Plex server goes wild, consumes all memory then stops (database corruption?)

[adefaria]

Server Version#: 1.24.1.4931
Player Version#: 4.59.2

I updated my Synology Plex server to DSM 7.x. The update went fine and for about a month I’ve had no issues. Recently, however, the Plex server has been acting erratically. Basic symptoms are that a lot of activity is happening like suddenly it goes out and is updating metadata or generating thumbnails, etc. This is in the middle of the day whereas I have these scheduled tasks to operate between midnight and about 5 Am. In the past when 5 Am rolled around the activity dies down as it should.

Aside from being busy, the Plex server starts consuming more and more memory until DSM notices it and kills it. Sometimes the Plex server finishes whatever it was doing and returns the memory. Needless to say, this is extremely interruptive to my users and to me. Trying to watch something from the Plex server sometimes results in the warning that it cannot connect securely or it just saying it can’t connect to it at all.

Sometimes I can stop and start the Plex server and it recovers. One time I had to restart DSM which I hate doing!

Right now the Plex server is working hard on gathering metadata. How can I get it to stop?

I’ve tried Troubleshooting and managed to “Clean Bundles” once but when I tried to optimize the database, Plex went off working and working, consumed all memory then died. Right now I can’t get to the server settings, it says Server settings are unavailable.

Here’s a performance monitor on Synology indicting the growth in memory

In the past, I tried turning off all scheduled tasks but now I can’t even get to the server settings. Eventually, the Plex server became non-responsive so I stopped it and restarted it. Upon coming back up I was able to get to the server settings and I collected the logs (attached).

Plex Media Server Logs_2021-08-24_12-52-30.zip (1.2 MB)

Thinking there may be some corruption of some sort in the database I looked at https://support.plex.tv/articles/202915258-where-is-the-plex-media-server-data-directory-located/. For Synology, they say /volume1/Plex/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server but I have no “Plex Media Server” directory under Application Support - I only have a Cache directory:

Jupiter:ll /volume1/Plex/Library/Application\ Support/
total 0
drwxrwxrwx+ 1 plex users 10 Aug 4 20:21 ./
drwxrwxrwx+ 1 plex users 38 Sep 21 2020 ../
drwxrwxrwx+ 1 1026 users 318 Sep 22 2020 Cache/
Jupiter:

Apparently, it’s now located under /volume1/@apphome/PlexMediaServer/Plex Media Server/Plug-in Support/Databases/.

Interestingly, there are several dated databases there (2021-08-13, 2021-08-16, 2021-08-19, and then 2021-08-22). All of the databases are around 600 - 900 Meg. The 2021-08-22 one however jumps to 3.7 Gig and the current database is 5.5 Gig. Seems like corruption to me.

Running the integrity check as described on https://support.plex.tv/articles/repair-a-corrupted-database/. It’s taking forever.

I will attempt a recovery next but it seems to me like simply removing the large, corrupted databases and putting the more normal-sized 2021-08-19 database in place would be a better solution.

OK so I ran the recovery and all I got was “SQL error: database or disk is full”. Needless to say, the disk was not full.

Tried the SQL dump method. Dumped out a large file. Tied the import. The new database size was ~4.3 gig. started Plex server and it immediately started consuming memory. Got to around 92-94% of my memory while I watched an episode for about 1 hr 20 minutes. I expected what I was watching to freeze but it never did. Instead, the Plex server eventually gave back most of the memory. Looked at the database size and it grew to 5.3 Gig. Continued to monitor it and eventually, it went off getting metadata for one movie, got halfway there, and pretty much froze as the memory again got eaten away up to around 94%. Eventually, Plex browser tabs stopped responding and my Synology complains saying it killed Plex due to lack of memory. It didn’t actually kill it but I stopped it by hand.

At this point, I move the database aside and fired up the Plex server again. Now it created a tiny database but going to a Plex web page showed no libraries fo my server. I was prepared for this as I had jotted down the configuration of all of my libraries and I’ve been recreating my libraries. Plex is now rightfully rebuilding the database by getting metadata and detecting intros and the like. What a bother! And I apparently lost any indication of which movies and episodes I have previously watched. Great!

