Server Settings are Unavailable - Ubuntu 17.04

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

Afternoon all,

I have just installed plex again as I had an issue with my server. This was unrelated to Plex.

I’ve reinstalled and setup all my drives and a new install of Plex (latest plex pass version).

After install I moved my backup database into the folder as indicated on the website renaming it etc.

I’ve restarted but have no pictures of series, music etc and I can access the server settings.

All the information on the web looks old (https://forums.plex.tv/topic/170425-server-settings-are-unavailable/) and I can’t find any .bundle files/folders.

Some advise would be greatly appreciated.

2

That thread relates to Windows, not Linux. Which OS are you using?

3

Ubuntu 17.04. I’ve sorted the access issue but still no metadata.

4

I need your log files please. Settings - Server - Help - Download Logs.

Attach the ZIP file here.

5

There you go.

6

Thank you.

I’m seeing the ‘Error 500’ from your log files.

I would like you to do the following.

  1. stop PMS
  2. sudo rm -f "/var/lib/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plug-ins/Services.bundle"
  3. start PMS

If this fails to reinstall the default Services.bundle (which must have somehow failed during update for you), then do the following:

  1. Stop and uninstall PMS
  2. Remove the Services.bundle just as you did above
  3. Install PMS again which puts in fresh bundles
  4. Start and Enable the service
7

I am having the same or similar issues and nothing I have tried will work. However, I noticed that my files structure is different then what was mentioned or provided here.

8

Few notes to @ChuckPa instructions:
For Ubuntu 18.04

  1. stop Plex Media server
sudo systemctl stop plexmediaserver
  1. delete Services.bundle
sudo rm -f "/var/lib/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plug-ins/Services.bundle"
  1. start plexmediaserver
sudo systemctl start plexmediaserver

Once I completed this and refreshed Plex in my browser everything was working correctly.

9

@OneZenD

Are you saying you had a bad Services.bundle update ?

If so, I can augment the installer to validate any preexisting Services.bundle when updating.

10

I had this issue right from initial install not from an update.

I just did the new plex update and had no issues after

Let me know if I can help further.

11

@OneZenD

One more step of clarification?

This occurred the moment you installed FRESH (having just created / configured the server) ?
If so, it will be the first I’ve ever seen it.

Help me recreate your steps when you have time? I would like to verify whether a random incident or indication of something else.

12

Fresh Ubuntu VM

Then I followed this setup documentation for my initial setup of plex.

https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-install-plex-media-server-on-ubuntu-18-04/

I do not have a plexpass but did already have a plex account and an old plex server that this was replacing. Signed in on the new plex server and added media library’s.

Let system start to analyze media for about a day.

Then went to connect plex app on roku and phone but could not get connected back to new server.

To troubleshoot I went to the setting page in plex and was not able to load any of the server settings pages, leading me to your response above.

Based on your steps, I completed what I wrote up and it resolve my issue.

I have since run an update this morning to the next plex version by doing wget and using the current download link from the plex download site then dpkg to install. No issues with this.

Hope this helps. Let me know if I can provide any additional info.

13

Thanks.

I have been trying this as well. we need to reproduce it reliably. Once we can find the exact steps to reproduce then we can do proper root cause analysis. agreed?

14

Agreed. I just wanted to add in the stop and start commands. This was the main focus of my initial post as it was not included in your original steps.

Just let me know if I can be of additional help.

15

@ChuckPa I updated to laterst version on Ubutnu 18.04. I get the same error. I can access my library and play back things, but nothing in the server settings are avaliable.

I’ve tried the methods mentioned above, but even if removing the Service.bundle, it is never re-created upon restart of any kind of re-install. I’ve tried both through apt-get package manager method and downloaded installer.

What’s next? And is it possible to keep the “Metadata” and “Media” directories (moving them temporary somewhere else) if I have to do a full delete? If a regular update of the server would break the server so bad that it would require a complete re-build of the library, I’d suggest you let your QA have a bashing.

EDIT:
Some further researching:

Upon restarting the server, the log states the following:

