Plex Temp Folder Path deleted

[asia613]

Server Version#: 1.57.1.3358-5fd2a504
Player Version#: 1.57.1.3358-5fd2a504

Hi
I have the following problem I have to give the Plex server a different path under settings transcoder temp folder where it should cache the files because I don’t have enough GB free on the main drive.

I do that and it works like this for up to 24 hours and then plex deletes this path and no playback is possible what can I do to ensure that the path remains permanent.

I installed the Plex server on a storage server with Debian 11. I have an LVM with 40TB where the media and the Temp folder are located.

the hard disks are installed in the server, no SAN or NAS, the LVM is also permanently attached to /ect/fstab and is permanently available.

[ChuckPa]

There is no Linux version (where you posted) 1.57.13358

Are you speaking about a Windows player version perhaps?

Can you make a tar.gz of the logs directory (or just download the logs from PMS itself) and attach them here please?

As for customizing PMS and moving the transcoder temporary directory,

1. You can set the location in PMS
2. PMS won’t delete the directory.

[asia613]

Linux Version Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye)
Release: 11
Codename: bullseye

Plex Media Server Logs_2022-12-08_05-09-04.zip (1.7 MB)

So I have to set the temp folder path under transcoder settings several times because it always disappears after 24 hours, so the field is empty.

i use on macOS the following Version of Plex Server Version 1.29.2.6364

MacOS Versoin from Plex Version 1.57.1.3358-5fd2a504

[ChuckPa]

Let’s get a few things sorted to reduce confusion.

1. I have NO reference to 1.57.1 server anywhere.
2. I do have reference for PMS 1.58.1 (current version) of the Plex Player app. This makes sense now.

1.58.1.3380-ea159c52

November 23, 2022 

Your server version, from the server logs, is actually,

Dec 08, 2022 02:18:47.511 [0x7f5e0f2c9b38] INFO - Plex Media Server v1.29.2.6364-6d72b0cf6 - Debian GNU/Linux PC x86_64 - build: linux-x86_64 debian - GMT 01:00
Dec 08, 2022 02:18:47.511 [0x7f5e0f2c9b38] INFO - Linux version: 11 (bullseye), language: en-US
Dec 08, 2022 02:18:47.511 [0x7f5e0f2c9b38] INFO - Processor: 32-core        Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2650 0 @ 2.00GHz

You can find this information at the top of every ‘Plex Media Server*.log’ file.

Your logs are showing me, as you relayed, the disk is full.