This will likely take days to re-index the database and now I’ve lost my place in all of the stuff I’ve previously watched. Way to go guys.

[ChuckPa]

@adefaria

I updated my Synology Plex server to DSM 7.x. The update went fine and for about a month I’ve had no issues.

Please confirm this for me?

1. When you upgraded to DSM 7, did you “Repair” Plex or did you do the documented Uninstall & Reinstall of the SPK downloaded from Plex.tv ?

2. From what you show above, it looks like a good portion , if not all, got left behind in the Plex share ( what happens when Repair is used )

3. Does this look familiar ?

DSM 7 - Plex Media Server - Release Info & Migration instructions

Plex Media Server for Synology DSM 7 - Release This document is to share changes made with DSM 7 and resolve any unforeseen issues before you attempt migrating to DSM 7 for Plex use YOU ARE URGED TO READ THIS THREAD COMPLETELY BEFORE PROCEEDING OR ASKING QUESTIONS DO NOT INSTALL Synology BETA software UNLESS INSTRUCTED. This thread is a LIVING document. Expect it to change. Synology’s DiskStation Manager (DSM) has undergone significant changes in version 7.0. Many of those changes affected …

[adefaria]

I don’t recall using any Repair option. I do remember having to grant some permissions and it complaining about where to put logs. I’m confused by the usage of the term “Plex Share”. I’m not “sharing” anything ('cept through NFS). Do you mean simply the storage pool that the Plex data resides at? I have but two storage pools, one with everything on it (volume1) and one with a small, extra 500 Gig drive in volume2. Pretty much nothing is on volume2.

I guess one question is where should my “Plex share” be? Where should my logs be? (OK 2 questions - alright, one more) How would I get them to their proper places if they are not where they are supposed to be?

I may have tried to install Plex from the package center until I realized that that didn’t work and downloaded the correct package from plex.tv/downloads. Maybe I did a repair there?

From the time I re-installed PMS (about a month ago), things were fine until about a week ago when the database seemed corrupted.

PMS has been busy all night and day apparently re-cataloging, detecting intros, and generating thumbnails. Slowly my library seems to be getting updated. But it’s odd. I’ll open a Plex tab in Chrome and I’ll see no activity indicator at all. I’ll open on in a Firefox tab and I’ll see activity. There are times when I want to stop the activity and they say go to my Movies library and re-scan the library files because it has not found all of them yet. But I can’t see a way to interrupt what PMS is doing to focus it to process the Movies library.

Oh, wanted to mention that my database has been growing but is on the smallish size of about 366 Meg, not 5.5 Gig, so that’s good. I guess I’ll just let Plex continue to catalog stuff, detect intros, and the like until it finishes. That is unless you think I should do some maintenance like move things around from the Plex share or logging locations.

[ChuckPa]

I’m sorry “Plex” share – as in “Shared Folder named ‘Plex’”.

It used to reside on the first storage volume defined on the NAS.
Now, in DSM 7, we don’t use it (“Plex” shared folder) anymore.

You realizing to now download the now-broken beta version from Package Center was a good decision. It saved problems.

Making sure the NAS is running and the Scheduled Tasks run interval is set a little longer than normal will let it rebuild everything sooner.

I have a question:

@adefaria

I guess I’ll just let Plex continue to catalog stuff, detect intros, and the like until it finishes. That is unless you think I should do some maintenance like move things around from the Plex share or logging locations.

Here you reference the “Plex share” and “move things around”.

Do you have your media stored in there?

[adefaria]

First I want to acknowledge ChuckPa, that you are always helpful and knowledgeable. Keep up the good work! I, for one, really appreciate it.

