483 > 10.10.4.6.32400: Flags [F.], seq 518, ack 2, win 821, options [nop,nop,TS val 812714526 ecr 3206385], length 0
20:18:19.013916 IP 10.10.4.6.32400 > 10.10.0.5.60483: Flags [.], ack 519, win 235, options [nop,nop,TS val 3206386 ecr 812714526], length 0
20:18:27.198874 IP 10.10.0.5.60497 > 10.10.4.6.32400: Flags [S], seq 1420863808, win 65535, options [mss 1460,nop,wscale 6,nop,nop,TS val 812722815 ecr 0,sackOK,eol], length 0
20:18:27.198896 IP 10.10.4.6.32400 > 10.10.0.5.60497: Flags [S.], seq 49272545, ack 1420863809, win 28960, options [mss 1460,sackOK,TS val 3214571 ecr 812722815,nop,wscale 7], length 0
20:18:27.199722 IP 10.10.0.5.60497 > 10.10.4.6.32400: Flags [.], ack 1, win 2058, options [nop,nop,TS val 812722816 ecr 3214571], length 0
20:18:27.199951 IP 10.10.0.5.60497 > 10.10.4.6.32400: Flags [P.], seq 1:518, ack 1, win 684, options [nop,nop,TS val 812722816 ecr 3214571], length 517
20:18:27.199957 IP 10.10.4.6.32400 > 10.10.0.5.60497: Flags [.], ack 518, win 235, options [nop,nop,TS val 3214572 ecr 812722816], length 0
20:18:27.200019 IP 10.10.4.6.32400 > 10.10.0.5.60497: Flags [F.], seq 1, ack 518, win 235, options [nop,nop,TS val 3214572 ecr 812722816], length 0

Netstat showing that PMS GUI only appears to be running on IPv6:

[root@plex Plex Media Server]# netstat -ntlp | grep :324
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:32401         0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      3549/Plex Media Ser
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:32469           0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      3619/Plex DLNA Serv
tcp6       0      0 :::32400                :::*                    LISTEN      3549/Plex Media Ser

Awfully clean Preferences.xml:

[root@plex Plex Media Server]# cat Preferences.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Preferences OldestPreviousVersion="1.16.5.1554-1e5ff713d" MachineIdentifier="9625dbc2-9d84-462b-b3de-ab6a0d1293a2" ProcessedMachineIdentifier="688d3ccad4264c6c95a7400174a5e784bb4d78cf" AnonymousMachineIdentifier="a132d6d1-b356-4371-a3b3-9b0cba34d07e" MetricsEpoch="1"/>

[root@plex Plex Media Server]# ls -l Preferences.xml
-rwxrwxrwx. 1 plex plex 310 Sep  1 19:20 Preferences.xml

No logs in Plex Media Server.log that look relevant:

[root@plex Plex Media Server]# cat /mnt/Plex/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Logs/Plex\ Media\ Server.log | grep ":324"
Sep 01, 2019 19:55:14.071 [0x7f41abfff700] DEBUG - NetworkService: Setting up multicast listener on 0.0.0.0:32414
Sep 01, 2019 19:55:14.072 [0x7f41abfff700] DEBUG - NetworkService: Setting up multicast listener on 0.0.0.0:32410
Sep 01, 2019 19:55:14.072 [0x7f41abfff700] DEBUG - NetworkService: Setting up multicast listener on 0.0.0.0:32412
Sep 01, 2019 19:55:14.072 [0x7f41abfff700] DEBUG - NetworkService: Setting up multicast listener on 0.0.0.0:32413
Sep 01, 2019 19:55:15.500 [0x7f41a9ffb700] DEBUG - HTTP requesting POST https://plex.tv/devices/688d3ccad4264c6c95a7400174a5e784bb4d78cf/unclaimed?Connection[][uri]=http://10.10.4.6:32400&Connection[][uri]=http://10.10.10.6:32400
Sep 01, 2019 19:55:15.747 [0x7f41a9ffb700] DEBUG - HTTP 200 response from POST https://plex.tv/devices/688d3ccad4264c6c95a7400174a5e784bb4d78cf/unclaimed?Connection[][uri]=http://10.10.4.6:32400&Connection[][uri]=http://10.10.10.6:32400
Sep 01, 2019 19:55:17.508 [0x7f419cff9700] DEBUG - Downloading document http://127.0.0.1:32400/:/plugins/com.plexapp.agents.imdb/prefs
Sep 01, 2019 19:55:18.727 [0x7f419cff9700] DEBUG - Caching document http://127.0.0.1:32400/:/plugins/com.plexapp.agents.imdb/prefs as bf1bfc5622b4356c7f44ced8cdf69d934adf09c3
Sep 01, 2019 19:55:18.893 [0x7f41a97fa700] DEBUG - WebSocket: Performing handshake from origin http://127.0.0.1:32400
Sep 01, 2019 19:55:24.071 [0x7f41abfff700] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: Parsing SSDP schema for http://10.10.10.6:32469/DeviceDescription.xml
Sep 01, 2019 19:55:24.071 [0x7f41abfff700] DEBUG - HTTP requesting GET http://10.10.10.6:32469/DeviceDescription.xml
Sep 01, 2019 19:55:24.071 [0x7f41abfff700] DEBUG - HTTP 200 response from GET http://10.10.10.6:32469/DeviceDescription.xml
Sep 01, 2019 19:55:24.072 [0x7f41abfff700] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: found 1 SSDP devices via http://10.10.10.6:32469/DeviceDescription.xml
Sep 01, 2019 19:55:25.071 [0x7f41abfff700] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: Parsing SSDP schema for http://10.10.4.6:32469/DeviceDescription.xml
Sep 01, 2019 19:55:25.071 [0x7f41abfff700] DEBUG - HTTP requesting GET http://10.10.4.6:32469/DeviceDescription.xml
Sep 01, 2019 19:55:25.072 [0x7f41abfff700] DEBUG - HTTP 200 response from GET http://10.10.4.6:32469/DeviceDescription.xml
Sep 01, 2019 19:55:25.072 [0x7f41abfff700] DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: found 1 SSDP devices via http://10.10.4.6:32469/DeviceDescription.xml