Dec 08, 2022 02:24:00.459 [0x7f5e0b67cb38] DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:33410 (Loopback)] GET /:/metadata/flushMetadataCounterCache?metadataItemID=8142 (3 live) #58 GZIP Signed-in Token (fabian3357) (storage1.nl.euroservers.de)
Dec 08, 2022 02:24:00.459 [0x7f5e0ec64b38] DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:33410] 200 GET /:/metadata/flushMetadataCounterCache?metadataItemID=8142 (3 live) GZIP 0ms 195 bytes (pipelined: 35)
Dec 08, 2022 02:24:00.479 [0x7f5e0d363b38] ERROR - SQLITE3:0x80000001, 13, statement aborts at 7: [INSERT INTO vacuum_db.'blobs' SELECT*FROM"main".'blobs'] database or disk is full
Dec 08, 2022 02:24:00.493 [0x7f5e0b67cb38] DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:33410 (Loopback)] GET /:/metadata/notify/changeItemState?librarySectionID=3&metadataItemID=8150&metadataType=4&state=-1&parentID=-1&rootID=-1&mediaState=analyzing (3 live) #59 GZIP Signed-in Token (fabian3357) (storage1.nl.euroservers.de)
Dec 08, 2022 02:24:00.494 [0x7f5e0ee67b38] DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:33410] 200 GET /:/metadata/notify/changeItemState?librarySectionID=3&metadataItemID=8150&metadataType=4&state=-1&parentID=-1&rootID=-1&mediaState=analyzing (3 live) GZIP 0ms 195 bytes (pipelined: 36)
Dec 08, 2022 02:24:00.494 [0x7f5e0b67cb38] DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:33410 (Loopback)] GET /:/metadata/notify/changeItemState?librarySectionID=3&metadataItemID=8150&metadataType=4&state=-1&parentID=-1&rootID=-1&mediaState=idle (3 live) #5a GZIP Signed-in Token (fabian3357) (storage1.nl.euroservers.de)
Dec 08, 2022 02:24:00.495 [0x7f5e0ec64b38] DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:33410] 200 GET /:/metadata/notify/changeItemState?librarySectionID=3&metadataItemID=8150&metadataType=4&state=-1&parentID=-1&rootID=-1&mediaState=idle (3 live) GZIP 0ms 195 bytes (pipelined: 37)
Dec 08, 2022 02:24:00.496 [0x7f5e0b67cb38] DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:33410 (Loopback)] GET /library/changestamp (3 live) #5b GZIP Signed-in Token (fabian3357) (storage1.nl.euroservers.de)
Dec 08, 2022 02:24:00.497 [0x7f5e0ee67b38] DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:33410] 200 GET /library/changestamp (3 live) GZIP 0ms 497 bytes (pipelined: 38)
Dec 08, 2022 02:24:00.499 [0x7f5e0b67cb38] DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:33410 (Loopback)] GET /:/metadata/flushMetadataCounterCache?metadataItemID=8142 (3 live) #5c GZIP Signed-in Token (fabian3357) (storage1.nl.euroservers.de)
Dec 08, 2022 02:24:00.500 [0x7f5e0ec64b38] DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:33410] 200 GET /:/metadata/flushMetadataCounterCache?metadataItemID=8142 (3 live) GZIP 0ms 195 bytes (pipelined: 39)
Dec 08, 2022 02:24:00.503 [0x7f5e0b67cb38] DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:33410 (Loopback)] GET /library/changestamp (3 live) #5d GZIP Signed-in Token (fabian3357) (storage1.nl.euroservers.de)
Dec 08, 2022 02:24:00.504 [0x7f5e0ee67b38] DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:33410] 200 GET /library/changestamp (3 live) GZIP 0ms 497 bytes (pipelined: 40)
Dec 08, 2022 02:24:00.506 [0x7f5e0b67cb38] DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:33410 (Loopback)] GET /:/metadata/flushMetadataCounterCache?metadataItemID=8142 (3 live) #5e GZIP Signed-in Token (fabian3357) (storage1.nl.euroservers.de)
Dec 08, 2022 02:24:00.507 [0x7f5e0ec64b38] DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:33410] 200 GET /:/metadata/flushMetadataCounterCache?metadataItemID=8142 (3 live) GZIP 0ms 195 bytes (pipelined: 41)
Dec 08, 2022 02:24:00.513 [0x7f5e0d363b38] ERROR - SQLITE3:0x80000001, 13, statement aborts at 1: [vacuum] database or disk is full
Dec 08, 2022 02:24:00.517 [0x7f5e0d363b38] ERROR - Butler: Uncaught exception starting generator GarbageCollectBlobs: sqlite3_statement_backend::loadOne: database or disk is full
Dec 08, 2022 02:24:00.517 [0x7f5e0d363b38] DEBUG - Activity: registered new sub-activity 0f07ba11-81f6-400d-bfba-805a458d084c - "OptimizeDatabase" parent: 8680246c-3fdc-40c1-bb8f-0562465bbe31 overall progress: 0.0% (0/1)
Dec 08, 2022 02:24:00.517 [0x7f5e0d363b38] DEBUG - Activity: ended sub-activity 0f07ba11-81f6-400d-bfba-805a458d084c parent: 8680246c-3fdc-40c1-bb8f-0562465bbe31 overall progress: 100.0% (1/1)

Trying to tell PMS to use a different temp directory, when the disk is full, will never get saved to the database – so the problem perpetuates.

We can easily customize your server configuration both outside and inside PMS.

If you’d like, I’ll show you how to customize where the temp directory goes (Linux variable TMP or TMPDIR)

After that’s done , and there is room on the disk ,
-OR- if you want to move the entire metadata directory,

I can help you with that now. It’s very easy.

