Server is unavailable out of the blue - locally or externally

Plex Media Server Remote Access
1

Server Version#: 1.17.0.1705
Player Version#: 4.8.1

This server has been working flawless. The changes made is I upgraded from 1.16.5.1554 to 1.17.0.1705 and local updates to OS. Remote access was working just fine until it randomly stopped. I have:

Followed the Plex troubleshooting guide, reading similar posts and trying different troubleshooting methods.

Verified NAT rules on my OPNsense box for the server IP on port 32400. (This has not changed)

Did the canyouseemee for my WAN IP on port 32400 - I get a success message

Verified make sure the IP’s in the troubleshooting guide are whitelisted in my PiHole boxes - Nothing from the server is getting blocked by DNS. DNS is working the plex box.

Rebooted the plex server (CentOS 7, with the latest updates).

Stopped firewalld and put SELinux into permissive mode for troubleshooting purposes.

Ran tcpdump for my local interface for port 32400, I can see traffic to and from as I click on things as in logging in to the server on Plex items, internally and externally of my network.

Removed 1.17 and rolled back to 1.16, rebooted, disabled firewalld again. (I do not believe it have anything to do with firewalld, but for troubleshooting it is.) Put SELinux into permissive mode (again do not believe it have anything to do with SELinux, but just for troubleshooting)

If I locally visit the server via browser on IP:32400 I get the same message, ““server” is currently unavailable”. Rebooted router/firewall

I am at a loss of what else to check/troubleshoot. Any tips or direction would be appreciated.

Thank you.

2

Anyone?

3

Thanks for bumping this. I didn’t see your earlier post for some reason.

Please do the following:

  1. Restart PMS.
  2. Let it run for 2-3 minutes
  3. Stop it
  4. Manually create a tar.gz of /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Logs (whole directory) and attach that tar.gz here.
4

Chuck,

Thank you for your reply. It is attached.

plexlogs10-05-19.tar.gz (1.2 MB)

5

it’s unavailable because it cannot authenticate with Plex.tv.

Oct 05, 2019 00:07:42.231 [0x7f60a17fa700] DEBUG - [com.plexapp.system] Sending command: GET /:/prefixes
Oct 05, 2019 00:07:42.770 [0x7f60a2ffd700] DEBUG - HTTP 401 response from GET https://plex.tv/media/providers?X-Plex-Token=

The 401 is telling me it’s an authentication issue (password changed recently? )

I would do the following:

  1. Sign out of Plex/web in the browser
  2. Open an incognito window
  3. Now open the IP addr of the server (or 127.0.0.1) directly if it’s on your same computer.
  4. I see you’re using 192.168.3.x. Do you have multiple subnets? If so, then tunnel to it if on a different subnet.
  5. Check it that way.

If the above fails,

  1. Stop PMS
  2. Edit the Preferences.xml
  3. Remove the OnlineUsername and PlexToken from it.
  4. Go back at it again and start to “claim it” (don’t recreate any new libraries if it prompts to setup again)
6

Chuck,

Under the Preferences.xml located in:
/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/

I cannot find anything with “OnlineUsername” or “PlexToken” in Preferences.xml. I have the following:
MachineIdentifier
ProcessedMachineIdentifier
AnonymousMachineIdentifier
MetricsEpoch
CloudSyncNeedsUpdate

7

I am having this exact same issue. Same HTTP 401 error in log, along with the same limited entries in Preferences.xml. Just started tonight post a host reboot.

I should also add, when I sign back in via the browser it first throws an error stating “There was an error signing in”. If I click SIGN IN at this error message (sometimes it takes multiple tries) it works and dumps me into the local dashboard with the message “The server “serv-name” is unavailable”.

8

I would like both of you to go do the following:

sudo systemctl stop plexmediaserver
sudo tar cfz /tmp/PlexLogs.tar.gz  "/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Logs"

In /tmp, you’ll find the PlexLogs.tar.gz

please upload it here.

9

Chuck,

Attached. Thank you.PlexLogs.tar.gz (1.1 MB)

10

Requested logs attached.

11

Cowenbills,

There is nothing happening in there at all.

  1. Stop PMS
  2. Rename Preferences.xml -> Preference.xml.old
  3. Start PMS
  4. Open http://ip.addr.of.host:32400/web directly (or use 127.0.0.1 if on the same machine)

This should start the reclaim process.
It will ask if you want to setup new library sections. SKIP them. The sections will exist when you’re finished.

12

@cruz878

Same thing for you.

Something very strange is happening to you both.

Your LAN segments are showing up as WAN. A host cannot be claimed when it thinks you’re connecting to it from a WAN address. (RFC-1918 rules)

13

I would like both of you to consider turning off IPv6 for now.

14

I have already tried dumping the preferences.xml and allowing it to recreate to no avail. I will however give it another go.

My situation may be different from cowenbills as my Plex server is physically in a different location (and VLAN’d off there to boot) and I use a S2S VPN link to allow it access to my LAN. Has been working this way for 2 months though, until tonight anyway. If I must reclaim it within the VLAN I will need to stand up a host within that segment.

15

@cruz878

Thanks , that tells me the missing piece of the puzzle;

Please do the following:

  1. Close the existing SSH session to the remote server
  2. Open a new one with a SSH tunnel attached ssh -L 8888:127.0.0.1:32400 ip.addr.of.remote
  3. Sign in
  4. Stop the server,
  5. Delete the Preferences.xml it just made.
  6. Start the server
  7. Return to the local browser
  8. Open a fresh window
  9. In it , open http://127.0.0.1:8888/web

Now you will transit the ssh tunnel and be presented to the remote server AS IF you were local.
You may now follow the setup and proper claim it.

1 Like
16

This did the trick. Looks like I am back in business. Thanks for the help!

On a side note, as this seemingly set Plex back up as a new server, is there any way to restore the Home Screen across my clients? Or must I set each one back up to point to the applicable categories on the new server? I had to do this before when I migrated the server offsite s it’s no big deal, but thought it worth asking.

17

Yes,

Stop the server.

Now go to that old / original Preference.xml.old

Transfer all the UUID ( Machine ID / ProcessedMachineID / etc ) fields from old to new Preferences.xml

This is what identifies the server.

After it’s been runnign for 15 minutes, go into Authorized Devices - servers and remove the one that’s 15+ minutes old.

1 Like
18

I am having a similar issue, I think. I can’t access my server anymore. Could you look at my logs to help me figure out what to do? Logs.zip (9.4 MB)

19

@sensei321

You are using Docker. The server hasn’t run since

Oct 04, 2019 09:04:50.246 [0x7f323f930b80] ERROR - SQLITE3:(nil), 28, file renamed while open: /config/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plug-in Support/Databases/com.plexapp.plugins.library.db
Oct 04, 2019 09:04:50.246 [0x7f323f930b80] DEBUG - Database: Shutting down.

This looks like your server is completely gone as that is the primary database.

I do not know much about docker but unless you can reattach that file, you will need start over.

It is for reasons such as this that I use the native app… It’s much easier to work with IMHO

20

Ok, thank you. That’s a good clue. I have been trying to start it over and over again for days trying to figure out what suddenly went wrong.