Plex Sever Libraries disappeared after 1.18.2.2058 upgrade on Ubuntu 18.04.3

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

Server Version#: 1.18.2.2058
Linux: Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS

After a recent upgrade, Plex Server seemed to fall over slowly. By that I mean it disappeared from browsers on some devices but not on my AppleTV. However, over a 24 hour period all my devices including the AppleTV have lost access to the Plex libraries. My server is running remotely. This has been a stable installation which has been in place for over six months. No updates to Linux or anything other than plexmediaserver when the problem first appeared. I have over 15,000 pieces of media (50TB) so I am trying to avoid a multi-day rebuild.

The initial symptom was a screen like this:

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From the support forums I found some advice indicating I should select “More>” which then gave me this screen where my server is missing.

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All of my media is there. I have followed the instructions for rebuilding com.plexapp.plugins.library.db using sqlite3. I have also tried moving an older version of the .db in place. All without any success.

My systemctl status is:

● plexmediaserver.service - Plex Media Server
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Sun 2019-11-24 21:42:40 CET; 1min 11s ago
  Process: 9356 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c /usr/bin/test -d "${PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR}" || /bin/mkdir -p "${PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR
 Main PID: 9363 (sh)
    Tasks: 113 (limit: 4915)
   CGroup: /system.slice/plexmediaserver.service
           ├─9363 /bin/sh -c  PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_INFO_VENDOR="$(grep ^NAME= /etc/os-release | awk -F= "{print \$2}" | tr -d \" )"  PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_INFO_DEVICE="PC"
           ├─9377 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Server
           ├─9411 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.system] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-e67a4e892/Framework.bundle/Contents/Resources/Versions/2/Python/boots
           ├─9470 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Tuner Service /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Tuner/Private /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Tuner/Shared 1.18.2
           ├─9496 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.agents.plexthememusic] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-e67a4e892/Framework.bundle/Contents/Resources/Versions
           ├─9497 Plex Plug-in [tv.plex.agents.music] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-e67a4e892/Framework.bundle/Contents/Resources/Versions/2/Python/boo
           ├─9574 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.agents.thetvdb] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-e67a4e892/Framework.bundle/Contents/Resources/Versions/2/Pyth
           ├─9647 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.agents.themoviedb] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-e67a4e892/Framework.bundle/Contents/Resources/Versions/2/P
           ├─9729 Plex Plug-in [org.musicbrainz.agents.music] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-e67a4e892/Framework.bundle/Contents/Resources/Versions/2/Py
           └─9834 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.agents.imdb] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-e67a4e892/Framework.bundle/Contents/Resources/Versions/2/Python/

Nov 24 21:42:40 v22019027816182844 systemd[1]: Starting Plex Media Server...
Nov 24 21:42:40 v22019027816182844 systemd[1]: Started Plex Media Server.

The PlexMediaServer.log does not show any glaring issues and appears normal. It walks through all my library directories and doesn’t complain. But it’s too long to include in the post.

Any thoughts as to the cause and how to resolve?

2

Grab the actual logs from the Logs subdirectory in /var/lib/plexmediaserver as a tar.gz and attach it.

We can look and see if it’s major or if Plex.tv became confused.

3

Here’s a sanitized version of the log when I restarted yesterday. I deleted many NOTIFY rows where it was just walking through my libraries.

plexmediaserverlog.tar.gz (30.3 KB)

4

My previous reply is a single log I captured yesterday after I restarted. Attached you will find the current full set of logs mostly reflecting things that run overnight.

Also, note that I should have mentioned that the AppleTV is a bit different than the web interface in that it shows the libraries but says that it can not connect. and is presenting the “Retry Connection” button when you try to select a library.

Here are the logs:
currentplexmediaserverlog.tar.gz (2.1 MB)

5

Thank you for those but I can’t use them.

  1. Turn VERBOSE logging OFF again. We do not use it by default. It’s only special cases
  2. VERBOSE logging reduces the logging window to 3 minutes of elapsed time.

Please keep DEBUG on, VERBOSE off.
Recreate and recapture the logs.

6

How can I do that from the command line? I can not attach to the server from the Web Interface images I sent you. That’s part of the problem, maybe the whole problem. I don’t have the library nor the server. My server isn’t showing on the screen images in my first post of this thread. This is if I’m trying to access via https://app.plex.tv/desktop nor ipaddress:32400/web/index.html

I can ssh into the server. So I can restart plex with different command line arguments.