Do you have an idea where you want (which directory) PMS to use for Temp or where you might want to move all of PMS ? (you have both options)

[asia613]

gladly thank you

I would like to have the temp folder on the following path /mp1/share/temp this is on the internal LVM there is enough space

It is best to have all the database transcoders there, etc.

[ChuckPa]

Quick question:

Given this is local to the host, would you like to put all of PMS there as well ?

example: /mp1/share/plexmediaserver

(would result in ‘/mp1/share/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Server/’ )

We can get both of these done at the same time if you wish.

[asia613]

yes great

[ChuckPa]

Using this how-to from “Linux Tips”

Linux Tips

Moving Plex’s metadata (Library) directory on systemd based systems This information is intended for those systems where cat /proc/1/comm returns systemd. If your system returns init, please see the next post in this thread. While you may change /lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service, it is under the control of the package manager and subject to replacement without warning at any time during an update. To provide stability, systemd allows creation of an override.conf file to customiz…

we’re going to: ( I’ll write this out as copy/paste possible as I can for you )

1. Stop PMS
2. open bash terminal window and work from root:

$  sudo bash
# mkdir /mp1/share/plexmediaserver
# chown plex:plex /mp1/share/plexmediaserver
# cd "/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support"
# tar cf - . | (cd /mp1/share/plexmediaserver ; tar xf -)
# mkdir /etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.d
# cat > /etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.d/override.conf <<EOF
[Service]

Environment="PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR=/mp1/share/plexmediaserver"

EOF
# cat /etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.d/override.conf
#
#  NOTE:  Confirm the contents of override.conf matches how shown in the Linux Tips
#

I’m stopping here so you can ask anything about what we’re doing.

1. Stop Plex
2. Use tar to copy the existing PMS installation (mirror copy) to /mp1/share/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Server
3. Create an ‘override.conf’ file to tell systemd the new environment variable for Plex.
   This variable tells PMS where the metadata (Plex Media Server) directory is.

So far so good ?

To share what’s coming next, we’re going to add another environment variable
for you in the ‘override.conf’ file to expressly NOT use /tmp or /var.

[asia613]

@Linux Tips

Library) directory on systemd based systems This information is intended for those systems where cat /proc/1/comm returns systemd. If your system returns init, please see the next post in this thread. While you may change /lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service, it is under the control of the package manager and subject to replacement without warning at any time during an update. To provide stability, systemd allows creation of an override.conf file to customiz…

Is it correct that way ? see the screenshot

[asia613]

@ChuckPa

/etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.d/override.conf

[ChuckPa]

Not quite:

I think you copied me too literally. my fault.

The contents of the override.conf should be exactly:

[Service]

Environment="PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR=/mp1/share/plexmediaserver"

EDIT: OK… Nano shows better.

Stay in nano… we have more to do:

[asia613]

ok nano is open

[ChuckPa]

While in nano, we’re going to add the new variable to tell PMS which directory to use for TEMP

In override.conf, add

Environment="TMP=/mp1/share/plexmediaserver/tmp"

Save

Now

mkdir /mp1/share/plexmediaserver/tmp
chown plex:plex /mp1/share/plexmediaserver/tmp

[ChuckPa]

Education value only

PMS allows you to use the variables:

1. TMP
2. TMPDIR
3. TEMP

If none are specified, PMS uses /tmp

[asia613]

root@storage1:/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support# chown plex:plex /tmp1/share/plexmediaserver/tmp
chown: Cannot access ‘/tmp1/share/plexmediaserver/tmp’: File or directory not found
root@storage1:/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support#

i get the following error.

[ChuckPa]

@asia613

/tmp1/share/plexmediaserver/tmp’

/mp1/share/plexmediaserver/tmp

typo

Sorry

[asia613]

@ChuckPa

/etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.d/override.conf

[ChuckPa]

How much free space exists in / (where /var is) ?

I would like to start Plex and confirm everything works Before we remove /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library

Before we start plex

systemctl daemon-reload

This tells systemd that a configuration file has been added.

We can confirm this with

systemctl status plexmediaserver

It will show us “override.conf” is loaded.

[asia613]

one moment server is down i must check why

[ChuckPa]

If you need to make space for ROOT partition:

rm  "/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Logs"/*