I guess I’m old school but when I hear “shared folder” I think of a directory that you can share over the network to another machine. Think NFS or perhaps SMB (SMB isn’t allowed in my house - everything’s Linux and NFS). To my knowledge I’ve shared nothing, 'cept through NFS. Here is my /etc/exports

Wizard Jupiter:\more /etc/exports
/volume1/homes 192.168.0.0/24(rw,async,no_wdelay,no_root_squash,insecure_locks,sec=sys,anonuid=1025,anongid=100)
/volume1/System 192.168.0.0/24(rw,async,no_wdelay,no_root_squash,insecure_locks,sec=sys,anonuid=1025,anongid=100)
/volume1/Media 192.168.0.0/24(rw,async,no_wdelay,no_root_squash,insecure_locks,sec=sys,anonuid=1025,anongid=100)
/downloads/ 192.168.0.0/24(rw,async,no_wdelay,no_root_squash,insecure_locks,sec=sys,anonuid=1025,anon
gid=100)
Wizard Jupiter:

In Synology’s Storage Manager I see:

As I said, volume1 has everything (26.2 TB) and volume2 has just about nothing (17.1 Meg). So if there is a Plex share it’s on volume1.

Here’s what File Station reports:

The vast majority of space is under Media which has my videos, music, and pictures. I don’t use NetBackup and can probably remove it. System I use for system things like ISO images, software and VMs, etc. Don’t know what web and web_packages are…

If I look at the properties of Plex/Library I find it pretty much empty except for cache:

Can I safely remove that?

I’ve re-enabled all scheduled tasks and the normal execution time I have configured is from midnight to 5 am. However, these activities are happening right now. I can hear the disk drives flying aorund and if I go to the Plex web app in Firefox I see activity. Strangely if I go to the Plex web app in Brave I don’t see activity.

As I said, I’m gonna let this continue to re-catalog everything. The database size is still staying around 366 meg, the Plex server is no longer consuming vast amounts of memory but it is keeping the CPUs very busy. As it is mostly detecting intros I would think that that is a CPU and disk intensive activity but probably doesn’t grow the database much as pretty much the only update would probably be start/end time of intros which would be a small update to the tables.

[ChuckPa]

1. Yes. you can remove Plex/Library/Application Support/Cache. I don’t know where it came from (must be some weird plug-in) but I don’t track that.

2. Did you tweak something to cause that?

3. Database itself should be < 1 GB. Metadata can grow (obviously) due to video thumbnails etc

[adefaria]

No weird plugin that I know of. Meantime I moved /volume1/Plex → /volume1/Plex.save. Will delete that later.

As I said, my database was at around 700 meg before then shot up to 3 gig and then to 5.5 gig. Surely it was corrupted.

[adefaria]

This is why I moved it aside rather than delete it. You said I could remove the Cache folder but I instead moved /volume1/Plex → /volume1/Plex.save since there were only directories from there down to Cache. Just now I received:

SYSTEM: System failed to export shared folder [Plex] configurations due to folder [/volume1/Plex] missing on filesystem. Please reboot and try again.

Apparently, I am using this /volume1/Plex “share” (again why it’s called share makes no sense to me as I’m not sharing it anywhere that I know of), So I moved it back from Plex.save → Plex. I didn’t reboot, however.

Is there a reason why this is being used? Should I change things so this is not being used? If so, how?

I looked through the Plex server settings and the only thing I could find relating to a path was Backup Directory which is set to /volume1/@apphome/PlexMediaServer/Plex Media Server/Plug-in Support/Databases, and whose path does exist.

[iSAWaUFO1]

I have noticed, recently, what seems like a memory leak in the Plex Server process. I suspect this may have developed with a recent update. I update the service whenever a new version comes out.

I’m still running Synology DMS 6.2.4 and Plex Server version is 1.24.1.4931 (same up-to-date version). My server has 8G of RAM.

Over the course of about a week the file server starts bogging down with file server responsiveness. I run ‘top’ and see the Plex Server consuming ~ 40% of available RAM, so I stop/start the Plex service and it goes down to a reasonable memory size and all is good for another week.