7

Set it in the Preferences.xml

  1. logDebug="1"
  2. LogVerbose="0"

Edit the values in the file itself (vi, nano, gedit, etc on Linux – just don’t use a Windows editor)

-or-

add the full name="value" before the closing />

8

Here you go.

plexmediaserverlog.tar.gz (29.9 KB)

BTW, I really would like to avoid rebuilding libraries completely. If you don’t find a fix, would you please provide a link to details on how to roll back to one of the automated backups.

Thanks

9

Happened to me as well. Running on Ubuntu 18.04.3. Previous version worked like a charm but after updating to 2058 (via dpkg -i like i always do) plex cannot find any media files in the libraries. Delete and add libraries again doesnt work.

10

May I have the FULL ZIP file (or complete contents of the Logs directory) and not just the singular log file?
The log file provided tells me nothing.

11

Here’s a complete set of the logs
plexmediaserverlogs.tar.gz (3.0 MB)

12

One more time please:

  1. Turn VERBOSE OFF and keep it off please. We never use it unless we’re debugging at the individual packet level. I am pressing to have that option removed entirely

  2. Restart Plex.

  3. Let it sit for 2 minutes

  4. Settings - Server - Troubleshooting - Download Logs

  5. Attach the ZIP file.

13

I did follow your prior instructions. Here is the contents of /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Preferences.xml

cat Preferences.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Preferences OldestPreviousVersion="1.14.1.5488-cc260c476" MachineIdentifier="64d4c847-7896-44d1-9f87-166133a8925f" ProcessedMachineIdentifier="a49de7714a9f24902a26360c76c9129a43883e1d" AnonymousMachineIdentifier="75ac8dd0-5a2a-4a38-976f-7aea6b9fc395" MetricsEpoch="1" GracenoteUser="WEcxA+nWHG7HflvtnKp68DNimvnNh07DbL+25m9fVhpNvtVTjRzuGrXJ7JQ/Dv9cYtQIOfUCWPPLO3dM4h57kg1zdZo2gz8GHrVgHMEJAa7X2j+eYw6Ve1eXOQZZsaWYssU2beXXFkAWLAQ8D15o3VlG9eytoFRQ62wQwP8nxQ0gDdYuCQHrVGJPiY55N093YGPf" AcceptedEULA="1" FriendlyName="myServerName" PublishServerOnPlexOnlineKey="0" PlexOnlineToken="dBXkuEcEHH6qU4vAp8Bb" PlexOnlineUsername="myPlexUserID" PlexOnlineMail="myValidEmail" PlexOnlineHome="0" DlnaEnabled="0" CertificateVersion="2" PubSubServer="a_valid_ip" PubSubServerRegion="fra" PubSubServerPing="22" LanguageInCloud="1" FSEventLibraryPartialScanEnabled="1" FSEventLibraryUpdatesEnabled="1" ButlerEndHour="9" ButlerStartHour="7" ButlerTaskGenerateAutoTags="0" ButlerTaskReverseGeocode="0" CinemaTrailersFromBluRay="0" CinemaTrailersFromTheater="0" GenerateChapterThumbBehavior="never" LoudnessAnalysisBehavior="never" OnDeckWindow="2" ScannerLowPriority="1" TranscoderQuality="2" TranscoderThrottleBuffer="1200" WanTotalMaxUploadRate="400000" CloudSyncNeedsUpdate="0" TranscoderH264BackgroundPreset="medium" HardwareAcceleratedCodecs="0" OnDeckIncludePremieres="1" allowMediaDeletion="0" sendCrashReports="0" ScheduledLibraryUpdateInterval="86400" ScheduledLibraryUpdatesEnabled="0" CinemaTrailersType="0" GdmEnabled="0" DlnaReportTimeline="1" ButlerTaskRefreshLibraries="1" LogVerbose="0" CertificateUUID="7e2aa04ba4f84643a9d988fa73b20c91" logDebug="1" DvrIncrementalEpgLoader="0"/>

As you can see logDebug and logVerbose were set as you had previously instructed. I stopped my Plex service and started it after changing the Preferences.xml. The most recent log files were generated after making the changes to the Preferences.xml

14

I see that the logs are in DEBUG mode… That is fine.
Would you please force it to scan libraries or create other activtiy?

I am asking this because there is no evidence of the database corruption which is typically associated with Library sections disappearing.

Without any evidence of corruption, the only conclusion can be manual deletion (whether known to you or not)

15

How can I scan a library for a server I can not see?

I assure you I did not delete anything other than whatever gets touched by dpkg -i on the install of the new release.

Also the log file has thousands of entries where it is walking my whole media directory tree. Would it be doing that if it thought everything was deleted. Also, even if it thought all media in those directories had been deleted wouldn’t it show me an empty library.