Plex service running

[root@plex Plex Media Server]# service plexmediaserver status
Redirecting to /bin/systemctl status plexmediaserver.service
● plexmediaserver.service - Plex Media Server
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
  Drop-In: /etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.d
           └─override.conf
   Active: active (running) since Sun 2019-09-01 19:55:12 CEST; 15min ago
 Main PID: 3549 (Plex Media Serv)
   CGroup: /system.slice/plexmediaserver.service
           ├─3549 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Server
           ├─3572 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.system] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-1e5ff713d/Framework.bundle/Contents/Resources/Versions/2/Python/bootstrap.py --server-version 1.16.5.1554-1e5ff713d /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Res...
           ├─3618 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Tuner Service /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Tuner/Private /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Tuner/Shared 1.16.5.1554-1e5ff713d 32600 /waitmutex
           ├─3619 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex DLNA Server
           ├─3662 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.plugins.trakttv] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-1e5ff713d/Framework.bundle/Contents/Resources/Versions/2/Python/bootstrap.py --server-version 1.16.5.1554-1e5ff713d /mnt/Plex/Library/A...
           └─3699 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.agents.imdb] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-1e5ff713d/Framework.bundle/Contents/Resources/Versions/2/Python/bootstrap.py --server-version 1.16.5.1554-1e5ff713d /usr/lib/plexmediaserve...

Sep 01 19:55:12 plex systemd[1]: Started Plex Media Server.
Sep 01 19:55:25 plex Plex Tuner Serv[3618]: Plex Tuner Service: Critical: libusb_init failed

[root@plex Plex Media Server]# ps aux | grep Plex
plex       3549  0.1  1.3 1022348 50968 ?       Ssl  19:55   0:01 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Server
plex       3572  0.2  1.2 918612 49028 ?        SNl  19:55   0:02 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.system] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-1e5ff713d/Framework.bundle/Contents/Resources/Versions/2/Python/bootstrap.py --server-version 1.16.5.1554-1e5ff713d /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-1e5ff713d/System.bundle
plex       3618  0.0  0.2 542028 10720 ?        Sl   19:55   0:00 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Tuner Service /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Tuner/Private /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Tuner/Shared 1.16.5.1554-1e5ff713d 32600 /waitmutex
plex       3619  0.0  0.4 886752 17100 ?        Sl   19:55   0:00 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex DLNA Server
plex       3662  6.1  4.1 1032004 160240 ?      Sl   19:55   0:59 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.plugins.trakttv] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-1e5ff713d/Framework.bundle/Contents/Resources/Versions/2/Python/bootstrap.py --server-version 1.16.5.1554-1e5ff713d /mnt/Plex/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plug-ins/Trakttv.bundle
plex       3699  0.1  1.1 861412 44048 ?        Sl   19:55   0:01 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.agents.imdb] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-1e5ff713d/Framework.bundle/Contents/Resources/Versions/2/Python/bootstrap.py --server-version 1.16.5.1554-1e5ff713d /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-1e5ff713d/PlexMovie.bundle

Do you happen to have any suggestions for me to look in to? Thank you in advance.