My /volume1/Plex/Library folder size is ~ 24GB

After restarting the Plex Service (not rebooting)

[adefaria]

It could be similar to my problem. Check that your database has not grown a lot in a short time. According to ChuckPa, it should not grow bigger than 1 gig. The current size of my database is ~400M and I have a pretty large library. I’m running on Synology and my databases are in /volume1/@apphome/PlexMediaServer/Plex Media Server/Plug-in Support/Databases. I do have a /volume1/Plex/Library directory but all it has in it is an “Application Support” directory and under that a Cache directory. As I understand it this can be removed. I did move /volume1/Plex aside but then got the error described above. Now I’ve moved just the Cache directory by renaming it to Cache.save. We’ll see if it complains about that.

You may be seeing this problem weekly because some scheduled task is set to run every week or so. I believe if you go into your server settings under Troubleshooting and attempt to Optimize Database that’ll trigger the PMS to start going wild. If that’s the case it could very well be that your database is corrupted and this problem will persist.

I’ve tried several things listed above but ultimately I had to remove the current database then suffer through about 10 days of constant hammering on my Synology as the database got rebuilt and finally, all of my stuff got re-indexed and working again. This messed up most of my tracking between PMS and Tautulli and a number of training videos I downloaded lost their custom poster images and renaming of episodes. I still need to fix that.

Oh and Plex’s Dashboard fails to show correct Play History. For example, Play History show Movies 0 seconds and TV 6 seconds even though I’ve watched several full-length movies and TV shows. And I am viewing full history, all users, all time, etc. How can I fix this?

Still waiting to see if ChuckPa answers the questions I’ve posed above.

[ChuckPa]

@adefaria

SYSTEM: System failed to export shared folder [Plex] configurations due to folder [/volume1/Plex] missing on filesystem. Please reboot and try again.

Where did this message come from? It’s nothing I print.

DSM 6 uses the Plex shared folder.
DSM 7 , with initial packaging, uses the Synology internal storage.
DSM 7, with new packaging as of 1.24.2.4973, uses the new PlexMediaServer shared folder.

Regarding the Backup directory: that should change with PMS as it moved from Internal storage to the PlexMediaServer shared folder – unless it was manually entered.

I will look at that.

PS: I’m sorrry I didn’t see your message until now. Forum burped (again) and failed to notify me.

[adefaria]

I believe this message was from Synology’s notification mechanism itself. Ah, OK. I see it in Synology’s Log Center under Logs.

Still confused about the usage of the word Shared in the phrase Shared Folder so let me ask some more questions

1. What is a shared folder?
2. How do I list or otherwise identify a shared folder from a non-shared folder?
3. How do I create/delete/rename/move shared folders?
4. How do I tell if my PMS is set up to use the new PlexMediaServer shared folder? I’m assuming this is the correct way to be configured.

On my Synology, I have a /volume1/Plex/Library/Application Support/Cache directory that I renamed to Cache.save for now. I also have a /volume1/Plex/[at sign]eaDir that I renamed to [at sign]eaDir.save. I moved them aside to see if the system was complaining about those folders or just didn’t like me renaming /volume1/Plex → Plex.save. Is /volume1/Plex the PlexMediaServer shared folder?

I also have, under /volume1 several [at sign]directories (Synology seems to love these things that start with [at sign]) including [at sign]appdata and [at sign]apphome. Both [at sign]appdata and [at sign]apphome have a PlexMediaServer directory and a “Plex Media Server” directory. Under <[at sign]appdata, both of these subdirectories are empty. Under [at sign]apphome the “Plex Media Server” subdirectory is empty but the PlexMediaServer directory has stuff like Cache, Codecs,… Plug-in Support, etc… This is where I find my database among other things.

More questions:

1. Am I properly configured? How do I verify this?
2. What’s with all the empty directories? Can they be removed? Should they be removed?
3. What’s with the Plex Media Server directory as 3 words with spaces and the same directory with no spaces? Seems like this was intentional but when going to the new style the old style was not cleaned up.
4. Does any of this seem like it may be causing my problem with Play History?