My basic problem is that I believe none of my interfaces, web, appletv, Plex (mac) are displaying my server. AppleTV and Plex (mac)report the server being unreachable. Isn’t that more likely to be the problem.

Should I try using the restore database info from this forum link

In addition to rolling back database. Should I roll back the server software?

16

Since our last exchange I have tried two changes. I rolled com.plexapp.plugins.library.db back to a version prior to my first experiencing the problem. There was no change in behaviour. I then rolled back the Plex Media Server to 1.18.2.2041 as well as the db to the version which was used with that version of the software. Again no change.

If you look at the following window, isn’t the problem more likely a communications problem than a db corruption issue? As I’ve pointed out previously my server is not listed. And there is no way to add the server that I can see.

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I then thought that perhaps app.plex.tv/desktop was not linking up to my server. However, I have also tried connecting using “my_ext_ip:32400/web” for which I get the same screen, so presumably I can talk to my server. But for some reason the web.app does not seem to recognize there is a Plex Media Server running on that machine. Is that possible?

After that I thought of checking my ports, here’s the output of “lsof -i -P -n | grep LISTEN”

Plex\x20M 26466            plex   60u  IPv6  971366      0t0  TCP *:32400 (LISTEN)
Plex\x20M 26466            plex   61u  IPv4  971368      0t0  TCP 127.0.0.1:32401 (LISTEN)
Plex\x20S 26550            plex    8u  IPv4  975891      0t0  TCP 127.0.0.1:35313 (LISTEN)
Plex\x20T 26609            plex   13u  IPv4  966212      0t0  TCP 127.0.0.1:32600 (LISTEN)
Plex\x20S 26644            plex    4u  IPv4  971457      0t0  TCP 127.0.0.1:42003 (LISTEN)
Plex\x20S 27648            plex    4u  IPv4  986745      0t0  TCP 127.0.0.1:37203 (LISTEN)
Plex\x20S 27757            plex    4u  IPv4  998504      0t0  TCP 127.0.0.1:38497 (LISTEN)
Plex\x20S 27903            plex    4u  IPv4 1001063      0t0  TCP 127.0.0.1:43511 (LISTEN)
Plex\x20S 27979            plex    4u  IPv4 1007658      0t0  TCP 127.0.0.1:45423 (LISTEN)

Any thoughts? I am uncertain as to the plumbing which is being used to implement remote server access by Plex. How does one diagnose if there is a communication problem with a Plex Media Server on headless remote server? The web app isn’t seeing the Plex Media Server so it would appear I can’t add any libraries. I’ve run through the suggestions at this link The only odd thing I noted is that on the devices page it shows my connecting to the server initially reporting 10 hours ago but when I checked again it said 18 minutes. However, I haven’t been able to connect to it for several days. Also, I was not able to follow the access token portion of the diagnostics because the web app does not present a library from which to grab it.

Lastly, what is the preference “PubSubServer” supposed to be? It’s not my ip address.

Your suggestions?

17

Somehow, which I’m seeing more and more of, PMS is forgetting who owns it.

  1. Sign the web app out (upper right)
  2. stop Plex
  3. Copy “Preferences.xml” to “Preferences.xml.old”
  4. Edit it (in place on the Linux host) using vi, nano, gedit, etc
  5. Remove: PlexOnlineUsername, PlexOnlineEmail, PlexOnlineToken and, if you have it, PlexHome
  6. Save
  7. Start PMS.

If the server is on your computer, open an incognito to 127.0.0.1:32400/web
If remote: ssh tunnel to it ssh -L 8888:127.0.0.1:32400 ip.addr.of.host and then use 127.0.0.1:8888/web as the url

It will want to sign in, do “Got It”, and normal setup wizard .
Do not create new shares. SKIP this step. Your existing shares are still there.
Proceed through the wizard, putting settings as you wish, until you arrive at the Dashboard.

18

Close but no cigar.

I seem to have a problem claiming the server. I hit the button, it shows me a progress swirl and then the button is reset to claim server. The following image is after I have claimed it. No dialogues are presented.

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This is what I see when I press the home icon.

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BTW, I was never presented with any option to create a new share.

Your thoughts?

19

Is the server in a Plex Home?

Also, verify the DNS resolution in PMS (Logs will provide info if you wish to attach them)

20

I don’t think so. Although, the original Preferences.xml had PlexOnlineHome=“0” if that is relevant. By DNS resolution, do you mean can I ping a domain name? I can. I’ll work on sanitizing some logs. At the moment the server seems to be cranking through all my media.