2

You have several issues here.

  1. Running PMS’s metadata over NFS isn’t supported. If you know exactly what you’re doing, and it works, great. The problem you face is file locking. PMS requires file locking for the DB. If you don’t have that, it corrupts the DB and will fail transcoding.

  2. You need give user plex from the server side, permission to access /mnt/Movies/.grab on the NFS server side. Easiest method is to create a username plex on the NFS server system and grant access. It is strongly recommended to:
    a. Directory permissions of 755 for the owner (you for your media, plex for its metadata),
    b. File permissions of 644, similarly.

3

Dear @ChuckPa ,

Thank you for your prompt response.

  1. If NFS isn’t supported, is SMB or any other remote file system protocol supported? My main issue could indeed be in this corner. I’ve stopped the service, changed my mount to SMB, but now the service is failing to start again.
ep 01 21:01:29 plex polkitd[809]: Registered Authentication Agent for unix-process:12409:51952 (system bus name :1.34 [/usr/bin/pkttyagent --notify-fd 5 --fallback], object path /org/freedesktop/PolicyKit1/AuthenticationAgent, locale en_US.UTF-8)
Sep 01 21:01:29 plex systemd[1]: Started Plex Media Server.
-- Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has finished start-up
-- Unit plexmediaserver.service has finished starting up.
Sep 01 21:01:29 plex polkitd[809]: Unregistered Authentication Agent for unix-process:12409:51952 (system bus name :1.34, object path /org/freedesktop/PolicyKit1/AuthenticationAgent, locale en_US.UTF-8) (disconnected from bus)
Sep 01 21:01:29 plex systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: main process exited, code=exited, status=255/n/a
Sep 01 21:01:29 plex systemd[1]: Unit plexmediaserver.service entered failed state.
Sep 01 21:01:29 plex systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service failed.
Sep 01 21:01:34 plex systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service holdoff time over, scheduling restart.
Sep 01 21:01:34 plex systemd[1]: Stopped Plex Media Server.
-- Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has finished shutting down
-- Unit plexmediaserver.service has finished shutting down.
Sep 01 21:01:34 plex systemd[1]: Started Plex Media Server.
-- Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has finished start-up
-- Unit plexmediaserver.service has finished starting up.
Sep 01 21:01:34 plex systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: main process exited, code=exited, status=255/n/a
Sep 01 21:01:34 plex systemd[1]: Unit plexmediaserver.service entered failed state.
Sep 01 21:01:34 plex systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service failed.

Relevant information:

[root@plex mnt]# cat /etc/fstab
//synology.kaag.nl/Plex /mnt/Plex cifs auto,rw,user,username=remote-plex,password=lalalala,uid=997,gid=995 0 0

[root@plex mnt]# sudo su - plex
Last login: Sun Sep  1 20:56:55 CEST 2019 on pts/0

$ id
uid=997(plex) gid=995(plex) groups=995(plex),39(video) context=unconfined_u:unconfined_r:unconfined_t:s0-s0:c0.c1023

$ ls -l /mnt/Plex/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/
total 4
drwxr-xr-x. 2 plex plex   0 Sep  1 20:46 Cache
drwxr-xr-x. 2 plex plex   0 Aug 31 18:35 Codecs
drwxr-xr-x. 2 plex plex   0 Aug 31 17:39 Crash Reports
drwxr-xr-x. 2 plex plex   0 Jan 24  2019 Diagnostics
drwxr-xr-x. 2 plex plex   0 Sep  1 20:46 Logs
drwxr-xr-x. 2 plex plex   0 Jan 21  2019 Media
drwxr-xr-x. 2 plex plex   0 Feb  3  2019 Media Upload
drwxr-xr-x. 2 plex plex   0 Aug 31 17:39 Metadata
drwxr-xr-x. 2 plex plex   0 Jan 22  2019 Plug-ins
drwxr-xr-x. 2 plex plex   0 Jan 21  2019 Plug-in Support
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 plex plex 310 Sep  1 19:20 Preferences.xml
  1. Permissions seemed okay yesterday when moving to NFS. At first I could not get the plexmediaserver-service to start at all. Then did sudo su - plex and tried cd'ing into /mnt/Plex which was failing. This lead me to permissions. After chmod/chown the service started and I could reach the GUI. This might’ve been luck up until the point Plex needed locking, as you pointed out, which brings us back to your first bullet.
4

While Network share mounting of the library isn’t supported, — I didn’t say you can’t make it work if you know what you’re doing and willing to accept the responsibility. Deal? :wink:

  1. Add a username and groupname (plex:plex) on the NFS server
  2. Hand tweak the UIG/GID to match
  3. remount the NFS partition with three additional options:
    a. sec=sys
    b. local_lock=posix
    c. vers=4
  4. set/reset all UID/GID’s to match if/as needed.
5

Dear Chuck,

I’ve done the following:

  1. Stop the plexmediaserver service and unmounted the CIFS share:
service plexmediaserver stop
umount /mnt/Plex/

  1. Create plex user on NFS (in my case a Synology NAS, so did it through the GUI)

  2. Get UID and GID of the newly created plex user on NFS server (Synology NAS):

$ cat /etc/passwd | grep plex
plex:x:1048:100::/var/services/homes/plex:/sbin/nologin
  1. Modify UID and GID on the PMS host:
$ usermod -u 1048 plex
$ usermod -G users plex (because group users already existed locally and has GID 100)
  1. Prepare PMS host for NFSv4 client (not sure if necessary, found out NFSv4 was disabled server-side and the mount.nfs4: Protocol not supported leaded me to believe this was a local issue, whilst it was likely (a combination of) a server issue.
yum install rpcbind nfs-utils nfs4-acl-tools -y
systemctl start rpcbind nfs-idmap
systemctl enable rpcbind nfs-idmap
  1. Enable NFSv4 in NFS Server (which in my case was a button in the Synology GUI). Double checked via CLI:
root@synology:~# nfsstat -o all | grep v4
Server nfs v4:
Server nfs v4 operations:
  1. Modify the mount in /etc/fstab/:
synology.kaag.nl:/volume1/Plex /mnt/Plex nfs4 sec=sys,local_lock=posix 0 0
  1. From the PMS host, mount the share and adjust the permissions in the mount (took a while, but is expected on 80GB+ directory with many recursive directories):
$ mount /mnt/Plex
$ chown 1048:100 -R /mnt/Plex/
$ find /mnt/Plex -type d -exec chmod 0755 {} \;
$ find /mnt/Plex -type f -exec chmod 0644 {} \;
  1. Start the PMS service again:
[root@plex /]# service plexmediaserver start
Redirecting to /bin/systemctl start plexmediaserver.service
[root@plex /]# service plexmediaserver status
Redirecting to /bin/systemctl status plexmediaserver.service
● plexmediaserver.service - Plex Media Server
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
  Drop-In: /etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.d
           └─override.conf
   Active: active (running) since Sun 2019-09-01 22:12:30 CEST; 14s ago
 Main PID: 115715 (Plex Media Serv)
   CGroup: /system.slice/plexmediaserver.service
           ├─115715 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Server
           ├─115738 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.system] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-1e5ff713d/Framework.bundle/Contents/Resources/Versions/2/Python/bootstrap.py --server-version 1.16.5.1554-1e5ff713d /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/R...
           ├─115785 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Tuner Service /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Tuner/Private /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Tuner/Shared 1.16.5.1554-1e5ff713d 32600 /waitmutex
           ├─115786 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex DLNA Server
           └─115827 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.plugins.trakttv] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-1e5ff713d/Framework.bundle/Contents/Resources/Versions/2/Python/bootstrap.py --server-version 1.16.5.1554-1e5ff713d /mnt/Plex/Library...

Sep 01 22:12:30 plex systemd[1]: Started Plex Media Server.
Sep 01 22:12:43 plex Plex Tuner Serv[115785]: Plex Tuner Service: Critical: libusb_init failed
  1. Connecting to the GUI still is not working and netstat does not report having a socket for port 32400 on IPv4/TCP4:
[root@plex /]# netstat -ntlp | grep :32400
tcp6       0      0 :::32400                :::*                    LISTEN      115715/Plex Media S
6

Please make a tar.gz of the entire Logs directory and attach.

Something major isn’t right.

7

Is it OK to DM you the .tar.gz files?

8

Check DM

9

@Rowan_Kaag were you able to solve the tcp6 no socket issue?

10

In the end I decided to build my Plex server from scratch - Chuck and I did some sparring but couldn’t find the issue and/or if it was linked to PMS. I had backed up my Plex directory so all settings were the same on clean install and that worked.

11

@Rowan_Kaag I did the same.
I went from Ubuntu 18.04 to 16.04, reinstalled plex and done.
Everything worked without an issue.
Perhaps a 18.04 reinstall would’ve done the same but as I have read many people struggling with 18.04 and plex I decided to, for now settle on 16.04.

Thanks anyhow!

12

Nothing like a little healthy sparring to keep us all on our toes :smiley:

I was informed PMS listens to both IPV4 and V6 on the same open socket.

13

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