Sorry for all the questions @ChuckPa I just want to get this cleaned up and properly configured.

[ChuckPa]

To answer your questions (best I can)

1. [/volume1/Plex]. The shared folder was renamed / moved/ deleted / lost (abrupt power off) before DSM 7 itself could remove the entry from the rest of the configuration.

2. The Synology is a network appliance. Its purpose is to store files and then make those files available to any computer(s) which want and are authorized (security is enforced).

3. The term “shared folder” comes from the concept:
   a. It’s a folder (directory) on the file system
   b. I want to make it available (share) with other computers

4. Since the Synology’s sole purpose is to hold the data, it’s only means to SHARE that with other computers is to have “Shared Folders”.

5. Management of shared folders is done in the Control Panel - Shared Folders applet.

6. Any directory with @ in the beginning of it is hidden (how they like to hide stuff)

7. @appXXXXX are all the DSM 7-specific application directories where the apps themselves and their data is stored. If you go poking in there and delete things, you’ll damage the app(s).

8. @apphome/Plex Media Server was created when DSM 7 was installed with the DSM 6 Plex app still installed and “Repair” attempted. You can remove that now if you wish

9. @apphome/PlexMediaServer is REQUIRED. It will be empty. That’s like having C:\Users\Chuck (IIRC) on windows whether you use it or not. It’s your “home” directory.

10. @apphome/PlexMediaServer is where PMS used to be until I released the changes for 1.24.2.4973 to use the PlexMediaServer shared folder. Whether it’s valid (all your data) or only partial is unknown. The amount of space in use will give a good indication. If only a few MB – then it’s most likely nothing and can be erased.

11. Your system is setup to use the new “PlexMediaServer” shared folder IFF you are using PMS 1.24.2.4973 or higher. I am the engineer & developer who writes & maintains that. The shared folder was released to everyone as of PMS 1.24.2.4973. It had been in Forum Preview for some time prior to that.

12. Lastly, Please don’t poke around in “PlexMediaServer”. DSM 7 is fragile and, unless skilled in Linux, it’ll get broken… which leads to frustration… which leads to it all getting before asking for help

Rule of thumb:

1. Don’t delete from @apphome, @appstore, @apptemp without direction or you fully understand how Synology implements everything.

2. We’re here to answer questions and help. When in doubt? ASK

[ChuckPa]

@iSAWaUFO1

Are you running extra Plug-ins ?

[adefaria]

No extra Plug-ins that I know about. I mean I’m running things like Sonarr, Tautulli, Deluge, etc. I believe I have a plugin for removing files after Deluge downloads it, but I think you mean plugins for Plex. The Plugins page for the Plex server says no plugins.

[ChuckPa]

@adefaria

I can’t think of what would drive it absolutely nuts unless it was trying to process a badly damaged video file.

I have a QA library with 340,000 entries added to my normal library (some 25000 items indexed) and it it’s sitting at 1.6GB of memory usage

[adefaria]

@ChuckPa

To answer your questions (best I can)

1. [/volume1/Plex]. The shared folder was renamed / moved/ deleted / lost (abrupt power off) before DSM 7 itself could remove the entry from the rest of the configuration.

I think you mean I can remove this folder. But when I tried I got that error in the system log. This worries me in that something is using it potentially meaning I still have something wrongly configured.

1. The Synology is a network appliance. Its purpose is to store files and then make those files available to any computer(s) which want and are authorized (security is enforced).

2. The term “shared folder” comes from the concept:
   a. It’s a folder (directory) on the file system
   b. I want to make it available (share) with other computers

3. Since the Synology’s sole purpose is to hold the data, it’s only means to SHARE that with other computers is to have “Shared Folders”.

I don’t agree that Synology’s whole purpose is to share files. There are a number of processes and Docker containers I run that really share no files rather they get files. They also provide a web interface. Other examples include Sonarr, Radarr, and even things like Nextcloud.