Nov 17, 2019 14:57:08.538 [0x7f3442ffd700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.system
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:08.870 [0x7f3442ffd700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.system
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:09.190 [0x7f33feffd700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.agents.htbackdrops
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:09.191 [0x7f33fffff700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.agents.fanarttv
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:09.216 [0x7f33ff7fe700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.agents.thetvdb
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:09.514 [0x7f33ff7fe700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.agents.lyricfind
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:09.515 [0x7f3450ff9700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.system
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:09.518 [0x7f33feffd700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.agents.none
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:09.529 [0x7f33fffff700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.agents.localmedia
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:09.818 [0x7f33ff7fe700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.agents.lastfm
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:09.824 [0x7f3451ffb700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.system
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:09.826 [0x7f33feffd700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for tv.plex.agents.music
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:09.876 [0x7f33fffff700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.agents.opensubtitles
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:10.117 [0x7f3458e90700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.system
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:10.145 [0x7f33ff7fe700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for org.musicbrainz.agents.music
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:10.152 [0x7f33feffd700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.agents.movieposterdb
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:10.179 [0x7f33fffff700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.agents.themoviedb
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:10.446 [0x7f33fcff9700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.system
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:10.450 [0x7f33feffd700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.agents.plexthememusic
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:10.467 [0x7f33ff7fe700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.agents.imdb
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:10.727 [0x7f3443fff700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.system
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:10.748 [0x7f3378ff9700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.agents.imdb
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:10.979 [0x7f3440ff9700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.system
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:11.245 [0x7f33d6ffd700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.system
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:11.505 [0x7f33d67fc700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.system
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:11.760 [0x7f34527fc700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.system
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:12.019 [0x7f33d57fa700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.system
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:12.276 [0x7f3451ffb700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.system
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:12.541 [0x7f3458e90700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.system
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:12.799 [0x7f3394ff9700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.system
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:13.049 [0x7f3452ffd700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.system
Nov 17, 2019 14:57:13.804 [0x7f34277fe700] ERROR - Error received reading configuration for com.plexapp.system

I’ve also discovered that no new metadata can be scraped, BUT already scraped metadata can be accessed, and the library too, so playback works fine.

I run plex as another user than default. Because of reasons, it has to be that way, and it’s worked fine for 2 years. I use the same override.conf in /etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.d containing that user. I’ve also doublechecked that the /var/lib/plexmediaserver and all it’s recursive directories has full access from both group and user.

So, that would give you some more info.

16

May I have the entire DEBUG ZIP file please?

It’s impossible to diagnose from an excerpt.

If DEBUG isn’t enabled (it should always be enabled and VERBOSE should be OFF), then turn it on and restart PMS.

I need to see what’s happening as PMS starts up and for that first 2 minutes thereafter.

17

OK, so I seem to have pinpointed the problem.

After the update to latest version, Plex is unable to run as other user/group thanplex:plex, even if the override.conf is present in /etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.d/.

It was even unable to install through dpkg if the /var/lib/plexmediaserver was not already in place and chowned to plex:plex. Even if the directory was non-existent, the post-installation script of dpkg could not install, even with sudo.

After managing to re-install the package, I can now successfully re-create the steps through removing the override.conf, re-chowning the /var/lib/plexmediaserver to plex:plex and reloading systemctl. This starts the server properly and let me access all settings.

Then to “break” the server: putting back override.conf, re-chowning /var/lib/plexmediaserver to my user:group (same user and setup as I’ve had since version 1.13). This results in Plex to be able to access my old library (after moving back the files from backup), but it is unable to access any server settings or scrape any new data.

So, basically, it seems to either ignore override.conf or there’s something else that is the problem.

The /var/lib/plexmediaserver, even if owned by user:group (rather than plex:plex) is chmoded 777.

19

@ChuckPa I’ve attached the log file here. I removed my Plex login from the log (replaced with user@email.com).

It seems to not be able to read configuration files from any of the agents, but maybe you have a better insight in what can be the problem.

Some info:

  • Plex is running under a local user because of the media mount of local user permission issues in /media/username. I’ve used plex in this way for 2 years, as mentioned above.

  • ‘ps aux | grep plex’ reveals that all plexmediaserver processes are started by this username. When watching movies, transcoder also uses the user and works fine.

  • I’ve checked permissions for both /usr/lib/plexmediaserver and /var/lib/plexmediaserver and they seem to be correct. I even tried chmod 777 on them, and chowning user:group.

Plex Media Server.log (107.1 KB)

20

The logs show nothing remarkable.

I will first suggest reviewing the How-To for customization.

Let’s see if permissions can be properly set and the sledghammer 777 can be undone.

21

@ChuckPa

Although I had already done everything in this guide already, I tried again:

  1. Re-created override.conf with the exact settings as above (except moving the Library-folder). Verified that Plex runs as snattack:snattack (which is my user) through ‘ps aux’. All server settings still unreachable.

  2. Moved Library folder to exact location as in configuration file. Reviews permissions. All server settings still unreachable.

  3. Moved the Library-folder to let Plex re-create it. Server wouldn’t let me in, even with allowedNetworks=“192.168.x.x/24” added in Preferences.xml. I’m troubleshooting remotely, so can’t try 127.0.01. Plex did in fact re-create the entire file structure, so it means that write permissions are OK for /home/plexdir.

So, it seems that all permissions are in order. So are override.conf. What’s the next step?