That aside as I’m sure you understand that, the main way I share files is with NFS. I run all Linux at home. On my Linux machines I NFS mount things like my Videos, Music, Pictures to my other Linux machines. I’m not sure about this Control Panel > Share thing. I mean how do I access these shared folders if not with NFS (SMB? Blah! Too slow/chatty). I just configured /etc/exports to export those directories I wished to share to my Linux boxes and adjusted /etc/fstab on them to mount the directories. Thus now my Videos, Pictures, Music is available through Plex as well as on each of my Linux boxes. It’s a nice setup.

4. Management of shared folders is done in the Control Panel - Shared Folders applet.

I do have a Plex shared folder listed in Control Panel - Shared Folders. I cannot tell what its full path is. It says it’s 1.86 gig and /volume1/Plex is also that size. Should I delete this from the Shared Folders?

5. Any directory with @ in the beginning of it is hidden (how they like to hide stuff)

6. @appXXXXX are all the DSM 7-specific application directories where the apps themselves and their data is stored. If you go poking in there and delete things, you’ll damage the app(s).

I thought those ‘@directories’ were sorta like dot files and meant to be hidden. Wonder why they didn’t just use “.”…

7. @apphome/Plex Media Server was created when DSM 7 was installed with the DSM 6 Plex app still installed and “Repair” attempted. You can remove that now if you wish

Removed.

8. @apphome/PlexMediaServer is REQUIRED. It will be empty. That’s like having C:\Users\Chuck (IIRC) on windows whether you use it or not. It’s your “home” directory.

I do have ‘/volume1/@apphome/PlexMediaServer’ and it is NOT empty. It contains another subdirectory named “Plex Media Server”. Under that are all kinds of data! Why did you say it will be empty?

8. @apphome/PlexMediaServer is where PMS used to be until I released the changes for 1.24.2.4973 to use the PlexMediaServer shared folder. Whether it’s valid (all your data) or only partial is unknown. The amount of space in use will give a good indication. If only a few MB – then it’s most likely nothing and can be erased.

Note: My PMS version is 1.24.1.4931. This might explain things…

9. Your system is setup to use the new “PlexMediaServer” shared folder IFF you are using PMS 1.24.2.4973 or higher. I am the engineer & developer who writes & maintains that. The shared folder was released to everyone as of PMS 1.24.2.4973. It had been in Forum Preview for some time prior to that.

Well apparently my PMS server is not up to that version yet assuming version numbers go up in value. Odd as you know I had to download the PMS from Plex.tv as the Synology way of doing it is not supported. Should I be moving to 1.24.2.4973? If so how?

So, to recap a little:

1. Control Panel > Shared Folders does have one named Plex but it is unclear if that is associated with /volume1/Plex or ‘/volume1/@apphome/PlexMediaServer’. I think it’s associated with the former because of size.

2. /volume1/Plex seems to be being used by something. It is unclear to me if I should remove it from Control Panel > Shared Folders and then perhaps set up a new one when 1.24.2.4973 arrives at DSM 7.x.

12. Lastly, Please don’t poke around in “PlexMediaServer”. DSM 7 is fragile and, unless skilled in Linux, it’ll get broken… which leads to frustration… which leads to it all getting before asking for help

I am well skilled in Linux. What I don’t necessarily have experience with are some of Synology’s deviations and assumptions like these ‘@directories’

[ChuckPa]

1. You probably need Synology’s assistance to fix that. I am not versed in the internal database which maintains the shared folders lists.

2. What do you think “NAS” stands for? Network Accessible Storage. That’s its primary purpose. Running apps on it happens to be a nice benefit. There are vendors who do not allow users to install apps. “Primary” versus “Whole” - Not worth debating.

3. There are multiple protocols one can use to share files. To name a few, all of which any Linux machine can do with ease -
   a. NFS
   b. SMB
   c. FTP
   d. SSH

4. /volume1/Plex – If you can confirm there is nothing of value in there – Go to Control Panel - Shared Folders - DELETE it.

5. I don’t know why they chose @. Maybe you can ask in their forums or in a Support ticket ?

6. IMPORTANT

7. You have data in /volume1/@apphome/PlexMediaServer ? How much space (since you jumped in and are mucking about in the shell) ? If it’s more than a few MB then you might have a live server there.

8. PMS 1.24.2.4973 MOVED those files from @apphome to the new PlexMediaServer (no spaces) shared folder – FOR THE PRIMARY PURPOSE of making backups easier.

Have you had time to review my release notes?

DSM 7 - Finalized Configuration (PMS 1.24.2.4973) - Release information

DSM 7 - Finalized Configuration (Packaging 2.0) - Release Information See below for updates Since DSM 7.0-41890 finalized, I’ve had time to digest everyone’s input as well as review what we ultimately ended up with in DSM 7.0 Looking at all the issues faced, there was one overriding problem which could not be solved – Plex’s data was not accessible from the GUI or other Synology tools such as Hyper Backup. An important issue for most was the data area could not be moved. It took some t…

Lastly, you might be well skilled in Linux. I’ve been doing it for 40+ years. It still took me almost a year to get Synology so it would work for everyone.

I’m not here to measure but please do respect how I designed and implemented it?
It’s clear that you don’t understand Synology mentality.

I will teach you if you want to learn but here in the forum, in this thread, isn’t the right place for it.

[adefaria]

I first want to say that I sense that I may have annoyed and I want to apologize if you took it that way. I in no way meant to insult. I like you. You give great advice but sometimes things don’t come across as easily in forums and prose as they do face to face. So again, sorry if I made you angry.

As for not understanding the Synology mentality you are 100% right. I, as a fellow grey beard, assume that things are relatively like the old Unix’s and Linux’s you and I both enjoy working with. I only suspect deviances from the “norm” when made aware of them. I had a contract recently in which the client used Solaris. Now I cut my teeth on HP_UX having been at HP for 10 years back in the day. Us HPer’s didn’t like them that Sun’s and visa versa! And I had worked with Solaris briefly back in the '90s. Yes, they were different, but not wildly so. Fast forward to the 2010s and with another brush with Solaris, now 10x or 5.10 or whatever, they changed a lot of stuff WRT system admin. In the old days and most days since, if you want to change stuff about nameservers you simply edit /etc/resolv.conf. But not on Solaris 5.10! No there was a whole array of new sysctl type commands, only on Solaris, that you executed to “modify /etc/resolv.conf”. But to Oracle/Solaris engineers credit, they at least added comments to /etc/resolv.conf saying “Don’t edit this file by hand. Use sysctl command to make modifications”. Now if Synology did that, my poking around at text-based config files every sysadmin knows would have pointed me in the proper direction to learn the new-fangled way to do something cursing under my breath all the way. And I know, that’s a beef best addressed at Synology, not Plex and I agree.

And before you tell me to go to Synology and complain to them, let me state that I’m not trying to change the world nor was my statements above anything more than a rhetorical question of sorts. If we were face to face I’m sure such stuff would not be viewed as tense. So I hope that explains some things. Still some questions and clarifications below.

@ChuckPa

2. What do you think “NAS” stands for? Network Accessible Storage. That’s its primary purpose. Running apps on it happens to be a nice benefit. There are vendors who do not allow users to install apps. “Primary” versus “Whole” - Not worth debating.

Agreed. I was just mentioning that it functions pretty well as just a Linux machine too. Its primary function is indeed serving files be it through a protocol or a process such as Plex.

4. There are multiple protocols one can use to share files. To name a few, all of which any Linux machine can do with ease -
   a. NFS
   b. SMB
   c. FTP
   d. SSH

I realize there are many ways to share things. What I don’t remember is if I had to create say the Media share using Synology’s GUI tools or did I just add the filesystem to /etc/exports and export it. I think I only did the later, export the file system and configure the clients to NFS mount it on boot. Pretty much like we used to do it.

5. /volume1/Plex – If you can confirm there is nothing of value in there – Go to Control Panel - Shared Folders - DELETE it.

The only thing I see at the end of the path is a directory named Cache. I will rename the actual directory to persevere it and remove the Plex share from Shared Folder. But shouldn’t I have a PlexMediaServer shared folder? Or is that only in PMS 1.24.2.4973 version?

6. I don’t know why they chose @. Maybe you can ask in their forums or in a Support ticket ?

This is one of those things that again if we were face to face would be seen more as “Gee man, I wonder why they did that”. You probably would have simply set “I don’t know man”.

7. IMPORTANT

8. You have data in /volume1/@apphome/PlexMediaServer ? How much space (since you jumped in and are mucking about in the shell) ? If it’s more than a few MB then you might have a live server there.

There are lots of data there! 435G - mostly in a Cache directory (28G) and a Media directory (386G) .Perhaps it is my live server.

You often speak of the PlexMediaServer shared folder. Can I interpret that to mean there should be a share named PlexMediaServer in Synology’s Control Panel > Shared Folder screen? If so then I don’t have anything named that. I have one named Plex but again its size as notated in Shared Folder seems to match /volume1/Plex.

8. PMS 1.24.2.4973 MOVED those files from @apphome to the new PlexMediaServer (no spaces) shared folder – FOR THE PRIMARY PURPOSE of making backups easier.

How do I get PMS 1.24.2.4973 or greater? Oops! Just noticed there’s an update to, you guessed it, 1.24.2.4973! Now I’m afraid to apply this update, specifically because you kept saying this becomes in effect at this version. Should I attempt to update? Should I remove the Plex shared folder from Control Panel? Why don’t I have a PlexMediaShare? I’m confused and seeking advice.

Have you had time to review my release notes?

DSM 7 - Finalized Configuration (PMS 1.24.2.4973) - Release information

I’ve read through them before. I have not read them like a love letter yet.

Lastly, you might be well skilled in Linux. I’ve been doing it for 40+ years. It still took me almost a year to get Synology so it would work for everyone.

See above. I was also not used to Solaris’ new approach. It was unlike anybody else’s and some things were better, others were a PITA. And it took a while for me to get used to that so I hear ya.

I’m not here to measure but please do respect how I designed and implemented it?

Ah naw, all due respect dude. I like what you do and appreciate your perspective. I was just trying to give you a little bit of my perspective and to try to come to a better understanding. I think some of the things I wrote here help that and if not please know that I am not trying to put you down in any way.

It’s clear that you don’t understand Synology mentality.

Just like I didn’t understand the Solaris mentality. Yet I can learn.

I will teach you if you want to learn but here in the forum, in this thread, isn’t the right place for it.

Again, agreed. To the extent necessary, explanations are welcomed and appreciated. But yes, this is not Synology class…

[ChuckPa]

You didn’t make me angry. Annoyed? You were getting there

Synology is anything but easy. It used to be easy. it used to be a nice clean, down-sized Linux implementation. DSM 7 changed all that – for reasons none of us understand.

Now, all the apps live in a sandbox. It’s not a container nor a VM. It’s an artificial construct bounded by obfuscation and isolation from root.

Every service which I need to run PMS must be requested at installation time.

I don’t even have control where the package is installed. Fortunately, we pressed and they gave us a means to directly access a shared folder we define (the PlexMediaServer shared folder).

On a Synology – everything lives in an encrypted, password protected pgsql database. The entire API (their apps) talk to it. Their apps read from it and configure the box at startup. See where this is headed?

On almost ALL of the NAS platforms, you must obey their rules. Shared Folders are created through their API – period. No more playing directly with any /etc files.

Point # 8.

Compare that 435GB with that in the PlexMediaServer directory. I suspect you have found your server data.

if you want to poke in there: Key directories:

1. Media
2. Metadata
3. Plug-in Support / Databases (where the axtual DB is) – check for the backup files.

Based on what you find, if it’s your real server, we CAN cheat at the shell level (on the syno itself – not over the wire)

You and I are cool.
Thank you very much for clearing the air.

Now? time

We might best move this to another thread (since there are issues recovering your detached server data)